As Eizumi finished speaking, he made another hand sign. Hibari's eyebrow twitched as he watched; he had never seen this hand sign before.
But at that moment, Hibari felt something and his expression changed dramatically. His heart sank as he realized, "I fell for it... That's a misdirection hand sign!"
A misdirection hand sign was a meaningless hand sign, a failed attempt at a jutsu that Genin and students at the shinobi academy often made.
But who was Eizumi? He was a Three-Tomoe Sharingan user and the Uchiha clan head. At this stage, besides Madara, no one else in the Uchiha clan was stronger than him. He was a prominent figure in Konohagakure.
How could he possibly make such a mistake? This "misdirection" was just a small trick to confuse his enemy, and Hibari had fallen for it.
"It seems your Senju clan didn't teach you well enough. Haven't you heard not to look at our eyes when fighting an Uchiha?" Eizumi said.
The misdirection hand sign was a lure for a genjutsu. Most shinobi would observe their opponent's hand signs to predict what jutsu they would use, and that's often when they would fall into a trap.
This wasn't the first time Hibari had fallen for this trick. He had been taught by his grandfather Tobirama a long time ago, but it was normal for people to be careless.
The moment the misdirection hand sign was made, Hibari instinctively looked at Eizumi's eyes because he recognized the sign was wrong. Unlike before, when he was on guard, this time, Hibari was careless...
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan in Eizumi's eyes spun again. At the same time, he quickly changed his misdirection hand sign, forcefully altering the chakra flow within his body to form another jutsu.
Hibari had to admit, he had never seen such a precise technique. He truly couldn't underestimate any opponent; who knew what trump cards they had?
"Genjutsu: Optic Delusory," Eizumi whispered.
At the same time, Hibari's senses were greatly affected. Eizumi's sword, which Hibari had thrown on the ground, turned into an iron chain that shot out from the ground like a snake, instantly coiling around Hibari and binding him.
"Turning solid into illusion? Illusion into solid? Is this five-sense manipulation?" Hibari murmured, looking at the chains on his body.
Genjutsu, at its core, was an 'illusion.' Eizumi couldn't actually turn his sword into an iron chain in an instant. Hibari was just perceiving it that way. In reality, there was nothing on his body, and the sword was still lying on the ground.
The reason Hibari felt he couldn't move was that his 'perception' had already convinced him that he was bound, creating a false cognition in his brain that made him unable to move, even though he wasn't.
This was the power of genjutsu. It could make people feel like a fish on a cutting board, ready to be slaughtered.
Not only that, Eizumi's figure on the roof gradually became blurred and seemed to disappear.
In the next instant, his figure reappeared behind Hibari, holding a kunai. He bypassed Hibari's Lightning Release Armor as if it were 'nothing' and pressed the kunai against Hibari's neck.
"Since we are comrades from the same village, if you beg for mercy, I'll let you go this time... Senju Hibari." The tomoe in Eizumi's eyes slowly spun as he held the kunai against Hibari's neck and spoke in a low voice.
But Hibari didn't show any panic or regret. Instead, he smiled. "You've already decided that you've got me?"
"Hmph, the Optic Delusory Jutsu is a high-level genjutsu. With the power of our Uchiha clan's Sharingan, it becomes even more powerful. Don't be so stubborn, kid," Eizumi scoffed.
"The Sharingan... is it? You Uchiha clan members are so proud of it... I'm getting sick of hearing about it," Hibari murmured.
"Perhaps, but this is a power we are proud of. You..." Eizumi said, sounding very pleased with himself.
But before he could finish, Hibari interrupted him. "Sharingan... Heh heh. Don't think the Uchiha clan are the only ones with a Kekkei Genkai!"
As soon as Hibari finished speaking, the chakra in his body surged again, directly impacting his brain and dispelling the genjutsu chakra that was affecting his five senses.
At the same time, the 'Optic Delusory' jutsu was instantly broken. Just as Hibari had thought, there were no chains on his body, and Eizumi was not behind him. He was still standing on the roof.
Even so, Hibari knew that if the kunai had really pierced his neck, it would have been fatal because the genjutsu would have made his brain confirm that he had died, which could have caused him to become 'brain dead.'
Humans are creatures that rely on their senses. There were countless cases of people being so scared that they died from it.
To break a genjutsu, it was actually very simple: one just had to disrupt their own chakra. But under normal circumstances, it was very difficult to do so, especially with a genjutsu enhanced by the power of the Sharingan. Every move was manipulated, making you think you had moved and disrupted your chakra when you hadn't. Many people would give up hope and be defeated because of this.
But as a member of the Senju clan, Hibari's chakra control was very strong. When he was very young, he had already broken the 'Bringer-of-Darkness' genjutsu that Tobirama had cast on him.
This time, he had tried the same method, but there wasn't much of a reaction. In the past, Hibari might have had to think of other ways, but things were different now, because he was also a shinobi who possessed a Kekkei Genkai.
