Having made up his mind to quickly eliminate his opponent, Uchiha Tatsumi moved in an instant. Stimulated by Lightning Release, he charged toward the Sand Village captain at extreme speed. At the same time, he slashed at his opponent with the kunai in his hand.
The Sand Ninja captain, who could have easily dodged the attack, suddenly felt a moment of dizziness.
His eyes widened in shock. He had been guarding against the opponent's Sharingan since the start of the battle, yet he had still fallen into a genjutsu without even realizing it.
By the time he broke free, Tatsumi's kunai was already slicing toward his neck. He hurriedly raised his own kunai to block, sparks flying as metal clashed against metal. Instantly, he was put on the defensive.
Using the colliding kunai as a pivot, Tatsumi spun 360 degrees in midair and swept his leg toward the Sand Ninja captain.
The captain retreated rapidly, narrowly dodging the attack. However, Tatsumi's powerful kick smashed into the ground, instantly creating a crater half a meter deep. Cracks spread outward from the impact point.
"If I were hit by that kick, I'd be half-crippled even if I didn't die," the Sand Ninja captain thought, a cold sweat trickling down his face.
He had seen this kind of overwhelming strength before—countless Sand ninjas had been turned into pulp by Tsunade's devastating strikes.
Stepping back twice more, he put some distance between himself and Tatsumi. He could tell his taijutsu was inferior. At first, it wasn't obvious, but as the battle progressed, Tatsumi had gradually deciphered his attack patterns.
Seeing his opponent retreat, Tatsumi stuck to him like glue. Forced into a corner, the Sand Jonin quickly formed hand seals.
"Earth Release: Projectile Stone Technique!"
Immediately, fist-sized stones materialized from the ground and shot toward Tatsumi like cannonballs.
"Super Strength Fist!"
Tatsumi swung his fist forward, shattering the flying stones one after another. Without stopping, he charged through the attack, closing the distance to the Sand Village captain.
A genjutsu ensnared the captain once more, and a kunai crackling with lightning sliced toward his waist. However, the Sand Ninja captain, who should have been cut in two, suddenly turned into mud and collapsed to the ground.
An Earth Clone?
Tatsumi halted and scanned the battlefield. Before he could locate the real enemy, two rotating Wind Release blades weaved through the falling debris, slashing toward him from the side and rear.
Tatsumi flicked his kunai backward, attempting to block the first wind blade.
However, Wind Release—compressed to its absolute limit—was not something a simple kunai could stop.
His kunai barely slowed the blade's momentum, slightly altering its trajectory away from his chest. At the same time, Tatsumi leaped, narrowly avoiding the second wind blade.
But the wind blades didn't dissipate. Instead, they circled back toward him. Meanwhile, two more wind blades launched from the shadows, bringing the total to four.
Clearly, the Sand Ninja captain had realized that direct combat was a losing battle. Instead, he hid in the shadows, manipulating Wind Release to attack while keeping himself protected.
"In front of Big White, you have nowhere to hide." Tatsumi shook his head, then suddenly lunged forward at an even greater speed.
The four wind blades followed closely, cutting deep grooves into the mountainside as they closed in.
Just before they reached him, Tatsumi abruptly shifted direction, diving straight toward the incoming wind blades.
With his Sharingan analyzing their trajectories, he contorted his body into an acrobatic spin, passing cleanly through the narrow gap between the blades. His movements were almost theatrical, a perfect balance of skill and flamboyance.
As he fell, lightning surged into his left hand, and the tomoe in his blood-red eyes spun faster and faster. Stepping off a chunk of falling debris, he redirected his momentum once more.
"Chidori!"
Boom! With a deafening crash, a boulder to his right shattered under the force of his Chidori.
The Sand Ninja captain, who had been hiding inside, was caught off guard. As the rock crumbled, he swung his kunai at Tatsumi in desperation. At the same time, the four wind blades changed course, converging on Tatsumi from behind.
"Chidori Stream."
In an instant, Tatsumi's entire body crackled with lightning. The wind blades were repelled, their momentum broken. At the same time, the powerful current spread through the enemy's kunai, numbing the Sand Ninja captain's body upon contact.
As the paralysis took hold, the Chidori Stream dissipated and reformed into Tatsumi's right hand. The lightning extended outward, forming a five-meter-long white blade.
With a swift swing of his arm—
"Chidori Sharp Spear!"
This technique, a variation of Chidori, sacrificed some power to extend its range. But even at reduced strength, if it cut through flesh, there was no doubt—it would bisect the target.
Yet, a Jonin was still a Jonin. Even paralyzed, the Sand Ninja captain twisted his body with sheer willpower. Tatsumi's strike, originally aimed to cut him in two, only severed half of his arm.
The moment he escaped the lightning's range, the paralysis faded. Realizing he had no chance of victory with one arm, the Sand Ninja captain turned and fled the moment he landed.
"Think you can escape?" Tatsumi sneered.
A black kunai appeared in his hand, and with a flick of his wrist, it shot forward with the force of a cannonball, aimed directly at the fleeing ninja's head.
A loud boom echoed through the battlefield as a gaping hole was torn through the Sand Ninja captain's skull. The kunai continued its deadly path, piercing through several more enemy shinobi before finally losing momentum.
The fight was over. Tatsumi exhaled lightly, his crimson Sharingan still spinning as he surveyed the battlefield for his next target.
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