Chapter 43: Using Lives to Drain Chakra
As Uchiha Shisui withdrew, the Mist shinobi's formation immediately became more orderly and organized. No longer needing to split their attention defending against Shisui's genjutsu and Body Flicker surprise attacks, they could concentrate all their focus on Hyuga Ritsu.
In the next instant, the well-trained Mist shinobi split into two groups. The front group simultaneously hurled shuriken, kunai, and poisoned senbon toward Ritsu like a storm from all directions.
At the same time, the rear group rapidly formed hand seals, gathering chakra to prepare jutsu attacks.
In truth, shinobi combat didn't involve exchanging ninjutsu and genjutsu the moment they met.
Taijutsu was the combat method shinobi most commonly chose. The reason was simple: the vast majority of shinobi spent their entire lives troubled by never having enough chakra.
For chunin and genin, releasing three to five low-level jutsu would often exhaust their chakra completely. If they couldn't kill their opponent with those three to five techniques, once their chakra ran out, they were as good as dead.
But if they fought using taijutsu, battling for several hours straight posed no problem.
Not just chunin and genin—even jonin rarely squandered chakra recklessly using jutsu in combat. They used ninjutsu judiciously. Enemies that could be eliminated with taijutsu would never waste chakra on jutsu.
However, everything had to adapt to circumstances. Combat had no fixed rules. Avoiding casual jutsu use was merely convention and custom, not an ironclad regulation that must be obeyed.
At this moment, the Mist shinobi held an absolute numerical advantage.
Even if their chakra was exhausted, they still had comrades to protect them. So why risk close-quarters combat with Hyuga Ritsu, who excelled at taijutsu? Using jutsu to blast him apart was the proper approach. Suikazan Fuguki-sama hadn't issued orders requiring live capture.
"Water Style: Water Shark Bullet!"
"Water Style: Water Shark Bullet!"
"Water Style: Water Shark Bullet!"
The Mist shinobi released the same C-rank Water Style technique. Vivid, lifelike water sharks were expelled from their mouths, shooting toward Ritsu like cannonballs.
"Perfect timing!"
Having easily knocked down all the shuriken, kunai, and senbon, Ritsu remained completely calm. Already prepared, he instantly assumed his stance. Chakra erupted in an orderly fashion from acupoints all over his body, propelling his entire person into high-speed rotation like a spinning top.
A hemispherical barrier constructed entirely of rapidly rotating chakra formed in an instant, expanding and advancing outward at tremendous speed.
"Eight Trigrams Palms: Rotation!"
The Hyuga clan's absolute defense technique.
Every water shark that struck the Rotation was shattered without exception, transforming into splashing water that sprayed toward the surrounding Mist shinobi. Moreover, the Rotation's expansion speed was shockingly fast. Over a dozen Mist shinobi positioned forward sensed something wrong and tried to retreat, but it was already too late.
Only three jonin were agile enough, using the Body Flicker Technique to withdraw in time. The remaining nine chunin couldn't dodge in time. Hit square on by the Rotation at point-blank range, all nine became unrecognizable, bloody and mangled, flung in all directions like nine lumps of rotten meat.
Defense and counterattack—this was the true essence of Rotation!
"Beautiful!"
The corner of Uchiha Shisui's eye caught this scene, and he praised sincerely from his mouth. But this inevitably made Hozuki Mangetsu, who was fighting him, extraordinarily irritated.
Fighting with someone while still having the mind to look around—this was clearly looking down on him.
But the anger that had just flared up extinguished itself.
Sigh!
Looking down is looking down!
He really couldn't beat the opponent anyway. Right now he was barely maintaining a stalemate. As long as he could hold down Uchiha Shisui, that contribution alone was enough to boast about.
On the other side, after using Rotation for a defensive counterattack that killed nine Mist shinobi in return, Ritsu stood in the crater carved out by the Rotation. He glanced at the Mist shinobi whose formation had clearly become disorderly, then looked at Suikazan Fuguki, who still hadn't planned to enter the fray.
"Planning to use human lives to drain my chakra? How cruel!"
Ritsu chuckled lightly.
In the next instant, he launched lightning-fast consecutive strikes.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
If Suikazan Fuguki wanted to use his subordinates' lives to drain his chakra, then by all means, let the exchange begin. He didn't mind trading his chakra for these Mist shinobi's lives at all.
Wave after wave of pressure cannons mixed with chakra and air shot toward the Mist shinobi, throwing them—already somewhat disorganized—into complete chaos.
After firing twelve consecutive palms in one breath, the chakra he'd refined and transported to his arm meridians was exhausted. He had to stop to refine and transport chakra anew.
And this round of strikes had killed five Mist shinobi, wounded three more, and forced the rest to flee in all directions. Their original formation was torn to shreds.
Ritsu seized this opportunity. Not giving them a chance to pull back and release jutsu attacks, he shot out like an arrow from a bow, rapidly plunging into the midst of the Mist shinobi.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Seeing a Mist shinobi directly ahead holding a sword ready to meet him in battle, Ritsu raised both hands, his ten fingertips aimed at the Mist shinobi to the left and right. Ten finger bones shot from his fingertips—five to each side.
Two screams echoed.
The two Mist shinobi, unprepared for this sudden attack, had their chests pierced through by the high-impact finger bones, their lives taken instantly.
The Mist shinobi directly ahead did seize this opportunity. The long blade in his hand thrust viciously toward Ritsu's chest, but two rows of white bones protruded from Ritsu's chest, blocking the sharp, lethal blade.
Immediately after, Ritsu swung his palm in a fierce strike. A white bone suddenly extending from his palm thrust brutally into the Mist shinobi's left eye. Accompanied by a short, violent howl, this Mist shinobi also instantly fell silent.
"Fall back! Fall back!"
The jonin roared.
"Pull back and release jutsu!"
"Don't close in and throw away your lives!"
"Regroup near the closest jonin!"
Driven by commands, the somewhat panicked Mist shinobi began acting according to orders, attempting to move toward the jonin's positions.
But Ritsu pursued closely.
Chakra burst from beneath his feet, his movement speed suddenly surging. The sharp white bones extending from both palms easily slashed open the throats of two chunin, and he thrust straight toward the Mist jonin directly ahead.
The opposing jonin reacted quickly. The long blade in his hand rapidly rose to block, but before blade and bone could collide, the bone suddenly retracted. The long blade struck empty air, and Ritsu successfully closed in before the jonin.
His left palm pushed straight toward the jonin's chest. But this jonin was no pushover. His reaction was quick—he decisively withdrew his left arm to cross before his chest, prepared to sacrifice his left hand if necessary to catch the white bone emerging from Ritsu's palm.
However—
No white bone emerged from Ritsu's palm. Instead, it was wrapped in a fierce lion's head constructed from high-density chakra. This was the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists.
His left palm wrapped in a blue lion's head struck heavily against the left arm crossed before the jonin's chest. A cracking sound rang out—the left arm's bone shattered. The broken arm was pressed heavily against the chest at the heart's position, and the clothing at the same position on his back exploded with a ripping sound.
The opponent violently coughed up blood, staining Ritsu's white clothing red. His body fell heavily backward, completely silent.
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