"Asuma, Kurenai... she's very... delectable..."
Uchiha Nagi didn't forget to wipe the corner of his mouth with his finger—the saliva was Kurenai's...
The provocation sent Asuma into a blind rage, his lungs feeling like they were about to explode. His eyes turned bloodshot as he drew his chakra-infused trench knives and charged forward like a maddened tiger.
Anko, seeing this from behind, immediately grew anxious. She knew Uchiha Nagi was a master of swordsmanship, a taijutsu expert. A ninja should always play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses. She hastily shouted from behind:
"Asuma! He's a master swordsman! Don't engage in close combat!"
But it was too late. Asuma had already attacked with his trench knives. An inch longer is an inch stronger, an inch shorter is an inch more dangerous. So, was Asuma also a taijutsu specialist?
Flash Cross Slash—
Uchiha Nagi drew his Nichirin Blade, using a Water Breathing form to block Asuma's thrust. Then, a chakra blade suddenly extended from the hilt of Asuma's knife, nearly grazing his head. But Nagi was prepared. What looked like a close call was actually an effortless dodge, with only a few strands of his hair being cut.
"Tsk, tsk. A weapon made entirely of chakra metal. What a rich boy," Uchiha Nagi remarked.
Asuma was a tricky one. Relying on his status as the Hokage's son, he was wealthy enough to have trench knives made almost entirely of chakra metal. This meant his blades could be extended with his own chakra.
Kisame would later fall for this same trick. If he hadn't reacted quickly, it wouldn't have just been a slash across his face; his entire head would have been lopped off.
But how could Kisame, a master swordsman himself, not know about chakra metal? There was only one reason: an ordinary person's sword would only contain a small amount of chakra metal, unlike the extravagant Asuma.
Because chakra metal was expensive. Exceptionally expensive.
Moreover, making a weapon entirely out of chakra metal wasn't necessarily a good thing. The metal, much like gold, was an excellent conductor but was also relatively soft. For Asuma's weapons to be made of eighty percent chakra metal, they must have been forged by a master smith.
Though Asuma appeared enraged, his combat instincts remained sharp. Without using his own trump cards, it wouldn't be so easy for Nagi to take down a jonin.
Wolf Chakra Consecutive Slashes—
The blades on Asuma's knives suddenly elongated, and he launched a rapid, ferocious assault, forcing Uchiha Nagi to take a few steps back.
"Anko!" Asuma suddenly shouted.
Anko Mitarashi instantly understood. Asuma's seemingly irrational choice to engage in close combat, playing to his opponent's strength, was actually a ploy to create an opportunity. By forcing Nagi back, he was giving Anko a chance to rescue Kurenai.
"Got it!"
Anko quickly leaped to Kurenai's side, scooped up her limp body, and jumped away.
"Kurenai-nee, are you alright?" Anko asked with concern.
"I'm fine. He used a sealing jutsu to seal my chakra, so I can't muster any strength. Don't worry about me, go help Asuma." A blush still lingered on Kurenai's face. While it was true she was weak, part of it was due to the kiss from moments before...
"Okay, then be careful." Anko thought for a moment and created a shadow clone to guard Kurenai. She didn't know fuinjutsu and couldn't break the seal.
At this moment, trying to escape while carrying Kurenai would be extremely dangerous. If she left Asuma to fight alone and he died, they wouldn't be able to defeat the enemy when he inevitably caught up to them. The best course of action was to make it a two-on-one fight.
"Asuma! Multiple Striking Shadow Snakes—" Anko shouted as she leaped into the air, before she had even landed.
The first part was to let Asuma know she was coming to help. The second was to tell him what jutsu she was using.
Asuma understood instantly. After a few quick slashes, he dodged Anko's ninjutsu, and a dense swarm of snakes flew toward Uchiha Nagi.
A perfect chance—
Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning! A massive cloud of ash erupted from Asuma's mouth, half-submerging the entire forest.
It was clear Asuma was genuinely furious. He had poured the maximum amount of chakra into this technique, unleashing it at full power.
With a sharp click of Asuma's teeth, the cloud of ash, which had been like a thick smog just a moment ago, ignited from a single spark, burning like a gas leak.
This ninjutsu spewed ash, not flames. Similar to Gamabunta's toad oil, it could burn in the air for a period of time, making it one of the more useful Fire Style techniques.
"Is he dead?" Anko asked, landing beside Asuma.
