Helplessness

"Ha, ha, ha! Kid, how did that taste?" Gu Chuan Mu He laughed triumphantly.

With that, he pulled out three more kunai with Explosive Tags attached and threw them straight into the forest of Earth Flow Spears.

The dense earth spikes blocked his view, preventing him from seeing Yizhe's exact situation within. To avoid wasting Chakra unnecessarily, he chose to throw kunai with Explosive Tags.

Sensing that the attacks had stopped, Yizhe canceled Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and immediately spotted the kunai closing in on him.

"Water Release: Extreme Water Wave!"

This was an enhanced form of Water Wave. Yizhe greatly reduced Water Wave's range of impact, thereby increasing the force of the water's pressure.

The originally scattered stream turned into a high-pressure water column. Though it was worlds apart from Water Severing Wave, dealing with three kunai was effortless.

The massive water column Yizhe sprayed from his mouth directly blasted the three kunai back the way they had come.

"What?!"

Gu Chuan Mu He was startled when he saw the blue water column erupt from the forest of earth spikes.

He hurriedly dodged the kunai flying back within the water column.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The thunderous explosions echoed across the battlefield, whipping up a blizzard!

"Perfect chance!"

Using the snowstorm from the explosions to obscure the surrounding view, Yizhe swiftly leaped out of the forest of earth spikes.

He charged straight at his opponent!

"Don't even think about it!"

The snowstorm quickly dispersed, and Gu Chuan Mu He immediately saw Yizhe rushing toward him.

"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

Gu Chuan Mu He kicked off the ground and rapidly retreated while quickly unleashing a ninjutsu.

A huge dragon head made of mud emerged where he had been standing, opening its maw wide at Yizhe.

Countless mud bullets poured forth like raindrops.

Unfortunately, unlike his earlier battle with Furukawa Muchi, Yizhe stood firmly on the ground and simply flashed to the side, easily evading the mud bullets.

He continued charging straight toward Gu Chuan Mu He!

"Damn it!" Gu Chuan Mu He cursed inwardly.

Yizhe seemed much faster than him and quickly caught up.

As the two chased each other, Gu Chuan Mu He had no chance to focus on forming hand seals. Every time he began, he had to interrupt himself to dodge the shuriken Yizhe threw.

"Got you!" Delight flashed in Yizhe's eyes.

The distance between them had become very short; they seemed able to hear each other's breathing.

But intimidated by the Hyuga Clan's fearsome reputation, Gu Chuan Mu He had never dared to engage Yizhe in taijutsu and had only kept dodging.

A pale-blue sphere of light slowly began to gather in Yizhe's right hand.

"Die!" Yizhe roared.

He suddenly accelerated, slamming the Rasengan in his right hand toward his opponent.

Yet to his surprise, a strange smile appeared on Gu Chuan Mu He's face.

What shocked Yizhe even more was that Gu Chuan Mu He actually turned around, intending to take the Rasengan head-on with his chest.

Bang—

By Gu Chuan Mu He's deliberate design, the Rasengan struck his chest with perfect accuracy.

"What?!" Yizhe was utterly stunned.

The Rasengan's immense power had already been demonstrated on Furukawa Muchi.

What astonished Yizhe was that when such a powerful technique reached within an inch of Gu Chuan Mu He's chest, it could not advance even a fraction further!

It was as though some barrier had blocked the Rasengan outside, making it utterly unable to touch Gu Chuan Mu He within.

While Yizhe froze over the Rasengan's failure to achieve anything, Gu Chuan Mu He had already prepared a ninjutsu.

"Ha, ha, ha! Kid, go join my son and brother in death!" he laughed wantonly.

"Ice Release: Ice Spike Hell!"

In an instant, clusters of nearly two-meter-tall ice spikes suddenly rose from the ground within a radius of almost ten meters around Gu Chuan Mu He.

As far as the eye could see, it was an entire forest of ice spikes!

Yizhe, still dazed over the Rasengan, failed to react before sharp ice spikes pierced through his body!

Puff!

Yizhe, impaled upon the ice spikes, turned into a wisp of smoke.

"What is going on?!"

"What the hell happened?!" Gu Chuan Mu He roared hysterically.

He had originally taken one of Yizhe's techniques head-on to create an opportunity for a one-hit kill. He had never expected such a result.

How could that not make his fury blaze?

He was so enraged that his lungs felt ready to burst!

Clap, clap, clap!

A round of applause came from where Furukawa Muchi had repeatedly used Earth Release to attack Yizhe. Then, a white figure slowly walked out.

It turned out that after using Water Wave, Yizhe had taken advantage of Gu Chuan Mu He's obstructed vision to create a Shadow Clone and send it out to probe his opponent's abilities.

Meanwhile, he himself had remained hidden in place, observing Gu Chuan Mu He's every move.

"Ha, ha, ha! Impressive! Truly impressive!" Realizing he had been toyed with by a mere Shadow Clone all along, Gu Chuan Mu He laughed in extreme anger.

"May I ask, Mr. Furukawa, exactly how did you block that ninjutsu of mine?" Yizhe asked.

Though he was surprised that Gu Chuan Mu He could use Ice Release, he was even more curious about what method Gu Chuan Mu He had used to stop his Rasengan.

"You want to know?"

"Go to hell and ask my son and brother!" Gu Chuan Mu He shouted.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!"

Taking advantage of the instant his opponent opened his mouth, Yizhe gathered Chakra and unleashed a ninjutsu.

It was a blade of wind formed from a powerful cutting gale.

The wind was incredibly fast. By the time Gu Chuan Mu He realized Yizhe had used a ninjutsu, he had already been hit.

The wind blade came slashing straight down over his head.

"What?!" Yizhe's eyes widened in shock.

The sharp wind blade struck Gu Chuan Mu He, but it had no effect at all. He was completely unharmed!

Why was this happening? Stormy waves surged through Yizhe's heart.

As far as he knew, he had never heard of or seen in any records a method capable of rendering ninjutsu attacks ineffective.

How exactly had Gu Chuan Mu He done it? Yizhe could not figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

"Ice Release: Ice Needles!"

Just as Yizhe was deep in thought, Gu Chuan Mu He launched another round of attacks.

A dense cluster of senbon needles materialized out of thin air directly above Yizhe.

They were all long needles condensed from ice!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The needles shot down through the air, but once again landed on empty ground.

Yizhe no longer held back his strength. He charged at his opponent at full speed, even faster than before.

He wanted to confirm once more whether Gu Chuan Mu He was truly completely immune to his ninjutsu attacks.

"Earth Release: Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!"

Gu Chuan Mu He rapidly retreated and unleashed Earth Flow Spears, attempting to stop Yizhe's advance.

Unfortunately, Yizhe had been prepared this time. Already sprinting at full speed, he easily rushed past the technique's range of attack.

Whoosh, whoosh!

With his left hand, he threw two shuriken, interrupting Gu Chuan Mu He's attempt to form hand seals again. In his right hand, another pale-blue spinning sphere of light formed.

"Damn it!" Gu Chuan Mu He cursed furiously.

But he was slower than Yizhe, and ninja tools such as shuriken could not possibly hit someone moving as fast as Yizhe.

He could only watch helplessly as Yizhe approached, unable to do anything!

In only a few breaths, Yizhe closed in on him again, then used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind him.

Bang!

Yizhe fiercely slammed another Rasengan into Gu Chuan Mu He!

But this time, Yizhe did not target his front. He chose his back instead.

Maybe attacking from behind would work? he thought.

After all, Gu Chuan Mu He had deliberately used his chest to block the Rasengan before.