Those who suffer in the Endless Hell will never die. This doesn't mean they are immortal, but that their suffering is eternal.
With his exquisite taijutsu, Uchiha Itachi killed the middle-aged, three-tomoe Uchiha. In the next second, the man revived and charged at him again with a savage expression.
Slaughtering his clansmen... this was nothing. From the day he had fallen into darkness, he had felt little for his kin. Even when his childhood friend, Izumi, had cried out his name with tears in her eyes, only the faintest ripple had disturbed the depths of Itachi's eyes. Just a flicker.
But when it was his mother, Uchiha Mikoto, who came forward, Itachi's perpetually frozen face could no longer remain calm. After striking his mother down with his own hands once more, Itachi nearly bit through his own gums.
This can't go on. I have to deal with the caster first. If I'm not mistaken, the Edo Tensei is the Second Hokage's forbidden jutsu. To break it, I must either defeat the caster or force them to release it.
Even in the heat of battle, Itachi's mind remained calm, constantly analyzing how to break Uchiha Nagi's Edo Tensei.
He had wanted to use Tsukuyomi to inflict severe mental damage on Nagi from a distance. Because of Tsukuyomi's unique nature, once he pulled someone into his mental world, even another Mangekyo user like Nagi wouldn't be able to escape.
Kakashi had been trapped for what felt like three days. Nagi might only be trapped for one, but a full day in the mental world was enough to shatter anyone's spirit.
Unfortunately, Tsukuyomi required eye contact as a medium to enter the target's mind, and Uchiha Nagi had been fighting with his eyes closed from the very beginning.
He had abandoned the Uchiha clan's greatest asset, the Mangekyo Sharingan, to fight Itachi. This gave the genjutsu master a massive headache; it was as if eighty percent of his skills had been rendered useless.
Besides his eyes, Itachi could also cast genjutsu through his body, his tools, and even drugs. His mastery of illusion was supreme, but all his techniques shared a common requirement: they needed to engage the eyes, the windows to the soul.
It wasn't that there were no powerful genjutsu that bypassed the eyes. There was Izanami. But the current situation didn't meet the conditions to cast it. Moreover, his opponent was also an Uchiha; it was entirely possible he had learned about the jutsu from one of the reanimated dead.
Before Itachi could devise a counter-strategy, the opponent he least wanted to face appeared: the clan head, Uchiha Fugaku.
The dozens of Uchiha jonin and chunin before him, while immortal, were no match for his Mangekyo and posed little threat. But Fugaku was different. He, too, was a Mangekyo wielder.
"I'm sorry, Itachi," Fugaku said, but his hands moved uncontrollably, attacking his son.
"It is I who should be sorry, for making you suffer again," Itachi dodged, plunging two kunai into Fugaku's body. The attached paper bombs detonated, blowing half of Fugaku's body apart.
In the distance, Uchiha Nagi frowned. Fugaku's skill, his Mangekyo's predictive power, was not so poor. He could have dodged that attack, but he hadn't. It was clear that Fugaku was resisting his control, unwilling to harm his "filial" son.
Nagi felt a headache coming on. If only he had Kabuto's Edo Tensei Version 3.0. He wouldn't have to override the reanimated person's consciousness; he could let them fight at full power while still maintaining direct control.
The reason Madara and the Senju brothers couldn't be controlled was that they knew the full details of the jutsu, allowing their powerful souls to break free. The Second Raikage, the Second Tsuchikage, and even Tobirama Senju couldn't break free because they didn't know the secrets of the Edo Tensei, so even with their strength, they were trapped.
Seeing Fugaku so reluctant to fight his own son, Uchiha Nagi sneered coldly. With a single hand seal, he erased Fugaku's consciousness, turning him into a puppet just like the Senju brothers.
However, a reanimated corpse without its own consciousness moved sluggishly, like one of Sasori's puppets. Every action had to be dictated by the caster, and in a ninja battle, a single second could change everything.
Though he had lost his consciousness, Fugaku could no longer use the ocular powers of his Mangekyo, Amaterasu and Kagutsuchi. The eye reflects the heart, after all. With the heart shielded, how could it release its powers?
But another technique was no problem at all.
[Susanoo]
Uchiha Fugaku, who had hidden his true power his entire life, once again unleashed his Gundam under Nagi's control. A second-stage, hundred-meter-tall Susanoo rapidly formed and stomped down on Itachi.
