Chapter 521: Kill with One Punch (asking for monthly ticket)

“The Rain Country’s Ninja power has developed well; this Ninja named Nagato looks very strong,” Lord Daimyo of Fire Country said to the Rain Country Daimyo sitting beside him.

Lord Daimyo of Fire Country didn’t understand Chakra Nature Transformation, but every Ninjutsu Nagato used caused huge destruction and was visually impressive, making him seem formidable.

“Indeed,” Rain Country Daimyo nodded in agreement with a laugh.

He suddenly felt that this Shinobi Sect wasn’t bad; at least it could earn him some face.

If even ordinary people could perceive Nagato’s strength, then the participating Ninja certainly could.

“Earth Release is also like this, so is it possible that he is also proficient in Lightning Release and Water Release Ninjutsu?” Kakashi thought carefully and realized that Nagato might be proficient in all five elemental Ninjutsu.

Because Ninja Master Sōsuke, in addition to defeating Hanzō with his Fire Release, which was of the opposite nature, was most praised for his mastery of seven Chakra Nature Transformation Ninjutsu.

Since Nagato was now studying under Sōsuke, it wasn’t impossible for him to master multiple Chakra Nature Transformation Ninjutsu.

When estimating an enemy’s strength, it’s always best to estimate as high as possible; overestimating is always better than underestimating.

“What exactly are the abilities of that Sage’s Eye?” In fact, what Kakashi cared about most was the Six Paths Sage’s eyes on Nagato.

Just by using Transparent World to perceive those eyes, Kakashi could feel a fatal threat from them.

“We can only see if Oily Girl Shibi and Sand Crab can force out more of his techniques next,” Kakashi thought, glancing at the match list.

Oily Girl Shibi drew number three; if Oily Girl Shibi won the next battle, he would face Nagato in the second round.

“I have to beat him to enter the Four Finals; it’s a bit troublesome.” Sasori casually glanced and found that Nagato was unusually strong and happened to be in the exact spot he wanted for his ranking.

If Nagato were his opponent for the Four Finals, Sasori would either forfeit directly or lose on purpose; he just wanted a Chakra Blade anyway.

But since Nagato became his obstacle to advancing to the Four Finals, Sasori had to think about how to defeat Nagato without exposing himself.

Sasori wasn’t afraid of a Ninjutsu cannon like Nagato, because Sasori specialized in poison; no matter how powerful your Ninjutsu, if you accidentally got poisoned by Sasori, you’d be in a death trap.

“Number three, Oily Girl Shibi versus number four…” The referee’s voice quickly echoed into the waiting room again.

Oily Girl Shibi silently adjusted his sunglasses with a finger and walked towards the battle arena.

The other Iwagakure Ninja who was called out also quickly followed after greeting his companion.

The battle result was not unexpected by Kakashi; Oily Girl Shibi won.

Although he hadn’t fought Oily Girl Shibi, Kakashi knew that Oily Girl Shibi was also participating at Hiruzen Sarutobi’s suggestion, so his strength was definitely not weak.

The battle quickly progressed to the fourth match of the first round; hearing the names called by the referee, Kakashi focused his attention.

“Number seven, Yahiko versus number eight, Sand Crab!”

“Yahiko, be careful of his hidden weapons; puppeteers like to use poison,” Nagato reminded him.

“Yes, I know; after all, he’s also one of the people Leader Kakuzu specifically warned us about,” Yahiko nodded, smiling.

The information provided by Kakuzu was already rich enough; if he still lost, it could only be due to his own lack of strength, not anything else.

“Yahiko, good luck,” Konan encouraged.

“I’ll do my best to win the battle; even if I can’t reach the finals as Obito said, I’ll still strive to reach the top eight, losing in the first round would be a bit embarrassing,” Yahiko laughed and walked towards the battle arena.

If Yahiko advanced to the top eight, his next opponent would be Nagato; Yahiko was aware of the gap between them, so he considered reaching the top eight a success.

Moreover, there were quite a few strong Ninja in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament; if he could reach the top eight, Yahiko felt he could invite Konan and Nagato out for a celebratory meal.

“Begin!”

“Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!”

As soon as the referee’s words fell, Yahiko quickly formed hand signs, then leaped up and sprayed a huge water ball towards Sasori.

He wanted to use the Great Waterfall Technique to create favorable conditions for casting Water Release.

Sasori maintained his indifferent expression, retreated a few steps, took out a scroll, and retrieved Hiruko, which was stored inside; while dodging the water impact, he controlled Hiruko to attack Yahiko.

“Water Release: Water Clone Jutsu!”

Yahiko, worried about the poison on the puppet, used Body Flicker Technique to create distance, then split into two Water Clones, intending for the Water Clones to deal with Sasori’s puppet.

Facts proved Yahiko’s worries were not unfounded; the moment he dodged, Sasori’s puppet opened its mouth and spat out a large number of high-speed flying poison needles.

