"Eight Trigrams: Air Palm!"
Facing the massive shuriken that shrieked through the air with a piercing sound, Hyuga Kumokawa channeled the chakra within his body into his arm.
His palm, fingers bent, thrust forward.
His clothes were pressed against his arm by the wind pressure, accentuating the lines of his taut muscles.
Compressed wind pressure instantly poured towards the shuriken like an invisible vacuum shell.
The sonic boom and the explosive sound of the wind pressure reached everyone's ears.
Thud!
The powerfully thrown massive shuriken carried immense force.
Hyuga Kumokawa was forced back several steps uncontrollably, the ground beneath his feet cracking into a spiderweb pattern, but he stubbornly managed to block that massive shuriken.
"The Eight Gates Released Formation: Second Gate: Gate of Healing?"
Noticing the blue veins bulging on Hyuga Kumokawa's body, Aburame Ryoma instantly recognized the technique he was using.
This kid, a member of the Hyuga clan, actually went to learn the Eight Gates Released Formation?
And he even opened it to the Second Gate?
No wonder he could block Toroi's attack, but it's still not enough.
That's Toroi, the Magnet Release ninja.
Those shuriken are specially made, their own weight is extremely terrifying, and can only be manipulated using Magnet Release.
"Cough, cough." Aburame Ryoma swallowed a pill and shouted a warning, "Don't let his shuriken touch your bodies!"
The other Root ninjas also made their move, but Toroi wouldn't give them the chance to form hand signs.
Against the force of two massive shuriken, the several Root ninjas trying to block with swords found it too difficult.
Before Hyuga Kumokawa, the massive shuriken that had been blocked and stopped actually began to rotate again, stirring up a wind howl like a meat grinder, like the sharp teeth of a beast biting down at Hyuga Kumokawa once more.
Hum! Hum, hum!
Blue veins crawled out around Hyuga Kumokawa's eye sockets.
Without the slightest hesitation, he activated his Byakugan now.
Within the span of a single breath, in the peripheral vision of those present…
Hyuga Kumokawa's figure seemed to turn into a blur of afterimages.
While evading, the explosive sounds of shuriken colliding with Air Palms rang out incessantly.
Toroi, looking at Hyuga Kumokawa in the distance, formed hand signs continuously to control the shuriken.
His gaze flickered when he noticed those white eyes.
"Kid, are you from the main family, or the branch family?" he suddenly asked.
This level of strength didn't seem like the main family, but he could use the Rotation, a secret technique only the main family masters.
But Hyuga Kumokawa didn't respond to him, seemingly without the spare energy to do so.
Slish!
Suddenly, a spray of blood splattered out, streaking onto the ground.
Hyuga Kumokawa's movement abruptly halted.
A wound had split open near the corner of his eye.
Blood slowly flowed down from his cheek, gathering at his jaw, and gradually dripped onto the top of his foot, warm and wet.
Seeing this, Aburame Ryoma's face darkened, knowing this kid couldn't hold on much longer.
According to intelligence, once touched by Toroi's shuriken, the Magnet Release chakra attached to the shuriken would magnetize the victim's body, marking them for Toroi.
Subsequent magnetic attacks would become impossible to evade.
Aburame Ryoma knew Toroi's strength very well.
As a shinobi with a Kekkei Genkai, Toroi was extremely troublesome even among jonin.
"If my internal organs weren't severely injured, perhaps there would still be a chance to cooperate with the others in a sneak attack, but now..." Aburame Ryoma gritted his teeth.
His frontal assault capability wasn't strong; his strengths lay in infiltration and assassination.
Thud!
Using the force from the massive shuriken, Hyuga Kumokawa pulled back, arriving next to Aburame Ryoma.
His voice was hoarse and urgent. "Senior Ryoma! Ten o'clock direction, three kilometers out, dozens of shinobi are approaching!"
Ten o'clock direction... that meant they weren't Konoha reinforcements.
Most likely, they were shinobi from Kumogakure stationed at the border of the Land of Hot Water!
"Wait." Aburame Ryoma suddenly reacted, blurting out, "Three kilometers? You can see a radius of three kilometers?"
Members of the Hyuga clan, once they activate the Byakugan, can see things within a radius of about one kilometer, but it almost never exceeds an upper limit of two kilometers.
If gazing in a single direction, this limit might be increased several times over.
But this kid Hyuga Kumokawa clearly wasn't just looking in one direction; he must have been able to see the scene within a three-kilometer radius to make that discovery.
This was somewhat terrifying.
"Senior! Now is not the time for this!" Hyuga Kumokawa said urgently. "No matter what happened with the explosive tags, please take Senior Dōtō and leave quickly! If we don't go now, it will truly be too late!"
Aburame Ryoma, already suffering from internal injuries, nearly coughed up blood upon hearing this.
The explosive tags have nothing to do with me!
Why does everyone think I planted them?!
Although Lord Danzo instructed that we could take action, I hadn't had time to make my move yet!
"Hmph! Not talking?" Faced with Hyuga Kumokawa's disregard, Toroi snorted coldly with hatred. "Then I'll chop off your limbs and ask again!"
