With the Eight Gates Released Formation opened up to the Sixth Gate of View, Hyūga Shinichi's physical abilities, fueled by the surging, unique chakra, shattered the limitations of his mortal body.
Facing top-tier combatants like Kakuzu and Sasori, the Gentle Fist—the foundation of the Hyūga clan—could only offer minimal effectiveness.
Against Kakuzu: Due to his mastery of the Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear), Kakuzu's entire musculature and circulatory system had been transformed into special black thread-like conduits. These black threads completely replaced his original chakra pathway system, rendering the basic premise of the Gentle Fist—targeting the tenketsu (chakra points)—useless against him.
Against Sasori: Sasori's body modification was even more thorough. His true self was hidden within the Hiruko puppet, but even his actual body had been converted into a weapon of war. Human puppet parts replaced his limbs and torso entirely. Aside from retaining his heart, Sasori's body held no human features, meaning the Gentle Fist had little to no effect on him either.
This highlighted the awkwardness of the Hyūga clan's inherited taijutsu. While the Gentle Fist, combined with the Byakugan's insight, allowed Hyūga ninja to easily crush ordinary opponents, it often fell short against certain powerful, specialized ninja.
Kakuzu and Sasori were both such exceptions faced by Hyūga Shinichi.
Fortunately, Shinichi possessed more than just the Gentle Fist and the Flying Thunder God Technique. Since arriving in this world, he clearly understood the opponents he might encounter, and to ensure his survival in the ninja world, he continuously mastered more and stronger jutsu to handle different adversaries.
Kakuzu and Sasori were both immensely powerful, and their personal abilities could be described as bizarre. However, their weaknesses were also relatively obvious: Their taijutsu abilities ultimately failed to break the "Elite Jōnin" barrier. Individually, their strength and speed were not outstanding.
Kakuzu's taijutsu could at best be on par with Hatake Kakashi, while Sasori's complete puppetry conversion, ironically, greatly reduced his upper limit. A puppet body meant his speed and strength could never exceed the material strength of the puppet itself; pushing those limits would lead to the puppet's collapse.
Sasori's ability and the Hyūga's Gentle Fist were fundamentally similar: high minimum capability, but a strictly capped maximum.
Hyūga Shinichi, however, was different from them. With the augmentation of the Eight Gates, he had surpassed the physical limits in both power and speed. The moment he opened the Sixth Gate, he ceased to be on the same tier as Kakuzu and Sasori.
"Shoo—"
A piercing sound of air being torn suddenly erupted. Unlike before, this sound was not from Shinichi firing a kunai, but from the fierce friction between his body and the air as he moved.
At a distance of less than a hundred meters, the speed of Hyūga Shinichi's physical movement was, to his enemies, even faster than the Flying Thunder God Technique.
In the blink of an eye, Shinichi, enveloped in green chakra, dashed out of the encirclement of the three Jiongu monsters. The jutsu that the three monsters were condensing in their mouths did not even have time to be released before they lost sight of their target.
"What in the world is wrong with this guy?"
Just as Kakuzu was stunned, Shinichi, who had vanished from his immediate vicinity, suddenly appeared behind Sasori nearby.
Shinichi instantly locked his Byakugan onto Sasori's true heart, hidden within the Hiruko puppet. He clenched his right fist and unleashed a powerful punch.
While the Gentle Fist could not strike the chakra points of a puppet, this did not mean Shinichi's Byakugan was useless against such an enemy.
Setting aside the fact that Shinichi already possessed intelligence on Sasori, even without it, the Byakugan's x-ray vision rendered Sasori's method of hiding his main body ineffective.
The Byakugan could penetrate the puppet's body, revealing the chakra threads emanating from the heart that controlled it. With just a little thought, it was clear that the cylindrical heart at the center of the chakra threads was Sasori's vital point.
Facing the separated Kakuzu, Shinichi lacked the confidence to kill him with a single punch.
However, facing the structurally vulnerable Sasori, Shinichi was confident of a one-hit kill!
The powerful fist wind surged toward Hiruko. Sasori, with his excellent sensory abilities, perceived Shinichi's presence the moment he appeared behind him. Hiruko's iron tail swept out, intending to trade a blow for a blow.
