"Not good!"
With his three-tomoe Sharingan, Uchiha Yue instantly understood what Yu Ye was about to do the moment Yu Ye's left hand clenched into a fist.
Alarm rang out in his heart—
But there was nothing he could do.
If Yu Ye had used that shockwave power from the very beginning, Yue was confident he could have forcibly split it apart and killed Yu Ye on the spot.
But now—
His all-out sword strike had been blocked by Yu Ye's kunai.
And that placed him in an extremely awkward position.
"Shock Release: Monstrous Strength!"
Yu Ye showed absolutely no mercy. At a moment like this, he struck with everything he had.
As white light flared around Yu Ye's fist, Uchiha Yue pressed his sword down against the kunai, trying to borrow the force to retreat.
But—
That move was already within Yu Ye's calculations.
At the very instant Yue tried to disengage, Yu Ye retracted his kunai—dangerously and precisely.
This single action caused disaster.
Not only did Uchiha Yue fail to retreat—
His body actually leaned further forward!
The Sharingan could see movements—
But it could not read Yu Ye's intentions.
"Damn it… this brat!"
Uchiha Yue had never expected Yu Ye to dare something like this.
Let alone succeed.
When a kunai and sword were locked together, withdrawing the kunai meant the enemy blade would naturally continue its downward arc.
Yet Yu Ye still did it.
Still—
Uchiha Yue was a jōnin who had survived countless battles.
Even now, he didn't panic.
If retreat wasn't possible—
Then he wouldn't retreat!
HUM—!
Chakra surged once more along Uchiha Yue's blade as he attempted to cleave Yu Ye in two.
But at that very moment—
Yu Ye's fist arrived.
The kunai withdrew.
And what replaced it at the sword's edge—
Was Yu Ye's bare fist.
CRACK!!!
The air shattered like breaking ice.
A horrifying shockwave exploded outward, completely engulfing Uchiha Yue.
His sword hovered mere inches from Yu Ye's fist—
Yet it could not press down even a fraction further.
"Break!!"
Uchiha Yue roared inwardly, pouring chakra into his blade.
If this had been him at the start of the fight, he could have cut through this shockwave.
But now—
He couldn't.
Uchiha Yue was already at the end of his strength.
Even forcing out all his remaining chakra, he could only slice apart part of the shock force.
The rest slammed directly into his body.
BANG!!
The next instant—
Uchiha Yue was finally overwhelmed, sent flying backward by Yu Ye's Monstrous Strength punch.
"Pff!"
Blood sprayed from his mouth while he was still in midair.
He barely managed to land on his feet, his body trembling faintly.
Disbelief filled his eyes.
He was injured.
He—
A jōnin—
Had been injured in a head-on clash by this kid.
In the distance, Might Dai—who had been ready to open the Seventh Gate at any moment—stood frozen, mouth agape.
Originally, he thought Yu Ye blocking Uchiha Yue was already beyond outstanding.
But now—
Yu Ye had repelled Yue.
And even made him cough blood.
It was almost unbelievable.
Uchiha Yue was a jōnin, after all.
At this moment, Yue finally understood how Uchiha Han must have felt back then.
Killing intent surged wildly in his heart, rage threatening to take control.
Yet in the end—
He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
Uchiha Yue was not Uchiha Han.
His composure was far superior.
"Very good," Yue said coldly.
"To injure me—you have every reason to be proud."
"Do I?" Yu Ye replied calmly.
He looked at Yue with an increasingly flat expression, completely unmoved.
Uchiha Yue suddenly laughed.
It was a smile difficult to describe.
"Yes."
"But this is as far as it goes. I've already seen through your technique. Next, you will die—without exception."
"That move of yours looks similar to chakra flow… but it isn't the same."
"It's not a sustained state. It's a single-strike technique, right?"
Uchiha Yue narrowed his eyes as he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
Yu Ye didn't respond.
Uchiha Yue was right.
The Sharingan, even without reaching the Mangekyō stage, was still an extremely powerful dōjutsu.
A three-tomoe Sharingan could not be ignored.
If Uchiha Yue hadn't possessed those eyes, he might already be dead.
Of course—
Yu Ye also didn't reply because Uchiha Yue was talking too much.
Villains who talk too much always die early.
An unchanging law.
Yu Ye had noticed something as well—
People in the Naruto world loved explaining their abilities and analyzing their opponents.
If Yue hadn't spoken, Yu Ye might have actually been caught off guard later.
But Yue clearly believed he had completely grasped Yu Ye's abilities.
That the outcome was already decided.
That no matter what Yu Ye did, he couldn't turn things around.
So he said it out loud.
"You've got a nice theory," Yu Ye snorted softly.
"Then come and test it."
He suddenly lifted his foot—
And stomped down hard.
"Shock Release: Earth Tremor Technique!"
RUMBLE—!!!
Shockwaves erupted violently, spreading outward from Yu Ye's feet in all directions.
The earth itself seemed to turn into a raging sea—
Flipping over in an instant!
Uchiha Yue frowned.
As the ground shook violently beneath him, his feet were like iron stakes, firmly planted in place.
CRACK—CRACK—!
Terrifying fissures tore open, spreading in every direction.
When the trembling finally stopped, the ground was riddled with cracks—
Some of them pitch-black and unfathomably deep.
Then—
Yu Ye abruptly fell straight into one of those fissures.
And vanished underground.
"Hmm?!"
Only then did Uchiha Yue react, shock flashing across his face.
He hadn't expected this at all.
The three tomoe in his eyes spun rapidly as he stared at the countless cracks ahead—
But his frown only deepened.
He couldn't see him.
Or rather—
He couldn't see clearly.
If this had been the Byakugan, it would have perfectly countered Yu Ye's move.
But the Sharingan—
Could not see through the ground.
Below was complete darkness.
Uchiha Yue could only rely on faint residual vibrations to roughly judge Yu Ye's position.
In an instant, he was forced into a passive state.
"Tch… then I'll respond to change with constancy."
"That brat has to come back up eventually. His attacks have intervals."
"As long as I seize the moment he resurfaces—I'll kill him on the spot."
Uchiha Yue felt a headache coming on.
He barely knew any Earth Release techniques.
If he did, he wouldn't be this constrained by Yu Ye's terrain manipulation.
The few basic C-rank Earth Release jutsu he knew were completely useless here.
Worse—
If he started forming hand seals now, Yu Ye might seize that opening and launch a surprise attack.
The battle—
Had entered a far more dangerous phase.
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