Boom! Boom! Boom!
The violent impacts kicked up a massive cloud of dust, spreading outward and gradually swallowing the entire area before the Hokage Tower.
Within the smoke, Kai's figure stood perfectly still.
He frowned slightly—not from pressure, but from awe.
"Pure taijutsu… to actually shake the Three-Meter Domain."
He muttered under his breath.
Every strike of Morning Peacock carried power capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone.
Though all of it was still blocked by the domain, the shockwaves alone made the air inside scream sharply.
He could even clearly feel it—
his left eye was heating up.
A sign that his dōjutsu was being pushed toward full output.
Just Morning Peacock was already enough to make his Three-Meter Domain tremble.
Then what about what came next?
Standing still and letting himself be beaten was, indeed, a stupid choice.
Huff—
The wind shifted as the dust thinned.
"Huff… huff…"
Guy was breathing heavily.
In just three short minutes, he had thrown well over a thousand punches.
Even after the final blow landed, his arm was still frozen in a punching posture.
Drip.
Sweat poured down like a stream from his forehead.
Hiss—
It fell onto the scorched ground and instantly evaporated into white steam.
Exhausted. Completely exhausted.
"Even… even Morning Peacock…"
Yet when he looked at Kai—unscathed, unmoved, not even displaced by half a step—shock still filled his eyes.
But there was no frustration.
Only an even fiercer blaze of fighting spirit.
And—pure, irrepressible admiration.
"Guy-senpai, are you going to continue?"
Kaispoke softly, calmly meeting Guy's gaze.
His tone was level, but deep in his eyes was a genuine respect.
If the Fourth Hokage represented the pinnacle of civilian-born genius—
then Might Guy was the pinnacle of sheer effort.
Was the Eight Gates powerful?
Absolutely.
Then why was it that only Might Guy nearly kicked Madara to death?
Yes, Madara's arrogance played a role.
But more than anything—
it was sweat.
Guy's sweat had forged an unshakable foundation.
"Of course!"
Guy straightened abruptly, grinning as his trademark gleaming teeth flashed.
"Youth does not allow surrender! The Seventh Gate—!"
Humm—
In that instant, the sweat on his brow seemed to glow beneath the setting sun.
The green steam around him abruptly deepened into a dark, oceanic blue—like a burning abyss.
"Gate of Shock—OPEN!!!"
In a heartbeat, chakra so terrifying it made souls tremble erupted skyward!
BOOM! BOOM!
The sheer pressure bent the surrounding trees around the Hokage Tower nearly double!
The air itself seemed to freeze—then was violently shoved aside.
"Pff—!"
Several nearby Root members flushed red and spat blood on the spot.
Just the leaked shockwaves alone were enough to injure them.
This—
was the Seventh Gate.
In this state, Guy had transcended humanity.
He was closer to a tailed beast.
A true human-shaped tailed beast.
"DAYTIME TIGER!!!"
With a roar, Guy's figure vanished completely.
A massive white tiger—compressed entirely from pure shockwave—appeared instantly!
Like a proud god in the void, it let out a world-shaking roar and charged straight down!
ROOOAAAR!
The sound split the heavens.
The distance between them vanished in an instant as it slammed toward Kai!
Crack.
For the first time, a sound rang out from Kai's Three-Meter Domain.
Sharp and piercing—like glass shattering.
Then one… two pale, milky cracks clearly appeared across the surface of the domain!
"What ridiculous individual power…"
Kaitook a deep breath, genuinely impressed.
"But I'm… not an idiot who just stands still."
Three meters ahead—repulsion!
Humm.
Soft moonlight descended.
Pure, pale radiance rippled gently before him.
And that bright, sun-like orb suddenly erupted with a bizarre fluctuation.
In that instant, Guy's expression changed.
A stabbing pain surged from his fists.
The violent chakra that had been unstoppable a moment ago now felt like it had sunk into a swamp—thick, sticky, resisting every movement.
Even more unbelievable—
the thing in front of him wasn't just hard.
It rebounded.
BOOM!
Guy completely lost control of his body and was blasted backward.
"Roo—!"
The once-mighty Daytime Tiger let out a faint whimper before dissipating.
BOOM—CRASH!
Guy's body slammed straight into the Hokage Tower behind him—dead center, like a living cannonball.
Humm—CRACK!
The building's protective barrier barely lit up before being annihilated.
Some of it was leftover force from Daytime Tiger.
Some of it—
was that pale, ghostly radiance.
RUMBLE—!
Under countless complicated gazes, the Hokage Tower finally collapsed into ruins.
"So… still useless in the end…"
The Third Hokage let out a long sigh, his cloudy, aged eyes sinking back into stillness.
For a moment, he had hoped.
Now, he was only left with disappointment.
But just as he was about to proceed with the handover—
a faint fluctuation rippled from the ruins.
Thump.
Thump.
A heartbeat echoed softly.
Heavy. Powerful.
Like a war drum.
The sound pierced through the rubble and dust, striking every heart present.
Everyone instinctively looked back.
"Could it be…?"
"Guy! It's Guy-senpai! He's not done!"
"Hahaha! As expected of Guy-senpai! As expected of the Blue Beast!"
The ANBU elites lifted themselves from the ground, staring at the ruins as strange light ignited in their eyes.
A powerhouse.
And one on their side.
How could they not admire that?
BOOM!
The rubble suddenly exploded outward!
Countless stones and splinters were flung into the air!
From within, a figure slowly stood.
The green steam that once wrapped his body began to change—
into blood-red flames.
It was as if fire had burned away every trace of green.
Hiss—
Whether from heat or overwhelming internal power, his skin could no longer endure—cracking open.
Drip—pfft.
Blood seeped out—
only to be instantly vaporized by the terrifying crimson aura.
In that moment, he looked like a grim reaper stepping out of hell itself.
"I was planning to save this move… for Kakashi…"
His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping flesh.
Every word carried the pain of muscle and bone tearing apart.
"But now… I think… I'll let you see it first."
BOOOOOOM—!!!
A pillar of blood-red light shot into the sky!
A ferocious energy storm swept across the battlefield!
The air was violently shoved aside, forming visible shockwaves!
Nearby ANBU were blown away like scraps of paper.
Crack. Crack.
The ground fractured and collapsed inch by inch.
And at the edge of that collapsing ground—
the newly arrived Kakashi froze.
He looked at Guy at the center, then at the raging shockwaves around him.
Slowly, awkwardly, he raised an arm and pointed at himself.
"…Huh? Me?"
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