A Finger Pierces the Root, Finger Gun's Debut

A braced himself as if facing a formidable enemy.

A ninja's instincts drove him to use the Body Flicker Technique to retreat rapidly, trying to put a safe distance between himself and Qian Ye.

He pushed his chakra to its limit.

His feet struck the tree trunks in rapid succession, leaving afterimages in his wake.

This was too bizarre.

That arm was practically harder than refined steel.

A had endured the cruelest training in Root and witnessed many Bloodline Limits and secret techniques.

Yet he had never seen a monster like this, one who compressed chakra into acupuncture points and then used his body to withstand a chakra blade head-on.

He had to widen the distance.

He would wear Qian Ye down with Explosive Tags and Wind Release.

A retreated over thirty meters in one breath, landing steadily on a thick branch.

He was just about to form hand seals.

The next second, a slightly weak voice came from behind him.

"Why are you running so fast? The Pure Land doesn't hand out attendance bonuses."

Every hair on A's body stood on end.

When?

He had not even seen how his opponent caught up to him.

No hand seals.

The chakra fluctuations had been absurdly weak as well.

He had only heard a string of rapid footfalls before his opponent was already behind him.

A had no time to turn around, so he swung his short blade backward in a blind slash.

The blade sliced through the air with a piercing whistle.

But it only struck an afterimage that had not yet faded.

"Good. You're a little slower than I expected."

Qian Ye's voice came from the other side.

He raised his right hand and straightened his index finger.

Chakra surged through his meridians into the acupuncture points near his index finger.

His muscle fibers rapidly tightened under the Six Powers' force-generation technique.

A dark bluish sheen appeared over his fingertip.

Six Powers, Finger Gun!

Qian Ye did not aim for A's heart. He avoided the shoulder bone and targeted A's right shoulder, the one holding the blade.

His finger suddenly thrust forward.

Pfft.

A dull sound of penetration rang out.

A's skintight combat uniform and shoulder muscles were pierced through by a single finger, and the joint was knocked out of place by the tyrannical impact.

Blood sprayed out.

"Aaah!"

A let out a scream. His right hand lost all strength, and his short blade clanged to the ground.

Clutching his shoulder, he fell from the branch.

His body crashed heavily into the muddy ground, leaving behind a shallow pit.

In the distance, Hyuga Tianfeng clutched his thigh, his mouth slightly agape.

His Byakugan was still active.

He saw everything clearly.

Qian Ye had not used the Body Flicker Technique. He had merely concentrated a small amount of chakra into several acupuncture points in his legs.

Then, relying on a burst of physical strength, he had forcibly caught up to A's Body Flicker Technique!

When that finger pierced A's shoulder, there had been no complex chakra transformation either, only nearly brutal acupuncture-point reinforcement.

Was this Lord Orochimaru's personal disciple?

Was this guy really only twelve years old?

Qian Ye jumped down from the tree, and his right leg gave slightly when he landed.

The burst just now had strained his muscles, but he still walked toward A as though nothing had happened.

A struggled to get back up.

Qian Ye stepped on A's chest, while also guarding against him biting open the poison capsule in his mouth.

The force was not light. A's ribs creaked beneath it.

"Weren't you pretty talkative just now?"

Qian Ye looked down at him, though his breathing was more hurried than usual.

"Keep reciting it. What happened to Lord White Fang? And who's the Root of Hidden Leaf?"

A's entire body convulsed with pain. His lips remained tightly shut, and he did not say another word.

The Hatake Style Swordsmanship he had been so proud of had actually been broken head-on by a twelve-year-old Genin.

A brief silence fell over the area.

The remaining dozen or so Root ninjas paused slightly, their gazes locking onto Qian Ye at the same time.

They were killing machines stripped of emotion.

But that did not mean they could not assess combat strength.

A's strength ranked among the best in Root.

He was proficient in Hatake Style Swordsmanship, and with chakra nature transformation, he could even contend head-on with a Special Jonin.

Yet now, a twelve-year-old civilian Genin had crippled his right shoulder and was using him as a hostage beneath his foot.

This had already exceeded the mission intel.

In the distance.

Uchiha Yan struggled to climb up from the ground.

His face was covered in blood. His One-Tomoe Sharingan had reverted to ordinary black eyes from chakra exhaustion.

"Fire Release..."

Yan's hands trembled as he formed hand seals, attempting one last counterattack.

B, standing before him, did not turn around.

B spun around and delivered a powerful roundhouse kick.

Bang!

The sole of his shoe smashed viciously into Uchiha Yan's face.

Yan did not even have time to scream. His body spun twice through the air before crashing heavily into a tree trunk.

He fainted on the spot.

B withdrew his leg and turned to look at Qian Ye.

Beneath his mask, his brows were already tightly furrowed.

A had lost too quickly.

So quickly that he had not had time to organize a rescue.

This brat named Qian Ye completely failed to match the intelligence report.

The report claimed he was merely a civilian Genin skilled with Explosive Tag traps and special ninja tools.

But what kind of Genin could block a chakra blade with his arm?

And what kind of Genin could compress chakra into acupuncture points and use such a lethal taijutsu without hand seals?

"Everyone, attention."

B quickly made tactical hand signals.

"The target possesses an unknown taijutsu secret technique. His close-combat capability is close to that of a Jonin."

"Widen the distance, seal off his escape routes, and focus fire with ninjutsu!"

The Root ninjas immediately sprang into action.

They abandoned the heavily injured Ino–Shika–Cho trio and shifted positions through the trees, forming a semicircular encirclement around Qian Ye.

More than a dozen pairs of hands began forming seals at once.

Fire Release, Wind Release, Lightning Release.

Chakra of different attributes rapidly gathered in the forest.

The air grew heavy with it.

Clutching his thigh, Hyuga Tianfeng shouted urgently.

"Qian Ye, forget about A! Get out of there!"

"They're going to use combined ninjutsu!"

Tianfeng knew Root's encirclement tactics well.

Once they widened the distance and completed their focused barrage, even a Jonin could die on the spot, let alone a Genin.

Qian Ye did not flee immediately, though a layer of cold sweat seeped across his forehead.

His foot remained on A because several ninjutsu had already sealed off his escape routes.

"Combined ninjutsu?"

Qian Ye swallowed, but his words remained defiant.

"So many of you are fighting one Genin. You have no sense of fair play."

B stood at the front, his hand seals already complete.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

A violent chakra storm burst from B's mouth.

The gale swept forward.

The surrounding shrubs were uprooted.

Immediately afterward, the other Root ninjas' techniques came roaring in as well.

Several fireballs merged into the storm. The wind fueled the flames, quickly turning it into a massive flaming tornado.

Lightning flickered through the flames, producing ear-piercing crackles.

The temperature throughout the forest rapidly rose.

Pakura sat in the distant grass, both hands gripping that revolver.

As she stared at the flame tornado blotting out the sky, her heart sank bit by bit.

Against a combined ninjutsu of this scale, even at her peak, she would have needed to use Scorch Release to defend head-on.

That Hidden Leaf brat probably could not withstand it.

Pakura gritted her teeth.

If Qian Ye died, she would not survive either.

These masked people would never leave her, a witness, alive.

Facing the howling firestorm, Qian Ye slowly raised his right leg.

Chakra circulated through his meridians at high speed.

It flowed from his thigh into the acupuncture points near his calf and toes.

Layer after layer, his muscle fibers tightened, sending needle-like pain through his body.

Among the Six Powers force-generation secrets passed on by Zhao Hai, this was the long-range move with the greatest destructive power.

Six Powers.

Tempest Kick.