Chapter 41: Nawaki's Battlefield Glory, Rope Tree's Survival, and Naraku's Senju Physique Awakening
Ōnoki frowned and said: "Continue investigating. Best if you can find out the abilities of those weapons and Uchiha Naraku's specific hobbies and habits. Oh! And while you're at it, put a bounty on Uchiha Naraku—35 million ryō! No—make it 70 million ryō!"
"Yes!" The ANBU vanished from the Tsuchikage's office in an instant.
...
On the other side, Chiyo's subordinates had also gathered roughly the same information. But Chiyo didn't have the same financial freedom as the Tsuchikage—Sunagakure wasn't as wealthy as Iwagakure. She could only order her people to keep digging.
However, Chiyo had already made up her mind: if Konoha disrupted the balance because of the ninja blades forged by Uchiha Naraku, she would not sit idly by!
...
Nawaki, who had just arrived at the battlefield, immediately spotted his teacher Orochimaru: "Teacher, I'm here!"
Orochimaru looked at his enthusiastic disciple Nawaki. The gloom that had built up recently from too much killing eased somewhat. He smiled and said to Nawaki: "From now on, stay by my side and follow my commands. I'll explain the precautions for the battlefield to you next."
The next day, Konoha launched a surprise attack on Iwa forces.
The battle went back and forth. During this, the Iwa ninjas didn't completely lose their will to fight—they dug in and continued clashing with Konoha. In the process, Nawaki made full use of his powerful Senju physique and the sword-form Incursio, slaying the chūnin opponent in front of him.
Gradually, the Iwa forces began to lose ground—after all, this was a Konoha ambush.
As the Iwa ninjas retreated, Orochimaru ordered pursuit. Nawaki charged at the very front of the entire unit.
Orochimaru watched his disciple's bravery and praised inwardly: "Nawaki! The enemy's morale has already been crushed!"
Nawaki charged forward confidently. Suddenly he noticed his foot had stepped on an explosive tag.
In his final moment, Nawaki shouted in his heart: "Incursio!"
The explosion instantly engulfed Nawaki's entire body. The tremendous shockwave even knocked nearby chūnin flat on their backs.
Orochimaru stared blankly at the explosion scene, suddenly feeling how fragile humans truly were! They had clearly crushed the enemy's morale. The enemy had clearly begun to flee!
Before Orochimaru could finish lamenting human fragility, a giant armored figure appeared at Nawaki's position, enveloping him completely.
This powerful aura drew the attention of both the pursuing Konoha ninjas and the retreating Iwa forces looking back.
Gradually, as the armor closed in on Nawaki in an embracing motion, the mask cracked open, revealing Tyrant's ferocious maw inside.
In the end, what stood in that spot was an unscathed, fully transformed Nawaki. He was now clad in handsome armor, with a green gem at the brow emitting a faint glow. In his hand he held a spear with an especially long spearhead.
Orochimaru watched this scene and smiled once again. He ordered: "Continue the pursuit!"
Nawaki touched his head. He had almost thought he was going to die in the explosion. He never expected the armor's transformation process would also provide some protection. It seemed he should learn to transform preemptively in the future.
Nawaki hurriedly used his long spear to perform repeated thrust attacks, slaying one Iwa chūnin after another on the spot.
These Iwa chūnin resisted, of course. Large-scale attacks were all dodged by Nawaki. But small, dense attacks that struck his armor couldn't break through its defense at all. The Iwa chūnin could only be killed one by one by the utterly unreasonable Nawaki, who fought more and more fiercely—like an old general on stage, covered in flags yet growing stronger with every battle!
Soon, Nawaki's actions drew the attention of an Iwa jōnin. To cover his subordinates' retreat, the jōnin formed seals and used Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique!
In an instant, two gigantic hemispheres made of earth clamped down on Nawaki from both sides.
Nawaki could only use his arms to brace against the massive hemispheres on left and right.
Seeing this, the Iwa jōnin nearly popped his eyes out. This technique wasn't impossible to break—but to resist it purely with raw physical strength? This was the first time in his life he had seen such a thing.
It was like watching Captain America hold back a helicopter with his bare hands—unheard of.
And the Mountain Earth Technique required chakra not only to activate but also to maintain. The Iwa jōnin saw that this level of Mountain Earth couldn't kill Nawaki, so he poured in even more chakra. As the chakra supply increased, the Mountain Earth slowly expanded, and the pressure from the two earth hemispheres on Nawaki grew accordingly.
Nawaki frantically channeled chakra and stamina into the armor, using both his own strength and the armor's to hold back the crushing hemispheres.
But as the force from the earth spheres grew stronger, small fragments began to crack off the armor on Nawaki's arms.
Gradually, the Iwa jōnin saw Orochimaru approaching quickly. He knew he was doomed. He poured every last drop of chakra into the Mountain Earth Technique.
But no matter how much he strengthened it, Nawaki in the center remained uncrushed—like a Rupert's tear. Until the jōnin was beheaded by Orochimaru using Kirikabe Ichimonji.
After the Iwa jōnin died, the Mountain Earth Technique ceased its pressure. Nawaki in the center of the earth spheres finally broke free, panting heavily.
By now the surrounding Iwa forces had long since fled. Orochimaru immediately called off the pursuit.
The surviving Konoha ninjas on the battlefield shouted victory! They cheered "Orochimaru banzai!"—and some even shouted "Nawaki banzai!"
In this battle, Nawaki had used his astonishing ability to draw attention and absorb damage, killing a large number of enemy chūnin. In the final stage he had even withstood the nearly irresistible Mountain Earth Technique with pure physical power.
After releasing the transformation, Nawaki said to Orochimaru: "Teacher, we won!"
Orochimaru could only shake his head.
...
Meanwhile, Naraku—who had been slacking off outside the classroom—suddenly saw a system prompt and immediately found a quiet spot to accept it.
Ding...
[Nawaki has reached Medium mastery of A-grade weapon "Incursio." Talent Replication activated: Host gains Beginner-level Senju clan physique.]
Naraku suddenly felt a powerful surge of strength flooding his entire body. It felt as though it would burst him open, yet it brought no pain—only extreme comfort.
A tremendous amount of chakra erupted from Naraku. His eyes snapped open, flashing with excitement and exhilaration.
At the same time, his body suddenly felt incredibly comfortable—even euphoric, almost making him moan. It was as if every cell in his body had been activated, brimming with vitality and life force.
Simultaneously, Naraku's Sharingan activated automatically. The tomoe inside spun wildly until his right eye became three-tomoe and his left eye two-tomoe.
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