Kaida took a deep breath and moved ahead, but before using the jutsu, he turned around and asked,
"Sensei, can I really use my more powerful technique?"
"Yes, but only this time," Jiraiya said with a smile.
"Okay, sensei."
Listening to this conversation, everyone once again grew curious.
'Did Jiraiya teach Kaida a forbidden jutsu?' thoughts like these swirled in their minds.
Kaida, not paying any attention to them, made quick hand signs, and three shadow clones appeared next to him one by one. Then, in front of everyone, he made one more hand seal, and black marks began appearing on his body.
Due to him wearing a half-sleeve shirt, the markings on his hand were visible. Fugaku, who had seen Tsunade in action, could tell that the markings on Kaida's hand were different from what Tsunade had. Hers were simple lines, but Kaida's had various fuinjutsu seals and lines combined to form something similar to a gauntlet tattoo on his hand.
"Sensei, please take care of the projectiles," Kaida said.
"Don't worry about us, brat. You're 10 years too young for that," Jiraiya replied.
Kaida nodded, and then two of his clones used the *Transformation Jutsu* to transform into two giant hammers, with spikes emerging from all sides—looking more like a mace and hammer combo.
Without hesitating another second, Kaida jumped into the air. Normally, he could only manage a 10 to 12-meter jump, but this time, the chakra enhancement from the seal powered his leap, sending him 20 meters above the ground. One of the three remaining shadow clones quickly used chakra-enhanced strength to throw a hammer toward Kaida.
Kaida caught the hammer. However, instead of using it for a direct attack as everyone expected, he simply cast the *Gale Palm Jutsu*, a basic C-rank jutsu, just like Kabuto had used. The hammer, already heavy, gained the speed it needed and struck the ground like a meteor, crushing two or three statues under its weight and damaging nearby ones as well.
But no one was paying attention to that. The real motive behind the *Gale Palm* wasn't the hammer's impact—it was to push Kaida higher. Now, he was 35 meters above the ground, nearly the height of a 10-story building—an astronomical height.
The clone below pushed its body to its limit, chakra leaking into the environment, and lifted the hammer again. Spinning it with all its strength, it threw the hammer as fast as possible. The clone dispersed from overexertion, having completed its task.
Kaida, now 30 meters above the ground, caught the hammer once more. He took a deep breath and let the chakra enhancement reach its full force. While using his own chakra, he infused *Earth Release* chakra into the hammer.
Unlike other chakra types that make weapons more lethal in unique ways, Earth chakra has the odd feature of making weapons sturdier and heavier—exactly what Kaida needed.
With the hammer in hand, Kaida began his descent. The hammer, originally weighing 70 kg, was now enhanced to 120 kg by Earth chakra. As Kaida used his chakra-enhanced strength, he struck downward at 40 meters per second, truly descending like a meteor.
*BOOM!*
The impact was immense—like hundreds of explosive tags detonating at once. Kaida's attack created a 10-meter-wide crater. The statues inside the circle were either reduced to powder or shattered into splinters, damaging the surrounding area. Chunks of earth flew out with them.
But the destruction didn't stop there. As soon as his attack hit, a small earthquake shook the entire training area, forcing even Jiraiya and Fugaku to use chakra to maintain their balance.
As the dust settled, Kaida was seen with his arm bent at an unnatural angle, nearly broken. This was after his body had already healed somewhat using the *Creation Rebirth Jutsu*. With visible healing, Kaida's bones mended rapidly, though he had to realign them from time to time. This was the price of unleashing such an attack.
"That attack is easily among mid to high S-rank jutsu if we just consider destruction," Fugaku said.
"But using that against any powerhouse is not possible. Even though blocking that jutsu is almost impossible, evading it is not," Hiruzen remarked.
"That jutsu is still not complete. It's just an experiment we're doing as part of his latest fighting style," Jiraiya added.
"Then I would love to see this jutsu when it's complete, Jiraiya-sama," Fugaku replied.
Jiraiya just nodded. By then, Kaida had already healed himself and returned in front of them.
"Very good, Kaida, that was really great. You destroyed... 210 statues completely, while the remaining 40 are also damaged but not enough. Still, 210 is already very impressive. Good job," Hiruzen said, sensing the numbers of the destroyed statues.
"Thank you, Lord Third," Kaida responded.
Everyone was surprised at this. Seeing the effect of the jutsu, they had thought Kaida would be panting his heart out by now, but he stood there perfectly fine with 90% of his chakra reserves intact. This was the benefit of using the *Yin Seal* for strength enhancement.
"What do you think, Itachi? Could you beat him?" Hiruzen asked.
"Yes," Itachi replied, but there was no arrogance in his tone, as if he were just stating a fact known to everyone.
"Good, then it's your turn," Hiruzen smiled, and Jiraiya went ahead and once again created 250 statues.
Itachi started walking toward the area slowly, his steps neither hurried nor slow. The wind began blowing softly, and Itachi's long hair fluttered in the breeze.
'Fuck you, world. I get it—you want him to be the main character, but this is just too much. Now, what? Will leaves fall, adding the last detail to this picture?' Just as Kaida thought this, a tree quite a distance away shook from the wind, and red-colored leaves flew through the air, completing the scene for Itachi.
'WHAT THE FUCK…' Kaida's expression was priceless, but no one paid any attention to him because the show in front of them was far more interesting.
Itachi began making one hand seal after another, using the jutsu he had learned recently. His chakra began revolving like crazy inside his body. The amount far exceeded what Kabuto had used for *Mud Wolf* by a huge margin. Suddenly, Itachi stopped his hand signs, and the chakra, which had been swirling inside him like a river during a monstrous rainstorm, was released into the environment.
One by one, large fireballs started appearing above Itachi. One, two, three... ten... fifteen... twenty... twenty-five. Exactly 25 fireballs with such intense heat that even though everyone was standing more than 100 meters away from Itachi, they could still feel the scorching heat on their skin.
*Fire Release: Great Flame Flower*
Itachi raised his hand, looking toward the statues, then brought his hand down like a king delivering a death sentence to criminals. All 25 fireballs descended upon the statues, destroying ten each, and spreading a sea of fire around.
There was no need to count this time. Everyone knew there wasn't a single statue left standing. Even if, by chance, one had remained, it would have long melted from the intense heat.