Chapter 54: Fierce Battle! (Please Support with Monthly Votes)

Plop, plop, plop~
Figures descended onto the surface of the ocean, rising and falling with the rolling waves.
Hatake Sakumo and Wudang stood at the very front, on the left and right respectively.
Shikishita Genichi and Uchiha Nangai positioned themselves slightly behind them, also on the left and right.
Yamanaka En lagged behind by another half-step, standing dead center, while Fuu stood off to the side.
Opposite them stood another group of six.
Ayd and Killer Bee were in the vanguard, with three others arrayed in a line behind them, and Jonin Shi stationed at the very rear.
"White Fang, since you've appeared here, it means my comrades have already been dealt with by you, doesn't it?"
Ayd spoke first.
Hatake Sakumo’s expression remained calm. "Apologies. It was required for the mission."
Ayd’s tone was uncompromising. "In that case, it is only natural that we eliminate you today."
Uchiha Nangai sneered, "Are all Cloud ninja so fond of spouting empty boasts?"
"Or perhaps you are simply impatient to meet your comrades in the Pure Land."
Ayd glanced at Uchiha Nangai's two-tomoe Sharingan. "Those eyes of yours will make a fine collection piece for our village!"
Uchiha Nangai drew his blade. "Your heads shall become our merits!"
Shikishita Genichi paid no attention to this pointless banter. He was appraising the opposing forces.
Combat formations were matters of strategic significance.
In particular, he noticed that a certain pair of eyes on the enemy side was fixed on him with lingering intensity.
"That person standing at the very back is an illusion-type ninja... and likely a sensory-type as well."
"In that case..."
Shikishita Genichi formed hand seals.
Almost simultaneously, the opposing Cloud Jonin, Shuu, began forming seals as well.
Lightning Release: Flash Pillar!
A pillar of light manifested, erupting outward with a blinding, dazzling radiance.
Yet a fraction of a second prior, Shikishita Genichi had already completed the Demonic Illusion: Descending Hell technique, instantly stripping away the vision of everyone on his own side, including himself.
"The enemy has an illusion specialist!"
Shikishita Genichi's warning rang out in everyone's ears.
Yamanaka En raised a single hand. "They're coming!"
Opposite them:
The moment the Lightning Release Flash Pillar erupted, Ayd and Killer Bee charged forward, completely unaffected by the blinding glare.
Furthermore, preceding their charge were attacks launched by the three Cloud ninja behind them.
Two of them hurled a barrage of shuriken, many of which were embedded with explosive tags.
The third unleashed a surge of Lightning Release, a bolt of electricity streaking directly toward Hatake Sakumo.
"Water Release: Water Encampment Wall!"
Having executed the darkness illusion, Shikishita Genichi performed a rapid sequence of hand seals.
Boom!
The surrounding seawater surged upward, enveloping everyone—including Shikishita Genichi—in a rotating, circular wall of water for defense.
The shuriken, the detonations of the explosive tags, and even the lightning attack were all successfully intercepted.
The next moment, the vision that had been stripped from the group returned.
Boom!
The water wall suddenly burst apart, and Ayd, shrouded entirely in crackling lightning, broke right through the defensive barrier and charged in.
Simultaneously, Yamanaka En warned, "Above!"
"Leave it to me!"
Uchiha Nangai sprang upward, intercepting Killer Bee, who was descending from the air after clearing the water wall.
Clang, clang, clang!
The two clashed in mid-air, single blade against dual swords, accompanied by an endless barrage of metallic ringing and soaring sparks.
Meanwhile, down on the water's surface, the battle between Hatake Sakumo and Ayd was marked by surprisingly minimal commotion.
Their figures flickered continuously across different locations. Grass Ninja Jonin Wudang, finding himself unable to intervene in such a high-level duel, leaped into the air to join the fray against Killer Bee.
Yet no sooner had he taken flight than he was sent hurtling backward at an even greater speed, slamming into the water's surface with a thunderous crash that sent up a massive spray.
"Too fast..."
Wudang clutched his chest, struggling to catch his breath.
