The rapidly spinning Rasenshuriken pierced through the layers of rain, striking directly at Konan, who was floating in mid-air. The Rasenshuriken's flight speed wasn't exceptional, but then again, Konan wasn't flying very fast either... her movement couldn't really be called flying; it was more like hovering.
Whether it was Konan, the Third Tsuchikage, or Habara, they were all essentially hovering.
Any ninja who saw the Rasenshuriken would understand its power. So, as it grew larger and larger in her vision, Konan made the most correct response... a paper clone "split" from her body, and this clone unhesitatingly flew to meet the Rasenshuriken.
Upon hitting the clone, the Rasenshuriken rapidly expanded into a sphere of light, the resulting shockwave once again sending Konan crashing to the ground.
A solid body? Could it be a solid body?
Taking advantage of the moment when his opponent was falling to the ground, momentarily stunned, Habara dove down again, preparing to eliminate this so-called "Angel"... He felt no pity for such a person. She had her own story, and Habara had his own experiences. They belonged to different worlds, and would only act according to their own values.
Simply put, during the Great Ninja War, many of Habara's comrades had died in the Land of Rain, and their deaths were inextricably linked to the Akatsuki. So, when he had the chance to try, Habara naturally wanted to give it a shot.
Success would be great, and failure would result in no real loss.
The light sphere of the Rasenshuriken had yet to dissipate, but Konan's body, which had fallen to the ground, suddenly twitched. She hugged herself tightly with both arms... Clearly, her paper clone, upon "dying," had transmitted the sensation of death back to her main body.
The Rasenshuriken's dense, high-frequency attack method was enough to cause some mental damage to her main body. Although the pain she felt was false, she found it difficult to escape this illusion for a moment.
Habara swooped down. In an instant, he arrived in front of Konan and, without hesitation, kicked her in the abdomen. The sudden, heavy blow caused her to instinctively arch her back.
This was indeed a solid body.
Habara reversed his grip on his sword, preparing to slash the longsword across Konan's neck.
But at that moment, Habara suddenly felt a huge pulling force applied to him. He then began to fly uncontrollably in a certain direction... This force felt irresistible.
As his vision shifted, he saw a pair of ripple-patterned eyes... It was Tendo Yahiko.
Habara was now caught in the Rinnegan's secret technique, "Bansho Tenin".
Clashes between ninjas could often be decided in an instant due to a small mistake. Konan was clearly unaware of Habara's abilities, while Habara had a general understanding of the secret techniques she used. Therefore, he wanted to quickly create a "first-time kill" situation. However, the problem was that this was the Land of Rain, and Konan had teammates, while Habara was alone.
As Habara flew towards Tendo, the sword box on his back transformed like liquid, layer upon layer, covering him in thorns. At the same time, the mercury longsword in his hand became even wider... Clearly, he was trying to dismantle this corpse the instant he got close to Tendo.
Habara had already sensed that the Rinnegan's creations, the "black rods," were not controlled by his Kekkei Tōta. Those things couldn't be considered simple metal. Otherwise, Habara wouldn't need to use such a clumsy method to defend and counterattack... The "Six Paths Puppets" were clearly not the same thing as Sunagakure's puppet technique.
Habara's defense was like a hedgehog's, and Tendo was only flesh and blood. Therefore, Tendo could not allow Habara to simply pounce on him like this... Nagato's use of the Rinnegan wasn't that refined, after all. Since these eyes could control force fields, in theory, he should have been able to tear Habara apart in mid-air.
However, Nagato couldn't do such a thing. He could only apply force in one direction to Habara, either pulling or repelling.
"Shinra Tensei!"
The distance between Habara and Tendo rapidly decreased. And just as Tendo was about to enter Habara's attack range, Tendo raised his arm and instantly pushed Habara away with even greater force.
The surrounding raindrops, the ground, and even the trees were ripped apart and flung outwards, centered on Tendo.
As he was pushed away, the thorny armor around Habara's body transformed again. It became a sphere, encasing him, allowing Habara to mitigate the impact.
Bang!
After rolling a considerable distance, Habara finally crashed into a cliff face... In reality, the impact wasn't severe, but he was still going to be dizzy.
Just then, a series of black javelins flew in parabolic arcs, hurtling towards Habara.
Habara pressed a hand to his chest, suppressing the urge to vomit. The spherical shell around his body disintegrated, and then he pressed his right hand into the muddy ground.
A large amount of iron sand instantly shot up into the air. The iron sand coalesced into a thick iron wall, shielding Habara. With a series of piercing metallic clangs, the black rods either shattered upon impact with the iron wall or pierced the surrounding rock face, creating a spiderweb of cracks.
Then, a large number of paper shurikens, like butterflies, deftly flew through the intervening forest, attacking Habara.
So, Habara controlled the iron wall to once again transform into a black sand flow. With a series of "thud thud" sounds, the paper shurikens embedded themselves in the sand flow, followed by a series of explosions...
The heavy iron sand, in its fluid form, easily absorbed the shockwaves from these explosions.
This was the correct way to attack. Konan should be attacking Habara from a distance.
Tendo Yahiko walked step by step to Konan's side. He asked, "Konan, are you alright?"
Konan pressed one hand to her abdomen and covered her mouth and nose with the other. She coughed lightly and stood up. "Cough, cough, I'm fine."
Then, Konan glanced at Tendo and noticed that he was holding something in his left hand. Looking closely, it was actually a ninja. Tendo was dragging the ninja along by his hair.
"This is?"
Tendo swung his arm and threw the ninja into the mud in front of them, as casually as discarding a dead dog.
"A rat that snuck into the Land of Rain. He had some skill," Tendo said.
This dead dog... er, no, this ninja who had been knocked unconscious by Tendo was none other than Kakuzu, who had come to the Land of Rain in search of "seventy million."
It wasn't yet the true "Akatsuki Genesis" period, so Kakuzu had essentially delivered himself early.
Fate was a fickle thing. So, ill-gotten gains are a no-no.
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