Fierce Battle

Chiyu faced a Jonin and a Tokubetsu Jonin alone.

This was Chiyu's first time fighting ninja of this caliber.

The ninja he had beheaded in a sneak attack earlier probably hadn't been weak either.

From the way Oyulo had dodged and blocked his Second Form: Rice Soul just now, Chiyu could tell that Oyulo was slower than him, but highly experienced in combat. Relying on that experience, he had dodged three strikes. The fourth had been impossible to evade, yet he had still retreated a step at the limit, leaving only a wound across his chest.

Oyulo glanced at Atuyi. Their years of teamwork allowed Atuyi to immediately understand what Oyulo meant.

"Cloud Style: Flowing Slash!"

After Oyulo rapidly formed hand seals, bolts of lightning appeared all around him.

Chiyu had been using Lightning Release Chakra to stimulate his body's vitality throughout the battle. Drawn by the lightning surrounding Chiyu, Oyulo's bolts struck toward him.

At the same time, Oyulo gripped his ninja blade with both hands and slashed at Chiyu.

Chiyu guided and dispersed the lightning striking toward him while raising his sword horizontally before his chest.

Oyulo swung three consecutive, immensely powerful slashes at Chiyu.

The tremendous force drove Chiyu back several steps.

As Chiyu retreated, Atuyi used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind him and swung his blade down in a sneak attack.

The moment his blade struck Chiyu, Chiyu's entire body turned the color of earth and became a puddle of mud.

Atuyi's pupils abruptly contracted.

Earth Clone!

When had he formed the hand seals?!

Oyulo shouted a warning, "Atuyi, get out of there!"

"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"

Chiyu appeared to Atuyi's right, several snakes bursting from his sleeve to catch Atuyi off guard.

The snakes tightly coiled around Atuyi's body, opening their mouths and biting down on him.

Chiyu's longsword also slashed toward Atuyi's neck.

"Damn it! Shadow Lightning Thrust!"

Lightning erupted across Oyulo's body, stimulating his vitality as he sprinted toward Atuyi.

At the instant Chiyu's longsword was about to cut through Atuyi's neck, Oyulo severed the snakes around Atuyi first, then threw himself onto Atuyi and rolled twice across the ground.

Only Atuyi's shoulder was grazed by the tip of Chiyu's blade, leaving a cut there.

Chiyu's gaze sharpened slightly.

As expected, Kumogakure's Jonin could also use Lightning Release Chakra to stimulate their bodies and enhance their vitality, raising their speed and strength to another level.

However, Oyulo's speed had not increased by much, so he had probably focused on boosting his strength.

After saving Atuyi, Oyulo warned him, "Atuyi, this brat is powerful. Don't let your guard down!"

Oyulo stared gravely at Chiyu in the distance.

He recognized that technique. It was a secret art belonging to Orochimaru, one of Konoha's Sannin.

Chiyu formed hand seals with both hands and took a deep breath.

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

After gathering Chakra in his throat, Chiyu expelled a vast sea-like expanse of flames forward.

"Dodge!"

After barking the order, Oyulo immediately evaded Chiyu's flames. Once he had gone around them, he charged straight at Chiyu.

"Lightning Release: Sanda Muruto!"

Oyulo concentrated Lightning Release Chakra on his ninja blade, lightning continuously flickering across its edge.

Once it had gathered to a certain extent, lightning burst from the blade and blasted toward Chiyu.

"Oh? That's very similar to my technique. Then let's see whose lightning is stronger!"

The tip of Chiyu's longsword pointed directly at Oyulo.

"Thunder Breathing: Fifth Form: Heat World Lightning!"

A blazing, lightning-shaped slash erupted from Chiyu's longsword and struck toward Oyulo.

Oyulo's lightning collided with Chiyu's.

The intense radiance of lightning illuminated the entire dim forest.

The two sides' lightning attacks immediately reached a stalemate.

Oyulo was deeply shocked. Why did this brat have so much Chakra?

And his mastery over the shape transformation and nature transformation of Lightning Release Chakra surpassed Oyulo's as well.

A genius?

Oyulo, who had participated in the Second Great Ninja War, had seen many geniuses.

Those geniuses had truly seemed unimaginable to Oyulo.

Quite a few children who looked even younger than Chiyu had been able to fight battle-hardened Jonin to a standstill, or even far surpass them.

Compared to them, Oyulo felt like a mediocrity.

Now twenty-seven, he had only recently been promoted to Jonin.

Oyulo's killing intent toward Chiyu intensified further.

It was impossible to take this brat with the Sharingan away alive. He had to kill him here.

Otherwise, once this brat grew up, he would pose a tremendous threat to Kumogakure.

Oyulo voluntarily gave up his clash with Chiyu's Heat World Lightning, rolling away to evade its blast.

Then Oyulo used the Body Flicker Technique to close in on Chiyu.

"Cloud Style: Flying Blade!"

Oyulo's lightning-wreathed ninja blade slashed toward Chiyu.

Using offense as defense, Chiyu swung his own lightning-wreathed longsword at Oyulo.

The crisp clang of blades colliding rang out.

Even though Lightning Release Chakra had stimulated Oyulo's body and primarily enhanced his strength, he was actually forced back by Chiyu.

Just as Chiyu had expected, Oyulo's technique had a follow-up.

As Oyulo was knocked back, a lightning blade formed on his ninja blade and rapidly slashed toward Chiyu.

The lightning blade struck Chiyu's longsword, turning into lightning that covered his entire body and shocked him.

"Now! Atuyi!"

In Oyulo's eyes, Chiyu had already been paralyzed by his lightning. This was the perfect chance to kill him.

Yet Atuyi did not appear as Oyulo had expected.

Oyulo turned his head to look, his eyes widening.

Atuyi was lying on the ground, half his body scorched by flames as he convulsed continuously.

"What happened?!"

Chiyu's earlier Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation should have been easy enough for Atuyi to evade at his speed. Why had Atuyi been hit?

"Heh, looks like it's taking effect."

Chiyu used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Atuyi, grabbed his hair, and lifted him up.

Chiyu's cold Sharingan stared at Oyulo as he mocked, "Why did you think your lightning could paralyze me? Did you think the lightning around my body was just for show?"

Only then did Oyulo notice that Atuyi's blood vessels had turned somewhat black. His expression immediately became exceedingly grim. "Those snakes from earlier?"

The snakes Chiyu had summoned with Hidden Shadow Snake Hands were venomous. While restraining Atuyi, they had bitten him and injected venom into his body.

Because Atuyi had been poisoned, he had failed to completely evade Chiyu's Great Fire Annihilation and had fallen to the ground convulsing.

Chiyu pointed the tip of his longsword at Atuyi's neck and smiled at Oyulo. "Don't worry. You're next!"

Without mercy, Chiyu drove his longsword through Atuyi's neck.

Atuyi, dangling from Chiyu's hand, struggled and convulsed a few times before dying.

Oyulo glared at Chiyu, his eyes splitting with rage.

Chiyu chuckled softly. "Why are you looking at me like that? The moment you kidnapped Kushina, weren't we already enemies to the death?"