But instead of revealing everything at once...
Ethan chose to play it smart.
Defense first.
Trump card later.
"Magnet Release: Gold Dust."
At his command...
The surrounding sand surged upward.
Dozens of thick, rectangular shields...each two meters thick and three meters tall...formed instantly around him.
They began spinning at high speed, creating a rotating defensive barrier.
At the same time...
The sand beneath his feet compressed and lifted...
Raising him slowly into the air.
A Jonin with a rough, weathered face nodded in approval.
"Not bad."
"Using rotating sand shields as an automatic defense system...this setup could block most incoming attacks."
A younger chunin beside him added quickly.
"And his control speed has improved a lot."
"He gathered sand from dozens of meters around him and formed those shields in a single breath."
"That's at least three times faster than before."
"No wonder he's confident enough to take on Aoki."
Ethan hovered about ten meters above the ground.
His gaze remained fixed on the thinning smoke below.
Then...
Shhhhk! Shhhhk! Shhhhk!
Hundreds of spinning shuriken burst out of the smoke.
Their speed increased rapidly...
Until they blurred into afterimages...
Rushing straight toward the rotating shields.
Ethan frowned slightly.
A saturation attack.
Even with rotating defense...
Gaps were inevitable.
"Trying to overwhelm me with numbers?"
He smirked faintly.
A veteran like Aoki wouldn't rely on luck alone.
"Fine."
"Let's see what you're really planning."
With a thought...
The spinning shields suddenly stopped.
Then...
Crash!
They fused together into a single massive barrier.
The incoming shuriken slammed into it...
Clang! Clang!
Each blade embedded halfway into the dense sand...
Then stopped completely.
Suddenly...
BOOM!
One of the uppermost shuriken exploded into smoke.
In an instant...
They transformed.
Six humanoid puppets emerged...
Dark, mechanical, and armed.
They vaulted over the barrier...
Closing in on Ethan from above.
Ethan didn't flinch.
His fingers moved slightly...
The surrounding sand surged forward at even greater speed.
Within seconds...
All six puppets were wrapped in dense sand cocoons.
At first...
Sounds of struggle echoed from within.
Then...
Silence.
BOOM!
The cocoons suddenly cracked.
Ethan's eyes narrowed.
Before he could react...
Another puppet shot up from below...
Blasting out of the ground toward him.
His brow furrowed.
"Seven?"
"The intel said six."
Even as the thought crossed his mind...
His reaction didn't slow.
A portion of the sand barrier broke away...
Intercepting the incoming puppet.
At the same time...
Sand from a 400-meter radius surged upward...
Chasing it.
The ground itself collapsed inward...
Sinking several meters...
Before being filled again by shifting sand.
From the ridge above...
A chunin couldn't hold back his shock.
"That's impossible…"
"How does he have that much chakra?!"
"And he's controlling that much sand at once?!"
Another shinobi added grimly.
"Six months ago, he could barely handle a thousand tons within a 200-meter range."
"This… is at least five or six times that."
A female Jonin watched with shining eyes.
"Even the Third Kazekage, at his peak, could only control tens of thousands of tons across a kilometer."
"And Ethan..."
"He's doing this effortlessly."
"If he went all out…"
"He could probably double that."
The crowd shifted.
Aoki's seventh puppet...
Was no longer the focus.
Everyone's attention...
Locked onto Ethan.
The attacking puppet was trapped...
Crushed from both sides by sand.
But just before it was completely immobilized...
Poof!
It vanished into smoke...
Replaced instantly...
By a storm of fine, needle-like projectiles.
Thousands of them.
And behind them...
Another puppet.
Launching kunai in rapid succession.
The air screamed...
Needles and blades tore toward Ethan.
Now...
The crowd snapped back to reality.
Aoki's skill...
Was undeniable.
Seven puppets at once.
Multi-directional attacks.
No visible main body.
And even substitution techniques are built into the puppets.
This level of puppet mastery...
Was second only to Chiyo herself.
The incoming kunai suddenly released clouds of black mist.
Poison.
Ethan narrowed his eyes...
Then relaxed.
This wasn't a friendly spar.
Both of them knew that.
Poison was fair game.
He turned his head slightly...
Toward a distant ridge.
Masami.
Her fist was clenched.
Her other hand was already raised...
Ready to give the order.
She had held back...
Again and again.
But now...
She couldn't take it anymore.
Just as she was about to signal...
Ethan shook his head.
Very slightly.
Masami froze.
Her teeth clenched.
Veins rose faintly at her temple.
But slowly...
She lowered her hand.
Canceled the command.
Ethan exhaled quietly.
Then, they turned back to the battlefield.
Poison mist.
Hidden weapons.
Possible real body.
Aoki was playing a layered game.
"Let's clear the board."
All remaining sand...
Except what held the captured puppets...
Collapsed into fine grains.
Then surged forward...
A massive sand wave...
Over thirty meters wide...
Crashing into the poison cloud.
The wind was generated...
Blew everything apart.
Mist.
Needles.
Kunai.
All swallowed.
Silence returned.
Ethan hovered...
Scanning.
"Not there?"
Then...
"HAHAHA!"
Aoki's laughter exploded from within the sand itself.
"You're stronger than I expected!"
"But experience still wins!"
Suddenly...
A figure burst out from the sand...
Surrounded by rippling chakra.
He stomped...
The ground cratered instantly.
Then...
He launched forward...
A blur.
Twin spinning shuriken in both hands...
Aimed straight for Ethan's neck.
"Wind Release armor?"
Ethan recognized it instantly...
And in the next moment...
Aoki was already in front of him.
"Heh! Didn't expect me to hide inside your own sand, did you?!"
"And survive it!"
"And still have enough chakra left to finish you!"
On the ridge...
Masami, Pakura, Karura...
All surged forward...
Then stopped.
.
.
.
Aoki's triumphant expression...
Froze.
Then shattered.
Replaced by raw fear.
He stared at his own hands...
The spinning shuriken...
Had stopped.
Completely.
"I...what…?!"
"Why can't I move?!"
Ethan blinked calmly.
Behind him...
The sand cocoons dissolved.
Aoki's eyes lit up...
Then...
Horror.
He couldn't control them.
At all.
Before he could react...
The sand surged again...
Wrapping around his entire body...
Locking him in place.
On the ridge...
Silence.
Then...
A storm of emotion.
Awe.
Jealousy.
Admiration.
Fear.
Obsession.
But one truth...
Was undeniable.
Ethan...
Had defeated Aoki...
Effortlessly.
He raised his hand.
The puppets floated...
Moving behind him...
Like obedient soldiers.
Aoki's voice trembled.
"That's impossible…"
"You're not even a puppet master…"
Ethan winced slightly at the shrill tone.
"…you really lost it, huh."
Around them...
More spectators moved closer...
Victory is already decided.
Ethan looked at Aoki calmly.
"You were wondering…"
"Why couldn't you move your hands earlier?"
He lifted a finger slightly.
"And that's where it all ends."
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~Support with 200 PowerStones = 1 Bonus Chapter
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