Spirit Release Chakra Mode...
It was Hiruzen's way of integrating his various abilities after his talent had improved even further.
In this mode, he no longer needed to switch specifically between Boil Release and Lightning Release chakra.
Instead, some of their characteristics were reproduced through shapeless chakra mimicking their properties.
Faster, stronger, tougher...
In this state, Hiruzen did not emphasize raw strength as heavily as Boil Release did, nor speed and defense as heavily as Lightning Release did, but the enhancements were far more balanced across the board.
Spirit Release also remained passively active. Any ninjutsu that approached him would naturally begin to break down, triggering the absorption effect of the Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"
Gengetsu was thoroughly thrown off.
"Wait, did that old man Byakuren seriously come back? What's with Ice Release at this level?!"
Gengetsu had seen Hiruzen use Ice Release before. During the Sky Village's attack on Konohagakure, he had used pillars of ice to support the flying fortress.
But Gengetsu had assumed that was the Hokage's limit...
This Ice Release covered the entirety of his genjutsu domain, and it incorporated extremely advanced nature and shape transformation on top of that, shattering his Demonic Illusion: Steaming Multistoried Building Technique in one fell swoop...
For a moment, Gengetsu could almost see the First Mizukage standing where the Hokage was.
That man had been renowned throughout the shinobi world precisely for his Ice Release, refined to the utmost degree!
Compared to Gengetsu, however, Mū was much more concerned about Spirit Release Chakra Mode.
'This is bad...'
'That form practically looks like Dust Release Chakra Mode! No, wait—even I can't do anything like that...'
'There's no way the Hokage knows Dust Release, but that sensation of decomposition feels incredibly familiar...'
High above the battlefield, Mū remained invisible as he stared intently at Hiruzen.
'What the hell has he been training? Even Senju Tobirama never dabbled in anything like this back then, did he?!'
To contend with Gengetsu, Mū had honed his sensory abilities to an extraordinary level.
And right now, Hiruzen gave him the impression that he had somehow draped Dust Release over his own body...
It was downright bizarre!
"Interesting. This is far too interesting!"
"I thought the shinobi of this era could no longer match those of ours..."
"Looks like I underestimated the shinobi world..."
Gengetsu paused. "Wait. Didn't you also live through the final years of the Warring States Period?"
Hiruzen currently looked rather young, like a man squarely in his prime.
"Everyone has to keep moving forward, Gengetsu-san."
Hiruzen pushed off lightly with the tips of his feet, bouncing a little as he warmed up. "If we can't surpass those who came before us, wouldn't that mean the shinobi world is constantly regressing? Replacing the old with the new is how progress works..."
"Then show me!"
"Show me the power of a so-called First Mizukage!"
Gengetsu abruptly shifted into combat mode, the concentric rings of his Rinnegan rippling.
Animal Path!
In the next instant, a massive wave of summoning techniques activated!
Black summoning formations burst open one after another across the battlefield, and countless ferocious summoned beasts poured from them.
A completely transparent chameleon vanished into the air, concealing itself, while an enormous, vicious centipede burrowed underground.
A rhinoceros lowered its head, its sharp horn gleaming coldly as it launched a ferocious frontal charge.
A three-headed dog opened three enormous maws. Saliva dripped onto the ground, corroding small pits wherever it landed.
There was even a gigantic panda standing at the very front, serving as the vanguard for the entire summoned squad.
Hiruzen studied the summoned beasts with an inquisitive gaze, looking thoughtful.
After Ashina's identity had been exposed, Hiruzen had become certain of Madara's identity as well.
Hiruzen himself knew the Impure World Reincarnation Technique.
It was a technique that could backfire on its caster if they lacked sufficient authority over those they summoned.
If someone weak rashly used this kinjutsu to reincarnate a powerful shinobi, not only could the reincarnated individual easily break free, they might even turn around and kill the caster...
Over the past century, only Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara possessed enough strength to control a sealing grandmaster like Ashina through Impure World Reincarnation. At most, Tobirama could be added to that list, given his limitless potential when it came to techniques.
But Tobirama himself had been revived by Hiruzen, so that possibility could be ruled out.
