Two Iwa ninja immediately submerged into the ground, lying in wait. Another concealed his presence nearby, rapidly forming hand seals.
Hiding like that was laughable in front of the Byakugan.
The last one leapt straight up from the ground.
"Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!"
Stone rapidly formed around his fist as he smashed it toward the falling Hyuga Akira.
"Whoosh!"
The sound of air tearing rang out. His punch struck nothing—Akira had already vanished.
Now it was the Iwa ninja who was suspended in midair.
However—
Invisible wind ropes wrapped around his waist, yanking him violently downward.
At the same time, a slash of blue flame cut through empty air.
Akira raised his palm and struck downward at the falling Iwa ninja.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm + Bear Palm!"
"Buddha Palm!"
A massive palm of compressed air descended from the sky, smashing the Iwa ninja into the ground.
"Boom!"
A gigantic handprint appeared in the earth. At its center lay the Iwa ninja, his body covered in wounds.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Technique + Great Flame Technique + Fireball Technique!"
Akira inhaled deeply, chakra in his body draining rapidly as it gathered in his mouth.
"Fire Release: Nine-Headed Dragon Technique!"
A colossal fireball shot from his mouth and crashed downward like a falling sun, illuminating the entire Game Dungeon.
At that moment, another Iwa ninja emerged from the ground, trying to drag the severely injured man away.
Suddenly, nine dragon heads burst out of the massive fireball, slamming downward.
Did he really think Akira hadn't noticed the movement underground?
"What kind of Fire Release is this…?" The Iwa ninja trying to rescue his companion looked up at the descending dragon heads, despair spreading across his face.
With this range—and those writhing nine dragon heads—
There was no escape.
"Boom!!!"
A scorching shockwave swept outward, bending every tree in the area.
[Experience +18759]
[Experience +5897]
Hyuga Akira: "???"
He flashed down to the ground. Weren't there supposed to be five jonin? How did a Tokubetsu Jonin get mixed in?
Well… chakra levels didn't always equal actual strength.
"Wind Release: Ten Thousand Winds Flow!"
The ninja who had been forming seals in the distance finally completed his technique. During the sealing process, he had even tried to rescue the Rock Fist user—
But failed.
He inhaled sharply and unleashed an endless gale toward Akira. Trees were ripped from the ground, countless wind blades hidden within the storm, shredding everything into fragments.
Akira was no exception. His entire body was blown into the air as countless wind blades tore toward him.
But before they could strike—
Akira vanished.
The Iwa ninja continued channeling the high-level Wind Release. This was an S-rank technique capable of reshaping terrain, even destroying an entire forest.
The highest recorded feat was someone leveling a mountain with it.
Anyone caught within its range couldn't escape—but its fatal flaw was the long time required to form seals.
"Nice technique," Akira said, patting the Iwa ninja on the shoulder.
The Iwa ninja reacted instantly, spinning around with a kunai—
A blade wreathed in blue flames swept through him, cleaving his body cleanly in two.
As he collapsed, the last thing he saw was Akira's expressionless face.
[Experience +18978]
"Chakra: 37,847."
"If I didn't have the Substitution Technique, you really might've killed me."
Akira had simply substituted behind him. No matter how powerful the technique was, it couldn't strike the caster's back.
And such a chakra-intensive jutsu left its user sluggish even after stopping.
Akira lowered his gaze.
"Not coming out?"
The Byakugan pierced through layers of earth, locking onto the final Iwa ninja hiding underground.
The man didn't dare move.
Of the three remaining jonin, he was the last one left. How was he supposed to fight this?
He had tried to escape underground earlier, but the barrier was far stronger than expected—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," Akira grinned, "then I'll come to you."
His figure vanished.
Underground, Akira appeared behind the hiding Iwa ninja, using the Transformation Technique to turn his body into gas. This allowed him to ignore most physical attacks and move freely through the earth.
Sensing danger, the Iwa ninja turned around—
And saw Akira raising his blade, blue flames burning fiercely along its edge.
"Charging…"
Akira poured most of his chakra into the Dark Warblade, leaving just enough to maintain the Transformation Technique for ten seconds.
Ten seconds was enough.
"You can't escape."
"Slash!!!"
"BOOM!!!"
Blue flames erupted violently, incinerating everything around them—earth, stone, and the Iwa ninja himself.
[Experience +18579]
A massive crater was carved into the ground by the blue flames.
Akira's Transformation Technique ended at that exact moment.
But—
"12,552 chakra."
The chakra he had lost surged back instantly, his maximum capacity increasing yet again.
Akira flashed out of the underground cavity and reappeared on the surface.
There was no air down there—he had been holding his breath the entire time, surrounded by lethal gases.
He looked up at the sky.
"Victory: Player Hyuga Akira!"
Large glowing words appeared overhead.
At the same time, the entire barrier began to shimmer. The blue dome rapidly contracted toward Akira.
The enormous sphere shrank at incredible speed, eventually becoming a palm-sized orb that hovered in Akira's hand.
This was the physical manifestation of his awakened skill.
If it hadn't stored other people's chakra, the awakened skill wouldn't have taken form at all. It was precisely because energy had been accumulated—and its internal systems had begun to take shape—that it now possessed a tangible form.
He put it away and clenched his fist.
That exhilarating feeling from earlier—pure, unrestrained combat—was incredible.
Normally, he had to calculate every drop of chakra, agonizing over how to use it efficiently. Today, he had fought without restraint.
Of course, that required killing a few enemies early to build up chakra. If he had been trapped at the start, he would never have reached such a terrifying state.
This was already the power of an elite jonin.
One year after becoming a ninja, he had reached elite jonin-level strength. The next step was Kage-level.
"What was that just now?" a voice suddenly spoke beside him.
Akira instantly turned his head.
A short, elderly man stood nearby.
His pupils shrank violently.
Why—
Why was Ōnoki here?!
Hyuga Akira faced a life-or-death crisis.
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