Two Iwagakure jōnin immediately dove into the ground, lying in wait. Another concealed his figure and began forming hand seals at high speed some distance away.
But hiding in front of the Byakugan was downright laughable.
The last Iwa ninja leapt straight out of the ground.
"Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!"
Stone rapidly condensed around his fist as he smashed toward the falling Hyuga Arin.
Whoosh!
The sound of breaking wind rang out. His punch hit nothing—Hyuga Arin's figure vanished.
Now, instead, he was left suspended midair.
However—
Invisible strands of wind wrapped around his waist, yanking him downward.
The blue-flame blade slash also cut through empty air.
Hyuga Arin raised his palm and slapped downward at the falling Iwa ninja.
"Eight Trigrams Air Palm + Bear Palm!"
"Tathāgata Divine Palm!!"
A gigantic palm of compressed air slammed down from the sky, smashing the Iwa ninja heavily into the ground.
"BOOM!!"
A massive palm-shaped crater appeared in the earth. At its center lay the Iwa ninja, his body covered in wounds.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique + Great Blaze Technique + Great Fireball Technique!"
Hyuga Arin inhaled deeply. His chakra rapidly drained, all of it converging in his mouth.
"Fire Release: Nine-Headed Dragon Technique!"
A colossal fireball erupted from his mouth and smashed downward like a miniature sun, illuminating the entire game dungeon.
At that moment, an Iwa ninja burst out of the ground, attempting to grab the heavily injured comrade and retreat.
Suddenly, nine dragon heads thrust out of the descending fireball and slammed downward.
Did he really think Hyuga Arin hadn't noticed the movement underground?
"What kind of Fire Release is this?!"
The rescuer looked up at the first descending dragon head, despair filling his face.
With that range—and those nine wildly dancing dragon heads—
There was no way to escape.
"BOOM!!"
Scorching shockwaves swept outward, forcing every tree in the forest to bend under the pressure.
[Experience +18,759]
[Experience +5,897]
Hyuga Arin: "???"
His figure flashed as he landed on the ground.
Weren't there supposed to be five jōnin? How did a special jōnin get mixed in?
Well—
Chakra capacity didn't always equal combat strength.
"Wind Release: Ten Thousand Gales!"
The distant ninja who had been forming seals finally completed them. During the sealing process, he had even tried to save the jōnin using Rock Fist—
But failed.
He took a deep breath and unleashed an endless gale toward Hyuga Arin.
All the trees were ripped up by the storm. Countless wind blades were mixed within it, shredding the forest into fragments.
Hyuga Arin was no exception—his entire body was swept into the air as innumerable wind blades surged toward him.
Yet before the blades could strike—
Hyuga Arin vanished first.
The ninja using the high-level Wind Release didn't stop.
This was an S-rank Wind Release capable of reshaping terrain. Once used, it could devastate an entire forest.
The highest recorded feat was someone using it to destroy a mountain.
Within its range, no one could escape—but the downside was the extremely long hand-seal time.
"Not a bad technique."
Hyuga Arin patted the Iwa ninja's shoulder.
The ninja reacted instantly, spinning around with a kunai—
But a blade burning with blue flames sliced cleanly through his body, splitting him in two.
As he fell, the last thing he saw was Hyuga Arin's emotionless face.
[Experience +18,978]
"Chakra: 37,847."
"If it weren't for the Substitution Technique, you might've actually killed me."
He had directly substituted behind the caster. No matter how powerful the technique was, it couldn't strike the caster's own blind spot.
And because the jutsu consumed massive chakra, even if the caster stopped, his movements would be sluggish for a moment.
Hyuga Arin looked down at the ground ahead.
"Not coming out?"
The Byakugan pierced through layers of earth, clearly seeing the final jōnin still hiding underground.
The man didn't dare move.
Out of three jōnin, he was the only one left. How was he supposed to fight this?
He had tried to escape through the ground earlier, only to find that this barrier was far stronger than he'd imagined—even the earth itself was restricted.
Strictly speaking, they were trapped inside a perfect circle. There was nowhere to flee.
"If you won't come out," Hyuga Arin grinned, showing white teeth,
"then I'll come find you."
His figure vanished.
Underground, Hyuga Arin appeared behind the hiding Iwa ninja, using a Transformation Technique to turn his body into gas.
This form could ignore most physical attacks—and also allowed movement underground.
The Iwa ninja sensed danger and turned around—
Only to see Hyuga Arin raising his blade, blue flames blazing along its edge.
"Charging…"
Hyuga Arin poured most of his chakra into the Dark Battle Blade, leaving just enough to maintain the Transformation Technique for ten seconds.
Ten seconds was more than enough.
"You can't escape."
"Slash!!"
"BOOM!!!"
Blue flames erupted violently, incinerating everything around them—soil, rock, and the Iwa ninja alike.
[Experience +18,579]
The ground was burned into a massive crater by the blue flames.
Hyuga Arin's Transformation Technique expired at that exact moment.
However—
"12,552 chakra."
The massive chakra loss was rapidly replenished, even increasing his upper limit.
Hyuga Arin flashed out of the underground cavity and reappeared on the surface.
That underground space was unbreathable. He'd been holding his breath the entire time—and it was filled with lethal gases.
He looked up at the sky.
"Victory: Player Hyuga Arin!"
A massive line of text appeared across the heavens.
At the same time, the entire barrier began to flicker. The blue dome rapidly contracted toward Hyuga Arin.
The originally enormous sphere shrank at extreme speed, becoming a palm-sized orb that appeared in his hand.
This was the manifested form of his Awakening Skill.
If no chakra had been stored, the Awakening Skill wouldn't have materialized. But now that it contained reserves and was beginning to完善 its internal structure, it had taken on a concrete form.
Hyuga Arin put it away and clenched his fist.
That feeling just now—
Fighting without restraint—
It was unbelievably exhilarating.
Normally, every battle forced him to calculate every bit of chakra usage.
When had he ever been able to fight this recklessly?
Of course, this depended on killing enemies early to expand his chakra pool. If he'd been trapped from the start, he'd never have reached such a terrifying state.
He was afraid he already possessed elite jōnin–level combat power.
One year after becoming a ninja, he had reached elite jōnin at full strength.
The next step—
Was Kage-level.
"Just now… what was that?"
A sudden voice sounded nearby.
Hyuga Arin snapped his head around.
When he saw the short old man standing there, his pupils shrank violently.
Why—
Why was Ōnoki here?!
Hyuga Arin's life entered a critical danger state.
✨ Bonus Chapter Goals ✨
10 Reviews = 1 Bonus Chapter
100 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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