This problem had troubled Minato for several days. After endless reflection, the only conclusion he could reach was more practice. That frustrated him even more. He had never once seen Shane Mountain practice, so how on earth did that guy manage to master everything so easily?
"Forget it," Minato sighed. "Tomorrow I'll see Shane's Rasenshuriken in action. Maybe then I'll understand how he does it."
The night passed quietly.
The next morning, the Konoha ninja were already up and preparing for battle. Compared to yesterday, their morale was higher than ever. It felt as though today would be the day they would end the war with Sunagakure once and for all.
Even Tsunade didn't stay behind this time. She personally led the troops to the front lines, her presence alone boosting the spirits of every soldier around her.
"Wind-style squad, advance!"
"Earth-style squad, go!"
Boom! Boom!
The moment both sides clashed, there was no need for words. Ninjas immediately unleashed their coordinated jutsu in a dazzling display of destructive power.
When Konoha's first wave was blocked, Chiyo swiftly commanded her puppet corps forward. The mechanical warriors surged ahead, breaking through Konoha's earthen defenses with razor precision.
Tsunade responded instantly. "Wind-style squad, focus on those puppets! Destroy them all!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
The battlefield was swept by a howling storm. The weaker puppets were shredded into pieces, leaving only a few of Chiyo's finest creations charging ahead unscathed.
At that moment, Sakumo Hatake the famed "White Fang" unsheathed his blade. With a blinding arc of light, he sliced through the advancing puppets, cleaving them clean in half.
But puppets were a troublesome thing. Unless you cut the chakra threads connecting them to the puppeteer, they could always be reassembled.
Sure enough, the severed puppets suddenly reattached, and one of them swung a gleaming blade toward Sakumo's neck!
"Haah!"
With a fierce shout, Tsunade slammed her fist into the ground. Chunks of stone shot up like bullets, smashing into the puppets and sending them flying.
Sakumo's eyes flashed as he prepared to use his secret technique when a sharp, electric hum echoed behind him.
Zzzzt!
Everyone turned.
Shane Mountain stood there, one arm raised above his head. In his palm, a sphere of violently rotating chakra emitted an ear-splitting whine its edges forming the unmistakable shape of a massive shuriken.
"What... is that?" Sakumo muttered, momentarily stunned. Even for a seasoned ninja like him, the sight was beyond comprehension.
"Everyone, clear the area!" Shane shouted.
Konoha's shinobi quickly leapt aside, clearing a wide path ahead of him. Yet their eyes remained fixed on that terrifying mass of spinning chakra.
Step by step, Shane advanced, a confident smile curving his lips. "Chiyo, remember the new technique I told you about before? You didn't get to see it then... but this time, I won't let the opportunity slip by."
From a distance, Chiyo's expression tensed. She had already suspected that the "new technique" the young man spoke of wouldn't be something simple but seeing it in person was far worse than she'd imagined.
Her initial shock soon faded, replaced by calm calculation. "Little brat," she said coldly, "that jutsu... how do you even plan to release it? Something with that much chakra... if you use it recklessly, you'll end up destroying yourself."
And it was true Shane's Rasenshuriken looked larger than he was. She doubted he could even maintain its shape, much less throw it.
"Heh, just watch." Shane grinned, lowering his stance slightly as he pulled his arm back.
"Wait... that posture no way! You can't possibly mean to throw that thing?!"
Both armies froze in disbelief.
And then Shane moved.
With a sharp swing of his arm, the spinning chakra shuriken left his hand and shot forward like a blazing comet. Its target Chiyo herself.
"Lady Chiyo, look out!"
"Hmph! Such childish theatrics can't harm me!" Chiyo snapped, flicking her fingers. Two white-robed puppets appeared in front of her with a burst of smoke.
"Barrier Formation!"
The twin puppets raised their arms, conjuring a blue energy shield in front of Chiyo.
Shane's smile only widened. "You think you can block this with toys? Foolish."
In the next instant, the Rasenshuriken expanded violently. From barely a meter wide, it swelled to more than ten meters in diameter, its edges screeching as they tore through the air. Everything it touched was instantly shredded into dust.
Chiyo and her puppets were the first to be hit. In a single flash, both puppets were split apart followed by Chiyo herself.
"Lady Chiyo!"
"Mother!"
Two Sunagakure ninjas lunged forward, yanking her mangled body out of the blast zone just as Shane snapped his fingers.
"Detonate."
Boom!
The Rasenshuriken exploded like a miniature star, its light devouring everything in its path.
Both sides recoiled in terror, shielding their faces from the gale-force shockwave.
When the dust settled, a massive crater thirty meters wide scarred the battlefield. Not a trace of the puppets remained. Even the lower half of Chiyo's body had vanished, reduced to nothing but a mist of blood.
A collective gasp rippled through both armies.
What kind of power was that?
Even the battle-hardened ninja could only stare, pale-faced, imagining what would have happened had they been the target.
Tsunade watched Shane silently, her thoughts unreadable. This kid... is full of mysteries. But as long as he was fighting for Konoha, that was all that mattered.
Shane, meanwhile, looked rather pleased with himself. "Tsk. Shame I didn't finish her off completely. But sliced in half like that... there's no way she's surviving."
Minato and the others finally recovered from their shock, staring at Shane as though he were some kind of monster.
"That power... it's unbelievable!"
"And you threw it like a shuriken! How did you even manage that?"
"Master! Teach me that jutsu!"
Shane smirked. "Learn to split a leaf first, then we'll talk."
"Yes, sir..."
Tsunade raised her hand. "Konoha forces advance! Don't give them time to recover!"
"Yeah!"
The morale of Konoha's troops surged once again, while Sunagakure's spirits crumbled.
Though Chiyo had been rescued, her life was fading fast. She was barely breathing, her once sharp eyes dimming with every passing second.
"Damn those Konoha dogs!" roared a red-haired man nearby, his fists trembling.
"Kyryuka..." Chiyo wheezed, summoning her final strength. "You must kill that Konoha brat. If you don't... the Sand will never rise again."
Her voice faltered, and the last glint of life vanished from her eyes.
"Mother!" Kyryuka screamed, clutching her lifeless body. Then his gaze turned toward Shane, burning with pure hatred.
"I swear... I'll kill that Konoha boy myself. I'll make him pay for my mother's death!"
He rose, eyes gleaming with vengeance, as the war between the Leaf and the Sand raged on.
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