Naruto: Eating Kaido's Azure Dragon Devil Fruit-Chapter 261: Overwhelming Force

In the instant Sora shattered the rock, his gaze had already locked onto the four fleeing Iwagakure jonin scattering in different directions.

"Trying to run."

His figure flickered, leaving behind multiple afterimages where he stood.

"Lightning Release Chakra Mode."

Blinding lightning suddenly erupted. Sora’s speed instantly increased by several levels. As if teleporting, he appeared behind an Iwagakure jonin who was desperately running away.

That jonin only felt a chill on his back. Before he could even react, a palm wreathed in lightning had already landed lightly on the center of his back.

"Pfft."

Blood gushed violently. That jonin’s life force rapidly faded.

Sora did not even glance at the result. The lightning flashed again as he pounced towards the second target.

Kitsuchi’s eyes widened with fury. Roaring, he charged forward.

"Your opponent is me. Earth Release, Fist Rock Technique."

His right fist was instantly encased in hard rock, becoming enormous, and he smashed it towards Sora.

Sora shifted his body slightly, easily avoiding this powerful, heavy punch. Simultaneously, he countered with a reverse hand chop aimed at Kitsuchi’s neck.

Kitsuchi hurriedly raised his rock-covered left arm to block.

Clang.

A sound like metal clashing rang out. The rock on Kitsuchi’s left arm shattered upon impact. The entire man was sent stumbling backward by the tremendous force.

And in that brief moment of their exchange, Sora’s shadow clones had already caught up with the other two fleeing Iwagakure jonin. The fights were without suspense.

The last Iwagakure jonin, specifically the struggling young jonin from before, relying on some chakra-burning secret technique, was the fastest and was nearly out of the valley.

Sora’s main body did not pursue. He just coldly watched the retreating back, inhaling and then opening his mouth to exhale.

"Boro Breath."

A torrent of searing flames shot out, arriving later but overtaking first, instantly catching up to that young jonin and engulfing him.

A piercing, wretched scream was abruptly cut off.

In the blink of an eye, four elite Iwagakure jonin were completely annihilated.

"It seems I underestimated myself and overestimated you."

Looking at the four Iwagakure ninja he had wiped out, Sora was speechless. At the beginning, he was still worried that a few of them might escape. That was completely unnecessary.

But Kitsuchi’s mood was utterly different. Watching his subordinates die horribly before his eyes, his eyes instantly became bloodshot. He stared fixedly at Sora, his chest heaving violently like an enraged lion.

Sora slowly turned around, his gaze calm as he looked at the sole remaining person, Kitsuchi.

In the valley, only the two of them remained in a standoff.

But the wind blowing through carried a strong, thick scent of blood.

Kitsuchi knew that he was likely doomed today.

But he was, after all, the Tsuchikage’s son, a battle-hardened elite ninja. He quickly forced himself to calm down.

He took a deep breath and adopted a stance ready for a fight to the death.

"Konoha’s Azure Dragon, come on."

Facing Kitsuchi who had adopted this do-or-die posture, Sora’s expression beneath his mask did not change in the slightest.

To him, the outcome of this battle was predetermined from the very start.

The gap in strength was not something determination and willpower could bridge.

"Earth Release, Rock Fist Technique."

Kitsuchi attacked first. The enormous rock fist formed once more. This strike, fueled by rage, was even more powerful than before.

Sora did not dodge or evade. Once again, he simply met it with a straightforward punch.

"Super Strength."

Boom.

The rock fist shattered upon impact, turning into a shower of rubble.

Kitsuchi’s arm went numb from the recoil. His heart filled with terror. The opponent’s taijutsu and physical strength were simply inhumanly powerful.

"Earth Release, Earth-Style Rock Lodging Spears."

Kitsuchi swiftly changed tactics, slapping both hands on the ground.

Crack. Crack. Crack.

The ground beneath Sora’s feet and around him instantly sprouted countless sharp, rock spears, stabbing rapidly towards his vital points.

