Chapter 296: Pakura 's Growth
"Shiguro, did it work?"
There was no time to grieve for their wounded comrade. As the leader of this outpost, Hyūga Tongguang immediately turned and asked with urgency.
"No."
Wearing dark glasses and wrapped in a thick gray trench coat, with a giant gourd on his back, Aburame Shiguro shook his head solemnly. "Her Scorch Release is too hot. The insects all died before they could adapt."
Pakura 's Scorch Release had caused immense casualties for Konoha over the past year, and naturally, the village hadn't sat idly by.
In response to her intense heat techniques, Konoha had conducted extensive research, hoping to find a counter.
But this world's Pakura was not the same as the one resurrected by Edo Tensei in the original series.
That version of her had been absurdly weak. Despite being a renowned hero of Sunagakure, her Scorch Release—a Kekkei Genkai that fused Fire and Wind—was easily countered by standard Water Release. It was ridiculous.
Even a basic combined Fire-Wind jutsu couldn't be blocked by average Water Release techniques.
So a true Kekkei Genkai fusion of Wind and Fire—like Pakura 's Scorch Release—shouldn't have been nullified so easily.
Perhaps it was just that anime couldn't compare to reality, or maybe the Pakura of that parallel universe was simply weak.
But in this world, Pakura 's Scorch Release was not something normal Water Release could counter.
After receiving instruction from Li Yao's Wind Release clone, her high-temperature Scorch Release had grown even more deadly—far beyond what conventional ninjutsu could restrain.
Even after more than a hundred Konoha casualties, no viable countermeasure had been found.
Even squad-level mass Water Release techniques couldn't reliably dampen her high-heat attacks.
Not even slightly.
Against her Thermal Compression Heat Ray, large-scale Water Release was useless. Probably only Second Hokage-level high-pressure water jets could withstand it.
Unfortunately, no one in modern Konoha possessed Water Release on that level.
Eventually, it was decided that if the Aburame clan could cultivate heat-resistant insects, they might have a chance.
After six months, Aburame Shiguro succeeded in breeding insects that could resist 200°C—but that was still far from enough to withstand Pakura 's Scorch Release.
To improve their resistance, these insects needed to survive her attacks and produce antibodies. That meant exposing them to her heat and keeping survivors alive.
So, today's outpost was filled with those experimental insects—hoping to test their tolerance.
But Pakura 's techniques weren't stagnant.
This time, her standard Thermal Pressure Explosion had reached over 1000°C. The insects died instantly. They had no time to adapt.
No survivors. No antibodies. No evolution.
And with that, this battle became extremely difficult.
"Seizan, you're a medic. We don't need you here anymore. Take Yuzen and retreat to the rear for support," Hyūga Tongguang ordered decisively.
Since they couldn't counter Pakura , their best option was to stall her—drain her chakra and await reinforcements.
That had been Konoha's general approach against her for the past year.
Her biggest weakness remained: limited chakra. She couldn't singlehandedly shift the tide of war in short bursts.
After basic treatment, Seizan carried Nara Yuzen on his back and left swiftly.
"They're here!"
Hyūga Tongguang alerted the others as his Byakugan spotted Pakura and ten Suna-nin charging forward. They quickly breached the Earth Wall barrier and came into view.
"Shadow Imitation Technique!"
There was more than one Nara clan member here—besides Yuzen, his younger brother Nara Shimada was present as well.
His brother's injury ignited his fury, and his shadow shot out much faster than usual.
"That's Nara clan's secret technique—avoid the shadows!"
Pakura warned her squad, weaving together her High-Temperature Compressed Heat Blades, then zigzagged in an S-shaped pattern toward Shimada.
The Nara clan's Shadow Imitation Technique was arguably the top crowd control jutsu in the shinobi world. In squad combat, just one Nara could immobilize enemies with a single shadow catch—creating major tactical pressure.
Even Pakura had to be cautious. If she were caught, her strength meant nothing. Controlled physically, she'd be dead on the spot.
This was one reason Konoha had been able to hold the line against Suna.
But over the past year, after fighting the Nara multiple times, Pakura had devised ways to counter their techniques.
For instance, this time—while leaping into the air, she fired a Fire Release jutsu in the opposite direction of the sunlight.
The resulting blaze outshone the sun, and her shadow vanished from the ground—rendering Nara Shimada's jutsu useless.
"Eight Trigrams Bakuum Palm!"
Hyūga Tongguang launched a powerful chakra shockwave straight at Pakura .
Sizzle—
Pakura sliced through it with her heat blades. The intense heat shredded the chakra pulse.
The brief pause in her attack gave Tongguang and Shimada just enough time to widen the gap between them and Pakura .
"Don't fight her in close quarters—and don't let her stay too far away, either," Tongguang instructed.
In melee, her Heat Blades were too dangerous. At long range, she could launch wide-area Scorch Release attacks that could wipe out the entire team.
The best tactic was to entangle her among the Suna-nin—forcing her to split attention and possibly avoid using her devastating heat ray.
Of course, Pakura wasn't passive. She wouldn't just let them keep her tied down.
That's where mid-range fighters and the Nara's shadow techniques came in—to restrict her movement and narrow her options.
But even then, "restrict" was all they could hope for. Stopping her was another matter.
"AH!"
Moments later, a Konoha special jōnin failed to dodge Pakura 's sudden burst of speed and was sliced clean in half.
Dead on the spot.
"She's faster… she's hiding her speed!"
Hyūga Tongguang deflected her with another Bakuum Palm, but his heart sank.
Too fast.
With the Nara's shadow techniques in play, there shouldn't have been casualties this quickly.
Especially not with their current personnel: four elite chūnin and the rest all special jōnin or higher.
As a Hyūga, Tongguang specialized in taijutsu. With Byakugan assisting, he wasn't far behind Pakura in strength or speed.
In close combat, he could hold her off. And with the Nara backing him up, they should've been able to lock her down.
But Pakura 's strength was still rising.
Her sudden acceleration just now had caught them completely off guard—and instantly killed one of their comrades.
(END CHAPTER)
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