"Crystal Release: Crystal Prison."
In a confrontation, the most decisive factor is speed.
As long as your speed is fast enough, the enemy cannot touch you. As long as your ninjutsu is released quickly enough, you can take the opponent down first.
And right now, Gekko Chizan perfectly demonstrated this phenomenon.
Relying on absolute release speed, before Danzo could activate Wood Release, he directly used Crystal Release to turn him into a crystal statue.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Danzo... from today onward, the grudges between you and me are wiped clean."
"As for you, I have to take you back to Konoha. After all, you are a missing-nin of Konoha."
Gekko Chizan patted the already crystallized Danzo, a faint smile appearing at the corner of his mouth.
Several years... it took him several years without finding the other party. He never expected that a single visit to the Daimyo's residence would bring such an unexpected surprise.
Happy. Extremely happy.
Just as he was about to take Danzo away, the gate outside the Root base suddenly opened.
A group of people charged straight into this sea of crystals.
"Oh? Not too slow."
"Kazuma."
Seeing the man at the front, Gekko Chizan curled his lips.
The fact that Danzo could stay in the Daimyo's residence—needless to say, it must be the work of the Daimyo or the person in front of him.
And thinking about the strange behavior of the Guardian Ninja organization at the Daimyo's residence recently, Danzo must have played quite a role in it.
This also made Gekko Chizan have not the slightest good impression of the Daimyo's people now.
"Gekko Chizan..."
"Why are you at the Daimyo's residence? And what happened here?"
Kazuma had actually already seen Danzo sealed inside the crystal.
But the situation in front of him had clearly exceeded his expectations.
Gekko Chizan had wiped out Root—this was definitely not a good thing for him.
"Tsk, you can see it too. I'm tracking down Konoha's traitorous missing-nin, Shimura Danzo."
"Since you're here, I might as well ask you."
"Why is Konoha's missing-nin in the Daimyo's residence, and even built a base here?"
"If I hadn't happened to see it by chance, would this guy still be living freely in the Daimyo's residence?"
Facing Kazuma's questioning, Gekko Chizan showed no fear at all, even responding sharply.
Both sides knew exactly why Danzo and Root were in the Daimyo's residence.
Since that was the case, there was nothing to be afraid of.
"Hmph. Whether he's a missing-nin or not, I don't know."
"All I know is that you, a Konoha ninja, launched an attack in the central area of the Daimyo's castle, causing the entire castle to experience an earthquake."
"For this matter, you must give the Daimyo's residence an explanation."
"Otherwise, I will definitely have Lord Daimyo question this matter."
Gekko Chizan sneered. Why did he laugh? Because this bastard Kazuma actually dared to demand an explanation from him.
Fine. Very fine.
"An explanation? I was merely cleaning up a Konoha missing-nin."
"You, the captain of the Guardian Ninja, not only didn't help, but actually came to question me?"
"What? Do you want me to turn you into crystal too?"
"Kazuma, you should understand—I'm not attacking you simply because this is the Daimyo's residence."
Annoying. Gekko Chizan was truly annoyed. The chakra around his body began fluctuating irregularly, and the crystals beneath his feet started spreading.
Seeing this action, Kazuma, Suirai, and the people behind them immediately went on full alert. Some of them had already drawn the long swords from their backs.
"Hey, Kazuma, Suirai, what are you doing?"
"Huh? Damn it—why do I run into you everywhere!"
Suddenly, a somewhat arrogant voice mixed with curses appeared outside the door.
A man with a cigarette in his mouth swaggered in, his gaze fixed on Gekko Chizan the entire time.
"Asuma, you know him?"
"Wait… that posture, and these crystals—are you Gekko Chizan?"
Another voice sounded, but this one was calmer, though still full of vitality.
A bald head, monk's robes—clearly a monk from the Fire Temple.
Chiriku, the strongest of the current generation in the Fire Temple.
"Asuma, heh heh... you've grown quite a bit, kid. You even dare to mock me now?"
"As for this one—Chiriku from the Fire Temple, right?"
"I'm quite friendly toward eminent monks."
"Of course, if it weren't for the current situation, I would very much like to get to know you."
After seeing who had arrived, Gekko Chizan stopped the flow of chakra. After all, now that others had arrived, the situation in front of him could be handled properly.
He hadn't come to the Daimyo's residence to start a war with them.
So if he could avoid fighting, it would be best not to fight.
As for Danzo—that was a complete unexpected bonus.
"But what exactly happened here?"
"Hm? Is that Danzo?"
Asuma removed the cigarette from his mouth, staring at the crystallized Danzo with shock written all over his face.
He knew Danzo very well.
That man had always been his father's mortal rival. Because of that, Asuma never had a good impression of Danzo either.
Now seeing that the man had actually come to the Daimyo's residence and had been turned into crystal, Asuma was stunned.
"A missing-nin of Konoha..."
"Why would he appear in the Daimyo's residence?"
"Kazuma, Suirai, what are you planning to do?"
Chiriku clasped his hands together, a trace of seriousness flashing in his eyes.
After all, even though they had joined the Daimyo's residence, in essence they were still shinobi of the Land of Fire.
And the other party was a missing-nin. Someone with that identity should not appear inside the Daimyo's residence.
"Hmph. We also just arrived here."
"But the earthquake just now was definitely caused by Gekko Chizan. No matter what, that is an act that endangered the Daimyo's residence."
"I have the authority to arrest him."
Seeing that Asuma and Chiriku had arrived, Kazuma knew that this matter now had a proper way to be handled.
After all, he also didn't want to fight Gekko Chizan, so he could only use the authority of the Daimyo's residence to suppress him.
"As you can see, I am carrying out orders to pursue a missing-nin from Konoha."
"I just don't know why he appeared in the Daimyo's residence."
"As for the disturbance earlier—it was indeed a bit large. If necessary, I can go meet Lord Daimyo."
Gekko Chizan put on a smile again.
At the same time, he made a request to meet the Daimyo.
"Tch. Hurry up and meet him. Once you're done, get out of the Daimyo's residence."
"I've always found you annoying. Don't think that just because you're Konoha's Ghost you can move around freely in the Daimyo's residence."
Asuma lit another cigarette, the look he gave Gekko Chizan full of dislike.
Gekko Chizan didn't respond to this, only shrugging his shoulders.
Then the next second, his figure disappeared from where he stood and appeared behind Asuma.
"Hey hey hey, Asuma. Has anyone ever told you that although you've grown quite a bit..."
"...you're still just as unlikeable?"
A flash of crystal passed by again, turning the cigarette in Asuma's mouth into crystal.