This puppeteer is a bit... well...

Chapter 170 Using His Own Methods to Counter His Own (Please Subscribe, Please Vote)

At this point, the sun has crossed the midline and is moving westward.

As the sun set, the once bustling village was ablaze with flames, plumes of smoke rising in the air accompanied by constant roaring sounds.

The short old man stood on the abandoned avenue, gazing at the boy who had risen from the rubble of the building.

"Sarutobi, what brings you here?"

A weak voice came from behind me.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not reply, nor did he turn around to look at him. The boy in front of him was no ordinary person, and any slight opening would be exploited.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!!!

Four whooshing sounds rang out as four members of the Dark Clan, shrouded in white cloaks, surrounded Hiruzen Sarutobi.

They were none other than the four members of the Anbu guards of the Third Hokage: "Zhang," "Se," "Linjiao," and "Zhu."

"Lord Danzo, now is not the time to worry about face or plans." The guard captain, "Zou," said, looking at the boy in front of him. "Given the current situation, if we continue to think about those things, the village may be reduced to ruins in this calamity."

Upon hearing this, Danzo covered his severed arm and looked around.

The fire raged, smoke filled the air, and as far as the eye could see, there were only ruins. Only a building covered in sand stood a few hundred meters away.

"Things have gotten this bad!"

Danzo turned around and fell silent.

This time, it was a classic case of trying to steal a chicken but losing the rice instead. Even if the plan had succeeded in the end, the gains wouldn't have outweighed the losses.

"What do you mean by protecting Konoha...?"

A disdainful voice came from the boy as he walked over, saying, "Isn't this situation entirely your own doing?"

After he finished speaking, the boy stopped about ten meters away from the crowd.

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned deeply.

Indeed, Konoha's current predicament is entirely of their own making.

But he never intended to start a war.

He simply wanted to emulate how Sunagakure dealt with Konoha, using overwhelming force to reclaim what he had lost.

Unfortunately, they greatly underestimated Ryuji's preparations; Konoha's current strength was not enough to suppress him.

"There's no point in dwelling on the reasons anymore. There's only one thing I need to do now: eliminate the culprit behind this turmoil!" Sarutobi said in a deep voice.

Actually, he really wanted to say: Let's just let it go and leave it at that.

Because continuing the fight would be pointless.

Even if he ultimately wins, the compensation he receives from Sunagakure cannot make up for the losses incurred by continuing the fight.

The best course of action now is to cut your losses promptly.

By reconciling with the Sunagakure delegation and then winning the war against Iwagakure, we can seize benefits from Iwagakure and Kusagakure to make up for our current losses.

but.

The situation escalated to the point that half of Konoha was reduced to ruins. By then, reconciliation was impossible, and the circumstances no longer allowed him to make a rational choice.

If the Third Hokage were to reconcile with the enemy at this time, it could even cause a major upheaval.

Therefore, no matter how much damage it might cause, he had no choice but to continue fighting and bring victory to the village.

"You're right!" Ryuji agreed wholeheartedly. "Things have developed to this point and can't be stopped anymore. There's no point in dwelling on who's right and who's wrong. Now, only the winner takes all."

"Then, I'll go!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi swiftly formed hand seals: "Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet! Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

The earth rumbled and turned into a muddy swamp. A mud dragon raised its head from the swamp and sprayed mud bullets the size of large bowls at high speed like a machine gun.

Then, he turned his hand seal, his chest bulged rapidly, and he shot out blazing flames forward.

Flames and mud bombs intertwined in the air, instantly escalating the fire and obscuring an area of ​​dozens of meters in front, resembling a roaring fiery dragon biting at Long Er.

—Earth Dragon Flame Flow!

This is an A-rank combination ninjutsu of earth and fire attributes, possessing both physical attack and burning attribute attack, preventing it from being neutralized by Ryuji's ninjutsu that absorbs chakra.

Moreover, this ninjutsu has a wide range, is difficult to dodge, and is extremely powerful. Combined with high temperature and the impact of mud bullets, it can instantly smash and burn a person to ashes.

Even in his initial probing move, he displayed such powerful ninjutsu; the title of "Ninja Doctor" is truly well-deserved.

But when it comes to ninjutsu, Ryuji is second to none at this moment.

He may not be as adept at timing his attacks as this seasoned ninja, but in terms of the combination and power of elemental ninjutsu, he is undoubtedly far superior.

If you ask why?

That is, he possesses a Sage Body and has more chakra than the Third Hokage.

"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!"

The same hand seals, the same combination of ninjutsu, though executed a beat slower, made the roaring fire dragon even more imposing and enormous with the added power of chakra.

Upon its birth, it roared to the sky, swallowed the enemy's fiery dragon in one gulp, and then bit at the Third Hokage and the four Anbu guards beside and behind him, as well as Danzo and others, with overwhelming power.

"spread!"

The Third Hokage gave a warning and jumped away first.

The four ANBU were a little slower, but they still managed to escape with Danzo in time.

A fiery dragon, tens of meters long, roared and pounced, instantly turning the entire street into a living hell.

Seeing this astonishing power, the people still in the air were all terrified.

This boy's ninjutsu possesses such terrifying power.

Just as they were in surprise, a beam of light pierced through the abandoned building and shot through the Third Hokage from behind.

The war fortress, which was fighting the Konoha ninjas on another street, received a message from Ryuji that the super railgun had been launched from a super long distance.

