The two men who had once fought to the death on the battlefield were now forced to fight side by side, making Tobirama and the Second Raikage feel the fickleness of fate, though they immediately refocused their attention on Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
Kinkaku gave the Golden Rope a light flick, and it immediately coiled toward Tobirama and the Second Raikage; the surface of the rope, shimmering with golden light, was also coated in layers of electric arcs, clearly infused with extremely powerful Lightning Release.
If they were actually struck by it, they would be severely injured even without triggering its Kotodama ability; it seemed that after revealing the secret of the Golden Rope, Kinkaku did not intend to rely solely on its ability.
However, this made one wonder why Kinkaku had directly revealed the ability of the Golden Rope, but the Second Raikage and Tobirama had no time to think about it, as the Golden Rope was already right before their eyes.
"Water Release: Water Wall." In the blink of an eye, Tobirama formed three hand seals, and a stream of water quickly took shape around him, enclosing himself and the Second Raikage. The Golden Rope struck the Water Wall directly, causing the electric arcs on its surface to disperse, but the heavy attack failed to break through the Water Wall.
Tobirama, behind the Water Wall, did not hesitate to change his hand seals. The Water Wall rapidly expanded, and the immense pressure repelled the Golden Rope, subsequently crashing down upon Kinkaku and Ginkaku like a giant wave.
Tobirama's mastery of Water Release was extremely high; even in an environment without a water source, he could unleash astonishing Water Release Ninjutsu. The reason for this was his high level of water attribute nature transformation and abundant Chakra; even the Mizukage might not necessarily surpass Tobirama in this field.
The giant wave instantly engulfed Kinkaku and Ginkaku, continuing to spread in other directions with undiminished momentum. At this moment, Tobirama gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a look.
As teacher and student, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately understood Tobirama's intention. He formed the hand seals for Earth Release and slammed his hands onto the ground, causing a massive rock wall to rise from the earth, blocking the water wave.
The rock wall Hiruzen Sarutobi created was not just a single side but formed an enclosure. The Water Release Tobirama used directly formed a lake here, making it his home turf. Two whirlpools formed on the lake's surface, and both Kinkaku and Ginkaku were suppressed by the immense pressure. At this moment, the Second Raikage rushed out, heading first toward Ginkaku's whirlpool, intending to take Ginkaku out first. However, the next moment—
A loud noise was heard, and the lake's surface was pushed back by clearly visible Chakra. There was only one type of such visible Chakra that required no nature transformation, and that was Nine-Tails Chakra.
A bright red figure rushed out from the whirlpool on the other side, running toward the Second Raikage, but before it could arrive, it was slapped aside by a suddenly rising giant wave.
The Second Raikage dove into the whirlpool like a bolt of lightning, stabbing at Ginkaku with his blade. At this moment, Ginkaku also released the Nine-Tails Chakra within his body, and even while enduring immense pressure, he swung the seven star sword with surprising speed, blocking the Second Raikage's attack.
To still be able to exert such force with only one arm remaining—the Nine-Tails Chakra was truly extraordinary. The Second Raikage was shaken, but he did not stop his movements; he immediately unleashed a Lightning Release technique, infusing it into Tobirama's Water Release. The significantly enhanced composite Ninjutsu smashed directly onto Ginkaku's body.
Hearing Ginkaku's scream, Kinkaku, who had been slapped away by the giant wave, felt a surge of anxiety. The Nine-Tails Chakra all over his body became even more violent, and his bright red figure flashed away; wherever he passed, the lake's surface split rapidly.
Seeing this, the Second Raikage hurriedly withdrew to return, and Tobirama also used Water Release to assist the Second Raikage in returning, then said: "Raikage, be careful. Their current appearance is not their full form. According to my disciple, once they become extremely angry, they will reveal the second form of Tailed Beast Chakra. If we only kill one of them, the other might erupt with that kind of Chakra, and we would be in danger then."
—In other words, we have to kill them at almost the same time.
The Second Raikage did not speak, but instead gave Tobirama a gesture indicating agreement. Because the seven star sword cursed the Kotodama of one's favorite phrases, in such a battle where offense and defense were extremely rapid, it was impossible to use reason to ensure one would not utter their favorite phrase, so it was better to remain silent.
Tobirama nodded slightly at the Second Raikage's response, thinking to himself that it was indeed convenient to fight with smart people. However, he was still somewhat concerned about why Kinkaku would expose the secret of the treasure tools; the Second Raikage probably had this question too, but there were no clues.
After Kinkaku's commotion, Ginkaku was effectively freed from the restraint of the whirlpool. The two bright red figures paused slightly, then rushed toward the two men, causing astonishing ripples on the lake's surface—
Meanwhile, after Hiruzen Sarutobi used Earth Release to create a combat environment for his teacher, he reunited with his fellow disciples, standing back-to-back and assuming a battle stance.
"Alright, next it's our turn." Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned his Summoned Beast, Enma, who transformed into the adamantine staff which he held in his arms, looking at the other ill-intentioned members of the Kinkaku and Ginkakus Squad. "Everyone, let's attack together. Although this is an ambush, we will absolutely not die here, because the Hokage and the Raikage are right behind us."
"That's right, we will absolutely not lose." Said the guard who had come with the Second Raikage. His status was clearly relatively high, and the other guards gathered together with the Second Hokage's guard unit, watching every direction.
This time, the Kinkaku and Ginkakus Squad had come prepared, with numbers far exceeding those of the Fire and Lightning guards, not to mention that some people were maintaining the Barrier to prevent the commotion here from spreading and attracting the main forces.
However, Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that the main forces would arrive soon. Fūmori Masaki really had foresight; the Slug should have sent the information back. But he felt that his teacher and the Second Raikage should be able to subdue Kinkaku and Ginkaku. He and the others only needed to hold these members back for a while, and once his teacher and the Second Raikage could break away, they could finish them off directly; perhaps the main forces wouldn't even be needed.
Although Kinkaku and Ginkaku possessed Nine-Tails Chakra and the Six Paths Sage's treasure tools, Hiruzen Sarutobi had this confidence, mainly because the basho fan had already been taken away, and Ginkaku couldn't even use Ninjutsu. As the two shadows of their respective villages, they couldn't possibly lose.
Indeed, compared to normal history, Kinkaku and Ginkaku's combat power had already declined to a certain extent, while there was no gap for Tobirama and the Second Raikage. Reasonably speaking, the two should occupy a certain advantage in the battle, and in fact, this was exactly the case.
Because of the power of the Golden Rope, Tobirama dared not approach easily, but instead used the lake to employ Water Release, interfering with Kinkaku and Ginkaku from a distance while assisting the Second Raikage. In any case, the Second Raikage had already been cursed by the Kotodama; as the saying goes, a dead pig is not afraid of boiling water, so he naturally attacked Kinkaku and Ginkaku without any scruples.
With Tobirama's intentional assistance, Kinkaku was once again separated. The Second Raikage and Tobirama exchanged a glance, gathered all their Chakra, and charged toward Kinkaku and Ginkaku respectively; they were preparing to kill them in one blow.
Kinkaku was currently suppressed by the Water Release, unable to move. He watched as the Second Raikage quickly darted in front of him, disregarding the threat of the Golden Rope entirely, pointing his blade at his chest. Even with Nine-Tails Chakra, once the heart was damaged, it could not recover.
Because Ginkaku could not use Ninjutsu, Tobirama could focus more power on Kinkaku. Moreover, after several exchanges, Kinkaku's power had been tested; Tobirama's Water Release could just happen to suppress Kinkaku temporarily, allowing the Second Raikage to safely pierce Kinkaku's heart.
Just at this critical moment of life and death, Kinkaku smiled coldly and said: "It's about time."
—What?
Upon hearing this, the Second Raikage immediately felt a bad premonition. The next moment, the red gourd on Kinkaku's body suddenly generated a powerful suction force. The Second Raikage felt his body was out of control, pulled away by the suction, and he went directly into the red gourd.
"Raikage!" Sensing the Second Raikage's Chakra suddenly disappear, Tobirama was shocked, and his movements slowed by a beat as a result. Consequently, his fatal strike against Ginkaku failed to hit the target squarely, only leaving a huge wound on Ginkaku, but it was not a fatal injury. Under the influence of the Nine-Tails Chakra, recovery was only a matter of time.
Tobirama immediately used the Flying Thunder God Technique to leave Ginkaku's side. He saw Kinkaku in the distance gently patting the red gourd. Although he hadn't seen the scene just now, Tobirama was certain that the Second Raikage had been sucked into the red gourd. But how could this be? It should be that one is sealed only after uttering their Kotodama. Was what Kinkaku said a lie, or was it...
Thinking of his previous suspicions, Tobirama felt a flash of inspiration in his mind. He frowned slightly and said to Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who were coming toward him: "I see. If I haven't guessed wrong, as long as one remains silent for a period, they will also be sealed, right? Everything you said before was a lie."
"As expected of the Second Hokage, you are right. But you guessed one thing wrong; what I said before was also true. For the red gourd, both favorite phrases and silence are taboos." Kinkaku chuckled.
Tobirama couldn't help but grit his teeth. To create the fatal situation just now, he had already consumed a lot of Chakra. Even for the Senju Clan, it was somewhat unbearable. At this moment, he still had to face Kinkaku and Ginkaku, who appeared to be in excellent condition due to the Nine-Tails Chakra.
After thinking for a moment, Tobirama's figure suddenly disappeared. At the same time, the lake rapidly expanded, wrapping around Kinkaku and Ginkaku and pulling them into the water.
Just as the two were being dragged down, Tobirama's figure appeared outside the rock wall, picking up the Kunai on the ground with the Flying Thunder God formula. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others who were in the middle of a fierce battle were slightly surprised to see Tobirama come out and hurriedly asked what happened to Kinkaku and Ginkaku. The other Kumogakure Ninja were surprised why the Second Raikage did not appear, and the members of the Kinkaku and Ginkakus Squad were also worried about their leaders' situation, so they stopped fighting for a moment.
Tobirama, however, did not speak but gave a few hand signals, then rushed in one direction. The guard units who understood the signals followed him. The members of the Kinkaku and Ginkakus Squad came to their senses and wanted to block them, but they were all blocked by the guard units using Ninjutsu, as Tobirama was charging in the front, directly carving out a bloody path.
The six people approached the Barrier. Hiruzen and Danzo simultaneously unleashed a powerful Wind Release Ninjutsu, striking a point on the Barrier. The Barrier shook violently, and ripples spread out. At this moment, a circle of water flowed and condensed on Tobirama's arm, turning into a spear shape, which he thrust out heavily, and the Barrier exploded with a bang.
"Go! The Second Raikage has been sealed, this is no place to stay for long." Tobirama said loudly, mainly to be heard by the Second Raikage's guards. This was the only thing he could do out of benevolence. The guard members, who had already received the hint, followed closely behind Tobirama and rushed out of the Barrier.