"What the hell did Crow go off to do?!" Hyuga Arin was now extremely suspicious that Crow had already defected.
Ōnoki had personally come to kill them, yet that guy was nowhere to be seen.
Of course, avoiding danger according to the prophetic poem was also a way of dealing with a crisis.
But for those who stayed behind, it was deadly.
Inside the white barrier, the massive sphere of light was rapidly expanding.
"Well then—farewell." Hyuga Arin's figure vanished from the spot.
He had long since prepared his Substitution Technique props. The moment Ōnoki arrived, he could immediately transfer away.
A small stone appeared where he had been standing.
Any item imbued with Hyuga Arin's chakra could become a substitution medium—only the chakra cost would increase with distance.
Floating in the sky, Ōnoki supported the Dust Release with both hands and let out a sharp shout.
"Ha!!"
The white sphere inside the barrier suddenly shone with blinding brilliance, rapidly filling the entire transparent field. Most of the people trapped inside showed expressions of despair.
Only a small number of ninjas managed to escape the range of Dust Release using the Body Flicker Technique.
The rest had no ninjutsu capable of getting them out of the Dust Release's coverage.
They could only remain where they were and wait for death.
And death arrived as promised.
Ōnoki wasn't surprised by those who escaped. Dust Release couldn't interrupt an enemy's ninjutsu.
Some jōnin, if they reacted fast enough, could indeed flee.
As the white light flared to its peak, Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique finally dissipated.
Everyone inside was gone.
More accurately—
They were dead.
Everything within the barrier—objects and living beings alike—had been reduced to an atomic state, completely annihilated.
If Detachment of the Primitive World hadn't required a certain amount of activation time, not a single person inside would have escaped.
As the Dust Release vanished—
Not only were the people gone, even the trenches inside had disappeared, leaving behind only a perfectly square crater to bear witness to Ōnoki's power.
That scale was enough to wipe out a small mountain.
This—
Was the might of someone who bore the title of Kage.
Ōnoki slowly floated down from the sky, as one group of Iwagakure ninja after another rushed up behind him.
"Find them. Kill them all," Ōnoki said coldly.
Many Konoha ninja who had mastered the Body Flicker had escaped earlier—at minimum, they were chūnin.
Ōnoki had no intention of letting those people return safely.
A group of Iwa ninja surged forward with ferocious expressions, charging straight into the forest ahead.
"Find the one throwing fireballs!!"
"The others don't matter—whoever's throwing those fireballs must die!!!"
"I'm going to kill him!!!"
They weren't even worried about finding the target.
Those blue fireballs were extremely distinctive—very likely some kind of kekkei genkai.
There was no way to mistake them.
The crowd surged forward like a flood. No one was left to stop them now.
"The one throwing fireballs?" Ōnoki raised his eyelids slightly, not quite understanding what had agitated the people on this battlefield so badly.
An Iwa ninja hurried over and explained, "There's a Konoha ninja using ultra-long-range attacks. That's what forced us to retreat. We couldn't hit him at all, and those fireballs are incredibly fast—one mistake and you get sniped on the spot."
Just one person—
Had suppressed an entire force of Iwagakure ninja.
Ōnoki slapped the commander on the knee, making him cry out and drop to one knee.
"Why were you standing so tall?" Ōnoki cursed as he floated upward again.
He recalled that there had been a Konoha ninja in a watchtower in the distance earlier, and he had conveniently included that position within the Dust Release.
So that must have been the person they were looking for.
…
Completely unaware that he had become a thorn in the side and a mortal enemy of Iwagakure, Hyuga Arin had already appeared deep within the forest.
"Hoo—" He let out a light breath. Covering that distance had directly drained a third of his chakra.
Beside him stood one of Hyuga Arin's shadow clones, staring in the direction of the original battlefield.
"Isn't the range of that Dust Release a bit ridiculous?" the clone said, withdrawing his stunned expression.
At this moment, the Dust Release hadn't fully ended yet. In the distance, a massive white cube was still visible.
As the white light flared, the cube vanished as well.
"Original body, take care of yourself. Whatever you do, don't run into that Ōnoki. You'll die—absolutely die," the clone nagged endlessly from the side.
"Don't tell me that!" Hyuga Arin snapped back. He was recovering his breath—why was this guy so annoying?
He wasn't usually this much of a chatterbox.
His figure vanished once more.
The clone smacked his lips. "As long as you don't start thinking about counter-killing him."
The three great illusions of life:
Your phone is vibrating.
She likes me.
I can counter-kill.
Hyuga Arin would absolutely never miss the third one.
Poof!
The shadow clone dispersed into smoke. Its main task had been to place stones along the route for Substitution Technique usage.
Now that the job was done, it was no longer needed.
After another long-distance transfer, Hyuga Arin curled his lips.
He had received all the memories from the shadow clone.
"What do you mean illusion? I really can counter-kill after I die."
He looked into the distance. At this range, no one should be coming over… right?
Two substitution jumps meant he was at least eight kilometers away.
"But if Ōnoki doesn't come personally, I could try counter-killing the others."
Only gaining a bit over a hundred thousand experience in more than ten days—he was unwilling to just leave like this.
Ōnoki probably wouldn't bother personally hunting down a small fry like him, right?
He checked his inventory—there was still a Retry item left. A god-tier escape tool.
Even if Ōnoki really came, it wasn't guaranteed he could stop Hyuga Arin from escaping.
"I can counter-kill!!" Hyuga Arin, just as his clone had predicted, fell straight into one of life's three great delusions.
After all, no one understood him better than himself.
Turning toward the direction of the Land of Fire, where another stretch of forest lay ahead, he plunged straight in without hesitation.
Soon, a group of Iwagakure ninja arrived nearby. One ninja with bandages covering his eyes spoke up.
"Someone entered the forest ahead. Judging by the footsteps, it should be a ninja with strong taijutsu."
Only ninjas proficient in taijutsu had footsteps that light.
It could also be a jōnin.
The Iwa squad exchanged glances and nodded. They were a jōnin-led team themselves.
If they could catch a big shot from Konoha, it would be a huge gain.
As they charged into the forest—
Two more squads rushed in from different directions.
Hidden within the shadows, Hyuga Arin used Zetsu-style shadow clones, watching the figures enter.
"Five jōnin. Seven chūnin."
With his chakra completely suppressed, he was like a dead tree—utterly motionless, giving off no presence at all, and escaping detection by the Iwagakure ninja.
Poof!
His figure turned into smoke and vanished.
…
Inside the forest.
Hyuga Arin sat on a tree branch, new memories from the shadow clone appearing in his mind.
"Only twelve people? Five jōnin and seven chūnin… that's a bit few."
He spent three hundred essence points to replenish his lost chakra. One point of essence restored ten points of chakra.
Very quickly, his chakra was fully restored.
"Byakugan!"
Hyuga Arin activated his Byakugan, gazing at the ninjas in the forest who were steadily closing in on his position.
"About time."
He took a deep breath. Three thousand chakra vanished in an instant.
"Awakening Skill: Game Dungeon!"
✨ Bonus Chapter Goals ✨
10 Reviews = 1 Bonus Chapter
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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