The most likely to provoke a defensive reaction are those words that hit where it hurts. When Tatsuma spoke, both Tenko and Sento, who had been somewhat uncomfortable before, immediately fell into a state of agitation.
Sento thought about his experiences from the first ten years of his life. He was one of the rare children in the "split family" who had not been branded with the Caged Bird Seal, but he never felt superior because of it. He had known early on that he was not the one who was guaranteed not to be branded with the Cursed Seal, because he was not from the main family.
As long as his uncle was willing to marry and have children, when his uncle's offspring were born, he would be branded with the Caged Bird Seal, becoming one of the many branches of the Hyuga family, and spend his entire life serving the main family.
He was a lucky child; his uncle's guilt towards his father extended to him. Therefore, his uncle would rather disappoint the girl he loved than see his nephew branded with the Cursed Seal.
After his uncle's death, he no longer had to be branded with the Caged Bird Seal and became a respected member of the main family, honored by countless branches of the Hyuga clan.
But he was also an unfortunate child. His "elevated status" was achieved through the misfortune and death of his relatives. For these past years, some rumors within the clan have never ceased.
Moreover, as the special one, his peers from the branch family did not play with him because he was the unique one in the branch. After becoming part of the main family, the main family members rarely interacted with him because he was also the unique one in the main family.
Tatsuma was right. Even his freedom was obtained through the charity of the corrupt people in the clan. It was those corrupt people who, shouting about the unchanging laws of their ancestors, had wanted to brand him with the Caged Bird Seal from the moment he was born.
Even becoming part of the main family and gaining certain freedom was reluctantly agreed to by those corrupt people, who were unwilling to let the Hyuga clan lose a branch, and so begrudgingly allowed him to inherit his uncle's main family position.
In the past, Sento could endure this silently, but when such words came from his own friend's mouth, his internal defenses crumbled.
Tenko was similar. The notion that the clan was inherently evil was something every Uchiha had heard. Sento would joke about him bullying and dominating others in the village every day.
But in reality, whether or not the actions of the security force were justified, as long as they harmed non-Uchiha people, even if that person was a criminal, the Uchiha security force would be condemned.
The villagers did not care what they did. No matter what, everything they did was considered evil and a threat to the village because they were inherently evil, so how could they do anything good?
That kind of baseless hatred seemed to be something that the Uchiha were inherently destined to bear. Why was that?
Tenko's breathing grew heavy, and the Tomoe in his eyes spun faster, staring intensely at Tatsuma, trying hard to see through him.
Tatsuma's expression remained unchanged, but he felt a sense of satisfaction inside. This was the effect he wanted—Sento and Tenko needed to see their opponent as their enemy, a blood feud.
Therefore, not only did he needed to simulate their combat skills, but also the emotions experienced in battle. He wanted them to develop hatred for Tatsuma in the shortest time possible.
The simplest way was to expose their wounds.
Tatsuma's lifted finger now fell back to its original position, the almost inaudible sound of his fingertip touching his clothing becoming the signal.
In an instant, Tatsuma erupted with Enhanced Strength, stepping toward Tenko and launching a powerful punch directly at him.
Meanwhile, Minato, who had received Tatsuma's signal, also moved. His speed was only slightly less explosive than Tatsuma's, and he swiftly appeared at Sento's side, holding a glowing Chakra ball in his hand.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
The speed was so fast that Tenko and Sento couldn't keep up. Even with the aid of the Three Tomoe Sharingan, Tenko could only cross his arms in front of him in time. Tatsuma's punch landed directly on his left forearm.
Despite Sento's Byakugan giving him a 360-degree field of vision, he managed to catch Minato's movements, but his body couldn't keep up completely. While he was twisting his torso to dodge, Minato's Chakra ball struck his ribs.
The two figures were thrown backward, skidding across the wet forest floor without raising dust, making everything clearly visible.
Tenko's left forearm was visibly deformed, and his distorted facial features and pale complexion indicated the severity of the attack he had endured.
Sento, half-crouched on the ground, had a large tear in the left side of his clothing. The charred edges of the tear and the similarly scorched exposed skin showed that he hadn't been able to block the attack.
"Your hand."
Despite training in Taijutsu day after day, Sento quickly adjusted, positioning himself in front of Tenko, and warily watched Tatsuma and Minato from a distance. Tenko, grasping his left elbow, said:
"Not serious."
Saying this, Tenko used his right hand to smooth over his left forearm, realigning the broken bones. Several Senbon appeared in his hand, along with a piece of steel wire. He secured the Senbon and steel wire to his left forearm and carefully moved his left fingers. The pain was intense, and flexibility was greatly reduced, but he was still capable of fighting.
"Lightning Release! Lightning Ball!"
Before Tenko could attempt further, Minato's Ninjutsu activated again. Amidst the flickering arcs of electricity in the air, multiple Lightning Balls appeared and hurled toward them.
The attack covered a wide area and moved at an incredibly fast speed, leaving them no time to dodge. Additionally, with Sento's Byakugan activated, he saw Tatsuma, not far behind them, advancing toward them.
"Eight Trigrams! Revolving Heaven!"
Without hesitation, Sento stomped the ground, his Chakra erupting from every pore in his body, forming a Chakra sphere that enveloped both him and Tenko.
At the same time, Minato's Lightning Balls and Tatsuma's advancing elbow strike arrived.
