Chapter 126: Bombing the Arena
After Hodaka was carried away, Mieko and Kaito locked eyes. Mieko warned sharply, "Kaito, if you keep hiding behind your clones, I'll blow up this entire arena and force you to face me."
Kaito smiled pleasantly. "Then I wish you the best of luck with that."
Mieko's eye twitched in annoyance, but she didn't respond further.
The two descended into the arena and stood facing each other.
For obvious reasons, Kaito avoided looking directly at Mieko's face—no sense getting caught in a genjutsu before the match even started.
While waiting for Inoichi Yamanaka's signal, Kaito ran calculations in his head. That half-hour break came at the perfect time. My last two matches consumed about 28% of my chakra. I'm back up to 80% now.
As for Mieko, although she'd only fought once, she'd used multiple Fire Style techniques. Even after resting, her chakra sat around 80% as well.
Sakai Yumi's reserves had dropped below 40%. Unless this battle dragged on for several hours, she wouldn't recover much before the finals.
Kaito continued his mental calculations. My maximum chakra reserves are more than double theirs. As long as I finish this fight with at least 30% remaining, I should be fine for the finals.
Just as he finished strategizing, Inoichi Yamanaka raised his hand. "The second semifinal match begins now! Ready... start!"
As usual, the moment Inoichi signaled the start, Kaito opened with a Wind Blast jutsu.
Mieko anticipated this. She used Body Flicker to dodge, then immediately closed the distance to attack.
Kaito refused to engage in taijutsu and Body Flickered into the forest. Mieko pursued.
Kaito continuously Body Flickered through the trees, creating distance, while Mieko tracked him closely with her Sharingan. The two became blurs of motion weaving through the forest.
The spectators looked confused and amazed.
Right after Inoichi announced the match, they'd seen Kaito throw an explosive wind sphere. Then both competitors vanished!
Raido exclaimed, "They're so fast!"
Many chunin in the audience struggled to track Kaito and Mieko's movements.
After more than a dozen Body Flickers, Kaito thought analytically, Her Body Flicker speed has improved considerably, but it's still not quite at my level. She's barely keeping pace by using her Sharingan to predict my movements.
Mieko frowned. Is he trying to exhaust my chakra by making me chase him?
Kaito had indeed considered this strategy.
Should I just keep Body Flickering until her chakra runs out? I'm more efficient with the technique than she is, so I use less chakra per jump. And even though I've fought twice already, my reserves are still higher. I'd have enough left for the finals. But... she's not stupid enough to fall for that.
After analyzing the situation, Kaito concluded that Mieko wouldn't chase indefinitely.
To maintain control of the fight, he decided to change tactics. He smiled to himself. Let me try this strategy. I know for a fact even Renjiro found this annoying as hell! Based on what I know about Mieko, she's going to be absolutely furious very soon. This'll be fun.
As he Body Flickered, he created a Wind Clone.
The clone remained in position, preparing two Wind Blast spheres. The moment Mieko appeared, it hurled them at her.
Mieko dodged with a deepening frown. She threw several shuriken at the clone, metal wires trailing behind them.
The Wind Clone noticed the wires and sneered before Body Flickering away. Mieko's frown intensified.
This bastard is really pissing me off!
She ignored the clone and Body Flickered to continue pursuing Kaito's real body. However, this time four Wind Clones blocked her path!
The four clones surrounded her and unleashed Wind Blast techniques simultaneously. She dodged most of the attacks but sustained several scratches.
Mieko tried to counterattack, but they all Body Flickered away before she could land a hit.
Just as she was about to curse and resume the chase, another clone darted diagonally in front of her and threw a Wind Blast sphere.
She immediately dodged and formed hand seals, unleashing a Fire Style: Fireball jutsu!
However, her eyes widened in frustration—the fireball only incinerated trees. The Wind Clone had already vanished.
On the opposite side of the forest, Kaito chuckled to himself. Hehe, let me show you just how annoying hit-and-run tactics can be. I developed this strategy during sparring with Renjiro to catch my breath between his relentless attacks! The principle is based on guerrilla warfare and mobile harassment. Combined with a ninja's speed and precision, it becomes incredibly deadly and infuriating.
For the next several minutes, Mieko was constantly harassed by Kaito's Wind Clones. She couldn't catch Kaito—hell, she couldn't even catch his clones!
She couldn't use any major ninjutsu either. Whenever she gathered chakra, the clones would interrupt her. And this effect was achieved with only seven clones!
Kaito observed from a safe distance, constantly disrupting his own chakra flow in case Mieko had learned genjutsu beyond the basic Sharingan techniques.
