Chapter 147: Toad Mouth Bind
Yellow light flashed in midair and vanished. The lightning-wreathed hand blade once again struck empty air. Though unable to injure Minato, replica Sawai used this momentum to stabilize his toppling body, standing firmly on the ground. His face remained wooden and dull, only his eyeballs rotating flexibly, searching all around for Minato's traces.
Simultaneously, pure white threads at his neck rapidly proliferated, densely interweaving with each other, weaving a substance like clay. In the blink of an eye, the gap was filled, restored to original condition.
However—
Before his gaze could locate Minato's whereabouts, Ritsu standing beside him explosively launched a surprise attack, striking with a powerful palm.
Eight Trigrams Empty Palm: Mountain-Breaking Strike.
This technique, as its name suggested, was one of the Gentle Fist style's most destructive moves. Whether it could truly break mountain peaks aside, in Ritsu's hands, this all-out palm could easily pierce through Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall defenses.
Average Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall thickness was approximately one meter. What expression would collision force capable of piercing over a meter of rock and earth show against soft human bodies could now be clearly witnessed.
Ritsu's sudden palm precisely struck replica Sawai's body. It devastatingly shattered that layer of Lightning Release chakra covering the body surface, directly smashing this body—different material from humans but seemingly similar strength—to complete fragments. The chest and abdomen completely shattered, leaving only the head and four limbs scattering in all directions. Especially the head, which rolled away like a ball.
The next instant, Minato's figure appeared beside Ritsu. "Hyuga Clan Head, did you see anything?"
Ritsu's gaze locked on Uchiha Tatsuhata standing at the dark forest's edge. "Saw nothing. This thing has no obvious exploitable weakness. The best response method is destroying most of the body... Well, looks like even destroying most of the body is useless."
Halfway through his words, replica Sawai's limbs transformed into scattered points of chakra light and dissipated. But Uchiha Tatsuhata standing at the forest edge raised his right hand, releasing massive amounts of Life Threads from his palm, all pouring into replica Sawai's head. In an instant, beneath the neck, fine pure white threads proliferated madly. In the blink of an eye, they sketched a brand new body complete with clothing.
Watching replica Sawai charging wildly toward him once again, Minato furrowed his brow. "Hyuga Clan Head, I'll trouble you to intercept this thing. I'll try and see if I can eliminate that masked fellow."
As his words fell, he threw three kunai toward Uchiha Tatsuhata at the distant forest edge.
However, before his kunai could approach Uchiha Tatsuhata—
Three more figures burst from behind him. They wore Cloud ninja headbands, their expressions rigid and stiff. Facing the flying kunai, they neither dodged nor evaded, using their bodies as shields to meet Minato's kunai. They let the kunai pierce their chests. No blood flowed from the wounds. Their charging speed wasn't even affected.
Ritsu called out a warning. "Careful, it's a trap."
His Byakugan saw clearly—on these three Cloud ninjas' backs were explosion tags already triggered.
Simultaneously, he deployed Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists. Azure lion heads on both palms appeared vivid and lifelike. The lightning-wreathed hand blade of replica Sawai charging before him collided with them, erupting in crackling sounds.
The next instant, Minato's figure vanished. But he'd heard Ritsu's warning. He didn't appear beside any of the three Cloud ninja with trident kunai stuck in them. Instead, he appeared again behind replica Sawai.
The Minato appearing behind replica Sawai didn't directly attack as before. His hands rapidly completed hand seals, then struck the ground. Dark red flesh walls suddenly appeared beneath Minato, spreading forward at extreme speed. In an eyeblink, they formed a tubular sealed space. The overhead ceiling and both side walls were all dark red, writhing flesh walls.
Summoning: Toad Mouth Bind.
This was the technique Minato deployed. Essentially a summoning jutsu, but what he summoned wasn't any particular summoning beast—rather, he'd summoned Mount Myōboku's Iwagama Great Toad's esophagus.
The writhing flesh walls entangled replica Sawai's feet as he fought Ritsu in close combat, causing his movements to stiffen momentarily. Ritsu viciously chopped a palm at replica Sawai's neck, directly striking him into a stumble. His body completely crashed into the nearby flesh wall, directly locked in place by the writhing flesh.
