Can't dodge it? Then break through it.
Ryo's objective was absolutely clear: destroy the sealing core.
Only by destroying the prison that bound the space could the Flying Thunder God coordinates he left behind be relocated.
Counting on reinforcements from Konoha to arrive at some unknown time? That was never an option.
Your life can only be held in your own hands.
Muscle fibers pushed to their limits screamed in pain as overwhelming strength surged through them.
He planted both feet with explosive force, like two red-hot iron nails driven deep into the cracked, shattered earth, sinking a full foot down. The muscles in his right arm gripping the sword coiled like a steel python. The Kusanagi Sword seemed to sense its master's raging murderous intent and unbreakable resolve, emitting a low, sanguine hum.
Sword Technique: Mountain-Sunderer!
His wrist vibrated at a speed invisible to the naked eye. The Kusanagi Sword turned into a crimson arc tearing through the rain. Compressed force gathered along the blade, rending the air with a piercing shriek.
Bang. Boom.
A thunderous explosion shook the battlefield. That rampaging Earth Release vortex, devouring flesh and crushing rock, collided with Yamiketsu's half-suppressed king-chakra tornado. The shockwave burst outward, flinging debris everywhere.
Puh puh puh! Ah!
Screams of agony tore through the rain. Iwa shinobi who had charged forward laughingly were shredded before they could react, their bodies turned into sieves of blood.
The price...
Pain exploded in his left shoulder. An invisible wind blade, Great Wind Cut, struck at the moment his old strength faded and his new power had yet to rise, brutally tearing through flesh and bone. Blood sprayed like a high-pressure jet. The blade also slashed through his trouser leg.
The toxin's paralysis intensified, like ten thousand ants gnawing at his heart, assaulting his nerves.
His altered physiology forced his torn muscles to contract shut. Taking advantage of the shockwave from his slash, Ryo's body spun like a steel gyroscope, twisting in defiance of physical law.
Shraa!
His trouser leg ripped open. Deep gashes revealing bone appeared on the outside of his thigh. Blood gushed in torrents, dyeing the mud red beneath his feet.
A kunai grazed his ankle by mere millimeters.
Poison surged through his body. With every violent movement and loss of blood, the venom that had been suppressed by the Kusanagi sword spread like bone-deep frost.
An Iwa shinobi in front of him froze in terror, his guts twisting.
"Wind Cut and Earth Sting… and he's still moving?!"
"Impossible… is he a monster?!"
Blood vessels throbbed across Ryo's chest.
"Stop that monster! At all costs!"
At the cave entrance, Tsunade bit her lip hard, her knuckles white. As a medical ninja, she knew better than anyone how fatal those wounds were: a shoulder torn to the bone, thigh flesh ripped apart, spreading poison, gushing blood. Under normal circumstances, no one could survive that.
Yet she watched that blood-soaked figure charge through the storm, and memories of their last sparring match surfaced. She had known this day would come, the day he surpassed her, but witnessing it filled her with helpless awe.
Orochimaru's golden eyes glinted coldly. His serpent-like tongue licked his lips as the Iwa shinobi retreated. His gaze locked greedily onto Ryo, whose blood-drenched figure cut through the rain.
His muscles strained under each crushing blow. Even as poison and blood loss dragged him toward collapse, his eyes grew sharper, wilder. Like a lone wolf cornered, he pushed forward. The core was just ahead.
The Kusanagi Sword in his grip had become a streak of red lightning. He shed all excess movement, leaving only pure, lethal intent.
Sword Technique: Piercing Wind!
A foundational sword art pushed to perfection. Every block was flawless. Every stab struck at a vital point. Kunai, shuriken, small-scale water and fire jutsu—everything in his path was deflected or slashed apart.
Guided by his sensory perception, he weaved through storms of jutsu and blades. Mud and blood exploded beneath his feet. Afterimages trailed behind him like phantoms.
Puh! Puh! Three Iwa shinobi fell with their throats pierced, clutching their necks as they collapsed.
"Stop him! Use your lives to block him!" the adjutant screamed, his voice cracking. Ryo's target was clear, the core. They couldn't let him reach it.
A few elite jōnin exchanged glances, their resolve hardening. If ranged attacks failed, they would crush him in close combat. Use corpses as a wall to bury him alive.
"Earth Release: Rock Fist Technique!" "Earth Release: Weighted Rock Technique!" They launched pincer attacks from both sides. Rock fists as heavy as mountains slammed down, the ground caving beneath their weight. The air grew thick with pressure, locking Ryo in place.
"Get out!" Ryo roared like a beast. The creeping weakness in his body was crushed beneath sheer willpower.
Sword Technique: Shattering Rock!
He spun, waist twisting, force traveling up his spine as every drop of strength poured into his sword. The Kusanagi flared dark red, tracing a deadly arc.
Boom!
Like a knife slicing through tofu, the massive rock fist exploded beneath his strike.
The sword's aftershock lashed out, cutting into a jōnin's chest. His vest tore apart, revealing a deep wound that sprayed blood as he was thrown backward like a broken doll.
The earth cracked open, the shock tearing a pit into the ground. Ryo staggered but kept moving, his target in sight.
At that instant...
Shii shii!
Seven or eight bluish kunai coated in poison shot toward his back and legs from blind angles.
