The two stared at each other for half a minute, then nodded to each other, and moved with tacit understanding.
Whoosh!
Onoki's foot chakra exploded, and his entire body leaped up fiercely.
"Earth Release: Super Lightweight Rock Jutsu!"
Immediately afterward, Onoki transformed his body's chakra into Earth Attribute Chakra, greatly reducing his own weight, and floated in mid-air.
Seeing Onoki take off, Mokgetsu temporarily halted his steps and silently watched Onoki from the ground.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Spear!"
While flying in the air, Onoki continuously made hand seals with his palm.
Bang!!
A large number of rock spikes rapidly erupted from the ground beneath Mokgetsu's feet, turning the ground he stood on into a forest of rock spikes, as if aiming to pierce Mokgetsu hundreds of times.
But under the effect of the Unlimited Jutsu, every rock spike stopped three centimeters before Mokgetsu.
Even though visually it seemed that the rock spikes surrounded Mokgetsu, not a single spike actually touched the hem of Mokgetsu's clothes.
Bam bam!!
Mokgetsu casually swung, and the stone spikes around him shattered as if they were as fragile as thin paper.
"Hmm?" Onoki's eyes narrowed slightly, sensing something unusual.
He hadn't expected to take down Sosuke with just an Earth Dragon Spear, but the result of the Earth Dragon Spear was rather abnormal.
"Earth Release: Golem Jutsu!"
Onoki increased his flying height, then made hand seals again, gathering a large amount of Earth Attribute Chakra in his throat to spit out blocks of rock.
Rumble!!
A large number of rock blocks rapidly assembled together, forming a massive rock giant over ten meters tall in the blink of an eye.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Dance!"
Mokgetsu concentrated his breathing, transforming a large amount of chakra into Fire Attribute Chakra in one go, clasped his hands together, and spewed out a massive amount of flames to form a sea of fire.
Woosh woosh!!
The fiercely blazing sea of fire with astonishingly high temperatures rapidly turned the ground into charred earth, as if it wanted to burn everything within range to ashes.
In the terrifying sea of fire's influence, the surrounding temperature soared, causing Kitsuchi, Yahiko, and other observing ninjas to sweat profusely on their foreheads, feeling unbearably hot.
Ninjas nearby were already affected this way, and the rock giant at the center of the sea of fire was even more so.
The rock giant, upon encountering the sea of fire, instantly turned into a fire monster. Before Onoki could control the rock giant to extinguish the flames, the rock giant lost control, its body exploding violently, and the scalding hot debris was shot in all directions.
"As expected of the Ninjutsu known as the strongest Fire Release, truly terrifying," Kitsuchi exclaimed while dodging the high-temperature debris.
The Golem Jutsu was already among the stronger defensive capabilities of Earth Release Ninjutsu, yet it still couldn't withstand Sosuke's Fire Release. The terror of Sosuke's Fire Release was evident.
If someone tried to use Defensive Ninjutsu like the Earth Flow Wall to block Sosuke's Fire Release, Kitsuchi could only say that would be suicidal—they simply couldn't block it.
"The Golem Jutsu didn't work, so only Dust Release can be used," Onoki frowned slightly upon seeing this.
He originally wanted to test Sosuke's method of resisting the Earth Dragon Spear, and to prevent Sosuke from using other Ninjutsu to nullify it, he specifically used the Golem Jutsu, which was both offensive and defensive, never expecting it to be blown up by one of Sosuke's Fire Releases.
"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
With this in mind, Onoki didn't hesitate, bringing his hands close together, gathering a large amount of chakra in his palms to conduct Dust Release Chakra Nature Changes.
He wasn't here to defeat Sosuke, but to obtain information about Sosuke; everything had to be considered from the perspective of intel, not the outcome of the battle.
Onoki's flight speed suddenly increased, rapidly closing the distance with Mokgetsu.
Mokgetsu also ran toward Onoki's direction.
As both sides approached each other, the distance between them became shorter and shorter.
Swish!
When the distance was only ten meters, Onoki fiercely shot out the Dust Release Ninjutsu from his hands, a dazzling white cylinder swiftly hurtled toward the advancing Sosuke.
"Not dodging?"
Onoki was puzzled, seeing Sosuke still charging straight ahead even as the Dust Release drew nearer.
His Dust Release wasn't some secret intel; as early as during the Second Tsuchikage's era, the Ninja World had noted the terrifying power of Dust Release Bloodline Elimination.
With the knowledge Sosuke had displayed, it was impossible for him to be unaware of the Dust Release's fearsome power.
Boom!!
The cylindrical beam struck Sosuke's body head-on, and an ear-deafening explosion resounded through the sky. Immediately afterward, an incomparably dazzling explosion of white light appeared, dyeing the area surrounding Sosuke in pure white, making it impossible to see the situation within.
Rumble!!
The powerful explosion force erupted, shattering the ground under its impact like fragile glass. Rocks were pulverized into fine sand, soil was sent soaring high, forming a dust curtain that blocked out the sky, enveloping the battlefield in chaos.
All the Hidden Rock Ninjas were watching the explosion center with grave expressions.
Their greatest wish was that when the smoke and dust cleared, there would be no one inside, with Sosuke disintegrated by the Dust Release.
Otherwise, it would be too bad for Onoki.
Many Hidden Rock Ninjas believed that the reason why Onoki was only one of the peaks of the Ninja World and not the strongest was mainly because Dust Release was hard to hit the opponent in battles among top-tier powerhouses.
If the accuracy issue could be resolved, their Third Tsuchikage would become the strongest in the new era of the Ninja World.
If Sosuke could withstand the Dust Release head-on, then Onoki truly couldn't defeat Sosuke, even with an elite team assisting in pinning him down.