170 - The Yin Seal vs. Eight Gates Showdown
"Ugh... it feels like the plot is completely messed up now..." Kei froze for a moment, then quickly tossed aside his earlier worries.
So what if the original boundary had collapsed and reformed? With his current strength, he didn't need to develop slowly and cautiously anymore.
If he could gain a bunch of rewards from it, then let it collapse—so be it.
Piu~ piu~ piu~
Pebbles skipped across the surface of the lake in quick succession, finally sinking beneath the water.
System, draw...
Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly realized—he hadn't actually received a chance to extract a trait this time.
Damn it!
He was already used to drawing one as part of his routine, and now the system wasn't playing by the usual rules!
He glanced at the system interface filled with various traits.
And at the very bottom of the "Inactive Traits" section was [Dust Release Successor].
He sat down on the grassy lakeside and silently activated it in his heart.
Buzz~
A flood of training techniques and memories related to Dust Release poured rapidly into his mind.
Memories of chakra nature transformation and form manipulation for wind, earth, and fire attributes, along with associated ninjutsu training, were also instilled.
Unlike Hashirama's Wood Release, which had been developed nearly to its limit, Dust Release only had two strictly defined techniques.
These were: Mū's Detachment of the Primitive World Technique and Ōnoki's Detachment of the Primitive World Technique.
In the original work, some techniques had fancy names, but they were essentially the same—using another jutsu first to limit the enemy's movement or obscure their vision, then finishing them off with Dust Release.
Mū's technique had a smaller area of effect but was more controllable in shape.
It could be launched as a cylinder, formed into a cube to envelop and destroy enemies, or reshaped into a circle, fan, or ellipse—making it useful in more scenarios.
Ōnoki's was stronger but had only one form. The larger the area, the higher the chakra cost, and it required some charge-up time.
Even with Kei's superb chakra control, using a large-scale Detachment of the Primitive World instantly was difficult.
After mulling over Dust Release for a while, he turned his attention to deeply understanding the training memories of wind and fire chakra attributes. After all, the main reason he copied Dust Release was precisely for this.
Wind: sharp, forceful, gentle, cold...
Fire: wild, dominant, blazing, scorching...
"Could they fuse downward into a new bloodline limit, or maybe fuse upward?"
After some time reflecting, he noticed the system hadn't issued any prompts and pouted with boredom. Though with his current strength, most bloodline limits weren't as effective as just rushing in and punching his opponent in the face.
Still, the more techniques he had, the more he could show off, right?
Especially something stylish like Ice Release—he could simulate Hyōrinmaru, and start a battle with the line: Sit Upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyōrinmaru!
Yeah, maybe a little cringe, but undeniably cool.
Should he try to figure it out himself?
Kei scratched his cheek. The difficulty of fusing a new bloodline limit could be gauged by the training memories the system had provided when he previously fused to gain Wood Release.
It wasn't impossible—but definitely not easy!
After maxing out the nature transformations of two chakra types, he'd need to try different fusion ratios repeatedly until they formed a special, compatible transformation. Then through continuous training, he'd have to make that fusion process and the resulting technique instinctive. From there, he could use the energy to slowly influence his genetic information at the hereditary level...
"Forget it... why bother pretending to be cool..." Kei muttered to himself. With so much to do right now, this kind of time-consuming experiment could wait until later.
He glanced at [Yin-Yang Sage Master], [Wood Release Jinchūriki], and [Dust Release Successor].
Yin, Yang, Earth, Fire, Water, Wind.
Only Lightning was missing now!
Copying something like [Lightning Release Mastery] felt like a waste of a precious Trait Duplication.
Copying something like Storm Release was the same story.
As for that Third Raikage, what a scam...
He had three Lightning-related traits. If all three were combined, he wouldn't hesitate to copy them.
But they each stood alone.
"Not gonna overthink it... whoever I run into next, I'll just copy theirs. One more shiver of excitement won't kill me." Kei patted his butt and stood up from the ground.
His gaze shifted to the pavilion at the center of the lake, where Tsunade and Hashirama were still talking.
Although he couldn't hear what they were saying due to the distance, it was obvious that Tsunade's mood was... not great. If Hashirama weren't her grandfather, she might have already...
Boom—
Kei watched in silence as Hashirama's soul form was sent flying by a punch, hurtling straight toward him.
His expression was filled with speechlessness.
Ssshh—
Even your own grandfather gets beat up!
Classic Tsunade move, no doubt about it.
Hashirama's soul flipped mid-air, chakra bursting from within as he scraped across the lake's surface, leaving a long trail. He didn't stop until he slid all the way next to Kei, only then fully dispersing the force from the blow.
Rubbing his seemingly unharmed chest with his left hand, he looked up and forced out an awkward laugh.
"Haha... hahaha... I've already talked her down for you! Aren't you both heading to Suna in a few days? Alright, bye now!"
With that one sentence, Hashirama's soul body glowed with a faint white light, floated a few meters up into the sky, and then returned directly to the Pure Land.
"So fast..." Watching him flee at top speed, Kei didn't even need to guess—he'd definitely been left with a massive mess to clean up.
In the pavilion at the center of the lake, Tsunade leapt down gracefully, chakra gathering under her feet, allowing her to stand atop the shimmering water.
As she walked toward Kei, she called out loudly, "No using those crazy jutsus! Fight me seriously with taijutsu! I want to see where you get the nerve to say you can help me get stronger!"
"If you wanted to hit me, just say so."
"I do want to hit you! Can you stand still for that?"
"Nope."
"Then stop talking crap—fight me seriously with taijutsu!"
"Seriously, huh... Tch—I usually don't hit women."
Kei clicked his tongue, but seeing the firm determination on Tsunade's face—like she wouldn't let it go unless they fought—he spread his feet shoulder-width apart.
He took a deep breath, then shouted in a low voice, "Gate of Opening, open! Gate of Healing, open! Gate of Life, open!"
"Heh—only three gates?"
"Gate of Pain, open! Gate of Limit, open! Gate of View, open! Gate of Wonder, open!"
With the first seven of the Eight Gates opened in quick succession, Kei's blood surged like a roaring flood through his body.
His skin flushed red, and the dark aura of Sage Mode transformed into brilliant white light, rich in Yang Release, constantly healing and nourishing his overtaxed cells under immense strain.
The moisture in his body became a raging blue whirlwind, combining with the white glow of senjutsu chakra to blast into the sky.
Grass and leaves flew, the ground trembled, and a terrifying shockwave swept in all directions!
"..."
Tsunade's face darkened as she looked at the layers of waves rolling across the lake, stirred up by the violent energy.
She told him to fight seriously, not to try to kill her!
You bastard!
She cursed inwardly, but she wasn't the type of delicate, fickle woman who'd back down at a time like this!
"Yin Seal: Release!"
Though her Strength of a Hundred Technique wasn't fully mastered yet and would waste a ton of chakra when activated... It was more than enough to fight Kei!
With a powerful stomp, she launched herself from the lake's surface like an arrow from a bow, shooting straight at Kei!
Boom—!
Smash!
Pffft~
In the midst of earth-shaking impact, she spat out a mouthful of blood and was blasted backward at a speed even faster than when she came charging in.