Chapter 181:
"Kawaki, right… I'm entrusting this to you—bring it back to the Hidden Leaf Village."
Kawaki took the chamber pot sealing the One-Tail from Gaara, looking at him and asking, "You trust me that much? After all, I'm not from the Hidden Leaf."
"But your companions trust you, don't they?"
If they didn't, they never would've assigned Kawaki the mission to retrieve the One-Tail.
"…Then I'll get going."
Hugging the chamber pot with the One-Tail sealed inside, Kawaki turned and sprinted off in ninja fashion.
"So, he's escaping with the One-Tail…" Ōtsutsuki Urashiki glanced at the fleeing Kawaki and said, "But now's not the time to care about the One-Tail. Compared to it, the Nine-Tails is far more tempting…"
Boruto was at a clear disadvantage in his fight with Urashiki—not only did he have to dodge Urashiki's fishing hook, he also couldn't use chakra, and he was never great at taijutsu to begin with.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Shuyu was managing to keep up with Titan No. 1 by relying on his combat experience, maintaining an even match. But his Sharingan's ocular power and chakra were bound to run out eventually.
Titan No. 1, on the other hand, couldn't use ninjutsu, but its brute strength allowed it to fight however it pleased.
After several rounds of exchanges, Shuyu had figured out that the four green canisters on Titan No. 1's back were the source of its power. But he hadn't found an opening to target them.
What made it worse was that on each of Titan No. 1's shoulders, there was a rocket launcher-style scientific ninja tool—with a total of sixteen barrels capable of continuously firing Rasengan.
Even Susanoo was having trouble keeping up.
The downside? Titan No. 1's movements were sluggish. That's the only reason Shuyu had managed to hold it off for this long.
Boruto, having lost the initiative from constantly dodging, eventually got caught by Urashiki. Urashiki grabbed him by the neck and slammed him into the ground, dragging him along and kicking up a cloud of dust.
With his left hand gripping Boruto's neck, Urashiki slowly reached his right hand into Boruto's abdomen. A gleeful expression spread across his face.
"The Nine-Tails' chakra is mine now!"
"Damn it…"
Boruto struggled with all his might, and the Nine-Tails within him let out feral roars.
"Amaterasu!"
Black flames ignited on Titan No. 1's outer hide—but that was it.
Its thick skin protected it from most attacks.
"Wood Style: Wood Rhino!"
A wooden rhino suddenly appeared and charged at Titan No. 1, sending it flying.
"Wood Style: Forest Dominion!"
The sand beneath Urashiki's feet suddenly cracked open, and trees coiled around his legs, pinning him in place.
"Can't move now, can you? Looks like it's my turn!"
Boruto shouted. Behind him, the Nine-Tails' two chakra claws clenched into fists and pounded Urashiki. The impact was so powerful it even shattered the trees binding him.
Seizing the opportunity, Shuyu retreated and moved to Boruto's side.
"Wood Style—who's helping us?"
"Shuyu! Boruto!"
A voice called from afar. Shuyu and Boruto turned toward it.
"Sarada?!"
"Long time no see, you two. Good thing I got here when I did—otherwise, you'd be in serious trouble." Sarada appeared next to them with a few body flickers.
"Sarada, that Wood Style just now—was that you?"
Shuyu asked.
"Yup," Sarada nodded. "Pretty impressive, right?"
"It was… okay, I guess. Even without your help, I could've handled that guy easily," Boruto scoffed.
"Huh? Boruto, do you even realize what Wood Style means?" Sarada's glasses reflected the sunlight as she stared at him.
"Wood Style? Isn't it just like Water Style or Fire Style?"
"Wood Style is one of the strongest Bloodline Limits in the ninja world. Only the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, ever used it," Shuyu explained.
As for Yamato's Wood Style—Shuyu considered that irrelevant and didn't even mention it.
"It's really that powerful?"
Boruto looked skeptical.
"Hey, hey! The fight's not over yet. Why are you guys chatting?"
Urashiki, who had been knocked away, climbed to his feet.
"Sarada, don't use ninjutsu in the next round of battle," Boruto warned, eyes locked on Urashiki. "He can absorb it."
Sarada's earlier success was purely because it had been a surprise attack.
"Got it."
She nodded.
"Sarada, Boruto and I will take on Urashiki. You use Wood Style to restrain Titan No. 1," Shuyu quickly laid out the plan.
With Sarada sharing the burden, the tide of battle began to shift in their favor.
Clutching a small branch, Sarada rushed toward Titan No. 1, circling to its side to avoid a punch. She then jabbed the branch into its body.
"Wood Style: Cutting Sprout Technique!"
Meanwhile, a surge of chakra exploded around Urashiki, who was being pushed back. Raising his Rinnegan-imbued hand, he aimed at Shuyu.
"Laser Cannon!"
The beam shot through Shuyu—only for him to scatter into a murder of crows.
He hadn't used Susanoo to block it, partly to conserve his ocular power, and also because he wasn't sure how destructive Urashiki's laser cannon would be.
"Dodged, huh."
This jutsu condensed visual power into a laser fired from the Rinnegan. Its power was immense, but the chakra cost was equally high.
With Shuyu dodging, Boruto got kicked away by Urashiki, who used the opening to widen the distance.
Just then, two shuriken flew toward Urashiki. They collided midair—one flew harmlessly overhead, while the other came at him from the left.
A black rod formed from Yin-Yang Release chakra appeared in Urashiki's hand and deflected the left shuriken.
"Cheap tricks like that won't work…" Urashiki said while glancing in the direction the shuriken came from—only to see no one there.
"Looking for someone?"
Sarada's voice came from directly above him.
Urashiki instinctively looked up—only to catch a direct monster-strength punch to the face.
"Rinnegan!"
In that instant before the hit landed, through the gap, Urashiki caught sight of Sarada's Rinnegan.
The blow buried him into a pile of sand, sending tremors across the entire desert.
Sarada landed beside Shuyu, her breath uneven.
Using her Rinnegan just now had burned through almost all the visual power she'd just regained.
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