Did this guy plan for this too?
As the overwhelming hail of rubble shot towards him, Yuki couldn't help but frown. In his current position and posture, he couldn't even adjust his body, let alone properly defend.
"Kaguya: Hair Jizō!"
At this critical moment, the advantage of having a Stand with almost no tells was revealed. Upon Yuki's mental command, "Kaguya's" long, slender white hair immediately tightened like a cocoon, wrapping tightly around her master's back and forming a shield against the incoming shrapnel of rock.
"Hair Jizō" was originally one of Jiraiya's signature ninjutsu, capable of turning hair into needles to wrap around the body, producing a hedgehog-like defensive and offensive effect. Using "Princess Kaguya's" hair for this purpose couldn't be more fitting.
"Princess Kaguya" now possessed considerable physical attributes, and Yuki had channeled his own chakra into that white hair, significantly boosting the technique's defensive power.
Crackle! Thud, thud, thud!
Amidst a series of sharp impacts and the sound of scattered gravel hitting the ground, the area where Yuki stood was instantly obscured by a cloud of dust, and the ground was pockmarked with uneven gaps.
Did I get him? His posture just now should have made defense impossible.
Yes, there's movement! But just as Hannya, who had used the chaos to hide beside a house and observe quietly, thought this, a figure flashed out from the dust cloud.
Whoosh!
Almost the instant the figure appeared, Hannya's conditioned reflexes, honed over years as a ninja, kicked in. He drew a kunai from his waist and hurled it violently in that direction.
Years of battlefield experience had accustomed Hannya to react swiftly in fierce combat. A cold light flashed through the air, and the kunai struck the center of the figure's mass with unerring accuracy.
Something's wrong. That's not the sound of a kunai hitting flesh.
Although the sound from the dust was faint, Hannya, a veteran of many battles, could clearly distinguish the sounds of hitting wood, a human body, or the ground.
Most likely, he made a dummy out of clothes or some junk and threw it out. So the real guy must be...
"Behind!"
"Hey!"
The moment Hannya spun around, Yuki's figure appeared right behind him, already in a "Gentle Fist" stance.
Does this guy have eyes in the back of his head? How did he know I was here?
Though his sneak attack had failed, Yuki had no chance to change tactics now and could only press on with his offensive.
"Gentle Fist Technique: Sixty-Four Palms Eight Trigrams!"
Instantly, a "Eight Trigrams Formation" composed of chakra appeared beneath Yuki's feet. Of course, no one except those with the "Byakugan" could see it.
The Eight Trigrams diagram is divided into light and dark sides—the light trigrams representing Yang, the dark trigrams representing Yin, symbolizing the cyclical rise and fall of energy in the growth of all things in the universe.
The Light Eight Trigrams are: Qian ☰, Kǎn ☵, Gèn ☶, Zhèn ☳, Xùn ☴, Lí ☲, Kūn ☷, Duì ☱.
The Dark Eight Trigrams are: Xiū, Shēng, Jǐng, Sǐ, Shāng, Dǔ, Jīng, Kāi.
The so-called "Sixty-Four Palms" essentially projects the hexagrams of the Eight Trigrams onto the human body, driving chakra into the acupoints indicated by the hexagrams to cause massive damage.
The greatest characteristic of the Sixty-Four Palms, besides its alignment with the Eight Trigrams, is that the speed of the combo becomes progressively faster.
As the movements accelerate—two palms, four palms, eight palms, sixteen palms, thirty-two palms, sixty-four palms—they become swifter, stronger, and more dazzling.
But thinking about it from this angle, it's not hard to see that the first two palms are actually the slowest part of the entire chain. In other words, the starting movement of the "Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms" is the biggest flaw in this palm technique.
"The move is pretty good, but unfortunately, your speed is always a beat too slow."
But just as Yuki's opening move was about to separate into the first two palms of the Eight Trigrams, aiming to strike the two chakra points on Hannya's chest and flank from different angles, the latter suddenly sank into the ground like an eel, causing Yuki's two slow, un-accelerated palms to slice through empty air.
As expected, the initial "Two Palms," being the slowest, couldn't catch him. I originally planned to solve this with a sneak attack, but I didn't expect him to react even to that...
After Hannya vanished, Yuki quickly leaped upward because his Byakugan had spotted a figure approaching at high speed through the soil layer.
Before Yuki could even land firmly under the eaves of the nearby wooden house, a pair of thick arms shot out from the ground where he had just been standing.
If Yuki hadn't dodged in time, he'd probably have only his head left above ground.
"So it's true. Although there are no visible signs of the Byakugan being activated, you can still see the flow of chakra. Are you using some special technique to conceal the Byakugan's activation signs?"
At this moment, Hannya, with half his body protruding from the soil, looked at Yuki, who was hanging upside down from the eaves like a bat sunbathing, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
The gap between a Jōnin and a lower-ranked ninja, the strong and the weak, isn't always reflected in raw power, speed, or ninjutsu potency. The ability for "intelligence gathering" and "intelligence analysis" is also a crucial measure of strength.
In this regard, Hannya undoubtedly demonstrated his seasoned vision and experience. After just a few exchanges, he had realized Yuki wasn't as simple as he appeared on the surface.
Is this the experience of a veteran?
As Hannya fully emerged from the soil, Yuki felt as if he were locked in the sights of a ferocious beast, strong warning signals screaming from every pore.
*It doesn't matter. My "Byakugan" has a 360-degree field of vision with no blind spots. I can see the shape of his chakra. He shouldn't be able to... Wait. He's in the next room!*
In an instant, a vigorous figure flashed like a ghost into the nearby wooden house, burst directly through the inner wall, and thrust a sharp kunai backward towards Yuki's forehead.
This guy is so hard to deal with...!
Facing this deadly kunai thrust, Yuki suddenly slapped his elbow. A pair of armored gauntlets covering the backs of his hands sprang out from his sleeves.
As the kunai stabbed down fiercely, the back of Yuki's left hand, now protected by the gauntlet, immediately intercepted the blade. With a crisp clang of metal, the thrust was deflected to the side.
Even with his absolute visual advantage and proficient deflection skills in close combat, Yuki wasn't foolish enough to block sharp weapons with his bare flesh and blood. This pair of gauntlets was specially prepared for such situations.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, amidst the fierce struggle between the two, a nearby burning torch was extinguished by the strong wind they generated. The area for tens of meters around was immediately plunged into darkness.
Just then, the latest round of offense and defense between the two concluded. Yuki retreated several meters to the side like a released spring, concealing his figure within the wreckage of the wooden house Hannya had smashed earlier.
What should I do? I can't beat him head-on.
After catching a brief moment to breathe, Yuki crouched under the wooden wreckage, his mind racing.
Hannya's speed was consistently much faster, and his experience was vastly superior. In other words, without prior setup, Yuki's Gentle Fist couldn't land a hit at all, making even his killer palm strikes to chakra points useless.
What's more, it seemed the guy had learned his lesson. Now that he knew Yuki possessed Byakugan-like abilities, Hannya's every move seemed much more cautious.
Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Taijutsu, Ninja Tools, and Traps. Although taijutsu was Hannya's strongest suit, unlike Yuki, it wasn't his only weapon. His adaptability was far greater than his opponent's.
If I keep consuming chakra like this, I'll definitely run out first. Should I risk using my Stand as the main attacker?
Yuki glanced up at the sky. Although night was falling, the clouds obscured the bright moonlight, preventing "Kaguya" from performing at her full potential.
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