A giant dragon roared, carrying an irresistibly powerful current, and slammed into Ryo in the center of the arena.
The entire backyard seemed to be enveloped by its massive shadow.
Ryo faced the rushing Suiryūdan no Jutsu with an impassive face.
His body sank slightly, his center of gravity pressed low. The muscles of his right arm bulged, and the blue Rasengan in his palm suddenly hummed at high speed, its brightness surging.
The terrifying rotational force of the condensed chakra stirred the air, forming a small vortex centered on the Rasengan.
Facing the crashing dragon head, he showed no intention of dodging.
A head-on clash?
No.
Just as the dragon head, carrying immense power, was about to engulf him, Ryo twisted his body sideways like a ghost.
He did not charge head-on into the energy core of the jutsu.
His right palm, wrapped in the fiercely spinning Rasengan, moved like a precise mechanical arm, tracing an ingenious trajectory. It was precise and ruthless, yet contained a yielding roundness, pressing against a weak chakra node slightly behind the right side of the dragon's head, three inches below the "neck."
This was not brute force. It was like a butcher dismembering an ox.
Buzz. Sizzle.
The high-speed rotational cutting of the Rasengan took effect instantly.
The dragon's head was torn apart like it had been fed into an invisible blade wheel. Its structure collapsed in an instant.
The violent chakra flow was twisted and ripped apart.
Boom.
The subsequent mass of water lost control. Without the dragon head's guidance, it swept everywhere like a bursting mountain flood.
Droplets turned into a downpour, pounding roofs and walls with incessant rattling.
The courtyard ground, once only patchy with wet, became a muddy puddle.
The enormous backlash made Nawaki's chest churn, and he stumbled back several steps before he stabilized.
He stared, stunned, at the shattered water dragon turning into a sky full of spray.
This overturned his understanding. His strongest attack, the B-rank Suiryūdan no Jutsu, had been dispersed by a ninjutsu he had never heard of.
"What… what was that?" Nawaki asked, his voice lost.
"Rasengan." Ryo uttered three words.
He stood by the muddy puddle, splashed with water, his breathing steady.
Looking at Nawaki's bewildered, flustered face, Ryo felt no smugness.
The timing was perfect.
Ryo formed hand signs again. "Bunshin no Jutsu." White smoke spread, and several clones reappeared, like a trained pack of wolves, launching feints from different directions.
After the mental shock of his failed dragon, Nawaki's reactions had dulled.
Several clones surged forward. Nawaki's nerves stretched taut. He hastily formed hand signs. "Suiton, Suij…" The Suijinheki (Water Formation Wall) had only risen halfway when his movement suddenly paused.
A Ryo clone on the left, rushing closer, suddenly slipped, staggering on the muddy ground as if losing footing, exposing a clear gap in its chest and abdomen.
This sliver of a flaw was like a desert spring in Nawaki's overworked mind.
Accumulated anger and unwillingness, humiliation suppressed to madness, instantly became fuel driven by instinct.
"Opportunity." A sharp glint flashed in Nawaki's eyes. The last shred of rationality was overwhelmed.
He ignored Suiton defense and tactics, roaring, "Break him."
He drove off the muddy ground and charged at the "Ryo" that had exposed a weakness.
All his chakra condensed into his fist. He aimed to slam it into the center of that staggering clone's chest, to blast this annoying Ryo apart himself.
"Die." Nawaki's roar carried the sudden release of ecstasy and relief.
Bang.
The unadorned fist struck true.
That "Ryo" exploded into a cloud of white smoke. A clone.
The impact twisted Nawaki's ferocity into a grim, triumphant smile, as if he had avenged a great enemy.
However.
As the white smoke burst and the clone dispersed, an ominous orange-red light, like a demon's eye, pierced from the core of the dissipating smoke. Then—
Boom.
Orange-red flames and precisely controlled shockwaves, like a chained beast, tore through smoke and dust, violent yet restrained.
At the moment Nawaki's fist touched the clone, his weight was pitched forward, his defense at its weakest, and that triumphant face, inches from the blast point, had not even finished its smile.
