Chapter 39: Shikotsumyaku - Dance of the Willow
At the summit, the earthen fort that had already endured numerous waves of Lightning Style and explosive tag attacks was on the verge of collapse.
Though Mist shinobi were most skilled at Water Style techniques, at the jonin level, few persisted in researching only a single chakra nature. Most developed multiple chakra natures to enrich their combat methods and greatly improve their adaptability to complex situations.
Among the Mist shinobi dispatched to attack the mountain, one jonin and one special jonin were proficient in Lightning Style techniques.
"The fort's walls are nearly at their limit."
"We still have plenty of explosive tags, but we've completely exhausted our barrier tags."
Inside the earthen fort, the Konoha shinobi described their current situation during brief lulls in combat.
Having held out this long, the fort's defensive capabilities had been severely worn down, just one step away from collapse. Their supplies had also been heavily consumed. Of course, they'd inflicted considerable casualties on the Mist as well—four Mist shinobi lay dead on the mountain path, and three wounded had retreated.
On their side, not a single casualty yet.
But the Mist shinobi still had superior numbers. Over ten Mist shinobi continued attempting attacks, and most importantly, the two Mist jonin leading them had kept their combat strength relatively intact, clearly preparing to break through the fort in one push and completely breach the Stone Drum Mountain defense line today.
"Nothing more to say. Everyone prepare for close combat. When the time comes, follow me out there!"
Even their inarticulate captain had given up on saying anything inspirational. Once the fort collapsed, he'd be the first to charge out and engage the Mist shinobi in close quarters.
However, the Yamanaka special jonin who'd been using his clan's sensory techniques with closed eyes suddenly showed a flash of joy on his face. Opening his eyes, he shouted, "Reinforcements have arrived! Reinforcements are here!"
"What?"
"They really came?"
"I fucking thought headquarters had forgotten about us!"
In an instant, everyone seemed injected with adrenaline, immediately becoming agitated. They chattered noisily, venting the pressure that had built up so long, speaking almost without thinking.
"How many people came?" the captain asked with concern.
"Two people!"
"Huh?"
The captain was stunned. His previously cheering teammates also instantly fell silent.
Only the Yamanaka special jonin grinned widely. "What are you afraid of? Although there are only two reinforcements, one of them is Shisui of the Body Flicker!"
Shisui of the Body Flicker.
That name possessed a miraculous power.
It instantly erased the unease in everyone's hearts. The numerical disadvantage became insignificant before that name.
At that moment, the Mist shinobi's offensive suddenly slowed. One Mist jonin had already formed seven or eight hand seals, looking ready to unleash a big technique, but now he stopped and abandoned it. Obviously their sensory ninja had also detected the arrival of Konoha reinforcements.
But it was also clear that opinions within the Mist ranks weren't unified. The two jonin seemed to be arguing. Before they could reach a conclusion, two figures—one white, one black—burst from the forest quick as lightning.
The Mist shinobi reacted extremely fast, greeting them with a storm of shuriken and kunai.
However, these two figures didn't slow down at all, nor did they defend.
To the Mist shinobi's astonishment, these two Konoha shinobi dressed in contrasting white and black nimbly twisted their bodies through the dense rain of shuriken and kunai, graceful as cranes, swift as leopards. Not a single shuriken or kunai touched their bodies.
"Damn Byakugan and Sharingan!"
One of the Mist jonin cursed.
Though Mist shinobi all excelled at Water Style, Mist jonin were no pushovers. Their strength was formidable and their knowledge extensive. They knew the Byakugan and Sharingan could easily see through shuriken and kunai trajectories. Unless the density left nowhere to dodge, such attacks were completely useless.
Furthermore, because Konoha's reinforcements were Hyuga and Uchiha, their most effective Hidden Mist Technique was completely unusable. Thick fog couldn't hinder the Hyuga clan's Byakugan or the Uchiha clan's Sharingan.
"Chunin form defensive formation! Send the distress signal!"
He loudly issued the command.
Though they had numerical superiority, and the Konoha reinforcements consisted of only two people, those two were one Hyuga and one Uchiha. Moreover, that Uchiha was the notoriously fierce Shisui of the Body Flicker. Shisui alone might be more than a match for all dozen or so of them combined.
The other jonin didn't object. He simply formed hand seals rapidly and released a Water Style technique.
"Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!"
The not-quite-abundant water remaining in the potholes around their feet surged, instantly forming solid clones. The moment these water clones took shape, they picked up scattered kunai from the ground and charged toward the two approaching Konoha shinobi.
"Buying time, are they?"
Hyuga Ritsu understood the opponent's undisguised intention.
Water clones were the weakest among all solid clone techniques, possessing only one-tenth of the original's power. Of course, correspondingly, they also consumed the least chakra among all solid clone techniques.
For crushing weak opponents, this technique had no issues.
But when dealing with enemies of equal caliber, water clones had one and only one purpose: buying time. No matter how weak water clones were, they still had the capability to kill and couldn't be ignored—they required effort and time to handle.
Yet water clones consumed little chakra, so ordinary jonin could easily create fifty or sixty of them.
"If this were before, dealing with these things would indeed be troublesome!" Ritsu pushed off harder with his feet, running even faster. "But now, these things are meaningless to me!"
The instant his words fell, sharp white bones suddenly protruded from his palms, elbow joints, shoulders, knees, and other positions. Each white bone was sixty centimeters long, arranged like branches on a tree.
Seen from afar, he looked just like a porcupine!
"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Willow!"
Ritsu looked at the Mist water clones blocking his path. Without dodging or evading, his body swayed lightly like willow branches in the wind as he charged straight into them. The sharp white bones easily pierced through those bodies made of flowing water, breaking their fragile chakra balance and instantly reverting them to puddles of water that splashed and soaked Ritsu's clothes.
"Shikotsumyaku?!"
The two Mist jonin were dumbstruck.
How could it be Shikotsumyaku?
Wasn't that the bloodline limit possessed by the battle-crazed Kaguya clan? Why would it appear on a Hyuga clan member? Didn't that mean he possessed both the Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku bloodline limits?
Of course, those possessing two bloodline limits simultaneously were rare but not unheard of. Their Mist Village had such a talented girl whose parents came from two of their village's prominent clans with inherited bloodline limits. It made sense that they could produce offspring bearing two bloodline limits.
But what was the situation with this monster before them?
Had someone from their village's Kaguya clan fallen in love with someone from Konoha's Hyuga clan and eloped together?
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