บท 95: Dust

"Your strength is so gentle it tickles me," Chen, with a mocking smile on his face, held a kunai carelessly, easily deflecting each of Shiten's attacks.

"I stand still and let you fight, and yet you can't do anything to me."

Each word was like a dagger to Shiten's pride. His teeth gritted in frustration and hatred, the realization that he was being used as a simple whetstone consuming him.

"Bitch!" he growled, his voice loaded with venom.

Sensing his opponent's desperation, he decided to raise the tension even further. His cold eyes pierced Shiten. "The current you is no longer useful to me. Do you know what I mean?"

Shiten's face froze in a mask of horror.

In that moment of understanding, he felt a sharp pain in his jaw. His body shot up into the sky like a rocket.

In a blink, Chen appeared where Shiten had been standing, his indifferent gaze following his opponent's trajectory in the air. Without wasting a second, his legs tensed, and his body vanished.

Reappearing above Shiten, he executed a descending kick. The impact sent Shiten back towards the ground, but before he could touch the earth, Chen was already there, waiting.

With an ascending kick, he launched Shiten towards the sky again. The body of the Iwagakure ninja became a toy, unable to control its own movement.

Shiten, reduced to little more than a ball game, was kicked over and over again. His body swayed in the air like a rag doll, unable even to scream from the pain and shock.

Blood splattered in the air with each impact. The spectators, both allies and enemies, watched in horror at the demonstration of power and cruelty. Chen, for his part, maintained an expression of cold indifference, as if he were performing a mundane task instead of destroying a formidable opponent.

______

Ōnoki, observing this from a distance, gritted his teeth so hard they seemed about to break. His eyes, bloodshot, looked at the sky.

Chen's figure was imperceptible to him, just a golden flash moving in the air. Shiten, on the other hand, looked like a lonely ship in the midst of a devastating storm, swaying uncontrollably.

"Ōnoki, control yourself!" Hanzō's voice cut through his thoughts as he blocked a sneaky attack from Hiruzen.

"Don't keep looking. There's no hope for him anymore. We must focus on defeating Hiruzen first."

His words were not out of cruelty towards Shiten, but from the harsh reality of the situation. Even he recognized that, had he received a similar punishment, his own survival would be doubtful.

In his mind, Shiten was already beyond all help.

"Hanzō, take care of Hiruzen. I'll go save Shiten." Ōnoki's eyes shone with determination.

The bond between him and Shiten dated back to the days when the now Tsuchikage was an apprentice. Shiten had been his guardian, and the idea of seeing him die before his eyes was unbearable for him.

"Earth Style: Light-Weight Rock Technique!"

Without waiting for a response from Hanzō, he activated his characteristic technique, reducing his weight to almost nothing and rising quickly towards the sky.

Hanzō barely had time to open his mouth before Ōnoki disappeared into the heights. Resigned, he prepared to face Hiruzen alone. However, confidence did not abandon him.

With a movement of his hand, he summoned his faithful companion, Ibuse. Together, they launched into combat against Hiruzen.

Despite Ōnoki's absence, Hanzō stood firm, not yielding ground to the Hokage.

Nevertheless, subduing Hiruzen was a titanic task. The Third Hokage's mastery over the five natures of chakra, combined with his vast experience and skill in each of them, fully justified his nickname of "The Professor".

…..

Ōnoki rose into the sky, his heart beating with hope.

However, his expression soon froze. His flight speed, which he had always considered impressive, seemed ridiculously slow compared to Chen's movements.

The difference was abysmal.

Chen moved like a supersonic jet, while Ōnoki seemed like a fragile paper plane struggling against the wind.

There was no possible comparison between the two.

But suddenly a feeling of imminent danger pierced through him.

Before he could react.

Crack!

A sharp pain exploded in his waist.

Whomp!

The Tsuchikage shot downwards like a bird with broken wings.

"The sky is not a place where you can come and go as you please," Chen's voice floated in the air. In a blink, he turned into a golden flash, returning to his game with his ball.

Thud!

Ōnoki crashed into Ibuse, Hanzō's summon. The impact shook the huge salamander, which let out a pitiful moan.

