Chapter 153: Signal
Temari also recognized the C-rank Earth Style ninjutsu "Earth Style: Earth Flow Burial". As the eldest daughter of the Fourth Kazekage, and three years older than Ino and the others, Temari had rich combat experience and was not controlled by anger. She stomped her right foot on the ground, leaping high into the air, causing Ino's "Mind Body Switch Technique" to miss its target.
"Wind Scythe!" Temari, now high in the air, swung a sharp, two-meter-long blade of air downwards.
Ino's "Earth Style: Earth Flow Burial" was still in effect. Her body moved horizontally through the earth like a fish for two meters, dodging the wind blade. She looked up and retaliated in kind.
"Water Style: Water Severing Wave!"
Tsunade herself was not proficient in Water Style, but she was knowledgeable and had seen the Water Severing Wave since it was her second grandfather's ninjutsu. She had seen it since she was a child, and her second grandfather had explained many of the techniques and usage methods within the jutsu to her.
To maintain her teacher persona, she taught Ino many Water Style techniques that she herself might not fully understand, just throwing them at her.
Having received indirect guidance from the Second Hokage, Ino's application of Water Style improved by another ten percent on top of her original skill.
At this moment, the water line was fast and accurate. Temari, in mid-air, had no way to gain leverage and could only block with her most precious fan.
With a "clang," the Water Severing Wave struck the fan, which should actually be called the Three-Star Fan, producing a metallic clanging sound.
Using this slight buffer, Temari dodged the Water Severing Wave. After landing, she looked at her fan with heartache.
The Three-Star Fan was inferior to Madara Uchiha's War Fan, but it was still a treasure created by the Sand Village's predecessors using branches from the Divine Tree and a large amount of precious metals. Now, it had been cut open with a gash more than two fingers deep!
Ino was also a little surprised. She hadn't intended to kill Temari. This Water Severing Wave was restrained. If the opponent couldn't block it, she would stop accordingly. But to be blocked by a broken fan was something she hadn't expected.
Temari, both frightened and angry, fully opened the Three-Star Fan, poured her own wind chakra into it, and fanned out an extremely wide-range tornado towards Ino.
This attack had a large area of effect. Ino no longer used low-level ninjutsu to dodge. Instead, she used her best Water Style defense, a Water Style ninjutsu that Tsunade had taught her, also from the Second Hokage.
She gathered chakra between her chest and abdomen, then put her hands together and spat the chakra towards the sky: "Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
The sky seemed to open up a large hole out of nowhere, with a continuous stream of water pouring down. The water flow was guided by chakra, rotating rapidly, like a pillar of water connecting heaven and earth.
The water tornado covered a vast area. As it spun rapidly, all of Temari's wind blades were blocked outside.
This move was both offensive and defensive. The water tornado seemed slow but was actually fast, pressing down overwhelmingly. Temari's maneuverability became smaller and smaller, and even Genma Shiranui, the referee, looked a bit disheveled.
For Ino's teammates and her family, this level of Water Style was commonplace. The Great Waterfall Technique was truly shocking; the current Water Formation Wall was just ordinary. But for many Chunin and Jonin, the power of this jutsu was somewhat exaggerated.
Several Anbu ninjas responsible for on-site security couldn't help but discuss in low voices.
"Is that the Yamanaka family's young lady? She can actually unleash such a large-scale Water Style out of thin air in an environment without water? This Water Style ninjutsu seems to be the Second Hokage's ninjutsu, right?"
A companion whispered, "I heard she's currently Lord Tsunade's disciple."
Did being Lord Tsunade's disciple have anything to do with this scale of Water Style? The Anbu ninja who spoke first thought for a moment, feeling that there might be some connection.
Facing the Water Formation Wall that covered half the arena, Temari used all her means, even summoning her summoning beast, but it was still useless. Any Wind Style ninjutsu would be negated upon entering the Water Formation Wall. Ino continuously replenished her chakra, maintaining the size of the Water Formation Wall. The two slowly entered a chakra-draining phase.
Except for Naruto and Gaara, Ino had never been afraid of a chakra contest.
Temari's chakra reserves were only average. After holding on for a minute, her chakra was about to run out, and she could only raise her hand in surrender.
The next few matches proceeded quickly.
Gaara fought Shino Aburame. After a few moves, Shino felt he couldn't defeat his opponent and raised his hand in surrender.
Naruto fought Rock Lee fiercely, eventually defeating him with great difficulty thanks to his powerful recovery ability.
Kankuro forfeited directly.
Shikamaru defeated Hinata, and then Sasuke faced Shikamaru. They fought a match, and Shikamaru fought quite hard. His taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu were all at a certain level, considered first-class among the Konoha 12, but ultimately he was no match for the Sharingan. Sasuke smoothly advanced to the next round.
Undercurrents surged. Taking advantage of the cover provided by the previous matches, both the Sand and Sound Villages were ready to launch a sudden attack.
They were now waiting for a signal.
And that signal was about to arrive.
Ino versus Gaara!
On the high platform, the Third Hokage's eyes were deep. He asked the "Fourth Kazekage" beside him, "Lord Kazekage, will there really be no problem with your village sending a Jinchuriki to fight?"
The "Fourth Kazekage"'s tone was particularly calm: "If I'm not mistaken, didn't your village also send the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to participate in the exam? I believe we both have sufficient means to restrain them."
The Third Hokage slowly nodded: "That's good."
As Genma Shiranui announced, "Begin the match," Ino immediately created two shadow clones.
Against someone like Gaara, the combat skills of ordinary ninjas were completely useless. She had to use powerful ninjutsu to overwhelm him!
Ino's main body and shadow clones simultaneously formed hand seals, and then countless water bubbles covered the entire arena.
The water bubbles reflected colorful light in the sunlight, a dense and vast expanse.
The Third Hokage's smoking action couldn't help but pause for a moment. He had heard Asuma and Kurenai talk about this jutsu and the subsequent Vapor Explosion, but this was his first time seeing it with his own eyes.
The reason the water bubbles could reflect light was mainly because their surface was covered with oil. He was very familiar with this oil; it was clearly Jiraiya's technique.
The Third Hokage was thoughtful. The "Fourth Kazekage" beside him recalled a previous experience and said with a sinister tone, "This ninjutsu of adding oil to water seems a bit like your village's Jiraiya's technique?"
The Third Hokage asked, "Oh? Is Lord Kazekage very familiar with Jiraiya?"
The other party smiled without saying a word.
At this time, the number of water bubbles in the arena had exceeded a thousand. Gaara stood motionless with his arms crossed, but the fine sand in front of him had already formed a sand shield.
Ino lightly shouted and waved her hand, and the dense water bubbles struck Gaara's sand shield.
This time, Gaara was prepared. He no longer used a simple sand shield for defense. The outermost layer was coarse sand, followed by two layers of shields, each finer than the last.
He erected three layers of shields in succession for defense.