"Third match: Uchiha Akira versus Hozuki Suigetsu!"
The battle between Hozuki Suigetsu and Uchiha Akira naturally caused a massive wave of cheers and excitement to ripple through the arena. Even Konoha's Uchiha Sasuke locked his focused attention onto the field.
The Uchiha clan was the greatest elite house in the ninja world, while Hozuki Suigetsu similarly hailed from an illustrious, high-ranking clan of the Hidden Mist. The direct confrontation between these two was exceptionally eye-catching.
"Suigetsu, you bastard, don't you dare lose!"
Uzumaki Karin, who had woken up at some unknown point, cheered for Suigetsu through gritted teeth. It was glaringly obvious that the two maintained a highly favorable everyday relationship.
"Tch, so noisy..."
It had to be said that facing Uchiha Akira placed an immense amount of pressure on Suigetsu. His opponent, after all, belonged to the Uchiha lineage, and the absolute reputation of the Sharingan forced him to take the match seriously.
Compared to Suigetsu, Akira walked onto the tournament grounds with a completely indifferent expression, as if everything around him was as light as a breeze. This made Suigetsu incredibly annoyed, feeling that this guy was simply acting too cool.
Staring at Akira across the field, Suigetsu flexed the muscles across his arms. "Akira, I won't be holding back."
"Suigetsu, I intend to do the exact same."
"Then why aren't you showing off your muscles?"
"..."
Water Release: Water Formation Wall!Hydrification Technique!
Taking advantage of Akira's brief lapse of attention, Suigetsu initialized his opening move by weaving individual hand seals with both hands simultaneously.
He seamlessly deployed the Water Formation Wall and the Hydrification Technique at the exact same moment. This beautiful opening sequence triggered a massive roar of applause from the crowd.
Weaving hand seals with a single hand was natively a highly difficult skill... but now, he was not only utilizing single-handed seals, but he was also using both his left and right hands independently to execute two completely separate Water Release ninjutsu.
Although a portion of the seal sequences for both techniques overlapped, allowing Suigetsu to exploit a small timing window, Shiraishi was still discouraged from over-reliance on single-handed seals.
While single-handed seals could accelerate the casting speed of a technique—and some individuals didn't even require seals at all—relying on them could occasionally trigger a specific degree of technical backlash.
As he confronted the Hozuki clan's bizarre Hydrification Technique, Akira's expression grew steadily more serious. Concurrently, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan within his eyes spun rapidly, causing a strange, chilling aura to bleed outward from his frame.
His Sharingan had already matured to the Three-Tomoe state!
Sasuke's expression turned somewhat ugly. He had not expected this Uchiha clan member of the exact same age to already command a Sharingan matrix that was far superior to his own. For a moment, Sasuke found the reality highly difficult to accept.
However, Sasuke's own awakening timeline truly didn't amount to much when measured against the broader history of the Uchiha house; geniuses like Shisui and Itachi had successfully unlocked their Sharingan at a mere few winters of age.
Akira did not employ single-handed seals, but his standard casting speed was remarkably fast. He instantly exhaled a fierce gale, and during that exact operational window, his second seal sequence initialized, spitting a specialized, blazing fireball from his mouth.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Wind!"
This specific display caused even Shiraishi to express admiration. "A flawless combination of Wind Release and Fire Release. Though it lacks single-handed seals, Akira's absolute casting speed is truly praiseworthy."
The wind violently accelerated the spread of the flames. In a flash, Akira utilized the Body Flicker technique to materialize inside Suigetsu's perimeter, thrusting a long sword and a short sword forward simultaneously.
A long and short sword dual-wielding configuration?
Suigetsu reacted instantly, retrieving a giant, circular blade to lock horns against Akira's dual swords.
Although this specific circular blade was not Zabuza's Executioner's Sword, it was an elite weapon manufactured by Sunagakure's development teams. Its sharpness and destructive capacity were not a single fraction inferior to the original seven swords of the Mist.
The circular blade spun fluidly within Suigetsu's grip. As it collided continuously against Akira's short sword, the explosive showers of sparks triggered loud cheers from the spectators.
