Starting with rogue ninjas, building the insect kingdom.

Chapter 398 The Defects of Air-Modified Bodies

The departure of the two representatives did not affect the subsequent matches, and the battle footage on the big screen continued.

Due to special arrangements, the ninja from Hoshigakure encountered two other Flower Release ninjas and advanced without any issues. The number of contestants in the waiting area increased to six.

The next opponent will be Karan, the strongest ninja from the Sound Village, and Zabuza Momochi, the Demon from the Hidden Mist Village.

On the arena, two figures faced each other from afar.

Karan from the Sound Village is tall, nearly two meters, but he wasn't originally that tall; he underwent modifications, with many metal channels added to his body to act as air vents. Turbo boosters were also added to his arms and legs.

"I heard you're very powerful, having single-handedly killed two powerful clans, the Uchiha and Hyuga. It's just a pity you were unlucky enough to run into me. The preliminaries end here."

Zabuza paid no attention to the other party's provocation. He drew the two crossed katanas from his back and placed them on either side as if asking a question, staring intently at the other party.

These two katanas were given to him by a mysterious person. They are made of special materials and are indestructible, even comparable to the Seven Ninja Swords of Kirigakure.

"Begin." As soon as Granny Chiyo's voice fell, Zabuza's figure had already disappeared from the spot.

It's not a teleportation technique; it's a pure burst of physical skill.

The stone slab beneath his feet cracked open, and his body shot out like a cannonball, leaving a trail of afterimages behind him.

Karan moved slowly, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Bang!"

The first strike landed on his crossed forearms, producing a loud metallic clang.

Karan took three steps back, and a gash appeared on the skin of his arm, revealing the silvery-white metal bones underneath.

He didn't bleed because there was a metal tube under his skin.

Zabuza raised an eyebrow slightly. He had used seventy percent of his strength in his first strike, which he estimated would be enough to cleave an ordinary Jonin in two, weapon and all. But the man in front of him blocked it with just his two forearms.

Moreover, there was no sound of bones breaking inside the other person's body.

"Interesting." Zabuza's smile deepened, and the second slash followed immediately.

This strike was a backhand cut, slashing upwards from below, aimed at Karan's throat.

Karan dodged to the side, the blade grazing his cheek and shaving off a few strands of hair.

He seized the opportunity. With his right hand, fingers together, palm facing Zabuza's chest—Air Cannon Compression.

Zabuza's expression changed drastically. He instinctively rolled to the left, and a visible stream of air shot out from the pores in Karan's palm, grazing his shoulder and slamming into the wall behind him.

"boom!"

A hole half a meter in diameter was blasted open in the thick stone wall.

A gasp rippled through the audience in the outer stands as Fengying Luosha stared intently at Kalan's palm.

He could see clearly that the air cannon was neither ninjutsu nor taijutsu, but a pure physical attack.

No hand seals or chakra nature transformation are needed; all that's required is to compress and release the air.

Body modification—this technology feels like it has completely broken away from the inherent system of ninjutsu.

The current ninja world is becoming increasingly incomprehensible to him.

Fortunately, the opponent wasn't too strong; they were probably only a special Jonin.

Moreover, judging from the situation, the cost of the modification is not low. The metal on it must be very expensive, so it should not pose a threat to him in the short term.

What he didn't know was that the metal mentioned above could be mass-produced in any underground palace as long as there was mineral deposit.

Especially recently, the Flame Palace has dug into the underground lava core, which is full of iron-nickel-chromium alloy. After it is dug out, cooled, and then consumed, it is full of heavy metals.

On the stage, Zabuza had regained his footing, his clothes on his left shoulder torn by the airflow, revealing his muscular physique.

The skin on his shoulder was red, but not broken. He narrowly avoided a direct impact, only being grazed by the edge of the airflow. However, he was still shaken by the air vibration principle of the air burst, which caused internal injuries.

Zabuza held both swords with the blades facing forward, assuming an asymmetrical double-sword stance, with the left sword held above his head and the right sword held at waist level.

Karan's expression remained calm, but his hands were already poised for action.

His palms were slightly open, with a faint airflow swirling in the palms, ready to fire the air cannon again at any moment.

"Air Cannon - Rapid Fire"

This time, he held nothing back.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Three air cannons fired in quick succession, forming a triangular shape that blocked all of Zabuza's escape routes. Instead of retreating, Zabuza charged forward.

His body suddenly split in two while moving at high speed.

The two Zabuzas leaped up simultaneously, one to the left and the other to the right, passing each other in mid-air.

Three air cannons blasted into the open ground, creating three large craters and sending debris flying.

Karan looked up and saw two Zabuzas slashing at him from two directions at the same time.

His hands couldn't react to two directions at the same time.

"Air Cannon - Shotgun"

At this moment, a piece of metal protruded between his palms, like some kind of axle and wheel mechanism, with several small holes in the middle.

A large number of invisible air bullets vibrated and ricocheted, destroying everything in their path in an instant, even huge rock bunkers were not spared!

Hehe, it's over!

He smiled, but the two corpses that the bullets swept past instantly disintegrated in mid-air, turning into water mist.

The real Zabuza emerged from the ground, his hands already completed with the final hand seal. It turned out that at the last moment, he abandoned his twin swords, using two water clones as bait, while he himself burrowed underground to complete the ninjutsu.

Water Release: Water Prison Technique!

A massive water prison instantly surged from the ground, enveloping and filling Kalan's body, while the powerful swirling water blew all the air out of his body.

Without air, even if its air is modified, it's completely useless; it simply can't open this water prison.

Glug glug, glug glug...

Karan struggled desperately in the water dungeon, but in the end it was all in vain!

Finally, with his eyes wide open, he was drowned.

But Zabuza still didn't let him go. Even after Chiyo declared him the winner, he still maintained the water prison for one more minute.

Only when his chakra was completely depleted and his injuries reached their limit did he release the water prison and collapse to the ground, panting heavily.

At this point, Karan was dead.

Zabuza stood there, soaked to the bone, panting heavily.

Although he won, it wasn't an easy victory. The shockwaves, while making him appear unharmed on the surface, actually left him with at least seven or eight fractures throughout his body. His internal organs also suffered varying degrees of damage.

But he survived, he won, and that's the world of ninjas.

"The victor will be Momochi Zabuza."

The Kazekage outside the arena watched the battle scene and shook his head slightly. It seemed that his previous thoughts were overthinking things. The air element had too many weaknesses, and once it was filled with water jutsu, it would be useless.

Then the final battle began.