The surviving Sunagakure Ninja nearby saw Hatake Sakumo pierce Liu's body. After the shock of the Amaterasu arrow earlier, they had scarcely any courage left. Liu was the strongest among them, yet even he could not withstand a single exchange with Hatake Sakumo. Who else could possibly stand against him?
While fear gripped the others, Hatake Sakumo gave them no time to think. He made several high-speed leaps in succession, and the nearby Sunagakure Ninja fell twitching to the ground, each with a kunai crackling with lightning embedded in their body.
"Come." Hatake Sakumo waved, and the nearby Konoha Ninja immediately swarmed forward. They bound the immobilized Sunagakure Ninja and stripped them of all their ninja tools to prevent them from killing themselves.
Then Hatake Sakumo looked at Liu, who had "died" in everyone else's eyes. He was lying facedown on the ground, gasping for breath, his entire body paralyzed by the powerful electric current. What the other Sunagakure Ninja had seen earlier was merely an illusion Sakumo had created with genjutsu.
Hatake Sakumo was not particularly skilled at genjutsu, but he knew that even a simple illusion could sometimes give an opponent trouble. For a ninja like him, who excelled at speed, even a slight delay in the rhythm of battle could change the outcome.
That was why Hatake Sakumo had asked his fellow disciple, Heizo Hattori, how to incorporate genjutsu into combat. Heizo Hattori was an expert in that field. He told Sakumo that, for a ninja who did not specialize in genjutsu, the best way to cast it quickly in battle was to make use of his greatest strength. That made it faster and far harder to guard against.
For Hatake Sakumo, who used Lightning Release, sight was the most suitable medium among the many schools of