"Boom! Rumble~"
The Lightning Balls struck the Revolving Heaven, exploding in brilliant lightning, causing the entire Chakra sphere to tremble violently. Tatsuma's elbow strike, powered by Enhanced Strength, hit the Revolving Heaven like a finger pressing on a balloon, severely deforming the sphere and creating ripples.
The entire Revolving Heaven sphere looked like a jiggling jelly.
"Sento, leave it to me!"
Tenko stood up, positioning himself back-to-back with Sento. His hands were somewhat clumsy as he formed hand seals, then took a deep breath, preparing himself.
Sento glanced at the fading lightning and stopped the Chakra flow. The already unstable Revolving Heaven sphere quickly vanished. Simultaneously, Tenko exhaled a burst of flames from his mouth.
"Fire Release! Great Fire Annihilation!"
The Uchiha-style Fire Release burst from Tenko's mouth, forming a stream of fire that expanded into a sea of flames as it met the wind, heading straight toward Tatsuma.
"Eight Trigrams! Vacuum Palm!"
Sento struck out with palm after palm, using Chakra to disperse the remaining lightning.
Facing the approaching sea of fire, Tatsuma did not use his most skilled and easiest method—Water Release. Instead, he unleashed Enhanced Strength again, with Chakra surging through his body.
Though not through precise, full-body Chakra channels, the turbulent airflow still formed a protective shield in front of Tatsuma. Without pausing, Tatsuma charged directly into the sea of flames.
"Lightning Release! Takemikazuchi Spiral Hammer Second Style!"
At this moment, Minato condensed another lightning-charged Chakra ball in his hand and hurled it toward Sento. Sento's Byakugan widened as he tried to track the movement of this Lightning Release Rasengan.
But in an instant, the Chakra ball disappeared from his view.
Sento's eyes filled with terror; his instincts told him that Minato could not be performing a futile action. Moreover, the amount of Chakra Minato had infused into this Chakra ball, as seen through his Byakugan, was over three times that of the first attack. He could withstand Minato's first Lightning Ball, but he couldn't endure this one.
Tenko, also shocked, was still breathing fire, but saw Tatsuma pushing through the sea of flames, breaking through the fiery barrier, and arriving directly in front of him.
Tatsuma made no extra words or actions. Arriving before Tenko, he delivered a simple yet powerful palm strike, a straightforward, forceful slap to Tenko's face.
"Boom~"
Tenko was sent flying sideways, and the flame he was emitting ceased. Tatsuma's arrival made Sento extremely anxious; he didn't have time to think about the disappearing Chakra ball and swung an elbow directly at Tatsuma.
But Tatsuma simply leaned back to avoid Sento's elbow strike and lifted his leg.
Without using Enhanced Strength, he only staggered Sento forward. Just as Sento thought Tatsuma's attack was a bit puzzling, he felt as if his soul and body were disconnected.
"Zzzz~"
A large amount of lightning erupted from his body, and his chest's clothing was twisted up. In the next moment, the clothing was ripped apart, leaving blackened marks on his chest, as if his flesh was being pulled.
"Boom~"
In the next moment, Sento was also sent flying. Tatsuma, slightly turning his body, lifted his leg and then swept it out!
Like a powerful throw in mid-air, the immense force instantly changed Sento's flight direction, causing him to land on the nearby Tenko, who was lying with his neck twisted and eyes rolled back.
"Ugh!"
After being slammed by Sento, Tenko's Sharingan instantly reverted to normal, and his dizzy head began to clear up slightly.
"Ugh~ Ugh~"
Tenko tried to speak, but his jaw wouldn't cooperate and wouldn't lift. Sento noticed this and, seeing Tenko's dislocated jaw with his Byakugan, gritted his teeth against the pain and injury from being twisted like a wrung-out towel. He moved to adjust Tenko's jaw.
Feeling his jaw return to normal, Tenko swallowed and then looked toward the distant Tatsuma and Minato, asking, "Why are they so strong?"
A few years ago, even though they were completely outmatched by Tatsuma and Minato, they didn't have the same feeling of their lives being completely controlled as they did today.
Was it that Tatsuma and Minato had progressed too quickly, or had they never really fought seriously against them before?
Sento, rubbing his sides to ease the tearing pain in his chest, said, "Didn't Tatsuma say? Tsuyui will be even stronger."
Hearing Sento's words, Tenko's expression darkened again. If they couldn't even handle Tatsuma and Minato now, how would they cope with the even stronger Tsuyui?
Could it be that we have to give up? Absolutely not!
Tenko helped Sento to his feet and said, "Regardless of Tsuyui, we need to find a way to handle the current battle first."
Sento looked at the approaching Tatsuma and Minato, becoming alert again and preparing to use Revolving Heaven at any moment. He then quietly asked, "Do you have any ideas?"
"Facing Tsuyui? No. But for Tatsuma, we can only use Genjutsu."
As he spoke, the Tomoe in his eyes began to spin once more as he looked at Tatsuma and activated a visual Genjutsu.
"Illusion! Shackling Stakes Jutsu!"
A strand of Chakra, like a wave, moved toward Tatsuma's eyes. As long as Tatsuma's eyes received this invisible wave, the Genjutsu would take effect.
This wave was like a light wave; as long as Tatsuma's eyes could perceive light, they would be able to detect it!
But at the same time that the Genjutsu was activated, Tatsuma's hand, hidden under his sleeve, had completed the hand seals.
This was a method he had devised overnight to counter Uchiha visual Genjutsu. It wasn't a perfect method, and could even be considered a desperate measure, but it would have to do if it was effective.
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