Chapter 191: Rinnegan VS Byakugan, Part One
Sharp, thick white bone spikes like pointed towers pierced skyward, shattering rock and penetrating flowing sand, standing tall across this sufficiently spacious plateau. Viewed from above, it would appear a magnificently imposing white bone forest.
However, this strike truly hadn't achieved any noteworthy results.
The five Rinnegan avatars shared vision, united as one. When struck by Dance of the Seedling Fern's sudden attack, the Asura Path immediately grabbed the Naraka Path and hurled it high. The Animal Path, Human Path, and Preta Path jointly protected the Naraka Path, allowing their own bodies to be penetrated and torn by rapidly growing bones. Meanwhile, the Asura Path transformed into a three-headed, six-armed combat form, relying on formidable combat power to forcibly break two growing bone spikes.
Nearly twenty replica ninja nearby were pierced by bones. Only replica Rasa, replica Shimura Danzo, and a few others displayed their abilities to avoid being penetrated by bones.
However—
Whether Rinnegan avatars or replica ninja woven by Uchiha Tatsuhata using Toyoakitsushihime—neither died easily.
Pale life threads danced from the replica ninja's ruptured wounds, interconnecting and healing injuries at extreme speed. Within just a few breaths, all replica ninja's wounds disappeared. One by one, they all recovered to normal condition.
As for the Rinnegan avatars, the protected and undamaged Naraka Path returned to the ground. Standing steady, it formed hand seals.
King of Hell: Samsara Rebirth.
The pitted, uneven ground was full of accumulated water. Suddenly, purple-red flames ignited in these puddles—flames seemingly from hell itself. Then, from these flames slowly emerged a massive head radiating intense divine majesty and solemnity.
This head opened its enormous mouth—easily capable of swallowing a house whole. The Asura Path standing nearby directly threw the Human Path, Preta Path, and Animal Path—all pierced and torn by bones—into this abyss-like mouth.
The mouth chewed, producing sounds.
Two seconds later—
The abyssal mouth opened again. The completely renewed Human Path, Preta Path, and Animal Path walked out. Their injuries had completely vanished. Even their torn coats had been repaired.
The instant they appeared, that massive head rapidly sank and disappeared. The purple-red flames burning on the water's surface also completely extinguished.
All this occurred under observation by Konoha ninja and Sand ninja.
Perhaps—
That truly was the Rinnegan!
Nearly identical thoughts simultaneously surfaced in everyone's minds. After witnessing the Rinnegan avatars' behavior, they now ninety percent believed those ripple-patterned, pale purple eyes were the legendary foremost of the three great ocular techniques—the Rinnegan surpassing both Byakugan and Sharingan.
The next instant—
A yellow flash streaked through the rain.
Minato didn't let his emotions sink into surprise and shock. Since they'd agreed Hyuga Ritsu would deal with these enemies suspected of possessing Rinnegan, he temporarily didn't need to worry about these enemies. He needed to eliminate the remaining enemies as quickly as possible.
Kunai inscribed with Flying Thunder God formula were thrown.
Minato's figure also instantly appeared beside a replica Cloud ninja.
His left hand's five fingers spread and curved.
At the five fingertips coiled nearly materialized chakra like burning flames—chakra that had undergone all five nature transformations: water, fire, wind, lightning, and earth.
Sealing Technique: Five Elements Seal.
Five fingers struck the replica Cloud ninja's abdomen with thunderous speed. Complex, mysterious formula patterns surfaced on that pale, bloodless abdominal skin.
Simultaneously—
He exerted force with his feet, spinning violently like a top.
Rasengan.
The high-density, bright blue chakra sphere rotating at high speed in his right palm was viciously pressed against another replica Cloud ninja's forehead. The brain was forcibly ground into a deep crater. The entire person was thrown backward like a broken sack.
But Minato appeared first at the Cloud ninja's landing point. His left hand completed one-handed seals in this instant.
Cursed Seal: Self-Cursing Seal.
His right palm pressed against this replica Cloud ninja's back, implanting this newly mastered cursed seal technique. Dense cursed seal formulas rapidly spread and grew across the replica Cloud ninja's entire body like countless ropes.
Within just a single breath, Minato attacked two replica Cloud ninja at jonin-level strength with extreme speed that left no time to react, deploying different sealing techniques on each.