Add to that the awkward mentality revealed throughout various incidents, the person's knowledge of both Konohagakure and the Uchiha Clan, and even the fact that he had constantly kept tabs on Obito's squad and ultimately saved them...
Then there was what the Uchiha stone tablet said about the power that gives rise to all things, born when Senju and Uchiha became one...
The chain of logic was airtight.
It had to be a certain Konoha 002 who had gone off to start his own venture...
'Are these summoning techniques part of the power that gives rise to all things?'
'There should be more to it than that...'
Hiruzen pondered.
At that moment, the rhinoceros reached him first, its enormous horn crashing toward him with a howling rush of wind!
Hiruzen glanced at it. He neither dodged nor retreated, simply throwing a punch straight at its horn!
The rhinoceros's hard skull shattered on impact. Its massive body was sent flying backward in an instant, crashing into the ground and breaking apart!
The centipede suddenly erupted from underground.
Hiruzen stomped down hard, and invisible chakra burst outward!
Like a massive hammer, it smashed the creature back into the earth and buried it there.
The three-headed dog lunged at him from the side.
Hiruzen reached out and closed his hand around empty air.
Before he even touched it, chakra had already transformed into an invisible giant hand that crushed several of its heads!
Only a few exchanges had passed.
Every summoned beast called forth by the Animal Path had been wiped out.
Gengetsu sucked in a sharp breath.
In truth, dealing with these summoned beasts was not particularly difficult. He could do it himself.
The problem was that the focus of his Animal Path was enhanced summoning.
What made these summoned beasts troublesome was that all of them possessed the ability to split and multiply. Once defeated, they would immediately reproduce exponentially.
It was not limited to the hellhound. Every summoned beast under Gengetsu possessed that trait, because this portion of his power came from Uchiha Madara's genuine, fully powered Rinnegan.
But the summoned beasts Hiruzen had struck down had not triggered their splitting and regeneration at all...
Gengetsu, who controlled the Animal Path, could not even sense his connection to them anymore.
"Were they sealed?"
"He didn't make any motions to activate a sealing technique, but getting hit by him is effectively the same as getting sealed?"
Gengetsu stared at Hiruzen, suddenly finding him extraordinarily troublesome.
That crazy concept old man Uzumaki Ashina had come up with could actually be mastered?
And this seemed even more terrifying than the Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal Ashina had described...
"Konoha really does produce monsters..."
Gengetsu muttered under his breath as chakra erupted from his entire body at full force!
Steaming Danger Tyranny!
Five identical chibi clones emerged from the ground simultaneously.
They spread out in a fan around Hiruzen. The oily film coating their bodies gleamed strangely beneath the sunlight, and every clone was already swelling slightly, ready to explode at any moment.
This was the absolute limit of what Gengetsu could achieve after being enhanced by his Six Paths puppet body!
Even when he had been alive and fighting at full strength, two had been his maximum...
If five Steaming Danger Tyranny clones exploded simultaneously, their high-temperature steam blasts would be enough to engulf the entire battlefield!
The clone at the front charged toward Hiruzen with a steel blade in hand, the Third Mizukage's blood still staining its edge...
Hiruzen neither dodged nor retreated. He met it head-on.
Fist against fist!
Gengetsu's eyes lit up.
What made Steaming Danger Tyranny terrifying was that any energy entering its oil-and-water body would cause it to swell abruptly and explode.
So theoretically, his clones could only be sealed.
Even if a long-range ninjutsu detonated one prematurely, the clones were extraordinarily fast.
And after exploding, they could simply restore themselves.
That was why the technique was known as the "Infinite Explosion Technique," a nightmare for every enemy on the battlefield.
Yet the Steaming Danger Tyranny clone that made contact with Hiruzen did not explode from the tremendous force of the Hokage's punch.
Instead, it deflated like a punctured balloon.
Its entire body shuddered. Several chakra pathways maintaining its form came apart, and the clone actually began collapsing on the spot!
At astonishing speed, it reverted into oil and water, then broke down even further into pure chakra...
Which flowed straight into Hiruzen's body!
"Huh?"
Gengetsu looked utterly baffled.
Wait...
That was possible?
'This seems a lot like the Preta Path that Ginkaku mastered...'
'Does the Hokage have a Rinnegan too?'
