Susanoo stretched out both arms. Under the moonlight, the lines of the Dragon Vein Armor looked as if coated with a layer of cold light. The fierce chakra fluctuations were like an abyss, like a sea, pressing down until the entire city fell silent.
Uchiha Itachi hung in the sky. In the two spinning Mangekyōs was a majesty that looked down on the world.
Complete-Body Susanoo.
If it had appeared a little earlier, in front of Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, it wouldn't have been worth mentioning.
If it appeared a little later, in front of Six Paths Naruto and Kaguya, it still wouldn't have been worth mentioning.
But in this era, it was truly an absolute power capable of dominating a region.
Orange-red chakra erupted like a volcano, lighting up the entire left half of the night sky, reflecting Minato and the others, who had just emerged from the underground ruins, into a shade of crimson.
As for why it lit up only half the night sky…
Because the other half was filled with blazing, crimson-gold auspicious clouds.
BOOM!
Two sky-shattering sonic booms echoed beneath the moonlit night.
Ryosuke and Susanoo broke the sound barrier at the same time, like gods from ancient legends, crashing straight into each other in the sky.
A barrage of strikes compressed to the extreme.
Not even a moment's pause.
The shockwaves scattering from their clash rained down, smashing buildings one after another, leaving deep scars carved into the earth.
Akimichi Choza stared blankly at the sky, unable to restrain the shock inside him, "Th-This… is this really a battle between humans…"
They had all participated in the Ninja World War, but even facing the Allied Shinobi Forces' combined ninjutsu had never given them such terrifying pressure.
Akimichi Choza imagined himself in their place.
Even if he used Super Multi-Size Technique, once he got dragged into this level of battlefield…
"In less than ten seconds, I'd be torn to pieces."
"Not in such big pieces," Aburame Shibi said.
"Hm?"
Akimichi Choza narrowed his eyes and looked over.
Aburame Shibi acted like he didn't notice, and asked Minato, their captain, "Aren't we going to help?"
Among the three, Minato had the best dynamic vision, and was the only one who could precisely see the details of the fight. He shook his head slightly, "It's not our time to act yet."
"Why not?"
"Because if nothing unexpected happens, Ryosuke is about to blow this Mr. Crow to pieces," Minato said.
Akimichi Choza asked, "Then when do we take action?"
Minato looked back at the Queen of Roran, "When the unexpected happens."
———
Minato's judgment was correct.
Uchiha Itachi was about to be blown apart.
As the fight continued, the amount that Heavenly Transmission Technique could derive also kept increasing, but Uchiha Itachi soon discovered, when it came to Ryosuke, derivation was ineffective.
Shinobi are high-offense, low-defense. No matter how flashy they fight, the core purpose is the same, use your strongest point to attack the opponent's weakest point.
Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, they all exist to serve that goal.
Whoever hits their opponent first wins the battle.
Heavenly Transmission Technique's derivation was basically forced cheating, knowing the enemy's attack route in advance, using defense to counterattack, breaking the offensive in the simplest, most efficient way, and retaliating at the perfect moment.
Ryosuke didn't do that.
Itachi swings his sword?
Ryosuke swings his blade too.
Itachi throws a punch?
Ryosuke and Star Platinum throw a punch right back.
Ryosuke didn't care about weak points, didn't care about tactics. Or rather, his tactic was absolute head-on collision.
The only enemies who troubled Ryosuke were those who relied on special mechanics.
Like the strong CC of Chibaku Tensei.
Like untouchable phasing.
In the past, Uchiha Itachi was, to Ryosuke, also an enemy who relied on mechanics.
His Tsukuyomi and the Kotoamatsukami of Shisui's Mangekyō both had extremely powerful control effects.
Genjutsu isn't like the Yamanaka clan's soul invasion nor like demons or phantoms.
Genjutsu is merely a false illusion targeting the five senses, like dreaming. Substitutes other than the White Snake can't dispel it.
Ryosuke's willpower was strong enough to ignore most genjutsu, but Tsukuyomi and Kotoamatsukami were on a whole different level, those he couldn't ignore.
Unfortunately, Uchiha Itachi had lost Tsukuyomi.
He had no choice but to abandon mechanics and fight Ryosuke with pure stats, and then...
BOOM!
Star Platinum punched the Dragon Vein Armor, blasting a hole straight through Susanoo's chest. Its arms tightened, and with a roar, "ORA!"
