"I told you—I've gotten stronger!" shouted Nawaki as he burst from underground again.
After landing, Shen calmly dusted off the dirt from his Uchiha coat where Nawaki had struck him. "You're still far from it," Shen replied.
Although Nawaki appeared to have been knocked away by a rising knee strike, he quickly used Substitution Jutsu midair and then used Earth Release to burrow underground and launch another surprise attack.
Though Shen appeared calm, he had actually been slightly rattled just now—he hadn't even activated his Sharingan yet.
"Damn it!" Nawaki silently cursed while analyzing the situation. "That guy is really fast. Close combat isn't in my favor. My chakra natures are Water and Earth, so…" Resolving to engage in a battle of jutsu, he immediately began forming hand seals.
[Water Release: Water Chain Bullet!]
Shen wasn't surprised at all that Nawaki could use this unique water technique originally developed by the Second Hokage. Besides, calling this move "chain bullet" was a stretch since it only fired two or three shots at most. He decided to counter with Fire Release.
[Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!]
"Hiss!"
The collision between the fireball and the water bullets created an intense sound, but within less than a second, the water bullets were burned away entirely by the blazing fireball. Mist filled the air.
After completing the jutsu, Shen backed off to avoid further engagement under unfavorable conditions—he definitely wouldn't fight in a way that disadvantaged him.
"This time, from above?"
Nawaki's right fist came down vertically toward him. Seeing this, Shen raised his hand and formed a protective earth-based rock layer on his arm for defense.
[Nawaki's Mightiest Punch!]
Hearing the ridiculous name of this technique caused Shen's eye to twitch slightly. Then, a powerful force coursed through his arm.
"Uchiha Shen! This victory is mine!"
As the punch made contact, Nawaki released all his chakra. This was superhuman strength capable of crushing rocks with a single hit—and now, he was using every ounce of his chakra.
"Boom!"
With a deafening explosion, the rocky armor on Shen's arm shattered into pieces. The impact alone—even with his earth-natured cellular resistance—was painful enough to make him feel actual pain.
"It's not over yet!"
Roaring loudly, Nawaki drew back his right fist and prepared to throw another powerful punch.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Struck three consecutive times, Shen gritted his teeth tightly and raised his other hand, gripping Nawaki's fist firmly.
"This hurts quite a bit… Looks like I need to get serious now!"
Under the red-eyed stare of Shen, Nawaki instantly felt a chill run down his spine—an unsettlingly familiar sensation. But he had been expecting it.
[Kai!] (Release!)
Immediately after dispelling the genjutsu, Nawaki found himself face-to-face with the enemy forming seals using his own right hand as support.
Watching this familiar scene unfold, Nayou couldn't help the slight twitch at the corner of her mouth. She had faced this exact same trick before—but later on, she still hadn't managed to find a solution against it.
[Fire Release: Multiple Great Fireball Jutsu!]
Several miniature great fireballs shot out from Shen's mouth and immediately started expanding rapidly. Fire techniques were just overpowered—so long as there was enough chakra, even a C-rank jutsu could match the power of an S-rank one.
Nawaki was genuinely panicked. If not for that brief moment of daze from the genjutsu earlier, his fist would have already pulled away by itself. Looking at the approaching fireballs, he felt a surge of helplessness.
"No! I won't lose easily! It's just a few Great Fireballs after all!" He raised his left hand to intercept several incoming Great Fireballs, then yanked his right arm free with all his strength.
"???"
Shen hadn't expected his opponent to be this tough. Blocking attacks at such close range and still having the strength to break free from a locked fist — impressive. But with Sharingan already activated, there was no way he'd hold back. After quickly forming hand seals, lightning gathered in his left palm accompanied by a chirping sound.
"Chidori!"
"Nawaki's Mightiest Punch!"
"Hmph!"
With a massive BOOM, cracks appeared on the ground beneath them as both fighters were blasted backward by the shockwave.
Shen converted his chakra to Wind Nature Chakra Mode midair, landing steadily on the ground. He could feel the numbness in his left hand wasn't from the Chidori.
On the other side, Nawaki knelt halfway down nearby, feeling electricity from the Chidori continuing to erode his insides.
"My left arm is completely useless from blocking that fire technique earlier, and my right is still numb. Looks like I'm going to lose this one?"
Weighing the damage dealt, Nawaki realized both his arms were now out of commission while his opponent had only burned some chakra. Still, he chose to keep fighting.
"This guy's body really is tough — Chidori barely got through the outer layer!" Shen shook his left hand while inwardly exclaiming, "Better finish this quickly. I've overacted too much. Time to end this with *that* technique!"
Shen's chakra transformed into Lightning Nature. In Nawaki's astonished gaze, his figure flashed as white lightning disappeared.
[Uchiha Taijutsu: Gale Strike Combo!]
A thunder-like voice echoed in Nawaki's ears. As soon as he prepared himself, he was sent flying into the air. Reflected in his eyes was only fleeting lightning. Each time it flashed, he could feel electric currents rampaging through the impacted areas.
"This... This must be modified from the Sixty-Four Palms?!" Nearby observer Nayou was shocked by Shen's relentless assault.
Though named 'Gale' Strike Combo, this technique actually used Lightning Nature Chakra Release. True to its name, it involved sending enemies airborne then rapidly attacking them. Given the numbing effect from Lightning Nature, it had somewhat similar functions to the Hyuga Clan's Eight Trigrams (Pa-Kua) Palm Technique. However, without Byakugan, he could only target meridians — the energy pathways in the body.
In less than ten seconds, Shen had attacked Nawaki dozens of times. Observing the latter's extraordinary durability, Shen mused inwardly, "How strong is this guy's constitution? How many explosive tags would it take to kill him? Maybe Konan-rich-lady did something special? Either way, it ends here!"
Delivering the final punch and completing the electric onslaught, Shen landed steadily on the ground. Satisfied with the electric aftermath, he stopped precisely after sixty-four strikes. The earlier attack looked brutal, but it was carefully controlled — delivered exactly to the limit of his opponent's endurance.
With a loud thud, Nawaki crashed down from the sky.
"Come on, Nayou, let's go to school."
"Huh? Oh."
Nayou was taken aback by Shen's nonchalant demeanor. Is it really okay for the Senju heir to just lie there like that?
"Hurry up. With such a big commotion, someone will come soon."
Little Iceberg's face flushed slightly as her hand was pulled. She didn't even try to resist, simply letting him drag her toward the school.
Meide Hyuga arrived quickly upon hearing the noise. Unfortunately, more than five minutes had already passed since Shen and Nawaki collided. All he could see now was the Senju heir lying on the ground in tattered clothes, his body twitching occasionally like he'd been electrocuted.
"What exactly happened here?" The Third Hokage arrived with a group of Anbu members.
Looking at the scene before him, Meide felt completely bewildered. He opened his mouth several times to say "It wasn't me!" but couldn't bring himself to speak the words.
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