Chapter 65: A Cornered Beast’s Struggle

Chapter 65: Chapter 65: A Cornered Beast’s Struggle

Hyuga Kagami stared fixedly at Fukado as he stepped out of the shadows, his expression incomparably grave.

Because that had been his first time using the "Revolving Heaven Blade," Kagami had expended a considerable amount of additional chakra to ensure the smooth execution of Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, as well as to compensate for the imbalance caused by having one hand open in a palm while the other wielded a sword.

Combined with the enormous chakra expenditure from using Wheel of Will, less than ten percent of the chakra in his body remained.

If that expenditure had allowed him to severely injure Fukado and several other Kumogakure jonin in one fell swoop, then the chakra spent would have been well worth it. After all, without Fukado and the other jonin restraining him, Kagami would have had much better odds whether he chose to fight or retreat.

But now that the surprise attack had failed, Kagami and Shisui were in a rather dangerous situation.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kagami glanced at Shisui, and his expression grew even darker.

Inside the Susanoo, Shisui was already somewhat out of breath, and even his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

Clearly, the successive fierce battles earlier had consumed a great deal of his chakra. On top of that, the Mangekyo Sharingan’s ocular techniques placed an enormous burden on him to begin with, especially given his young age and the fact that his body had yet to fully mature.

At that moment, Fukado shouted,

"Attack!"

At Fukado’s command, the Kumogakure shinobi surrounding them immediately launched their attacks.

Hyuga Kagami hurriedly fired several shuriken, finishing off the dozen or so Kumogakure chunin and genin nearby who had been wounded by the Revolving Heaven Blade and were almost completely immobilized by the paralysis poison. He then leapt backward and retreated into Shisui’s Susanoo.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The instant Kagami entered Shisui’s Susanoo, the Kumogakure shinobi’s attacks came crashing down after him. A violent series of explosions immediately erupted against the Susanoo’s exterior.

When the smoke finally cleared, the Susanoo still stood tall and unmoving, while Shisui and Kagami within it were completely unharmed.

At the sight, Fukado, who had withdrawn some distance away, looked astonished.

The Uchiha clan’s Susanoo had not appeared in the shinobi world for a very, very long time, so Fukado had no idea what the Susanoo before him truly represented.

But that did not prevent an experienced shinobi like him from making his own judgment.

In his eyes, whether it was the Wheel of Will Kagami had used earlier or the Susanoo Shisui was using now, both were extraordinarily strange and powerful techniques—certainly not something an ordinary shinobi could master.

Thus, although Kagami and Shisui were both dressed as Konoha ANBU and had their faces concealed behind masks, Fukado still managed to deduce that the two of them were Konoha kekkei genkai shinobi.

And the body of every kekkei genkai shinobi was a treasure trove of intelligence.

So after his initial astonishment, Fukado became even more eager to capture Kagami and Shisui.

"Trap them! Keep attacking—don’t let up!"

Fukado quietly retreated as he shouted his orders.

"Earth Style: Earth Cage Prison!"

"Earth Style: Linked Earth Walls!"

"Fire Style: Great Explosion Technique!"

"Wind Style: Whirlwind!"

At Fukado’s command, four Kumogakure jonin immediately leapt to the four sides of the Susanoo and unleashed their techniques simultaneously.

In an instant, earthen walls erupted from the ground one after another, trapping the enormous Susanoo in place.

The Fire Release and Wind Release combined, whipping up flames that filled the sky. Like a raging sea of fire, they surged toward the Susanoo from all directions.

At the same time, Shisui gritted his teeth and unleashed one of Susanoo’s secret techniques.

"Susanoo: Tsukumo!"

The emerald-green Susanoo opened the armor covering its chest, revealing a dense mass of chakra that burned like fire and was shaped like a magatama.

Immediately afterward, countless emerald-green chakra arrows shot out in a torrent.

Kagami, concealed within the Susanoo, wasn’t idle either. In a single breath, he hurled dozens of kunai, shuriken, and other projectile weapons, each wrapped with explosive tags.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The violent explosions caused the entire earth to tremble.

Both sides had launched their attacks almost simultaneously. Countless ninjutsu, projectile weapons, explosive tags, and chakra arrows flew back and forth across the valley, illuminating the night until it was as bright as day.

As the smoke gradually dispersed, the scene on the battlefield was finally revealed.

The earth prison and earthen walls the Kumogakure shinobi had only just created had already been largely destroyed. Worse still, the dozen or so Kumogakure shinobi directly in front of Shisui’s Susanoo had suffered devastating casualties, with the vast majority already dead.

Yet at the center of the battlefield, Kagami and Shisui remained completely unharmed!

However, Shisui was now kneeling on the ground, both hands braced against the earth as he coughed violently. It was obvious that he was already struggling to keep going.

Hidden some distance away, Fukado carefully observed Shisui’s Susanoo while thinking to himself,

"A technique this terrifying must consume an enormous amount of chakra. Looks like that brat is already reaching his limit!"

The Kumogakure shinobi’s previous assault had already proven the Susanoo’s unparalleled defensive power. An ordinary shinobi facing such a formidable enemy would probably have been scared out of his wits by now.

But Fukado was different.

For one, he was an immensely powerful elite jonin himself, and it wasn’t as though he had no trump cards of his own.

For another, they were inside the Land of Lightning.

Reinforcements from all around were continuously pouring toward them. No matter how powerful the enemy might be, there was absolutely no way a single person could stand against an entire nation.

After all, Kumogakure’s Third Raikage had died after being surrounded by more than ten thousand Iwagakure shinobi. If even someone as powerful as the Third Raikage could not overcome the shinobi forces of an entire nation, then what chance did two Konoha shinobi barely in their teens have?

"Attacks from every direction seem incapable of breaking through that green chakra construct. Just how am I supposed to crack this technique?"

As Fukado pondered the problem, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

"What if I bypass it from above and attack from underground? Would that work?"

Fukado immediately formed an extremely complicated series of hand seals, then slowly pressed his hand against the ground.

Inside the Susanoo.

After another violent coughing fit, Shisui weakly said,

"Senpai, you need to go. I can’t hold on much longer!"

Kagami was panting as well, but replied,

"We haven’t reached the point of despair yet."

Although they were trapped in a desperate situation, Kagami was not completely out of options.

The Body Regeneration Secret Technique he had obtained from Orochimaru was his final trump card.

As long as he was willing to overdraw his own life force, he could immediately recover from all his injuries and replenish a certain amount of chakra.

When that happened, he could control the Third Kazekage human puppet and use Magnet Style: Iron Sand Heavenly Wings to break through the encirclement from the air.

As for exposing the Third Kazekage human puppet, things had already reached this point. He could no longer afford to worry about something like that.

If he lost his life, what use would there be in keeping the Third Kazekage human puppet a secret?

Just as Kagami reached into the ninja tool pouch at his waist, he suddenly felt a faint tremor beneath his feet.

Before he could focus his gaze downward, a thin crack split open across the ground.

From within it, a massive, dazzling serpent of lightning shot forth, lunging straight toward Kagami and Shisui at point-blank range...