Replica Sawai's entire body flickered with lightning, attempting to break through the flesh walls binding his body. But this seemingly soft flesh wall was unexpectedly tough. His struggles proved useless. Instead, he sank deeper. In an eyeblink, he was completely swallowed.
The next second, all surrounding writhing dark red flesh walls vanished completely.
Ritsu and Minato reappeared in the wilderness. At the same time, the three Cloud ninja charging halfway suddenly exploded. Dozens of explosion tags pasted on their backs detonated simultaneously, triggering massive explosions. They transformed into three bright, dazzling enormous fireballs. Scorching shockwaves blew outward, rolling up billowing dust.
However, such attacks held no meaning.
Even while inside Iwagama Great Toad's esophagus, Ritsu's Byakugan could still penetrate the esophagus flesh walls to observe outside conditions. So the instant Minato released Toad Mouth Bind, he likewise clapped both hands, deploying a Wood Release technique.
Wood Release: Adamantine Recruiting Timber.
Steel-hard wooden pillars emerged uniformly from the earth, arranging themselves closely together, forming a solid, sturdy wooden wall. It completely withstood the explosion's shockwave. The wooden wall bore cracks throughout, scorched marks everywhere from burning, but overall integrity wasn't destroyed.
Minato's expression remained calm. He gazed at everything before him, saying in a low voice, "Hyuga Clan Head, new strategy. I'll trouble you to attack head-on, drawing his attention as much as possible. I'll strike at an appropriate moment to eliminate him."
Ritsu's gaze passed through the wooden wall before him, locking on Uchiha Tatsuhata. "We can try, but I think the success probability won't be high. Hokage-sama, how much do you know about the Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan?"
"Mangekyō Sharingan? I've seen it in the Second's notes. It's described as quite dangerous and powerful, but I don't know much specifically. Haven't had time to thoroughly read through the previous Hokages' notes."
"No wonder."
"What? Very difficult to handle?"
"Attack and defense unified, very... what a shame!"
Ritsu spoke halfway, releasing a regretful sigh.
Uchiha Tatsuhata in that instant released tremendously vast chakra. In an eyeblink, he sketched only an upper-body skeletal pale yellow Susanoo, enveloping Uchiha Tatsuhata within.
He likewise deflected Aburame Shigure, who'd circled a long way around, infiltrated the forest, silently appeared at Uchiha Tatsuhata's rear diagonal, suddenly launched a surprise attack, and extended his purple-black palm to touch Uchiha Tatsuhata.
Aburame Shigure was the Aburame clan's poison insect master.
His body cultivated nanoscale poison insects called "Rinkaichū." These poison insects could only be raised in his cells. Just lightly touching an enemy's skin would inject poison insects into the enemy's body, thereby destroying their body cells. Often, less than ten seconds sufficed to poison someone to death.
Earlier, when Minato and Ritsu fought Uchiha Tatsuhata side by side, Aburame Shigure hadn't stood idle. However, the poison insects he cultivated could only survive in living cells. Once separated from human bodies, they'd instantly die. So his poison insects lacked long-range attack capabilities. For this, he chose to circle behind for a sneak attack. Unfortunately, he still fell short at the final step.
Or rather, his sneak attack was never viable from the start.
Though Ritsu still couldn't see through White Zetsu's "Mayfly Technique" that fused with vegetation and earth, undoubtedly around this chess piece Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu selected, White Zetsu lurking was inevitable. Black Zetsu himself might even be nearby. Aburame Shigure successfully ambushing was fundamentally impossible.
Minato now stared wide-eyed at this pale yellow massive creature before him.
Ritsu also spoke at this time. "Hokage-sama, this is the Mangekyō Sharingan's power—Susanoo, praised as 'divine power.' Attack and defense unified, almost no flaws to seek. Back then, Uchiha Madara relied on this supreme might to contend with First Hokage's unprecedentedly powerful Wood Release."
"Susanoo?"
Minato murmured this name while furrowing his brow tightly.
Fighting such a big thing proved quite troublesome. He wasn't very skilled at handling large targets. Sealing techniques honed for sealing tailed beasts likely couldn't apply to non-tailed beast targets.
The only response method was summoning jutsu—summoning Mount Myōboku's toads to help fight.
Perhaps he'd need to research how to handle such massive creatures afterward!
