Wind Style is an art of "motion." It relies on the continuity of airflow and the kinetic energy generated by fluctuations in air pressure to move.
Earth Style is an art of "stillness." It relies on material stability and potential energy.
When motion and stillness collide, the key to victory lies in one thing—how to disrupt the movement of the airflow!
Massive stone walls rose from the ground one after another. Following a pre-designed blueprint, the elite Iwagakure shinobi erected them in a manner reminiscent of Earth Style: Altering Terrain.
The stone walls continued to rise. After establishing a thirty-meter-high foundation, inverted V-shaped stone platforms resembling load-bearing pillars shot further upward.
Kitsuchi stood at the peak of the highest stone platform, calmly staring down at Hyuga Yu, who was currently unleashing Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation and was on the verge of wiping out the surrounding Iwagakure forces.
Yet, Kitsuchi did not hesitate for a single moment, despite the heavy casualties his forces were about to endure.
Drawing from intelligence gathered through various channels, the Iwagakure Intelligence Division had already compiled all the documented abilities of "The Tennin" Hyuga Yu. They had analyzed the underlying principles of his Wind Style—a jutsu that manipulated air pressure and even utilized incomprehensible forces of attraction and repulsion to battle.
The conclusion reached by the Intelligence Division was clear: simply throwing numbers at him was utterly meaningless.
When combined with Hyuga Yu's S-rank Wind Style Nintaijutsu, it was safe to say that once he fully powered up and brought his taijutsu to its absolute peak, he would become an even more troublesome existence than the Third Raikage.
During the Third Shinobi World War, Iwagakure had deployed ten thousand shinobi to besiege the Third Raikage, ultimately forcing him to fight to the point of exhaustion and death. The most critical factor that turned that battle into a pyrrhic victory was this:
The Third Raikage lacked large-scale, anti-crowd capabilities.
But now, a shinobi had suddenly emerged in the ninja world who, when fully powered up, was estimated to possess the same extreme speed as the Third Raikage. This boy could shroud his entire body in a Wind Style barrier similar to the Lightning Style Armor, and use Wind Style to execute massive, indiscriminate area-of-effect attacks!
He was practically a super-enhanced version of the Third Raikage!
Not only did he combine all of the Third Raikage's strengths while completely compensating for all his weaknesses, but furthermore...
...this person was only fourteen years old!
Once this intelligence leaked, the priority of dealing with Konoha's "Tennin" skyrocketed across all nations!
He had even surpassed the previous priority level of the "Yellow Flash," Minato Namikaze!
After after all, there was virtually nothing anyone could do against Minato Namikaze, who could teleport home at any moment. Conversely, because Minato's pure destructive output was relatively limited, he also couldn't do much when facing fully organized, large-scale shinobi divisions.
But the Tennin... was different.
At just fourteen, the Tennin already displayed the majesty of the Third Raikage. If this boy were allowed to keep growing, master his entire system of ninjutsu and taijutsu, and reach his absolute peak...
He would likely become the second "God of Shinobi" after Hashirama Senju!
This was something the great shinobi nations currently hostile to Konoha absolutely refused to see—especially Iwagakure, who was presently locked in tense, post-war disputes with Konoha over the outcome of the Third Shinobi World War!
Consequently, Iwagakure immediately launched a comprehensive investigation and analysis of the Tennin. Gathering the village's entire think tank, they formulated a tactical operation specifically designed to counter him.
It could be said that at this moment, Hyuga Yu was not just fighting five hundred Iwagakure elites and Kitsuchi; he was dueling the collective intellect of the entire Hidden Stone Village!
If Hyuga Yu won, he would receive the same treatment as Minato Namikaze in the future—a flee-on-sight order for all enemy shinobi, with no punishment for abandoning the mission. His status within Konoha and across the ninja world would soar, placing him on par with the Kage of each village.
But if Hyuga Yu lost, there would only be death!
At this moment, the high-pressure ring of Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation fully materialized along the surface of the rock wall. To the naked eye, it appeared to have stopped spinning, looking merely like a transparent torus distorting the air. In reality, its rotational speed had surpassed the limits of human visual processing, much like a rapidly spinning wheel hub that appears stationary.
Witnessing this awe-inspiring sight, a bead of sweat rolled down Kitsuchi's forehead. He took a deep breath to suppress the rising tension in his chest. Standing on the distant stone platform, he began frantically kneading chakra. Forcing Hyuga Yu into this trap using Earth Style: Mountain Jutsu and Earth Style: Rock Lodging Destruction had drained a massive amount of his chakra. He needed time to convert his physical energy back into chakra to regain his fighting capacity. This critical window of time had to be bought by the other Stone ninja!
