That figure with the cold and fierce aura was none other than Sora, who had arrived using Shunpo at the critical moment.
Blocking in front of Kurumi, the already released Hyorinmaru in Sora's hand caused the scorching steam in the area to instantly cool down.
Killing intent permeated the air.
However-
Upon seeing the newcomer's figure, the expressions of the already injured Matsunaga Yuzuki and Yato Toden showed not a hint of joy, but were instead full of astonishment and panic.
'Sora-sama…'
'Why is he here?'
'Didn't he see the retreat signal?'
Matsunaga Yuzuki was directly dumbfounded. After staring blankly for a moment, he let out a bitter, belated laugh.
'The signal was so obvious, how could he not have seen it?'
'Clearly,'
'After seeing the retreat flare, Sora-sama not only didn't leave, but turned back at all costs to rescue us. It seems we've become dead weight again…'
Thinking this, Matsunaga Yuzuki's expression grew even more bitter, but his movements didn't stop. He and Yato Toden both took advantage of the intimidation Sora posed to the Konoha's Ninjas to temporarily disengage and move to Sora's side.
"So…"
"You came."
Kurumi also said with a face full of bitterness.
"I came."
Sora nodded.
Kurumi then said despairingly, "You shouldn't have come."
At that moment, taking advantage of the chaos on the field, Hiashi gritted his teeth against the intense pain of his severed arm and shook a smoke bomb from his sleeve.
Bang!
The pellet hit the ground and burst.
Immediately, a large cloud of grey smoke billowed up.
"Trying to escape?"
Sora sneered disdainfully. He raised the Hyorinmaru in his hand and suddenly swung it down lightly towards the direction of the smoke bomb.
Hum!
Instantly, terrifying Reiatsu surged.
The next moment, in the direction Sora swung his sword, a gleaming icy blade materialized, whistling as it slashed into the smoke.
"Vacuum Ice Blade!!!"
Swoosh!
A whistling sound rang.
Then,
Before the Konoha's Ninjas on the other side could even react, an extremely piercingly miserable scream came from within the grey smoke.
"Ahhh!!!"
It was Hizashi, who had been trying to escape!!!
Crack!
The next moment, a blood-curdling sound of bone breaking echoed once more from within the smoke.
The cold was piercing.
At this moment, it felt as if the very air had frozen.
As the terrifying Reiatsu surged, the Ninjas from Konoha finally saw a scene as dreadful as a hellish panorama.
Two sections of a body flew out of the smoke.
It's cut in half at the waist!
The Konoha's Jonin, the head of the Hyuga Clan's branch family, Hyuga Hizashi, had been severed at the waist by a blood-stained ice blade.
Too terrifying!
The upper part of his body, from the abdomen up, slowly slid to one side. The wound was incredibly smooth, and due to the extreme low temperature of the ice blade, the severed flesh at the wound was instantly frozen, resulting in the bizarre absence of a single drop of blood spurting from Hizashi's bisected body.
As for his life?
What a joke!
The moment he was severed by the Vacuum Ice Blade, all of Hizashi's vitality was completely frozen by the power of Hyorinmaru.
Thud!
Thud!
By the time the two halves of Hizashi's horrifying body hit the ground, the Jonin on the Konoha's side still wore expressions of stunned disbelief, as if they hadn't processed what had just happened.
Silence.
Deathly silence.
At this moment-
Kurumi, Matsunaga Yuzuki, and Yato Toden, who had just sworn to fight the Konoha's Ninjas to the death in a one-for-one exchange to buy Sora a chance to escape, were completely dumbstruck.
They looked at Sora's back, their faces filled with indescribable shock.
'Sora-sama…'
'Is this strong!??'
Hyuga!
That's a Konoha Kekkei Genkai User!
An elite among Jonin, a killing star on the battlefield! A high-level combatant like that was instantly disarmed with one slash by Sora, and then bisected with another!??
Too strong!
Strong to the point of being unbelievable!
…
On the other side, Shisui's scarlet Sharingan stared in horror and despair at Hizashi's miserable state of death. His heart contracted violently, so shocked he felt the urge to vomit blood.
"Hizashi-senpai…"
"Is dead!??"
Shisui was dumbfounded.
He knew that within Konoha's Jonin circles, there were many rumors that Hizashi, head of the Hyuga Clan's branch family, was extremely powerful, even comparable to the Uchiha Clan's head himself!
And now.
Hizashi, who was supposedly not weaker than Fugaku, had been instantly killed right before his eyes!??
Petrified.
Stunned.
Terrified.
Shisui's pupils constricted sharply. He looked at Sora, who was standing opposite him holding his sword with a light smile, with an expression of utter disbelief.
Their gazes met.
Then-
To his astonishment, Shisui found that Sora's figure had vanished from his field of vision.
'So fast!'
So fast that even his Three-Tomoe Sharingan couldn't track him!
With Shunpo, it was as if Sora had crossed space itself.
By the time an image reflected back into Shisui's pupils, he realized with horror that Sora had already appeared in front of him, sword swinging down.
He couldn't react at all!
Although his Three-Tomoe Sharingan could see Sora's slashing motion, Shisui's relatively weak body simply couldn't muster a corresponding reaction.
'It's over!'
Shisui's soul nearly fled in terror.
He was going to die!
His body couldn't dodge!
However-
Right at that moment-
A fierce shout exploded through the air.
"Brat!"
"Don't look down on Konoha's Ninjas!"
"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"
Just as Sora's blade was about to strike Shisui, a mass of white hair suddenly shot forth, fiercely entangling towards his throat, joints, kidneys, and other vital points.