Chapter 346: The Eighth Gate: Gate of Death — Open!

Natsuro looked at Sakumo Hatake's figure, and for a moment, he couldn't help but sigh.

Every one of Sakumo's attacks had been perfectly timed and aimed at the most vulnerable spots on the human body—fast, sharp, precise, and deadly.

If it had been anyone else facing Sakumo, it wouldn't have been so easy. Natsuro had the advantage of chakra-based sensory perception. Every movement Sakumo made... Every direction, every angle of his blade, was within his detection range.

This reduced the threat of Sakumo's swordplay drastically, allowing Natsuro to deal with him relatively easily.

But it was easy to imagine that in a real battlefield, Sakumo's fighting style would be devastating, he truly lived up to his fearsome reputation as Konoha's White Fang.

"Sakumo Hatake... do you want to go see Kakashi?" Natsuro asked.

Sakumo paused, a complex expression crossing his face.

The thing he regretted most in life was abandoning Kakashi at such a young age and choosing death…

Did he even deserve to face Kakashi now?

Noticing the turmoil in Sakumo's eyes, Natsuro briefly explained some of Kakashi's life story.

Sakumo's expression grew heavier with guilt. He couldn't understand how Kakashi had managed to endure all that. A life so cursed, so bitter…

Had it all been his fault?

"Please let me see him... Thank you, Lord Hokage," Sakumo finally said.

"You're welcome. It's my duty as Hokage."

With that, Natsuro teleported Sakumo away using Flying Thunder God.

He had once left a mark in Kakashi's eye socket and had never removed it, so he could teleport directly there.

Now, only three opponents remained.

The remaining trio looked visibly worn out, clearly affected by the unrelenting barrage of Railgun attacks earlier.

The most beaten-down was undoubtedly Itachi. With his consciousness erased by Orochimaru, his overall combat power had dropped significantly. He focused only on attacking, with little regard for defense.

Natsuro suspected Orochimaru's motivations weren't entirely strategic, perhaps there was trauma involved.

After all, Orochimaru had failed to capture Itachi in Konoha, and then got instantly defeated when trying again during the Akatsuki era.

By all rights, Orochimaru shouldn't have been beaten so easily, but maybe some people were just destined to counter others.

Natsuro didn't hesitate. He approached Itachi, pressed both palms to the ground, and let a mound of earth swallow his body. A sealing symbol formed atop the soil, Natsuro didn't even want to touch Itachi directly.

Who knew if Izanami might trigger…

"Now, there's only the two of you left." Natsuro turned to Fugaku and Might Duy.

Fugaku opened his mouth but didn't speak for a long while. He hadn't expected the battle to turn out like this.

It had all seemed to be going well, yet in just a short while, three of their five had already been defeated.

So this is the power of the Hokage... Or rather, was this strength unique to the Sixth Hokage?

Fugaku thought for a moment, then said, "Lord Hokage, may I see Sasuke?"

He'd heard what Natsuro had said to Mito and Sakumo, and now, he too had a request.

"You may," Natsuro nodded.

He formed a hand seal, and a Vacuum Slash tore through Fugaku's black Susanoo, cutting it in half.

Then, Natsuro summoned a coffin and teleported it, with Fugaku inside, away using Flying Thunder God.

"So this is the power of Lord Hokage!" Might Duy panted heavily, eyes blazing with fire as he stared at Natsuro. His entire body seemed to radiate burning spirit.

"You're the last one. If you've got anything left, now's the time to show it," Natsuro said.

Among the four he had already faced, the most troublesome had been Mito's Adamantine Sealing Chains.

But Mito lacked combat experience, so the actual threat was limited.

Sakumo's assassination techniques were deadly under the cover of those chains, but Natsuro's reactions were quick enough to evade them.

His mastery of Swift Release hadn't been in vain.

As for the Uchiha father and son, the only real concern had been Izanami. Their Susanoo looked impressive, but its defense wasn't extraordinary. Even Vacuum Slash could cut through it, let alone Shattering Space, or a Dimensional Blade if needed.

As for Might Duy, despite his speed and overwhelming power from the Eight Gates, his straight-up fist fighting posed no real threat to Natsuro.

If his real body were present, he'd even dare go head-to-head with Duy in pure taijutsu.

Even with just seven gates open, Natsuro was confident he'd win a slugfest.

"Ohh! I'm fired up now!" Might Duy shouted tearfully after hearing Natsuro's acknowledgment. His sudden burst of emotion caught Natsuro off guard.

After a long pause, Duy wiped his tears away. His expression turned solemn.

"Then please be very careful... Lord Hokage!"

He crouched down, arms crossed before his head.

He looked like he was enduring immense pain, his skin turned red, and red chakra-like vapor began rising from his body.

"So this is the final gate of the Eight Inner Gates: The Gate of Death?" Orochimaru licked his lips and smiled.

So this was the technique he used to wipe out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist...

Even though Duy hadn't fully activated it yet, Orochimaru could already sense the overwhelming force radiating from him.

"This just got interesting. Natsuro-kun, how will you deal with this?" Orochimaru grinned.

Natsuro's face grew serious. He could feel it too, this was absolute power. That red vapor was steam from Duy's blood evaporating from the intensity of his chakra.

Beneath Duy's feet, though he wasn't moving, the ground began to crack and splinter. As he opened his arms wide, the surrounding space seemed to warp under the sheer force of his aura.

"Eight Inner Gates, Final Gate: Gate of Death—Open!! Formation of the Eight Gates!" Might Duy roared.

In the next instant, Duy's figure vanished from Natsuro's sight.

Natsuro's every hair stood on end. An overwhelming sense of danger surged through him, without even confirming, he instinctively teleported away using Flying Thunder God.

