"Full Counter!"

  Explosions, wind bdes, shifting sand—everything was suddenly turned on its head.

  Confusion. Incomprehension. Those were the only thoughts left in Bck Sand’s mind as his life faded.

  “Damn it…”

  Matthew, drenched in blood, watched helplessly as his own attack reversed midair and came straight back at him. He threw himself to the side with all his might, trying to dodge—

  But his body froze. Inoichi Yamanaka’s Mind-Body Disturbance Jutsu had disrupted his movements at the worst possible moment.

  The Wind Release: Vacuum Wave Matthew himself had unleashed sshed across his body, carving deep, ragged wounds into his flesh.

  Inoichi hadn’t the faintest clue what secret move Shimizu Miketsuki had pulled off just now, but as a veteran jonin, he wasn't going to let that golden opportunity go to waste.

  When the dust settled, the spot where Miketsuki had once been pinned down was now nothing more than a barren crater.

  He stood at the center of it all, sword in hand, completely unharmed.

  Not far from him, Bck Sand y still, body charred bck. Lifeless.

  He’d taken the full brunt of the explosive tag. The man had been running on fumes to begin with—this time, there was no coming back.

  …

  Shimizu Miketsuki's Current Public Panel:

  【Host: Shimizu Miketsuki】【Skills: Chakra Refinement Technique, Clone Technique, Substitution Technique, Transcription Seal – Eternal Heaven (One-time use), Shadow Shuriken Jutsu, Five Nature Transformations, Rasengan, Secret Sword: Fsh】【Wishes Fulfilled: Celestial Eyes – Sixfold Sight, Full Counter】【Mail: No new messages】【Full Counter: Reflects all non-physical attacks in full.】

  …

  With Full Counter, Miketsuki had basically gone from squishy gss cannon to walking fortress.

  Why? Because the skill had ridiculously low chakra consumption—and didn’t scale with the power of the reflected attack.

  Even if a Tailed Beast Bomb were flying toward him right now, Miketsuki could bounce it right back like it was nothing.

  That was the confidence the system gave him.

  Meanwhile—

  Things were not looking good for Matthew. In fact, they were looking very bad.

  Looks like... this is it for me, he thought grimly.

  He still had chakra to spare, but the injuries had done a number on his body.

  Miketsuki watched as Matthew raised his guard. He and Inoichi had already exchanged tactics through a brief mental link.

  Mind-Body Disturbance Jutsu.

  Simple but deadly. Inoichi used the Yamanaka cn’s signature technique again without hesitation.

  “I don’t know what other cards you’ve got up your sleeve,” Miketsuki said, “but I’m running out of patience. Let’s end this.”

  He raised one hand and began to form a Rasengan.

  Matthew knew there was no escaping this. If he was going down, he was damn well taking the kid with him.

  That jutsu he used on Shamin… it really was a no-hand-seal technique. But why use it so openly? No-hand-seal jutsu were powerful because of their surprise factor. So what was he pnning?

  In a ninja battle, intel was half the game.

  Miketsuki could tell just by looking—Matthew was plotting something shady. If he got too close, the guy might pull the same kind of desperate st move that hulking Sand ninja had.

  More chakra surged into the spinning sphere. The Rasengan began to howl with energy, its rotation going wild. Bdes of wind unfurled from its surface like a shuriken.

  Miketsuki wasn’t some dainty little genin. He had power—and he knew how to use it.

  "Wind Release: Rasenshuriken!"

  A shuriken made of intensely compressed wind chakra howled through the air as Miketsuki hurled it like a ninja tool.

  “What the hell—he threw it?!”

  Inoichi’s eyes went wide in disbelief.

  With Miketsuki’s absurdly fine chakra control, of course he could unch the Rasenshuriken. He could even adjust its trajectory mid-flight.

  Shuriken curveball technique, baby.

  The Rasenshuriken, radiating danger like a reaper’s scythe, closed the distance to Matthew in a blink.

  “Konoha geniuses really don’t py fair,” Matthew muttered bitterly.

  An advanced Wind Release technique with no hand seals. And a projectile version, at that. He hadn’t even heard of such a thing, let alone seen it.

  The moment the Rasenshuriken struck Matthew, it exploded.

  The bst tore through everything in a ten-meter radius.

  A gut-wrenching screech echoed as the very air seemed to shred apart. Gales howled outward, countless micro-bdes sshing indiscriminately through everything around.

  Dirt, trees, even the air itself twisted and warped under the assault of the wind chakra.

  Honestly, even without Inoichi’s interference, there was no way Matthew could’ve dodged it—not at that speed.

  Watching the aftermath, Inoichi felt cold sweat bead on his forehead.

  “Miketsuki… that jutsu of yours…”

  “Something I came up with myself. An upgraded version of that no-seal spinning ball I used earlier.”

  Technically, Minato Namikaze hadn’t even invented the Rasengan yet—but Miketsuki had already sneakily cimed the patent.

  “I see… Truly remarkable,” Inoichi said with a dry ugh.

  He suddenly wondered if he should just hand over the squad leader role to Miketsuki. That jutsu? Easily S-rank in both power and technical complexity.

  And no hand seals? That was downright underhanded.

  Inoichi knew: if he ever faced that technique, the only way to survive would be to see it coming and run.

  Even Miketsuki—who normally had skin as thick as chakra armor—blushed a little under Inoichi’s endless praise. In the back of his mind, he made a note: next chance he got, he’d teach the Rasengan family of techniques to Minato.

  That’s right.

  Miketsuki hadn’t just recreated the Rasenshuriken—he’d developed multiple original variants of the Rasengan.

  (This chapter isn’t over yet! Click ‘Next Page’ for more high-octane ninja action!)

  If it were just the standard five nature transformations, Miketsuki wouldn’t have kept insisting he was meant to be a long-range spellcaster.

  After exchanging a few quick words, and confirming Miketsuki still had chakra to spare, Inoichi led him off to support Uchiha Ruri and Hyuga Heiji.

  …

  As for the final surviving member of the Sand ninja team—well, that fight didn’t really need a whole write-up.

  Ruri disrupted the enemy’s main body while Heiji broke one of the puppets. The two should’ve had the upper hand—

  But the puppet master had one huge advantage: another puppet hidden in a sealing scroll.

  And just like that, Ruri and Heiji were dragged into a drawn-out battle of attrition.

  By the time Miketsuki and Inoichi arrived, the three of them were still locked in fierce combat.

  Miketsuki couldn’t help but roast them in his head: Seriously? We already took down three enemies. These two better not be throwing the match.

  To be fair, it wasn’t really their fault.

  Neither Ruri nor Heiji had jonin-level power, and Heiji’s taijutsu was totally countered by the poison-coated puppets. He wasn’t a medical ninja—if he got poisoned, it’d be game over. So his every attack was overly cautious.

  Their job was just to stall the enemy anyway.

  As for Ruri, her genjutsu was basically useless. The puppet master was too experienced to make eye contact with her. After unching a few Fire Release jutsu, her chakra reserves were nearly tapped out.

  In short—

  They did their best.

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