The Three Tomoe spun rapidly.
At the same time, Iwagakure's area-of-effect Ninjutsu arrived.
Again, a dense barrage of Earth Release: Earth Iron Spears whistled through the air.
Immediately, Nami burst out from the depths of Naori's eyes, skillfully and precariously weaving through the Earth Iron Spears, and after landing, she quickly sprinted in one direction.
The moment Nami appeared, Naori leaped from the earth wall, the incoming Earth Iron Spears flew harmlessly beneath her feet, and she flung a Kunai with steel wire attached, embedding it into a large tree in the forest.
Uncertain if she could use tree contact for sensing, Naori didn't risk stepping on the trees.
She rapidly swung through the forest by extending and retracting the steel wire and recalling and re-shooting the Kunai.
At this moment, Naori herself once again vanished from their senses.
"She's there! Two o'clock!"
Numerous Iwagakure Ninja all pursued Nami.
Hearing this, Naori's mouth curved into a smile.
She succeeded!
After a few swings, she conveniently hung behind the Iwagakure Ninja.
The Iwagakure Ninja were completely unaware.
Both sides maintained a long, serpentine formation, chasing through the complex forest terrain.
Naori was at the very front, and Naori was also at the very back.
The sensory Shinobi was cautiously protected in the central area of the team by the Iwagakure Ninja.
"Good tactical discipline."
For a time, Naori couldn't find an opportunity to strike.
As the chase continued, gradually, the formation began to change in the complex forest terrain.
The distance between the front and back Iwagakure Ninja began to widen, though they could still subtly support each other.
But...
An opportunity!
A cold glint flashed in Naori's eyes.
The moment she swung up, the steel wire was cut, immediately followed by steel wire sliding out from a Fuinjutsu on her left hand.
As she flung her hand, deadly steel wire shot out.
Lightning flickered and jumped along the steel wire, quickly electrifying it until it glowed a brilliant white.
Uchiha Style Wire Control Swordsmanship: Dance of the Blood Rose
A large number of threads did not twist into a single strand but spread out, blooming like a flower.
Compared to the Dance of the Tea Rose, which concentrates a single line and force, this technique had a wider area of effect.
The threads silently swept through the air.
They struck from diagonally above the team.
The moment they were about to strike, an Iwagakure Jonin sensed the anomaly in advance.
This feeling could be said to be a direct perception of danger, trained through the accumulation of vast combat experience and tempering between life and death.
But...
This guy wasn't a Taijutsu-type Shinobi.
It was already too late.
Although he reacted and activated his Hardening Jutsu, performing a swift, hand-sign-less activation, an almost pitch-black color spread across his skin—a technique he had spent a large portion of his life practicing and was likely his most proud Ninjutsu—it was utterly useless.
Lightning Release trumps Earth Release.
The threads smoothly sliced through the opponent.
The six individuals at the rear of the team simultaneously fell into a deadly strangulation.
In an instant, they were cut into scattered fragments.
They didn't even have time to scream; what seemed cruel was, in fact, the quickest and most painless killing technique in Naori's arsenal.
Blood-red roses bloomed on the ground.
Without landing, Naori cut the steel wires, whose biological steel activity had been destroyed by the Lightning Release, and shot out a Kunai, grabbing a new thread to swing again.
There were still twenty-seven people left.
"Chakra has disappeared!" The sensory Shinobi shrieked in terror upon sensing the instantaneous death of his comrades: "They're behind us, six of us are dead!"
If he could, he wouldn't want to yell like this, but to notify his teammates while running at full speed, he had to shout to attract attention, otherwise, they wouldn't hear what he was saying.
Hearing this, the leading Shinobi shouted loudly.
"Stop! Everyone stop!!!"
The Iwagakure Ninja immediately obeyed, stopping in unison and quickly reforming their formation.
Naori stopped with them, quietly hanging from a steel wire beneath a large tree, silently lurking in the surroundings.
The Three Tomoe spun rapidly in her eyes.
She carefully observed the Iwagakure Ninja's expressions and mouth movements.
Lip reading.
A simple trick that Naori could easily learn.