This was not a clone being destroyed.
It was a trap, preloaded with special explosive tags and detonated on cue.
Nawaki's triumph froze into horror before it could turn to shock.
He had no time to pull back, form hand signs, or gather protective chakra. The distance was too close, the explosion too violent. The instant he saw the flare, the shockwave had already hit.
It's over.
"Ah—"
Nawaki's scream began, then was swallowed by the roar.
He flew several meters like a rag doll, then crashed into the muddy pit.
Plop.
Blood spread through the mud, glaring and red.
Nawaki's legs were torn and twisted, stark white bone fragments showing.
His eyes rolled back and he passed out, the grim triumph still stuck on his face.
"Nawaki-nii." Kushina's heart-wrenching scream pierced the fading echoes.
The smoke had not fully dissipated when Tsunade shot forward.
She moved so fast only an afterimage remained.
Plop.
She knelt in the mud, splashing murky water.
Her hands moved like lightning. A dense, tangible green chakra gathered in her palms.
"Nawaki." Tsunade's roar was urgent, but her hands were iron-steady as she pressed the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) onto the bloody, profusely bleeding fracture.
Sizzle.
The sharp, powerful stimulation of the Mystical Palm Technique plunged into Nawaki's body.
"Ugh, ah—" Nawaki's body jolted as if electrocuted. A broken whimper squeezed from his throat, then he went limp.
Uzumaki Mito walked over silently, her hunched back straightening.
Her cloudy eyes swept over the black-red puddle, over Nawaki's mangled legs, and finally rested on Ryo.
That gaze was bottomless, heavy as lead.
She did not speak. She extended a withered hand to press firmly on Nawaki's uninjured forearm, as if to hold something steady.
Ryo could feel a subtle, almost imperceptible tremor in her hand.
Ryo stood still, the blast's dust shaking from his clothes.
His face was expressionless, calm as if he had brushed off some dirt.
His eyes met Tsunade's glance.
Tsunade's eyes were like hot iron, filled with rage, icy reproach, and something too complex to untangle, locking onto Ryo.
"Ryo." She roared, her voice scraping bone.
The meaning was clear. Explain yourself.
Ryo sneered inwardly. Keep acting. I will carry the blame.
He lowered his eyelids, avoiding her murderous stare, but his gaze, unfortunately, fell on the frozen figure beside him.
Kushina looked struck by lightning, rooted to the spot.
A few strands of hair were disheveled by the blast.
The color drained from her face. Her lips trembled, but no sound came.
Her light blue eyes were full of shock, panic, and fear on the verge of breaking.
Most of that fear was not directed at Nawaki.
Her gaze darted between Ryo, Tsunade, and Mito.
Mito was too calm.
So calm it made her uneasy.
Tsunade's fury looked like it would tear Ryo apart on the spot.
It is over. Kushina's mind roared.
Grandma would drive Ryo away and never let her see him again.
That thought gripped her heart like a demon's claw, suffocating her.
Tears welled up, filming her terrified eyes with desperate moisture.
Uzumaki Mito let out a long breath, as if setting down a burden.
She patted Nawaki's uninjured arm, then straightened.
Her cloudy gaze swept the scene, landed on Kushina's distraught face, then turned to Ryo.
"Tsunade," Mito's voice was steady and carried undeniable weight, "take Nawaki to the hospital and treat him carefully. Ryo, you stay."
"Grandma." Kushina, like a cat with its tail stepped on, pounced toward Mito, her voice trembling with a sob. "Nawaki-nii, he…"
Mito's withered yet strong hand caught Kushina's clenched fist, pulling her close.
Her other hand supported Kushina's weak shoulders, sheltering her under her wing.
"Understood, Grandma." Tsunade growled low, deftly lifting the unconscious Nawaki and shielding his vital points.
Before leaving, she glared fiercely at Ryo, eyes like they could eat him.
There was acting in that, and real anger at her brother's state.
Holding Nawaki, she rushed out through the courtyard gate like the wind and vanished.
(To be continued.)