Chapter 102: Sandworm

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Sandworm

Hyuga Kagami lowered his gaze.

Within the vision of his Tenseigan, he discovered that an enormous sandworm was actually concealed beneath the dune.

Not only was the sandworm massive in size, but it also possessed an impressive amount of chakra. Among all the ninja beasts Kagami had encountered, it could definitely be considered one of the more exceptional ones.

"Hm...?"

Kagami let out a soft sound of surprise, but made no further move.

Since he had already entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode, he had never intended to let these Sunagakure shinobi leave alive.

But that didn’t mean he couldn’t use them for a little practice first.

In particular, he still needed to familiarize himself properly with the use of the Truth-Seeking Balls.

After all, ever since mastering Tenseigan Chakra Mode, the number of times he had actually gotten the chance to use the Truth-Seeking Balls could be counted on one hand.

And during those few occasions, he had either been in the middle of a life-or-death crisis, leaving him no time to carefully explore their properties, or his own chakra reserves had been insufficient, preventing him from using them at full strength.

This was the first time he had both plenty of chakra and plenty of time.

Naturally, he wasn’t going to waste such a rare opportunity.

Once he returned to the village, finding another chance like this wouldn’t be nearly as easy.

Meanwhile, on the Sunagakure side, Oura exchanged a glance with the several shinobi beside him.

Then he looked toward Nosuke.

The two met each other’s eyes...

...and nodded.

After exchanging a round of meaningful glances, the eight Sunagakure shinobi quickly settled on their next tactic.

"Wind Style: Wind Tornado!"

Two Sunagakure chunin were the first to act.

Positioning themselves on Kagami’s left and right, they simultaneously unleashed their Wind Release ninjutsu. At the same moment, the giant sandworm hidden beneath the dunes spewed out a towering column of sand.

The two Wind Style techniques swept up the countless grains of yellow sand within the column, instantly turning the surroundings into a raging sandstorm.

In the blink of an eye, heaven and earth were swallowed by darkness, as though night had suddenly descended.

Seeing this, Hyuga Kagami smiled faintly.

"Trying to use the sandstorm to deprive me of my vision?"

At that moment, the Sunagakure jonin Oura pulled two scrolls from his ninja pouch. Holding one in each hand, he unfurled them simultaneously.

Poof! Poof!

After the smoke dispersed, two puppets appeared before him.

One of the puppets resembled a giant python. Its entire body was composed of countless interconnected joints, each segment seemingly capable of moving independently, giving it an extremely eerie appearance.

The other puppet looked like an enormous umbrella. Once fully opened, it measured more than two meters across.

But the raging sandstorm filling the air was completely incapable of obstructing Kagami’s Tenseigan.

With just a casual glance, he immediately noticed that the gaps between the joints of the python puppet were packed with layer upon layer of explosive tags.

As for the underside of the umbrella puppet...

It was filled with a densely packed forest of senbon.

And Kagami didn’t even need to guess.

Every single one of those senbon was undoubtedly coated in poison.

After summoning the two puppets, Oura’s expression twisted viciously as he shouted,

"You piece of trash! You dare look down on us?! Die!"

Oura’s furious roar was like the signal for an all-out assault.

The python puppet struck first.

It suddenly shot upward as a mechanism beneath its belly blasted out a powerful burst of air, propelling the entire puppet forward like an arrow toward Hyuga Kagami in midair.

At the same time, the fully opened umbrella puppet aimed directly at Kagami and unleashed an innumerable barrage of senbon.

Kagami’s expression remained cold.

With a sweep of both hands, the five Truth-Seeking Balls floating around him instantly transformed into a black sphere, completely enclosing and protecting him from every direction.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Countless senbon slammed into the surface of the black sphere, producing a continuous series of metallic impacts!

Yet the sphere formed from the Truth-Seeking Balls did not change in the slightest.

Instead, the senbon forged from refined steel seemed to have suddenly become as fragile as wood, easily shattering and snapping apart upon impact.

Just then, the incoming python puppet wrapped itself tightly around the black sphere.

