At the sight of that Stone Ninja, Shin'un seemed to have found his target. His chakra circulated tightly, his mind focused intensely, and he activated the Body Flicker Technique at once.
Like a phantom, Shin'un vanished from where he stood, swept over the heads of several Konoha ninja standing ahead of him, and charged toward the Iwagakure jonin at a speed approaching teleportation.
Still in midair, Shin'un brought his hands together and rapidly formed hand seals, his ninjutsu poised to launch.
Lightning Release: False Darkness!
Several lightning spears formed, smaller than before but just as condensed and lethal.
Shin'un waved his hand, and the lightning spears immediately whistled toward the Iwagakure jonin.
"Hm?"
The Iwagakure jonin had just stepped out of the dense woods when he suddenly sensed something wrong. Every hair on his body stood on end, and his pupils contracted. Before he could look for the source of the attack, his body reacted, gathering chakra beneath his feet and instantly activating the Body Flicker Technique.
The next moment.
Boom!
As though anticipating that the Iwagakure jonin would dodge, several lightning spears in succession grazed his body and pierced the ground.
"Aah!"
The searing, dangerous lightning spears grazed his body. Their current not only burned the parts of the Stone Ninja's body they touched, but also spread through him instantly, making his whole body convulse briefly.
Then the lightning spears embedded in the ground gradually broke apart, their current bursting outward to cover the surroundings and engulf the nearby Iwagakure jonin as well.
The current erupting from the lightning spears was extremely violent, blasting the surrounding mud into the air and once again blocking everyone else's view of what was inside.
Just then, Shin'un arrived with the Body Flicker Technique and stopped a short distance from the Stone Ninja.
Seeing the Iwagakure jonin's figure hidden once again by the splashing mud, Shin'un's eyes immediately gleamed. His powerful dynamic vision tracked every movement within the mud as his hands rapidly formed seals, beginning the preparations he had planned.
After a brief wait, a sound suddenly came from the muddy ground behind Shin'un.
Shin'un turned his head slightly. As though repeating the earlier scene, the Stone Ninja used Earth Release to appear behind him again.
Shin'un immediately turned to face the Stone Ninja behind him.
Poof~
Just as expected, halfway through Shin'un's turn, the Stone Ninja who had sprung from the mud turned into a stone statue. Behind him, the Iwagakure jonin burst through the mud thrown up by the lightning spears, revealing a savage grin as he raised his enormous stone fist and charged at Shin'un again.
"Die!"
Thud!
With a delighted grin on his face, the Stone Ninja brought his Rock Fist crashing down. Shin'un offered no resistance at all and was driven straight down by the tremendous force.
The Stone Ninja was about to sneer when he suddenly realized something was wrong and immediately lifted the Rock Fist that had struck Shin'un.
Beneath the lifted Rock Fist lay an enormous crater, ample proof of the tremendous power of his blow. But what alarmed the Stone Ninja was that the sight he had imagined-the Konoha brat smashed into pulp-was nowhere to be seen.
Not only that, but as he moved his Rock Fist away, the Stone Ninja saw wisps of smoke slowly drifting apart.
"Shadow Clone!"
At the sight of that smoke, the Stone Ninja immediately understood. His opponent had used a Shadow Clone to try to lure his real body out of hiding.
Their positions in the open and in hiding would reverse, and his opponent would launch a lethal attack from the shadows to kill him!
At that thought, the Stone Ninja started to turn his head, as though searching for the real Shin'un hiding nearby.
Shhk!
A lightning spear had appeared behind the Stone Ninja at some unknown moment. Its burst at close range gave him no chance to react, and the sharp spear pierced straight through his chest.
"Urgh~"
With the lightning spear through him, the convulsing Iwagakure jonin stubbornly turned his head toward Shin'un, who had appeared behind him at some unknown moment, seemingly wanting to speak.
But Shin'un had no interest whatsoever in what the Stone Ninja wanted to say. He directly detonated the lightning spear in his hand, still embedded in the Stone Ninja's chest.
The condensed lightning spear immediately reverted to a violent current, electrocuting the Iwagakure jonin until he was charred black and utterly dead.
Looking at the dead Stone Ninja before him, Shin'un withdrew the scattered current in his hand and turned toward the dense woods, seemingly intending to return and help his teammates.
Suddenly, Shin'un felt movement beneath his feet. He was just about to flicker away when a pair of large hands emerged from the mud and seized his ankles.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu!"
By the time Shin'un reacted again, his entire body had been dragged into the mud, leaving only his mud-spattered head exposed. His field of vision lowered accordingly. Now he could only survey his surroundings at ground level, as though lying flat, and everything around him seemed magnified several times over, towering more than ten times higher than him.
"Stupid brat!"
The Stone Ninja's voice rang out, making Shin'un freeze as he struggled with all his strength to break free.
Looking up, he saw the Iwagakure jonin appear in his field of vision once again, completely unharmed.
At the sight, Shin'un, trapped in the deep pit, seemed suddenly startled and strained to turn his head behind him.
Sure enough, the Iwagakure jonin who had been electrocuted into charcoal had turned into a stone statue.
It was clearly a Rock Clone.
When he turned back again, the Stone Ninja had already arrived in front of him.
He squatted before Shin'un with his legs spread, leaving the space between them wide open as he looked down at Shin'un's head protruding from the ground.
Seemingly amused by Shin'un's crude scheme, he mocked him without restraint.
"I didn't expect you to survive my charged-up Rock Fist."
"What a shame. The life you fought so hard to save is about to disappear!"
As he spoke, the Stone Ninja raised a kunai and aimed it at Shin'un's eye socket with a cruel, savage grin.
"You actually planned to use the mud blocking my vision to lure me into using the same plan against you again, just like in the woods?"
"How ridiculous. Did you think I'd use the same scheme against the same ninja?"
As he spoke, the Stone Ninja thrust his arm forward, driving the kunai straight into Shin'un's eye socket.
"Go to hell with your regret and resentment!"
The Stone Ninja had been staring at Shin'un's head beneath him, waiting to confirm his death.
But after the kunai pierced the eye socket, the Stone Ninja suddenly noticed something wrong.
"Hm? That doesn't feel right!"
The next moment, his intuition was proven correct.
The Konoha brat trapped underground with only his head exposed suddenly burst into wisps of smoke, which the downpour broke apart and quickly dispersed.
"Shadow Clone!"
Realizing he had been tricked, the Stone Ninja immediately shuddered, breaking into a cold sweat.
The next moment, he heard a rapid series of shrill electrical crackles behind him.
Bzzzt~
The seasoned Stone Ninja overcame his innate human instinct and did not turn to look. Instead, he immediately channeled chakra into his legs and flickered away.
Whoosh~
The Body Flicker Technique succeeded, and the Iwagakure jonin reached a clearing more than thirty meters from his previous position.
Looking back, he saw Shin'un crouching on the ground, violent currents coiling around his entire body.
At the sight, the Stone Ninja let out a breath, still shaken.
All right, it should be safe here.
The thought had barely formed when a tingling sensation arose beneath his feet.
The Stone Ninja's expression changed drastically, and he immediately tried to use the Body Flicker Technique. But the current spreading through the puddles on the ground flowed without end, paralyzing him where he stood, his entire body convulsing and unable to move.