A thought occurred to Gengetsu. The old fossils from the Warring States Period had gotten tired of arguing with one another all day, so every now and then they would head out to some empty place and exchange a few blows.
Aside from Ashina, none of them could actually hurt one another, but getting their fix was still worthwhile. They were all battle maniacs, after all.
Because of that, Gengetsu was very familiar with the Preta Path's abilities.
"Then I'll detonate them early!"
"The shockwave produced by Steaming Danger Tyranny's explosion isn't the same thing as chakra..."
He gritted his teeth and ordered the remaining two clones, "Detonate from range! Don't get close to him!"
The two clones immediately stopped ten meters away from Hiruzen and rapidly swelled to their limits, on the verge of unleashing enormous area-wide explosions!
Hiruzen's pupils contracted slightly as his gaze focused on the two clones.
Dōjutsu: Spirit Release!
The power of Spirit Release erupted inside the two clones!
Compared with the complex chakra pathways inside a human body, clones and ninjutsu generally possessed only a handful of critical nodes. Once those were broken apart, their forms could no longer be maintained.
The two Steaming Danger Tyranny clones swelled instantly. Several joints throughout their bodies flashed with the white light of Spirit Release and began spinning uncontrollably before once again collapsing into water, oil, and azure chakra...
This time, Gengetsu finally understood.
Unlike the Preta Path, which required passive physical contact, Hiruzen could actively nullify other people's techniques from a distance!
His ability focused more on decomposition than absorption.
Strictly speaking, absorption had nothing to do with Spirit Release at all. It was merely a passive effect of Hiruzen's Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal.
"What the hell do you mean, not letting people use ninjutsu?"
"So we're only allowed to fight you with taijutsu? What kind of shinobi does that?!"
For a moment, Gengetsu was at a loss for words.
According to White Zetsu's intelligence, Sarutobi Hiruzen had been known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu" for years.
Logically, he should have specialized in the Five Nature Transformations. Even synthesizing a few Kekkei Genkai of his own could barely be considered reasonable...
But after training all the way to the end, the "Professor of Ninjutsu" had somehow reached the point where nobody else was allowed to use ninjutsu!
Using the cover provided by the two clones, Gengetsu silently appeared behind Hiruzen, an enormous amount of chakra gathering at the tip of his index finger.
Water Release: Ultra-High-Pressure Water Gun!
Hiruzen deliberately chose not to decompose it with Spirit Release.
Instead, he used the Water-Sealing Formula incorporated into the Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal and absorbed the entire attack into his body.
Hiruzen gave him a sunny smile, tilting his head slightly toward Gengetsu before speaking in an earnest tone.
"You'd be better off not using pure Five Nature ninjutsu against me. Especially Water Release..."
"I know you people probably have an impressive intelligence network. Otherwise, you couldn't have found the Third Mizukage before I did, much less know so much about what's happening inside Konoha."
"So you should've seen what happened when I fought Kiritori."
"The Five Nature Transformations won't work. At least Water, Fire, Lightning, and Earth won't. Wind Release is a little better."
The Five Nature cycle within Hiruzen's Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal was still missing its final component—the Wind-Sealing Formula...
But he was close to completing it.
Besides, even against Wind Release, he could easily use Spirit Release to break the technique apart and then reverse the Yin Seal to absorb it.
Gengetsu blinked hard.
Over all his years of fighting, he had undoubtedly experienced more than a thousand battles. He was a famous battle maniac, after all.
But not a single one had ever left him feeling this stifled...
For the first time, a sense of helplessness welled up inside him.
He was a shinobi, and he wasn't even being allowed to fight his enemy with ninjutsu.
Was this some kind of joke?
Meanwhile, at the Mountains' Graveyard...
Obito had already begun cheering loudly and without the slightest restraint at the Hokage's performance.
"See?! I told you! Hokage-sama is the strongest! Mustache Uncle can't do it, even if he's really strong too!"
The Second Raikage watched solemnly and began analyzing the situation.
"This absolutely has something to do with Senju Tobirama! That bastard spent his whole life studying kinjutsu. He knew better than anyone that there was no end to the development of ninjutsu. If he could develop kinjutsu, then so could other people..."