Akira's expression turned fierce. He snapped his short sword and long sword together, transforming the weapons into a sharp, elongated spear.
"To think Akira would utilize the predictive capabilities of the Sharingan strictly to supplement his weapon mastery."
Akira had spent the past few years training directly under Shiraishi, and his absolute preference rested upon the tactical deployment of diverse weaponry. Long swords, short swords, compound spears, and various complex tools—he loved them all.
Furthermore, during active combat, the specific weapon Akira deployed would completely alter across every engagement.
Shiraishi had also personally bestowed a specialized technical capability card upon Akira: the Fighting-type card, Close Combat!
The true purpose of Close Combat was to transform one's physical body and any handheld weapon into an absolute weapon of destruction; that was the true significance of the technique.
The longer the battle dragged on, the more alarmed Suigetsu became. Although his Hydrification Technique should theoretically counter an opponent who relied entirely on physical weaponry, Akira's constant, high-frequency harassment using Fire and Wind Release left Suigetsu silently cursing the tactical difficulty.
Observing the intense reactions of the global spectators around him, Kakashi could not help but sigh inwardly. In the past, this absolute honor belonged entirely to Konoha, which boasted a continuous generation of geniuses, abundant talent, and an endless stream of heroic figures.
But now?
Sunagakure had virtually supplanted Konoha entirely, transforming into the absolute core of the continent.
Even with the impending Fourth Ninja War, Konoha's strategic objective was merely to survive Sunagakure's opening offensive wave before seeking a counterattack opportunity to drive them from the homeland, rather than harboring any delusions of invading Suna in return.
This specific strategic mindset perfectly mirrored the current attitude of Konoha's leadership.
Sunagakure had thoroughly beaten them into absolute submission, leaving them with only this singular modest goal and nothing else.
"Jonin Kakashi, if you had not abandoned the blade in your hands back then, perhaps you would command a threshold of power far superior to your current status."
Akira's operational situation was highly analogous to Kakashi's historical trajectory, except that one had discarded his original sword style, while the other had established weapon mastery as his absolute primary method of engagement.
Meanwhile, in the Land of Demons, the battle had finally reached its conclusion.
Kikyo's absolute power left Yomi's faction entirely helpless. Their multiple attempts to close the distance were completely shattered, resulting in them being thoroughly battered by the priestess. Ultimately, even Yomi himself was directly captured, reduced to a helpless prisoner.
To prevent any further complications from arising, Kikyo personally presided over the sealing ceremony. Under the suppression of the priestess's immense spiritual power, the demon was violently extracted from Yomi's physical frame, thoroughly purified out of existence by the power of the Jewel of Four Souls.
Additionally, the mercenary ninja from the various foreign countries who had embedded themselves within the conflict were helplessly released by the Land of Demons' authorities.
Naturally, Kikyo's performance had thoroughly shocked the global leadership networks. They had not expected that after a thousand winters, a true practitioner of the orthodox Onmyodo lineage would manifest in this current era.
Furthermore, she had appeared in a highly dominant fashion, completely crushing the long-standing arrogance they held as ninja.
The singular arrow Kikyo had released would specifically become the source of their midnight nightmares moving forward, torturing their minds almost every single evening.
This was because that specific arrow carried a unique nightmare sub-routine upon deployment, capable of continuously draining an opponent's consciousness and mental energy within their dreams.
"Teacher Kikyo, are you truly going to leave?"
Having thoroughly settled the chaos within the Land of Demons, Kikyo prepared to embark on her return journey.
Along the way, Shion displayed various forms of attachment and reluctance, leaving Kikyo somewhat embarrassed and helpless.
"I have already recorded everything I know within that text. It should provide sufficient guidance for your ongoing cultivation."
Kikyo required a return to Sunagakure, but Shion did not view the situation in the same light. "Teacher Kikyo, the place you belong most is right here, not within Sunagakure."
With the global ninja war about to initialize, Shion naturally did not want a priestess who commanded the complete, unbroken heritage of the Onmyoji to suffer any unexpected accidents within the crossfire of the conflict.
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