svetikya Chapter 116 Combat
Chapter 116 Combat
Chapter 116 Combat
On the morning of the 10th, after 18 hours of deep rest, Hyuga Hizashi was the first to wake up. An unprecedented sense of fulfillment instantly filled his mind, as if a dried-up riverbed had been filled with clear spring water. He felt that his Byakugan seemed to have been greatly enhanced.
Suppressing his doubts, Hizashi decisively activated his Byakugan, gazing into the distance. As his chakra was depleted, his field of vision continued to widen.
3 kilometers.
4 kilometers.
5 kilometers.
The view continued to expand, eventually settling steadily at the 6-kilometer mark!
At this moment, the commotion caused by the sirens also alerted the bystanders. When they saw him suddenly activate his Byakugan, they all assumed that an enemy was attacking and picked up their weapons to be on guard.
But then he saw the happy look on Hizashi's face and realized that wasn't the case.
Only after Hizashi closed his Byakugan did Hatake Sakumo ask the question that had been bothering everyone: "Hizashi, what just happened? You startled everyone."
"Sorry, sorry, I was just too excited." Hizashi suppressed his joy and then explained, "I just tried out my Byakugan and found that after this incident, my Byakugan's field of vision has expanded by 1 kilometer."
"What?" A glint flashed in Sakumo's eyes, which was then replaced by immense joy. "Great! This is like sending charcoal in snowy weather; it will be of great help to our upcoming mission."
This news was like a shot in the arm, instantly dispelling the tense atmosphere before the mission. Everyone's faces lit up with excitement, after all, finding the enemy was the key to the next part of the mission.
Riding this wave of momentum, Sakumo explained the plan that everyone had discussed the night before to Hizashi. After confirming that everything was in order, the team didn't delay any longer and immediately set off for the section marked on the scroll. Hizashi then activated his Byakugan to search for any trace of the Sunagakure delegation.
The Bird Country is a hilly country, and although it is located on the border between two countries, the hilly terrain is already beginning to take shape. The rolling hills perfectly conceal the people hiding in the depressions.
With glaring eyes observing from afar and hills obstructing the view nearby, this was practically a natural ambush point for the Shuomao squad.
Once the Sakumo team arrived at the pre-arranged route, the four members quickly dispersed to check the surrounding environment. Fortunately, the increased visibility from the solar eclipse allowed them to completely cover the area.
This avoids the predicament of the squad having to patrol back and forth due to insufficient visibility, and completely eliminates the opportunity for the Sand Village delegation to take advantage of the squad's blind spots.
Following Byakugan's reconnaissance, Hizashi led his team to a small hill in the middle of the road to hide, where they could monitor the entire road without moving.
In order to preserve their fighting strength, Hizashi was required to activate his Byakugan only every 5 minutes to observe whether the delegation had arrived.
And so, after waiting for more than an hour, the day-night messenger once again opened his Byakugan and looked in the direction of the Land of Wind, and a group of five people appeared in his field of vision.
As the chakra was injected more, his vision quickly became clear. He saw five people wearing hooded cloaks, which looked like the windproof cloaks from the Land of Wind. The five people were in a hurry, and even after leaving the sandy environment, they did not take off their hoods.
"Five ninjas are approaching from the 10 o'clock position, about 5 kilometers away," Hizashi reported his observations to the others.
Upon hearing this, the team members immediately perked up. Some drew their swords, while others took out kunai, all preparing for battle. Three pairs of eyes were fixed on Hizashi, eagerly awaiting his final confirmation.
As the chakra injection continued to increase, the chakra meridians on the five people gradually became visible, and then their entire bodies were enveloped in chakra light.
"Wait, something's not right." Hizashi suddenly spoke up, interrupting the eager group. "Their chakra is off, it's too little!"
The group of people were all taken aback, none of them understanding what the Japanese messenger meant.
"These people all only have the chakra level of Chunin; there are no Jonin among them."
These words were a wake-up call; they had almost fallen into the Sand Village's trap. It must have been the pair of ninjas they had killed yesterday. Although they had dealt with the situation very cleanly, the fact that one of them was missing had alerted them.
However, judging from the current situation, their alliance plan remains unchanged; they are simply more cautious in their actions.
Hizashi, Minato, and Taichi all turned their gazes toward Hatake Sakumo, awaiting his command.
"Let them pass, we'll continue to wait." Sakumo Hatake, demonstrating the responsibility of a captain, made the decision.
It's important to understand that if this group of ninjas were just Jonin deliberately maintaining the chakra levels of Chunin by consuming their own chakra, then this decision would have missed the real target.
