This also made Tobi realize one thing—his Wood Style was suppressed by Ruri's Fire Style.
But could Fire Style really be considered a simple ninjutsu, if it could expand on such a scale?
Tobi couldn't help but deeply doubt.
The Five Style Techniques each have their strengths and weaknesses.
Among the Five Style, Fire Style actually doesn't have much of an advantage.
Though its destructive power is decent, its area attack isn't as good as Water Style, its speed isn't as fast as Lightning Style, its durability isn't as solid as Earth Style, and it only has some restraint over Wind Escape.
Therefore, in Tobi's impression, most Fire Style Ninja in the Ninja Realm actually have nothing much worth praising.
Because it's simply too weak.
Even the Uchiha Clan's ninja were much the same, just that Uchiha Ninja's Fire Style was a bit more outstanding.
Yet Ruri's Fire Style, in Tobi's view, was far more than just outstanding.
Essentially, it probably wasn't Fire Style at all, but a jutsu on a whole different level.
The burning wood man and wood dragon forced Tobi into a constantly ridiculous 'dance'.
At this point, however, Susanoo was unaffected, continuing to attack the burning wood man and wood dragon.
After finally absorbing the flames, Tobi was left with many charred parts on his body, half-kneeling atop the wood man, panting heavily.
The wood man was also overwhelmed, half-kneeling on the ground, the wood dragon equally damaged and missing parts, absorbing chakra to restore its body, but clearly unable to withstand the Fire Style's assault.
"Is this all you've got?"
Ruri controlled the Susanoo giant, slowly moving forward, looking down at the battered Tobi from above, her gaze contemptuous.
Tobi didn't answer, his expression becoming extremely serious.
He made a move that surprised Ruri—jumped off the wood man's head and fell toward the ground below.
The wood man and wood dragon toppled stiffly like corpses, causing the earth to shake.
Ruri grew more interested, thinking Tobi was about to unleash some astonishing jutsu.
But to Ruri's disappointment, after landing on the ground, Tobi didn't use any stronger ninja techniques. Instead, he plunged without hesitation toward the lower levels, vanishing from sight.
From the looks of it, he probably realized he couldn't beat Ruri, so planned to retreat here.
Ruri's gaze grew even colder.
Ubi at this moment jumped onto Susanoo's head.
"Lady Ruri."
"Did you find it?"
Ruri turned to ask.
"Yes. There's a large number of enemies lurking in that direction. Most likely the enemy's base."
Ubi pointed toward the mountains on the left.
Ruri controlled the Susanoo giant, step by step pressing toward that mountain range.
Arriving at a rock wall, Susanoo's giant punched it without hesitation.
The rock wall cracked apart, the ground shook violently, and a huge hole appeared on the wall, exposing a dim scene inside.
"Oh my, so you really came, huh?"
Inside, a dozen or so White Zetsu saw the blood-red Susanoo giant outside the hole, but showed no panic. Instead, they smiled slyly.
Ruri had just driven Susanoo into the cave, planning to speak, when those White Zetsu rushed forward on their own, with strange, fearless grins.
Ruri frowned—these guys?
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
All those White Zetsu exploded in an instant.
The massive cave shook from the blast, flames erupted everywhere, the stone walls began to crumble, and the entire upper part of the mountain was affected.
First, huge chunks of rock fell, then as the surrounding walls lost support, the entire mountain top crashed down from above.
Wild beasts ran frantically across the ground, birds startled and flew off to distant safety.
The whole mountain suddenly collapsed, burying all within.
Amid the buried rubble, a pair of blood-red eyes burned hotly.
A new burst of explosions—Ruri drove Susanoo out from the shattered mountain.
Feeling the massive chakra drain, Ruri deactivated the Susanoo Jutsu; maintaining this state was a heavy burden for her.
"Lady Ruri, those guys all self-destructed and died."
Ubi came over to explain the White Zetsu's circumstances—all killed in the explosion.
Ruri didn't answer, simply took out two special soldier ration pills from her ninja tool bag, swallowing them to hasten chakra recovery.
◎
"That woman is terrifying. I'd better hurry and report this to Lord Madara."
Tobi burrowed through the earth, muttering to himself, rushing toward Madara's base.
Because this matter was simply too momentous.
The Three-Tomoe Sharingan could actually control Susanoo—this was not good news for them.
The message had to reach Madara as soon as possible to give them peace of mind.
After all, that woman was likely to become a variable in their plans and destroy their schemes.
Madara's base was several hours away from the fake base he and the White Zetsu had constructed.
At Tobi's speed, a few hours of full-speed travel—what would take a normal ninja two or three days.
Near Madara's base, only a few special White Zetsu handled surveillance and perception.
Compared to ordinary White Zetsu, these ones possessed superior perception abilities—no enemy could silently infiltrate past them.
And their battle capability was generally higher than regular White Zetsu.
Though not as exceptional as Tobi, by strength classification they were at Jonin Level.