Chapter 240: Terrifyingly Powerful Combination Jutsu

Swoosh!

Kari gathered chakra in his feet, burst forth with extreme speed and charged at Muyue—now he ignored all other ninjas, his eyes fixed solely on Muyue.

Even within the same Bloodline Limit, different individuals could develop it in different directions.

For example, both possessed Magnet Release: the Third Kazekage liked to control iron sand, the Fourth Kazekage liked to control gold sand—both leaned toward offense—while Troy of the Hidden Cloud trained Magnet Release into a control ability.

Kari did not look particularly burly; he had no large muscles, was neither tall nor stocky, but in fact his strength and speed were greater than most. Though not born with superhuman strength, he could be said to be naturally strong.

So in the end, Kari integrated Explosion Release into the taijutsu he was best at—whether punching or kicking, he could create powerful explosions.

Normally, combining Explosion Release with taijutsu was very dangerous, because a ninjutsu does not grant immunity just because it is one's own; the explosive force also affected Kari himself.

But Kari also had excellent talent in Earth Release; he practiced Earth Release's hardening technique to great proficiency. Even while using Explosion Release, he could employ Earth Release's hardening to keep his body from being harmed by the explosions.

Swish, swish, swish!!!

Muyue took out a large number of shuriken from his ninja tool pouch and flung them at Kari.

Faced with the sharp, cold-glinting shuriken, Kari merely dodged slightly, then let the shuriken hit him.

Clang! Clang!

The shuriken struck Kari not as if hitting a person, but as if hitting extremely hard rock or steel, and were deflected.

Muyue was not surprised; his Appraisal had already seen through all of Kari's skills. Muyue had a thorough understanding of everything Kari could do—after all, not everyone had a skill list as dense as Sarutobi Hiruzen's, which would be hard to remember all at once.

He did this wasteful move so that his fight with Kari would appear evenly matched, with each side having their own strengths.

"Remember, the one who kills you is Kari of the Explosion Release, from Iwagakure!" Kari concentrated chakra in his fist, leapt up sharply, and smashed down toward Muyue.

Swoosh!

Boom! Rumble!!

A huge blast sounded; the ground was torn open by the terrifying explosive force, mud and gravel splattering rapidly in all directions. The cracking earth sent yellow dust soaring into the air, and for a time yellow mist filled the scene, making it impossible to see what was inside.

"That lord should be fine, right?" Some Leaf ninja couldn't help glancing over worriedly.

A commotion this big on their battlefield could only be from the fight between Muyue and Kari.

The yellow dust soon scattered with the wind, revealing the dust-covered Kari and not far away the completely unharmed figure of Muyue.

"Not bad speed. I hope you can dodge every one of my attacks." Kari shook his fist and looked at Muyue with a more serious expression.

Muyue smiled without replying—this was nothing compared to what he could do. To him, it was not fast, after all, he hadn't even used the fastest Lightning Breathing, having only used Rock Breathing and Shave.

Actually, Muyue could have taken down Kari in close combat. Although Kari's Explosion Release was very powerful, Muyue's Rock Breathing plus Eight Gates could overwhelm Kari with raw stats.

But Muyue did not want to reveal overly strong taijutsu abilities in this battle, because he had not built up a foundation for taijutsu; displaying too strong taijutsu would seem abrupt.

Muyue planned to craft a persona for himself as a ninjutsu genius; during the war he would use more ninjutsu to prove his strength.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

Muyue quickly formed hand signs and spat out a huge fireball about five meters tall, smashing it toward Kari.

Muyue could make the Great Fireball even bigger, but this technique usually does not hit people, so there was not much need.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"

Instead of dodging, Kari also formed hand signs, then slammed his palm onto the ground. Using Earth Release chakra, he made a thick earthen wall rise up to block the fireball, while also momentarily obscuring Kari from Muyue's view.

The next moment, Kari's figure appeared atop the Mud Wall. Using the wall's height, he lunged toward Muyue with incredible speed.

"Water Style: Water Wall!"

Muyue rapidly formed hand signs, then opened his mouth and expelled a large amount of water that formed a wall of water, blocking Kari.

Just then, a hand quietly stretched out from the ground where Muyue was standing, rapidly grabbing at Muyue's calf.

As if sensing something, Muyue immediately sidestepped, making the sudden grab miss.

"What keen perception." Kari, having missed, quickly emerged from underground, frowning slightly, feeling a bit troubled.

With explosive speed and sharp perception, Muyue seemed to be the perfect counter to him.

"You really can't underestimate these ninja—on the surface they all look reckless, but actually each one is more cunning than the last." After dodging Kari's attack, Muyue sighed inwardly.

After using Earth Flow Wall, Shou immediately used Rock Clone. The clone leaped onto the Earth Flow Wall to attack and draw attention, while the real body launched a surprise attack using Earth Release.

This trick of Shou's might work on others, but behind Mu Yue's black-rimmed glasses were Byakugan with x-ray vision—to Mu Yue, all of Shou's actions were an open book.

"If this is all you've got, then I'll be the one to win this battle."

While dodging, Mu Yue quickly split off a Shadow Clone, then the real body formed hand seals for Fire Release, while the Shadow Clone formed seals for Wind Release.

"Fire Release · Great Dragon Fire Technique!" Mu Yue concentrated a large amount of chakra in his throat, rapidly performed nature transformation, and continuously spewed out a vast amount of flames.

The thick flames blazed fiercely, forming three enormous, ferocious-looking fire dragons.

As the three massive fire dragons appeared, their dazzling light illuminated the surroundings, as if the fiery orange flames would burn everything they touched.

After the three giant fire dragons manifested, they rushed toward Shou at incredible speed, and at that moment, the Shadow Clone's Wind Release was also completed.

