Five... Hyūga Shin felt an ominous premonition in his heart.
The rogue ninja Sarutobi Kanenosuke's strongest ability was the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack performed by his main body and four shadow clones...
The four shadow clones kicked the four Shimura clan ninja away, while Yōkō's main body leaped high into the air.
"Prepare to die, Daimyō!"
Seeing Sarutobi Kanenosuke about to attack the Land of Grass Daimyō, Hyūga Shin quickly shouted: "Quick, take the Daimyō away!"
Hyūga Shin couldn't spare the effort to observe Sarutobi Kanenosuke; protecting the Daimyō was crucial.
Two Guardian Ninja hurried into the house-on-wheels and lifted the obese Daimyō.
Two other Guardian Ninja smashed through the wall panels of the house-on-wheels.
Another two Guardian Ninja positioned themselves behind the Daimyō.
These six Guardian Ninja moved skillfully, following the contingency plan as they fled into the distance with the Daimyō.
Hyūga Shin, meanwhile, leaped into the air and faced the oncoming Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique with Rotation.
The crimson flames were blocked by the rapidly spinning blue chakra.
In the center of the Rotation, the rapidly spinning Hyūga Shin saw deadly mixed blue and red light everywhere around him.
Blue from the Rotation, red from the Dragon Fire Technique.
If he were weaker, this fire release could have killed him.
Fortunately, the Rotation blocked the fire release.
Since Sarutobi Kanenosuke was from the Sarutobi clan and specialized in fire release, Hyūga Shin had thought he would surely die in the fire release.
Hyūga Shin panted heavily from overextracting chakra.
So this was the pressure from Sarutobi Kanenosuke... Sarutobi Kanenosuke was a fearsome rogue ninja seen once in a decade.
Sarutobi Kanenosuke had stolen and learned the Third Hokage's strongest Five Elements Unrivalled Attack and had killed half the Root ninja right in front of Advisor Danzo.
Hyūga Shin saw Sarutobi Kanenosuke jump into the distance, positioning himself between Hyūga Shin and the four Shimura Guardian Ninja.
The four Shimura Guardian Ninja had been kicked dozens of meters away, landing on the ground disoriented.
One of them couldn't get up anymore.
Hyūga Shin inwardly complained, why was that Shimura ninja so weak? What kind of subpar individuals had the Shimura clan sent?
They weren't proper Jonin, nor proper Special Jonin.
Hyūga Shin turned his head and saw the six Guardian Ninja leaving with the Daimyō, feeling slightly relieved.
The Daimyō and nobles scattered, fleeing into the distance.
Seeing Sarutobi Kanenosuke with his back to the Daimyō, facing the Shimura clan, an unbelievable guess arose in Hyūga Shin's heart:
Was Sarutobi Kanenosuke not here to assassinate the Daimyō, but to deal with the Shimura clan Guardian Ninja?
Sarutobi Shizutaka landed beside Hyūga Shin with Body Flicker, ready to face the enemy together.
Hyūga Shin said, "Shizutaka, you should leave too. I'll handle Sarutobi Kanenosuke."
But Sarutobi Shizutaka said, "The clan says it's still not confirmed this rogue ninja is from the Sarutobi clan. This is a good chance for me to gather intelligence properly."
Hyūga Shin thought to himself that if the rogue ninja really was from the Sarutobi clan, he might spare Sarutobi Shizutaka.
He himself wouldn't receive such treatment.
Sarutobi Kanenosuke stood together with his four shadow clones.
Of the four Shimura ninja, one was lying on the ground unable to get up, while the other three formed a combat squad.
Shimura Heiya shouted: "Spread out! Sarutobi Kanenosuke has large-scale ninjutsu!"
However, the next moment, Shimura Heiya's face was illuminated by ninjutsu of various colors. No matter how spread out they were, they couldn't possibly dodge five super-large-scale ninjutsu.
The scale of each ninjutsu reached the top level among Elite Jonin.
Yōkō had released the Cross Seal, combined with his own extracted chakra, and fueled by anger at only obtaining Jonin-level chakra reserves from Shimura Heiya, this Five Elements Unrivalled Attack was unprecedentedly large.
Each impact-type ninjutsu was a fan-shaped area several dozen meters long.
Earth Release: Flying Rubble, Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet, Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique, Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, Lightning Release: Roaring Thunder.
These five ninjutsu collided with each other at their ends, causing secondary explosions.
