Chapter 88: Hodaka's Defeat
He used Earth Release: Body Flicker twice more, completely escaping the range of the deadly technique, and at the same time, he wondered in confusion, "Why did he attack me?"
Time rewound to two minutes prior—
Kaito thought for a few seconds and came to a conclusion.
"Under normal circumstances, attacking Mieko is the best option. Unless there might be a problem. Although Mieko is tactically smarter than Hodaka, she's still too overconfident."
"On the other hand, Hodaka will likely help Mieko if she gets injured and prevent me from defeating her. Even if he doesn't, his Byakugan will give him all the information, and he'll have the initiative to attack or observe."
"So this means my target should be..."
After reaching his conclusion, he quickly used Wind Release: Body Flicker to approach Hodaka.
Although Hodaka moved underground, Kaito easily sensed him with his sensory abilities.
He flickered and followed him. Hodaka also realized that Kaito was indeed tracking him.
"As expected, he can easily track me. I need to surface and engage him in close combat. He shouldn't be able to use such powerful techniques in close combat."
However, before he could even emerge from the ground, Kaito had already landed at Hodaka's location and slammed his fist, imbued with all his chakra using Senju Style Taijutsu, onto the ground!
Ever since Hodaka sensed Kaito gathering chakra, he had been cautious about surfacing completely.
But how could he have imagined that Kaito would actually punch the ground with chakra-enhanced strength?
The impact generated a shockwave that traveled through the earth toward Hodaka's location.
Although the shockwave caused no direct harm, it threw the entire underground area into chaos.
While Hodaka was underground, the violent movements of the earth struck him multiple times, even injuring him.
He tried to use Earth Release: Body Flicker again, but due to the chaos underground, he couldn't execute it properly.
Finally, he reinforced the area around him with an earth wall. This provided him with some protection, but he was already injured.
His right elbow and shoulder were impacted. Many stones also struck his chest, abdomen, and back.
Later, despite the protection of the earth wall, his left ankle was injured quite severely.
Finally, the vibrations subsided, and Hodaka successfully emerged from the ground.
This was exactly where Kaito was positioned, but unfortunately, he had no other choice.
As soon as he emerged from underground, a kunai was placed at the back of his neck. He saw Kaito standing in front of him. Kaito said, "Give up. You've already lost."
Hodaka reluctantly accepted his defeat and said, "I lost."
As soon as he said that, Kaito's Shadow Clone dispersed in a puff of smoke.
This battle involved only two attacks—one was Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, and the other was a chakra-enhanced punch.
Mieko noticed a strong breeze and heard the loud sound of Kaito's chakra-enhanced punch hitting the ground.
Unfortunately, she was too far away to know what happened. She was very curious.
"Are Kaito and Hodaka fighting? Should I go and see? No, I'm injured. I'll wait a bit. The chakra points will unseal soon."
As soon as Hodaka surrendered, Kaito used Body Flicker toward Mieko's location.
He noticed that Mieko was now standing in an area with no trees around, and he thought, "Good. She knows that hiding is pointless, so she stays in the open, giving no opportunity for a sneak attack."
"Actually, I can still ambush her from underground. However, I'm quite sure she deliberately left this opening. Her surroundings should be filled with traps."
Having figured out his strategy, Kaito began creating Wind Clones. Twenty Wind Clones appeared around Kaito.
Kaito immediately suppressed his chakra signature and hid behind a tree.
His Wind Clones dispersed into the forest, surrounding Mieko from all directions, while his main body remained hidden.
A Wind Clone moved along a path that allowed it to approach her stealthily. Along the way, the Wind Clone noticed many thin wire strings on the ground.
He smiled—his guess was correct.
Kaito's Wind Clone tried to quickly flicker behind her while avoiding all traps, but Mieko became aware of it and quickly turned around.
As she turned, Kaito's Wind Clone noticed Mieko holding two thin strings in her right hand.
Seeing the Wind Clone approaching her, Mieko smiled. "I knew it."
She released the strings while using Body Flicker backward.
As soon as the strings were released, dozens of shuriken rained down on Kaito's Wind Clone.
At the same time, Mieko activated her Sharingan, observing the clone carefully. She frowned, noticing that its chakra level was very low.
"It's a Wind Clone. This guy never fights head-on!"
Kaito's Wind Clone easily dodged the shuriken, pursuing Mieko while using Wind Release: Wind Blast, firing spheres at her.
He launched seven Wind Blast techniques at her consecutively. Mieko dodged each time, but she grew increasingly worried.
"I need to be vigilant for any sneak attacks. He likely has more Wind Clones hidden nearby."
Renjiro observed the battle, thinking, "His control over Wind Release is truly impressive. The Wind Clone is the weakest elemental clone. Due to the instability of Wind Clones, any capable sensory-type shinobi can easily distinguish a Wind Clone from the original body instantly."
"However, the fragility of Wind Clones allows anyone to create a large number of them. And the unstable chakra of a Wind Clone makes it immune to genjutsu. Since Wind Clones are made of wind, they're usually more mobile than the user."
He then looked at Kaito's hidden main body and smiled.
"How conceited, thinking he's already won. Although he will win, if he thinks victory will be this easy, he should learn a lesson. After all, Hodaka and Mieko have also made tremendous progress over the past three months."
The Wind Clone's chakra finally began to diminish. Kaito analyzed, "Hmm... I need to inject more chakra into two or three Wind Clones so they can last longer. The others can be created with minimal requirements, as I need quantity."
Seeing that it was about to dissipate, the Wind Clone injected most of its remaining chakra into another Wind Blast. Then it used Body Flicker to close in on Mieko.
Mieko used Body Flicker to escape, but the Wind Clone flickered after her again, throwing a Wind Blast at her. After completing this, the Wind Clone dissipated.
Mieko hastily threw a kunai with an explosive tag attached toward the incoming wind sphere.
The explosion from the tag easily overwhelmed the technique and dispersed it, but Mieko had to jump backward to avoid being hit by the explosion.
However, this explosion, along with the previous Wind Blast techniques, activated or destroyed most of the traps she had meticulously set.
Unfortunately, as soon as she jumped backward, two more Wind Clones appeared behind her, launching Wind Blast techniques at her.
Since she was in mid-air, she couldn't use Body Flicker!
In a panic, she threw a shuriken with a wire string attached to a nearby tree, then used it to pull herself away.
But some of the wind from the explosion still struck her, causing many small cuts on her body, which immediately began bleeding.
The two Wind Clones immediately continued their attack, giving Mieko no time to think or recover.
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