The four Cloud shinobi jōnin unleashed their Lightning Style: Hell Explosion Thunder jutsu, creating a wall of thunder that surrounded Sora.
Sensing the extreme danger of this attack, Sora activated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
The four Cloud shinobi jōnin shouted in unison as the thunderstorm burst with incredibly powerful lightning, striking directly at Sora.
This combined ninjutsu from the four jōnin was extraordinarily powerful. The intense electrical current and extreme heat could destroy everything within the thunderwall, leaving nothing behind, not even ashes.
The blinding lightning forced the Cloud shinobi to narrow their eyes.
The lightning bombardment targeting Sora continued for three full minutes before finally ending, leaving a thick cloud of smoke filling the area.
After completing their jutsu, the four Cloud jōnin and five Cloud chūnin released the barrier and rejoined their team.
Although they believed it impossible for Sora to survive such a devastating attack, the Cloud shinobi remained in the position to confirm his fate.
When the smoke finally cleared, all the Cloud shinobi stared at the centre of the battlefield in disbelief.
The ground had been completely scorched, yet Sora still stood there, largely unharmed.
No, not completely unharmed. A line of blood tears ran from his left eye.
Sora murmured to himself, "So this is the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan's technique? Truly extraordinary!"
When the Cloud shinobi saw that Sora had survived virtually unscathed, they immediately launched another assault, attacking him with numerous ninjutsu.
"Ten Thousand Rejections!" Sora called out.
When Sora activated the ability of his left Mangekyō Sharingan, all the ninjutsu appeared to hit him directly, yet Sora remained completely unharmed. Even his clothes showed no sign of damage.
This was the ability housed within Sora's left eye, his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Its power was remarkably simple.
After using the ocular technique "Ten Thousand Rejections," Sora's body automatically rejected any jutsu other than his own, essentially nullifying his opponents' techniques.
Sora looked at the Cloud shinobi who continued to uselessly cast ninjutsu against him, smirked, and charged toward them.
With his "Ten Thousand Rejections" technique active, Sora could now freely use his Thunder Breath ability without worry.
After closing the distance to the Cloud shinobi, Sora exhaled deeply.
"Thunder Breath Type 2: Rice Soul!"
In an instant, Sora unleashed five lightning-shaped strikes.
Because of Sora's incredible speed and nearly instantaneous approach, the Cloud shinobi couldn't react in time. Three Cloud shinobi were immediately beheaded by Sora's attack.
The remaining Cloud shinobi hastily attempted to counter.
Sora's pair of Mangekyō Sharingan rotated rapidly.
After evolving to the Mangekyō Sharingan, Sora's perceptive abilities had reached their peak.
The movements of these Cloud shinobi appeared extremely slow in Sora's eyes, allowing him to dodge their attacks with ease.
Severed heads flew into the air, and blood splattered across Sora's cheeks.
"Hell Thrust: Five Finger Lightning Strike!" shouted one of the Cloud jōnin.
As Sora finished killing one of the Cloud shinobi, a Cloud jōnin behind him concentrated a massive amount of lightning chakra into his five fingers and lunged to attack Sora's back.
Sora spun around suddenly and grabbed the Cloud shinobi's arm.
Due to the effect of Sora's "Ten Thousand Rejections" technique, the moment he grabbed the shinobi's arm, the lightning concentrated at his fingertips was instantly rejected and dissipated.
Sora raised his sword, sliced off the Cloud shinobi's arm, and then swiftly decapitated him.
He casually tossed the severed arm to the ground and continued his slaughter.
The Cloud shinobi before him were like lambs awaiting slaughter, with almost no ability to defend themselves.
After evolving his Sharingan to the Mangekyō level and awakening its special technique, Sora had reached the level of an Elite Jōnin.
Between a regular Jōnin and an Elite Jōnin, though only a matter of two words, the difference in power was immense.
What followed was a complete massacre. In just ten minutes, Sora had slaughtered more than half of the twenty Cloud shinobi.
The remaining Cloud shinobi looked into Sora's eyes, which gradually became filled with terror, completely losing their will to fight.
Their commander shouted, "Hurry, prepare the thunder trap!"
Several Cloud shinobi attempted to use Lightning Style: Thunder Draw again to restrict Sora from using his Thunder Breath technique.
"Breath of Thunder, Form Four: Distant Thunder!"
Sora's body erupted with lightning as he attacked with blinding speed, first eliminating the Cloud shinobi attempting to perform the sealing jutsu.
Seeing the situation was lost, the commander immediately ordered, "Retreat!" The surviving Cloud shinobi scattered and fled.
But Sora was a shinobi who specialized in speed. Once the Cloud shinobi decided to retreat, their fate was already sealed.
"Breath of Thunder, Form One: Thunderbolt Flash! Eighth Formation!"
The sound of thunder tearing through the air echoed across the battlefield as Sora pursued the fleeing Cloud shinobi at a speed invisible to the naked eye.
Against these Cloud shinobi who had abandoned the fight and chosen to flee, Sora felt even more at ease.
After transforming into lightning and flashing several times across the battlefield, only a single Cloud chūnin remained of the original twenty Cloud shinobi.
This final Cloud chūnin fell to the ground and looked up at Sora in terror.
He couldn't comprehend what kind of jutsu had allowed Sora to survive that S-rank Lightning Style ninjutsu unharmed—a technique that required four jōnin working in unison to perform.
Sora crouched in front of the chūnin, who began to tremble uncontrollably, certain that Sora was about to kill him.
Sora smiled at him.
To the frightened chūnin, Sora's face—splattered with the blood of his comrades—wore a smile as terrifying as a demon's.
Still smiling, Sora said to the chūnin, "You're lucky. You get to live because I've decided not to kill you."
Although the chūnin was extremely frightened, he gathered his courage to ask, "Why?"
"Because I need someone to report what happened here."
Sora wiped his ninja sword clean on the chūnin's clothes and returned it to its sheath.
Standing up, Sora instructed the chūnin, "Tell them everything that happened here in detail. That way, I won't have spared your life for nothing."
After Sora departed, the Cloud chūnin looked around in a daze.
The bodies of his comrades lay scattered on the ground. Not far from him was a severed head, its eyes wide open, seeming to stare directly at him.
The chūnin felt nauseous and vomited. His broken emotions made him cry out loudly.
...
The Cloud Village learned that even an elite force of twenty shinobi had not only failed to kill Sora, but had been slaughtered by him. If Sora hadn't deliberately spared one chūnin, they would have been completely wiped out.
Moreover, according to the chūnin's account, the battle had been entirely one-sided—a massacre where they had no ability to fight back.
The leaders of the Cloud Village were in disbelief, but they realized that Sora was no longer at the jōnin level and had definitely reached the Elite Jōnin rank.
If this were true, it would require either many more shinobi or other Elite Jōnin to deal with Sora effectively.
But in the current situation, it was clearly unwise to devote significant resources to pursuing one man, especially when Orochimaru, like a watchful lion, had been observing their every move.
Sending more shinobi to hunt down Sora would weaken their forces elsewhere, and Orochimaru would never miss such an opportunity.
Now, Sora had become a problem they found difficult to solve.
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