With this thought, Kitsuchi barked out an order, issuing his first command to the Iwagakure elites besieging Hyuga Yu from the rock walls: "All units, listen up!"
"Earth Style: Rock Gun Jutsu, prepare!"
On the cliffside, the massed Stone ninja, acting as if facing a mortal foe, instantly wove signs upon receiving the command, finishing on the Snake seal as they roared in unison, "Yes, sir!"
"Understood!"
In the next split second, nearly two hundred elite Iwagakure shinobi threw their heads back and inhaled deeply. Aiming directly at the center of their vision where the high-pressure air ring was about to detonate, they simultaneously spat out ordinary-looking pebbles with all their might!
Nearly two hundred pebbles shot out at once!
These pebbles expanded rapidly in mid-air—growing larger and larger until they transformed into boulders the size of human heads. Dozens of them fused together mid-flight, forming massive granite and ore-laden formations as thick as a multi-person embrace.
Like a volley of rocky cannonballs, they hurtled toward the high-pressure air ring simultaneously!
At that exact moment, Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation erupted!
Like a sweeping tempest clearing a courtyard, a massive torrent of concentrated wind blades surged outward indiscriminately in all directions!
Yet, within the cavern, Hyuga Yu knit his brows slightly, sensing that something was amiss...
Immediately after, he witnessed the following:
The deluge of rock cannonballs unleashed by the Iwagakure elites actually pushed forward against the immense concussive force of the gale-force torrent!
The smaller projectiles ground to a halt in mid-air, standing firm like stubborn reefs in the middle of a rushing river.
Meanwhile, the larger granite and metallic ore boulders forcibly parted the high-pressure currents, carving out a low-pressure wake that shielded the elite Iwagakure shinobi behind them from the brunt of the wind.
Several of the largest granite projectiles even pierced cleanly through the river of wind blades, slamming directly into the high-pressure ring at the center!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Under the violent impact, the laminar flow structure of the Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation ring was disrupted, causing localized chaos. Hyuga Yu was forced to channel more chakra to restore the balance and maintain the jutsu.
Seeing this, Kitsuchi let out a small sigh of relief, his gaze sharpening. 'Just as the Intelligence Division deduced. The repulsive and decelerating forces generated by Wind Style drop drastically against high-momentum objects. The air pressure he controls cannot apply enough counter-acceleration in such a short window to halt heavy projectiles...'
'Therefore, the strategy provided by the Intelligence Division works!'
'When facing a Wind Style user who can constantly alter his jutsu's form and cycle through three variations, using Earth Style walls to block and advance yields limited results. It would only drag us into a war of attrition—and that guy barely seems to consume any chakra when casting these techniques.'
'To shatter his Wind Style system, offense is the only defense!'
Having validated this theory, Kitsuchi barked another order: "Second wave! Move out!"
In the next instant, while the front-row shinobi on the cliff walls continued combining their dense Rock Gun Jutsu to suppress the continuous onslaught of Heavenly Subjugation, the elite Iwagakure forces in the rear immediately raised their hands to weave signs with blinding speed. Over forty elites squatted in unison, slamming their palms against the ground. "Earth Style: Earth Pillar Explosion!"
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Spears!"
"Earth Style: Antlion Jutsu!"
Another twenty elite Stone ninja, holding long swords between their teeth, formed hand seals and sank into the ground. Moving like fish through water, they swam rapidly through the rock walls, following closely behind the second wave as they shot like bolts of lightning toward Hyuga Yu at the center of the battlefield!
"Earth Style: Underground Submarine Jutsu!"
Watching the scene unfold, Kitsuchi instantly recalled—
The explanation given by the captain of the Iwagakure Intelligence Squad during an emergency meeting half a month ago regarding Hyuga Yu's abilities:
"Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation, Vacuum Heavenly Pull, and Coercion—the Tennin's three signature Wind Style techniques can be chained seamlessly. Therefore, a single-point breakthrough is entirely pointless. Even if someone manages to close the distance like Kushimaru Kuriarare of the Hidden Mist did, they will only be met with an even more violent counter-attack! Kitsuchi, you can treat these three techniques, and indeed his entire Wind Style repertoire, as a single unified system."
"If you look at the core essence, you will find that the 'Tennin' Hyuga Yu has only ever possessed one true ability—"
"The manipulation of air pressure."
"The key to dismantling his primary system lies in disrupting this air pressure manipulation. To do that, we must target the very structural core of the jutsu itself!"
Bringing his thoughts back to the present, Kitsuchi took a deep breath. He fixed his gaze on the center of the cavern, analyzing the battlefield and continuously gathering intelligence on the Tennin. A solemn look flashed in his eyes. 'And that is the core objective of this second wave...'
'A structural breakthrough!'
In the next instant, the tide of battle turned sharply!
