Explosion of a Trapped Beast

Explosion of a Trapped Beast

Thanks to his experiences before transmigrating, Hyuga Yuto understood one principle very clearly.

Much of the time, what was written on paper did not reflect a leader's true intentions. The emotions revealed through a leader's tone and expression were the key information a subordinate should pay special attention to.

[Regardless of their purpose, prevent them from approaching the Land of Fire.] The completion conditions listed in the mission document were broad: simply stop them. Make Hidden Mist Village back down, deceive them, intimidate them, negotiate terms... As long as those people did not approach the Land of Fire, the mission would be considered complete.

But when Hyuga Yuto asked, "How far can I go?" he clearly saw the indifference in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes. His tone was as calm as iron frozen in winter.

—Kill those ants from the Land of Water. Twist off their heads, drain their blood, and bring their heads back to see me.

That was what the Third Hokage truly wanted to say.

As for why he had not said it outright, and why the mission document had used the milder word "prevent," it was probably because of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen's particular nature.

Though they shared the same title, there was actually a considerable gap in strength among the seven. Some, without their famed blades, were merely at the level of special jonin, while certain figures, such as "Suikazan Fuguki," were formidable even without Samehada.

Without being able to confirm the enemy's level of strength, naturally, he would not rashly issue an extermination order. This was, after all, an assessment for promotion to jonin. Throwing away the lives of potential elites for nothing would be far too wasteful. Sarutobi Hiruzen would not do such a thing.

As a scheming traitor with ulterior motives, Hyuga Yuto was quite adept at reading people's hearts. He immediately grasped Sarutobi Hiruzen's meaning.

So, he spent great effort searching for clues. With the Byakugan's uniquely advantageous scouting, farsight, and x-ray vision, he identified the point where the Hidden Mist group would cross over. It was in the Land of Waves.

Within the Byakugan's vast field of vision, he saw Explosive Blade: Splash.

Munashi Jinpachi... He was an expert, but only an expert.

He could be killed.

Boom!

The explosion's force was irresistible. Hyuga Yuto did not dare take it head-on and rapidly retreated.

Borrowing the force of the explosion, he flew back more than thirty meters. His feet slammed heavily onto the lake's surface, sending up enormous waves that eventually fell as mist-like drizzle.

Hyuga Yuto's clothes were soaked through, and veins bulged around his eyes.

"Hmph..." He tore off a scorched sleeve, his expression neither joyful nor sorrowful.

"Brat!" A thunderous roar came from beside him. Faster than the sound was a massive blade covered in explosive tags.

Hyuga Yuto abruptly leaned backward and dodged the strike.

To Munashi Jinpachi's surprise, this arrogant, detestable Hidden Leaf Village ninja did not use the chance to widen the distance. Instead, he swung both hands back and smashed them onto the lake's surface, using the momentum to rush to his side.

Munashi Jinpachi shuddered inwardly. When it came to fighting and killing in confined spaces, the Hyuga were undisputed masters, their clan's teachings steeped in such combat.

However, a man who wielded a massive blade day and night naturally had ways of handling close-quarters entanglement. He leaped backward even faster, moving somewhat like a startled wildcat, and in the blink of an eye opened the distance once more.

Hyuga Yuto did not pursue. Instead, he straightened his body and raised one leg high, until the sole of his right foot faced the sky.

The next moment, that leg crashed down like a battle axe falling from the heavens, its chakra condensed almost into a single point.

"Heavenly Guard Foot!"

The lake water within a hundred-meter radius was all forced aside and hurled into the air. The towering waves crashed onto the shore, snapping trees and destroying the road.

The soft mud at the bottom of the lake was exposed.

Caught completely unprepared, Munashi Jinpachi lost his footing. Unable to borrow force in midair, he could only fall freely.

In contrast, Hyuga Yuto used the recoil from Heavenly Guard Foot to charge in again.

