The smoke cleared, and the canyon had been completely blocked off, forming a massive stone wall.
Yoshikawa Iwa stood at the canyon entrance, staring blankly at the pile of fallen rocks before him.
For a long time.
He turned and led the remaining personnel back to the pile of supplies that had been blasted into ruins, looking Soul-less.
The entire warehouse was still burning with fire,
and thick smoke rose into the sky. The surviving Cloud Hidden Ninja were searching for and rescuing the wounded in the ruins, their wails echoing incessantly.
Those mountains of grain had all turned to ash.
Most of those priceless Ninja Tools had been destroyed in the chain explosions.
The warehouse complex was razed to the ground.
Three months' worth of supply reserves vanished overnight.
Yoshikawa Iwa stumbled back to the front of the ruins, looking at the hellish scene before him.
His face was distorted by extreme anger and humiliation, his lips trembling, and his teeth chattering.
A blood-covered Cloud Hidden Ninja knelt before him.
"Lord Yoshikawa, the supplies in the core warehouse... are all destroyed. The grain piles on the perimeter... also all exploded. We... we..."
The Ninja could not go on, tears streaming down his face.
Yoshikawa Iwa did not speak, only staring intently at the ruins ahead.
The firelight reflected on his face, making his expression look exceptionally hideous.
"How many people are still alive?" His voice was terrifyingly hoarse.
"Less... less than ten people."
Yoshikawa Iwa closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
He remembered the first time he met Aokawa.
That Byakugan youth stood on the Fuyuan Bridge, holding that beautiful Spirit Bow, smiling harmlessly.
At the time, he thought he was just a member of the Hyuga Branch Family who knew some long-range attacks.
Later, that youth used a rain of arrows to shatter his ambitions and reduced him to a warehouse manager.
Now, that youth had razed the warehouse complex he was responsible for to the ground.
Yoshikawa Iwa slowly opened his eyes.
A fire of hatred burned in his eyes, more intense than the flames in the ruins before him.
"Aokawa... I will remember you," he muttered to himself, his voice low and full of killing intent... On the other side of the canyon, Aokawa's trio did not stop, galloping all the way.
It wasn't until they could no longer feel any Chakra fluctuations behind them that the three stopped by a stream, gasping for breath.
Shisui leaned against a tree, looking at his slightly disheveled reflection in the stream water, then turned to look at Aokawa, who was washing the dust off his face, with a complex mood.
He wanted to say something, but didn't know where to start.
Might Guy, on the other hand, was carefree, patting Aokawa's shoulder hard: "Aokawa! That move just now was truly full of the explosive power of youth!"
After repeated battles, the three were exhausted both physically and mentally.
They decided to take a short break and rested against the trees.
Aokawa followed the floating text into his Sea of Consciousness.
[Intellectual trap, burning supplies, and leading two teammates to safety, you have received blessing]
[Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique (Proficient) *1]
[Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson (Proficient) *1]
[Fire Release: Dragon Flame Technique (Proficient) *1]
[Leaf Whirlwind (Proficient) *1]
[Cloud Hidden Sword Technique (Skilled) *1]
[Cloud Hidden Taijutsu (Skilled) *1]
[energy crystal *1120]
Three Fire Release techniques at Proficient level?
Aokawa turned to look at Shisui not far away and thought to himself, "It seems this kid is indeed good at Fire Release."
"What's wrong?"
Shisui noticed his gaze.
"Nothing, just thought you were quite handsome!"
Aokawa replied perfunctorily.
"I'm handsome?" Shisui was confused.
Aokawa smiled and said nothing, immersing his consciousness into his personal information again.
---
Racial Mark: Quincy (Mixed-blood, Fusion rate: 63.90%+)
Talent Skill: Spiritual Particle Cluster
Racial Skills: Holy Arrow, Holy Arrow: Scatter, Holy Arrow: Demon Break, Reishi Network, Hirenkyaku, Rantō Tenkū, Seietsu, Green Cup, Gokakuhō, Rain of Light
Crests: Innate Full Spirit, Water Release Mastery
Kekkei Genkai: Byakugan
Chakra Attributes: Water, Lightning, Earth, Fire, Yang, Yin, Wind
energy crystal: 2350
---
1120 crystals, plus the 1200+ collected from over a month of patrolling, made a total of 2350 energy crystals.
The Fusion rate is now 63.90%; over 2000 crystals will definitely push it past 80%.
"New skills again!" Aokawa rubbed his hands.
He clicked frantically on the "+" next to the Fusion rate with his mind.
The Fusion rate soared.
It stopped at 80%.
[Your mixed-blood mark Fusion rate has reached 80%, you have unlocked new racial skills]
[You have obtained the racial skill: Broken Light Formation -- First use 'Soul-Cutting Object' to draw a Quincy array on the ground and place five Soul-cutting objects at the corners of the array. Then drop the concentrated reishi from the silver cylinder to trigger a large-scale explosion within the array. It is a powerful and complex trap formation]
[You have obtained information: Manufacturing method for Soul-Cutting Object --- A weapon used by Quincies, the blade composed of reishi vibrates 3 million times per second on its surface, hindering the bonding of the opponent's reishi through vibration. It can be used as a sword for close-range attacks or loaded onto a Spirit Bow to fire powerful reishi arrows]
Broken Light Formation?
Looking at the description, it should be the pentagonal reishi array Ishida Uryū used when fighting Szayelaporro in Hueco Mundo.
Its power is good, but the startup time is relatively long, requiring five Soul-Cutting Objects to be inserted in five positions.
The activation conditions are also quite demanding: the enemy must be in the center of the array, and a drop of reishi liquid from a silver cylinder is needed to activate it.
However, the Naruto world has Shadow Clones, which can greatly solve this tricky problem. If there are Multi-Shadow Clones, then six Clones can almost perfectly solve this issue.
The strange thing is that the Stone Gate has given so many skills so far, but not a single Shadow Clone.
This time when I go back, I must ask Orochimaru for it. Destroying so many supplies, it wouldn't be too much to ask for more.
He added all the remaining energy crystals, and the Fusion rate finally reached 87.40%.
"What are you doing?"
A voice broke Aokawa's thoughts.
He snapped back to reality and found Shisui looking at him with concern: "You've been smiling one moment and frowning the next, what's wrong?"
Might Guy also came over upon hearing this, his face full of concern.
This was the main combat power of their team; he couldn't be driven crazy by the pressure.
"I'm fine, what are you thinking?" Aokawa didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He looked at Shisui in front of him, and with a thought, he asked, "Shisui, do you know the Shadow Clone technique?"
"Shadow Clone?" Shisui was stunned: "Yeah! I relied on them to go to school when I was a kid."
Aokawa's face was full of black lines; as expected, geniuses are all the same.
Looking at it this way, maybe one or two of his former classmates weren't Immortal Masters.
Like Kakashi!
He brushed aside the messy thoughts in his head and said, "Teach me!"
"Ah? You don't know it?" Shisui was full of surprise.
You know so many Ninjutsu, but you don't know the Shadow Clone?
"Stop talking nonsense, will you teach me or not?"
"I'll teach you!" Shisui saw that Aokawa really didn't know it. Although he was puzzled, he still agreed.
"The Chakra pathways for the Shadow Clone are..."
Before he could finish, he was interrupted by Aokawa: "It's not that complicated."
As he spoke, he activated his Byakugan, his gaze fixed on Shisui's meridians, and then said:
"Alright, perform it once for me to see!"
-------------------------------
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