Then—
He saw the replica Cloud ninja hit by Five Elements Seal only freeze for two seconds before recovering mobility. Meanwhile, the replica Cloud ninja hit by the Self-Cursing Seal lay motionless on the ground.
"To deal with these replicas requires sealing techniques with complete restraint properties. Sealing techniques focused on disruption and suppression like Five Elements Seal are ineffective."
Minato loudly shared the results of his test with everyone.
At this moment—
Across this plateau, chaotic battle had already erupted.
Though Hyuga Ritsu's Dance of the Seedling Fern hadn't achieved any substantial results, this white bone forest appearing on the plateau had definitely accomplished the purpose of dividing enemies.
Everyone quickly and precisely found different opponents.
Hiruko targeted Fourth Kazekage Rasa's replica. This one's gold dust technique was troublesome—without suitable countermeasures, dealing with it would prove very difficult. The Wood Release technique he mastered was one relatively suitable method.
Though his Wood Release Kekkei Genkai development was limited, he only faced a replica of the Fourth Kazekage that possessed purely instinct.
Uchiha Fugaku engaged replica Shimura Danzo. They naturally knew this former Hokage Assistant's capabilities intimately—skilled in Wind Release and cursed seal techniques, with high mastery of sword skills and taijutsu.
And their Uchiha clan's Fire Release precisely countered Wind Release. Regarding taijutsu, Uchiha Fugaku held sufficient confidence in himself.
Uchiha Shisui's opponent was replica Chiyo. This Sunagakure's strongest puppet master's replica couldn't fully deploy her abilities without puppets to control. She was completely suppressed by Uchiha Shisui.
Kakashi's target was genius Magnetic Release user Troy's replica. He chose steady, methodical tactics, merely seeking to restrain this opponent without desiring any outstanding performance in this battle.
The three Sand ninja didn't separate but joined forces against five replica Cloud ninja, fighting back and forth in an evenly matched struggle.
This clearly showed they were holding back, not committing full strength.
As envoys specially dispatched by Sunagakure to Konoha, their abilities were quite strong. However, their fighting spirit wasn't high. They hadn't displayed particularly strong determination to avenge Fourth Kazekage Rasa.
Fortunately, the Konoha group hadn't counted on Sand ninja making any outstanding contributions.
Cleaning up Missing-nin Anonymous still depended on their own people.
Though numerically the replicas controlled by Missing-nin Anonymous held advantage, for Minato, quantity truly meant nothing. After testing that the Self-Cursing Seal could seal these replicas, everyone could see a yellow flash flickering through the rain.
Then Cloud ninja and Sand ninja replicas were sealed and fell one after another.
While Minato and others rapidly cleared the replicas controlled by Uchiha Tatsuhata, Hyuga Ritsu likewise directly faced five Rinnegan avatars.
"The numbers are unbalanced!"
Hyuga Ritsu looked at the opposition, murmuring softly.
The next second—
Four wood clones rapidly grew from his body, two standing left and right.
Only then did his lips curve upward as he smiled. "Now it's five versus five."
However, the five Rinnegan avatars opposite completely refused any communication with Hyuga Ritsu. The Animal Path crouched down, hands slapping the ground.
Summoning Technique.
A massive creature—approximately seven to eight meters long from head to tail, dark green skin, bumpy surface, protruding eyes—a chameleon was summoned.
Within a blink, that giant chameleon directly disappeared.
Hyuga Ritsu's smile brightened as he spoke softly. "Blending with surrounding environmental colors? Are you looking down on our Hyuga clan's Byakugan? You think such petty tricks can deceive these eyes of mine?"
The instant his words fell—
He violently twisted his body. His right palm viciously chopped down toward an apparently empty spot beside him. A Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm crossed the rain curtain, heavily striking some soft object.
Blood splattered as a tongue section over two meters long and thick as a water barrel was severed and fell.
The chameleon let out a tragic screech, unable even to maintain camouflage, revealing its true appearance. Its python-like long tongue thrashed wildly in pain.
With a "bang," Summoning Technique was released. Milky white chakra smoke rose. The injured chameleon disappeared.
The next instant, missiles trailing long flames rapidly penetrated the chakra smoke, shooting toward Hyuga Ritsu. But before these missiles could approach, Hyuga Ritsu rapidly fired over ten Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palms.
The cleaving palm strikes collided head-on with missiles midair, directly detonating all missiles. Blazing, bright flame clusters appeared midair, bringing brief brilliant radiance to this gloomy, dark weather.
