The battle between Uzumaki Sōnagi and Naruto Uzumaki had already begun.
It started with a brief clash, but right away Naruto was kicked flying by Sōnagi.
Although Sōnagi couldn't use Thunder Breathing Sword Techniques, his innate speed alone was formidable.
Naruto stood up from the ground while holding his stomach. His face twisted slightly in pain as he grumbled inwardly about how heavy the strike had been.
But this was also how Sōnagi let Naruto know—that this fight was serious.
Naruto adjusted his breathing. He'd been waiting for Sōnagi to get serious all along.
[Wind Breathing: First Sword Type – Dust Cyclone Slash!]
Naruto charged rapidly at Sōnagi, leaving behind a spiraling wind blade that sliced into the ground and slashed toward Sōnagi.
Sōnagi formed hand seals and placed both hands in front of his mouth.
[Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!]
He exhaled a stream of flame from his mouth, sending it surging toward Naruto.
The flames surged into Naruto's wind, fanned even larger by the gusts.
The fire scorched Naruto, forcing him to stop his sword technique mid-motion.
[Earth Release: Split Earth Turnaround!]
Sōnagi concentrated chakra into his palm and slammed it against the ground, causing the earth to crack and attack Naruto.
Naruto leaped into the air to dodge.
"That fast, huh? Got you wide open!"
In an instant, Sōnagi disappeared and reappeared behind Naruto midair. He drove his knee hard into Naruto's back.
Yet in the next moment, Naruto turned into smoke, which stunned Sōnagi briefly.
Landing on the ground, Sōnagi muttered, "A Shadow Clone? Right when you canceled your sword move..."
Suddenly,
the ground beneath Sōnagi trembled. From underground, Naruto burst forth.
[Wind Breathing, Fourth Stage – Ascending Dust Storm!]
Naruto swung upward, releasing five wind blades that sliced toward Sōnagi.
[Water Release: Water Prison Technique!]
Sōnagi quickly formed multiple hand seals—his two-handed seal speed far surpassing single-handed ones.
He spat out large amounts of water from his mouth, shaping it into a spherical prison around himself.
Naruto's wind blades struck Sōnagi's water prison. Once inside the water, their speed and power dropped drastically, no longer posing a real threat.
After canceling the Water Prison, Sōnagi glanced at the hole in the ground and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You used the terrain wrecked by your own wind blades to hide the tunnel you dug beneath. That's actually quite clever."
Naruto shot back, "Not bad using a water prison to counter my wind blades—but tell me, is that really all you've got?"
Naruto sounded somewhat confused. Wasn't Sōnagi supposed to master Thunder Breathing techniques? Why wasn't he using them?
Sōnagi huffed, "Can't."
Naruto raised his eyebrows. Can't... must mean he's forbidden from using it. After all, Thunder Breathing techniques were pretty recognizable.
Though some Lightning Release ninja in Konoha knew Thunder Breathing sword techniques, they never spread beyond the original practitioners.
The Thunder Breathing Sword Techniques used by Uzumaki Sōnagi are clearly of the same style as those used by Kakashi. Therefore, since Sōnagi was an outsider, using these techniques would easily reveal his identity—which is probably why he was forbidden from using them.
A faint smirk lifted the corner of Naruto Uzumaki's lips.
Seeing Naruto's smile, Uzumaki Sōnagi frowned in displeasure. "Don't think this means you can defeat me!"
After forming a hand seal, Uzumaki Sōnagi pointed both his index fingers straight at Naruto.
[Water Release: Water Shard!]
From Sōnagi's fingertips, condensed blasts of water shot toward Naruto Uzumaki.
Naruto immediately dodged, but Sōnagi kept tracking him with his fingers and continuously fired water bullets, forcing Naruto to keep evading.
Meanwhile, on the other side.
Sasuke Uchiha found himself locked in a difficult battle.
After telling Haruno Sakura to find a safe place to hide, Sasuke faced off against Kimimaro Kaguya.
[Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Chū!]
Holding a bone blade, Kimimaro Kaguya attacked Sasuke with a series of blows delivered through flexible and fluid martial arts techniques.
Using the vision granted by his Sharingan, Sasuke barely managed to block Kimimaro's attacks.
Just defending was already so difficult that counterattacking didn't even seem possible.
Moreover, even with help from the Sharingan, cuts had already formed across Sasuke's face and body.
Sasuke glanced at the kunai in his hand, his eyes filled with seriousness.
The kunai blades were all chipped, which proved how hard Kimimaro's bone blades truly were.
[Sharingan… You've seen through my movements? Then let's see whether you can continue seeing through my next moves.]
Kimimaro threw away his bone blade. Sharp bones began protruding from his joints.
[Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Willow.]
Instantly closing the distance between them, Kimimaro launched a continuous series of strikes at Sasuke with light, effortless motions like drifting willow catkins, seamlessly combining his bone weapons into his martial arts style.
Moments ago, Sasuke had barely been able to defend, but now he could only protect his vital spots while blocking.
This was because if the moves had fixed forms, then after seeing through Kimimaro's patterns, he could predict the next one.
But now that the attacks no longer followed any fixed sequence, prediction became impossible. Moreover, Kimimaro's entire body was now covered with sharp bones emerging from his joints; even if Sasuke saw through a current attack, it remained difficult for him to anticipate what move would follow.
Gritting his teeth, Sasuke defended himself while receiving more and more wounds. Finally, during a brief pause in Kimimaro's assault, Sasuke seized the opportunity and hurled several shuriken attached to thin wires.
The wires wrapped around Kimimaro.
Sasuke didn't actually believe those threads could hold Kimimaro for long, considering how hard his bones were.
[Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!]
After performing the necessary hand seals, Sasuke released a stream of flames that traveled along the wires directly toward Kimimaro.
The flames hit Kimimaro head-on, but he didn't even flinch.
Sasuke Uchiha's pupils slightly widened. The flames had burned through Kimimaro Kaguya's chest, yet beneath the skin was not flesh but a layer of bone.
Kimimaro Kaguya patted out the flames on his chest, and the skin quickly regenerated.
Sasuke Uchiha found the situation troublesome. He hurled several kunai into the nearby trees and used the attached wires to quickly pull himself away from Kimimaro Kaguya.
There was absolutely no way he could go hand-to-hand with this guy.
This was the only thought in Sasuke Uchiha's mind right now.
As for Jugo Tenbin on the other side... he remained standing still, seemingly uninterested in participating in the fight.
Sakura Haruno hiding somewhere?
Jugo Tenbin had no intention of fighting at all — after all, Sakura Haruno was far too weak.
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