"Oura!"
Seeing his comrade shattered by a single strike from the black Truth-Seeking Orb, the Sand Hidden (Sunagakure) jonin, Nosuke, was overwhelmed with grief and fury.
All the surrounding Sand shinobi chuunin were frozen in fear. Their will to fight had nearly vanished, and their eyes—locked on the Truth-Seeking Orb—were filled with terror.
They simply couldn't fathom how such a small, unremarkable-looking black sphere could possess such terrifying power!
Hyuga Kagami calmly gestured with his hand, recalling the Truth-Seeking Orb. His expression remained completely unmoved.
Trying to block a Truth-Seeking Orb with a kunai was essentially suicide. Nosuke's death didn't surprise Kagami in the slightest—it was perfectly expected.
But the strike revealed a flaw.
Even though Nosuke had lost the will to fight, he still had enough time to draw a kunai and attempt a complete block against the incoming Truth-Seeking Orb.
What did that mean?
It meant the Orb's attack speed was not particularly fast—definitely not up to Kagami's expectations.
Though the Truth-Seeking Orb was known for its unrivaled destructiveness and its untouchable nature unless countered with Six Paths-level chakra, it was all pointless if it couldn't reliably hit its target.
After all, the shinobi world had no shortage of powerful techniques.
Third Tsuchikage's Dust Release, the Reaper Death Seal from the Hidden Leaf, Amaterasu from the Mangekyo Sharingan—any of these could be fatal once landed.
Even simpler techniques like Sasori's poison or Kakashi's Lightning Cutter could instantly end a battle if they connected.
"Must be my lack of control."
Kagami suspected that the low speed of his Truth-Seeking Orb was due to his insufficient mastery over it. He believed it could move faster.
At that moment, the last remaining Sand jonin, Nosuke, shouted to the six remaining chuunin beside him, "I'll hold him off! Scatter and run! Get the intel back to the village no matter what!"
Already demoralized and realizing they would be of no help if they stayed, the six Sand chuunin fled in different directions.
Having already expended a fair amount of chakra, Hyuga Kagami didn't want to waste time chasing them one by one. Still in his Tenseigan Chakra Mode, he flew after the fleeing chuunin, his Truth-Seeking Orb reshaped into a black blade.
In a matter of moments, he cut down all six with precise and efficient strikes.
Nosuke roared, "I'll take you down with me!"
With that, he gathered all his chakra and rapidly formed hand seals.
Hyuga Kagami narrowed his eyes and prepared to finish him off—
*Boom...!*
Suddenly, a muffled explosion shook the ground. A massive wave of sand erupted from beneath, blocking Kagami's path!
At the same time, the giant sandworm buried under the dunes revealed half its body. A gaping mouth full of sharp teeth pointed directly at the airborne Kagami.
Nosuke completed a complex sequence of hand signs and shouted, "Secret Technique: Sand Adhesion!"
From his mouth, he spewed a thick, sticky mucus. The giant sandworm did the same, launching a wave of viscous fluid from its own maw.
The two sticky substances met in midair, merging into a massive net that spread out with a whooshing sound, rapidly descending toward Kagami.
Uncertain if the sticky substance was poisonous or corrosive, Kagami immediately summoned five of his Truth-Seeking Orbs to form a black protective sphere around him.
The sticky net enveloped the sphere, hardening rapidly like cement. It layered over the protective ball thickly.
Inside the orb, Kagami's expression sharpened.
Using his Tenseigan vision, he saw Nosuke using the momentary distraction to dive into the sandworm's body, then burrow deep underground, hoping to escape.
It was clear now: Nosuke had always planned to escape using the sandworm.
His earlier act of staying behind while his comrades fled was just a ploy—he needed them to act as bait so he could flee unnoticed.
He simply hadn't anticipated Kagami's terrifying speed in Tenseigan Chakra Mode. Eliminating six fleeing chuunin had taken almost no time.
"Tch."
Kagami scoffed in disdain.
With a flick of his hand, his Truth-Seeking Orb shattered the hardened net like brittle glass. The technique had no real binding effect.
He soared into the sky and hovered directly above the subterranean sandworm.
The creature burrowed over ten meters beneath the dunes at considerable speed—too fast and hidden for an ordinary shinobi to detect or intercept.
But to someone in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, it was no challenge at all.
Kagami made up his mind.
Extending his right hand in a sword-gripping posture, he coldly declared, "Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"
In an instant, all five Truth-Seeking Orbs gathered at his right hand, spinning violently before transforming into a golden sword that shone like the sun.
"Such overwhelming power..."
Though he had anticipated it, Kagami couldn't help but marvel as he grasped the golden blade. In that moment, he felt truly omnipotent.
With one final glance at the dunes and confirming the sandworm's position, Kagami swung the golden sword down.
*Slash...*
The heavens and earth seemed to split.
A narrow rift tore across the entire dune. A torrent of blood sprayed from the crack.
Kagami, like a god of judgment, glanced down again to confirm—the sandworm, buried over ten meters deep, had been cleanly bisected from head to tail.
The blood that sprayed from the sand was entirely the creature's.
Even the most powerful of summoned beasts couldn't withstand the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion under Tenseigan Chakra Mode. After all, Toneri Otsutsuki had once used this very technique to cut the moon.
Just as Kagami prepared to release the golden blade, he suddenly noticed something—the chakra signature beneath the dunes hadn't completely vanished.
His eyes sharpened. Pouring more chakra into his Tenseigan, he scanned carefully.
There! The Sand jonin who'd hidden inside the sandworm had somehow escaped the full brunt of the attack and survived!
Kagami murmured, both in admiration and in reflection, "Truly... I can't afford to underestimate any opponent."