Chapter 48: A Fierce Battle

Chapter 48: Chapter 48: A Fierce Battle

"This..."

Stricken with alarm, Iwamata found himself helplessly flying toward Hyuga Kagami.

Still lying on the ground, Kagami forced himself upright and, with great difficulty, unleashed the Eight Trigrams Palms!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A rapid series of palm strikes rang out as Iwamata was blasted away by Kagami’s Gentle Fist, crashing into the mud not far away.

"Cough... cough..."

After completing the Gentle Fist combination, Kagami coughed up another mouthful of blood.

Although he had deliberately allowed himself to be hit in order to lure Iwamata into revealing himself, the injuries he had suffered were very real.

In fact, even Kagami hadn’t expected Iwamata’s mud whips to be so powerful. With the momentum from his fall, being violently slammed out of the air and into the ground had actually injured his internal organs. Even now, his blood and chakra were still churning inside him, and his head was swimming.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, Kagami said calmly, "Stop pretending. I know you’re not unconscious!"

Hearing this, Iwamata dropped the act. He immediately flipped himself upright and leapt out of the mud, staring at Kagami with a mixture of shock and suspicion.

"Brat, what was that technique you just used?"

Hyuga Kagami clicked his tongue. "Tch, why should I tell you?"

"That’s fine. I’ll make you talk soon enough!"

As he spoke, Iwamata slowly drew the short blade at his waist.

Iwamata was indeed worthy of being called an elite jōnin of Iwagakure. When he had been caught by the Wheel of Will earlier, he had secretly cast an Earth Style technique to harden parts of his body. As a result, although Kagami’s Gentle Fist had sealed several of his chakra pathways, it had failed to inflict any significant physical damage.

Having his chakra pathways sealed only meant that he could no longer use ninjutsu.

As an elite jōnin, even without chakra, Iwamata was still a first-rate fighter when it came to taijutsu and swordsmanship.

And judging from Kagami’s appearance, his injuries were clearly severe.

So in Iwamata’s eyes, he still held an overwhelming advantage. The situation remained firmly under his control.

Kagami, however, didn’t waste any more words.

With an almost leisurely air, he took out a scroll marked with the character "Three" and, right in front of Iwamata, summoned the Third Kazekage Human Puppet.

"This is...?"

Staring at the cloud of iron sand floating around the Third Kazekage Human Puppet, Iwamata was dumbfounded.

As a ninja who had lived through two Great Ninja Wars, Iwamata’s experience and knowledge far surpassed that of an ordinary shinobi. With just a single glance, he recognized it as Sunagakure’s unique kekkei genkai—

Magnet Release!

Revealing the Third Kazekage Human Puppet in a place like this was undoubtedly an enormous risk.

So Kagami had no intention of wasting time.

He immediately urged the Third Kazekage Human Puppet into action.

Magnet Style: Iron Sand Drizzle!

In an instant, the iron sand filling the sky transformed into countless razor-sharp senbon, raining down upon Iwamata like a torrential downpour.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The short blade in Iwamata’s hand danced through the air, weaving dazzling arcs of steel. Amid a barrage of piercing metallic clashes, he actually managed to deflect the vast majority of the iron-sand senbon!

Kagami’s brows furrowed at the sight.

He had assumed that once Iwamata’s chakra pathways were sealed, the battle would be over quickly. He hadn’t expected Iwamata’s swordsmanship to be this formidable.

However, there was obviously no way a single short blade could fend off an endless barrage of iron-sand senbon.

Before long, Iwamata’s arms, legs, waist, and abdomen were riddled with iron-sand senbon.

Gritting his teeth, Iwamata shouted, "Secret Art: Blood Explosion Technique!"

The Blood Explosion Technique was Iwamata’s personal secret art. Once activated, it caused the amount of chakra within his body to surge dramatically, while also allowing him to break free from most genjutsu, restraints, seals, and similar techniques.

As the secret art took effect, Iwamata’s face flushed an intense crimson, making him look as though he were completely drunk.

Instinctively sensing danger, Kagami hurriedly retreated at high speed.