The four ANBU and Danzo widened their eyes and opened their mouths, about to cry out in shock, when they saw the body with a bowl-sized wound turn into mud and fall down.

"Earth Clone!"

The five people's worried cries turned into surprise.

They had been together from the beginning, yet they never discovered when the Third Hokage used the Earth Clone Technique.

Furthermore, what about the main body?

"Here!"

Atop the pile of abandoned debris, the Third Hokage stood proudly, a giant shuriken slung over his back with one hand.

As everyone looked on, the enormous shuriken, more than a meter in diameter, was thrown at Ryuji.

At the same time, he quickly formed hand seals.

[Ninja Art: Hand-Sword Shadow Clone Technique!]

The giant shuriken split in mid-air, then into two, then four, then eight… and so on. In the blink of an eye, the entire sky was filled with the silhouette of the giant shuriken.

A shuriken of this size weighs several tens of kilograms, and when thrown at such a high speed... even if it isn't pierced by the sharp edges, the sheer force it generates is comparable to a large-caliber artillery shell.

If the sharpness of the shuriken itself is taken into account, its lethality will increase several times over.

The simultaneous arrival of such a large number of cannons is like dozens of modern, advanced cannons firing at the same small area, essentially bombarding the land.

Furthermore, the Shadow Clone Technique is a ninjutsu created by the Third Hokage, so there's no need to worry about Ryuji using the same ninjutsu with even stronger chakra to break it.

"In just one round, he figured out a way to counter his opponent's tactics. He truly deserves the title of Ninja Doctor. Moreover..." Faced with such an attack, Ryuji remained remarkably calm. As he gathered chakra in his right hand, he casually remarked, "The Third Hokage in his prime is indeed much stronger than the Third Hokage in his old age."

In the future Fourth Shinobi World War, the Third Hokage, who was resurrected through Edo Tensei, also used this technique against Obito of the Six Paths.

Although the purpose was to test Obito's attack in order to analyze the nature of his ninjutsu, the difference between splitting off three shuriken and the current rain of shuriken is too great and they cannot be compared at all.

"Although the Third Hokage at this time did not have the ability to recover infinitely, his chakra limit and physical functions were far superior to that old guy who was resurrected through Edo Tensei. As expected, we still need Kurenai to have a chance of winning."

Ryuji muttered to himself, having already completed his ninjutsu.

That was a Rasengan.

It is about the size of an adult's open palm, dark purple in color, and covered with violet flower patterns.

[Magnetic Release·Rasengan! 】

Ryuji suddenly threw the Rasengan, which was infused with Shukaku's chakra, out.

With a burst of dazzling light, a terrifying magnetic field fluctuation erupted. The large shuriken flying towards it were all pulled away by the immense magnetic force as they passed by the chakra sphere covered with violet flower patterns. Then, with a series of "bang" sounds, they turned into white smoke and disappeared, leaving only the original body stuck to it.

"Does the Rasengan have this kind of variation?"

The four Anbu members present were all startled. The Third Hokage and Danzo, being well-informed, immediately recognized that the Rasengan contained the chakra of a Tailed Beast, and their expressions turned horrified.

Minato was inspired by the Tailed Beast Ball and thus developed the Rasengan.

Further development of the form remained elusive until the trip to Loulan six months ago, when they encountered the Rasengan Shuriken and the Blazing Rasengan, which allowed them to develop one of the forms.

They believed that the form behind the spiral pattern could at most incorporate three other chakra attributes to achieve different effects.

Unexpectedly, the Rasengan can be combined with the chakra of a tailed beast.

But upon closer reflection, this doesn't seem surprising.

The Rasengan and the Tailed Beast Ball share the same principle, so it's perfectly normal for the Tailed Beasts to incorporate their own chakra attributes into their attack methods.

However, neither Minato, the developer, nor the ninjutsu professor, had anticipated this.

"I didn't expect it to be this difficult." Hiruzen Sarutobi stared at the red-haired boy, his gaze growing increasingly serious.

Now, he could somewhat understand why Danzo had lost to this young man.

Using ordinary ninjutsu will be absorbed by the opponent; using ninjutsu with physical attacks will be countered by the opponent using the same ninjutsu with stronger chakra; using a unique technique will be countered by the opponent with a powerful ninjutsu to break through the stalemate.

And using illusions...

Although he didn't know the specific principles, the bloody lesson of being backfired when Uchiha Setsuna used Sharingan genjutsu on him was still fresh in his mind.

Before understanding the underlying principles, attempting to use illusions on him will only lead to the same outcome.

It seems the only way to defeat this boy is through physical combat.

but.

This young man's physical skills are at their peak. Anyone who is not skilled in physical combat and rushes into close combat with him is practically committing suicide.

"I am confident that I can beat him in physical combat, but it will be difficult to win by relying solely on physical combat. In addition, his opponent is young and vigorous, and his physical strength far exceeds that of me. I'm afraid this battle... no, there is still a way." A sharp glint flashed in Sarutobi's cloudy eyes, and his expression was full of confidence.

He bit his finger, formed hand seals, and chanted, "Spirit Summoning Technique!"

boom!

Amidst thick smoke, a strong and robust old ape, dressed in a tiger-skin skirt and wearing a Konoha headband, was summoned.

I typed this in the middle of the night, I'm so sleepy. I'll correct the typos after I wake up.

(End of this chapter)