Chapter 30: Ninja Art · Secret Ultimate · Ten Thousand Thunders
Just as Hatake Kyūjō was fully immersed in observing and "studying" the battlefield with sharp focus, someone decided to rudely interrupt him—as if unwilling to let a diligent student get good grades in peace.
The famed Ten Chikamatsu Puppets weren't able to pin Kyūjō down. In fact, their sheer number ended up being a disadvantage. Their overlapping attack trajectories got in each other's way, allowing Kyūjō to dance between their strikes with swift, fluid movements.
Realizing this, Chiyo—the master puppeteer—swiftly changed tactics. Her hands blurred into four rapid hand seals, and then her voice rang out across the battlefield:
"Puppet Technique: Three Treasures Suction Crush!"
The moment her voice echoed, three of the humanoid puppets from the outer perimeter leapt into a new formation. Two of them locked into hand seals while crouching at the bottom. The third puppet sprang up, landing atop their shoulders, forming its own hand seal as it balanced perfectly above them.
At the same time, Chiyo's arms stretched outward, controlling the other seven puppets with chakra threads. They instantly retreated, clearing a direct path in front of Kyūjō.
From the center of the puppet trio's formation, a terrifying suction force exploded outward, creating a massive vortex that aimed straight at him.
The pull was so strong, even the air screeched as it was ripped toward the core. The ground beneath Kyūjō's feet cracked and rose violently, torn into jagged chunks.
Worse still was the compression effect. The closer an object got to the epicenter of the technique, the more violently it was crushed. If a human body was caught in it...
It wouldn't be pretty.
Kyūjō found himself in the middle of a tempest-level storm. His body was slowly but surely being dragged toward the heart of the formation—not because he couldn't resist, but because the ground under him couldn't hold his footing. Without proper support, even he couldn't maintain position for long.
But did Chiyo really think a trick like this could stop him?
And to interrupt someone in the middle of a study session no less?
Just a bit more... just a few seconds longer, and he would've gained key insights from observing the battlefield…
Frustration quietly bubbled in Kyūjō's chest.
Through his sensory link, he could feel the chakra levels of his teammates across the battlefield. Nearly all of them were drained and exhausted. They were approaching their limits.
It was time to wrap this up.
He took a deep breath and made a decision.
"Fine then. Let's throw her a little lightning party she won't forget."
— — —
Still suspended in midair, Kyūjō made no attempt to hide his intent.
His gaze turned razor-sharp.
In an instant, the Lightning Chakra within him surged forth like a dam bursting. His Lightning Eyes flared with radiant power, and the sky above twisted in response. Puffy white clouds turned into a brooding mass of storm clouds, crackling with electricity.
No hand seals.
No long-winded chants.
Just a quiet murmur in his heart.
"Ninja Art · Secret Ultimate · Ten Thousand Thunders."
This wasn't just an enhanced version of his original move, Thunder Judgment. It was something more.
An evolved technique that combined Lightning Element Chakra, the analytical power of his Lightning Eyes, and the scientific knowledge from another world—something no one in the shinobi world could yet comprehend.
A force that could command both heaven and earth through sheer will alone.
In terms of raw destructive scale, it was easily an S-rank jutsu—perhaps even beyond any experimental Rasengan Naruto had used before unlocking Sage Mode.
— — —
KRAKOOM!
CRAAAASH!
BOOOOM!
Thick pillars of violet lightning—each as wide as a barrel—plummeted from the sky in rapid succession. The storm clouds, now looming like a black ceiling above, erupted with blinding flashes.
Thunderclaps ripped through the night sky.
In mere seconds, a fifty-meter-wide radius was engulfed in devastating lightning strikes. The entire battlefield seemed to tremble beneath the might of nature itself.
The moment the final bolt struck, Kyūjō's chakra reservoir hit zero. He was completely drained.
Yet through his keen senses, he could tell—Chiyo was still alive.
However... the legendary Ten Chikamatsu Puppets were no more. Every last one had been obliterated by the storm he'd summoned.
Kyūjō let out a long breath and weighed his next move.
He had made a personal vow not to attack Chiyo again unless it was with chakra alone. That was the self-imposed trial he set for himself—and he wasn't going to break it.
With determination in his eyes, he turned and vanished into the outer edge of the Sunagakure encampment, leaving the scorched battlefield behind.
Some might say he was too stubborn, too idealistic.
But Kyūjō believed that a true warrior needed conviction.
If you set a rule for yourself, you follow it to the end.
…Of course, if Chiyo was dumb enough to chase him down while he was completely out of chakra, then hey—he'd be more than happy to send that old hag to the afterlife for real this time.
— — —
Roughly three minutes after Kyūjō had left, from the scorched earth at the center of the blast zone… a charred, skeletal hand burst out of the ground.
Chiyo, the commander of Sunagakure's forces, clawed her way out of the rubble. Her face twisted with hatred, she screamed at the sky:
"Hatake Kyūjō!!!"
That damn white-haired brat had almost killed her!
If not for her decades of battle instinct and quick reaction, she would've been reduced to ash. She barely had time to sacrifice her puppets to shield herself from the worst of the lightning storm.
But the cost… oh, the cost.
To a puppeteer like her, losing the Ten Chikamatsu Puppets was like losing an arm—no, an entire combat doctrine.
In terms of sheer power, her fighting capability had dropped by more than a third.
She was now only half the Kage-level threat she once was.
While she still had chakra left, she no longer had the elite weapons to channel it through. At least not unless she rebuilt puppets as powerful as the ones she'd just lost.
Despite the burns and minor injuries on her body, Chiyo ignored her own condition.
She grabbed her charred sleeve, shook it loose, and several scrolls dropped to the ground with soft thuds.
She performed a series of quick hand seals and slammed her palm into the dirt.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
Smoke exploded from the summoning seals, and ten older-generation puppets emerged—her long-retired reserves.
Even though she knew Kyūjō was completely out of chakra...
She wasn't about to let him get away.
Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was vengeance.
But to her, the reason Kyūjō hadn't killed her wasn't because he spared her out of mercy.
It was because he was weak, exhausted, and had nothing left.
At least—that's what she believed.
And that belief alone was enough to ignite her fury all over again.
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