Chapter 29: Kurenai Defeated in an Instant, Strangling Stakes Jutsu and Hard Whirlpool Water Blade

Whoosh—

Just like before, a split second before the lightning struck, Team 8 had already vanished using Body Flicker Technique.

Four shadows, one in the front and three behind, dashed toward Raiga Kurosuki along the mountain path in typical ninja fashion.

Seeing this, Raiga calmly sheathed his twin swords and started forming hand signs at a leisurely pace.

Recognizing the jutsu from the hand signs, Kurenai immediately began forming her own.

Soon after, her figure became distorted, like a mirage in the desert, and disappeared from the sight of both Yagyu's team and Raiga.

"So, a genjutsu user, huh? What a pitiful woman!" Raiga mocked, tears dramatically streaming down his face. "Ah... I can't wait to see you bawling in despair!"

"She's coming from two o'clock, Raiga," came the voice of a boy, heard only by Raiga, from within the bulge in his raincoat.

Raiga didn't doubt the boy's words for a second. He unsheathed his swords again and crossed them, pointing down toward the rapidly approaching Team 8.

"Lightning Style: Thunderball!"

The chakra of his Lightning Release surged, covering the blades in crackling electricity, which quickly focused at the tips of the twin swords, forming an electric sphere.

Just as Team 8 anticipated a long-range attack aimed at them, Raiga's grin widened. Suddenly, he shifted the direction of his sword tips and fired the thunderball toward a different target.

Crackle...

The ball of electricity hit something in mid-air, causing a burst of lightning that scattered in every direction.

"Aaahhh..."

A scream echoed through the air, and the lightning revealed the twitching form of Kurenai.

Kurenai had not expected to be discovered so easily, nor had she predicted that Raiga's seemingly aimed attack at Yagyu's team was merely bait.

Hit directly by the thunderball, Kurenai's body convulsed from the electric shock before plummeting from the mountainside.

It appeared she had been rendered unconscious.

"Sensei!" Hinata cried out in shock.

Yagyu frowned, not because Kurenai had been taken down but because his three-tomoe Sharingan had detected red particles in the air once again.

He was sure now—those red particles were the cause of the illusion they'd seen earlier. They also seemed to be the reason Hinata's Byakugan had been countered.

However, Yagyu couldn't recall exactly what this bloodline ability was. It wasn't something prominent in the main storyline, though it felt vaguely familiar.

But now wasn't the time for deep reflection.

Seeing Kurenai fall victim to Raiga's trickery, Yagyu, acting as the team leader, quickly gave orders. "Hinata, go heal Sensei."

Without waiting for a reply, Yagyu grabbed Hinata by the arm, spun her around, and launched her toward Kurenai.

Hinata caught the charred and smoking body of Kurenai mid-air, landing on the side of the mountain with her chakra-enhanced feet.

"Shino, protect Hinata and Sensei. Act accordingly depending on the situation," Yagyu instructed before forming a quick set of hand seals. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Poof!

A cloud of white smoke appeared, revealing five clones around Yagyu.

Without hesitation, Yagyu and his clones scattered, dashing along the mountainside toward Raiga.

"Raiga, be careful. This one is strong," the boy's voice from within Raiga's raincoat warned. "His chakra far exceeds yours. He's the one who created that water tornado."

Hearing this, Raiga's playful demeanor vanished. He immediately stowed away his twin swords and formed hand signs with newfound urgency. "Earth Release: Rock Avalanche!"

Rumble...

The ground beneath his feet trembled, and suddenly, rocks and debris from the mountainside began crashing down, heading straight for Yagyu and his clones.

But to Raiga's shock, Yagyu responded with the same hand seals. "Earth Release: Rock Avalanche!"

The ground above Raiga trembled in response, sending boulders crashing down toward him from above.

"What... Who is this guy?" Raiga muttered in disbelief.

Without hesitation, he used Body Flicker to leap off the mountain path, aiming to land on solid ground below.

Yagyu and his clones followed suit, leaping into the air. Four of his clones began combining their jutsu in mid-air.

Two of the clones formed hand signs and unleashed torrents of water: "Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"

The other two clones quickly formed spiraling blue tornados with their hands, combining them with the torrents of water to form massive water twisters.

"Water Style: Spiraling Water Tornado!"

The twin water twisters sped toward Raiga, who was airborne with no way to dodge.

Sensing the danger, Raiga unsheathed his swords and poured a massive amount of Lightning Release chakra into them. "Lightning Blade Technique: Falling Thunder!"

He swung his swords, sending two giant slashes of lightning racing toward the spiraling water twisters.

The water twisters, still forming, burst like overfilled balloons upon contact with the lightning, drenching Yagyu and his clones in a downpour.

Raiga landed on a boulder, but just as his feet touched the ground, the boy's panicked voice rang out again. "Raiga, dodge—now!"

Raiga looked up in alarm to see Yagyu, still in the air, in the midst of throwing a javelin-like spear made entirely of water.

Nearby, a clone maintained a hand seal, having just conjured the water.

Yagyu's sharp gaze locked onto Raiga, his Sharingan glowing under his contact lenses. In the instant their eyes met, Raiga's vision shifted dramatically.

The world around him changed, as if he had been transported to another dimension—a crimson space, where Raiga found himself completely immobilized.

Large black stakes pierced his body, pinning him down. He couldn't move a muscle, save for his eyes.

As he looked upward, Raiga's pupils shrank in terror. In the blood-red sky above, two massive, moon-like eyeballs loomed.

The red irises were adorned with three rotating black tomoe.

"Sh-Sharingan..." Raiga instinctively wanted to say the name of the infamous eyes, but his mouth wouldn't move.

Crack!

Suddenly, the red dimension around him began to shatter, like a broken mirror falling to pieces.

Back in reality, Raiga barely regained control of his body when he felt an intense pain shoot through him. His chest was impaled by a blue water javelin.

Not only him—whatever was inside the bulge in his raincoat had been skewered as well.

Boom!

The water javelin exploded like a bomb, transforming into a massive water tornado.

These two techniques were none other than:

Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Jutsu and Water Style: Hard Whirlpool Water Blade!

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