Chapter 554: Three Seconds

Two hands grabbed Su Xiao's ankles and pulled downward with force.

The Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan rotated in Su Xiao's hand, changing from a forward grip to a reverse grip, and he stabbed into the soil beneath his feet.

Bang.

White smoke rose, and Su Xiao stabbed and exploded a shadow clone in the mud.

At this moment, the three Kakashis had already rushed in front of Su Xiao.

"Chidori."

A palm wrapped in lightning stabbed toward Su Xiao's chest. He even felt the stinging pain of the lightning brushing past his cheek.

"Ring Sever."

Clang!

A circular blade glow spread out. With three bangs, the three Kakashis around him all turned into white smoke. These were all shadow clones.

The Ring Sever spread out, and the sturdy trees around were slashed down one after another, the broken ends smooth as a mirror.

Rumble, rumble.

Tree after tree fell, startling the birds in the forest.

Zzzzz~

A piercing shriek came from overhead, and Su Xiao's pupils constricted.

Kakashi's main body was above, and he had already used his ultimate technique, Raikiri. This move was an improved version of the A-rank ninjutsu Chidori, an S-rank ninjutsu.

Blue-white electric arcs surged on Kakashi's hand, and that somewhat blinding palm stabbed toward Su Xiao's head.

Click!

Kakashi's palm stopped ten-odd centimeters above Su Xiao's head. A light blue energy shield blocked above Su Xiao's head.

This energy shield was octagonal, about one meter in diameter, consuming 150 mana points from Su Xiao.

Zzzzz~

Raikiri intended to penetrate the energy shield. All the destructive power was concentrated on one point. The light blue patterns on the surface of the energy shield deepened; this was spreading the destructive power it was bearing to the entire energy shield.

Click.

Fine cracks appeared on the energy shield. At this trend, Kakashi could break the shield in ten seconds.

Su Xiao looked up at Kakashi, a smile appearing on his face. The energy shield was surprisingly easy to use.

Just as Kakashi exerted force with his fingers, preparing to push off the energy shield and retreat, his hand pushed into empty air; Su Xiao had already canceled the energy shield.

Kakashi's body lost its balance in mid-air, and a long blade stabbed toward Kakashi's neck.

Pfft.

Blood sprayed, and Su Xiao's blade pierced through below Kakashi's shoulder, failing to stab the throat.

Failing to succeed with one blade, Su Xiao changed from a single-handed grip to a double-handed grip. The Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan cut within Kakashi's body, cutting toward the heart at an unsatisfied speed, and prepared to use 'Shadow Stab' to pierce through Kakashi, but Shadow Stab needed time to prepare.

Green Steel Shadow energy surged into Kakashi's body. At this moment, Kakashi almost fainted; the pain within his body was something he would never forget in his life.

With a wow, Kakashi spat out a large mouthful of blood. Facing a desperate situation, if Kakashi were so easy to kill, he wouldn't have the name of Copy Ninja.

"Lightning Release: Lightning Transmission."

A lightning chain appeared in Kakashi's hand, and the chain coiled toward Su Xiao.

A sense of crisis appeared. Su Xiao immediately stopped cutting Kakashi's body and kicked Kakashi's lower abdomen.

Bang.

Kakashi in mid-air was kicked away, and at the same time, Su Xiao stepped on the ground and leaped up. That lightning chain brushed past his feet.

Pfft.

Just a slight graze, and a wound deep to the bone appeared on Su Xiao's lower leg. If he had been coiled by this lightning chain just now, he would definitely have died.

Kakashi rolled far away on the ground before stopping, standing up with some difficulty.

"Cough, cough."

After coughing up a mouthful of blood, Kakashi was a bit dizzy.

"This is... poison?"

Hearing Kakashi's words, Su Xiao was a bit puzzled. His gaze looked at the blade of the Zhan Checking Zhan Long Shan. There was indeed a purple trace on the blade.

This was Sasori's poison. Su Xiao didn't deliberately poison the blade; it might have been accidentally wiped on when acting with Sasori before. It had to be said that Kakashi's luck wasn't very good.