Itachi used a crow substitution to dodge, but as he looked at the dozens of ninja, the reanimated Susanoo, and the watchful Uchiha Nagi, he fell silent.
"Genjutsu... it's always been a minor path. What damn use is it? Even if you master it to its depths, a minor path is still a minor path." Nagi shook his head. "If genjutsu was so useful, what would be the point of a Gundam?"
Did you ever see Hashirama and Madara bother with such things? No matter how good your genjutsu is, what use is it in a large-scale battle? Can it take on ten? Fifty? A hundred?
Regrettably, Uchiha Itachi had a particular fondness for these quick-acting, unorthodox techniques. He had spent his life researching them, while neglecting the very thing that had allowed his ancestors to conquer the world: the Gundam.
Meanwhile, Kisame faced his own opponent, Kimimaro. And Kimimaro, having transplanted the Byakugan, had seemingly been cured of his bloodline disease. Not only had his strength fully recovered, but it had risen to a new level.
In another world, under Orochimaru's tutelage, Kimimaro had been able to defeat the Fourth Kazekage at full power with his Curse Mark Stage Two. Of course, there was a large element of ability-countering involved. The Fourth Kazekage's Gold Dust attacks were all physical, and the Shikotsumyaku was a kekkei genkai with maxed-out physical defense.
That was how a sick and dying Kimimaro had been able to defeat the Kazekage, with no small amount of support from Orochimaru.
But a healthy Kimimaro could definitely go toe-to-toe with the Fourth Kazekage. That was a terrifying prospect: a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old defeating a Kage.
And in this world, while he didn't have Orochimaru's Curse Mark, he had been taught the human version of Sage Mode by Uchiha Nagi. All things considered, it was about on par with the Curse Mark Stage Two, but without the massive side effects.
And then there was the Water Breathing he had been taught, and the Byakugan...
Kimimaro could feel that since the Byakugan transplant, every cell in his body was rejoicing, filled with an unparalleled comfort that grew better with each passing day.
Combined with the nutrient solution Nagi had given him, which was full of White Zetsu cells, constantly replenishing his long-depleted body, his strength had risen by several levels.
"Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!"
Kimimaro made the first move, firing ten bone bullets at Kisame.
"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!" Kisame's hand seals were incredibly fast. A wall of water instantly appeared, blocking the ten bullets. But what happened next made even Kisame's mouth twitch.
The ten bone bullets spun rapidly, managing to pierce through the water wall just before falling to the ground.
"That piercing power... it's troublesome..."
[Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Clematis—Flower] + [Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust]
Kimimaro's entire right arm transformed into a sharp bone spear. Using the speed of the Seventh Form as a breakthrough, he charged forward like an unstoppable force, intending to run Kisame through.
I can't block it. From the available intelligence, Kisame had already deduced that his opponent was a taijutsu specialist of incredible power. And the Shikotsumyaku... he was from the same village; he knew the characteristics of this bloodline clan. Their bones provided an extremely powerful physical defense.
Aside from ninjutsu, almost any physical attack was negligible.
"Water Style: Water Shark Bomb Technique!"
The Water Shark Bomb that Kisame used was no ordinary jonin's technique. His massive chakra reserves amplified all his water-style jutsu many times over.
But it still couldn't stop Kimimaro's charge. In the end, he could only fight while retreating, finally managing to halt Kimimaro's advance with a Water Dragon Jutsu.
"Looks like I'll have to use that technique," Kisame grinned. Against a physical taijutsu opponent like this, he had a natural advantage. All ninja were human, and humans needed to breathe.
And so—
"Water Style: Great Water Prison Technique!" Kisame quickly released a massive water prison, then fused himself with his sword, Samehada. This allowed him to transform into a merman and breathe freely underwater.
Kimimaro, on the other hand, could only hold his breath. While ninja could hold their breath for a long time, the oxygen consumption during high-intensity combat was always greater than a normal person's.
Often, Kisame's Great Water Prison wasn't meant to kill the enemy, but to make them unable to breathe and thus defeat them.
"This water prison... it's huge."
The troubling thing about the giant water prison wasn't its size. As long as it wasn't a barrier and the ninja's chakra wasn't restricted, a full-power attack at the edge of the prison could always create an escape.
