Without the enhancement of "The Tide Moon," "Kaguya's" combat power was still sufficient to bully Genin, but recklessly deploying her against a Jōnin like Hannya was far too risky.
After several years of actual combat training, Yuki had discovered that although a "Stand" was a powerful combat auxiliary, over-reliance on it could turn it into a double-edged sword.
For example, if an opponent unleashed a "Fire Dragon Bullet," and Yuki didn't materialize "Princess Kaguya" to defend or counterattack, only he would be hit.
But if "Kaguya" was in a materialized state at that moment, the "Fire Dragon Bullet" would hit both of them with one shot. The damage wouldn't be reduced at all, and the trauma suffered by "Kaguya" would be fed back to Yuki—effectively doubling the damage he took. He'd be lucky to survive.
During the recent battle, Yuki had realized that Hannya possessed extremely fast reflexes and a keen sense of crisis. If "Princess Kaguya" was materialized rashly to attack, it was highly likely she would be counterattacked. The timing had to be perfect.
However, just as Yuki was quietly lurking under the wreckage, thinking and recovering his strength, Hannya, also hiding in the darkness not far away, revealed a sinister smile.
Little brat of the Hyūga clan, I admit you're very talented, enough to stand out among your peers. But your biggest mistake is overestimating your own abilities.
At that moment, Hannya quickly attached slips of "Explosive Tags" to the kunai in his hand and the tree trunk nearby, clearly having already devised a countermeasure.
His "Byakugan" can see through chakra flow and has full telescopic vision. But it's dark now. Even with telescopic vision, he can't see everything happening in the darkness. We can use that.
After quickly setting up his trap, the chakra within Hannya's body began to surge wildly.
That guy is about to make his move!
Simultaneously, the "Byakugan" of "Princess Kaguya" also detected the chakra fluctuation not far away. Yuki had seen this specific flow pattern before.
It's the "Grass Shadow Style: Exploding Palm External Technique." He plans to directly attack the wooden wreckage!
Reacting instantly, Yuki leaped upward at tremendous speed. At the same time, "Kaguya's" hair entangled a large tree trunk nearby, allowing him to perform more three-dimensional and rapid aerial maneuvers.
While his body was still mid-air, the wooden wreckage he had been hiding in exploded with a deafening roar, as if blasted apart by gale-force winds and torrents.
He seemed to do something over there just now, but it's hard to see clearly without the torchlight.
Just as Yuki's body hung in the air, he heard a sharp whooshing sound near his ears, as if something was rapidly approaching from above in a parabolic arc.
Is that the sound of kunai being thrown in a parabolic arc while he releases the "Grass Shadow Style: Exploding Palm Technique"?
Parabolic kunai throwing was a relatively intermediate skill. Experienced users could make kunai strike opponents from unimaginable angles.
Should I use "Revolving Heaven" to deflect them? No, it's just a few kunai. No need for such a big move.
Although "Revolving Heaven" was a highly useful defensive skill, Yuki didn't dare use it carelessly. The move required covering the entire body with chakra and then rotating, consuming a massive amount of chakra.
After all, this world wasn't like the later stages of the original story where everyone had infinite chakra. Yuki's own chakra level was around Chūnin tier. Using "Revolving Heaven" seven or eight times would pretty much drain him dry.
If it's just kunai, I can just entangle them. I need to prepare for a protracted battle.
With that thought, "Princess Kaguya's" long white hair spread out like a spider's web, intercepting all the kunai shooting towards her master in the dark night sky.
But the moment "Kaguya's" hair entangled the kunai, puffs of smoke erupted from them.
BOOM!
Following the muffled sound, violent explosions and shockwaves erupted. "Kaguya" was sent flying, and as her master, Yuki also suffered a tremendous impact.
Damn it, the kunai were wrapped with Explosive Tags! This bastard is too much!
But before Yuki could recover from the impact, the moment he landed, a sharp pain shot through the sole of his left foot—the first to touch the ground.
It was a Caltrop. After stepping on it, Yuki realized the ground around him was littered with numerous small, earth-yellow iron pieces. Under the dim light, these things almost blended perfectly with the ground, impossible to spot without careful inspection.
"Caltrops" were iron-spiked obstacles commonly used by ninja, also known as tetsubishi. Simply put, they were four-pronged iron spikes designed so that one spike always pointed upward upon landing, used to limit an opponent's movement space.
"Summoning Technique: Forest Lizard!"
Seeing Yuki's movements halt not far away, Hannya immediately retrieved a scroll from his waist as fast as possible, bit his thumb, smeared the blood on it, and quickly formed hand seals to activate this special summoning ninjutsu.
As a thick fog rose, a giant lizard, nearly the size of an adult human, appeared before Hannya. The lizard's claws, tail, and head were adorned with plant-like leaf tissues, and its green body made it resemble a plant more than an animal.
No way, is he not even going to give me a chance to catch my breath?
Sensing another unique chakra signature approaching from nearby, Yuki knew the next assault would be even harder to withstand.
It had to be said, Hannya's tactics were highly effective. He didn't underestimate his younger opponent in the slightest, but very firmly executed the strategy he'd formulated from the start.
The greatest advantage of the "Byakugan" lay in its superb observational ability. Therefore, Hannya rarely used single attacks, instead combining Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, and tool attacks to create a three-dimensional assault, minimizing the effectiveness of the "Byakugan."
And what happens when you combine such a three-dimensional offense with a summoning beast?
"Forest Lizard! Use Flying Leaf Cutter!"
Following Hannya's command, the leaves on the giant lizard immediately began growing at a visible rate, then rapidly detached from its body and shot towards Yuki's location.
Don't underestimate these leaves. The lethality of chakra-infused leaves rotating at high speed was no less than that of shuriken wielded by ordinary Jōnin. And the "Forest Lizard" could release hundreds of leaves in one go.
There are too many leaves! Impossible to dodge them all!
"Gentle Fist Technique: Revolving Heaven!"
Realizing evasion was futile, Yuki resorted to "Revolving Heaven" for defense. After all, "Princess Kaguya's" white hair had been significantly depleted by the earlier Explosive Tag blast and might not hold up now.
If the blades from the "Forest Lizard" were like shuriken, then Yuki, beginning to spin, became the eye of a storm.
A torrent of chakra overflowed from the chakra points all over his body, gaining immense power from his rotation. From Yuki's perspective, he felt confident he could deflect even a Tailed Beast Ball, let alone these mere blades.
But the next second, Yuki's eyes widened in shock as he realized something very strange.
Logically, under the high-speed rotation of "Revolving Heaven," all the flying blades should be deflected instantly. But they weren't.
As the spinning blades were caught in the "Revolving Heaven," some were indeed deflected and fell to the ground, but another portion... stuck to Yuki's body.
No, strictly speaking, they weren't stuck to his body but to the vortex of chakra covering his exterior.
As more and more blades adhered to Yuki, his rotation slowed drastically.
When the "Revolving Heaven" finally ground to a halt, Yuki's entire body was gradually being enveloped by the leaves, like a rice dumpling being wrapped in dough.
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