CHAPTER 165
"Lightning Release: Secret Technique: One Thousand Years of Death."
The moment White Fang's voice fell...
His entire body transformed into an incomparably condensed bolt of white lightning.
This wasn't ordinary Lightning Release.
It was every remaining ounce of his Chakra...
Every fragment of his strength...
Compressed into a single attack.
It resembled a dazzling white fang forged from pure lightning.
The Lightning Fang flashed into existence.
Then disappeared.
Its speed had surpassed what the naked eye could follow.
In the next instant...
It had already appeared directly before Ōnoki.
Within arm's reach.
White Fang stood silently before him.
His only remaining left hand still maintained the Tiger Seal.
At the tips of his extended fingers...
A tiny point of brilliant white lightning shone with blinding intensity.
That point...
Was the true tip of the Lightning Fang.
It carried White Fang's final strength.
His final will.
A determination capable of piercing through everything.
Without hesitation...
It thrust directly toward Ōnoki's heart.
"He wants to kill me?!"
Ōnoki's heart shook violently.
A freezing chill instantly spread throughout his body.
"Was I wrong?"
"Does he intend to kill me instead of merely crippling me?!"
There was no longer time to think.
His instinct to survive took complete control.
Every remaining trace of Chakra surged frantically toward his chest.
Stone Armor immediately thickened around his heart.
The dense layers compressed continuously.
Their color gradually darkened.
They even developed a metallic sheen.
His defensive power reached an unprecedented level.
However...
At the exact instant Ōnoki concentrated everything upon protecting his chest...
White Fang...
Disappeared.
Not an afterimage.
Not a feint created by speed.
He truly vanished from directly before him.
"Not good!"
Ōnoki's expression changed drastically.
An even stronger sense of danger erupted behind him.
Whoosh!
Almost simultaneously...
White Fang appeared directly behind him like a phantom.
The two fingers of his left hand remained wrapped in that tiny point of condensed white lightning.
Without the slightest hesitation...
He thrust them forward.
They sliced through the air with an ear piercing whistle.
Their target...
Was Ōnoki's lower back.
Although it wasn't as immediately fatal as the heart or head...
It remained one of the body's most vital regions.
The junction connecting the spine to the lower body.
If that single strike infused with terrifying Lightning Release Chakra landed...
Forget ten days...
Forget half a month...
Recovery would likely require months.
It might even leave permanent injuries.
It would also affect...
Certain particularly important bodily functions.
"Impossible!!"
Ōnoki roared.
His expression instantly became frantic.
Only now did he fully understand.
His judgment earlier had been correct.
White Fang never intended to kill him.
He intended...
To cripple him completely.
Even so...
If this strike connected...
He would become completely incapable of participating in the coming war against the Third Raikage.
"I won't let you!"
Ōnoki roared furiously.
Chakra burst beneath his feet.
With every ounce of remaining strength...
He desperately twisted his body.
He attempted to shift the vital point of impact.
Unfortunately...
Moments earlier...
He had concentrated nearly all of his Chakra upon protecting his heart.
Now...
Changing direction at the last moment proved impossible.
His body barely shifted upward.
Only a tiny amount.
Then...
Puchi!
The sound of flesh being pierced echoed clearly across the silent battlefield.
White Fang's two fingers...
Wrapped in concentrated white lightning...
Passed through the Stone Armor as effortlessly as a red hot blade cutting through butter.
They penetrated deeply into Ōnoki's body.
White Fang's original target...
Had been the right side of Ōnoki's lower back.
However...
Because Ōnoki managed to move ever so slightly...
The point of impact shifted downward.
It struck just beneath the base of his spine.
A little lower...
And it would have reached an extremely embarrassing...
And fragile...
Private area.
At this moment...
Ōnoki had no time to care about such things.
He could clearly feel it.
Something scorching hot.
Something incomparably violent.
Had forced its way deep into his body.
Oddly enough...
The excruciating pain he expected never came.
The highly compressed Lightning Release Chakra instantly numbed every nerve it touched.
Yet...
That strange sensation...
Of something invading his body without pain...
Only made the fear inside him grow stronger.
Sometimes...
The unknown was far more terrifying than pain itself.
"Explode!!"
Without hesitation...
Ferocity flashed across Ōnoki's face.
He immediately detonated the already damaged Stone Armor covering his body.
He would rather suffer the backlash himself...
Than allow White Fang to continue driving the attack deeper.
He had to force White Fang away immediately.
Boom!!!
The thick Stone Armor exploded violently.
A powerful shockwave mixed with shattered rocks and Earth Release Chakra erupted like an explosion at point blank range.
It slammed directly into White Fang.
Already standing at the end of his strength...
White Fang couldn't completely withstand the sudden blast.
His body was thrown backward.
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
The final traces of white lightning surrounding him faded away completely.
Ōnoki also groaned painfully.
The recoil from the explosion threw him stumbling forward.
Puchi!!
White Fang's fingers were pulled free.
A bloody hole remained upon Ōnoki's lower back.
Blood erupted from the wound without restraint.
The surrounding flesh had already turned black from the intense heat of Lightning Release.
"Father!!"
Kitsuchi's eyes almost split apart.
With an enraged roar...
Chakra burst beneath his feet.
He instantly rushed forward.
Supporting the staggering Ōnoki before he could collapse.
Several Iwagakure Shinobi witnessed the Third Tsuchikage being wounded once again.
Thinking he might have been killed...
Their rage instantly exploded.
They shouted furiously.
Then charged toward the exhausted White Fang.
However...
The instant they took only a few steps...
A figure wrapped in blazing azure green steam descended from the sky like a falling meteor.
Bang!
Bang!
Several muffled impacts echoed.
The first few charging Iwagakure Shinobi were instantly kicked away by lightning fast leg strikes.
The figure landed steadily.
Standing directly before the flying White Fang.
He stretched both arms outward.
Firmly...
And gently...
He caught the severely injured White Fang.
It was the person who had rushed over the moment White Fang unleashed his forbidden Lightning Release.
Might Guy.