Thoughts raced through Minato's mind.
Meanwhile, Ritsu decisively stepped forward, then clapped both hands, likewise releasing vast oceanic chakra.
Wood Release: Wood Human Technique.
In an instant, earth shook and mountains swayed. Birds burst skyward from the forest depths. Disturbed from their afternoon rest, the birds squawked quite unpleasantly. A thirty-meter-tall Wood Human resembling a wrathful guardian deity also appeared on the battlefield.
The half-body Susanoo barely over ten meters high immediately paled in comparison.
Uchiha Tatsuhata's pupils contracted within Susanoo's protection, perceiving the oncoming crisis.
Black Zetsu had previously warned him that provoking Konoha now wasn't the correct choice. But he, confident after awakening the Mangekyō Sharingan and mastering Susanoo this "divine power," didn't believe Konoha was an opponent he couldn't match.
Upon learning Konoha's Fourth Hokage had arrived at Yu no Kuni, he'd resolutely chosen to act, preparing to slay the Fourth here while incidentally using his Mangekyō Sharingan ocular jutsu Toyoakitsushihime to create a Yellow Flash replica.
However—
Now, though Uchiha Tatsuhata wasn't very willing, he still had to admit Black Zetsu hadn't deceived him. Konoha was indeed a tough bone. Not only had he failed to bite off any meat, but now he risked losing teeth.
The Wood Human lifted its foot to kick.
Hastily, Uchiha Tatsuhata manipulated Susanoo to extend bone arms to block. But this first-form Susanoo's defensive power was just this much. Facing the Wood Human's momentum-heavy kick, its arms were immediately kicked to fracture. The entire half-body Susanoo swayed precariously.
But swaying precariously meant it hadn't collapsed. Ultimately, it successfully withstood this kick.
The next instant, Uchiha Tatsuhata hidden within Susanoo clapped both hands, outputting vast, mighty chakra, deploying Wood Release copied from White Zetsu Abu using his ocular jutsu Toyoakitsushihime.
Wood Release: Wood Human Technique.
In just an eyeblink, a towering, massive Wood Human with kind eyebrows rose from the ground. Uchiha Tatsuhata stood atop the Wood Human's head. Beneath the tiger mask, his expression was dark. He slightly raised his head, looking at the opposing Wood Human approximately five or six meters taller than his own. His mood was quite unpleasant.
The Wood Humans' size difference represented strength difference.
This indicated that in Wood Release mastery, this "White Yaksha" he'd never heard of before far exceeded him.
The two Wood Humans instantly became entangled. Both were barehanded, but obviously the Wood Human's taijutsu mastery completely reflected its caster's abilities. Though the Wood Human couldn't use Gentle Fist pressure points against the opposing Wood Human, this superb fist and foot skill still far exceeded Uchiha Tatsuhata.
In just half a minute, Ritsu's Wood Human beat Uchiha Tatsuhata's Wood Human into steady retreat. Finally, one kick sent it flying, heavily crashing into a mountain hill, crushing vast forest tracts. Dust surged skyward like a dragon.
The fallen Wood Human lay motionless.
Before Ritsu could manipulate his Wood Human to finish it off, he saw it collapse like dust and sand, transforming into milky white chakra smoke and dissipating. Clearly the caster had voluntarily released Wood Human Technique.
Ritsu's Byakugan saw crystal clear.
Taking advantage of the Wood Human's fall, Uchiha Tatsuhata dove headfirst into a large tree. Obviously, he'd deployed "Mayfly Technique"—the shinobi world's supreme stealth and infiltration technique that even the Byakugan couldn't penetrate.
He searched all around with his Byakugan but ultimately found nothing. He could only release Wood Human Technique and return to ground level. Minato arrived beside Ritsu almost simultaneously—Ritsu carried a kunai Minato had given him.
After arriving, Minato immediately asked, "Hyuga Clan Head, what's the situation?"
"Already escaped."
"Can't pursue?"
"That fellow's stealth technique is the shinobi world's strongest. Even the Byakugan cannot penetrate it."
Minato was immediately shocked. A stealth technique even the most perceptive Byakugan couldn't break—this made him raise his assessment of this tiger-masked Uchiha another level.
Because supreme stealth techniques meant the opponent was an elusive, supreme-level assassin.
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