He avoided the massive blade and drove a fist into Munashi Jinpachi's abdomen. Because of Heavenly Guard Foot, Hyuga Yuto's chakra circulation was somewhat sluggish at the moment. In his haste, he could only use the Gentle Fist he was most proficient in.

But that was enough.

The branch family youth's chakra surged into his enemy's body, almost instantly destroying Munashi Jinpachi's stomach.

Blood mixed with fragments of internal organs sprayed from Munashi Jinpachi's mouth, staining Hyuga Yuto's chest red.

I've won! Hyuga Yuto's heart stirred. He raised two fingers together, about to strike mercilessly and sever the enemy's throat.

However, he had not expected that at that very moment, a tremendous force would suddenly strike from his left.

—Munashi Jinpachi had detonated the talismans wrapped around his blade.

A tactic that injured the enemy by a thousand while damaging himself by eight hundred had produced a remarkable effect at this moment. Both men were blown away by the explosion, flew over the lake, and crashed into the rainforest by the shore.

Hyuga Yuto's blood and qi churned, but half a year of arduous training had made him far stronger. His control over his body and chakra was no longer comparable to what it had once been.

He swallowed the taste of blood, adjusted his posture, and landed with both feet on a puddle in the rainforest. He was surprisingly not badly injured.

"Something's wrong. The water is too heavy..." Hyuga Yuto's body stalled slightly. Under the Byakugan's vision, a mass of extremely dense water was spreading upward from his legs.

Water Prison Technique!

The Hidden Mist Village ninjas who had come with Munashi Jinpachi finally joined the battle at this moment.

As expected of elite chunin, their grasp of timing was excellent. The instant they chose to intervene was precisely when Hyuga Yuto had landed and his control over his body was at its weakest. If an ordinary jonin had been trapped by the Water Prison Technique like this, the situation would have immediately reversed, turning him into a lamb at the butcher's mercy.

Unfortunately, their opponent was Hyuga Yuto.

"Rotation!"

The branch family youth shook both hands, first dispersing the heavy water clinging to his legs. Then his body began spinning at high speed, chakra surging wildly from his chakra points to form an impenetrable spherical shield.

Rumble...

Including the Hidden Mist Village ninja who had used the Water Prison Technique, all four Hidden Mist chunin charging at him were sent flying, flung who knew how far away.

Hyuga Yuto stopped spinning, his face pale.

After consecutively using Heavenly Guard Foot and Rotation, he had consumed an enormous amount of chakra. His muscles and meridians throbbed with pain.

This revealed his current weakness in battle. All he excelled at were close-combat attacks, while he knew almost nothing about mid- to long-range ninjutsu. Against a blade expert like Munashi Jinpachi, he could only fight with his body head-on. The risk was far too great.

"Luckily, I've already smashed your stomach..." the branch family youth sighed inwardly, focusing his attention on Munashi Jinpachi in the distance.

The instant he clearly saw his enemy, Hyuga Yuto's heart skipped a beat.

Munashi Jinpachi was now kneeling on the ground, clutching his massive blade. He neither fled nor begged for mercy. Instead, like a desperate beast, he howled madly at Hyuga Yuto:

"Die, brat! We're going together!"

—He wanted to completely detonate the blade's explosive scroll!

The explosive scroll connected to the blade was around thirty centimeters in diameter and roughly a meter long... Even excluding the mechanism and the flexible cloth used to transmit the explosive tags along the seams, it had to contain at least twenty thousand explosive tags!

At this distance... at my speed, I can't kill him before the scroll detonates, Hyuga Yuto judged.

"Brother, don't be hasty. Let's talk this out. How about this... Give me the blade, then cut off your right hand, and I'll let you go..." Hyuga Yuto's figure blurred as he sprinted madly backward, trying to provoke his enemy with words and buy himself time to escape.

"Hahahaha! Die! All of you, die!"

Munashi Jinpachi wailed and roared.

A mushroom cloud filled with the aura of destruction rose at the edge of the island.

(End of Chapter)