If Yahiko hadn’t created distance quickly enough, he would definitely not have been able to dodge such fast poison needles at close range.

Then, Yahiko’s Water Clones rushed towards Hiruko, while Yahiko himself attacked Sasori directly.

The best way to deal with a puppeteer is to attack the main body, because a puppeteer’s body is not as tough as their puppets.

“Water Release: Water Spear!”

Yahiko formed hand signs, condensing a swirling vortex of water in his hand; the water rapidly spun and then transformed into three long-handled water spears, which shot rapidly towards Sasori.

This was a Water Release developed by Muzuki, primarily focused on penetration.

The sharp water spears did not cause any ripple in Sasori’s heart; he single-handedly controlled Hiruko to use its tail stinger to deal with the Water Clones, while also taking out another scroll containing a puppet, summoning it, and controlling the defensive puppet to block the incoming water spears.

Seeing this, Yahiko had one of the Water Clones dealing with Hiruko go to stall the newly summoned puppet, while his main body used Water Instant Body to rapidly rush towards Sasori.

Sasori didn’t want to get entangled with Yahiko too much; after taking out the second puppet, Sasori took out two more puppets and controlled all four puppets simultaneously to fight.

Yahiko, who was rushing forward, immediately braked; he wasn’t confident he could break through the two puppets’ defenses and defeat Sasori.

Yahiko’s offensive paused, while Sasori launched a fierce attack, controlling three puppets with one hand, attacking and defending in an orderly manner, quickly defeating one of Yahiko’s Water Clones.

At the same time, Hiruko on the other side also eliminated Yahiko’s Water Clone and, under Sasori’s control, rapidly rushed towards Yahiko.

In the blink of an eye, the situation reversed, and Yahiko was surrounded by four puppets.

“What’s going on with this Ninja called Sand Crab? No young Ninja in our Village can achieve this level of control,”

Baki, who had been eliminated and was now in the audience, showed a shocked expression when he saw Sasori’s puppet manipulation.

Although he was a Ninja specializing in Wind Release, he often watched his teammates or elders use Puppet Jutsu and had a good understanding of it.

Baki couldn’t believe it; one must know that their Hidden Sand Village was the origin of puppetry, yet they were actually surpassed in Puppet Jutsu by some unknown rogue who popped out of nowhere.

“No, his puppet performance, how is it so similar to the Village’s? Could he be a disciple of some rogue Ninja from the Village?”

Baki then noticed something else amiss; Sasori’s Puppet Jutsu didn’t seem like a wild technique, but rather pure Sunagakure Puppet Jutsu.

“This Sand Crab is indeed not simple; controlling four puppets simultaneously while making them so agile.” Kakashi in the waiting room raised Sasori’s threat level by one.

As a puppeteer, Sasori clearly possessed extraordinary strength.

Kakashi became even more expectant of the third-round battle; between a Ninjutsu cannon and a puppeteer with strength in numbers, who would prevail?

“Yahiko,” Konan showed a worried expression.

Sasori’s true strength was even greater than what Kakuzu’s intelligence had predicted.

Under the relentless pressure of the four puppets, Yahiko couldn’t even form hand signs to use Water Release for a counterattack; the various hidden weapons on the puppets kept Yahiko busy.

“Sand Crab wins!”

Eventually, Yahiko fell under the puppets’ encirclement; Sasori immediately put his puppets back into the scrolls after the referee announced the result, then walked back into the waiting room.

“I really lost in the first round,” Yahiko looked up at the sky and couldn’t help scratching his head.

Even though he was a relatively thick-skinned person, his cheeks couldn’t help but flush slightly; just recently, he was discussing with Obito about reaching the finals and making a name for himself in the Ninja World, but he ended up getting eliminated in the first round.

Soon, Ninja Sect Ninja carried Yahiko away for treatment, and the referee also called out the names of the next pair of combatants.

“Number nine, Kisame Hoshigaki versus number ten, Yura.”

Kisame Hoshigaki and Yura both quickly walked into the battle arena.

“Now, I’m the only Sand Ninja left in the elimination round; no matter what, I have to win this battle,” Yura thought with determination.

Although Rasa seemed not to value the Youth Martial Arts Tournament, Yura felt that since Sunagakure participated, their performance shouldn’t be too bad.

Yura’s idea was good, but he overestimated his own strength and underestimated Kisame Hoshigaki’s strength.

After the battle began, even though Yura showed considerable resilience, due to the gap in raw strength, he was still defeated by Kisame Hoshigaki within two minutes, bitten all over by Kisame Hoshigaki’s Water Sharks.

After the referee announced the battle result, Kisame Hoshigaki didn’t spare Yura another glance and walked straight back into the waiting room.

“Number eleven, Might Guy versus number twelve, Iwagaki!”

