Kaguya Nobunaga hurriedly turned his head to catch the enemy's trail, but only saw an afterimage that flashed by and vanished. Fortunately, his rich experience allowed him to judge where the enemy's next attack would come from based on this.
He spun his body, and his bone spurs once again blocked the incoming slash. This time, Kaguya Nobunaga caught a glimpse of Fūmori Masaki's appearance out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't expected the person who had almost knocked him down in one blow to be so young. Although he was shocked, his movements didn't stop; the bone spurs suddenly elongated, piercing Fūmori Masaki's arm before he could pull away.
Seeing this, Fūmori Masaki did not choose to pull away immediately, but instead raised his blade and thrust it toward Kaguya Nobunaga. Kaguya Nobunaga hurriedly dodged, but was still grazed, leaving a bloody gash. He didn't care, however, and laughed out loud.
"Idiot! I thought you would run after one strike, but you were planning this? Too naive."
While Kaguya Nobunaga was laughing, the bone spurs continued to elongate, instantly piercing Fūmori Masaki's body. But before Kaguya Nobunaga could rejoice for long, the Fūmori Masaki whose body had been pierced turned into a puff of smoke and vanished.
Kaguya Nobunaga was slightly stunned. It was actually a corporeal clone, and not a Water Clone that required nature transformation, but a pure Chakra clone. Did Konohagakure have such Ninjutsu?
After the clone disappeared, Kaguya Nobunaga saw several burning exploding tags behind the smoke. His pupils constricted slightly, and with a loud bang, his entire body was swallowed by the flames of the explosion.
Fūmori Masaki let out a soft breath. Watching Kaguya Nobunaga in the center of the explosion from behind a tree, he felt the timing was perfect. If the Shadow Clone had disappeared any later, he would have been caught in the blast radius as well, and he didn't want to taste the feeling of being scorched by flames. If it had disappeared any earlier, Kaguya Nobunaga would have noticed the exploding tags and left the blast range.
In Fūmori Masaki's initial estimation, as long as the exploding tags could cause Kaguya Nobunaga some trouble, it would be enough. But the result was that he had successfully drawn Kaguya Nobunaga into the explosion, which was truly beyond his expectations.
"However, Shikotsumyaku is truly impressive. An ordinary person who took the blast of those exploding tags would be dead or severely injured," Fūmori Masaki muttered to himself. In his perception, Kaguya Nobunaga's Chakra was still condensing, and its intensity didn't look like that of a severely injured person.
After the smoke from the exploding tags slowly dissipated, Kaguya Nobunaga stood there, covered in blood. There wasn't a single patch of intact skin on his body, and even his bone spurs had been shattered by the explosion.
At this moment, Fūmori Masaki saw the wounds on Kaguya Nobunaga's body and immediately understood how he had survived the explosion. It turned out that Kaguya Nobunaga had used Shikotsumyaku to form a new skeletal structure inside his body, protecting his internal organs and minimizing the damage from the explosion. If not for this, Kaguya Nobunaga would have been like any ordinary person, having already fallen in the explosion of the exploding tags.
Kaguya Nobunaga coughed heavily, his eyes bloodshot. Intense rage caused the killing intent deep within him to constantly swell. He abandoned all the broken bone spurs on his body, and new ones grew in their place. He shouted, "Brat! Get out here! Don't think you can just get away with this. I'll put the Hyuga Main Family aside for now and finish you off first!"
"Being able to avoid focusing on the other battlefield really helps a lot."
Fūmori Masaki thought to himself, and immediately condensed Senjutsu Chakra. The senmon slowly crawled up to his left cheek. It must be said that breaking through one's limits really can bring improvements. The Fūmori Masaki of the past could not have used this level of Sage power well, but after the battle with Ginkaku, he could already control it.
The moment Kaguya Nobunaga saw Fūmori Masaki appear, his eyes widened in excitement. He raised his hand and fired bone spurs; the speed was astonishing, and the power was immense, very much like the bullets from firearms Fūmori Masaki had seen in another world.
However, the ten bone spurs were swept to the ground by his blade in the blink of an eye. It was as if Fūmori Masaki knew in advance from which direction they would fly, positioning his blade in the corresponding spot so he could strike with the fastest speed.
Glancing at the deflected bone spurs, only five were completely severed, while the others were only partially cut. Fūmori Masaki felt this ninja blade was truly inadequate. If it had been his previous short blade, perhaps he could have severed the bone spurs from the very beginning and stabbed directly into Kaguya Nobunaga's neck.
Fūmori Masaki withdrew his gaze and stomped his foot hard on the ground. His figure suddenly accelerated, disappearing from Kaguya Nobunaga's line of sight. This time, Kaguya Nobunaga was completely serious, his body hurriedly turning in the direction he had predicted. Under normal circumstances, he should have been able to block the attack with his bone spurs—
But now, a mist of blood drifted from Kaguya Nobunaga's body. The opponent's attack had passed through the gaps between his bone spurs and slashed him.
