Chapter 253: Battle-Crazed
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!
...
A barrage of ninjutsu was unleashed by the elite shinobi. But Tendo Pain just stood his ground. The Gakido Pain (Preta Path), who had been useless against Kaito Shirogane, appeared in front of them, his hands spread wide.
An invisible barrier materialized. All the various ninjutsu slammed into it, rapidly weakening and being absorbed. The Rinnegan's suppressive power over ordinary ninjas was almost absolute.
An ANBU flickered in front of the Gakido Pain, his tachi slashing down. But the Gakido Pain didn't even need to move. A laser had already pierced the ANBU's chest. Under the Rinnegan's perception, a Body Flicker of this level couldn't escape its notice.
Hiashi Hyuga'sByakugan saw everything. He blocked the path of the formidable enemy named Mercenary Tao, his hands taking the Gentle Fist (Jūken) stance. He ordered, "The terrain here is too narrow. Protect the elders and get them out first."
Kaito Shirogane took a step, and his figure vanished. Hiashi Hyuga raised his arm, and Kaito appeared exactly where he was defending. Kaito threw a punch. The intense force, even before being fully unleashed, made the air let out a wail, like the cry of ghosts and wolves.
Hiashi quickly struck the side of Kaito's arm. The Gentle Fist was a style that struck acupressure points (tenketsu). Using the Hyuga clan's ability to release Chakra from their entire body, combined with the Byakugan's ability to see the Chakra network, the Gentle Fist was, in a way, a direct counter to "Hard Fist" (Gōken) type enemies in taijutsu.
But as Hiashi struck, he saw that his opponent, who had already committed to the ferocious punch, suddenly stopped it. The violent punch hit nothing.
BANG!
The air exploded. It was as if the punch had blasted the air itself, which slammed into Hiashi as an "air cannon." Hiashi'sGentle Fist strike hit empty space.
Hiashi's footwork was also extremely fast. He stepped with his left foot, shifting his center of gravity, and in an instant, he seemed to cross two meters, dodging the "air cannon" and appearing at Kaito's side and rear.
His hands were high and low, one in front, one behind. His body was fully open, Chakra flowing from all his tenketsu, as if he were standing in the center of a giant Eight Trigrams (Bagua) array.
Kaito, with just a slight tilt of his head, caught Hiashi's stance in his peripheral vision. His smile deepened. This was what he loved about these taijutsu specialists. They, at least, had some ability to react to his movements.
Combat was a game. Combat was slaughter.
[Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms]!
Hiashi Hyuga, using the Eight Trigrams footwork, instantly closed the distance. His hands, like phantoms, struck at all of Kaito Shirogane'stenketsu.
Under the Byakugan's hyper-dynamic vision, Kaito's every move, every twitch of his muscles, was captured. This was the key to the Gentle Fist. The Chakra on his palms was like a sharp weapon, ready to pierce through the body and strike the organs and tenketsu at any moment.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Countless shadows of fists flew. In the center of the Eight Trigrams, Hiashi's expression changed dramatically. Every single palm he struck was met by the opponent's own fist or leg. It was as if his opponent also had a Byakugan, seeing through his every move.
This was the first time he had ever faced an opponent who stood still and let him complete the entire Sixty-Four Palms without a single hit landing.
Most other enemies would have used ninjutsu to create distance, avoiding the Gentle Fist at all costs.
When the sequence was finished, he saw through his Byakugan that his Chakra had indeed entered the opponent's body, but it was dissipating. The opponent's constitution was abnormal; he seemed completely unharmed.
No, this was beyond "abnormal." He clearly saw that the opponent's muscle count was over 3,000, several times that of a normal human. His bones and joints were also different from a human's.
This was a guy with a human appearance, but internally... he was not human at all.
Unlike taijutsu specialists who relied on Chakra to enhance their bodies, this opponent's body itself was the weapon.
FWOOSH!
Flames suddenly erupted on Hiashi's body. The sticky, sulfur-smelling fire instantly ignited his white clan robes. The searing pain made Hiashi react in an instant, and a powerful burst of Chakra erupted from his body.
[Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation (Kaiten)]!
He spun, and his Chakra enveloped him like a whirlwind, instantly extinguishing the flames on his body.
Kaito Shirogane watched Hiashi use the same trick again. He suddenly stepped forward, and a blazing purple Satsui no Hado erupted from his right hand.
In that instant, his eyes also took on the color of the Satsui no Hado. The Hado, this special ki, flowed smoothly through his body.
The Satsui no Hado enveloped Kaito. In a split second, he crossed the distance between them. His body was fully drawn back, his waist twisted in the perfect form for maximum power. His entire body's strength was concentrated in his right fist, and the Satsui no Hado flashed.
[Burst]!
BOOM!
Kaito's fist slammed into Hiashi Hyuga's[Rotation].
The terrifying force smashed into the high-speed, spinning Chakra. The Hyuga clan's Chakra control was powerful, and the condensed, rotating Chakra was incredibly hard, like a barrier of compressed air.
This was why this technique was called [Absolute Defense].
A Hyuga main-family ninja could block almost any attack with this secret art.
KRA-CRACK!
The air shattered. Hiashi Hyuga, who could see in a perfect 360-degree arc while spinning, clearly saw the opponent's fist pierce into the Rotation.