"Grooooar!"

Hanzō looked at his companion with anguish before turning to Ōnoki. "Why have you returned so soon?" Confusion evident in his voice.

Ōnoki's face turned red with shame and pain. He clutched his waist, unable to speak, feeling as if every bone in his body was broken.

Hanzō was left speechless. Instead of saving his assistant, Ōnoki had ended up injured. Could there be anything more tragic?

"GRAAAH!" Ōnoki's roar broke the silence.

"Hiruzen! I, Ōnoki, and your Konoha can never coexist!" His voice was loaded with fury and frustration.

Hiruzen, observing all this, felt a drop of sweat run down his temple.

'Is he serious?' he thought. 'It's that boy, Chen, who's provoking you. Go after him!'

Boom!

The sound resonated when Chen, finally bored with his game, delivered a last and devastating kick to Shiten.

The battered body of the ninja shot towards the ground, creating a deep crater.

Ōnoki, ignoring the sharp pain in his waist, rushed towards the place. His eyes, filled with desperation, scanned the crater.

What he found made his heart stop for an instant.

Shiten lay motionless, his eyes open in a frozen expression of terror, unable to close them even in death. His body was now twisted beyond recognition.

A generation of power and experience, annihilated in an instant.

Tears sprang from Ōnoki's eyes as he contemplated the remains of his friend. His gaze shifted to Chen, who remained at a short distance, and in his eyes shone a hatred mixed with an insatiable thirst for revenge.

"Chen Hyuga!" he roared with pain and fury. "The Hidden Village among the Rocks and you can never coexist! I'll kill you and avenge Shiten!"

Chen observed the scene with indifference, responded to Ōnoki's challenge with a gesture of disdain, his lips curving into a mocking smirk.

Ōnoki's anger reached its boiling point.

"Arrogant brat, I'll show you the true hidden power of Iwagakure!"

"Dust Style: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"

The air around Chen began to distort. In a matter of seconds, a square barrier of whitish energy materialized, enclosing him inside.

The three-dimensional figure that now contained Chen was a masterpiece of chakra engineering. Its edges were perfectly defined, creating a perfect cube.

Faced with the powerful Kekkei Tōta, capable of disintegrating everything into tiny particles of dust, Chen remained imperturbable. His eyelids didn't even move, his face was a mask of absolute calm.

Despite his usual carefree attitude, he possessed a deep knowledge of physics. He knew that photons were pure energy, not matter, and therefore, were beyond the reach of this Kekkei Tōta.

The transformation into photons would imply a complete loss of molecular structure, leaving nothing that the jutsu could disintegrate.

Trapped in the three-dimensional figure created by Ōnoki, he elementalized.

In an instant, his body dissolved into a bright golden glow, filling the prison with pure light.

Ōnoki, observing from outside, let out a triumphant laugh. "Hahaha!" His laughter resonated on the battlefield, loaded with satisfaction and relief.

However, his joy was ephemeral. The golden flashes began to regroup, taking human form once again.

Chen's voice, tinged with mockery, cut through the air: "What are you laughing at? Did you think you had killed me?"

Ōnoki's face went from joy to shock in a matter of seconds. His eyes, wide open. "How is this possible?" he muttered. "No one can survive this..."

If Chen had somehow dodged the attack, Ōnoki might have accepted it. But facing the dust element directly and coming out unscathed... it was something beyond his comprehension.

"Ōnoki, let me refresh your memory. Do you remember the terror of being dominated by Madara Uchiha?"

Before Ōnoki could fully process these words, he heard something he thought he would never hear again:

"Susanoo!"

In an instant, the battlefield was engulfed by a blinding light. When those present could open their eyes again, they were paralyzed by the vision before them.

A colossal blue Susanoo, identical to Madara Uchiha's, rose up. Its height, which exceeded 100 meters, eclipsed everything else on the battlefield.

The wind generated by the appearance of this monstrous entity swept across the field like a hurricane. Ninjas from all sides were thrown into the air, unable to stand in the face of such a demonstration of power.

When the dust settled, a silence fell over the battlefield. This silence, however, was different from the previous one.

________

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