Chapter 64: Isobu
"Vacuum Sword."
A violent current of wind condensed into sword-like blades and slammed into the Ice Release.
Clang!
The blade of wind slammed into the ice with a deafening boom.
Yet even such powerful Wind Release failed to shatter the Ice Release.
"Damn it. I can't break through. This technique is too troublesome."
Hayama Shirakumo sat down, staring through the barrier at the jinchūriki, whose hands were moving rapidly through a series of hand seals.
Shisui landed nearby, breathing heavily. His Sharingan slowly rotated as he watched the situation.
"I'll use the rest of my Chakra to break this technique. You have to kill them."
At his age, using Susanoo was already an enormous strain. He had also broken through the barriers created by more than twenty enemies, consuming far more Chakra than his body could withstand.
Gōenji patted him on the shoulder and smiled.
"It's fine. I'll handle it. I'll take care of them."
He formed a series of hand seals.
His figure blurred.
Sunrise Blade: First Stage.
Blue-white flames once again wrapped around the blade.
The others stared at the flames in shock.
The sheer heat gave them a firsthand understanding of what true Fire Release could do.
"What incredible Fire Release."
Maruboshi Kōsuke stood nearby, feeling the terrifying heat.
"I already knew how powerful it was when I saw Gōenji use it earlier, but experiencing it from this close... This Fire Release is even more powerful than the Third Hokage's."
Even though Gōenji was controlling the flames, Kōsuke could still feel the danger radiating from them.
Hayama Shirakumo felt the same way.
"When I saw it before, I thought it was Shisui's sword flame. Judging from the color, though, this should be a change caused by the extreme temperature of the Fire Release. It looks like we have a chance to break through this technique."
"That's incredible. As expected of you, Gōenji."
Even while panting heavily, one eye shut from exhaustion, Shisui couldn't help feeling excited when he saw the flames.
He could tell that this technique was fundamentally different from his own sword flame.
And it was extremely dangerous.
Especially in terms of raw offensive power.
Slash!
Ignoring his teammates' reactions, Gōenji swung his blade downward.
Under his control, the blue-white flames slowly condensed.
"I won't let you break through so easily."
Inside the barrier, Shirō Fubuki saw Gōenji's technique.
Especially those blue-white flames.
He immediately understood that this was most likely the enemy's trump card.
The enormous Ice Mirrors suddenly thickened.
At the same time, most of the Chakra within Shirō's body was depleted, leaving exhaustion clearly visible on his face.
He waited.
After strengthening the defense, he looked toward Hitō.
Hitō had already completed his hand seals. Various sealing formulas covered his body.
The unsealing process was almost complete.
Jinpachi wasn't idle either.
He rapidly formed hand seals, trying to buy Hitō enough time to finish releasing the seal.
Only a few seconds remained.
Once it was complete, those Konoha shinobi would surely be trapped here.
"Exploding Blade: Thousand Explosive Slashes!"
Jinpachi shot into the air.
After completing his hand seals, countless explosive tags rained down from above.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Boom!
Gōenji's flame blade struck the Ice Mirror.
The temperature exceeded two thousand degrees Celsius.
The ice melted instantly beneath the blade, as smoothly as cutting through tofu.
However, the Ice Mirror was a large-scale barrier ninjutsu.
Whenever one section of the ice disappeared, another quickly blocked the path of the flames.
One layer.
Two layers.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Piece by piece, section by section, Gōenji continued advancing.
The teammates behind him quickly followed.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
"Let me show you my new technique."
Gōenji was extremely satisfied with this attack.
He had no intention of letting Jinpachi's explosions catch him again.
Extreme heat could melt and distort the surrounding air, creating a counteracting effect.
Earlier, there had simply been too many explosive tags, and he hadn't been prepared. As a result, he had been blown backward.
That wouldn't happen again.
The blue-white flames tore across the night sky like a meteor.
Gōenji was at the center, moving forward like an arrow.
Ahead of him, the Ice Mirrors shattered and melted one after another.
Then, like a sudden rainstorm, countless explosive tags descended from above.
"Water Release: Water Wall!"
Maruboshi Kōsuke was a battle-hardened veteran.
Relying on his vast experience, he formed hand seals while advancing.
A gigantic wall of water surged from the ground, blocking the explosive tags raining down from above.
I'll protect you.
"I'll help too."
Hayama Shirakumo was a genius as well.
He swung his Vacuum Sword, unleashing countless blades of Wind Release like a torrential rain.
The blades tore toward the enemy.
"Too late."
Although Gōenji was still using his technique to break through the enemy's Ice Release, and although his speed seemed unaffected, the Ice Release had still delayed him for more than two seconds.
His Sharingan had already noticed the changes in the sealing formulas covering the jinchūriki.
Then something sinister came into view.
A monstrous head.
A turtle's head covered in countless spikes.
...
Konoha Camp
"I wonder whether Gōenji and the others can find the enemy and intercept the Tailed Beast before it reaches the front lines."
Uchiha Fugaku stood atop a concealed mountain peak, gazing toward the forest near the distant coastline.
"Lord Fugaku, I have a report."
A shinobi wearing a cat mask spoke slowly.
"We haven't discovered any trace of the Mist Village, nor have we received any information from Shisui."
"Not a single movement?"
"Several caravans have appeared along the roads leading toward the Land of Fire. We discovered that some of them were actually disguised Mist shinobi, although most were ordinary caravans."
"According to them, someone paid them a large sum of money to transport goods into the Land of Fire and conduct business with a company."
"We've already inspected the caravans, but we didn't find anything unusual. They were carrying nothing more than food and similar supplies."
The cat-masked shinobi finished his report.
Fugaku frowned.
"They're using money to drag ordinary caravans into the battlefield and divert our intelligence personnel's attention, all while waiting for an opportunity to transport the Tailed Beast into the battlefield?"
"What an ingenious strategy."
He had originally believed that with Gōenji and the others' abilities, they would surely be able to locate the Tailed Beast.
But now, it seemed that wouldn't be so easy.
Boom!
Just as Fugaku was thinking about how to locate the Mist Village's Tailed Beast, an explosion suddenly rose in the distance, far beyond his previous field of vision.
He immediately stopped.
His Sharingan slowly emerged.
Fugaku focused his vision.
An enormous, sinister Chakra signature suddenly appeared within his perception.
"A Tailed Beast."
...
Boom!
A gigantic figure burst from the ground.
Amid the dust and smoke, the Three-Tails suddenly burst out, its enormous body shaking violently.
Wooo~
A beastly howl came from within.
There was something almost sorrowful about it.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Two figures leaped out of the smoke.
Jinpachi and Shirō Fubuki.
"Let's go. Otherwise, we might get killed along with Isobu."
Jinpachi spoke as he turned and fled.
Shirō nodded.
He didn't even look back.
He wasn't concerned in the slightest about whether the jinchūriki would survive.
Wooo~
Another mournful howl echoed behind them.
They glanced back.
The dust had finally cleared.
A figure wreathed in flames stood before Isobu.
Gōenji's blade was buried deep in the spikes covering the Three-Tails' face.
Blood sprayed from the wound, but before it could even hit the ground, it hissed against the blazing blade and evaporated into smoke.
"Hm..."
Gōenji pulled his sword free.
The flames instantly disappeared.
"We've got a problem."
Isobu's massive claw swept toward him.
Gōenji dodged.
Whoosh!
The claw tore through the air where he had been standing.
The four Konoha shinobi landed several dozen meters away, their expressions solemn as they stared at the enormous monster before them.
"Three-Tails: Isobu."