109. The Entry of the Sannin
Bzzzt… whish…
The masked man's wounds heal rapidly. He cracks his neck and clenches his fist.
"Aah! This sensation. I really like this new body. Now… now it's time to have my revenge."
Izuna inspects the entire process through his evolved Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
"That's… that's the Light chakra. How? How could he use this chakra?" Lots of questions and doubts appear in Izuna's mind.
'Guess I have to beat him up to know my answers.'
'Swift Release: Sonic Steps'
He swiftly appears in front of the masked man and draws out his blade and infuses dark chakra. Silver-black flames cover the blade and slash it towards the masked man.
"Kenjutsu: Uchiha Style: Dance of the Sun Halo"
With a quick gesture of his hand, Izuna slashes his sword multiple times. He unleashes a multitude of sword strikes together with waves of silver-black flames at the masked man.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique"
Splash…
The masked man makes some hands and expels a large volume of water in the shape of a vortex. The vortex devastates everything in its way and collides with the flame waves.
The flames die down as Izuna slashes at the masked man.
Clank…
The masked man blocks the sword with a kunai. Izuna jumps back and avoids a slash from the masked man.
Swish…
He deflects multiple kunais with his sword. Izuna frowns as he stares at the masked man.
'Who is he? I have never met anyone this strong before. He can go toe-to-toe with me at my one-third power, and I feel like he is still holding back a little.
Also, what's the deal with that strange Fuinjutsu seal? It reminds me of the seal I saw on one of those old scrolls in Mount Myoboku.'
Whoosh… whoosh…
Izuna dodges two large Fuma shurikens and turns his attention to the masked man. Izuna makes some hand signs and stomps his feet on the ground.
"Shock Release: Seismic Seizure"
A mini-earthquake shakes the ground and the Rashomon barrier tremble from the shock. The ground beneath the masked man tore apart.
The masked man jumps in the air and takes a foothold on one of the Rashomon Gate.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave blast"
The masked man takes a deep breath and fires a wide-area wind jutsu. The wind current rotates horizontally and crushes everything in its way.
"I have played enough. Time to end this farce."
Izuna claps his hand. He absorbs a large amount of Nature energy and enters Sage Mode. A cyan chakra cloaks his body. The cloak has a giant tomoe on its front and back.
"Sage Art: Storm Release: Fang of light"
Izuna fires a sharp, thin stream of light from his mouth.
Flash…
The beam travels at almost light speed. It easily cleaves through the wind vortex and splits the masked man in half.
Crack… crack…
The mask splits in half and falls apart to reveal the face of the masked man.
"This… this can't be. How… How is this possible?"
Izuna's eye widens in surprise. He points his finger and question.
"How can it be you? Impossible!"
Kuku…
"It is indeed me. Are you surprised? Haha…."
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Inside Shikkotsu Forest,
Tsunade slowly opens her eyes. There are black markings around and under her eyes. The Strength of a Hundred Seal overlaps with the markings and forms a Diamond marking on her forehead.
Tsunade jumps from the giant tree and crashes to the ground. She brushes off the dust and jumps in the air.
Tsunade clenches her fist and infuses large amounts of Nature energy in her fist.
Haah…
Her fist glows with cyan chakra as she smashes it in a nearby hill.
Bam….. Rumble… rumble….
The hill quakes and split apart. Almost half of the hill crumble from the attack and the nearby terrain changes. Dust and debris settle to reveal a narrow valley between the two sides of the hill.
Tsunade looks at the valley with wide-eyes.
"Amazing, Tsunade-Sama." Katsuyu slithers over to Tsunade.
"Congratulations, Tsunade-sama, you have finally mastered the Sage-mode. It took you close to nine-months to learn the Sage Mode. But you have mastered the perfect Sage Mode."
Katsuyu applauds Tsunade.
"Katsuyu, I never thought 'Sage Mode' would be this powerful. It has almost increased my physical strength by tenfold or even more.
I can even feel the dead cells of my body getting rejuvenating from the Nature energy."
Tsunade points to her skin as it turns glossy.
"Now, I can maintain my beauty for as long as I want." Tsunade inspects her body closely.
"Uh… uhum… Tsunade-sama, it would be better if you focus more on your Nature energy control. You will be able to enter Sage Mode for much longer."
Tsunade stops and complains,
"You are such a grouch Katsuyu. I am only looking at the effects of Sage Mode on my body. I have to be aware of all side-effects of Sage Mode to completely master it."