Back in the air, Ayd—who had just batted Wudang away—raised his arm, using his bracer to block Hatake Sakumo's short blade, only to be kicked fiercely away, crashing heavily into the water wall that Shikishita Genichi was still maintaining.
Concurrently, outside the water wall:
Three Cloud ninja were charging forward when Shikishita Genichi burst out from the ocean below, bringing his hands together.
Boom!
Water surged up from the sea, encircling the three Cloud ninja.
Water Release: Water Encampment Wall!
Shikishita Genichi had repurposed this defensive ninjutsu into an entrapment technique.
The Cloud Jonin Shuu, following close behind, immediately sensed that something was amiss.
Their offensive formation had been fractured by Shikishita Genichi, reducing their coordinated assault to a series of isolated engagements.
Shuu quickly detoured around the water wall; he had to intercept Shikishita Genichi, otherwise the AB combination would be placed in severe danger.
That would turn into a five-on-one situation!
And that was precisely Shikishita Genichi's objective.
Both sides started with equal numbers, and lacking intelligence, it was unclear if their overall strengths matched.
However, creating a situation where they held a numerical advantage in localized skirmishes was undoubtedly the correct tactical choice.
Therefore, Shikishita Genichi's initial use of the darkness illusion on his own team was meant to prevent them from being blinded by the dazzling light.
When vision is impaired by intense glare, human eyes require a significant recovery period.
Human eyes adapt to darkness far more readily than to blinding light.
The subsequent Water Release wall served not merely to block the enemy's assault, but also to further shield and mitigate the visual interference caused by the Lightning Flash Pillar illusion.
Water possesses refractive and scattering properties; even if the darkness illusion was dispelled while the Lightning Flash Pillar technique remained active, the water wall would still serve its purpose.
And so it proved.
Observing this, the Cloud ninja refrained from maintaining the light pillar any further.
Shikishita Genichi maintained the water wall specifically to partition the battlefield.
Before the battle commenced stealthily, he had swapped his physical body with a water clone, concealing his real body beneath the surface of the water.
Now, reappearing outside the water wall to fracture the battlefield once more, he stalled the enemy and allowed Hatake Sakumo and the others to press their numerical advantage.
As the Cloud Jonin Shuu skirted around the water wall, a surging, turbulent wave greeted him head-on.
"This fellow holds far too great an advantage in this environment!"
Shuu felt deeply helpless, yet he had no way to force a breakthrough.
On the other side, the water wall had just been shattered by the three Cloud ninja, but Shikishita Genichi had already completed his hand seals.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
A massive water dragon dove downward, roaring toward the three opponents.
Swish!
Two of the blade-wielding Cloud ninja immediately leaped to either side to evade, while the remaining one stood his ground and formed hand seals.
A pillar of water surged up from behind him, rising to meet the water dragon.
He knew Water Release as well, though he was far from proficient in it.
Rumble!
The water pillar was effortlessly obliterated by the water dragon, and the Cloud ninja who cast it leaped backward in hasty retreat.
However, the water dragon, which had been plunging downward, suddenly altered its trajectory, skimming across the surface of the water with a deafening roar as it gave chase.
"What?!"
The retreating Cloud ninja stared in shock as he tried to form seals again, only for the water dragon to snap its jaws shut around him the next instant, plunging him straight down into the ocean depths.
"Die!"
Two Cloud ninja converged on Shikishita Genichi from his left and right flanks, while Cloud Jonin Shuu executed an illusion technique.
Shikishita Genichi's movements stuttered for a fraction of a second. The two Cloud ninja crossed paths as they swept past him, and Shikishita Genichi's body instantly split in two, hacked cleanly into separate halves by their blades.
Yet the next moment, Cloud Jonin Shuu's pupils constricted. "Damn it, it's a water clone!"
True to his realization, the two halves of Shikishita Genichi suddenly dissolved into dual streams of cascading water.
"Watch out below!"
Cloud Jonin Shuu roared at the top of his lungs.
The two Cloud ninja immediately leaped backward, evacuating their positions.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~
The surface of the sea shattered as multiple pillars of water erupted violently into the air.