Chapter 89: Engagement
Ritsu charged ahead at the forefront, racing across the water's surface. His opened Byakugan could clearly see every move of the Mist ninja sentries guarding the shore. It had to be said—the Mist ninja had some skills. The sentry positions they'd arranged were truly excellent, with no dead angles of vision, and sharks patrolled the water.
Wanting to reach the island without alerting the sentry Mist ninja was almost impossible.
Fortunately—
Ritsu hadn't planned to sneak onto the island anyway.
He formed hand seals with both hands—
"Hidden Mist Technique."
In the next instant, thick fog spread. Using Ritsu as the source, dense mist expanded toward the island at extreme speed. Such commotion naturally immediately drew the attention of the Mist ninja sentries on shore, but the fog had already spread—they couldn't see the caster's appearance clearly.
"Who released the mist?"
"Must be an enemy attack. Would our own people need to release mist?"
"Quick, send the signal!"
The sentry Mist ninja reacted swiftly, immediately firing signal flares. Three red fireworks burst and bloomed in the air, announcing enemy invasion of the island.
At the same time—
The leading jonin also commanded the sharks in the water to search for enemies hidden in the mist. To complement their Water Style techniques, most Mist ninja chose to raise sharks as summoning beasts. One in every four jonin raised a school of sharks.
At this moment—
Under command, these sharks relied on their superior sense of smell to precisely track Ritsu's whereabouts. Having gone without food all night, the hungry sharks flew from underwater toward Ritsu's feet, opening their great mouths to leap up and devour this edible human alive.
However, they'd chosen the wrong target.
Ritsu's Byakugan saw their actions crystal clear.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Ritsu's hands hung at his sides as finger bones shot out like bullets propelled by chakra, penetrating the water and striking the sharks' bodies. Though the impact force of the finger bones was somewhat weakened by the water, they could still easily pierce through shark bodies. Dense blood color diffused through the water.
On shore—
The Mist ninja commanding the sharks changed expression, revealing a pained look. "The enemy's formidable—all my sharks were killed!"
Watching the mist spreading over, this Mist ninja felt frustrated. The Hidden Mist Technique was their Mist ninja's signature move. He clearly understood this technique's strengths and weaknesses, knowing the caster similarly couldn't see clearly through the mist but could only sense enemy positions through chakra contained in the fog.
However—
The mist couldn't penetrate into the water, thus couldn't sense underwater conditions.
That's why he'd unhesitatingly released all his sharks, figuring while the opponent's vision was obscured by mist and they couldn't see underwater clearly, he'd catch them off guard.
But the sharks' deaths proved his judgment wrong.
The opponent could detect the sharks underwater.
"Quick, use Hidden Mist Technique!"
This Mist ninja hastily ordered.
His subordinates immediately formed seals to release Hidden Mist Technique as a counter, while this Mist ninja jonin drew the long blade from his back, moved positions with his subordinates, then stood motionless, only his slightly trembling ears capturing the faint footsteps mixed among wind sounds and wave sounds.
The reason he'd been assigned to patrol and stand sentry wasn't because of ostracization but because he truly had skills—his hearing was extraordinary, able to hear every rustle within a ten-meter radius.
Unfortunately—
No matter how good his hearing, it couldn't match how clearly Ritsu's Byakugan could see.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Ritsu now especially loved this move. Combined with Hidden Mist Technique, it was absolutely marvelous. The finger bones weren't large in volume but had considerable lethality—more than enough to kill—while also making very little noise. In this thick fog with obscured vision, it could produce miraculous effects.
Sure enough—
This Mist ninja jonin with extraordinary hearing detected the sound of finger bones tearing through the mist, judged it to be weapon attacks like senbon, and swung his blade to meet them. However, of the sounds made by ten finger bones, he only heard eight. The other two pinky finger bones, being smallest in volume, had their sounds masked, so this blade deflected eight finger bones but was struck by the remaining two in his right arm and left ribs.
Two blood flowers bloomed in the mist.
His movements stiffened because of this, and this instant of delay was the boundary between life and death.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
Ritsu swung his palm fiercely. The palm force shockwave that could shatter metal and crack stone crossed seven or eight meters distance, striking the Mist ninja's chest, directly caving it in. Death on the spot.
In just a few breaths, Ritsu had killed this jonin with considerable skills.
The remaining three Mist ninja were all chunin—disposed of in passing—then he continued maintaining Hidden Mist Technique, commanding this large mass of thick fog to rush toward the barrier deep within the island.
Hidden Mist Technique was truly useful.
It could seal off enemies' vision, while his own Byakugan could penetrate the mist. He resolved in his heart that upon returning to the village, he'd organize clansmen to train in Hidden Mist Technique together, adding it to required coursework for clan members in the future.
Hyuga clan members weren't unable to train in ninjutsu or genjutsu—rather, those Main Family trash had insisted on obsolete, decayed traditions, requiring clan members to focus on practicing the ancestral Gentle Fist, forbidding them from diverting attention to other ninjutsu or genjutsu.
However, the Main Family was now history. Such decayed traditions that couldn't keep up with the times should be discarded.
While thinking—
Ritsu saw over ten Mist ninja rush out from within the barrier. They stood in position, watching the mist approach, then uniformly completed hand seals and jointly released ninjutsu attacks toward the thick fog.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
Though this was a defensive Water Style technique, it could also be used to attack. Most Water Style techniques achieved destructive killing purpose through the impact force brought by weight. When water volume reached a certain degree, it became a truly fierce flood beast—breaking through embankments was nothing.
At this moment—
These dozen-plus Mist ninja planned to do exactly that.
They jointly released Water Formation Wall technique. Over ten people simultaneously casting, water flows converging together, raising waves over three meters high. Viewed from afar, it looked like a white line sweeping across, crushing all objects encountered along the way.
"The destructive power of ninjutsu!"
Ritsu watched the surging waves but still charged forward relentlessly.
Because this time—
He wasn't fighting alone.
"Earth Style: Earth-Style Rampart!"
From behind, Orochimaru clapped his hands, releasing defensive Earth Style technique. An earthen rampart nearly ten meters high rose from the ground, perfectly lifting Ritsu high as well. Water flows crashed against the earthen wall, unable to shake the rock barrier even slightly.
Ritsu leaped down, firing thirteen Vacuum Palms in one second while midair.
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