Various types of Earth Style jutsu unleashed by the forty elite Stone ninja erupted from underground, surging directly toward Hyuga Yu!
Inside the cavern, the ground beneath Hyuga Yu's feet instantly turned into soft mud. He began sinking rapidly into the churning earth, his legs ensnared by the Antlion Jutsu. Immediately after, dozens of linear stone pillars generated by Earth Flow Spears and Earth Pillar Explosion tore through the ground. Extending in straight lines from the cliff face directly to Yu's position, they burst forth from the earth one after another in a chain of explosions!
They formed a dense thicket of subterranean spikes, thrusting from all directions toward the high-pressure air ring outside the cavern—and toward the currently immobilized Hyuga Yu!
Hyuga Yu furrowed his brows slightly. His Wind Style air rings typically swirled horizontally or at an angle, leaving the top and bottom as structural weak points—especially directly beneath him. His control over vertical airflow was naturally less precise than his horizontal manipulation.
Now, disrupted by the Iwagakure tactics, the high-pressure ring immediately became highly unstable. Sensing this, Yu instantly generated a blast of compressed air beneath his soles. The concussive force launched him clear off the ground, shooting him straight up through the center of the high-pressure ring into mid-air. He began falling toward a "wavy" platform below the cliff face, which had been constructed from the tops of hundreds of Earth Style: Mud Wall fortifications.
In the next fraction of a second—
BOOM!
The high-pressure ring exploded violently. Countless chaotic, razor-sharp wind blades gouged a massive crater into the rock wall, sending dozens of Iwagakure shinobi plummeting down like falling stones.
At the cost of over a dozen lives, Iwagakure had forcibly shattered Hyuga Yu's Wind Style: Heavenly Subjugation, forcing him down into the specialized battlefield they had meticulously prepared—the "wavy" platform.
Rather than a platform, it was a surface composed of irregular, streamlined rock pillars. Introducing obstacles into a fluid stream generates vortices, and the formation of these vortices drains the fluid's core kinetic energy. In this environment, these specially reinforced stone pillars would continuously slice and disrupt any Wind Style currents. Should Yu continue to use his air manipulation techniques, his chakra consumption would scale exponentially, while the damage dealt to his enemies would be severely mitigated.
"Interesting..."
Hyuga Yu flipped his body mid-air and landed firmly atop one of the stone pillars. Narrowing his eyes, he surveyed the battlefield Kitsuchi had gone to such great lengths to construct.
Aside from the wavy platform, a colossal, pure stone ceiling was slowly taking shape above the load-bearing pillars piercing the surface. The entire battlefield was on the verge of being sealed beneath a massive, airtight dome.
Then came a rapid succession of thuds.
A rain of landing sounds echoed as Hyuga Yu looked up. Nearly five hundred elite Iwagakure shinobi, who had been concealed along the flanking cliff walls, dropped down onto the wavy platform like paratroopers. They rapidly organized into six specialized tactical formations: the Sensor Unit, the Surprise Attack Unit, the Close-Combat Containment Unit, the Mid-to-Close Range Joint Division, and a highly select ten-man Elite Special Ops Squad guarding Kitsuchi...
The six formations, totaling nearly five hundred elite Stone ninja, completely surrounded Hyuga Yu. In the very next breath, they drew their blades in unison!
Standing at the heart of his army, Kitsuchi stared at Hyuga Yu, who was now thoroughly cornered within this lethal trap. A cold smirk appeared on his face. "His Wind Style is useless here!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Kitsuchi coldly barked the order: "Kill him!"
Yet, the moment the words left his mouth, just as the five hundred elite Stone ninja prepared to roar and charge forward, the figure standing before them... moved first!
Hyuga Yu let out a slow exhale. Looking at the mass of Stone ninja before him, he nodded with a calm, almost detached expression, and softly murmured, "You went through all that trouble just to finally gather everyone together..."
"It just so happens that I've gathered enough data on my end as well. I might as well use all of you to test my hands."
In the next instant, the gathered Stone ninja watched as Hyuga Yu slowly raised his head. Within his snow-white eyes, a brilliant cyan radiance flared to life!
A transparent, pristine cyan world overlaid reality. Byakugan Dojutsu: Jippō, activate!
His expression perfectly serene, Hyuga Yu casually spun his blade into a flourish. As if merely taking a leisurely stroll, he took a step forward, advancing toward the army of nearly five hundred elite Stone ninja on his own accord!
For some reason, the hearts of the elite Iwagakure shinobi skipped a beat. An indescribable sense of absurdity washed over them. This brat was clearly the one who was completely surrounded, so why wasn't he showing a shred of fear? His tone was so casual, it felt as though he was the one who had surrounded them.
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