Mieko now had multiple cuts and scrapes covering her body, though none were serious.
Kaito thought with genuine curiosity, She looks completely enraged now. I wonder what she'll do when she finally snaps.
Having endured enough of Kaito's tactics, Mieko shouted, "Kaito! Fight me properly! Stop hiding behind your clones and show some backbone!"
Kaito was amused to see her take the bait. So were the judges. Ibiki commented dryly, "Although she's strong enough to be promoted to chunin, her emotional control still needs significant work."
Genma chuckled. "True. But those tactics seem specifically designed to provoke that kind of reaction."
Seeing that Kaito completely ignored her, Mieko became even more furious! She shouted, "Bastard! I warned you!"
As she yelled, she pulled out a storage scroll. Kaito and his clones immediately went on high alert. Her previous scroll contained hundreds of explosive tags! What the hell does she have this time?
She unfurled the scroll and placed it on the ground, then began channeling a massive amount of chakra. Two Wind Clones immediately appeared nearby.
Mieko quickly grabbed two kunai with explosive tags attached. "I knew it!"
However, the two clones didn't throw Wind Blast techniques at her. Instead, they formed hand seals in unison. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
Mieko's eyes widened. Oh crap! She Body Flickered out of the forest into the open arena.
As soon as she cleared the treeline, she saw her previous position being devastated by powerful winds.
She was about to activate her scroll when she noticed something alarming—Kaito was gathering chakra too!
When Kaito saw Mieko leave the forest, he'd already started accumulating chakra. He analyzed quickly, Should I hit her with a large-scale jutsu? No, she'll just escape underground, and all I'll accomplish is buying some time. I really need to learn Earth Style: Stone Spear and techniques for attacking underground enemies from range.
He continued gathering chakra in response to whatever she was planning.
Mieko began releasing an enormous amount of chakra! The audience could see blue chakra visibly flowing around her body.
Several of Kaito's Wind Clones Body Flickered near her, but they noticed bloodstains on her scroll.
The clones thought in unison, Why is there blood on the scroll? Wait, did she cut herself while Body Flickering? And what exactly is in that scroll that requires her own blood and this much chakra?
Mieko ignored Kaito's clones, pressed her right hand firmly on the scroll, and channeled massive amounts of chakra into it.
Kaito, observing from the forest, was shocked.
Her chakra just dropped by more than half in an instant!
The Wind Clones disregarded her actions and launched Wind Blast techniques, but she simply threw kunai with explosive tags to disperse the wind spheres' power.
During this exchange, Kaito in the forest, his clones, the judges, and the entire audience were left stunned!
Two hundred and fifty kunai with explosive tags materialized above the arena! And they all crackled with visible lightning chakra!
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eye twitched. "The Uchiha Clan's Lightning Style: Thunder Bombing technique! Do they really need to use something that destructive in the Chunin Exams?"
Kaito was genuinely surprised. What the hell is that? And why do those kunai look like they're infused with Lightning Release chakra? Does Mieko have a lightning affinity I didn't know about?
Mieko rapidly formed several hand seals while dodging Kaito's clones. She thrust her hand forward. "Lightning Style: Thunder Bombing!"
Kaito expected the kunai to rain down on his position. He looked up, formed hand seals, and countered. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
He channeled ten percent of his remaining chakra into the technique, creating an incredibly powerful updraft.
Simultaneously, the kunai began falling at extreme velocity!
Many kunai were deflected slightly by the wind. But quite a few successfully broke through the Great Breakthrough and maintained their trajectory!
Kaito had anticipated this possibility, so he'd already formed hand seals. "Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage!"
The moment Kaito dove underground, three Wind Clones appeared above where he'd been standing. They all formed hand seals in perfect synchronization. "Wind Style: Rotation Shield!"
A triple-layered whirlwind shield manifested above them.
Meanwhile, Kaito continued descending underground, reaching a depth of fifty meters.
The kunai rain began.
Kaito's Wind Clones engaging Mieko in the open couldn't dodge and were caught in multiple explosions. They all dispersed in puffs of wind.
The remaining three clones blocked over a dozen kunai until one explosive-laden kunai broke through their triple defense and detonated.
All three dispersed simultaneously. However, they'd completed their mission—ensuring no kunai penetrated underground in that defensive zone.
The rest of the arena had no protection. Kunai continuously fell and, because they were infused with Lightning Release chakra, they successfully penetrated several meters into the ground before exploding.
When the bombardment finally ended, the entire arena floor was completely overturned!
Not a single tree remained standing! Thick dust clouds covered the entire battlefield.
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