In a single exchange, Sasori found the best solution. He wouldn't foolishly try to run aimlessly, as he had witnessed Shinichi's speed and did not believe he could outrun him.
While wary of Shinichi's movement speed, Sasori did not think he was completely helpless. Even though his opponent used a secret technique to enhance his abilities, Sasori viewed his own puppet body as the superior platform.
By having his poison-coated iron tail strike Shinichi simultaneously as Shinichi attacked him, Sasori believed it was a guaranteed profitable exchange.
The information gap was stark at this moment; Sasori, the target of the attack, had no idea that his true body had been completely exposed to Hyūga Shinichi!
"Rotation!!"
Just as the iron tail was about to strike Hyūga Shinichi, a nearly transparent wall of chakra suddenly appeared around him.
Hyūga Shinichi's body instantly rotated in mid-air, and the chakra gushing from his tenketsu solidified in a fraction of a second, directly deflecting the incoming iron tail.
"Boom!!!!"
The next moment, Hyūga Shinichi adjusted his posture and dropped, smashing a punch fiercely onto Hiruko's back. The terrifying force instantly pierced the puppet, driving straight toward Sasori's heart within the puppet's shell.
"!!!"
The sudden change made Sasori's face change drastically. Hyūga Shinichi's target was clear, and Sasori was not one to cling to his assets. He decisively abandoned Hiruko and the "Sasori style" human puppet that was his own modified body.
The cylindrical heart instantly detached and flew out of Sasori's body. Simultaneously, the chakra threads connected to the heart swiftly linked to two scrolls behind the "Sasori style" body after losing the two puppets. As the heart drew away, the two scrolls were pulled along, creating distance from Shinichi.
"Boom!!!"
The force of Hyūga Shinichi's punch in the Sixth Gate state was monstrous. A single punch shattered both the Hiruko and Sasori-style puppets. Amidst the roaring explosion, a powerful shockwave carrying sand and puppet fragments blasted outward.
Rolling dust instantly engulfed the entire battlefield, obscuring everyone's vision.
Shards of rock and puppet fragments, carried by the intense storm, were also incredibly potent. Just as Sasori's heart was about to be hit by the flying debris, a mass of iron sand quickly formed a shield in front of it, securely protecting the heart behind.
At the same time, the Third Kazekage human puppet appeared beside Sasori's heart. The heart burrowed into the human puppet's body from beneath the loose robe. In just a moment, the human puppet's eyes rotated, and the previously vacant gaze flickered with a mix of fright and surprise.
Sasori's heart seamlessly integrated into the body of the Third Kazekage human puppet, granting this puppet—which retained its unique bloodline limit—Sasori's consciousness and intelligence.
"Snap!"
The two scrolls flew into the human puppet's hands one after the other. Sasori glanced sideways and quickly unrolled one of them.
The next second, countless red figures shot out from the scroll Sasori unfurled. In just a brief moment, the sky above the forest was completely obscured by a dense crowd of human puppets.
Secret Red Move: Performance of a Hundred Puppets (Akahigi: Hyakki no Sōen)!
As the swirling dust gradually subsided, a half-crouched Hyūga Shinichi slowly rose from the bottom of a large crater. Before him lay the pulverized remains of the Hiruko and Sasori-style puppets.
Shinichi stood up and surveyed his surroundings. Seeing the human puppets surrounding him, a look of solemnity finally crossed his face.
Sasori, now inhabiting the Third Kazekage human puppet, stood at the very outer edge of the wall of puppets created by the Performance of a Hundred Puppets, cautiously monitoring Hyūga Shinichi's every move.
The enemy's strength was far beyond his expectations. Even Sasori felt compelled to exercise extreme caution against a person of this caliber.
Even after using the Secret Red Move: Performance of a Hundred Puppets and standing behind the puppet wall, Sasori still felt a lack of security.
"The second scroll used..."
"It seems I was too simplistic in my thinking."
"After all, they are Kage-level experts. Even if they can't match my speed, they can still react based on battlefield intuition and instinct."
"In that case... a quick victory has become impossible."
Hyūga Shinichi looked around at the densely packed human puppets, feeling a heavy pressure even on himself.
He had ultimately underestimated Kakuzu and Sasori. Even with the Sixth Gate open, he failed to kill Sasori and reduce the enemy's numbers quickly.
