Saving the Uchiha clan starts with becoming the clan leader.

"I've already said that who I am is completely unimportant."

Bai had no interest in explaining.

He just wanted to take down this Four-Tails Jinchuriki as soon as possible.

"Immortal Technique: Ice Escape: Frosty Bird".

With a flick of his left hand, he released a massive ice bird with a sharp beak and long, gleaming feathers. It flapped its wings, whipping up a biting frost, and swooped down towards Old Zi, who resembled a walking pool of lava. The opposing forces of extreme cold and extreme heat began to clash halfway there.

The snow around Lao Zi and the frost on the tree next to it had already turned into steam under the high temperature. But when the huge ice bird flapped its wings and flew over, the steaming water vapor underwent sublimation in an instant, and the bare branches were once again covered with crystal clear frost.

It actually managed to suppress the heat released by Lao Zi.

of course,

This doesn't prove anything.

The heat was simply emanating naturally from the lava armor, not something Lao Zi deliberately controlled. It was normal for it to be suppressed. The true strength and weakness would depend on the clash of their techniques. Facing the approaching ice bird, Lao Zi did not retreat an inch.

"Molten Release: Volcanic Bomb"

Right fist,

Wrapped in scorching lava, he punched the swooping ice bird.

In an instant,

A deafening roar, like a thunderclap, erupted. The ice bird was shattered into pieces by Lao Zi's powerful punch, which instantly vaporized the broken ice bird. The shockwave, carrying immense heat, spread outwards like ripples, melting away all the surrounding ice and snow.

This round of confrontation

It seems that Lao Zi has the upper hand.

but--

It's not over yet!

This is just the beginning.

"Immortal Technique - Ice Escape - Snow Cellar and Ice Heaven".

The technique he once used against Sogen was displayed once again in this world. Last time, because his opponent was Sogen, this technique he had painstakingly developed did not yield any results. But this time... let's see if this four-tailed jinchūriki can block Haku's attack like Sogen did.

A massive amount of cold air surged out from Bai's body.

The ground that had been exposed by the melting snow and ice was now covered with a thick layer of ice again. The biting wind howled incessantly, and the temperature around Bai was dropping rapidly. Even the once clear sky above was now covered with dark clouds, and snowflakes were slowly falling.

"Lava Release: Scorching River Rock Technique,"

Lao Zi did not sit idly by while Bai used his abilities. After dealing with the giant ice bird, he immediately launched a fierce counterattack, spitting out dozens of magma balls that flew towards Bai. However, Bai's shadow clone, who was prepared, stepped forward and formed a hand seal to create a large ice wall, blocking the incoming magma balls.

Seeing that their plan had failed, and with the surrounding environment undergoing drastic changes,

Old Zi dared not be negligent

Hands formed a mudra again.

"Earth Escape: Earth Splitting Palm".

Although as the Four-Tails Jinchuriki, his specialty is the Lava Release bloodline limit, which is composed of both fire and earth chakra, and as an Iwa ninja, he also possesses a remarkably high level of skill in earth release techniques.

As the raised palm slammed heavily onto the ground, the originally stable and solid land cracked in an instant, directly twisting and changing the surrounding terrain. Bai's shadow clone was caught off guard and was shattered and disappeared by the splashing rocks, and even Bai's real body almost fell into the crack.

Fortunately, the serpentine chakra surrounding him managed to entangle a corner of a rock in time, preventing him from falling into the man-made crevice in the ground.

however,

Old Zi's fierce attack is not over yet.

"Earth Release·Rock Stealing Stick."

Old Zi slammed his hands together, and suddenly, sharp rock spears, like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, sprouted from the rock walls on both sides of the crevice. They were interlocked and seemed intent on piercing the prey still hanging in the crevice into a sieve.

"puff!!"

Bai was stabbed hard in the stomach by the rock spear and couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood.

However, the blood he coughed up wasn't because his internal organs had been pierced. The rock spear hadn't even pierced through the Sage Chakra armor on his body, and it was bitten off by the snake-shaped chakra in the next second. To be honest, if it weren't for the fact that there were too many rock spears coming from both sides at the same time, so that the limited number of snake-shaped chakra couldn't be intercepted, he would have been stabbed in the stomach.

That taste

It felt a bit like being punched hard.

It wasn't so easy to bear; he still coughed up blood.

But that's all. Without any protection that could penetrate the Sage Chakra Cloak, it was just a minor injury that was not worth mentioning. Moreover... at this point, the Snow Cave Ice Heaven Technique had finally been fully unleashed, so even if he had been 'punched' hard in the stomach, it was all worth it.

"Cough cough!"

Bai coughed twice.

He crawled out of that crack in the ground.

Looking up, he saw the dazzling Old Purple, who looked like a human torch, swinging his huge fist, which resembled a volcanic bomb, towards him. He had to admit that this Four-Tails Jinchuriki was extremely aggressive. This series of attacks was as tight as a storm, giving him no time to breathe.

only--

It's too late.

Having fully unleashed the ultimate technique of Snow Cellar Ice Sky, Bai is now free to attack and will no longer be as passive as before.

"Ice Release: Ice Realm Mirror".

An ice mirror appeared behind Bai. The boy smiled slightly at Lao Zi, then his body sank into the ice mirror. The next moment, he emerged from an ice mirror not far behind Lao Zi, witnessing Lao Zi's fist, which resembled a volcanic bomb, melting the ice and snow in front of him.

