Crisis

Swish, swish—!

Hum—!

Bang—!

A drop of liquid pierced the earth wall, and Ze's Earth Formation Wall exploded instantly.

Cold sweat poured down Ze's face, and he avoided the opponent's attack by a hair's breadth.

The Hozuki clan's secret technique.

Intelligence flashed through his mind, but his figure did not stop as his hands flew to throw shuriken. They cut through the air with a buzzing sound, pressing straight toward Hozuki Longyue.

"Too weak."

Hozuki Longyue's body turned into a puddle of water, slamming into the ground with a splash as his figure disappeared.

Cold sweat poured down Ze's face, his eyes darting all around.

Front, back, left, right...

Damn it. He gripped a kunai in his hand, and beads of sweat dripped from his fingers.

The opponent was simply too strong. He felt the man was no weaker than the captain.

"What are you so nervous about?"

Hozuki Longyue's voice came from behind him. Ze reversed his grip on the kunai, letting it slip from his hand as his hands formed seals rapidly.

Earth Release: Rock Pillar.

Bang, bang, bang—!

Rumble—!

The sounds of explosions were endless, and two figures clashed rapidly.

Under this kind of explosion, the nearby trees either snapped and fell to the ground with a loud bang or shattered into flying splinters that kicked up throughout the forest.

Whoosh, whoosh~

Goenji's expression was grave as he retreated a great distance.

"This Munashi Jinpachi is too much of a pain. Let's try again; Fuzei and Ze won't be able to last much longer."

He had underestimated the capability of the Exploding Blade Shibuki, thinking it was merely a simple explosive tag storage device.

He hadn't expected Munashi Jinpachi to be able to wield such massive power with it. He had once thought that, aside from Samehada, no blade was particularly useful. Now it seemed other ninja swords were not inferior either.

Tiger.

Goenji formed a seal with one hand, deciding to test Munashi Jinpachi's methods once more.

A large amount of chakra gathered in his throat and was compressed. While compressing it, Goenji's principle of leverage arranged itself simultaneously as he controlled the chakra.

Fire Release: Bringer of Flame.

After the Dragon Flame skill reached a certain level of proficiency, it became a ninjutsu that could be cast multiple times.

Roar—!

Roar, roar, roar—!

Five or six fire dragons spewed from Goenji's mouth.

The fire dragons impacted the air, bringing with them a scorching heat.

Under this impact and heat, the air itself began to distort.

"A remarkable fire release, but you're still far from defeating me."

Munashi Jinpachi could feel the power of the fire release. If he were hit, his body would surely be burned to ashes.

One could tell just from the surrounding leaves, which had not been directly struck but were nevertheless gradually turning yellow.

He chuckled, swiped across the Exploding Blade Shibuki, and formed a seal with one hand. The Shibuki unfurled, and explosive tags flew toward the fire dragons like a flying dragon in the form of several chained rows of tags.

"Chain Explosion."

Bang, bang, bang—!

Amidst his taunting voice, the explosive tags detonated one by one, intercepting the fire dragons and forming a wall of explosions that blocked all of them.

"Kid, do you want to resolve this quickly to go save your companions? Get past my barrier first."

Munashi Jinpachi taunted.

He glanced at the other battlefields and found that, apart from Hoshi Kaguya's side, which was somewhat evenly matched, the other two battlefields were close to finishing off their opponents.

He was already quite surprised that those two Konoha ninjas had been able to last this long in the hands of Fubuki Shiro and Hozuki Longyue.

One had to know that Fubuki Shiro was the most outstanding Kekkei Genkai ninja in Kirigakure when it came to using Ice Release. For that Aburame clan ninja to last such a period of time was remarkable.

The other, Hozuki Longyue, was also a Jonin of the Hozuki clan.

It didn't matter, though. As long as he held back this most troublesome Uchiha brat, he could accept it once his teammates eliminated their enemies.

Munashi Jinpachi could already sense this Uchiha's troublesome nature.

The opponent was far too well-rounded, and his tactical countermeasures were exceptionally brilliant. He simply had no weaknesses.

His combat experience was too rich, and his fire release was far too strong.

Even with him using the Exploding Blade Shibuki, he could only manage to drag him down.

"Hmph, is that so? Take a look around you." Goenji's grave expression finally shifted, the corners of his mouth curving up slowly.

Hearing this, Munashi Jinpachi looked at the surrounding environment.

His gaze hardened.

He saw that countless steel wires surrounded him on all sides, and another figure of Goenji had appeared across from him, holding the steel wires in his hands.

"Shadow Clone Technique."

"That's right, Iron Net Formation."

The Goenji clone's mouth hooked up. Chakra condensed, and flames like dragons rapidly spread outward along the steel wires.

Swish, swish, swish!~

The flames surrounded Munashi Jinpachi, leaving no footing anywhere around him.

How could he possibly let slip a skill like the Shadow Clone Technique?

Of course, this was also something he had secretly learned.

He hadn't specifically studied it in Konoha.

Now it was indeed coming in handy.

While he was clashing with the enemy using ninjutsu, he had secretly split off a clone and set a trap right here.

He knew Jonin were never easy to deal with.

Traps still needed to be laid.

As for the Fire Release: Iron Net Formation, it was simply an ability he had used before, to which he had now assigned a name.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

Goenji pulled hard, and the iron net formation sprang forth, surrounding Munashi Jinpachi to encircle him heavily.

"Damn it, when did he split off a clone?" Munashi Jinpachi watched the fire release closing in around him—and it was a heavy encirclement with absolutely no room for evasion.

Hum~

Swish—!

The Shibuki ninja tool scroll unfurled at length, and a continuous series of explosive tags marched out.

"Damn it, Kirigakure is actually willing to invest such a massive stake." Goenji used the Body Flicker Technique to head rapidly toward Aburame Fuzei's direction.

Kirigakure actually dispatched four Seven Ninja Swordsmen-level ninjas. This was simply outrageous.

Moreover, judging by the situation, the others were no weaker than Munashi Jinpachi and were even more troublesome to a certain extent.

Bang!

Half of Aburame Fuzei's body was already covered in ice and unable to move. Looking at the young man in the distance, even the breath she exhaled carried a chill.

Clack, clack!

Little bugs were frozen one by one, dropping onto the icy surface of the ground and making clacking sounds.

"Too strong."

Her secret technique pitted against Ice Release was simply at too great a disadvantage.

Moreover, the opponent possessed powerful combat experience, and his Ice Release was extremely proficient, wielded effortlessly as if plucking it from the air.

"I'm sorry, sister. Hostilities are all a matter of necessity, leaving me no choice but to let you go to the Pure Land here to see your elders."

Fubuki Shiro smiled slightly, then appeared to not want to drag out the time as he pointed a finger at Aburame Fuzei: "Ice Release: Ice Bullet."

Gentle words, a sunny smile.

And an ice bullet like the grim reaper.

A thumb-sized ice bullet appeared at his fingertips.

Whoosh~

Without any warning, the ice bullet cut through the air.

I... have reached my limit here then? I still have so many bugs I haven't raised, and there are many bugs in the world I haven't seen. I've heard that in distant regions, there are many bugs that have never been seen before...

Aburame Fuzei watched the ice bullet drawing closer and closer.

She no longer had the ability to deal with this kind of power.

She could only watch the ice bullet draw closer amidst the bitter cold.

Her mind raced like a revolving lantern, recalling her many regrets.

[Happy New Year. In the new year, the author guarantees a baseline of 10,000 words a day, starting with 4 million words a year. As for whether I'll be dual-publishing, we'll see how things go.]