A Cornered Beast

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Naoki stared hard at Fukado as the man stepped out from the shadows, his expression grave.

Because Rotation Blade had been used for the first time, Naoki had spent extra chakra to ensure Eight Trigrams Palms: Rotation flowed smoothly and to compensate for the awkward balance of using one hand as a palm and the other to hold a sword.

Adding in the heavy chakra cost of Revolving Will, less than ten percent of his chakra remained.

If that price had seriously injured Fukado and several other Kumogakure jonin in one move, the expenditure would have been worthwhile. Without Fukado and those jonin restraining him, Naoki would have gained more room to fight or flee.

But now that the ambush had failed, the situation facing Naoki and Shisui was far from good.

Naoki glanced at Shisui from the corner of his eye, and his expression darkened further.

Inside Susanoo, Shisui was already panting. Fine beads of sweat covered his forehead.

Clearly, the consecutive battles from earlier had consumed a great deal of his chakra. On top of that, the Mangekyo Sharingan's ocular power was a huge burden on him, especially with his young body not yet fully developed.

Fukado shouted, "Attack!"

At his order, the Kumogakure shinobi surrounding them immediately launched their assault.

Naoki quickly threw several shuriken, executing the dozen or so Kumogakure chunin and genin near him who had been cut by Rotation Blade and left nearly unable to move because of the paralytic toxin. Then he leaped backward and retreated into Shisui's Susanoo.

Boom, boom, boom...

The moment Naoki entered Susanoo, the Kumogakure shinobi's attacks arrived. A series of violent explosions erupted outside the chakra avatar.

When the smoke dispersed, Susanoo still stood tall. Shisui and Naoki inside it were completely unharmed.

Seeing this, Fukado, who had retreated into the distance, looked startled.

The Uchiha Clan's Susanoo had not appeared in the shinobi world for a very long time, so Fukado did not know what the Susanoo in front of him truly represented.

But that did not prevent him, as an experienced shinobi, from making a judgment.

In his view, whether it was Naoki's Revolving Will or Shisui's Susanoo, both were strange and powerful ninjutsu, far beyond what ordinary shinobi could master.

So even though Naoki and Shisui wore Konoha ANBU uniforms and masks, Fukado still guessed that they were Konoha kekkei genkai shinobi.

And the body of every kekkei genkai shinobi was an intelligence vault. After his initial surprise, Fukado became even more eager to capture Naoki and Shisui.

"Trap them! Keep attacking!"

Fukado quietly retreated while issuing loud orders.

"Earth Release: Earth Cage Prison!"

"Earth Release: Linked Earth Walls!"

"Fire Release: Great Explosion Technique!"

"Wind Release: Cyclone!"

Following Fukado's orders, four Kumogakure jonin leaped to the four sides of Susanoo and used ninjutsu at the same time.

Walls of earth shot up from the ground and trapped the massive Susanoo in place.

Fire Release combined with Wind Release to whip up flames that covered the sky, surging toward Susanoo like a sea of fire.

At the same time, Shisui gritted his teeth and used Susanoo's secret technique. "Susanoo: Ninety-Nine!"

The emerald Susanoo opened its breastplate, revealing a dense cluster of chakra shaped like magatama and burning like flame. Immediately afterward, countless emerald chakra arrows shot out.

Naoki, hidden inside Susanoo, did not stay idle either. He threw dozens of kunai, shuriken, and other projectile weapons wrapped with explosive tags.

The violent explosions made the entire ground tremble.

Both sides attacked almost simultaneously. Countless ninjutsu, projectile weapons, explosive tags, and chakra arrows crossed back and forth through the valley, lighting the night as bright as day.

The smoke gradually cleared, revealing the battlefield.

The earth prison and walls Kumogakure had just created were broken across a large area. More than a dozen Kumogakure shinobi in front of Shisui's Susanoo had suffered heavy casualties, and most of them had already stopped breathing.

But Naoki and Shisui at the center of the battlefield were still uninjured.

The problem was that Shisui had already dropped to one knee, both hands braced on the ground as he coughed violently. He looked as if he could barely hold on.

Fukado hid in the distance, carefully observing Shisui's Susanoo while thinking, 'A ninjutsu this terrifying must have a huge cost. It looks like that kid is almost at his limit.'

During the Kumogakure shinobi's earlier attacks, Susanoo had proved its unmatched defense. If an ordinary shinobi encountered such a powerful enemy, their courage might have collapsed long ago.

But Fukado was different.

First, he was already a powerful elite jonin and had his own trump cards.

Second, this was the Land of Lightning. Reinforcements were steadily arriving from the surrounding area. No matter how strong the enemy was, one person could never fight an entire nation.

After all, Kumogakure's Third Raikage had died under the siege of ten thousand Iwagakure shinobi. If even someone as powerful as the Third Raikage could not defeat a nation's shinobi, then what chance did two Konoha shinobi barely in their teens have?

'Attacks from every direction seem unable to break that green chakra avatar. How exactly do we crack this ninjutsu?'

The thought sparked another idea. 'If attacks from above and around it do not work, what about from underground?'

Fukado quickly formed a very complicated seal, then slowly pressed his hand to the ground.

Inside Susanoo.

After coughing violently for a while, Shisui said weakly, "Senior, leave quickly. I can't hold on much longer."

Naoki was panting too. "We're not at the point of despair yet."

Although he was trapped in a desperate situation, Naoki was not completely helpless. The Physical Regeneration secret technique he had obtained from Orochimaru was his final trump card.

As long as he was willing to overdraw his life force, he could immediately recover from all his injuries and replenish a certain amount of chakra.

At that point, he could control the Third Kazekage human puppet and use Magnet Release: Iron Sand Wings to break out through the air.

As for exposing the Third Kazekage human puppet, that no longer mattered in a situation like this. If he died here, what use would it be to keep the puppet hidden?

Just as Naoki reached into the ninja-tool pouch at his waist, he suddenly felt a faint tremor beneath his feet.

Before he could focus his gaze, the ground split open in a narrow crack. A dazzling lightning serpent shot up from the fissure and lunged straight toward Naoki and Shisui, who were only a step away.

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