Chapter 57: Invincible Leap! The Powerhouse Descends!
Watching Shinnō gradually reveal his true nature as the villain mastermind, Tsukasa's heart sank.
As expected of a villain boss—truly ruthless!
Not only had he saved Tsukasa's life, but he'd also craftily forced the devastating technique Earth Release: Earth Spear into his arsenal. He'd even used such cunning words to explain the side effects and the way to counter the forbidden technique, Physical Regeneration.
And now, he was pointing at the cliff, challenging Tsukasa to go down there and test himself in actual combat!
Didn't he realize that the key to Uchiha-style Transcendent Shuriken Manipulation wasn't the shuriken themselves, but the wire control?
Wire manipulation combined with Earth Release: Earth Spear, his two-tomoe Sharingan, upgraded Combat Intuition, and the Earth Grudge Fear technique's infinite threading capability—
Entering a multiplayer battle with all these enhancements stacked—
Damn it, he was being forced to become ridiculously overpowered again!
Why was a young, innocent Genin being subjected to such overwhelming advantages?
Tsukasa's face darkened.
Meanwhile, Mei Terumi had already mentally traced her planned infiltration route and was ready to begin. Seeing Tsukasa's expression, she asked with concern,
"What's wrong, Tsukasa? Has your chakra not fully recovered yet?"
Tsukasa shook his head. "No, I'm in perfect condition!"
The forbidden technique Physical Regeneration continuously consumed his life force while active, but it also dramatically enhanced his physical capabilities. By now, his strength had completely recovered.
He turned to Mei Terumi and said, "Let's begin."
Mei Terumi wanted to ask more questions but didn't know how to start. Finally, her expression became serious as she solemnly reminded him,
"Remember, our real objective is to infiltrate the Jashin Cult's headquarters and rescue Hidan. There's no need to engage them head-on. We just need to draw their attention and create an opening in the wall defenses so I can sneak inside."
"Don't push yourself too hard!"
She recalled the several times Tsukasa had acted recklessly and impulsively. While the results had been acceptable, they were undeniably too dangerous.
It was like playing with fire.
"Don't worry, drawing attention is easy!" Tsukasa patted his chest and grinned.
"No one knows how to make a flashy entrance better than me!"
"Wait—" Both Mei Terumi and Shinnō were stunned. Just as they were about to ask if they'd misunderstood his intention,
Tsukasa turned his back, gave them a thumbs-up, and flashed a brilliant smile.
Then, with a sudden leap, he plunged straight down the four-hundred-meter cliff face before their astonished eyes!
Mei Terumi's pupils shrank as she shouted,
"You idiot! That's the wrong direction!"
On the fortress walls below,
Dozens of rogue ninja wearing tattered combat vests were divided into four teams, carrying kunai and katana, each led by a Genin from the Hot Water Village ninja corps.
Nearby, members of four other Jashin Cult search teams were expanding their search area from the rubble of the collapsed mountainside.
They lacked the sophisticated reconnaissance techniques of the great shinobi villages; their method was simple: tracking dogs.
Each team was assigned two dogs, mostly large hunting breeds, with two especially vicious combat dogs held in reserve.
One of these was held by Hideaki, the Chunin squad leader of the Jashin Cult forces assigned to this mission.
He held a kunai that had been melted, deformed, and then re-solidified. This was the team's only discovery beneath the fortress wall, and it must have belonged to someone involved in the fierce pre-dawn battle.
Hideaki crouched down, held the kunai to the dog's nose to let it catch the scent, and stroked its head. Then, in a cold voice, he commanded,
"Good boy. Now tell me—where is the owner of this kunai?"
Hideaki's eyes burned with obsessive fervor. If he could find the intruder, the bishop would generously reward him with one of the Jashin Cult's secret techniques.
And the value of a secret technique in the shinobi world, especially in a small nation like this, was something most ordinary ninja could never obtain in their entire lives.
Most who joined the Jashin Cult had spent their lives as bandits, mercenaries, and rogue ninja, struggling just to reach Chunin rank.
But if they seized this opportunity—
The combat dog sniffed the deformed kunai before its nose, its black nostrils twitching rapidly.
Suddenly,
Its eyes became fierce, and its head jerked from side to side. It straightened its body, the fur along its spine bristling. A low, rumbling growl emerged from its throat, like an engine revving.
It looked as though it was facing a mortal threat!
Seeing this reaction, Hideaki's right eyelid suddenly twitched, and his heart raced with a sense of foreboding.
The dog's behavior indicated it had found the enemy!
However,
Hideaki's eyes darted around as he immediately scanned his surroundings.
Nothing to the left, nothing to the right, and nothing could be approaching from below.
So—
Hideaki suddenly looked up and saw
A dark figure, accompanied by a howling gust of wind, leaping down from the four-hundred-meter cliff face with tremendous force!
A long crimson streak was drawn through the air!
"Everyone, battle stations!!!"
Hideaki's pupils constricted sharply. He immediately drew the ninja blade from his waist, pointed it toward the sky, and shouted in alarm,
"Enemy incoming from above!"
The fierce wind whipped through his hair as Tsukasa suddenly opened his eyes.
A pair of crimson Sharingan blazed to life, the two tomoe spinning rapidly within each eye, instantly locking onto the precise locations of all thirty-six enemies on the walls below.
Their postures, their alertness levels, their chakra reserves, their weapons, and their potential reactions—
All captured in his vision.
In a split second, he had formulated a complete battle plan.
Mei Terumi's alarmed shout echoed from behind him,
But it didn't matter!
Tsukasa hadn't fully committed to her conservative plan from the start.
If the goal was simply containment—running in circles and leading the enemy on a chase following Mei Terumi's mapped route—even a fresh Genin who could barely walk on water could accomplish that if they ran fast enough.
But that wasn't enough!
Tsukasa's goal was to storm the Jashin Cult's headquarters and confront its leader in a battle that would determine everything, staking it all on one decisive confrontation!
Rescuing his foolish brother Hidan was merely a secondary objective; his true goal was to fight with every ounce of strength he possessed, using every advantage at his disposal.
And these small fries before him weren't worth evading!
Tsukasa's lips curled into a fierce grin, his gaze fixed on the Jashin Cult member who'd first spotted him.
He reached for his last kunai from his ninja pouch, swung it sharply, and drove it deep into the fortress wall.
The released kunai pulled the Earth Grudge Fear wire thread tied to its ring, stretching it taut.
After descending close to the wall's edge,
Tsukasa gripped the wire with both hands, his foot slamming against the wall to arrest most of his downward momentum, then swung upward in a high arc.
Spinning through the air, he delivered a devastating spinning kick to the face of the Jashin Cult Chunin who was brandishing his ninja blade and roaring commands.
The taijutsu techniques he'd learned from Kakuzu were truly exceptional.
With one kick, he sent his opponent flying, head snapping back violently, leaving only the ninja blade falling uselessly through the air.
Tsukasa caught the ninja blade casually,
Gripped the handle and executed a flourishing sword spin, then held it before him for examination.
He was somewhat surprised, then flicked the blade with his fingers.
Ring~
The clear, resonant tone echoed, and Tsukasa's eyes lit up, revealing a carefree smile.
"Oh?"
"It's actually a quality blade. Not bad—it's mine now."
End of Chapter 57
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