The Dragon Vein Armor at Susanoo's chest was torn open by brute force.
Star Platinum grabbed the shattered armor fragment and hurled it at the incoming Totsuka Blade, then disappeared. Reappearing beside Ryosuke were the Small Airplane and Killer Queen.
Da-da-da-da-da!
A storm of bullets appeared, some of them were bombing bullets loaded with the First Bomb.
Uchiha Itachi's face turned dark.
Star Platinum, the Small Airplane, Killer Queen, the linked attacks of all three had been derived by him.
But so what if he derived them?
Yes, stands had attack range limits.
Ryosuke didn't.
With Ryosuke's speed and Susanoo's overwhelmingly massive size, Uchiha Itachi couldn't dodge at all.
Derivation?
From the day Ryosuke met Uchiha Itachi, that man always liked playing with these hollow tricks.
Genjutsu was like that.
Derivation was like that.
These fake things only gave Itachi fake safety, like right now.
Ryosuke really wanted to know, 'How do you "derive" your way out of being buried under a sky full of bullets?'.
As the bullet storm swept through, Killer Queen bent slightly like a Western cowboy using an old revolver, constantly pulling the detonation trigger.
Silent explosions flashed in an instant. Susanoo's chest was blown open. Uchiha Itachi, not wanting to be blasted to death, could only flee to Susanoo's head.
Just as he escaped and before he could even breathe out, he felt his scalp tighten. He looked up... a high-speed spinning iron ball was following a perfect trajectory, piercing through Susanoo's defenses and targeting the top of Uchiha Itachi's head.
At the same time, Heavenly Transmission Technique's derivation appeared, "Uchiha Itachi will have his head blown apart by this iron ball."
"Why!"
"I've been fighting Ryosuke for so long, space-time gaps should no longer exist between us, so why is it that only when Ryosuke's attack is about to hit does Heavenly Transmission Technique finally show a warning!"
"It's as if…"
"As if the time in between was skipped!"
Uchiha Itachi guessed half right.
Ryosuke didn't skip time, he simply threw the iron ball while time was frozen.
No matter how powerful Heavenly Transmission Technique was, it couldn't derive what happened inside stopped time.
That was a space belonging only to Ryosuke.
So in Uchiha Itachi's eyes, the derivation appeared "half a beat too late."
In truth, compared to a normal battle, Heavenly Transmission Technique's derivation was not slow at all.
Their combat frequency was just too high.
Uchiha Itachi locked his eyes onto the spinning iron ball.
"No time to wait for Heavenly Transmission Technique's tactical derivation!"
"I must judge on my own!"
Ryosuke had already destroyed the Dragon Vein Armor and Susanoo's protective barrier. Itachi's core defensive measures were neutralized. The only way to block the iron ball now was one method.
Susanoo abruptly raised its arm and thrust the Totsuka Blade into its own head, precisely intercepting the spinning iron ball, using self-harm to stop a killing blow.
The Totsuka Blade slowly withdrew. Blood flowed from Itachi's eyes, and he gasped heavily.
The once mountain-sized, dignified Susanoo was now torn and ragged.
Uchiha Itachi stared at Ryosuke floating in midair. He opened his mouth, about to say something, Ryosuke didn't pause for even half a breath and charged again.
Uchiha Itachi looked at the approaching Ryosuke.
"So this is… the obstacle to me saving the world."
"Like a merciless heavenly punishment sent from above. What a pity, Ryosuke…"
"This is a home field I've been preparing for three years."
Strands of bright purple Dragon Vein energy surged from underground, pouring into Susanoo. The damage Ryosuke inflicted was repaired at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Uchiha Itachi knew Ryosuke had the power to control the Dragon Vein, but his own permissions were above Ryosuke's.
If Ryosuke wanted to stop him from using the Dragon Vein, the only way was to blow the Dragon Vein up.
But blowing up the Dragon Vein would kill every innocent civilian of Roran.
"…With your 'measure,' you can't do that."
Ryosuke frowned slightly as he listened to Uchiha Itachi, "What dialect is that supposed to be?"
"Where I'm from, that's not called 'measure.' It's called a conscience."
On the other side, Minato took out his Flying Thunder God kunai.
"The unexpected has appeared."
"Next, it's our turn."