"Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
The wall rose more than ten meters high and nearly five meters thick.
The explosive flames slammed into it.
The outer layer of earth and stone rapidly scorched and cracked.
Boom!
The first layer of the wall shattered.
The thicker rock behind it held firm.
Cracks spread across its surface.
Blackened chunks of stone sprayed backward.
By the time the flames dispersed, less than half of the oversized Earth-Style Wall remained, but Lie Yang stood steady behind it.
Shisui did not hesitate.
The Susanoo Spiral Spear pierced the ruined wall!
Thud!
The spear punched through the thick rock.
Countless fragments burst outward.
Its tip swept past Lie Yang's chest.
As Lie Yang twisted aside, a mass of rapidly spinning Chakra had already formed above his right palm.
No Hand Seals.
No complex transformation.
Chakra compressed rapidly in his palm, while fine arcs of lightning snapped within it.
Rasengan!
And it was a Rasengan infused with Lightning Release!
Lie Yang flicked his wrist.
The fist-sized Lightning Release Rasengan flew from his hand, shot through the narrow opening left by the spear, and struck Susanoo square in the abdomen!
Crackle!
Blinding lightning erupted.
The Lightning Release Rasengan did not explode. It spun like a high-speed drill, grinding away the muscle and bone on Susanoo's surface.
Green Chakra sprayed everywhere.
An inch.
Three inches.
Half a meter!
The spinning lightning drove deeper, boring a hole a full meter into Susanoo's abdomen!
Shisui's pupils contracted sharply.
"Rasengan?"
"The Fourth Hokage's Ninjutsu!"
Kakashi's head snapped up.
Lie Yang had not only mastered the Rasengan—he had infused it with Lightning Release, allowing a Ninjutsu originally meant for close combat to fly from his hand!
Before Shisui could recover from the shock, Lie Yang himself used the wall as cover and rushed up to Susanoo's abdomen.
He raised his right hand.
Fresh Chakra spun at high speed in his palm.
A piercing shriek rang across the battlefield.
A vast amount of Wind Release Chakra extended outward, rapidly forming four sharp blades!
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!
Lie Yang drove the completed Ninjutsu straight into the hole bored by the Lightning Release Rasengan.
Boom!
The high-frequency vibrations of the Wind Release Chakra erupted!
Countless fine needles of wind sprayed through Susanoo's interior.
Layers of green muscle tore apart.
Dense cracks spread across the ribs.
Shisui could even feel the searing pain rebounding through his body and meridians as the wind needles pierced Susanoo.
"Genjutsu!"
Ignoring how close his eyes were to their limit, he unleashed the full force of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Invisible mental power swept through the damaged Susanoo and struck directly at Lie Yang's mind.
Darkness swiftly engulfed his five senses.
Countless whispers rose from deep within his mind, trying to twist his judgment and disrupt his movements.
But Lie Yang did not pause for an instant.
With his First-Stage Gene Lock open, his five senses had long since been separated from Chakra interference.
Sound was sound.
Sight was sight.
False sensations created by Chakra could not shake the mental foundation tempered by his Gene Lock.
The Mangekyō Sharingan Genjutsu seemed to strike an impenetrable barrier.
Every tendril of influence was crushed by his concentrated will the moment it drew near.
During the journey, Lie Yang had repeatedly tested this with the Shadow Clone Technique.
Ordinary Genjutsu could not control him.
Even the stronger Mangekyō Sharingan Genjutsu could only give his mind a brief jolt.
Lie Yang pressed forward.
The Rasenshuriken kept tearing through Susanoo.
Fine Wind Release needles rebounded against his arm as well.
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
His sleeve shredded instantly.
Dense cuts opened across his skin.
Even finer needles burrowed into his muscles and sliced through his nerves. Agony surged up his arm and hammered his brain.
But Lie Yang did not let go.
The scorching current within him surged again.
It could not heal his wounds.
Nor could it stop the bleeding.
Yet amid the pain and mental assault, it kept flowing into the depths of his mind, tempering his mental foundation again and again.
By now, the battle had taken an immense toll on him too.
More than twenty uses of Lightning Body Flicker.
Several Ninja Blades and Kunai destroyed one after another.
His Chakra, stamina, and mind were all nearing their limits.
The backlash from the Rasenshuriken had left his arm a bloody wreck.
But Shisui was in even worse shape.
His face was pale.
Blood stained the corner of his mouth.
Blood had turned his eyes completely red.
Susanoo's abdomen was almost pierced through, while its chest and ribs kept breaking apart under the high-frequency wind needles.
Lie Yang had mastered the Rasengan.
And he had completed its transformation with both lightning and wind.
He had gone down a path even the Fourth Hokage had failed to complete in his lifetime!
"Monster..."
Shisui bit through the tip of his tongue, forcing himself to stay conscious.
If he kept defending, the Rasenshuriken would tear him apart.
Genjutsu could not affect Lie Yang.
And in this condition, there was no chance he could use Kotoamatsukami accurately.
He could only fight with everything he had!
Shisui poured the last of his ocular power into Susanoo.
Its shattered chest sprang open!
Several orange Tomoe spun rapidly across its chest.
An enormous mass of Chakra compressed furiously, forming green arrows as solid as steel.
Ten!
Twenty!
Dozens of green arrows crowded Susanoo's chest, their sharp tips locking onto Lie Yang at once.
Blood streamed from Shisui's eyes as he launched one final counterattack with all his strength.
Dozens of green arrows shot out, instantly sealing off every route Lie Yang could take to dodge!
The arrows tore through the air.
Lie Yang's right Mangekyō Sharingan spun wildly.
The angle, speed, and spacing of each arrow, along with the slightest changes in their Chakra flow—all of it registered in his eye.
Too dense!
Susanoo was crumbling in front of him, while arrows blocked his retreat and both sides. Every arrow could pierce a rock wall, and together they left no clear opening to dodge through.
Kakashi's expression changed sharply.
"Back!"
He seized Kurenai Yuhi and raced away.
Dragging his torn Achilles tendon, Might Guy hopped sideways on one foot.
The three had barely retreated a few dozen meters when the first arrow reached Lie Yang!
Time seemed to stretch.
The compressed air before the arrowhead slowly split apart.
Behind it, more arrows closed in along intersecting paths.
One aimed between his eyes.
Two covered his throat and heart.
Several more targeted his abdomen, legs, and shoulders, forcing him to take a hit head-on.
Lie Yang could even see every thread of Wind Release Chakra flowing across the arrowheads.
Seeing them was one thing.
Dodging them all in time was another.
His Chakra was nearly exhausted.
The Rasenshuriken's backlash had shredded the muscles and nerves in his hands with high-frequency wind needles. Even making a fist was difficult.
He could no longer use Lightning Body Flicker.
The prolonged battle had slowed him down as well.
Any other ninja could only have closed his eyes and waited to die.
But the vacant look in Lie Yang's eyes deepened.
His First-Stage Gene Lock compressed his remaining mental strength to its limit.
He forced aside all pain, fatigue, and stray thoughts.
Only the arrows remained in his mind.
The first: turn his head right.
The second: lower his shoulder.
The third: twist his waist.
The fourth: forward!
His body moved.
His right foot stepped half a pace forward.
The first arrow grazed his cheek, its sharp wind blade shearing away a large patch of flesh.
Lie Yang did not stop.
His left shoulder dropped sharply, and the second arrow skimmed past his collarbone.
Before you continue