Saying this, he took out a scroll and flung it forcefully. Two more giant shuriken appeared.
"Magnet Release: Twin Hornet..."
"Don't even think about it!"
Just as Toroi was about to throw the two shuriken, a voice filled with a violent aura suddenly reached his ears.
Akimichi Dōtō, who had been unconscious, had awakened under the protection and treatment of the Anbu ninja.
Seeing Hyuga Kumokawa standing protectively in front of him, he without hesitation shoved a green pill and a yellow pill into his mouth.
The Akimichi clan's secret pills: the "Green Spinach Pill" which could instantly burst out 30% of the human body's potential and increase strength by more than 3 times its limit, and the "Yellow Curry Pill" which nourished Qi and blood.
The cost was the pain and weakness after the effects wore off.
But now, it was enough.
"Expansion Jutsu: Super Push Hands!"
BOOM!!
A giantized hand descended from the sky, smashing down towards Toroi's location.
The deafening noise erupted as cracks on the ground caved in like a collapsing mountain. The entire earth was shattered by an unimaginable, terrifying force.
Several corpses, along with their blood and bones, were crushed into debris and pressed into the soil.
"Troublesome guy."
Toroi's figure appeared further away, his eyes somewhat gloomy.
The connection to the shuriken had been forcibly severed, and he could only summon them back.
"Senior Dōtō!" Hyuga Kumokawa looked up at Akimichi Dōtō, a timely expression of joy appearing on his face. "You..."
"Kumokawa, listen to me."
Before he could finish speaking, Akimichi Dōtō interrupted him, his tone grave. "This matter was most likely done by Iwagakure. You and the others must immediately return to Konoha and inform the Third Hokage of everything!"
"Iwagakure?" Before Hyuga Kumokawa could speak, Aburame Ryoma's pupils constricted. "How could it be Iwagakure?"
Akimichi Dōtō glanced at him coldly, thinking, As if your Root had nothing to do with it either?
"Do you remember the group of Iwa rogue ninjas we encountered on the road?" Akimichi Dōtō explained. "The scroll containing Hiashi's body was likely swapped at that time."
"What?" Hyuga Kumokawa was stunned, as if realizing something, his pale face turning even whiter. "So, it was me..."
"This is not your fault." Akimichi Dōtō looked at him with a complex expression.
He had seen everything clearly just now: Hyuga Kumokawa's desperate efforts to protect him, the strength and talent he displayed.
Akimichi Dōtō had witnessed it all.
When he realized the explosive tags were placed inside the coffin, his first instinct had naturally been to suspect Hyuga Kumokawa, who held the scroll.
But he quickly realized that explosive tags were crucial strategic materials, not something one could just buy if they had money.
Such a large quantity of explosive tags…
Forget whether one could afford them, even if Hyuga Kumokawa did have the money, it would be impossible for him to acquire them.
Even if he tried to buy them, Anbu would instantly show up, interrogating him about his intentions for purchasing so many explosive tags.
Therefore, the explosive tags couldn't have been placed by Hyuga Kumokawa. That left only the possibility of a swap. This child was simply too inexperienced.
Such a promising young talent with fine character absolutely must not die young in a place like this today.
"Go quickly," Akimichi Dōtō said heavily.
"No, we can't. If we leave, Senior, you..."
Hyuga Kumokawa tried to say more, but the sharp sound of tearing air interrupted him.
"None of you will escape today!"
"Go!"
As several massive shuriken flew towards them again, Akimichi Dōtō roared and slammed down with a palm wrapped in chakra.
BOOM!!
The ground beneath their feet trembled noticeably again. Everyone could feel that dull, thunderous sound.
But this time, unlike before, it didn't gradually subside.
Akimichi Dōtō's strike seemed to have broken something. The tremors beneath their feet grew stronger and stronger.
Hum! Hum!
"What's happening?" Everyone's expressions changed slightly.
And in the next moment, after the earth shook and the mountains quaked, came a world-shaking roar.
CRACK!
Beneath their feet, the ground bulged upwards violently, terrifying cracks appearing, stretching a hundred meters in diameter.
It was as if an invisible monster was twisting its body underground, eager to break through the cage restraining it. The immense power could be felt even through the ground.
Heavy objects nearby were shaken loose, floating weightlessly for a moment.
CRACK! SNAP!!
After the ground arched into a huge curve, an ear-splitting explosive sound once again shook heaven and earth.
In that instant, everyone felt a sense of weightlessness, as if they themselves were being shaken into the air.
No, it wasn't them levitating.
It was the ground beneath their feet collapsing.
"Retreat!"
Whether it was Toroi or the Konoha group, seeing this scene, they all stopped their actions simultaneously and shunshined away.
RUMBLE!!
They watched as a dark crack tore open beneath the inn.
The ground split into huge rocks and collapsed downwards, "swallowed" by the expanding, shattering chasm.
The immensely solid earth seemed as fragile and soft as flatbread being pinched apart.
After a moment, when the tremors finally subsided and the rising dust gradually dispersed.
What appeared before them was a black hole, bottomless like an abyss.
"What is this?"
Everyone stared at the abyss with shocked and uncertain expressions, feeling as if a deep darkness surged within it.