Upon careful reflection, it was understandable. While their raw strength might not put them in the absolute top tier of the ninja world, calling them elite was absolutely correct.
Even a younger Killer B could react to Minato's Flying Thunder God attack. It wasn't surprising that peak-era Sasori and Kakuzu could execute evasive maneuvers against his Sixth Gate speed. Given the nature of their respective jutsu, their ability to withstand Shinichi's assassination attempt was not shocking.
The exchange had lasted only a few minutes, and in that short time, Kakuzu had lost one life, and Sasori had lost two powerful puppets and been forced to reveal his ultimate technique. This outcome already testified to Hyūga Shinichi's formidable power.
While such a battle result would be astonishing to outsiders, for Shinichi, it was far from enough.
He didn't want to force his opponents to reveal their trump cards; he wanted to pin them down and kill them here.
He had aimed for a quick resolution, but now it seemed somewhat unrealistic.
"Although I don't know who you are, I'm no longer interested in finding out."
"I'll use your corpse to make up for my losses."
Sasori's gaze was deep. As he spoke, the human puppets surrounding Hyūga Shinichi brandished their respective weapons.
These human puppets were the corpses of various powerful individuals Sasori had killed over the years, converted into puppets to become part of his personal arsenal.
Having lost Hiruko and his own body, Sasori was undoubtedly furious. However, Shinichi's strength also ignited a spark of greed in his heart. If he could convert a powerhouse like Hyūga Shinichi into a human puppet, the cost of losing Hiruko and his body could be somewhat mitigated.
Kakuzu shared a similar idea. Having lost one heart, he now stood beside Sasori, his eyes filled with intense desire as he looked at Hyūga Shinichi. His three black monsters were also concealed within the puppet army, their forms indistinct.
"Don't even think about keeping him all to yourself!"
"His heart is mine! Don't try to take it from me."
Kakuzu stood shoulder to shoulder with Sasori, both looking at Hyūga Shinichi with intense longing. This enemy's heart was Lightning-Release—a relatively rare elemental affinity among the basic types. Although the heart he had just lost was Water-Release, Kakuzu didn't mind replacing his Lightning-Release heart with this new one. Judging by the strength of the Lightning-Release kunai the opponent had fired earlier, this heart would be highly valuable!
"If you want the heart, you had better contribute properly!"
"And don't damage his body too much, or I won't forgive you!" Sasori instructed sternly. With a thought, the multitude of puppets surged directly toward Hyūga Shinichi.
In the blink of an eye, the fastest group of puppets had already closed in on Shinichi.
About ten puppets engaged in the initial exchange. Some used long swords, others used kunai; their weapons varied, but all reflected a purple sheen. It was clear that these weapons were coated with a deadly poison.
Shinichi raised his hand and directly used a Vacuum Palm (Kūshō) to shatter one of the puppets in front of him. As he lunged forward, his Byakugan also noticed two puppets attacking from the "blind spot" behind him.
Without turning, Hyūga Shinichi fired two Lightning-Release kunai backward while advancing, instantly piercing the puppets' brains and severing the chakra threads that controlled them.
Simultaneously, Hyūga Shinichi continued his rapid approach toward Kakuzu and Sasori, either dodging sideways or shattering puppets with counter-punches. Despite the siege of the puppet army, he maintained his rapid advance toward the two antagonists.
This sight caused Kakuzu and Sasori to tense up. At the same time, they deduced something from Shinichi's performance.
"That guy... he seems to be able to see attacks coming from his blind spot?!"
"Those eyes..."
"Could it be the Byakugan of the Hyūga clan?!"
Although the appearance of Hyūga Shinichi's eyes was significantly altered, the veins around his eyes still bulged when using the Byakugan. This characteristic, combined with his performance in battle, led Kakuzu to identify Shinichi's origin.
"The Byakugan?"
"No wonder..."
Hearing Kakuzu's analysis and judgment, Sasori's face showed a sudden realization. No wonder his opponent was able to lock onto his vital heart the moment they met. If it were the Hyūga clan's Byakugan, then the opponent's previous actions became perfectly logical.
As the understanding dawned on him, Sasori's killing intent toward Hyūga Shinichi intensified.
The Hyūga clan of Konoha! His collection still lacked a Hyūga ninja!
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