Although the possibility is slim, this is the time to test the captain's decisiveness and courage.
Following Sakumo's decision, Minato and Taichi also retrieved their weapons. The pair of ninjas, under the Byakugan's surveillance, passed by the squad 3 kilometers to the side and gradually disappeared from the Byakugan's detection range.
However, before Hizashi could retract his Byakugan, another group of ninjas appeared in his field of vision. This time, Hizashi was more experienced and immediately increased his chakra output. Soon, more specific details appeared in Hizashi's eyes.
"This time it should be correct. There are three ninjas with chakra levels reaching the Jonin level, and two more with chakra levels reaching the Chunin level."
Sure enough, the team in front was the vanguard. If our group had attacked them just now, they would have been discovered by the real delegation that followed us in such a short time.
Then this mission is definitely going to end in failure. If the situation is serious, it could even provoke a united front between Sunagakure and Iwagakure, and the Third Shinobi World War might break out prematurely.
"Good job, Risa. Now take us to the front of them, let's give them a surprise!"
Upon hearing Sakumo Hatake's instructions, everyone's spirits were lifted. Following the hilly terrain, they wound their way to the front of the delegation. Under Byakugan's guidance, they continuously adjusted their relative positions to the delegation in order to achieve the best surprise attack effect.
Finally, when the two sides were separated by a small hill less than 10 meters high, everyone took out antidote pills at Taiyi's prompting and put them into their mouths without hesitation. Although they did not chew them, the strong taste of the medicine still made their facial features distort together.
However, they were all determined ninjas, and they quickly suppressed their discomfort and climbed the hill before the enemy left.
Although the winter sun was not intense, on this pre-arranged battlefield, as the Sakumo squad reached the summit, their shadows, lengthened by the sunlight, were cast upon the Sunagakure delegation.
The group of Angsuna instinctively looked up, only to be blinded by the sunlight. At that moment, Taiichi and his companions launched a surprise attack, their first moves being shuriken and kunai-wielding masks.
The Sand Village members, being experienced individuals, remained calm despite being ambushed. While dodging kunai and shuriken, they also managed to pop a pill into their mouths.
Taiyi witnessed their actions and, based on his own deductions, promptly warned, "Be careful, they might use poison!"
Before he could finish speaking, Lou Sha waved his hand and scattered several purple pellets in all directions.
A series of loud bangs followed.
Thick purple poisonous smoke had already covered the entire area, just when the Sand Village members thought they could finally get a chance to regroup.
A scream rang out beside them.
"That direction is towards Hotan!"
Lou Sha was furious. How could it be so fast? And were they all so reckless as to rush into the poisonous smoke?
It turned out that the instant the poisonous smoke rose, Minato had already used the Flying Thunder God Technique to move next to a Chunin. Due to the huge difference in strength, the Chunin didn't even have time to react before Minato slit his throat.
At this moment, Sakumo, Hizashi, and Taichi also rushed into the poisonous smoke without hesitation and fought against their respective chosen opponents.
Now it was the Sand Village ninja's turn to be caught off guard. They had taken the antidote before, and the poisonous smoke was supposed to protect them, but they didn't expect these ninjas to be so crazy and rush in directly.
As the two sides clashed, the Sand Village ninja realized that the poison smoke was ineffective against them, and even less so against their enemies. In fact, the smoke's concealment effect hampered their movements in battle.
Just then, a gust of wind swept by. It turned out that the Sand Village ninja named Kazegiri had created a gust of wind during the battle, which dispersed the poisonous smoke filling the sky.
The scene was cleared up, and the situation of the battle was clear at a glance. In less than a minute of fighting, the situation had changed dramatically.
Sakumo Hatake faced off against Urasa. At this moment, he was entangled by three puppets, and many puppet parts were scattered around his feet.
Minato Namikaze faced off against Kazekiri. One was fast and constantly engaged in close combat, while the other was skilled in wind techniques and used distance to launch long-range attacks.
Hyuga Hizashi faced off against a swordsman ninja. Although fighting with bare hands against a weapon was a slight disadvantage, Hyuga's Gentle Fist was renowned throughout the ninja world, so it must have its unique strengths. At this moment, Hizashi had already taken advantage of his agility in unarmed combat to entangle the swordsman ninja in close combat, giving the opponent no chance to use his swordsmanship.
On Taiichi's side, the moment the poisonous smoke dissipated, he had already plunged his short sword into the heart of the Chunin. Ignoring the Chunin's struggles and convulsions, Taiichi slowly pulled out the short sword, his gaze already fixed on the swordsmanship ninja who was fighting Hizashi.