Katsuyu sweat drops and her tentacles shake in frenzy.
Ehh…
Suddenly, Katsuya's optical tentacles rise sharply as she freaks out. Her expression turns grim, and she turns towards Tsunade.
"Tsunade-sama… there is an emergency Tsunade-sama. The village is under attack, Tsunade-sama. The Uchiha clan… the Uchiha clan is…"
"What?" Tsunade immediately turns to Katsuyu and question her.
"What happened? Tell everything in detail. I want every piece of information."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama. Shizune just summoned a smaller clone of mine and reported the condition of the village. Through my clone, I saw the entire Uchiha clan shrouded in a giant barrier.
The village is troubled and is unable to breach the barrier. Even Hokage-sama failed in his attempt." Katsuyu explains everything to Tsunade.
"What?...such a thing happened in the village. I have to return to the village immediately. Katsuyu let's go." Tsunade's expression turns serious.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
Tsunade jumps on top of Katsuyu and makes some hand signs and slams her hands.
Fwoosh…
Both of them disappear in a puff of smoke and appear inside Konoha. The summoning smoke clear out and Tsunade looks around.
She spots the Giant green barrier and notices the squad of Anbu and other ninja surrounding it.
Hiruzen raises his head and turns towards Tsunade. Tsunade walks towards Hiruzen and questions him.
"Sensei, what's the matter? What is this all about? Can you explain everything in detail?"
"Very well," Hiruzen sighs and explains everything to Tsunade.
"This barrier is almost unbreachable. All of our attempts to destroy this barrier went vain." Hiruzen rubs his forehead.
"Hokage-sama!" Shikaku flickers in front of Hiruzen and greets him.
"Oh! Shikaku. Finally, you are here. I need you to take a look at the situation and figure out a feasible solution." Hiruzen requests Shikaku.
"Hmm…" Shikaku surveys the barrier.
"Inoichi, can you tell me the exact number of people trapped inside this barrier? I want a rough estimate." He turns towards Inoichi.
"Let me give it a shot."
Inoichi walks towards the 'Sensor Corp'. He places one of his hands near the 'Sensing Sphere' and the other hand on his forehead. Inoichi closes his eyes to sense the chakra fluctuation.
"Mind-Body Sense Extension Jutsu"
Inoichi extends his senses inside the barrier and surveys inside for a while. After a few minutes, he opens his eyes and turns towards Hiruzen.
Inoichi gulps his saliva and report.
"There is bad news, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen's expression turns grave, but he still nods to Inoichi to continue.
"The Uchiha clan… the Uchiha clan. Almost half of the members of the Uchiha clan have lost their life. I can't sense their chakra anymore and also…"
Inoichi takes a deep breath before he continues.
"Also, this barrier is draining the chakra of the rest of the members. If we don't destroy it immediately, then we will lose the Uchiha clan." Inoichi drops a bombshell.
"WHAT?" Tsunade shouts in disbelief.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama." Inoichi nods in affirmation.
"No, we have to break this barrier. I can't allow this." Memories of the past few years spent with Izuna and his family flashes in her mind.
In these past few years, she had considered Izuna as a family, and the love she received from his family has slowly closed the gap in her heart.
Tsunade jumps on top of Katsuyu and claps her hand. She closes her eye and meditates.
Hiruzen questions Katsuyu.
"Katsuyu, what's going on? What is Tsunade trying to do?"
"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama is a Sage now. She will be able to do something about this barrier." Katsuyu replies to Hiruzen.
"What?"
It is Hiruzen's turn to get surprised.
"You mean, she had mastered the same Sage Mode as Hashirama Sensei. But that… that's impossible, right?
Even Tsunade's father wasn't able to master the Sage Mode, then how could Tsunade learn it." Hiruzen has disbelief written over his face.
"Tsunade-sama is such a genius. She modified the technique of Mito-sama and now she learned the same Sage Mode as Hashirama-sama." Katsuyu praises Tsunade.
After a while,
Tsunade opens her eyes and jumps in front of the barrier.
"Yoshaa…"
Tsunade bumps her fists and infuses chakra into them. Hiruzen stares at Tsunade with wide-eyes as the figure of the first Hokage flashes in his mind.
"Are you looking at her, sensei? Your Tsuna has already surpassed me." Tear drip from his eyes.
Hiruzen quickly wipes his tear and looks towards the Hokage monument.