Ninja Pot Shadow

It was obvious that he didn't do it, but he couldn't explain it either. Could he say that a stranger helped him remotely? No one would believe him if he said it, so he simply stopped explaining and told people to think whatever they wanted.

"Our duel isn't over yet. Are you going to admit defeat?" He pulled the kunai from his shoulder, letting the blood stain half of his body, and looked coldly at Ino.

The Jonin speculated, some convincing, some not. The Third Hokage pondered for a moment and then offered his deduction: "It should be a contingency plan that Itachi Uchiha had laid out in advance. He was worried that his younger brother would be ambushed, so he sealed some kind of technique to resist the erosion of spiritual energy."

The Jonin nodded repeatedly, "The Hokage is right! It was Uchiha Itachi who did it!"

"Huh? What's going on? Why is Ino standing up again? Are you injured?! Oh, Sasuke... are you injured too?" So many things happened in the blink of an eye that Sakura was completely bewildered. She first saw the extremely weak Ino, and then turned around and saw Sasuke's half of his body stained with blood.

What on earth is going on? Wasn't Sasuke supposed to have defeated Ino and been leading everyone in riddles? She feels that what's happening now is completely beyond her comprehension.

"Stop fighting... You're both injured, please stop!" Sakura tried to get the two to stop, but neither of them looked at her.

Ino said with great bravado, "Hmph, I didn't expect you to have such a trick up your sleeve. I thought this was just a game, but it seems I was too naive... I won't admit defeat, come on, let's continue!"

"Who's playing games with you?... I'm not like you idiots playing house at the ninja academy!!" Blood gushed from Sasuke's shoulder as if it were free. He gritted his teeth, overcoming the discomfort with sheer willpower, and kicked Ino hard in the face.

Chapter Twenty-Four: Deathmatch

Ino raised her arms to protect her side, trying to deflect the leg, but she was injured by Indra's chakra and her mental energy was damaged. She hastily dispelled the Mind Transfer Technique, which caused her strength, speed and other aspects to decrease to varying degrees.

He was already inferior to Sasuke in taijutsu, and now the gap widened even further.

Sasuke's kick sent her staggering back three steps, a tingling sensation running down her arm.

Ino focused intently, hooked a finger with her left hand, and pulled out a sharp kunai from her waist pouch. As she retreated swiftly, she raised her arm, and the kunai flew in an arc, aiming at Sasuke's eyes.

"Hmph," Sasuke sneered. Using kunai throwing against the Uchiha clan? He'd really been underestimated.

He charged forward several steps, bending his knees and leaning back forcefully, letting the kunai fly past his nose. Then, ignoring the puddles and mud on the road, he braced himself with his left hand and kicked out with both legs in quick succession.

Ino, who was trying to create distance to use ninjutsu, had to expend chakra again and use the substitution jutsu to dodge the rather fierce kick.

After creating a five-meter distance, Ino threw a smoke grenade at the ground. Just as the hazy smoke rose, a kunai carrying an explosive tag flew from the side.

Damn! They even used explosive tags?! Ino quickly concentrated her chakra in her eyes, relying on her sensory abilities to determine the flight path of the kunai.

After seeing the flight path clearly, she immediately formed hand seals quickly in the order of Chen, Chou, and Mao.

She activated a C-rank ninjutsu belonging to Konoha Village.

"Water Release: Water Chaos Waves!"

Ino gathered her chakra in her throat, inhaled, and then exhaled. A water arrow shot into the sky, gathering the surrounding water and river water to form a water curtain. This not only destroyed the explosive formula inside the explosive tag, but the powerful water force, driven by the chakra, also rushed towards Sasuke in a fan shape.

Ino quickly formed hand seals, repeating her previous technique, preparing to use the Hidden Mist Technique again. Sasuke was more decisive than she expected. He used his arms to protect his head and face, lunged forward, and charged straight at the "Water Chaos Wave"!

Faced with the surging water, Sasuke retreated instead of advancing. His forehead, neck, arms, and shoulders were covered in wounds torn by the water, making him look like a blood-soaked figure. Sasuke shouted and, as Ino formed hand seals, he thrust his kunai into her throat.

"madman!"