"Sure, he faked his death, but he really did get burned by the Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths."
"Knowing his personality, once someone had ambushed him with techniques and ninja tools, he'd definitely start thinking about how to prevent it from happening again. So he came up with a technique that counters every other technique..."
"Ginkaku, isn't your Preta Path similar to the Hokage's? This is all your and Kinkaku's fault! If you hadn't provoked him back then, he wouldn't have left the position of Hokage!"
"And without Mito-sama around to keep him in check, look what happened!" the Second Raikage exclaimed bitterly.
In the Second Raikage's eyes, the sensei-disciple relationship between Sarutobi Hiruzen and Senju Tobirama, combined with the structural similarities between Spirit Release and the Preta Path, constituted yet another piece of ironclad evidence identifying the leader of the "Warring States Freak Association."
This time, neither Ginkaku nor Kinkaku argued with him.
Both had realized that the position of Hokage really did seem to have restrained Senju Tobirama, at least enough to preserve some bottom line in his research into techniques.
The moment he faked his death and freed himself from those restraints, a few decades later he'd gone and reincarnated all of them.
And that wasn't even the end of it. At Sasori's request, the Second Kazekage, Shamon, apparently was already being prepared as well...
There was no end to this!
"You people don't understand a damn thing. Amateurs should keep quiet!"
"The Preta Path is fundamentally a type of sealing technique too, but its emphasis is different from what Hiruzen is displaying."
"To put the mechanism of sealing techniques simply, they consist of two major components: decomposition and absorption. Sealing techniques take priority because they can first destroy the structure of a ninjutsu, then absorb or restrain the resulting disordered chakra."
The veteran Ashina's eyes gleamed with intense excitement.
"But where does the limitation of sealing techniques lie? In their lack of initiative. Most of the time, they can only react passively. That's why the Uzumaki Clan was called an 'iron fortress' during the Warring States Period..."
"But Hiruzen's is different. He's clearly reached an entirely new level along the path of 'decomposition.' He can actively destroy other people's techniques from a distance."
Ashina turned toward Ginkaku. "Can that Preta Path of yours absorb chakra from a distance?"
Ginkaku froze, then shook his head.
"No!"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Ashina burst into hearty laughter.
"What a Hiruzen! What a Hokage! To think the sealing techniques of my Uzumaki Clan would reach their true glory in his hands! If Senju Tobirama had told me back then that Hiruzen had talent like this..."
"Why the hell would I have founded the Land of Whirlpools or Uzushiogakure? I would've joined Konoha ages ago! I should've just let Hiruzen alone train the Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal. Those other mediocrities couldn't understand how to use it anyway! You think I actually wanted to spread it around indiscriminately?"
"Senju Tobirama, did you hear that?! Apologize to this old man!"
Ashina shouted toward Madara next door.
Madara merely chuckled when he heard him.
Spending his days watching Hiruzen fight and listening to other people curse Tobirama a little really was quite relaxing...
'Maybe I should reincarnate Senju Tobirama one of these days!'
'Though the chances of successfully reincarnating that bastard aren't high. And that man is incredibly troublesome. Better not give him another chance to return to the shinobi world. He did invent Impure World Reincarnation, after all, and I suppose he technically taught Hiruzen for a couple of days...'
Madara shook his head.
"So you're saying the only option is to fight the Hokage with taijutsu?"
Kinkaku pondered aloud. "That's seriously troublesome. The Hokage trains his body! Even with the level of taijutsu we brothers have reached, I'm afraid we still couldn't beat him..."
"Hmph! You think this old man's Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal didn't account for that? Let me tell you, I designed this technique with shinobi on the level of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama in mind! Even the legendary Sage of Six Paths..."
Ashina proudly stroked his long beard.
"Constructing the Ten Thousand Seals Body Integration Seal is equivalent to using intricate sealing techniques to install a second heart and a second set of Chakra Pathways inside the body. The training process itself steadily increases the user's physical strength..."
"Just watch! The moment that brat Gengetsu takes a clean hit from Hiruzen, he's basically finished..."
Kinkaku and Ginkaku exchanged glances, sudden understanding dawning on both of them.
No wonder that old bastard Uzumaki Ashina was so damn strong whenever they sparred with him!
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