At this moment, Asuna, Maki, and Yamanaka Risa were positioned in the second line.
Since they suspected the enemy's target was the two of them, the other Leaf ninjas naturally had an obligation to protect them.
Moreover, after the initial battle, Asuna and Maki had both consumed a significant amount of chakra.
Although they had Chakra Cultivation Technique and chakra storage blocks, they couldn't fight continuously.
It was very necessary to rotate with their well-rested teammates in the back.
In fact, the opposing Stone ninjas also needed to rotate their positions.
It was precisely because of this that the Leaf's First Ninja Squad was able to hold on and even push forward, relying on their superior endurance compared to the enemy.
However, due to the enemy's numerical superiority, they had fallen into a stalemate.
Asuna was currently using chakra storage blocks to recover her stamina.
In a wilderness battlefield like this, the number of chakra storage blocks one could carry was limited, so deciding when to use them was something that required careful calculation.
Suddenly, she heard a scream and turned to see a Leaf ninja being sent flying, the attacker being a robust Stone ninja with skin darker than average, like bricks.
Due to this person's sudden burst, he managed to tear a gap in the Leaf's First Ninja Squad's defense line.
At this moment, over a dozen Stone ninjas appeared from behind him, quickly launching an attack and immediately suppressing the nearby Leaf ninjas.
As that Stone ninja approached, the gap in the defense line grew larger, and his gaze was coldly fixed on Asuna not far away.
After the Leaf ninjas outside the defense line were suppressed by other Stone ninjas, those inside were mostly Leaf ninjas who had over-exerted their stamina and couldn't use many ninjutsu, mainly relying on throwing kunai.
However, to the surprise of the Leaf ninjas, the sharp kunai that struck the Stone ninja were directly deflected, leaving only faint scratches on the surface of his skin, as if it wasn't human flesh at all, but rather made of incredibly sturdy rock.
—What was that ninjutsu?
Asuna saw the opponent's performance, and her mind quickly recalled what Hatake Sakumo had told her in the past about going to the Land of Demons with her father for a mission.
In that country, Hatake Sakumo and others, who were younger at the time, encountered a very powerful enemy named Kakuzu.
Kakuzu used the cruel secret technique of Earth Grudge Fear from the Warring States period to form five chakra meridians within his body.
Not only could he use five types of chakra nature transformations, but he also had to have his heart destroyed five times consecutively to be killed.
Even when Kakuzu was young, he was able to assassinate the First Hokage and return alive.
After gaining the five chakra meridians, his strength became incredibly powerful.
However, even such a powerful Kakuzu was defeated by Asuna's father, Kazemori Masaki.
After his body was brought back to the medical department, the medical department recovered the forbidden jutsu of Earth Grudge Fear from his corpse and improved it, making it the Chakra Cultivation Technique that every Leaf ninja now uses.
The reason this person was mentioned was that when Hatake Sakumo recounted his battle experiences, he said that Kakuzu had a secret technique that could harden his entire body.
Aside from Lightning Release ninjutsu, other elemental ninjutsu could hardly pose a threat, unless they were powerful ninjutsu of the 'ultimate' level.
Of course, the best choice was still Lightning Release.
Asuna remembered the name of that ninjutsu was Earth Release: Earth Spear.
If practiced to a deep level, it would become an invincible defense against everything except lightning-style attacks.
And the performance of this Stone ninja in front of her was undoubtedly exactly like the ninjutsu in the rumors.
Under Asuna's somewhat surprised gaze, the opponent leaped up and pounced towards her.
Asuna was only startled for a moment, then immediately reacted, leaping to the side.
The latter then crashed to the ground, creating a deep crater.
If it had landed on Asuna, it wouldn't have been just a broken bone.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball!"
Maki, who had recovered, exhaled a massive fireball from her mouth, engulfing the Stone ninja.
However, under the effect of Earth Release: Earth Spear, the Stone ninja actually endured the scorching of the Great Fireball, emerging completely red.
He lunged at Asuna's neck with one hand, his actions showing no intention of taking her alive.
Asuna's pupils constricted slightly, unable to determine if the leader of Squad Two had guessed wrong, or if there was another reason.