Sarutobi Shizutaka's eyes held deep envy as he shouted, "Here it comes! The massive explosion caused by the clash of five elemental chakras!"
The power of just the five elemental ninjutsu was already considerable.
However, the latter part of the Five Elements Unrivalled Attack, the massive explosion from the collision and conflict of the five elemental chakras, was even more exaggerated.
The Five Elements Unrivalled Attack was a ninjutsu where five one-fifth parts combined produced an effect far greater than one.
An explosion with a diameter of nearly a hundred meters instantly engulfed the four Shimura ninja.
Shimura Heiya used Body Flicker, but no matter how fast his Body Flicker was, it couldn't outpace the five-elemental great explosion.
The violent explosive shockwave rushed forward. Hyūga Shin blocked the hurricane with his arms, peering through the gap between them with his Byakugan.
The four Shimura clan ninja—whether Jonin Shimura Heiya and Shimura Hyougan, or the two Special Jonin—were all swallowed by the explosion.
After the great explosion ended, a large crater appeared on the ground.
He looked at the crater and murmured, "The Tailed Beast Bomb in legends can't be much more than this..."
Sarutobi Shizutaka swallowed hard and said:
"During the First Great Ninja War, Clan Head, the Third Hokage, once fought Iwagakure's Four-Tails.
The Four-Tails was suppressed by the Third Hokage; the complete Four-Tails was no match for the Clan Head's Five Elements Unrivalled Attack.
The Four-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb was on par with the Third Hokage's Five Elements Unrivalled Attack.
With sufficient chakra reserves, the explosive power of this technique has no upper limit."
Hyūga Shin nodded repeatedly. The Third Hokage during the First Great Ninja War was a major weapon on the battlefield, achieving admirable combat records.
Simultaneously launching five great elemental ninjutsu, no matter which ninja village it was, they couldn't find a way to counter it, ultimately collapsing in the great explosion.
Sarutobi Shizutaka was very perplexed. Why would such a powerful Sarutobi ninja like Sarutobi Kanenosuke defect?
And when did he defect?
If Sarutobi Kanenosuke returned to the village, the Clan Head would definitely focus on training him.
Given time, as Sarutobi Kanenosuke's chakra reserves continued to grow, he could fully become a Kage-level ninja capable of confronting Tailed Beasts.
The Sarutobi clan was particularly lacking in Kage-level ninjas; the young clan head still didn't have Kage-level strength.
Yōkō assessed the results of the battle; all four Shimura ninja were dead.
He felt satisfied.
Yōkō turned his head to look at Sarutobi Shizutaka and appeared in front of him with Body Flicker.
Sarutobi Shizutaka, who had just started to form hand seals, was completely too late. He hurriedly raised his arms to block.
Yōkō punched Sarutobi Shizutaka away.
He glanced at Hyūga Shin nearby.
Hyūga Shin abandoned any thought of confronting Sarutobi Kanenosuke.
It was useless; he was no match for Sarutobi Kanenosuke.
Yōkō said to Sarutobi Shizutaka, who was lying on the ground:
"You are a ninja of the Sarutobi clan. I won't kill you.
I will spare any Sarutobi ninja once. But if we meet a second time and you obstruct me again, don't blame me for disregarding clan ties.
Sarutobi Shizutaka, next time you see me, you'd better not move a muscle. Otherwise, even if you were once my clansman, I will kill you.
Sarutobi Shizutaka, take a message to Shimura Danzo for me.
If he dares to investigate Lord Madara again, I will kill every Shimura ninja who dares to leave Konoha.
Not a single one will be spared!"
Yōkō felt somewhat moved; he had really gone above and beyond for the Sarutobi clan ninja.
Muddying the waters, releasing smoke screens—the higher-ups in Konoha would then investigate in the wrong direction.
Seeing Sarutobi Kanenosuke's figure sink into the ground and disappear, both Hyūga Shin and Sarutobi Shizutaka breathed a sigh of relief.
Hyūga Shin said: "I really have to thank you, Shizutaka. If it weren't for your surname, I would surely have died today."
Sarutobi Shizutaka smiled bitterly: "I'm starting to understand the Uchiha clan a bit now.
Back when Uchiha Madara became a rogue ninja, did the Uchiha clan feel as uncomfortable as I do now?"
Hyūga Shin didn't answer.
The ones who hurt the village the most were always the rogue ninjas.
He wondered how the Sarutobi and Shimura clans would handle the ensuing storm.
***
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(Chapter End)