"Ha!"
Kaito roared, his punch tyrannical and absolute. The intense ki roiled around him. The fist and the Rotation clashed for a brief instant, and the next moment, with a sound that seemed to shatter the entire building, it exploded.
BOOM!
The white-hot Rotation shattered. The powerful ki blast sent Kaito flying backward, while Hiashi Hyuga was sent flying like a black shadow, smashing straight through the front wall of the Hokage Tower and into a distant building.
Kaito Shirogane's feet, as if rooted, dug into the ground. The solid stone floor was gouged with two trenches several meters long. His shoes were shredded, but his feet, which had crushed the stone, were completely unharmed.
Clearly, Kaito's flesh had surpassed any normal "armor."
He casually kicked his ruined shoes off. He realized that he was still "restraining" himself with the standards of an ordinary person.
Why was he wearing shoes? An ordinary person needed to protect their feet. But he could walk on blades and not be harmed.
By the same token, normal temperature variations had no effect on him. The only reason he wore clothes was because of his human conceptions.
Kaito's will grew wilder. The purple Satsui no Hado completely enveloped him.
This exhilarating taijutsu battle was constantly activating his Satsui no Hado.
[Satsui no Hado increased slightly. Current: Lv3 (44/1200)]
"Not enough. Still not enough..."
Tendo Pain frowned slightly. He could feel Mercenary Tao was at risk of losing control. But before he could speak, a Monkey Demon (Enma) violently knocked aside the Gakido Pain. Missiles and taijutsu had little effect on it.
The Monkey Demon then transformed into an Adamantine Staff, which Sarutobi Hiruzen grabbed and swept forward violently.
The staff was incredibly hard. Its swing sliced the Hokage Tower—which had already lost two walls—in half at the waist. All the shinobi leaped to safety.
Tendo Pain and Konan retreated, dropping from the edge of the collapsing building.
But the battle-crazedMercenary Tao didn't dodge. He simply raised one hand.
Pfft!
The Adamantine Staff, after sweeping through the building, was caught in his bare hand.
The terrifying force seemed to just... dissipate in his grip.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's face changed. The upper half of the building was collapsing. He had no choice but to let go of the staff, mentally ordering Enma to reverse the transformation.
CRASH!
The building collapsed, burying Mercenary Tao and Enma in the rubble.
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced back only for a second. He had no time to worry about his old partner. The enemies who had come today were terrifyingly strong.
And...
"Uchiha Fugaku! Is your Uchiha clan truly betraying Konoha?!"
He roared. His voice was old, but his aura... for a moment, Uchiha Fugaku's mind saw the [Shinobi Professor] from his youth.
This Third Hokage had also risen to power through the flames of war. Was the Uchiha clan truly ready for this fight?
No. The Uchiha clan was not ready at all. Not all Uchiha were soldiers. They had ordinary people who couldn't mold Chakra, and ordinary shinobi who couldn't awaken the Sharingan...
A coup d'état was not a decision to be made on a whim. One wrong choice would lead to the deaths of countless innocent clansmen.
"Lord Hokage. The Uchiha clan has nothing to do with today's rebellion."
A cold, young voice sounded. Uchiha Itachi, holding the blade that had just killed the Konoha Elder, Koharu Utatane, appeared before the Third Hokage.
Blood dripped from the blade. He looked up, his three-tomoe meeting Sarutobi's eyes. Sarutobi instantly looked away, looking at his shadow.
But Uchiha Itachi didn't use Sharingan genjutsu. He calmly tore the Uchiha clan crest from his inner shirt... and cut the fan-shaped crest in two with his sword.
"Today's slaughter was decided by me, Uchiha Itachi, alone. I believe... that compared to the complete destruction of Konoha, me cooperating with Mercenary Tao to selectively slaughter a portion of the leadership and shinobi... is the path of least harm to both Konoha and the Uchiha."
"Lord Hokage, I'm sure you, of all people, can understand this way of thinking."
His tone held no mockery. It was terrifyingly rational and calm.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart sank. He had praised this boy—who had been caught in a brutal war at the age of four, and who had a vision that transcended his clan's narrow-mindedness—for having "Hokage-like thinking."
But... when that same logic was applied to this situation... it was so cruel and cold-blooded.
He turned his head, seeing his old friend (Koharu) half-buried in the rubble. For the first time in years, he felt that pain again.
Hokage-like thinking... So this is how painful it was... to be the one sacrificed.
Uchiha Itachi didn't get an answer. His heart grew colder. He didn't like Mercenary Tao, but Tao's words were being proven true, one by one, by Konoha's leaders.
So it was true. This world... was all about "profit."
"Heh..."
"Lord Hokage. It seems all of our 'capacities' are far from enough."
Zing!
The blade flashed again. The next moment, a figure blocked Itachi's path. Uchiha Fugaku, kunai in hand, precisely blocked Itachi's sword. Their three-tomoe Sharingan met, their ocular power seeming to clash.
Uchiha Fugaku's face was grim. He couldn't believe that his kind, sensitive, but exceptionally brilliant eldest son... had come to this.
"What on earth happened to you... Itachi."
"Where is Shisui? What did Mercenary Tao do to Shisui?!"
(End of Chapter)
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