"What kind of fighting style is this!?"
"Completely abandoning the defense of the Susanoo... how does he expect to survive the next assault!?"
The absurdity of the scene made Byaran's scalp tingle with unease. However, Ren Uchiha was quick to provide his answer!
At this moment, Ren—holding the lightning-clad Greatsword like a skyscraper in his hands—leaped from the air. He slammed onto the water's surface with a heavy thud, kicking up a spray of brine over three meters high.
He looked up, his eyes burning with a golden light as he locked onto the Third Mizukage atop the Wood Man. Then, he moved.
One step, two steps, three... until he was in a full, manic sprint!
In an exaggerated posture, moving like a hybrid of a leopard and a butterfly, his muscles coiled to their absolute limit. Every step he took hammered an air-cannon into the water, launching him over ten meters across the sea. In a display that transcended human boundaries, the eighteen-meter lightning blade became a blur in his hands, spinning wildly with his body's momentum.
A casual swing was enough to detonate one of the elemental dragons. His feet moved so fast across the water that they were no longer visible; defying all laws of physics, his speed broke Mach 8.8, reaching the hypersonic realm!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, Ren plowed through the five remaining dragons like a bulldozer and landed on the ice field with a massive leap!
"Too fast!" Byaran's face paled.
With a body moving faster than ninjutsu itself, Byaran's elemental releases couldn't even graze Ren. In moments, the boy would be upon him, swinging that terrifying lightning club. In close quarters, Byaran knew he couldn't withstand that level of raw violence.
"I can't let him get any closer!"
Panic set in. Sweat poured down Byaran's forehead as he wove hand signs and slammed his palm onto the head of the Wood Man.
"Composite Release: Sea of Trees Ice Plain!"
"Ice Style: Ten-Thousand-Mile Polar Ice Shield!"
Two techniques were cast in rapid succession. Instantly, the water surrounding the forty-meter Wood Man froze solid, spreading out for a thousand meters to create a crystal-clear ice field. Then, the ice cracked open as a forest of trees erupted from beneath, growing five meters tall to form a complex, tangled barricade in front of Ren.
Stepping heavily onto the ice, Ren raised an eyebrow. This composite technique combined the slowing effect of Ice Style with the chakra-draining properties of Wood Style.
And then—Rumble!
Around Ren's feet, walls of thin, brittle-looking ice rose up. Clearly, the former was meant to slow his approach, while the latter was designed to prevent his Multiple Lotus Non-Self Connected Cannon from blasting through the barricades.
"That Sage Art-absorbing ice again?"
Ren activated his Sharingan. This ability was unheard of; even in the original history, such a technique had never appeared. How could a name-less figure like the Third Mizukage pull this off?
Ren raised his right hand, firing a Multiple Lotus blast in his Cursed Seal Level 2 state. The beam expanded to two meters wide as it streaked forward.
Bang!
The brilliant yellow orb slammed into the ice wall, leaving a deep crater, but it failed to penetrate. However, watching through his Sharingan, Ren began to laugh.
"I see now. So this is the so-called 'Absolute Zero' ice?" Ren sneered. "What a low-quality scam."
In the split second when the light beam exploded and was "absorbed," the Sharingan revealed the truth: inside the shattered ice wall, a white substance had briefly appeared before petrifying and crumbling.
That white substance was the true defense. It was Spiral Zetsu (Guruguru's) Spore Technique!
This technique didn't just absorb chakra; it could absorb Sage chakra as well. Since Guruguru was grown from the Gedo Mazo and Hashirama's cells, he had a natural affinity for containing Sage energy. This "Absolute Zero" was a complete fake.
It wasn't the Third Mizukage defending against Ren's Sage Art—it was Guruguru. It was Uchiha Madara's proxy defending the blow!
Atop the Wood Man, Byaran saw the combination of techniques successfully trapping Ren on the ice plain. A look of delighted surprise crossed his face. As long as Ren couldn't get close, Byaran could hit him with the Wood Style: Cutting Technique he'd borrowed from Guruguru. He was sure he could kill this arrogant brat!
"Hahahaha! Kid, in the face of my Absolute Zero, the power you rely on is nothing more than this!"
His gaze turned cold as he pulled a wooden branch from his pale, Zetsu-covered palm. "Now, it's time for you to die!"
Ren didn't bother wasting words on this hollow waste of space. Instead, he responded with a roar:
"SHUT UP!!"
Ren clutched the Greatsword with one arm and raised his right hand, staring at the Black Sun mark on his palm.
"If I can't use Sage Arts, can I not kill?"
"Are Sage Arts such inconvenient things?!"
He seemed to reach an epiphany. His gaze turned fierce, and he decisively closed his eyes, clenching the Black Sun mark into a fist—turning the power inward!
BOOM!!
Blood sprayed from his palm! The white Sage markings across his body connected into a single circuit, flowing to his palm to catch the kinetic energy of the Sage cannon and convert it into raw, violent internal force!
"WAAAAAAAGH—!!!"
Ren snapped his eyes open, two brilliant beams of white light shooting from his pupils. He took a massive breath, drove the eighteen-meter lightning sword into the ice, stepped back, and wound his arm up in a lethal rotation!
In this moment, his fist, feet, waist, heart, and brain became one! The veins and Sage markings on his right fist throbbed with madness!
"Hah... let me show you. Let me show you what a real Sage Art looks like!"
"Sage Art: Multiple Lotus Non-Self Connected Striking Fist!"
Ren looked up at the endless ice walls, the giant trees, and the vast frozen plain.
"HAH!!"
He threw the punch. An endless hurricane spiraled around his right arm as the natural energy from ten thousand meters around began to dance in sync with the strike!
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