CH_30

"【Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique】!" That was Jakkō's fourth Great Fireball!

Shing! Shing! Shing! At that moment, everyone who had Exploding Tags tied them to kunai and threw them.

Boom! Boom-boom! The sound of the Exploding Tags detonating was almost pleasant to hear. Thick dust rose from the blast zone.

"Looks like you won't need to step in," Tōji said to Natchi.

"Hmm?! There's still chakra reaction!" No sooner had he spoken than Tōji realized something was wrong.

"Ah!" Suddenly, the Lightning Release chūnin let out a scream. Everyone turned to look—a bald Iwa jōnin, smaller in build and looking pretty battered, had his fist punched straight through the chūnin's abdomen!

That Lightning Release chūnin's stomach… intestines were spilling out. Tōji felt extremely nauseated.

"Kid, die!" The Iwa jōnin was clearly enraged. He looked terrible—his skin was oozing blood all over from the blast, his face was covered in dust and grime, and his clothes were shredded…

This Iwa jōnin had somehow managed to avoid the explosion in time.

But the other one had definitely been blown to pieces—you could still see the mangled remains…

Seeing this, one of the Water Release chūnin cried out in grief and urgency, "Takeo! Takeo!"

Mm… so the Lightning Release martyr's name was Takeo. Thank you, Takeo!

"Stop yelling…" The Iwa jōnin moved again! "You can go join him!"

Before anyone could react, the Water Release shinobi standing too close also had his abdomen punched clean through by the Iwa jōnin!

The Water Release shinobi wore an expression of utter disbelief, his bulging eyes looking down at his own stomach…

The Iwa-nin simply flicked his fist aside, tossing the doomed chūnin away like trash.

"Line up and die one by one!" The Iwa-nin was fully berserk now—even his growl sounded unhinged…

Jakkō had moved to the very front, but he didn't dare make a rash move. He held his two short swords in a reverse grip, raised before him. His knees were slightly bent—ready to respond to the Iwa-nin's attack at any moment.

The Iwa-nin swung his "Rock Fists" and charged at Jakkō again. Instead of meeting the attack head-on, Jakkō parried each blow with his twin blades, retreating step by step.

But the genin who had been standing behind Jakkō weren't so sharp… The Iwa-nin's "Rock Fists" swung wildly—one punch either shattered an arm, caved in a skull, or sent someone crumpling to the ground with a crushed chest or abdomen…

It was hard not to suspect that Jakkō had deliberately backed into his own allies' ranks…

Quite a few genin who tried to show off either threw a few useless shuriken from a distance or charged in—only to be killed or crippled in one punch…

Only about twenty genin remained—the ones who valued their lives a bit more. They were still scattering in all directions, but none dared to actually flee outright.

Aside from Jakkō, who was barely holding on by using his teammates as "cover," only one Water Release chūnin was still capable of fighting.

"【Water Release: Water Ripple】!" The last Water Release chūnin, who hadn't been targeted, quickly formed hand seals and fired a jutsu at the Iwa-nin—one that was unlikely to do much.

But the Iwa-nin's dodge gave Jakkō a brief respite, allowing him to retreat out of the Iwa-nin's immediate attack range.

"【Earth Release: Land Core Shift】!" The Iwa-nin decided to deal with the Water Release chūnin first.

The ground beneath the Water Release chūnin rapidly sank—and the genin beside him was dragged down too!

The Water Release shinobi—in grave danger!

Sure enough, the Iwa-nin slammed his fist into the ground. "【Earth Release: Earth Flow】!"

The earthen wall above the Water Release shinobi flowed down like shifting sand, burying him in an instant! All that remained was the sound of his terrified screams fading away…

One Konoha chūnin left!

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note:

A reader sent me a private message with words of encouragement—that made me really happy. So I'll still be posting five chapters today. I'm a bit torn about setting a price for memberships, though. What do you guys think is a reasonable price?