"Probably not. Be careful—" Asuma had just started to speak when he felt the ground tremble. A tidal wave of a jutsu came roaring toward them.
A vast amount of water vapor condensed, and even before it took shape, they could feel it was a large-scale Water Style ninjutsu.
"Water Style: Exploding Water Colliding Wave—"
This was Kisame's favorite jutsu, often jokingly called a "map-wiper." In reality, that's what it was. It could alter the terrain. An A-rank Water Style ninjutsu, when used in a place with abundant moisture like the Land of Fire, was indescribably powerful.
Asuma's fire jutsu was instantly extinguished by the flood, which transformed the area into a vast ocean.
Anko's shadow clone held onto Kurenai, leaping rapidly through the trees. The floodwaters were ferocious, uprooting even century-old trees.
Carrying a dense mixture of rocks, mud, and trees, it became a devastating tsunami.
Asuma and Anko, being at the forefront, were the unluckiest. They were tossed about by the tsunami-like flood, completely disoriented. Fortunately, as ninja, they could walk on water. They finally found an opportunity to leap out of the water and land on a relatively tall tree.
Uchiha Nagi stood on the surface of the water and mused, It's good to have a lot of mana. With a lot of mana, you can be willful. No wonder Kisame always started his fights by wiping the map. It was so different from Itachi, who always used shuriken or genjutsu. His strength was undeniable, but he lacked a certain flair.
He chuckled as he looked at the few large trees that had survived the tsunami in the distance, now crowded with people.
The two Anbu teams sent by the Third Hokage had just been secretly planning their tactics, intending to use something like the Shadow Imitation Technique or the Mind Transfer Jutsu for a one-hit kill. They never expected their opponent to be so unsportsmanlike and just use an ultimate move right off the bat.
A single map-wiping jutsu, and the entire forest was gone, replaced by a vast lake. Hidden in the trees, they were forced out into the open, right in front of Uchiha Nagi.
"Hmph. A bunch of pebbles," Uchiha Nagi scoffed. When I get back and study that White Zetsu I caught, my chakra reserves will multiply several times over. Then I'll hit them with an Ocean Release. I won't even bother with Water Style anymore.
It was just like when Madara made his entrance. A B-rank jutsu, backed by his massive chakra reserves, had the power of an S-rank Fire Style jutsu. A hundred Water Style users had barely been able to block it.
"Huh? Reinforcements! Did the old man send you?" Asuma was overjoyed. With so many ninja supporting them, he immediately felt much more secure.
A ninja squad of nearly twenty people had come to the rescue. This should have been a huge advantage. Unfortunately, they didn't know that once an opponent crossed into the Kage-level, numbers became meaningless.
It was just like with Minato Namikaze, who could wipe out dozens of ninja on a battlefield with a single Flying Thunder God.
A person wearing a cat mask, looking at the now-calm floodwaters, leaped onto the surface of the water.
"We've been exposed. Everyone, prepare for a frontal assault."
"Sir!" +9
"Sir!" +10
Uchiha Nagi looked at this group of the Third Hokage's lapdogs and felt an overwhelming sense of disgust, an indescribable hatred welling up from the bottom of his heart.
The Anbu were like an army; all that was required was to unconditionally obey the Hokage, just like Root. But the more it was like this, the more he loathed the Third Hokage.
"A bunch of pebbles, and you want to dance?"
Uchiha Nagi let out a savage grin. He threw a few kunai, and then his hands began to fly through a series of seals.
Multiple Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!
"Watch out! The enemy is attacking!" The Anbu squad leader hadn't even finished his sentence when he saw an unbelievable sight.
A few kunai instantly multiplied into hundreds, then the hundreds into thousands, then tens of thousands. It instantly became a metal storm, hurtling toward them.
This was the Shuriken Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu that Minato had used in the Lost Tower. It was hard to say whether he had surpassed his predecessors or if the Third Hokage was just too weak. His shuriken clone jutsu was a gatling-gun-like tempest that could even shatter giant puppets. The Third's version, on the other hand...
"Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!"
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
Several Anbu ninja quickly cast defensive jutsu, trying to block the attack. However, it was useless. The dense metal storm quickly tore through their defenses. Against a storm of this magnitude, even the Body Flicker Technique was useless for escape.
"Argh..." A series of screams rang out, cut short as they were turned into minced meat.
"Aaargh..."
The Anbu squads—annihilated.