Ino plunged her hands into the water, and as she infused her chakra, streams of water as thick as her wrist converged from all directions, forming a circular prison that tightly trapped Sasuke.
She then released the Mind Disturbance Technique, took a deep breath, and thought to herself, "I've won!" The water prison was airtight, with very little oxygen inside. Once the oxygen ran out, Sasuke would suffocate to death.
While maintaining the water attribute chakra within the prison, Ino adjusted her own state.
The Water Prison Technique didn't consume much chakra, and she still had nearly a quarter of her chakra left. Standing still like this, she could hold on for ten minutes without any problem. How long could Sasuke last?
"Sasuke, just admit defeat."
There was no way Sasuke would give up so easily. He gritted his teeth and held on. Ino, unfazed, continued to adjust her breathing rhythm without interfering.
The students couldn't yet see the flaws in this technique, but the jonin present were all knowledgeable.
Kakashi, who had been somewhat indifferent, now looked more serious. He turned to Inoichi and asked, "Senior, is this the Water Prison Technique from the Hidden Mist Village?"
"Correct," Inoichi nodded. "I remember seeing this technique in the mind of a Hidden Mist jonin during the last war. It's easy to learn, just a C-rank ninja technique, but it has significant flaws. As long as someone attacks the caster, the technique can be broken."
Kakashi pressed further, "But what if there are no allies around? How would one break this technique?"
His question caught Inoichi off guard. As the head of intelligence, he usually didn't engage in close combat on the battlefield. Most of the time, he worked in the rear, providing support. Even when he did go to the frontlines, he had his Ino-Shika-Cho teammates to cover him. In his original thinking, the Water Prison Technique had such obvious flaws that any ally could break it by throwing a kunai from two hundred meters away.
Now that Kakashi asked, he thought carefully. If it were a one-on-one fight with no allies around, how would one break this technique? He recalled, "Back in the war, we saw this technique many times, but we didn't pay much attention to it. It seems like..."
He looked at Shikaku.
Shikaku, the strategist, recalled the past events. He thought deeper than Inoichi and said calmly, "I remember the three of us were under Orochimaru's command at the time. Orochimaru once commented on Jiraiya-sama's defense against the Hidden Mist Village. He said that Leaf ninja should fight in formations, with teams of no fewer than three members. We didn't pay much attention back then, but now that I think about it, Orochimaru must have already discovered the special nature of this technique. He just didn't bother to explain it to his subordinates."
The fifteenth generation of Ino-Shika-Cho had all fought under Orochimaru, just as the sixteenth generation would later serve under Asuma. If you think the Third Hokage didn't have any personal motives, even ghosts wouldn't believe it!
Hearing Orochimaru's name, the Third Hokage picked up his pipe and took a slow puff.
Kakashi wasn't particularly concerned with the old generation's grudges. He was still thinking about the Water Prison Technique.
"Using Earth Release should be able to break this technique from the inside."
Several jonin nodded in agreement. Earth counters water, and everyone understood this elemental relationship.
To break the Water Prison Technique, using Earth Release from the inside to disrupt the flow of water attribute chakra was indeed a good method.
Might Guy stared straight at Kakashi and said, "I don't know Earth Release."
"Is your problem really just that you can't use Earth Release? You can't use any Release Techniques at all!"
Kakashi chuckled awkwardly but didn't respond. Hiashi Hyuga spoke in a tone that suggested he was an expert, "Byakugan can also disrupt the chakra flow that creates this kind of prison from within. It's not difficult to break."
He had already figured out Ino's strategy. Ino's Body Techniques were weak, so she relied heavily on control techniques. She would bombard her opponent with a flurry of attacks to immobilize them first, then use the Yamanaka clan's Secret Technique to finish them off.
This approach worked fine against ordinary Low Ninja and Middle Ninja, but against a member of the Hyuga clan?
Ha! Byakugan would teach her a lesson! Whether it was the Hidden Mist Technique or the Water Prison Technique, nothing could escape the Byakugan's sight. Both control techniques would be rendered useless, the Secret Technique wouldn't have time to be used, and her Body Techniques wouldn't stand a chance. He could already envision Hinata defeating Ino.
If Hinata defeated Ino, and Ino defeated Sasuke Uchiha, what did that mean? It meant Hinata could defeat Sasuke Uchiha! The thought of the Hyuga clan surpassing the Uchiha clan filled him with joy, and he decided to reward Hinata with two extra rice balls tonight.
After some discussion, the Jonin concluded that the best solution to this technique was to have teammates nearby. Relying on Byakugan or Earth Release wasn't very practical.
During large-scale ninja battles, this technique wasn't very useful because there were teammates everywhere. Anyone could throw a Shuriken to break the situation. But in a one-on-one fight, this technique was incredibly overpowered.
The Third Hokage, known as the Professor of Ninja Techniques, found the simple C-rank Water Prison Technique crude and unrefined. In the blink of an eye, he could come up with seven or eight ways to counter it. But that was for him. For Low Ninja and Middle Ninja, there really wasn't a good solution.
Ino felt she had already proven herself as "the capable one among acquaintances" and subtly glanced over. Sasuke was still holding on.
Naruto had stopped cheering for Ino. He was anxious, sweating profusely, hoping Sasuke would surrender, yet feeling that Sasuke shouldn't give up.
On the girls' side, there was a chorus of curses directed at Ino. Sakura looked distraught. Seeing Sasuke on the verge of suffocation, she rushed out desperately, "Ino, I beg you! Please, don't kill Sasuke!"
Ino didn't say anything like "this loser needs a woman to save him." She was afraid Sasuke couldn't handle the shock. Earlier, she had sensed a strange and chilling spiritual energy gathering around Sasuke's eyes.
When it came to the Sharingan and the series of illusions it brought, aside from starting with a Hidden Mist Technique and then running away, Ino really didn't have a good way to deal with it. Most of the time, it was just unsolvable.
Naruto isn't weak, right? But when it comes to illusions, he falls for them every single time. It's beyond tragic.
"I wasn't planning to kill him. He just won't surrender. What can I do?" Ino used her sensory abilities to "see" Sasuke's chakra, and the more she looked, the stranger it seemed.
The nature of this chakra didn't seem to be Sasuke's. It was more like her own chakra, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't exactly the same—similar yet different.
Previously, the Indra Chakra had forced her to sever her tail to survive, abandoning a portion of the Chakra she had transferred during the Mind Transfer Technique. Now, what was happening? Had the Indra Chakra assimilated the portion of Chakra she had discarded?
She couldn't understand it, but there was no mistaking the fact that Sasuke was on the verge of death.
Sakura was crying uncontrollably, pleading repeatedly. Ino sighed and finally released her left hand. Without her Chakra to sustain it, the Water Prison Technique dissipated. Sasuke's face twisted in pain as he gasped for air, lying in the mud. He tried several times to stand but failed.