“Might Guy, what progress have you made after fighting the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?” Kisame Hoshigaki looked at Might Guy walking towards the battle arena, his expression becoming serious.

Because Hidden Mist concealed the details of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist’s defeat, Kisame Hoshigaki, who had been staying in the Land of Water, did not know the specific outcome of Might Guy’s battle with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist; he only knew that Might Guy, led by Muzuki, had engaged in an encounter battle with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist and had won by a large margin.

“Finally, it’s this kid Iwagaki’s turn.” Seeing the Iwagakure prodigy appear, Kitsuchi’s face showed a simple and honest smile.

Among the Ninja Iwagakure sent to participate in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament, Iwagaki was the strongest, and Kitsuchi had high hopes for him.

“Meeting me, consider yourself unlucky,” Iwagaki looked at the person in front of him and couldn’t help but smile.

Iwagakure had twenty-one Ninja participating in the Youth Martial Arts Tournament; almost every sector had Iwagakure Ninja, and Iwagakure had gathered some intelligence on almost all the qualified Ninja.

According to the preliminary intelligence, Might Guy was a Ninja specializing in Taijutsu, having not used any Ninjutsu in four battles.

And Iwagaki happened to be the perfect counter to Taijutsu Ninja.

Because his Explosion Release development direction was consistent with Gari, he pursued Taijutsu Explosion Release; clashing Taijutsu with him would truly lead to an explosion.

“Begin!”

“Eight Gates, Gate of Pain, Open!”

Might Guy immediately opened four of the Eight Gates consecutively, and a large amount of Chakra continuously surged out, strengthening his physical power.

Might Guy’s sudden burst of powerful aura slightly surprised Iwagaki, but he didn’t care; Ninja could win against stronger opponents through counter-relationships.

Iwagaki condensed a large amount of Chakra in his fist and actively attacked, using Body Flicker Technique to rush towards Might Guy.

Might Guy had already heard Kakashi’s intelligence and knew that Iwagaki was an Explosion Release Ninja, so he was wary and had condensed a large amount of Chakra in his legs beforehand.

Whoosh!

Boom!!!

Iwagaki’s fist, condensed with Explosion Release Chakra, slammed violently onto the ground where Might Guy had just stood, blasting a crater.

“If this is his only strength, entering Rock Breathing Chakra Mode should be fine,” Might Guy analyzed in his mind.

Although he was a Taijutsu Ninja, Might Guy didn’t rely solely on recklessness in combat.

With the destructive power Iwagaki displayed, he could completely withstand it by relying on the defense of Rock Breathing Chakra Mode combined with Chakra protection; at most, he would suffer some minor external injuries.

Breathing Technique Chakra Mode could accelerate injury recovery, so external injuries were nothing to him, as long as there was no poison.

“Explosion Release: Exploding Fist!”

Iwagaki condensed Chakra again and rushed towards Might Guy, issuing a challenge, “If you’ve got the guts, come for a true man’s Taijutsu battle, fist to flesh.”

Might Guy couldn’t help but laugh; he truly wished it was Kakashi saying these words to him, “Alright, this is very youthful, let’s go!”

Might Guy, without dodging, focused his breathing to the extreme and entered Rock Breathing Chakra Mode, his aura surging again.

“Leaf Hand Blade!”

Might Guy condensed a massive amount of Chakra in his right palm, and also dispersed some Chakra to protect his body, then charged forward fearlessly towards Iwagaki.

“I won!”

Iwagaki was overjoyed, not expecting Might Guy to be so easily lured, taking the bait just like that.

If Might Guy had kept running, he truly wouldn’t have had many options, as his speed was indeed much slower than Might Guy’s.

Might Guy ran extremely fast, and Iwagaki was also eager to seize this rare opportunity, rushing towards Might Guy at full speed.

Accompanied by a gust of wind, the two figures met.

Boom boom boom!!!

A huge explosion sounded, mud and rocks splattered everywhere, and thick dust enveloped the two figures.

Bang!

The next moment, a figure flew backward at extreme speed from the yellow mist, like a cannonball, slamming heavily into the sturdy wall at the edge of the battle arena, leaving a large, indented mark on the wall.

Kitsuchi’s eyes widened; his angle allowed him to clearly see the figure that flew backward.

Kitsuchi stood up, somewhat disbelieving, and checked again, confirming he wasn’t mistaken.

“How is this possible? Our Iwagakure’s prodigy was instantly defeated by one punch?”

No matter how absurd Kitsuchi found it, this was the reality that had just happened; their Ninja Village’s Explosion Release prodigy was defeated by Konoha’s Taijutsu Ninja with one punch.

“Might Guy wins!” The referee announced Might Guy’s victory after painstakingly prying Iwagaki out of the wall.

PS: Please give monthly votes; there’s another chapter coming, probably around 2:30 or 3:00 AM.