For an entire day, the wind and snow continued unabated.
In the ruins of a certain village in the former Land of Whirlpools, Hagoromo and Kakashi encountered the enemy once again.
Kakashi's opponent was yet another eyebrowless brat from the Mist, whose sole focus was reclaiming the Kubikiribocho.
Hagoromo's opponent, however, was the Four-Tails Jinchuriki of the Hidden Stone.
Furthermore, the man had seen through his identity.
Over the past year or so, Hagoromo had been fully immersed in the fires of the battlefield.
And he had been remarkably active.
In terms of strength, he had been steadily rising. This meant that, the casualties he inflicted on the enemy were far from few. Many of the corpses produced by his hand... well, their state of death was often quite tragic, and sometimes even beyond tragic.
With such cruel methods, he had firmly secured the title of "Yaksha." He was the quintessential representative of someone who excelled in his chosen profession.
His pure white mask was frequently stained with blood, and his black iron gourd had taken on a reddish tint.
—This is simply what it means to be a ninja. Even someone with a personality like Nohara Rin would never hesitate when it was time to strike.
Thus, following his fame among the Sand, he had become quite well-known among the Cloud and Stone as well.
He was a highly recognizable ninja; though he wore a mask, he carried that gourd most of the time. Items like the one Hagoromo carried were specialized ninja tools. Not many used them on the battlefield.
After several encounters, the enemy had memorized his presence.
Hagoromo and his squad spent most of their time bouncing around the Cloud battlefield, with intermittent stints causing trouble on the Stone front. They often managed to retreat completely unscathed—Hagoromo himself was rarely injured.
So, it wasn't surprising that the Stone had files on him.
But the fact that Roshi knew his data was a bit strange, especially considering where the man had turned up...
Helping the Mist steal the Byakugan? The relationship between those two villages wasn't that good.
Planning to snatch the Byakugan for himself? That seemed logical, but this was an emergency situation; how could the Stone react so quickly?
Just passing by? That seemed too coincidental, and Roshi's composure didn't look like someone just passing through.
Also, were there other Stone ninjas here?
In an instant, Hagoromo's mind raced through various possibilities and dismissed them one by one.
But he had no time for deep thought; the pressure radiating from the Jinchuriki was immense.
"Can we exchange some intel? Let's tell each other why we're here."
He still wanted to fish for information.
But obviously, the opponent's IQ was well above 80. Hagoromo wouldn't tell the truth, and Roshi had no obligation to inform Konoha of anything.
"Is negotiation useless? In the end, a ninja still has to speak through the number and power of the jutsu they master..." Hagoromo spoke with a sighing tone, sounding almost like a pacifist.
Actually, this viewpoint of his seemed to align quite well with a certain member of the Sannin.
In fact, he could probably get along with all three of them.
"According to our Stone intelligence, the White Yaksha has strong command over Lightning Style. You can be classified among the strongest of lightning ninjas. But unfortunately, any physical-contact attack style will be at a disadvantage when fighting me..."
Regardless of Roshi's goal, battle was unavoidable.
As if proving the persuasiveness of his own words, Roshi finished his hand seals just as he stopped speaking.
In an instant, his entire body was dyed a brownish-red color.
Even from a distance, Hagoromo could feel the scorching heat radiating from him.
"Lava Style?" Although phrased as a question, Hagoromo could confirm that Roshi had directly activated his Kekkei Genkai.
Lava Style Chakra Mode.
Roshi's Lava Style Chakra Mode covered the surface of his body in high-temperature magma. This heat rendered him effectively untouchable by physical means.
In this mode, he would melt anything he touched; flesh and blood were nothing more than a snack.
The Lava Style Chakra Mode combined both offensive and defensive capabilities. In that sense, it was similar to Hagoromo's Chidori Current, yet stronger—especially in its defensive effect.
"Trying to use this to seal off my close-quarters attacks?"
Roshi went straight for his "ultimate" move without a word. This was likely a tactic chosen to counter Hagoromo's Lightning Style by creating a favorable combat environment for himself.
Against this move, Hagoromo indeed couldn't use Raikiri or Chidori to attack. Trying to trade damage using Chidori Current... was even more out of the question.
Hagoromo was stripped of his close-range Nintaijutsu, while Roshi, conversely, could practically charge through anything.
Was his advantage nullified?
A year ago, Hagoromo would have found this extremely troublesome. But unfortunately, the him of today was not the same as the him of a year ago.
At thirteen and a half, rounded up, he was already fourteen—effectively a mature ninja.
"What you think you know is only the past version of me..."
As he spoke, Hagoromo crouched slightly. He extended his left arm straight forward, fingers pressed together, palm perpendicular to the ground. Then, he gripped his right hand into a fist and pulled his right arm back, as if the punch he was ready to throw had an incredible attack range.
Witness the power of "JET Hagoromo"—even a Jinchuriki might end up in tears.
Well... in terms of backstory, Hagoromo was originally a One Piece fan with a heavy history of "chuunibyou." Though he had long since outgrown it, he clearly still suffered from some lingering symptoms.
Of course, he wasn't actually going to pull off a Gomu Gomu no Jet whatever.
He was just bluffing.
Roshi felt that Hagoromo's posture was a way of aiming at him along a straight line. What kind of powerful, high-speed move requires such aiming?
However, for a ninja of Roshi's caliber, even if he wasn't known for speed, one couldn't expect him to be slow.
Hagoromo in a lightning state might have a speed advantage, but it was only an advantage, he can still keep up.
There are combat styles for the fast and styles for the slow; the former doesn't always hold the advantage in every situation.
While Hagoromo was still posing, Roshi moved.
A fist wrapped in scorching magma-like heat expanded rapidly in front of Hagoromo's eyes!
In Hagoromo's vision, he could clearly see the air refracting from the heat, as if space itself was being warped.
The area around Roshi was clearly not a domain the wind and snow could control; the boiling, steaming Lava Style was enough to destroy the local weather within a certain range!
------------------------------------------
Stones are appreciated if you can spare any.
If you are enjoying the work, you can support it while reading advanced chapters ahead on Patreon!