In any case, this Stone ninja was coming at her with the intention to kill.
If the opponent had intended to capture her alive, they would not have attacked with full force, which would have been a weakness, but this optimistic idea no longer existed.
Asuna fully injected wind-style chakra into her blade.
She could almost hear the wind-style chakra in turn beginning to cut the metal itself.
With a loud shout, she thrust towards the Stone ninja in front of her, feeling as if she were piercing a solid rock wall, and without that easy feeling.
Great pressure came from her wrist—
With a soft clang, the ninja blade suddenly broke into two pieces, and the flying broken blade unfortunately struck a Leaf ninja.
Asuna, at this moment, couldn't even apologize to her comrade.
She quickly bent down, rolled on the ground, narrowly avoiding the opponent's grab, and flashed to the side.
"Lightning Release, does anyone know Lightning Release!"
Asuna shouted loudly, clutching the broken blade, her eyes fixed on the Stone ninja in front of her.
No one responded, and everyone's expressions were a bit awkward.
Because Lightning Release users were the best choice against Stone ninjas, those who could use Lightning Release had already moved to the front.
Either they were fighting the enemy, or they didn't have enough chakra to use Lightning Release again.
The Stone ninja also seemed to realize that there were no Lightning Release users posing the greatest threat to him at the moment.
A cold smile appeared on his face, and he formed hand seals.
A mud dragon bullet swiftly leaped from the ground, pouncing towards Asuna.
Mid-flight, countless lacerations appeared on the surface of the mud dragon bullet, followed by a rapidly licking flame that scorched it to ashes and then transformed into the shape of a dragon, striking towards the Stone ninja.
Maki retracted the steel wire that conducted the Fire Release and flashed to Asuna's side.
The other Leaf ninjas wanted to help, but the Stone ninja immediately used Earth-Style Wall, raising a large rock wall from the side to block everyone.
Although it could only obstruct them for a moment, it was enough for him.
The Stone ninja charged forward again.
Maki threw a large number of kunai, which collided with each other and struck the Stone ninja from different angles, but all were deflected.
The two immediately left their original position, and the Stone ninja's fist then smashed into where they had stood, creating a deep crater in the ground.
"This guy, does he have no blind spots at all?"
Maki, still in mid-air, looked back and couldn't help but grit her teeth.
"Then we can only break through by force."
Asuna tightly clutched the chakra storage block in her hand.
She formed a single hand seal, drawing out the chakra within.
She only extracted a certain amount of chakra before discarding the chakra storage block, raising her broken blade again, and taking a deep breath.
A tattoo-like pattern, shaped like a flower, slowly crept up her neck, and at the same time, Asuna's aura began to diminish.
Asuna, who needed to move quickly, had fully unleashed the chakra within her body, but now that active chakra slowly disappeared.
It should be said that it didn't disappear, but rather became internalized.
This unusual state immediately caught the Stone ninja's attention.
As soon as his gaze shifted to Asuna, he saw her vanish from his sight, and his heart instantly tensed.
Normally, such high-speed movement requires high-level Body Flicker Technique or a ninja highly skilled in taijutsu.
But even the latter would generate strong gusts of wind when moving.
Even if one couldn't clearly see the opponent's figure or keep up with their movements, they could at least roughly determine their direction, even if the opponent moved to another place in just a blink of an eye.
However, Asuna's movements were completely different.
The Stone ninja didn't feel any fluctuations significant enough to draw attention; the opponent seemed to have suddenly vanished.
In his impression, only the legendary Space-Time Ninjutsu could cause such a phenomenon.
If it really was Space-Time Ninjutsu, where had the opponent disappeared to?
Just as the Stone ninja felt confused, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure appearing beside him.
As he turned his head, a powerful force instantly struck his waist.
He widened his eyes slightly, looked down, and saw the short blade piercing his waist.
And it hadn't broken like before, but was slowly penetrating, with blood seeping out for the first time.
The Stone ninja swiftly threw a punch, but the opponent merely shifted her body slightly, dodging his fist.
Then she released the hilt of the blade and forcefully punched it, and with the immense pressure from behind, the broken blade instantly plunged deep into his waist.