Sora’s figure moved swiftly. Those seemingly fatal attacks could not even touch the hem of his clothes.

’Too fast.’

Kitsuchi gritted his teeth, forming seals again. "Earth Release, Opening Earth Rising Excavation."

He tried to alter the terrain to create a more advantageous environment.

The ground bulged upward, attempting to lift Sora into the air and limit his movement.

However, Sora merely gave a light leap and jumped out of the jutsu’s range. While still in mid-air, he opened his mouth and exhaled.

"Wind Release, Pressure Damage."

Highly compressed violent wind shot out like a cannonball, blasting the earthen mound he had just created.

Boom.

The mound was instantly blasted to pieces. The powerful wind pressure even blew Kitsuchi off his feet, making him stagger backward.

Kitsuchi’s heart turned ice-cold.

His strongest Earth Release ninjutsu was actually so powerless before this opponent, easily dismantled.

This kind of all-around suppression reminded him of the feeling of helplessness he felt when facing his father, Ōnoki.

A fierce glint appeared in Kitsuchi’s eyes. His hands formed seals even faster, his chakra churning wildly.

"Earth Release, Mountain Earth Technique, Twin Stars."

Boom. Boom.

Two hemispherical rocks, even larger and more solid than before, one left, one right, came crushing towards Sora once more with a terrifying momentum meant to grind everything to dust.

This time, the enclosed space was larger, the speed faster.

Facing this powerful ninjutsu that would make even an ordinary Kage-level expert brace themselves seriously, Sora finally got slightly serious.

He took a deep breath. The chakra within his body circulated along a specific pathway. Faint green energy steam rose around his body, though it did not fully erupt.

"Eight Gates Released Formation, Third Gate, Gate of Life, Open."

Merely the Third Gate provided enough of a speed boost.

Just as the two gigantic rocks were about to clamp together, Sora’s figure shot out like lightning through that narrow crack.

"What."

Kitsuchi’s pupils constricted violently. He had completely failed to anticipate the opponent breaking through in this manner.

And Sora had already broken through the ninjutsu blockade, appearing right in front of him.

"So fast."

Kitsuchi only had time to cross his arms in front of his chest, hardening his entire body’s chakra for defense.

But Sora’s fist had already arrived.

Thud.

A dull impact sound.

"Pfft."

Kitsuchi violently spat out a mouthful of blood. His entire body slammed heavily into the rock wall behind him, forming a human-shaped indent.

Excruciating pain shot through him. His chakra flow instantly became disordered. Darkness swam before Kitsuchi’s eyes, and he nearly lost consciousness.

Struggling, he tried to free himself from the rock wall, but it felt like all the bones in his body had come apart. He could not muster any strength.

Sora slowly walked up to him. Looking at Kitsuchi embedded in the rock, his aura weakened, Sora felt no ripples in his heart.

’Strength is still decent. But compared to the Fourth Great Ninja War period, it’s still lacking quite a bit.’

He raised his hand and delivered a hand chop to the back of Kitsuchi’s neck.

Kitsuchi’s body stiffened. The light in his eyes rapidly dimmed as he fell completely unconscious.

The battle was over.

From start to finish, it only took a few short minutes.

The top expert of Iwagakure, the Tsuchikage’s son Kitsuchi, before Sora, had almost no meaningful ability to resist and was utterly subdued.

And this was while Sora had not even used much of his strength.

Sora looked at the unconscious Kitsuchi, pondering.

’Killing him brings me no benefit. It would only completely enrage that old Ōnoki. A Kage-level expert gone mad, especially one who knows Particle Release, is still quite troublesome.’

’He probably calculated earlier that I wouldn’t kill him, which is why he chose to cover the retreat, right.’

’Tsk. Thank your father.’

Adhering to the principle of avoiding unnecessary trouble, Sora pried the unconscious Kitsuchi out of the rock wall, slung him over his shoulder like a sack, and swiftly headed in the direction of the Konoha frontline camp.

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