Although Kaguya Nobunaga was like a hedgehog all over, the bone spurs protruded directly from his body, so it was impossible for him to be truly fully armored while still ensuring body movement. Previously, Fūmori Masaki's attack precision couldn't pass through the gaps before Kaguya Nobunaga's counterattack, but the current Fūmori Masaki could already bring his attack precision up to this standard.
But Kaguya Nobunaga was not without the power to resist. He had already used Shikotsumyaku to form a new skeletal structure inside his body, and even under his muscles, there was a layer of sturdy periosteum. If Fūmori Masaki wanted to maintain speed, coupled with the fact that the gaps between the bone spurs were not uniform, finding an opportunity for a one-hit kill was still very troublesome.
If there were any bystanders present at this time, they would see Kaguya Nobunaga shouting and spinning his body in place, while a blurred figure flashed back and forth around him like the wind. Gradually, wound after wound appeared on Kaguya Nobunaga's body, and blood rose like mist, permeating around him, refusing to dissipate.
Kaguya Nobunaga felt as if he were being sliced by a dull knife. The injuries across his body were not considered heavy, but the blood loss bit by bit still made his heart anxious.
At this moment, Kaguya Nobunaga suddenly saw a flash of light and involuntarily closed his eyes. After his vision plunged into darkness, he inwardly cried out "not good," and mobilized bone spurs all over his body to defend, forcing back Fūmori Masaki's attack.
Perhaps due to the fatigue brought on by the decline in physical strength, Kaguya Nobunaga's left foot involuntarily knelt on the ground. At first, he thought it was due to the impact of the force, but he discovered that his foot could not move. It was probably the numbness caused by the constant appearance of wounds, and only after a while did severe pain come from his foot.
Kaguya Nobunaga could not believe it. How could this foot of his suddenly be unable to exert any strength? He did not know that the structure of the human body is actually very complex. The leg that looks like it just moves when you want it to still has more delicate things supporting it to enable it to move.
Fūmori Masaki's attacks had been concentrated on his upper body, so Kaguya Nobunaga had subconsciously relaxed his protection of his lower body. Then, Kaguya Nobunaga closed his eyes due to the sudden flash. It was this very oversight that allowed Fūmori Masaki to find an opportunity to concentrate his strength and quickly sever the tendons of Kaguya Nobunaga's left leg, rendering Kaguya Nobunaga unable to move his left leg.
And at the very moment Kaguya Nobunaga lost his balance because his left leg lost strength, Fūmori Masaki quickly swung his ninja blade to attack his vital points. Although he didn't know how it happened, Kaguya Nobunaga managed to protect his vital points in time. Consequently, Fūmori Masaki turned to attack other locations, severing the tendons of Kaguya Nobunaga's right leg, causing both of Kaguya Nobunaga's legs to lose strength.
Kaguya Nobunaga knew it was bad. While using Shikotsumyaku to extend a large number of bone spurs from his upper body to protect his vital points, he didn't care whether his upper body could move anymore. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he unleashed Dance of the Seedling Fern, which he had not had the chance to use because he had been suppressed by speed all this time.
Seeing that there was no way to take Kaguya Nobunaga's life directly, Fūmori Masaki immediately departed from the ground. Subsequently, a large number of bone spurs extended from the ground. With no place to land, he jumped onto a tree. Seeing that the bone spurs were still elongating, he estimated that it wouldn't be long before they were as tall as the tree or even taller.
Kaguya Nobunaga stayed among a large pile of bone spurs, panting heavily, and stared intently at Fūmori Masaki. Although he didn't know the reason, his feet were unable to move, which must have something to do with Fūmori Masaki, but don't think that he had lost just because of this.
Fūmori Masaki knew that Shikotsumyaku could merge into these bone spurs of the Dance of the Seedling Fern. Even if Kaguya Nobunaga lost the ability to move his legs, if he were allowed to enter the bone spurs, he would still have the power to continue fighting.
"Seeing the battle go so smoothly, I thought I wouldn't need to use it, but it seems I still have to rely on it." Fūmori Masaki glanced at his ninja blade, sheathed it, and formed a seal with his hands.
Kaguya Nobunaga saw a light flicker between Fūmori Masaki's hands, exactly the same as that previous light. He secretly thought that it was indeed this brat who was behind it. Subsequently, he saw a disk-shaped object floating between Fūmori Masaki's hands.
"This is!"
Kaguya Nobunaga felt a strong sense of danger. He hurriedly accelerated his movements, about to merge into the bone spurs, but by this time, Fūmori Masaki had already thrown it, its speed far exceeding the bone spurs fired by Kaguya Nobunaga.
"Sage Art: Wind Release: Eight-Part Wind Wheel."
Fūmori Masaki spoke the name of this Ninjutsu, watching Kaguya Nobunaga's movements freeze in the distance. Immediately, a slanted wound appeared on Kaguya Nobunaga's body, which slowly slid down, and the bone "forest" behind him also slowly collapsed.