However, this time, the ground, after the ice and snow melted, was covered again with a thick layer of frost and snow as the cold wind blew.

around,

It has already been completely transformed into a frozen wasteland.

"Immortal Technique: Ice Escape: Hailstorm".

White hand forms a mudra.

Then, hailstones the size of cantaloupes fell from the thick dark clouds, stunning Old Purple for a moment. In his Lava Release Chakra Mode, he was both offensive and defensive. The hailstones were melted by the high temperature before they even hit his head, shrinking to the size of jujubes. When they touched his lava armor, they were melted and evaporated, failing to cause him any significant damage.

but,

This method of reversing the celestial phenomena made Lao Zi somewhat alarmed.

He was a seasoned veteran with a keen eye. When he saw the layers of hail piled up on the ground around him and noticed that the melting of the surrounding snow and ice was slowing down, he immediately realized that this was probably not the beginning. If he continued to stay under this dark cloud, his opponent would grow stronger and stronger, while he would become more and more restricted.

no,

We need to leave here.

At the very least, we need to get out of the cover of those dark clouds overhead.

Such a method of forcibly reversing celestial phenomena and creating favorable timing and location cannot be said to be without flaws. After this brief observation, he had a guess in his mind that the influence range of this technique is limited. Judging from the size of the nearly circular dark cloud, the diameter of the influence range of this technique is about three or four kilometers.

To be honest, this is already quite remarkable.

Unfortunately, with a diameter of three or four kilometers and a radius of less than two kilometers, it wouldn't be difficult for him to break through that distance at his current speed...

at this time,

Bai has made another move.

New methods have been introduced.

"Immortal Technique: Ice Escape - Thousand-Year Ice Prison"

One after another, extremely thick ice pillars rose from the ground, sticking tightly to each other, forming an impenetrable, majestic circular wall at the boundary of the Snow Cellar Ice Heaven Technique's domain. Looking at it, the height of the ice wall was definitely over twenty meters, a height that even ninjas could not leap over.

Lao Zi's heart sank immediately.

It seems... it won't be so easy to break through!

The hail continued to fall, and the ground beneath their feet was covered with several layers of hail. Even the ground beneath Lao Zi's feet had frozen solid. The freezing speed of the ice layer had exceeded the melting speed, thus cutting off any hope of escaping underground.

"...Is this brat's chakra inexhaustible?"

Lao Zi gritted his teeth.

Such a grand undertaking should have consumed a massive amount of chakra, but the opponent wandering and traversing through the ice mirrors didn't seem to be suffering from excessive chakra depletion. Just like that scoundrel Jiraiya, despite not being a Jinchūriki, he could somehow put up a war of attrition against him...

In fact, the white chakra in Sage Mode is not inexhaustible.

Sage Chakra is actually a mixture of chakra and natural energy. Natural energy is inexhaustible, at least for Haku, he could never exhaust it in his entire life. However, Haku's own chakra is limited, which restricts his ability to fight continuously.

Of course, this upper limit is actually very, very high!

Using Sage Chakra to release ninjutsu consumes less chakra than releasing ninjutsu under normal conditions. This is because natural energy offsets some of the chakra consumption. At the same time, the reaction between chakra and natural energy greatly enhances the destructive power of ninjutsu, which is what is known as Sage Chakra.

In reality, the difference between Sage Mode and Ninjutsu lies in the different 'fuel'.

Sage Chakra has the characteristics of being more resistant to combustion and generating stronger kinetic energy compared to ordinary chakra.

Despite releasing so many seemingly chakra-intensive Sage Techniques, Haku's actual chakra expenditure was not significant, at least not as much as Old Purple had imagined. Furthermore, as a descendant of the Yuki clan, his innate chakra reserves, while not comparable to the Senju or Uzumaki clans, were certainly no less than those of the Uchiha or Hyuga clans. He could easily sustain this war of attrition.

in fact,

If it weren't for the restriction of capturing the target alive.

Haku could have used the [Eternal Ice] directly, without wasting Sage Chakra to cast the [Thousand-Year Ice Prison] to restrain Rōshi. Unfortunately, this restriction cannot be removed if he is captured alive. Haku is unsure whether Rōshi can survive if he is hit by the Eternal Ice technique. If he is frozen to death, all his efforts will have been in vain.

Therefore, he did not use the Ten Thousand Year Ice technique, but instead used the Thousand Year Ice Prison, choosing a more time-consuming and safer approach.

[Chapter 455. Immortal Technique: Ice Escape - Potam]

cold wind,

It spun past me.

The scenery inside the ancient ice prison has undergone earth-shattering changes. Looking around, the forest has disappeared, and through the misty rain, all that can be seen are towering ice pillars, and the ground underfoot is covered with layers of frost.

The world was a vast expanse of white.

Old Purple... Suddenly, he realized that he was actually feeling a bit of cold. This sensation startled him. You see, he was wearing a layer of lava armor, and he was only able to avoid being burned to a crisp thanks to the Tailed Beast Cloth. Yet now he was truly feeling the cold.

His gaze quickly dropped and glanced down.

He saw that the lava armor on his body had lost its original bright color, and was dull and mottled as if it had been splashed with a bucket of ice water. Although that was not an exaggeration, the hail in the sky had stopped, but the situation had not improved. Instead of hail, cold icy rain was falling, and the fine raindrops poured down on him, continuously stripping the heat from the lava armor.

Even though he kept inputting chakra,