The ground where he had just stood shattered into a massive crater.

Duy had descended from the sky, his leg crashing down like a divine hammer.

A single strand of hair drifted down into the crater.

Despite his teleportation, Natsuro had still been slightly grazed by the attack.

Appearing mid-air, Natsuro looked extremely tense. His hands blurred as he formed a series of rapid seals.

"Swift Release: Instantaneous Steps!"

His entire body surged with chakra. It wasn't his fastest, but this was the highest level of Swift Release that a Spiritual Shadow Clone could handle.

If he used his full speed, the clone would self-destruct from the strain.

Now he could finally track Duy's movements. Having missed his first strike, Duy charged at him again, stepping through the air with raw power, and threw a punch.

"Evening Elephant!"

The sheer force of it transformed the air into a pressure cannon, blasting toward Natsuro.

He teleported to the ground below once more.

And that was exactly what Duy wanted.

Using terrifying strength to "walk" through the air, Duy stood above, glaring down at Natsuro, and launched a series of rapid-fire punches.

"Evening Elephant: Triple Strike!"

Terrifying shockwaves erupted from above. The massive air cannons engulfed all of Natsuro's Flying Thunder God marks.

If he didn't teleport away to a completely different area, dodging this attack might truly be impossible.

Even Orochimaru's expression shifted.

The air cannon clearly enveloped his position as well.

Soon, Orochimaru's expression relaxed again. The body he was using was an Edo Tensei vessel, even if it were destroyed, it could regenerate after some time.

So now, the question was, how would Natsuro deal with this?

Natsuro's expression remained calm. He formed a hand seal, and in the next moment, a terrifying sense of spatial distortion surrounded him.

"Space-Time Ninjutsu — Dimensional Blade!" Natsuro swung upward, releasing three fearsome spatial slashes into the sky.

Those three Dimensional Blades cut through Evening Elephant like it was paper, carving out enough space for him to maneuver and hide.

Against Might Duy's kind of AoE attack, Natsuro's Dimensional Blades couldn't block everything, but he had never intended to block everything.

He just needed to cut through the portion of the air cannon heading his way.

In a flash, the air cannon generated by Evening Elephant smashed into the ground, unleashing a massive explosion. And within the erupting smoke and shockwaves, a Railgun pierced through, targeting the breathless Might Duy still floating mid-air.

Duy narrowly managed to dodge it.

But the next moment, his eyes widened in shock, Natsuro's figure had suddenly appeared right in front of him.

Hidden inside the projectile of the Railgun had been a Flying Thunder God seal. Natsuro never expected the Railgun to land a hit; its real purpose was just this one moment.

"It's over. Wind Release: Shattering Space." Natsuro swept his fingers upward. A spatially-rending Shattering Space tore through Duy's body.

Duy smiled as he plummeted to the ground.

Now, in the entire sky, only Natsuro remained, his ceremonial white cloak fluttered in the aftermath of the explosion.

A shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, illuminating the words embroidered on the back of his cloak:

Sixth Hokage!

Once the explosion subsided and the smoke dispersed, Natsuro descended to the ground.There, he found Might Duy's body, completely charred.

"Lord Hokage... honestly, even if you hadn't attacked at the end, I wouldn't have lasted much longer," Duy laughed heartily.

His body simply couldn't endure the full extent of the Eight Gates Formation. He hadn't even managed to complete Evening Elephant.

Though the full version would have been even stronger... But when he thought about those Dimensional Blades slicing through Evening Elephant, Duy realized that even a complete version likely wouldn't have made much difference.

So, no need to feel disappointed.

"Mmm, when it comes to taijutsu... your son has far surpassed you," Natsuro said sincerely.

"Guy, that kid?" Duy's face lit up with pride.

Then his expression turned serious.

"But I hope... that boy never has to use the Eight Gates," he said.

"He won't," Natsuro replied firmly, "As long as I live, as Hokage, I will never let one of my best subordinates prove themselves through death."

"Then thank you, Lord Hokage!" Duy burst into laughter, completely unconcerned about his scorched and broken body.

Natsuro observed Duy's condition. Even though he had been revived using White Zetsu as a living sacrifice, his body couldn't withstand the full Eight Gates Formation.

And, because Duy's entire body had been burned, inside and out, his regeneration was extremely slow.

It would likely take at least one or two days for him to recover.

So the idea of an Edo Tensei Might Guy using the Eight Gates infinitely?

Probably not happening…

Of course, he considered another possibility: using a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan as the sacrificial vessel instead of a White Zetsu.

But the idea left him with a strange expression.Would using a living Ōtsutsuki just to summon a "normal person" like Might Guy and let him use the Eight Gates really be worth it?

Even if it worked, it might not be justified.

And besides, even an Ōtsutsuki body likely couldn't remain stable long-term.It would probably still require several hours of regeneration.

If during that time the Edo Eight Gates failed to wipe out the enemy completely, they'd just be sealed up afterward.

So ultimately, it wasn't all that meaningful.

"Duy... would you like to see Might Guy?" Natsuro asked.

"Yes. Thank you, Lord Hokage. I'd like to see how far that boy has come," Duy replied with a smile.

Unlike Sakumo, he didn't have many regrets in life. At the very end, he had successfully used the Eight Gates Formation to save his son.

So when he left the world, he did so with a sense of fulfillment.

Natsuro thought for a moment, then teleported Duy to the allied headquarters.

Since Might Guy didn't have a Flying Thunder God seal on him, Natsuro could only send Duy to the base, and have the Intelligence Division notify Guy afterward.

With that task complete, Natsuro turned to face Orochimaru, whose Edo Tensei body had been shattered by Evening Elephant.

He was now slowly regenerating, albeit at a faster pace.

"Orochimaru...

It looks like I win."

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