Chapter 55: One Finger Parts the Skies
Seeing that the Hidden Cloud forces remained unmoved, Yu's expression gradually turned cold as he spoke with indifference: "Last chance. Leave."
Those three simple words carried both the weight of benevolent advice and the finality of an execution order.
Before the Raikage could respond, the Cloud ninja behind him erupted in outrage.
"Arrogant!"
"Some brat thinks he can threaten us?"
"Lord Raikage, let us teach him a lesson!"
Shouts of indignation rose one after another.
In the eyes of these Cloud elite, if they were to retreat before a mere teenager today, where would the Hidden Cloud Village stand in the ninja world tomorrow?
Moreover, this operation had drawn considerable attention—spies from other villages were undoubtedly watching from the shadows.
Amid the clamorous voices, only Killer Bee remained silent.
Within his body, the Eight-Tails was issuing frantic warnings. That instinctual fear emanating from the tailed beast was something he had never experienced since becoming a perfect jinchuriki.
The Eight-Tails... was afraid?
"Big brother..." Killer Bee lowered his voice, speaking without his usual rap for once. "Something's wrong... the Eight-Tails is..."
But his words were drowned out by the crowd's indignant roars.
A's fists clenched with audible cracks as lightning danced wildly across his body.
As the Raikage, he had no choice left.
"Prepare for battle!" A finally roared, though his voice carried a tremor he himself hadn't noticed.
The Cloud ninja shouted in unison, the sound of unsheathed kunai ringing as one, yet it couldn't mask the eerie pressure that permeated the air.
Yu merely sighed softly, as if lamenting something.
This subtle gesture made Killer Bee's hair stand on end. In the teenager's eyes, he saw not a trace of fear—if anything, there was a hint of... pity?
"Attack!"
At the Raikage's command, over a thousand Cloud ninja launched their assault simultaneously.
Countless kunai and shuriken poured down like torrential rain, their cold gleam reflecting blindingly in the blazing sun.
Dozens of Lightning Style jutsu tore through the sky, blue-white electricity weaving a web of death.
Fire Style: Great Dragon Flame roared forth, whipping up sandstorms, while Wind Style: Great Breakthrough lifted waves of sand a hundred meters high.
At the center of this converging assault, the young man stood motionless.
Just as the first wave of projectiles was about to graze his clothing—
"Hum!"
An invisible barrier suddenly expanded.
All incoming weapons stopped mysteriously ten meters from Yu, as if they had struck an unseen wall.
Kunai tips twisted and deformed, shuriken spun as they lost momentum, finally falling to the sand with a cascade of metallic clinks.
The torrent of jutsu followed immediately after, only to be severed at the same position.
Lightning shattered into countless tiny arcs, fire dragons dispersed with mournful cries, and wind blades dissolved into nothingness.
The massive impact stirred up a sandstorm that blotted out the sky, shrouding everything within a thousand meters in a yellow haze.
When the dust gradually settled, the sight before them made every Cloud ninja gasp in shock—
The sand dune beneath the young man's feet remained pristine, forming a perfect circle of untouched ground around him. The outer ring was a devastated wasteland, densely packed with deformed weapons, while the inner circle hadn't shifted by even a single grain of sand.
This scene, defying all logic, made even the bravest Cloud warriors unconsciously step back.
Killer Bee's fists clenched tight. He could sense that this wasn't an ordinary defensive barrier, but something of a higher order—an absolute suppression that operated like a natural law.
The Eight-Tails within him had begun emitting desperate growls, frantically urging him to retreat.
A's pupils contracted, veins bulging on his bronze face.
"So ranged attacks are useless against you!"
"Then let's try close combat!"
He roared, his entire body erupting in blinding lightning as he charged toward Yu like a living thunderbolt.
Killer Bee shouted desperately: "Big brother! Don't go!"
But faster than his voice was the Raikage's incredible speed!
In an instant, A had closed in on Yu.
His massive arms crackling with violent Lightning Style chakra, he unleashed his world-renowned technique—"Lightning Style: Lariat"!
This strike had shattered countless enemies' defenses. Now, concentrated with all his strength, it tore the very air with ear-splitting sonic booms.
Yet just as the lightning was about to touch Yu—
Pop!
A soft sound, like a bubble bursting.
A stared in disbelief.
His full-power attack had been casually blocked by the teenager's single finger.
The violent lightning docilely flowed around that slender fingertip, unable to even ruffle his clothes.
"This... impossible..." A's throat tightened.
He tried to withdraw and retreat, only to discover in horror that his body was completely unresponsive, as if pinned in mid-air.
Yu flicked his finger with a motion as elegant as brushing dust from his sleeve.
Yet this seemingly gentle gesture unleashed unimaginable repulsive force—
BOOM!!!
A's massive frame flew backward like he'd been struck head-on by a Tailed Beast Bomb, instantly becoming a blue streak of light.
The violent shockwave carved a deep furrow hundreds of meters long through the sand, the rising dust forming a wall that blocked out the sky.
"Lord Raikage!"
Before the Cloud ninja could react, that blue figure had already crashed into the rear formations like a cannonball.
With a dull thud, the ground shook violently as A embedded deep in the sand, creating a crater over thirty meters in diameter. The shockwave sent dozens of surrounding ninja flying, scattering headbands and weapons across the ground.
Yu slowly raised his eyes, a flicker of disappointment in his dark gaze: "I gave you a chance."
What followed was a sight that would haunt every Cloud ninja for the rest of their lives.
The young man brought two fingers together and made the simplest of gestures—a downward slash through the air.
Hummmm—!!!
In that instant, sky and earth changed color.
A brilliant silver light burst from his fingertips, like divine retribution splitting creation itself.
The entire desert was cleaved in two, a bottomless chasm extending from Yu's position toward the Cloud forces at frightening speed.
Sand waves rolled to either side like tsunamis, revealing the bedrock that had slumbered for millennia.
The clouds above were split by invisible force, sunlight cascading down like a waterfall into this artificial "heavenly divide."
The dozen or so Cloud ninja closest to the attack couldn't even scream before being pulverized by the residual energy.
When the smoke cleared, all survivors had collapsed—before them stretched a chasm over a hundred meters wide and of infinite length, completely separating the Cloud forces from the solitary teenager. The edges of this abyss were smooth as mirrors, as if carved by a divine blade.
Killer Bee knelt at the chasm's edge, the Eight-Tails within him curled into the most defensive posture possible.
He finally understood what the Eight-Tails feared—
This was no power achievable by mortal means. This was... divine.
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