The difficult part was that Kisame, in his merman state, could move the giant water prison with him. No matter how you swam, you could never swim out.
And Kisame hid within the water prison, his color blending in, making him impossible to locate.
But that was only for ninja like Killer Bee, who wasn't a sensory type. For Kimimaro, who had transplanted the Byakugan, Kisame's position was as obvious as a 24-karat titanium alloy lightbulb at night.
[A mistake. He has the Byakugan. He can see my position.]
Kisame dodged a bone spike that came flying at him, then turned and swam away, watching Kimimaro from a distance.
Underwater, Kimimaro's Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets, which were like Barrett sniper rounds, were useless. The kinetic energy of the water dissipated in all directions.
He thought for a moment and realized Kisame's plan: to drown him.
Kisame was incredibly agile in the water, and Kimimaro wasn't the Eight-Tails; he didn't have octopus tentacles to propel himself. His movements were extremely slow. He could only push off when his feet were on the ground. It was a good thing his Shikotsumyaku defense was invincible.
Several water-style sharks swam quickly towards Kimimaro, but he simply grew bone spikes and pierced them, dispersing them.
Outside, Genya, seeing the situation, immediately released his Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence.
Hm?!
Kisame suddenly found that his Great Water Prison was being invaded by large trees. It was the immortal boy's Wood Style. The wood began to grow wildly, reaching halfway up the prison. With a foothold, Kimimaro stepped onto a tree and quickly attacked Kisame.
In the water, Kisame was not only agile but also fast. He released a Water Style jutsu to block Kimimaro and swam away again.
Kisame frowned. The trees of the Wood Style were slowly absorbing the chakra from his water jutsu. It was a characteristic of the Wood Style. Unfortunately, Genya's wood absorption couldn't compare to the First Hokage's, but if this continued, even the Tailed Beast Without a Tail couldn't last forever.
His Samehada was fused with him. Otherwise, he could have drained those trees dry in minutes. It was anyone's guess who would absorb whom.
[There's no other choice. Sage Mode... open!]
Kimimaro stood on a tree in the water and closed his eyes. Markings appeared around his face, unique to the human version of Sage Mode.
But unlike Naruto, Jiraiya, and Kabuto, who had toad and snake pupils, respectively, Kimimaro's human Sage Mode, like Hashirama's, retained human pupils.
Its power was twenty to thirty percent weaker than the sage modes of the three great holy lands, but it was more compatible with the human body and had no side effects.
[Dance, Dance of the Seedling Fern!]
Kimimaro spread his limbs, and a continuous stream of bone spikes extended from his body, rapidly expanding outwards. The water sharks in the prison had just reformed when they were pierced through again by the Shikotsumyaku.
Expanding, and expanding again, Kisame was finally forced to increase the size of the water prison.
At that moment, Kimimaro, in the center, opened his eyes. He clapped his hands together, and all the giant bones of the Shikotsumyaku shot outwards like missiles.
Swoosh—
Before, Kimimaro didn't have this move. His Dance of the Seedling Fern could cover the map like a bone forest, similar to the Wood Style, but he couldn't launch the bones. But after transplanting the Byakugan, Kimimaro felt his abilities had been enhanced. He had improved the technique and achieved this.
In an instant, the bone forest became a massive tank launching base. Each giant bone had immense kinetic energy. Kisame formed hand seals and created a water shield in front of him, but against the continuous impact of tank-like shells...
It was as if Guy was using his Morning Peacock in all directions. Kisame could finally no longer maintain his giant water prison. The entire prison popped like a soap bubble pricked by a needle.
BOOM!
With a tremendous roar, Kisame's ultimate technique, the Great Water Prison that could defeat the Eight-Tails, was broken.
"Finally. The Land of Rain. I can feel it. There are several massive chakra signatures hidden here. The Tailed Beasts are here. Hehe~"
Above the Land of Rain, Otsutsuki Urashiki had finally arrived. He floated in the sky. Regrettably, he had captured several people outside the village and interrogated them, but none could give him any intelligence on the Land of Rain itself.
All they knew was that there was a "Lady Angel" inside, and an even more mysterious figure who controlled the entire Land of Rain—a "God," probably the Kage of the Rain Village.
In a high tower in the Village Hidden by the Rain, in the darkness, Nagato's Rinnegan snapped open. The enemy... had arrived.