Su Xiao flicked away the blood on the blade, and the poison on it was wiped off by him. Poisoning the blade wasn't his combat style; at least with his current blade technique, he wouldn't poison the blade.

Although Kakashi was poisoned by Sasori, it was only a trace amount. Except for some dizziness, there were no other symptoms, and this feeling of dizziness was gradually weakening.

Kakashi stood on the spot gasping for breath. He knew he had made a mistake; he was too anxious to chase Naruto, actually taking the initiative to engage in close combat with the enemy, wanting to kill with one strike.

Kakashi's brain turned rapidly: 'From the beginning of the battle, he only used a type of steel wire and a blade. The previous shield had no traces of hand seals, it was a type of Kekkei Genkai, and judging from the information given by Lord Jiraiya, the enemy has long-range attack capability, but mid-range attacks are rare.'

Kakashi began to analyze Su Xiao's information. The strongest thing about a ninja isn't ninjutsu, but combat IQ. Just in a few seconds, Kakashi deduced Su Xiao's strengths and weaknesses, and even thought of several ways to deal with Su Xiao.

'Since the enemy excels in close combat, that move must be feasible!'

Kakashi formed hand seals with both hands, and with a bang, two more shadow clones appeared. Kakashi's main body stood on the spot, and his chakra suddenly consumed a large chunk.

"Hmm?"

Su Xiao's eyes opened slightly wider. He felt Kakashi's chakra suddenly consume a lot, and that Sharingan eye became different.

Looking carefully, Kakashi's Sharingan eye was no longer three-tomoe, but a pattern like a windmill.

"Mangekyo Sharingan."

Su Xiao secretly became vigilant. Kakashi's Mangekyo wasn't easy to deal with; one carelessness and he would be killed in seconds.

The battle continued.

Kakashi's two shadow clones rushed toward Su Xiao rapidly. After rushing in front of Su Xiao, the two shadow clones almost simultaneously used Chidori.

Two palms surging with lightning stabbed toward Su Xiao. The muscles on Su Xiao's right arm bulged slightly, and he slashed horizontally with his blade. The two shadow clones exploded into white smoke at the same time.

White smoke permeated.

"It's coming."

Su Xiao guessed that Kakashi wanted to use the white smoke after the shadow clones disappeared to cover himself, so as to use a pupil technique to attack him.

Just as Su Xiao prepared to move his position, the shriek of lightning came.

Zzz~

Lightning rushed out from within the white smoke. Su Xiao's pupils constricted. He could confirm that there was no one in the white smoke, and Kakashi's chakra not far away was very stable, with no traces of casting a technique.

With a zzz sound, lightning clung to Su Xiao, and a feeling of numbness came.

Those two shadow clones had a problem! Su Xiao immediately thought of this point.

Facts were exactly so. These two shadow clones were very special, a technique created by Kakashi himself: Lightning Release: Shadow Clone Technique, using lightning-natured chakra to generate shadow clones, which had more lightning-natured changes than ordinary shadow clones. When the shadow clone was broken, it could turn into lightning to attack the enemy. And cause a paralyzing effect.

The calculation and battle between Su Xiao and Kakashi were dazzling. This was the fun of battle, using IQ and force to kill the enemy.

"Kamui!"

Kakashi not far away roared, and that Mangekyo Sharingan eye widened.

The space in front of Su Xiao twisted into a spiral shape, and there was a black center point at the twist, just aimed at his heart.

Su Xiao was already in the numbness of lightning, and at this time, he was pulled by the twisting space, completely unable to move.

This was Kakashi's first time using Kamui in actual combat, so the activation speed was very slow. It needed to first construct a node, then connect to an unknown space, and finally, the cutting force of space would appear. This process took three seconds in total.

The first second, the numbness in Su Xiao's body receded a bit.

The second second, a stinging pain came from his chest.

The third second, the space began to twist into a spiral shape, and the clothing on his chest showed signs of damage.

One more chapter. Coming right up. ===== CHAPTER 555 =====