In the rain, a visible bubble of air expanded with impossible speed, its surface rough with needle-like condensation.
The reflections in the eyes of the Konoha and Kumo ninjas showed a blinding fountain of flame erupting before them.
In the split-second before the flames surged forth to engulf the Konoha group, Akimichi Chōza turned, presenting his broad back to the oncoming blast.
"Expansion Jutsu!"
Chōza roared his defiance against the deafening explosion.
Simultaneously, two other voices cried out.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!"
BOOM!
It was as if a miniature sun had detonated before them. The close-range flash and roar robbed them of sight and sound.
In the sudden silence, a wave of frenzied heat assaulted them. The blast shattered every window instantly.
Splintered wood and shrapnel of stone screamed through the air in all directions. Anything human caught in the path would have been shredded like paper.
But the Konoha ninjas were merely hurled into the air as if struck head-on by a charging elephant. They tumbled violently backward, flying through the air before crashing down in various locations outside the ruined inn.
Crack! Snap! Crunch!
The sickening sound of breaking bones filled the air. Agonizing pain flooded the Konoha ninjas' bodies as they collapsed, ears ringing, heads spinning, overcome by vertigo.
The explosion had been sudden, swift. Roughly ten seconds passed before the black smoke began to settle and the tremors subsided.
"Ugh!"
Aburame Ryōma, who had been thrown to the ground, spat out a mouthful of blood, clutching his chest as if his internal organs had been rearranged.
After a long moment, his vision—which had faded to a blinding white—began to return, resolving from a sea of static snow into discernible shapes. The first color he saw was orange—the lingering glow of flames dancing before his eyes.
His hearing, filled with a piercing tinnitus, also started to recover. He could make out the crackle-pop of burning debris and the groans of the injured.
"Cough! What the hell happened?!"
Thick black smoke filled his nostrils, triggering another cough. Ryōma struggled to his feet, looking towards the collapsed inn in the distance. There, he saw the charred, gigantic corpse of his summoned insect.
If he hadn't remained vigilant and reacted instantly, reflexively using the Summoning Jutsu, he, being so close, would likely be dead or crippled now.
And there were two others even closer than he was.
Scrape… Crunch…
A blackened arm emerged from the pile of rubble, then abruptly shoved aside a mass of broken bricks and wall fragments as its owner clawed his way out.
It was Akimichi Chōza, who had been closest to the blast.
Having used his Expansion Jutsu, he had absorbed the brunt of the impact, shielding the others from the explosion's full force. Without him taking the lead, the rest wouldn't have merely been thrown clear—they would have faced the blast head-on.
Thud.
The effort of extracting himself from the ruins seemed to drain his last reserves. His rapidly shrinking body pitched forward, collapsing face-down. The skin on his back was covered in swollen, blackened burns.
But this was the Akimichi clan, renowned for their physical secret techniques. Even taking such a close-range explosion hadn't killed him outright. He had suffered severe internal injuries and brain trauma from the shockwave, falling into a deep, wounded unconsciousness.
In contrast, the Kumo ninjas who had been inside the inn were not as fortunate.
Thick curtains of black smoke and white steam filled the ruined structure, the heat distorting the air and completely blocking the Konoha ninjas' view.
But soon, a figure was seen hurtling backward out of the dense black smoke, crashing down beside Aburame Ryōma with a pained grunt.
When he saw the face of the person beside him, Ryōma's eyes widened in shock.
"Hyūga Kumokawa?!"
'How was that possible? He had been that close, yet he survived?'
He was merely covered in grime and blood, the exposed skin on his body crisscrossed with fine cracks, as if countless capillaries had ruptured from the shockwave. But there were no signs of severe burns. Across his chest, slicing through his clothing, was a deep, diagonal gash. It didn't look like it was from debris; it resembled a wound from a sharp blade.
"You…"
Staring at Kumokawa, who wore a pained expression and struggled to rise, Ryōma suddenly recalled the sharp cry he had heard at the moment of the explosion.
Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. At the instant of attack, release a massive amount of chakra from the body's chakra points, then spin like a top in a circular motion. It could repel all physical attacks.
'Hyūga Kumokawa, an overlooked branch family member, had actually mastered the secret technique of the Hyūga main family?'
"Cough!"
Kumokawa's face was marred by two vicious gashes. He suddenly reached out, gripping Ryōma's arm, his voice a ragged, sandpapery whisper. "Senior Ryōma… get Senior Chōza out of here… The Kumo guy… he's not…"
Before he could finish, a hoarse, terrifying roar cut through the air, interrupting him.
"You damned bastards!! I'll kill every last one of you!!"
With those words, a dark figure shot forth, tearing through the dense smoke.
The figure was barely recognizable as human anymore—more like a charred corpse, still smoldering, even emitting a sickening scent of cooked flesh. But he was alive. Agonizingly, excruciatingly alive, his body covered in severe burns, driven to the brink of madness by the pain.
The reason he survived lay in the fine iron sand dripping from his body. It had shielded him from most of the blast impact, but not from the searing heat.
"Wait! Hold on!"
Ryōma instantly sensed the danger. Injured internally and unable to move quickly, he shouted, "Calm down! It wasn't us! We were caught in it too! Someone is deliberately provoking us!"
Hearing this, Toroi, who had been about to attack in a blind rage, hesitated for a moment. His gaze swept over the equally incapacitated Konoha ninjas.
But in the split second before he could fully calm down, eight dark figures flickered into existence from all directions.
It was the Root ninjas who had followed Ryōma and lay hidden in the shadows.
"Don't attack!"
Seeing Toroi tighten his grip on his shuriken, Ryōma roared the command instantly.
Two of them immediately moved to tend to the unconscious Akimichi Chōza. Three others tensed, positioning themselves warily on either side of Toroi.
But the remaining three figures moved directly in front of Aburame Ryōma. Without a moment's hesitation, and in perfect unison, they hurled the kunai in their hands.
"You…!"
The sight made Ryōma's eyes widen in fear and disbelief. He hadn't expected the Root ninjas to disobey his command so blatantly.
The conscious ANBU ninjas nearby also stared at Ryōma with sudden, sharp suspicion. They instantly realized his true affiliation.
'No wonder… no wonder he had that familiar, chilling aura. Aburame Ryōma… he really is a Root ninja?'
With that realization, the Konoha ninjas instinctively assumed the command "Don't attack" had actually been a signal to make Toroi let his guard down, so the Root ninjas could attack.
'Root… no, Danzō! Danzō's ambitions haven't died! He wants to sabotage the talks, to start a war between the nations!' The thought exploded in their minds.
It wasn't an unreasonable assumption. As ANBU, they were all too familiar with the "Darkness of the Shinobi's" track record and temperament.
But Ryōma himself knew with absolute certainty—he had given no such signal to attack!
Beside him, Hyūga Kumokawa kept his head lowered, the firelight casting shadows across his face.
"Treacherous Konoha dogs! I knew you couldn't be trusted!"
Seeing the Konoha ninjas throw kunai at him, the last shred of doubt in Toroi's mind vanished, replaced by a towering, all-consuming rage that finally spurred him to action.
Hum! Hum!
The moment the words left his mouth, Toroi flung three massive shuriken from his hands, the air vibrating with their flight!
Their icy edges sliced through the curtain of night rain. Two of the giant shuriken not only intercepted the incoming kunai but also, in the same motion, cleanly bisected the three Root ninjas who had attacked.
As for the final, largest shuriken…
The two Root ninjas supporting Chōza felt every hair on their bodies stand on end. From the corner of their eyes, they saw the massive shuriken hurtling towards them from behind. A sense of overwhelming, sky-darkening cold seized their hearts, freezing their bodies in place.
But in the next instant, a figure appeared before them.
"Eight Gates Released Formation. Second Gate: Gate of Healing. Open!"
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