Wood Release: Adamantine Recruiting.
Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere.
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm.
Ninja Art: Needle Jizo.
Passively taking hits wasn't Hyuga Ritsu's preference. He'd released four wood clones not merely to fill numbers. Though their combat power couldn't compare to his true body, they were similarly formidable.
However, the opposing Rinnegan shared vision, united as one. Hyuga Ritsu's counterattack absolutely couldn't escape their observation.
The Preta Path stepped forward, extending both hands to face the wind spheres firing like cannonballs head-on, directly negating these wind spheres into nothingness.
The Animal Path clapped hands together, once again executing Summoning Technique.
Stone Panda.
This time it summoned a massive panda-shaped stone statue that blocked Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm and Needle Jizo attacks. The statue's chest was struck with a deep crater while densely packed, slender hairs stuck into the statue, making it look like an oversized hedgehog.
Three of the four wood clones' attacks were blocked.
Only Wood Release: Adamantine Recruiting—the massive wooden stakes growing from underground—lacked suitable countermeasures. They could only dodge aside, avoiding this simple yet formidable physical impact.
But this wasn't finished—
The four wood clones' attacks continued endlessly. Moreover, they directly abandoned using Wind Release, instead using Wood Release, Gentle Fist, Shikotsumyaku, and hair-based secret techniques for attacks.
To respond to these sharp, fierce attacks—
The Animal Path again executed Summoning Technique, summoning a massive creature with reddish-brown fur, three stories tall, white drool dripping from its mouth—a vicious dog.
The next instant, before the vicious dog could pounce—
Hyuga Ritsu directly used Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane. Jet-black hair grew madly like a lion's mane, dividing into individual strands that directly ensnared the vicious dog. In one instant, astonishing cutting power erupted, directly slicing the vicious dog into pieces.
However—
The severed flesh rapidly proliferated. Within a few breaths, it transformed into a pack of vicious dogs. Their wild barking shook the wilderness, disturbing hearts and minds.
"Tch! How troublesome."
Hyuga Ritsu wasn't surprised by this change but still found this move quite disgusting. Not only unkillable, but multiplying with each kill—extremely troublesome indeed.
However—
For him, it didn't count as particularly troublesome.
Wood Release: Advent of a World of Flowering Trees.
The superior version of Teacher Hiruko's earlier Advent of a World of Flowering Trees. Instantly, a dense forest appeared before Hyuga Ritsu. Over ten charging vicious dogs were directly swallowed by this forest—not directly torn to shreds, but instead restrained and imprisoned by tree vines. No matter how loud and tragic their barking, they couldn't break free from these tree vines' entanglement.
After resolving these vicious dogs—
Hyuga Ritsu didn't even pause to catch his breath. Looking down at his feet, lips holding a cold smile, he exerted force and leaped into the air. The next second, a pair of hands burst from the ground, grabbing toward Hyuga Ritsu's feet—but unfortunately grasped empty air.
His Byakugan saw clearly.
The one launching a sneak attack from underground was unmistakably the Human Path hidden in a pangolin's mouth.
Among the Six Paths of Pain, Hyuga Ritsu felt the most dangerous was the Human Path's "soul extraction" ability. Once grabbed, one's soul would be extracted.
Though Hyuga Ritsu believed this ability shouldn't be an absolute kill mechanism—effects should vary based on target soul strength—and his own soul couldn't likely be yanked out in one go, honestly, Hyuga Ritsu didn't plan to test it himself.
Moreover—
Ninja Art: Needle Jizo.
A clone's hair nearby grew madly, all drilling underground, pursuing the fleeing Human Path. But just before the Human Path was turned into a sieve by this hair, both the Human Path and pangolin disappeared.
The Human Path returned to the distant Animal Path's side.
"Tch!"
Hyuga Ritsu clicked his tongue somewhat disappointedly.
The Rinnegan's numerous abilities working together truly proved headache-inducing.
However, while he felt troubled by the Rinnegan's abilities, Nagato hiding in darkness, seated on his mobility device, unconsciously frowned, murmuring, "This Konoha White Yaksha truly didn't earn his reputation for nothing!"
Hearing Nagato's sigh, Konan standing guard beside him asked curiously, "Nagato, is it very difficult?"
Nagato nodded. "With Pain unable to act, relying only on the remaining five avatars to deal with this White Yaksha is indeed somewhat strenuous."
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