Ōnoki was staring intently at the battle between the Third Raikage and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's taijutsu was powerful. He could dodge most of the Raikage's attacks.
More importantly, Sarutobi Hiruzen's Adamantine Staff was terrifyingly hard. Even the Raikage could not break that great staff.
As expected of the Sarutobi clan's strongest ability, the Adamantine Staff could be considered one of the shinobi world's top offensive and defensive abilities.
The Raikage had not used his Hell Stab One-Finger Nukite yet. It was unknown whether the One-Finger Nukite could break that staff.
Sarutobi Hiruzen truly lived up to his title as the Professor, the man who had mastered every jutsu in Konoha. His Lightning Release was also formidable. The paralyzing effect of the Raikage's Lightning Release had been neutralized by Sarutobi Hiruzen. Looking closely, a faint layer of lightning covered Hiruzen's hands.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was very strong. He had stopped the Raikage outside Konoha Village.
The two of them destroyed an even longer stretch of Konoha's wall and more of the forest outside the village.
Ōnoki was just about to launch a sneak attack on Sarutobi Hiruzen when the corner of his eye suddenly caught a black dot.
Someone had flown into the sky.
Ōnoki turned slightly and saw Konoha's fox.
The plan had changed.
Sunagakure was absolute iron trash. They had not even declared war on Konoha.
Kirigakure was trash too. Fox had actually returned to Konoha Village.
Their original plan had been for the Mist to hold Fox back while they entered Konoha and wreaked havoc, weakening the village. Yet now, they had only destroyed part of Konoha's wall.
Seeing the mass of sand beneath the fox's feet, Ōnoki said, "Why do you have Sunagakure's secret sand technique?"
"Does that matter?"
Ōnoki sneered, despising Rasa even more.
Aside from possessing the title of Kazekage, Rasa's control over Sunagakure had been far too weak. He did not even know who had learned his village's secret techniques.
The forbidden and secret techniques of every ninja village had to be inherited in an orderly manner. Every inheritor was part of the village's future, part of its foundation.
A secret technique like Sand Release should have been one of Sunagakure's core arts, yet it had been learned by a Konoha ANBU ninja.
Ōnoki stretched out both hands. In front of his palms, a translucent Dust Release barrier appeared.
Yako stared at the Dust Release barrier, and his heart stirred.
As the only known Kekkei Tōta in the shinobi world, a power formed by fusing three chakra natures, it possessed the theoretically strongest offensive power in the current shinobi world.
Hidden within Kekkei Tōta was the secret of chakra fusion.
Not chakra fusion that relied on blood inheritance, but chakra fusion that could be learned through training.
Ōnoki's abilities had been displayed many times in the original work, so Yako had no intention of testing Ōnoki's strength.
What he wanted to test was the strength of Dust Release.
Dust Release required a certain preparation time. Its start-up was very slow, so Yako had no choice but to wait a little, allowing Dust Release to shoot toward him.
"Wood Release: Wood Golem Jutsu!"
The Threefold Wood Golem blocked in front of Yako.
Dust Release struck the Threefold Wood Golem and actually produced a low buzzing sound.
Yako pressed his hand against the Wood Golem's back, sensing the changes within it.
Every wooden cell, under the effect of Dust Release, rapidly turned into fine sawdust.
Dust Release possessed the power to disintegrate everything. Any solid object would be reduced to dust beneath its effect.
Even the Threefold Wood Golem, which could catch a Tailed Beast Ball barehanded, was no exception.
High in the air, sweat seeped across Ōnoki's face.
Terrifying.
Fox's Wood Golem was terrifyingly hard.
This was the first time Dust Release had ever disintegrated a target so slowly.
Before this, whether it was forbidden techniques, wood, or even tailed beasts, everything before Dust Release had instantly turned to dust.
Iwagakure's two tailed beasts were extremely obedient. Whether his Second Tsuchikage teacher acted or Ōnoki himself did, they could destroy a tailed beast's body.
But now, it seemed the physical toughness of Fox's Threefold Wood Golem actually surpassed that of a tailed beast.
Boom!
Dust Release took several seconds before finally piercing through the Threefold Wood Golem.
Ōnoki felt deeply regretful.
Fox behind the Wood Golem must have escaped long ago.
Several seconds was enough time for someone with Fox's absurd strength to land on the ground and leap back into the sky.
However, to Ōnoki's shock, Dust Release pierced through the Threefold Wood Golem's chest and struck the fox behind it.
"Haha! Arrogant brat! You've paid the price for your conceit!"
[Host death detected. Arc of the Waning Moon system activating…]
Yako returned to three days earlier.
He appeared on the coast of the Land of Hot Water.
Looking ahead, he found that Yuka was not there. Only wave after wave rolled in from the sea.
System, you're not very smart, are you? It wasn't as if he hadn't discussed naval battles with Yuka these past few days. How could he resurrect without Yuka nearby?
First, he checked the reward.
[Arc of the Waning Moon activated!
The host has only one resurrection chance per month. Upon death, the host resurrects on the previous full-moon night.
Reward: one draw opportunity.
Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu;
Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Jutsu;
Earth Release: Golem Jutsu.]
Earth Release: Golem Jutsu summoned a stone giant to fight. Yako already had the Threefold Wood Golem, so he did not need it.
Earth Release: Light-Weight Rock Jutsu could alter the weight of objects and even allow people to fly. Yako did not need that either.
Dust Release—the path to the secret of Kekkei Tōta…
After choosing Dust Release, Yako immediately mastered it.
A Kekkei Tōta standing above Kekkei Genkai, formed from the fusion of Wind, Earth, and Fire nature transformations.
Yako raised his hand. A Dust Release barrier slowly appeared above his palm.
The barrier glowed white in the night.
Not far behind him, White Ram stared at Lord Fox in astonishment.
That thing in Lord Fox's palm…
Wasn't that Iwagakure's Dust Release?
White Ram appeared beside Lord Fox with Body Flicker Technique and asked, "Lord Fox, this… this, this, this?"
"Your eyes aren't mistaken. I've been developing a new jutsu recently, and by chance, I ended up figuring out Dust Release," Yako said.
"If the Second Tsuchikage could create Dust Release, then someone else can too. That's not unreasonable, is it?"
White Ram had followed Lord Fox for quite some time now.
Yet in his eyes, Lord Fox was only becoming more and more mysterious.
Lord Fox had taught them the Ten Seal, then later upgraded it into the Diamond Seal. By following Lord Fox, these ANBU had gained a powerful trump card. On top of that, the Diamond Seal stimulated their bodies, allowing their physical strength and chakra to keep growing.
For any jonin, the Diamond Seal was already a core ability worth staking one's life on.
And now Lord Fox had actually developed Dust Release.
That was Iwagakure's greatest trump card, a trump card even more important than their tailed beast Jinchūriki.
White Ram said, "Lord Fox, I can't wait to see Ōnoki's expression. I wonder what he'll think once he learns Konoha has developed their Dust Release."
"Every ninja village is trying every possible way to obtain the trump cards of other villages," Yako said.
"Kumogakure has people who mastered Sunagakure's Magnet Release. Kirigakure once stole a Byakugan from the main family. We're all the same. No one has the right to criticize anyone else."
After chatting with White Ram for a while, Yako began researching Dust Release.
Its strengths and weaknesses were both obvious.
Its strength was that below Six Paths level, it possessed the foremost offensive power. Even Susanoo was no match for Dust Release.
Its weakness was the long wind-up.
Yako wanted to crack the secret of Kekkei Tōta and obtain an even stronger Kekkei Tōta.