"Wind Release · Great Breakthrough!"

The Shadow Clone opened its mouth and spewed a massive gale. Wind fueled the flames, instantly transforming the already terrifying three fire dragons into a sea of orange flames that pressed down toward Shou.

In truth, Mu Yue's Wind Release was quite ordinary—among jōnin it would be considered weak, with nothing impressive except for Pressure Damage. But that didn't matter because Mu Yue's Fire Release was strong, and he also had a familiar level combination ninjutsu, giving him decent experience with this.

Faced with such a powerful Fire Release attack, Shou was momentarily stunned. The last time he saw such an outrageous Fire Release was from Jiraiya, one of the Three Ninja—the difference being that Jiraiya wasn't his opponent, while now Mu Yue was.

Shou wanted to retreat and dodge; it would be far too unwise to take such a level of Fire Release head-on.

But when Shou felt a wave of wetness, his expression drastically changed—behind him was the Water Formation Wall that had not yet dissipated!

Shou quickly looked around and suddenly realized that there weren't many Iwa ninja around him, but there were many Konoha ninja.

"Damn, I pursued too far." Shou realized something was wrong. He had fallen for Mu Yue's trap of luring the enemy in.

Just now, Mu Yue had kept dodging attacks without striking back—not because he had no opportunity, but to let Shou deep into enemy territory. Now Shou had the Water Formation Wall behind him, many Konoha ninja on both left and right, and an advancing sea of flames straight ahead. His only choice was to block the fire.

"Earth Release · Earth Flow Wall!"

Shou acted decisively, quickly forming hand seals for Earth Flow Wall. The technique only required three seals, so it was fast to use, and he had no other option.

Boom! Boom!

Thick earthen walls rose in front of and beside Shou, shielding him inside.

Boom! Boom! Boom!!!

The next moment after the walls rose, the sea of flames arrived, and a huge explosion sounded. A fierce blast of fire shot toward the sky, and over a thousand ninja on this battlefield could clearly see the terrifying power unleashed by the sea of flames.

The surrounding Iwa ninja and Konoha ninja quickly distanced themselves to avoid being caught in that dreadful fire.

"I never thought that Jōnin Mu Yue had such incredible strength—the power of that combination ninjutsu is simply too strong!" A Konoha jōnin who knew Mu Yue couldn't help but exclaim.

Although Mu Yue had a low profile in Konoha, he had still attended several jōnin meetings, and with Minato acting as a bridge, even though this jōnin wasn't very familiar with Mu Yue, he had some impression of him.

Because Mu Yue was a Special Jōnin at the ninja academy, his first impression had been that Mu Yue's strength would be mediocre. It wasn't disrespect—it was because Mu Yue was both a teacher at the ninja academy and a Special Jōnin.

These two identities combined created an awkward situation. No one would believe you're strong if you say so—if you were strong, why would you still be a Special Jōnin, and teaching at the academy?

"Damn it… could it be that Lord Shou…" An Iwa ninja looked worriedly at the spot engulfed by the sea of flames.

On the battlefield, the overall strength of Konoha and Iwa was roughly equal. However, to prevent Shou from being finished off, the Iwa ninjas used their lives to push the Konoha ninja back.

Mu Yue didn't care about that. His chakra was only low in top-level battles—he could use that combination ninjutsu three more times without issue.

When the flames dissipated, all that was left was blackened scorched earth. The thick Earth Flow Wall had melted under the fire's high heat, the Water Formation Wall Mu Yue had used earlier evaporated by the powerful flames, and Shou himself lay collapsed, severely wounded, unable even to maintain his Rock Clone, which automatically dispersed.

Shou struggled to get up, proving he still had a breath left, but his injuries were too severe—even his arms couldn't support him off the ground.

At this moment, Shou was grateful he had chosen the path of Taijutsu and Explosion Release, which had trained him in a powerful Hardening Technique, making his body exceptionally tough. Otherwise, he would have surely died in that incredibly fearsome Fire Release.

After this battle, he might never dare to take a Fire Release head-on again, even though an ordinary ninja's Fire Release was weaker than his explosive shockwave.

Although he still had plenty of chakra in his body, Mu Yue acted like he was panting heavily, with large sweat dripping from his forehead, putting on an appearance of having exerted great effort.

After all, a ninjutsu of this power was too strong for a jōnin—if he acted like nothing had happened, that would raise suspicion.

Mu Yue wanted to give everyone the impression that he was stronger than Shou, but only slightly—and that he won through strategy and maneuvering, not by overwhelming Shou with raw power.

Seeing that Mu Yue seemed to be in less-than-perfect condition, many Konoha ninja spontaneously moved closer to him to prevent any Iwa ninja from attacking and injuring Mu Yue.

Some Konoha ninja used ninjutsu on Shou, who was still lying on the ground, intending to finish him off.

Although Kari looked severely injured and on the verge of death, a ninja's vitality is tenacious, and this is especially true for a powerful ninja. Being able to completely kill an elite ninja from a hostile ninja village is very meaningful.

The Iwa-nin naturally would not allow a strong ninja from their own village to be finished off. Many Iwa-nin formed hand seals and used Earth Style Wall to block the attacks for the immobilized Kari.

Just as both sides were about to start a new round of fierce battle centered on Kari's offense and defense, suddenly a violent explosion sounded, followed by a tremor that shook the mountains and earth.

Rumble!!!

Everyone heard this enormous explosion, and the light of the explosion, more than a hundred times more dazzling than Muyue's Fire Release earlier, bloomed in the distance.

"Tailed Beast Ball." Muyue's eyes flickered as he tried to perceive the situation on the top-level battlefield.

The distance was too far; the Byakugan could no longer see Jiraiya and the others' battle. The range of sensory ninjutsu was farther than the Byakugan.