Nami crouched in front, on guard, while continuously maintaining Naori's projection Genjutsu.
At this moment, the Iwagakure Ninja all wore grim expressions; compared to the terrifying explosion insect swarm they had previously encountered, this hidden enemy was even more terrifying!
Everyone felt immense psychological pressure.
"We're being played like puppets!" The Iwagakure leader said in a deep voice: "We can't continue like this."
"Daichi, how many people does the opponent have!?"
"One in front!" The sensory Shinobi named Daichi said hoarsely: "The opponent can counteract my sensory abilities; the one in front might be an Earth Clone or some kind of bait!"
An Earth Clone?
The leading Shinobi said in a deep voice: "Don't mind that clone; we can't keep following their pace, Daichi, is there a way to pinpoint their location?"
"Yes! An area-of-effect sensory Barrier!" Daichi immediately said: "But the Barrier cannot be moved!"
How amateurish.
Hearing this, Naori curled her lips.
She saw Miki's Barrier moving quite happily, didn't she?
Tsunade too; her technique could move with her.
In the theory of Barrier Ninjutsu, a branch of Fuinjutsu, this inability to move freely was due to the Barrier's anchor point being on a fixed object.
If the anchor point was movable, the Barrier could move with it.
Cannot move its position, huh?
The leader pondered for a moment, then decided: "Set up the Barrier!"
The sensory Shinobi hesitated, wanting to speak.
The problem is, what if the opponent doesn't engage us?
Setting up the Barrier would be a waste of effort.
The leader understood Daichi's meaning and said firmly: "Execute the order!"
"Ha!"
Under the protection of the Iwagakure Ninja, the sensory Shinobi slowly formed hand signs.
There were many signs, and it took quite some time.
Then he crouched down and pressed a palm to the ground.
Earth Release: Monument of Gratitude Array
As the Ninjutsu was activated, Naori began to move her position.
In the forest, a pointed stone monument emerged from the ground, quickly surpassing the height of trees over ten meters tall, breaking through the dense forest canopy, and rising tens of meters high to pierce the sky, standing solitary in the forest.
On the monument, dark black runes crawled like tadpoles.
Immediately, an invisible detection Barrier expanded in a wide range, centered on the monument.
How troublesome.
Naori, observing the situation, stopped moving.
It was a type of Barrier whose exact coverage she didn't know.
One hundred meters?
Five hundred meters?
One kilometer?
Five kilometers?
So, she was discovered.
Naori looked at the layer of glowing mark on her body.
Under the gaze of her Sharingan, colorless Chakra fluctuations spread in all directions.
The glow could still be covered with Genjutsu, but the Chakra fluctuations...
That was a bit tricky.
Nami was in the same situation.
"So scary..."
Without communication, the main body and the clone muttered in unison.
Naori cut the steel wire and landed, her wide Anbu cloak flaring as her right hand pressed against the long sword strapped to her waist.
Uchiha-Style Swordsmanship.
It was a powerful Shinobi swordsmanship passed down through generations of the Uchiha.
This was the swordsmanship Naori had spent a great deal of time honing, accompanied by her clan leader grandfather.
Its characteristic was that it did not rely on Chakra metal for conduction.
It was difficult to learn and difficult to master.
It was a technique that truly showcased magnificent skill.
Very few within the clan truly mastered it.
Although Mirror's swordsmanship was not bad, it was far from reaching the level of mastering Uchiha-Style Swordsmanship.
He was only roughly on par with Naori in terms of basic skills.
After her clan leader grandfather passed away, Naori was the only one in the entire clan who mastered it.
The properties of biological steel wire simply could not withstand the operation of this swordsmanship.
Not even biological steel coated with fire-resistant material.
Naori drew her long sword, twirling it into a beautiful blade flower with a flick of her wrist, the tip of the sword pointing diagonally at the ground.
Nami released the Fuinjutsu on her body and made the same motion with her sword.
The Iwagakure Ninja, arrayed and waiting, showed serious expressions.
"Got you! You hateful hiding mouse!"
------------------------
I've posted 70+ chapters in advance on Patreon.
Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
"And If you're enjoying it, drop a Power Stone for me!"