At that moment, through his Tenseigan, the chakra inside Iwamata’s body looked like a blazing inferno—

Surging and violent!

The sight gave Kagami a strange sense of déjà vu.

It reminded him of Guy while using the Eight Gates.

There was one crucial difference, however.

Even when Guy opened the Eight Gates, the chakra flowing through his body still followed discernible pathways.

Iwamata’s chakra, on the other hand, was completely chaotic.

Disordered.

Berserk.

As though it could engulf and consume his entire body at any moment.

There was no doubt about it—this was a secret art with tremendous side effects.

And techniques with such severe drawbacks almost always possessed equally terrifying power. They were trump cards capable of completely overturning the course of a battle!

In the span of just a few breaths, Iwamata forcibly broke through the chakra pathways Kagami’s Gentle Fist had sealed.

Immediately afterward, his hands flew through a rapid series of hand seals, moving so quickly that they left trails of afterimages.

"Earth Style: Mud Dragon Barrage!"

"Earth Style: Earth Spear Barrage!"

"Earth Style: Mud Whip Entanglement!"

With Iwamata’s murderous growl, three large-scale Earth Style techniques erupted almost simultaneously.

In an instant, howling mud projectiles, eerily silent earthen spears, and cracking mud whips converged from every direction, attacking Kagami and the Third Kazekage Human Puppet beside him.

Faced with such an all-encompassing assault, even with the Tenseigan, Kagami wasn’t confident that he could evade everything.

And with his body already injured, dodging was even less of an option.

He could only defend!

Magnet Style: Iron Sand Defense!

The iron sand filling the air immediately surged together, forming a massive sphere that completely enclosed Kagami and the Third Kazekage Human Puppet within it.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Countless mud projectiles, earthen spears, and mud whips slammed relentlessly against the iron-sand sphere, unleashing a series of deafening explosions!

Inside the iron-sand sphere, Kagami crouched low to the ground, calmly considering his options.

An explosive secret art like this could never be sustained for long.

Under normal circumstances, all Kagami needed to do was drag the battle out. Sooner or later, the scales of victory would inevitably tip in his favor.

However, this ambush had clearly been meticulously arranged by Iwagakure.

The enemy might not be limited to the four-man Iwagakure beheading squad he had encountered back in the Land of Demons.

If other Iwagakure shinobi were involved as well, then whether prolonging the battle would ultimately help or hurt him was impossible to say.

After briefly weighing his options, Kagami decided that even if it meant taking a few risks, he needed to end this battle quickly.

After all, the Third Kazekage Human Puppet was far too sensitive a secret.

If word of its existence leaked out through the Iwagakure shinobi, he would be in serious trouble.

Having made up his mind, Kagami immediately commanded the Third Kazekage Human Puppet to unleash its strongest technique.

Magnet Style: Iron Sand World Method!

In an instant, more than half of the iron sand forming the protective sphere around Kagami was ripped away.

It transformed into countless razor-sharp iron spears that continuously branched and extended, stabbing toward Iwamata from every direction!

Faced with the countless iron spears surging toward him, the already savage expression on Iwamata’s face twisted into one of utter madness.

He actually abandoned all defense!

Instead, he poured everything into his Earth Style techniques, seemingly determined to drag Kagami down with him even if it meant dying together.

For a moment, Kagami couldn’t determine Iwamata’s true intentions.

But with the battle already pushed this far, there was no longer any time to reconsider his approach.

In a clash between life and death, there was no room for hesitation!

Almost simultaneously, both sides’ attacks struck their targets.

An iron spear pierced straight through Iwamata’s entire right shoulder, while branching iron spikes impaled all four of his limbs.

His whole body was left suspended on the iron spears.

Blood trickled down their lengths and dripped into the mud below, staining a large stretch of the muddy ground crimson.

On Kagami’s side, however, using the Iron Sand World Method had drawn away too much of the iron sand protecting him, leaving nearly half of the defensive sphere exposed.

Although the remaining iron sand managed to block most of the mud projectiles and mud whips, one earthen spear slipped through the opening and pierced his right leg...