Immediately afterward came the sharp—

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

—of explosive tags igniting.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

A continuous chain of explosions erupted!

The blasts were so violent that even the raging sandstorm surrounding the battlefield was momentarily dispersed. The enormous shockwave forced every Sunagakure shinobi to shield their faces as they were driven backward.

Gritting his teeth, Oura snarled,

"My Explosive Python contains ten thousand explosive tags!"

"He’s dead for sure!"

The other Sunagakure jonin, Nosuke, extended his senses toward the explosion.

Suddenly, his expression changed.

"Something’s wrong!"

"What’s wrong?"

The surrounding Sunagakure shinobi all turned toward him.

Nosuke shook his head.

"The sandworm is telling me that the enemy’s chakra signature... hasn’t disappeared!"

"How is that possible?!"

"Who could survive an explosion like that?"

"Even Lord Kazekage couldn’t possibly take an attack like that without suffering a single injury!"

The Sunagakure chunin immediately erupted into disbelief.

Oura’s brows furrowed deeply as well.

"Nosuke, could the sandworm have made a mistake?"

Staring at the enormous cloud of smoke and dust billowing in the distance, Nosuke’s expression grew increasingly grave.

He replied in a low voice,

"No. It didn’t make a mistake.

"The sandworm told me that it..."

He hesitated.

"It’s afraid."

Oura froze.

"That hell-raising monster... actually knows how to be afraid?"

In the desert, giant sandworms practically had no natural predators.

Whether birds in the sky or beasts roaming the ground, virtually anything they encountered could fall within their range of prey.

So when Oura heard that the giant sandworm was actually afraid, the very idea struck him as absurd.

Gradually...

The smoke and dust from the explosion began to disperse.

And once again—

Hyuga Kagami’s figure emerged from within.

Seeing that Hyuga Kagami was still completely unharmed, the Sunagakure shinobi stared at one another in stunned silence.

According to everything they understood about the world, a monster like this simply should not exist.

Kagami, however, paid them no attention.

Instead, he silently contemplated the changes the Truth-Seeking Balls had undergone during the previous attack.

Having ten thousand explosive tags detonate practically right in his face was certainly no pleasant experience.

Against anyone else—even the Kage of the major shinobi villages—an explosion of that magnitude would likely leave them dead or, at the very least, gravely wounded.

But for Kagami, who possessed the Truth-Seeking Balls, it wasn’t much of a problem.

The only real consequence was that defending against the explosion had instantly consumed a considerable portion of his chakra reserves.

After a moment, Kagami looked toward them and asked coldly,

"Is this all you’re capable of?"

Having already expended a large amount of chakra, he abandoned the idea of continuing his practice.

After all, this was still the Land of Wind.

A shinobi should never abandon the caution expected of one.

Oura wiped the cold sweat beading across his forehead.

"This monster isn’t someone we can deal with!"

"Retreat!"

The instant Oura gave the order, the Sunagakure shinobi—whose courage had already been thoroughly shattered—scattered in every direction, each fleeing along a different route.

Kagami smiled faintly.

Then he raised his right hand...

And gently clenched his fist.

In an instant, all eight fleeing Sunagakure shinobi felt an irresistible force seize their bodies.

Before any of them could react—

they were all dragged straight back to where they had started.

"This...!?"

Even Oura, a battle-hardened Sunagakure jonin who had survived countless fights, found his legs trembling uncontrollably.

Kagami glanced at him.

"Just now...

"You called me trash, didn’t you?"

He paused briefly before continuing in an indifferent voice,

"Then I’ll turn you into real trash."

With that, Hyuga Kagami pointed a finger toward Oura.

One of the Truth-Seeking Balls immediately shot forward, hurtling straight toward him.

Seeing it coming, Oura hurriedly pulled out two kunai and attempted to block it.

Bang!

A black streak flashed past.

It tore through Oura’s body as effortlessly as though smashing through a piece of soft tofu.

His body was shattered apart in an instant.

As for the kunai in Oura’s hands...

They hadn’t provided even the slightest bit of resistance.