Perhaps it was Taiichi's gaze that was too aggressive, or perhaps it was the fear he felt from witnessing the deaths of his two companions that caused his swordsmanship, which was originally quite disciplined, to appear somewhat chaotic at this moment.
There is great terror in the face of life and death, and even highly skilled ninjas cannot escape this saying.
As Taiichi drew closer, the swordsman ninja was clearly under increasing psychological pressure. The Byakugan ninja before him had already forced him to defend himself; if this brat with a sword were to join the fray—
The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became; the more frightened he became, the more he thought about it. Under the pressure of death, this once calm ninja had completely lost his composure.
Upon reaching the optimal attack range, Taiyi, wielding the sword, instantly closed in and slashed down with his short sword without mercy.
"Bang!"
The sturdy round shield blocked Taiyi's slash.
A four-armed, two-legged humanoid puppet arrived at the last second, its round shield positioned between the blade and the ninja, leaving only centimeters between them. Its other three hands were each equipped with a blade, and it began to thrust at Taiichi like a three-sword style swordsman.
The rapid, continuous thrusts forced Taiyi to retreat. Facing a puppet for the first time, he was momentarily overwhelmed by it.
He glanced sideways at the battlefield on Sakumo's side and found that there were still 3 puppets entangled with him. It turned out that Rusa had been holding back his strength.
That makes sense, though. After all, Angusa is the second-best puppeteer in Sunagakure after Chiyo. If he can only control such a small number of puppets, it is indeed a bit disappointing.
The puppet before Taiyi, though fierce in its attacks, relied solely on surprise. Now that Taiyi had become familiar with its attack rhythm, he immediately unleashed his sword strikes, skillfully deflecting the puppet's thrusts and easily severing its relatively fragile joints.
In an instant, the puppet that originally had four arms had turned into a human stick.
But it wasn't over yet. Suddenly, the puppet opened its mouth wide, and dozens of thousand needles shot towards Taiyi like a rain of pear blossoms. Meanwhile, the severed arm that had just been knocked away regained its momentum and launched a sneak attack from behind.
Faced with such a pincer attack, Taiyi remained calm. The short sword in his hand suddenly hummed, and surging wind-attribute chakra spread wildly in all directions from the short sword as the center. This was the sword technique that Taiyi had researched to scatter fire-style attacks. He never expected to use it here.
Taiyi then used his right foot as the center and spun wildly with the power of the wind, instantly forming a protective wall around his body composed of sword light and wind field.
A few crisp sounds rang out.
The incoming senbon and sword arms were either cleaved away by the sword light or scattered by the gale. When the attack ended, Taiichi appeared in the same spot unharmed, but the ground around his body looked as if it had been plowed, with sword marks everywhere.
The commotion also attracted the attention of Hizashi, who was standing nearby. When he saw that Taiichi was being attacked from both sides, he almost couldn't help but abandon his current opponent and rush to help. However, when he saw Taiichi's move to resolve the crisis, he was amazed - how come it looks so much like their family's Kaiten?
Having learned from his previous experience, Taiyi faced the puppet again. He transferred the sword to his left hand, used the Instantaneous Movement Technique to get close, and then punched the puppet in the chest with his right hand.
Instantly, the puppet, which had been somewhat humanoid, turned into countless fragments flying everywhere. Now, it was not only uncontrollable, but there wasn't even a single intact part left.
The violent impact instantly awakened Angusa's memories.
"It's Tsunade's superhuman strength. What's the relationship between this brat and that woman?"
However, no one gave him an answer. After dealing with the puppet, Taiichi didn't linger and used his momentum to directly confront the battle between the two sides. Now, the sword-wielding ninjas, who had witnessed Taiichi's methods, were even more helpless.
Faced with Taiichi's incoming fist, even though he was nearly struck on a pressure point by Hijiri, he still managed to withdraw his sword and defend. But that was exactly the effect Taiichi wanted. The moment he withdrew his sword, the swordsman, with his defenses wide open, was already doomed.
Hizashi swiftly struck several vital acupoints on the ninja's body, and what followed was a relentless barrage of pressure point attacks. Meanwhile, Taiichi feigned an attack and quickly withdrew his hand, turning away. The ninja was already dead; he no longer needed Taiichi's attention.
He immediately charged towards his primary target, the Sandworm. The reason was simple: Taichi had discovered that sheer power was practically cheating against puppets. No matter how good a puppet was, if struck by sheer power, it would instantly crumble into pieces, leaving no chance of reuse.
A puppet isn't a real person; there's a layer of control involved. No matter how sophisticated it is, it will always be a tiny bit slower than a real person. And in battle, that tiny difference can be the key to victory or defeat.