Naruto: The Teaching System - 279

Chapter 279: Old Man, you really have one trick after another

“Damn brat.”

Ōnoki dispelled the conical Dust Release in his hands and glared at Sawada descending from the sky. The kid was stronger than he had been back in Kumogakure. Most shinobi required time and training to make even the slightest progress. What did this brat eat to grow like this?

And that absorption technique—what was it? Why did it not only swallow his Dust Release, but even analyze it?

Yes, analyze.

The instant their techniques clashed, Ōnoki could tell the Dust Release Sawada used wasn’t as powerful as his own. But it was still Dust Release. If any of his subordinates had learned to use it, he would hand over the Tsuchikage’s seat without a second thought. Kekkei Tōta wasn’t some commodity. Across the shinobi world, only he and his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage, had ever mastered it.

Give this kid time, and Dust Release would be perfected in his hands. “Konoha really is blessed,” Ōnoki muttered.

He didn’t hesitate. His body lifted and hovered. He had been careless a moment ago, nothing more. That didn’t mean Iwagakure’s Third Tsuchikage only had this much to show.

Oh? The fire is back.

Sawada watched the change settle over Ōnoki’s face and stance and had to concede the point. He was a Kage. In a few breaths, he was steady again. So what?

“Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation.”

Sawada formed a single seal. His chest swelled, and he unleashed a tidal wave of flame that roared toward Ōnoki, heat so fierce it warped the air.

“Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall.”

Floating in the air, Ōnoki snorted softly and flicked a hand. A massive wall of rock surged up and locked into place. The flames crashed into it, scattering stone in every direction. Smoke geysered upward. Ōnoki held his position, unmoving.

Sawada’s brow lifted. He slid around the edge under the cover of flame. “Wind Release: Vacuum Serial Waves.”

A dozen razor-edged wind blades tore the air from different angles, sealing every escape path. Ōnoki’s body blurred. He twisted midair in a way no human should and slipped past the blades.

“Tricks.”

He swept both hands out. Several enormous boulders wrenched free under invisible force.

“Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique.”

The stones fused into titanic fists and howled toward Sawada. Sawada didn’t dodge. Yang Release: Armament flooded his right hand, and he met the first fist with a straight punch.

The impact detonated. The rock fist exploded into gravel that rattled down like rain. Before he could fully turn, a thin white beam lanced toward him without a sound.

Sawada smiled. The old man was still that sly. He drove his fist down and smashed the beam apart.

“Why is the output lower this time?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He stepped forward and vanished. A pressure wave etched a clean line into the ground beneath him as he drove straight in. The air shrieked at the speed. His fist speared at Ōnoki’s head.

Ōnoki startled and threw a rapid seal. An oval Dust Release field flickered into life before him and caught the blow. “Monster,” he muttered, lips twisting as hairline fractures spidered across the Dust Release barrier. This was the defensive form.

“Say what you want, but slander is slander,” Sawada said. He bore down. The iron-gray fist punched through the Dust Release field.

The force knocked Ōnoki off balance. His hands never stopped moving. “Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation.”

The earth convulsed. A forest of needle-like stone spikes erupted under and around Sawada, stabbing upward. He stepped and slipped between them. One hand sealed, and he spat a rushing stream.

“Water Release: Water Formation Wall.”

A ring of water rose, drowning the incoming spikes. Sawada planted his feet and didn’t stop. His hands came together again.

Lightning Release: Electromagnetic Murder!

Power crackled down the water and across the soaked earth, racing for Ōnoki’s feet.

“Good idea. Too slow,” Ōnoki said, lifting quickly out of range. “And from where you’re standing… are you handing me an opening?”

He raised both hands. “Earth Release: Added Weight Rock Technique.”

Weight crashed down on Sawada, an invisible force trying to drive him into the lingering ring of water.

Again with this.

Sawada had already sampled this trick from Kitsuchi. Annoying, yes—but the Iwa line of Earth Release had teeth.

“It’s over. Let’s see you slip this,” Ōnoki said, convinced Sawada couldn’t break free. He clapped his hands. “Earth Release: Rock Fist Cage.”

Four monumental slabs etched with sigils surged up around Sawada, locking into a cube that trapped him in the center. The top sealed shut without a gap. Inside, four massive stone fists formed and hammered down at him.

Dull impacts thudded in the cage. Now and then, stone cracked. Hovering above, Ōnoki finally allowed himself a triumphant smile. His hands framed a shape, chakra condensing into a cube of white ruin.

“This time, let’s see you block.”

“This old man really does have one trick after another,” Sawada said inside the cage. Chakra gathered at his feet. He flipped, slipped the crushing fists by an inch, and drove a kick into the ceiling.

The cage roof blew outward from the inside, stone erupting in all directions. A figure wreathed in chakra flames burst free. “What—” Ōnoki stared. He hadn’t expected the kid to break out in seconds. The Dust Release cube in his hands was only just forming, but he didn’t hesitate. He sighted in and fired.

The air wavered as corrosive energy gathered. A towering white beam stabbed for the sky.

“This stubborn old fossil.”

Sawada’s right leg darkened as Yang Release: Armament sheathed it. He raised it high and brought it down with perfect focus.

“Yang Release: Heavenly Foot.”

The Dust Release beam shattered like brittle ice at the first touch. Sawada never checked his momentum. He stamped through the beam and drove straight down for Ōnoki.