The water dragon released by Yoruha plunged into the lake, and for several seconds, its immense body stretched to over a hundred meters in length.
A terrifying dragon's roar echoed across several hundred meters, as if a real dragon had appeared in the area.
The once calm lake was now in complete turmoil, waves several meters high surging and spreading out for hundreds of meters.
The water overflowed onto the lakeshore, flooding the surrounding area, even causing tremors across the ground within several hundred meters.
The sheer power of this jutsu was evident.
After executing the technique, Yoruha felt that only about one-tenth of his chakra had been consumed.
As he lowered his hands, he murmured, "No wonder it's a B-rank jutsu. The chakra consumption is enormous."
Neither Kakashi nor Zabuza heard his words—if they had, they would have coughed up blood in frustration.
The Water Dragon Jutsu that Yoruha had just performed didn't draw upon the water from the lake at all; it was entirely created out of thin air using chakra.
The terrifying amount of water alone would have completely drained the chakra of a typical jōnin.
When the Second Hokage and Third Hokage fought on a rooftop, creating a simple Water Formation Wall with chakra alone was enough to leave the ANBU jōnin watching in awe.
But Yoruha's Water Dragon Jutsu, in terms of difficulty, scale, and power, surpassed even the Second Hokage's technique. And like the Second Hokage, it was entirely formed using chakra.
The Second Hokage had no water sources in his environment, which was why he relied on pure chakra.
But in Yoruha's case, there was a lake right in front of him. The only reason he relied solely on chakra was that it was his first time performing the jutsu, and he lacked experience.
Even so, the power of his Water Dragon Jutsu far exceeded that of Zabuza's.
If not for the fact that Yoruha's chakra was primarily composed of natural energy, requiring far less volume than standard chakra, the consumption would have been much greater than just one-tenth of his reserves.
Yet, despite this, Yoruha still found the jutsu to be highly chakra-intensive.
Comparisons were bound to make others feel frustrated to death.
As Yoruha murmured to himself, Sakura, standing nearby, was completely dumbfounded.
"Yoruha, your jutsu is so much stronger than Zabuza's," she exclaimed.
When Yoruha released his jutsu, both Sakura and Tazuna were surrounded by a layer of water walls—parts of the water dragon's body.
She had witnessed the entire process of Yoruha casting the jutsu.
The fact that a Water Dragon Jutsu performed by an elite jōnin like Zabuza couldn't compare to Yoruha's left Sakura at a loss for words.
If earlier she thought Yoruha's strength lay solely in taijutsu, now she realized that his taijutsu, ninjutsu, and chakra reserves all vastly outclassed theirs.
Even though Sakura didn't know much about the Water Dragon Jutsu, the sheer oppressive power of Yoruha's technique was proof enough of the massive chakra expenditure involved.
After all, that was a water dragon over a hundred meters long.
What's more, Yoruha's water dragon seemed almost alive, completely different from Zabuza's.
Yoruha was becoming more and more of an enigma to her.
How could someone so powerful have gone unnoticed during their time at the Ninja Academy?
It wasn't just that he was inconspicuous—Sakura realized that before graduating, she hadn't even been aware there was a classmate named Yoruha.
Yoruha shook his head:
"It's just because I used this jutsu for the first time and didn't quite master it."
That answer left her dumbfounded.
"This was your first time using this jutsu?"
"How is that possible? Your hand seal speed was so fast and so precise—how could this be your first time?"
Yoruha didn't respond further.
He felt no need to explain, as Sakura wouldn't understand at her current level.
Seeing Yoruha remain silent, Sakura grew even more shocked.
Because she realized Yoruha had no reason to lie to her.
Given Yoruha's personality, he wasn't the type to make things up.
Back at the ninja academy, he had always been so low-key; there was no way he would suddenly act flashy now.
But precisely because of this, Sakura was even more amazed.
The first time he used it, and the power was already so immense.
And Yoruha had said he hadn't even mastered it yet. If this was his level without full mastery, what would it look like once he had perfected it?
Would he be able to use it without even forming hand seals?
The more she thought about it, the more terrifying the possibilities became.
They were the same age, yet she couldn't even see Yoruha's shadow anymore.
The gap between them was this massive.
Kakashi walked up to Yoruha and remarked, "Your control has improved a lot. At least the power wasn't as overwhelming or uncontrollable this time."
"It seems you've made rapid progress."
Yoruha nodded. "It's probably because this jutsu isn't that difficult and doesn't require such high control."
Yoruha knew what Kakashi was implying.
Although the Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu Yoruha had just released was incredibly powerful, surprising Kakashi, it wasn't nearly as shocking as the time Yoruha had used "Chidori."
That night, if Yoruha had unleashed the same "Chidori" here, no one but Yoruha would have survived.
It had been a force that swallowed everything within hundreds of meters in an instant.
That night, if Kakashi hadn't reacted quickly and escaped, he wouldn't have escaped unscathed either.
The Water Dragon Jutsu Yoruha had just released, while still very powerful, was completely under control.
It now had significant practical combat value.
But for Yoruha to claim that the Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu was "not that difficult"…
This was a B-rank jutsu, typically only learned by jonin-level ninja.
Most chunin could only use it once, as it would drain them of all their chakra.
In combat, even jonin could only afford to use it a few times, relying on favorable terrain to conserve chakra.
After all, maintaining sufficient chakra reserves was critical to continue fighting.
The Water Dragon Jutsu consumed a tremendous amount of chakra.
But Yoruha's Water Dragon Jutsu wasn't just powerful; it was also created entirely using his own chakra, without relying on natural water sources.
Such a technique, even for Kakashi, could only be used two or three times.
Kakashi had a significant amount of chakra, but his Sharingan constantly drained it.
Without the burden of the Sharingan, Kakashi's chakra reserves would be on par with Kage-level ninja, as was revealed during the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Freed from the Sharingan, Kakashi had no trouble performing large-scale jutsu.
Moreover, the Water Dragon Jutsu was anything but simple.
A B-rank jutsu posed considerable difficulty, even for chunin-level ninja.
Yet Yoruha had learned it on the spot and executed it proficiently on his first attempt.
But then again, Yoruha had also learned the A-rank jutsu "Chidori" on his first try. If not for his chakra rampaging that night, he would have completely mastered it.
Kakashi looked at Yoruha and smiled. "That must've consumed a lot of chakra, right?"
Yoruha nodded earnestly. "It did. It took about one-tenth of my chakra."
Kakashi was momentarily stunned.
Yoruha looked puzzled. "Isn't one-tenth a lot?"
That answer left Kakashi speechless.
With a twitch of his mouth, he said, "I thought it would've used up at least one-third of your chakra."
"If that were the case, it'd be too terrifying."
Even Yoruha couldn't quite understand.
He felt that losing one-tenth of his chakra was already significant, yet Kakashi had thought it would take one-third.
After all, it was just a B-rank jutsu. If an A-rank or S-rank jutsu consumed that much chakra, he might've understood.
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