The Hidden Mist Technique isn't fatal, and even if it were, Ino wouldn't want to die with him; that would be too much of a loss.

She had no choice but to stop forming hand seals, draw her kunai, and fight Sasuke head-on.

"Ino...Sasuke..." Seeing how fiercely they fought, each move potentially fatal, Sakura looked worried. She couldn't understand why they, as classmates, would fight to such an extent.

Ino and Sasuke fought with lightning speed, exchanging over thirty blows.

Her opponent was wary of her ninjutsu, and she was also struggling to withstand Sasuke's ferocious, wolf-like attacks.

"Your injuries are getting worse. You've lost so much blood. There's no need to continue fighting. Just admit defeat," Ino advised breathlessly.

Sasuke spat and stared intently at Ino: "How much chakra do you have left? Can you cast another ninjutsu?"

"I could easily put in three or four more!" Ino said confidently.

Before they could finish speaking, they clashed together, each holding a kunai. Sasuke used his strength and speed to suppress Ino, while Ino threw out three senbon needles coated with anesthetic. Finally, she gritted her teeth and threw out an explosive tag as well.

Ninjutsu, ninja tools, and explosive tags escalated the intensity of their battle. It no longer resembled a fight between ninja academy students; one could easily believe it was a battle between two Chunin.

"Do you think I can't use ninjutsu?" After cornering Ino, Sasuke quickly formed hand seals in her direction.

After completing the six hand seals (巳, 未, 申, 亥, 午, 寅), Sasuke gathered his chakra in his throat, the only Fire Release ninjutsu he had mastered.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique".

Ino was a little slow in activating the technique, but she needed to form fewer hand seals, only three.

She quickly formed hand seals as well: "Water Release: Water Chaos Waves!"

She drew chakra again and released this C-rank water-style ninjutsu.

The two completed their spells simultaneously, and the fireball and water curtain collided in mid-air, instantly creating a large amount of white mist.

With a slightly puzzled look in Sasuke's eyes, the water curtain gained the upper hand.

"Idiot, let me teach you another lesson: Water Release is the counter to Fire Release!"

Water overcomes fire, fire overcomes wind, wind overcomes thunder, thunder overcomes earth, and earth overcomes water.

Regardless of whether this is the law in nature, in the world of chakra, this is an ironclad rule.

Kakashi's Lightning Blade easily pierced Kakuzu's Earth Release defense, while Madara Uchiha's Great Fire Annihilation was blocked by more than a dozen ninjas using Water Release, precisely because of the counter-relationship between the ninjutsu.

After gaining the upper hand with her water-style technique, Ino immediately cut off her chakra supply, letting the fireball and water curtain disappear together. She used multiple ninjutsu in succession, and at this point, she only had one-third of her chakra left, so she had to finish the battle quickly.

She looked at Sasuke, then placed her left hand on top of her right, palms facing each other, and activated the ninjutsu: "Ninjutsu: Mind Disruption Technique!"

Sasuke felt a "buzz" in his head, and his body became out of control again.

Unlike before when my heart turned away, when I was completely out of control, now I still have some control, but what use is this little bit of control?

He tried to step to the left, raising his right hand high in a defensive stance, but suddenly lost feeling in his right foot.

He glared at Ino. "This is ninjutsu? This is more like evil magic!"

Everyone could see the abnormality in Sasuke.

"Sasuke, pull yourself together!"

"Hey?! Sasuke, what's wrong?! Cheer up!"

"Inoboro! Was it you who did this?!"

The girls were mostly denouncing Ino, with Sakura being the loudest.

The boys were much quieter, except for Naruto who was shouting, "Go Ino! Defeat that arrogant Sasuke! Hit him hard!"

Hinata glanced at Naruto, then at Ino, and muttered to herself, "Good luck, Ino."

After Kabuto learned Tsunade's "Medical Ninjutsu: Technique Chaos Body Rush," he was able to overcome the effects of the ninjutsu with his high intelligence and excellent body control. Sasuke doesn't have that ability now; his mind knows what to do, but his body can't keep up.

"hateful!"

"Damn it!"

"How did I end up here!"

Sasuke's chakra was circulating at a frenzied speed, and his mental energy was constantly assaulting his eyes.