The Wood Release Kekkei Genkai was very special. This Kekkei Genkai would absorb the chakra and vitality from the user's body and then return it, causing the chakra and vitality to merge.
This was a prerequisite for activating Wood Release, but there was also a hidden benefit: it meant that Hibari had two different chakra mechanisms working in his body.
So, a genjutsu that would normally require someone else's help to break could be forcefully broken by Hibari himself. This surprised Eizumi, as no one really knew about Wood Release.
In the past, only Hashirama had it, and Madara's genjutsu had been broken many times because of it. But Madara was too proud to talk about it, so many people didn't know about this.
As for Eizumi, he was not worthy of fighting Hashirama. Even if he were, Hashirama would have dealt with him without giving him a chance to use genjutsu.
So he didn't expect Hibari to be able to break his 'Optic Delusory' jutsu with this.
Seeing Eizumi's surprised expression, Hibari had no intention of explaining. He clasped his hands together and said, "Since you want to change the style of this compound and rebuild it, how about I give you a hand? Would you like a lush forest?"
Eizumi's eyes were filled with surprise and disbelief. As he looked at Hibari's stance, he couldn't help but wonder... Could it be that the Wood Release Kekkei Genkai had been passed down?
That's right, very few people knew that Hibari had learned Wood Release, and Eizumi was certainly not one of them.
As a shinobi, it was important to keep one's personal information private; otherwise, they would be targeted sooner or later. So Hibari would not go around talking about it.
Currently, only a few high-ranking officials in Konoha and some of Hibari's trusted friends knew about it.
While Eizumi was still in shock, Hibari was already going on the offensive.
"Wood Release: Great Forest Emergence!" Hibari's chakra exploded. The front yard of the Uchiha clan compound instantly became chaotic. A large number of trees abruptly burst through the ground, toppling the houses in the front yard. Even the Uchiha clan's main gate was pushed down...
While Hibari's Wood Release was impressive, it wasn't at the level of Hashirama's. There was still a very big gap. Compared to Hashirama's Deep Forest Emergence, Hibari's 'Great Forest Emergence' was much smaller in scale.
But it was more than enough for this place. He wasn't here to reforest Konoha or destroy it, right?
The vines and branches grew incredibly fast, coiling toward Eizumi, trying to bind him. And Eizumi knew very well that once he was bound by this Wood Release, he was pretty much done for. So many people had been defeated by this one jutsu.
So his Three-Tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, and its power continued to work on his body, allowing him to see every vine and branch coming at him in this complex environment. He was able to dodge the bindings precisely and cut off anything that could be severed with the shuriken in his hand.
With the help of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Eizumi didn't look like an old man. Instead, he was agile and as nimble as a monkey, successfully evading the pursuit of the vines and branches.
Not only that, he even managed to make a hand sign while dodging.
"Wind Release: Immense Breakthrough!" As soon as Eizumi made the hand sign, he exhaled a gust of wind, directly cutting a small patch of the forest in front of him in half.
But it was no use. Hibari was still releasing his Wood Release chakra. The cut trees landed on the ground and immediately took root. One tree turned into two, making the forest even denser.
Not only that, while Hibari was continuously releasing his Wood Release chakra, he also began to make hand signs. It looked like a summoning jutsu.
"Summoning Jutsu: Venomous Snake Domain," Hibari whispered.
In the next second, he seemed to have transformed into Orochimaru. The summoning jutsu's formation spread out from the ground, covering a large area. Then, countless poisonous snakes emerged from the summoning and quickly disappeared into the dense forest. They began to work with the vines and branches to shoot out from various hidden angles, trying to bite Eizumi, who was no longer able to hide in the forest.
Eizumi was starting to lose his mind from Hibari's move. Wood Release was one thing, but he also had to release snakes? And not just snakes, but poisonous snakes? Was this something a person would do?
He had no time to spare. With a shuriken in each hand, he continuously moved through the dense forest, dodging the Wood Style jutsu while also having to be wary of the poisonous snakes that could pop out at any moment. There was no time for him to speak.
"Wind Release: Immense Breakthrough!" Eizumi cut another patch of forest and landed on a cut stump. With the help of his Sharingan, he precisely parried and cut off several poisonous snakes that were trying to ambush him.
It was only then that he was able to take a breath. "I didn't think that kid would have Wood Release... This is a bit troublesome. Should I use that?"
As he thought about this, he was also on guard against his surroundings.
However, something he didn't expect happened again. Out of nowhere, a bone spike shot out from the tree rings of the stump he was standing on, even though it hadn't regenerated yet. This bone spike was much faster than the poisonous snakes and vines and was coming straight for his lower back, as if to pierce his body.
Not only that, but Eizumi's surroundings had also changed again. A large number of vines and branches seemed to be waiting for him to jump, and the faint traces of snakes appeared on the ground.
"Damn it... What the hell is this..." Eizumi cursed. At the same time, he made a decision.
In a place that Hibari couldn't see, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan in his eyes began to change again, showing signs of spreading and merging...
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