Chapter 60: The Foundation of Strength is Bloodline
Just half a minute ago—
"Someone appeared. I don't recognize them."
...
"They're eliminating the Mist shinobi's water clones. Looks like reinforcements."
Pakkun, lying on top of Kakashi's head, quietly told Kakashi the intelligence it had gathered from the changes in scents detected by its nose.
Hearing that the suddenly appearing third party might be reinforcements, Kakashi instantly made his decision. Though doing this was somewhat risky, time was pressing—he had no choice but to take the risk.
Therefore, he asked Pakkun to tell him the position of the Mist shinobi water clone closest to him.
Then without hesitation, he used Chidori once again.
Hearing that piercing thunder, Gyokko's heart skipped a beat.
Almost simultaneously, he discovered three more of his water clones had been eliminated, and that piercing thunder was rapidly approaching him.
Gyokko immediately stopped.
His hands rapidly formed seals, releasing a jutsu toward the source of the sound.
"Ice Style: Ice Wall!"
He hadn't considered dodging because Kakashi's technique had such fast thrusting speed—he couldn't dodge it. He could only defend. And he'd released his most skilled and proficient Ice Style almost instinctively.
That ball of dazzling lightning crashed into the ice wall.
A deep pit was punched into the ice wall, with dense cracks appearing on its surface. The lightning's high temperature melted the ice, evaporating large amounts of water vapor.
But fortunately, the ice wall ultimately didn't completely shatter and collapse.
Gyokko breathed a sigh of relief. But it was just that—a single breath of relief. With an enemy like Kakashi in front of him and an enemy of unknown origin in the mist, he wouldn't truly let his guard down.
His hands rapidly formed seals, preparing to seize the opportunity to strike at Kakashi. Even if he couldn't kill Kakashi, he needed to severely injure him as much as possible to prevent him from continuing to interfere.
However—
At this moment, ten small finger bones shot out from the mist. These things made too little noise and moved too fast. Gyokko, in the middle of forming seals, had no time to defend before being struck in his right arm and right leg.
Gyokko let out a pained grunt. His right hand fell powerlessly, and his body tilted leftward. He promptly used his left hand to draw the long blade at his waist and stabbed it into the ground, barely maintaining his body's balance without falling.
But this fragile balance was only temporary.
In the next second, Hyuga Ritsu in white clothing burst from the mist and struck Gyokko with over a dozen palms in an instant, knocking this jonin possessing the Ice Style bloodline limit to the ground.
He used Gentle Fist to strike Gyokko's chakra points, sealing his chakra, breaking his bones, turning him into a cripple who'd lost the ability to resist. At the same time, he helped Gyokko stop the bleeding so he wouldn't die from excessive blood loss.
This was precious material he planned to give to Hiruko-sensei.
At this time, his Byakugan saw Kakashi rapidly approaching, so he called out, "Kakashi, it's me, Hyuga Ritsu!"
"Eh? Hyuga clan head?"
Kakashi was shocked, but then immediately overjoyed.
He didn't think this Hyuga Ritsu before him could be a fake, because he really couldn't imagine who would disguise themselves as Hyuga Ritsu to deceive him at this time.
"Hyuga clan head, please come with me to rescue my teammates. They're being pursued by Mist shinobi."
Though Kakashi wasn't clear why Hyuga Ritsu, who should be further ahead meeting his squad, had appeared here at this time, such questions simply weren't important right now.
What was important was quickly taking Ritsu to rescue them. Any questions could wait until after rescuing Rin and the others.
"Don't worry, my true body has already caught up. Kakashi, if you're still worried, you can also chase after them now."
Hyuga Ritsu spoke up.
"True body?"
Kakashi was stunned.
At this time, the mist was also gradually receding. Kakashi could clearly see the scene before him. Standing here was indeed Hyuga Ritsu—at this close distance, he could clearly see the Byakugan's special chakra fluctuations, which couldn't be faked by Transformation Jutsu.
And the enemy Gyokko was being stepped on under Ritsu's foot.
"That's right, I'm just a shadow clone. My true body saw you were entangled and couldn't win quickly, so it left me to support you. If my true body had come, there'd be no need to use the Hidden Mist Jutsu to create a battlefield—I'd just charge up and kill this guy directly."
These words were half true, half false.
The reason Hyuga Ritsu had split off a shadow clone to participate in Kakashi and Gyokko's battle wasn't to help Kakashi, but to obtain Gyokko, who possessed the Ice Style bloodline limit. In the Chimera Technique that Hiruko-sensei had conceptualized for himself, there happened to be a place for Ice Style.
Having rarely encountered a holder of the Ice Style bloodline limit, naturally he couldn't pass up the opportunity.
Looking at the dazed Kakashi, Ritsu's shadow clone continued, "Kakashi, stop spacing out. I know you're definitely still worried. If you want to chase, hurry up and go now!"
"Yes, right."
Kakashi suddenly came to his senses, banishing all distracting thoughts from his mind. He said, "Pakkun, guide me."
"North-northwest."
The ninja dog Pakkun quickly answered and extended a forepaw to point Kakashi in the direction.
Kakashi turned and immediately sprinted wildly in the direction Pakkun indicated.
Ritsu's shadow clone watched Kakashi's figure heading north. Within his field of vision, he could still see his true body riding the great snake in subterranean movement, the three girls—Hyuga Akiba, Nohara Rin, and Uchiha Aika—fleeing desperately on the surface, and behind them, twenty Mist shinobi in relentless pursuit, bit by bit closing in on the girls.
"White Zetsu..."
Ritsu's shadow clone narrowed his eyes.
The Ice Style bloodline limit holder under his foot was merely an unexpected pleasant surprise, a small appetizer. What he truly had his sights set on was that White Zetsu mixed among the Mist shinobi.
White Zetsu's true identity was a weapon created by Otsutsuki Kaguya using Infinite Tsukuyomi.
But perhaps to deceive Uchiha Madara and make him mistakenly believe all White Zetsu were products he'd created using the First Hokage's cells and the Gedo Statue's chakra, White Zetsu's body truly did contain the First Hokage's cells.
And this was precisely what Hyuga Ritsu wanted to obtain.
After his own Byakugan bloodline limit fused with the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit, it had been completed and broken through the Caged Bird Seal's limitations. So if he continued using the Chimera Technique to fuse several other bloodline limits inherited from Otsutsuki Kaguya, what kind of enhancement would he gain?
Just thinking about this made his heart race extraordinarily!
The shinobi world ultimately revered strength above all, and the foundation of strength was bloodline!
Therefore, he needed to seize every opportunity to enhance his own bloodline.
There was also a very important point—his "Physical Regeneration" superpower could also gain benefits from this. After fusing the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit, he'd discovered his physical regeneration ability had been amplified. He could vaguely sense the existence of that bottleneck membrane. Perhaps if he used the Chimera Technique to fuse new bloodlines again, this Physical Regeneration superpower could also achieve a breakthrough!
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