Sakura, who was some distance away, suddenly shouted, "Sasuke, watch out! Watch out behind you! Behind you!"

What's behind me? Sasuke turned around stiffly and saw Ino forming hand seals with a pale face and casting a ninjutsu on him.

Before the battle, Ino said she knew two water-style ninjutsu, but she wasn't telling the truth; she actually knows three water-style ninjutsu.

The moisture in the air gathered together, completely surrounding Sasuke.

"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"

Chapter Twenty-Five: Water Escape Technique - Water Prison

Ino submerged her hands in the water, and as she channeled her chakra, streams of water the thickness of her wrists converged from all directions, forming a circular cage that tightly bound Sasuke.

She deflated the spell that had been controlling her mind and body, took two deep breaths, and realized she had won!

The water prison was airtight and had very little oxygen inside. Once the oxygen ran out, Sasuke would suffocate to death.

Ino maintained the water-attribute chakra within the water prison while adjusting her own condition.

The Water Prison Technique doesn't consume much chakra. She still has nearly a quarter of her chakra left. She could stand still for ten minutes without any problem. How long can Sasuke last?

"Sasuke, just admit defeat."

Sasuke was not about to give up easily. He gritted his teeth and persevered. Ino, however, did not care and continued to adjust her breathing without interfering.

The students couldn't yet see how overpowered this move was, but the Jonin knew its value.

Kakashi, who had been nonchalant, became more serious and asked Inoichi, "Senpai, is this the Water Prison Technique of Kirigakure?"

“That’s right.” Hai nodded. “I remember seeing this technique in the head of a Jonin from Kirigakure during the last great war. It’s easy to learn, but it’s only a C-rank ninjutsu. It also has a lot of weaknesses. As long as someone attacks the caster, this technique can be dispelled.”

Kakashi pressed on, "What if there are no allies around? How do you break this technique?"

His words stunned Hai Yiwen. As the intelligence chief, he usually wouldn't go to the battlefield where close combat was the main event. He would often do support work in the rear. Even if he went to the battlefield, he would have his Ino-Shika-Cho comrades to cover him. In his original thought, the Water Prison Technique was too flawed. Any comrade could easily break it by throwing a kunai from 200 meters away.

At this moment, Kakashi asked, and after thinking about it carefully, he wondered how to break this technique if there were no companions around during a one-on-one battle.

He recalled, "We saw this technique on the battlefield back then, many times, but we didn't pay much attention to it at the time. It seemed to be..."

He looked at Lu Jiu.

The strategist Shikaku recalled the past, his thoughts running even deeper than Inoichi's. He spoke slowly and deliberately: "I remember that the three of us were under Orochimaru's command back then. Orochimaru commented on Jiraiya's resistance against Kirigakure, saying that Konoha ninjas should fight in formation, with each squad consisting of at least three people. I didn't pay attention at the time, but now that I think about it, Orochimaru must have already discovered the special nature of this ninjutsu, but he simply didn't bother to explain it to his subordinates."

The fifteenth Hokage's Ino-Shika-Cho trio all fought under Orochimaru's command, just as the sixteenth Hokage's Ino-Shika-Cho trio will become Asuma's subordinates in the future. You say the Third Hokage didn't have any selfish motives? Nobody believes that!

Upon hearing Orochimaru's name, the Third Hokage picked up his pipe and slowly took a puff.

Kakashi wasn't very concerned about the grudges of the older generation; he was still thinking about the Water Prison Technique.

"We should be able to break this technique from the inside using Earth Release."

Several Jonin nodded in agreement; everyone understood the principle of earth overcoming water.

To break the Water Prison Technique, using Earth Release inside to disrupt the flow of Water Release chakra is indeed a good method.

Might Guy stared straight at Kakashi: "I don't know Earth Release."

Is your problem that you don't know how to use earth-遁 (earth-遁 is a type of magic in Chinese magic)? You don't know any earth-遁 techniques at all!

Kakashi chuckled twice but didn't reply.

Hiashi Hyuga, speaking with an air of self-importance, said, "The Byakugan can also break this cage created by the flow of chakra from within; breaking it is not difficult."