Tsuchimochi was still suspended high in the air, with nothing beneath him to use as footing.
The laser struck him straight through the head.
Yagami had expected blood to burst out like a firework in the sky—
but instead, Tsuchimochi's body gradually melted into mud.
"...Hm?"
"An Earth Style clone? Since when?"
A hint of surprise flashed through Yagami's eyes.
The three Iwa shinobi had been right in front of him the whole time.
If Shōhei had prepared this in advance, there was no way it should have escaped his notice.
But this time, he really hadn't sensed where Tsuchimochi had switched places.
Could it be...
During that slash, when his vision was blocked for an instant?
Did they use that opening to cover the substitution?
As Yagami pieced it together in his mind, his perception suddenly sensed something.
A presence was approaching him from underground.
It was Tsuchimochi—the same one Yagami had believed he had shot down earlier.
"So that's it... underground."
Yagami slowed slightly, quietly shifting Ama no Murakumo into a reverse grip behind his back.
On the surface, though, he acted as if he had noticed nothing and continued forward.
"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!"
A muffled shout erupted from beneath Yagami's feet.
In the next instant, a pair of arms burst through the ground and seized his ankles, trying to drag him down below the surface.
"Chhk—!"
"Pssh!"
At that exact moment, Yagami bent down without warning and drove his blade straight into the earth.
A ripping sound rang out.
Blood surged up from the ground, spraying along the edge of Yagami's sword.
"Tsuchimochi!!"
Kagerō and Shōhei, who had barely avoided Yagami's earlier slash by retreating to the left, let out furious roars, their eyes reddening.
Judging from the amount of blood pouring from underground, Tsuchimochi's artery had definitely been severed.
There was no way he was surviving that.
"In front of absolute power..."
"Petty tricks like yours are meaningless."
Yagami spoke coldly as he pulled Ama no Murakumo back out.
The blood spraying from the ground gradually slowed.
The blade had pierced cleanly through Tsuchimochi's neck.
He was already dead.
"Earth Style: Swamp of the Underworld!"
At that moment—
Kagerō slammed both palms against the ground again.
The earth beneath Yagami's feet instantly softened and began collapsing into mud.
"You think something like this can hold me?"
Yagami let out a snort and was about to burst away at speed—
only for his expression to change.
Even in death, Tsuchimochi's hands were still clamped around his ankles with a death grip.
And in that split second of delay, the ground around Yagami transformed into a massive swamp.
With nothing to brace against, his body immediately began sinking.
"You've got to be kidding me... even dead, you're still trying to drag me down?"
Yagami cursed under his breath and forced his legs upward.
But instead of pulling free, his struggle only made him sink faster.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Divide!"
Another furious shout rang out.
Hands slammed down onto the ground once more.
With a violent surge of chakra, the land surrounding Yagami—including the swamp itself—sank more than ten meters in every direction.
"Tch... don't tell me I'm actually about to get dragged down by something this stupid..."
The more force Yagami used, the quicker he sank.
In only a few moments, the swamp had already reached his chest.
Now, even he didn't dare move carelessly.
"Did you trap him?! Nice!!"
At that moment, the other two Iwa shinobi whom Yagami had blasted away earlier also rushed back over.
But neither of them looked unharmed.
The hunter's entire forearm was drenched in blood.
Shōhei's right arm was broken and twisted at an ugly angle.
The four of them quickly gathered at the edge of the pit and looked down at Yagami, who was trapped in the mire.
Their expressions hardened.
"Do it! Bury him with Tsuchimochi!"
"Earth Style: Added-Weight Clay!"
"Earth Style: Rock House Crush!"
"BOOM!!!"
With a furious roar at Yagami, Kagerō and Shōhei formed hand seals at the same time and slammed their palms against the ground.
The walls around the pit trembled violently.
Huge chunks of rock, mixed with thick clay, collapsed from above and came crashing down toward Yagami's head.
"Heh."
At that critical moment—
Yagami's body suddenly burst with golden light.
His form instantly scattered, transforming into dazzling particles of light.
In a flash, he slipped free of the swamp and shot upward through the cracks overhead.
Fast.
Too fast.
By the time the golden radiance faded, Yagami was already standing in the sky.
The four Iwa shinobi by the pit hadn't even realized he had escaped.
So that's how it works...
A spark of realization flashed through Yagami's mind.
He had never actively used elemental transformation before.
Because of that, he had never properly developed the movement method that came with it.
He used to think this kind of "teleportation" would be difficult to master—
but the truth was brutally simple.
Elementalize on command, turn into light, and move.
That was all there was to it.
A bitter smile tugged at the corner of Yagami's mouth.
If he hadn't been on the verge of getting buried alive just now, instinct probably wouldn't have forced him into figuring it out.
Who knew how much longer he would have remained stuck in that misunderstanding otherwise?
"You all really helped me out."
"As thanks... I'll make sure you die to this next move."
Looking down from above, Yagami laughed lightly.
His voice echoed into the pit below.
The four Iwa shinobi froze at once.
"W-What?!"
"When did he get out of the swamp?!"
Kagerō and the others jerked their heads upward.
The moment they saw Yagami hovering in the sky, their faces changed drastically.
If he fired that terrifying light attack now, all four of them would be wiped out without even leaving bodies behind.
"Earth Style: Iron Cannonball!"
"Earth Style: Rock Senbon!"
Kagerō reacted instantly and counterattacked.
Since Yagami hadn't launched his next move yet, that meant this moment was still their chance.
Because no matter how fast he was—
he was still in midair, with nowhere to evade!
Countless stone bullets and razor-sharp rock senbon shot into the sky, flooding upward in a dense barrage and sealing off Yagami's descent path.
But Yagami only looked at them and smiled.
"Speed... is weight."
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Ignoring the storm of stone projectiles rushing toward him, Yagami's grin widened as he looked down at the four Iwa shinobi below.
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