The Stone ninja felt a sharp pain, and his vision suddenly went black.
He couldn't understand how the opponent could suddenly break through his diligently trained Earth Release: Earth Spear, and he didn't know why her strength had suddenly increased to a level almost comparable to his own.
Because of this impact, the Stone ninja couldn't help but take a few steps back.
Asuna pulled hard, and the broken blade flew directly out of the Stone ninja's waist, with a wire attached to its end.
The surface of the broken blade was imbued with powerful wind-style chakra, and as it pierced his waist, it severely damaged the Stone ninja's internal organs.
"Maki!"
Asuna retreated, flicking her hand sharply, and a steel wire sailed through the air.
As she moved, the Stone ninja felt a tearing pain in his internal organs.
Seeing this, Maki immediately understood, formed hand seals, and used Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique.
A ball of flame rapidly traveled along the steel wire, entering the Stone ninja's wound.
The Stone ninja felt as if his internal organs had completely vanished.
His mouth involuntarily opened, and flames erupted from it, as well as from his eyes and ears.
His scream had barely begun before it abruptly ceased, and his entire body became a man of fire.
After a while, the Stone ninja fell to the ground, utterly lifeless.
He died almost instantly, but in his dying moments, his hand instinctively reached out towards Asuna and Maki.
From beginning to end, no one knew why he had relentlessly pursued the two, and he would never speak the reason himself.
Looking at the deceased Stone ninja, Asuna and Maki felt a wave of discomfort.
The reason they adopted this combat method was Asuna's consideration that no matter how tough the exterior might be, internal organs are relatively fragile.
The Gentle Fist of the Hyuga clan emphasizes precisely this point.
Therefore, Asuna chose to open a hole in the Stone ninja's body and then have Maki use Fire Release, utilizing the steel wire to conduct it into the opponent's body, burning him from the inside.
To temporarily break through the Stone ninja's Earth Release: Earth Spear, Asuna took out her pre-prepared chakra storage block.
This block contained the Sage Mode chakra she had previously condensed and preserved, its purpose being for use at critical moments and to save the time required to maintain 'stillness' and absorb natural energy.
The execution of the tactic was flawless, and the enemy did indeed fall before them.
When devising the combat plan, Asuna and Maki could feel that the death would be gruesome, but no matter how much they imagined it, witnessing the horrific sight of the opponent dying from internal combustion still gave them a shocking feeling.
The air was filled with the smell of charring.
The Stone ninja lying on the ground had his head turned, staring at Asuna and Maki.
His hollow eyes were pitch black, his mouth slightly agape, equally hollow and dark.
The surface of his body also looked terrifying, making the two feel a sense of unease.
The appearance of enemies killed by Fire Release was truly gruesome, far exceeding that of enemies killed by blades or kunai on the battlefield in the Land of Rain.
At this moment, the surrounding rock walls collapsed, and the Leaf ninjas who rushed to help saw the horribly deceased Stone ninja.
They were all very surprised, but then came a wave of relief, as this person's performance had been very fierce.
"Captain Hatake is back," a nearby Leaf ninja said to the two.
Asuna and Maki paused slightly, then they saw the figures of Hatake Sakumo and Yamanaka Risa.
At this point, the sounds of battle in the vicinity temporarily ceased, with only continuous explosions roaring.
It seemed that the Stone ninja squad had also temporarily stopped attacking to recover their stamina.
Hatake Sakumo's expression was a little tense, but seeing that the two were fine, his expression visibly relaxed.
Upon seeing the corpse on the ground, he was also momentarily stunned.
A corpse burned to death from the inside was indeed very rare; very few Fire Release ninjas would adopt such a method.
Such a corpse was somewhat unbearable to look at.
Hatake Sakumo knew that the two girls were not cruel people.
This appearance could only be due to the opponent's abilities.
Sure enough, Hatake Sakumo immediately learned from those nearby that this person had used the ninjutsu that Kakuzu had once employed.
"You've worked hard."
Hatake Sakumo could imagine the dangers involved.
After comforting the two girls, he gave several commands in succession to stabilize the defense line and reorganize the team.
He also needed to recover some chakra now, as another fierce battle awaited them.