Life and death hung by a thread. Ryo bent his body unnaturally, evading with supreme control and his danger sense.
Most of the kunai grazed past.
Puh! One pierced his thigh. Another embedded into his torn shoulder.
"Ugh!" Agony flared. The venom burned through his veins, darkness creeping into his vision. He dropped to one knee as blood poured freely.
"He's done for! Kill him!" a nearby jōnin howled.
Poison, blood loss, exhaustion, his body was on the verge of collapse.
Yet he did not fall. His sharp gaze swept across the battlefield and locked onto an Iwa shinobi sneaking toward the altar's control panel behind Orochimaru.
He lunged.
Ignoring the tearing pain in his shoulder, Ryo shoved his left hand into the wound, grasped the embedded kunai, and ripped it out, flesh and all.
The wound widened, blood gushing again.
Without hesitation, he flung the blood-soaked kunai with all his remaining strength.
Puh shik!
The kunai struck the Iwa shinobi's throat with surgical precision, throwing the corpse backward.
At the cave's mouth, Tsunade's heart nearly shattered. Even after witnessing Ryo's monstrous endurance countless times, this sight still shocked her to her core.
Inside the cave, Jiraiya's swollen eyes caught sight of Ryo pulling the kunai and killing the enemy. His cracked lips moved weakly. "Monster..."
"Heh..." he rasped, "so it's not just a figure of speech. He really is... a monster."
"We can't stop the sealing core!" The last shred of obsession in Ryo's mind burned. His blood boiled. With a roar, he surged forward. Each step splashed crimson in the mud.
The Iwa shinobi formed a living wall with their bodies, blocking his path.
"Earth Release: Earth Prison Hall!" a jōnin roared, slamming his palms into the ground.
Boom! The earth trembled. Two heavy stone gates slammed shut, forming a hemispherical prison lined with spikes.
"He's trapped! Pour chakra! Focus fire!" voices shouted in triumph.
The adjutant drew his blade frantically. "Kill him now!"
The next instant...
Rumble!
A roar, more terrifying than hell itself, erupted from within. A torrent of red sword energy ripped through the chakra-reinforced prison, obliterating it and the jōnin who cast it. Stone dust and blood exploded outward.
Ryo's blood-soaked figure emerged from the carnage.
He was gasping, blood and sweat streaming down his mud-covered body. His sword hand trembled. His vision blurred.
Every flying slash drained the last of his life force.
The final distance. Ahead stood five elite jōnin forming an iron barrier. They abandoned attack, focusing solely on defense.
"Combine your jutsu!" their leader roared.
Five sets of seals formed in unison. Chakra surged violently.
Boom! A towering composite earth wall rose, layers stacking like steel. Beyond it glowed the altar etched with sealing runes. Several sealing ninjas pressed their palms against the core, injecting chakra frantically. A cold, heavy spatial force spread, locking down Ryo's Flying Thunder God coordinates.
"Protect the sealing core! Iwa's will shall not fall!" the adjutant roared, eyes bloodshot.
Ryo glanced once toward the cave. Tsunade's chakra was nearly spent protecting Jiraiya. Orochimaru stood watching, his expression unreadable.
No time left. Not even a heartbeat.
One final breath. One final flicker of life. Ryo lifted his head as if to swallow the bloodied air. His life force ignited like a dying star. Steam rose from his skin as his chakra burned.
Strength ignited. Life ignited. Soul ignited.
Both hands gripped the Kusanagi.
He raised it high.
Ignoring the shinobi lunging from the walls. Ignoring blades aimed at his vital points. Ignoring everything.
There was only the altar ahead.
Slice!
Time froze.
Dark red brilliance condensed to a single point.
It exploded outward, a beam so thin it looked like a thread, yet brighter than the sun. It broke the sound barrier, tearing through space itself.
Where the light passed...
Puh. Puh. Puh. Puh.
The five elite jōnin and the chakra-reinforced wall were sliced cleanly in half, silently and effortlessly. The cut was mirror-smooth, reflecting their frozen, terrified faces.
The sword energy didn't stop.
It pierced through the sealing core altar, tearing apart the runes and the sealing shinobi maintaining it.
A ripping sound cracked through the air.
The oppressive, suffocating force vanished instantly. Space felt free again. Ryo dropped to one knee, his face pale, lips cracked, spitting blood.
He was at his limit. The toxin spread uncontrollably through his body.
"The seal... it's broken?!" "Yamada and the others!!" panicked screams echoed.
"He's not going to last! Kill him!" the adjutant shouted, voice shrill. Iwa shinobi surged toward Ryo's kneeling form.
"Ryo!!" Tsunade screamed, about to run forward, but Orochimaru grabbed her arm.
Ryo's vision blurred.
"Is it over?"
Just as a kunai was about to pierce his back...
A familiar coordinate of the Flying Thunder God Technique flared to life in his senses. It was the kunai he had secretly placed deep inside the cave earlier.
Ryo's head snapped up. The corner of his bloodied lips curled into a cold, arrogant smile.
You want to kill me? Dream on.
"Flying Thunder God!" he roared, his hoarse voice echoing across the battlefield.
Ryo vanished.
The next moment, he appeared beside the unconscious Jiraiya. His arms shot out, grabbing Jiraiya's collar and reaching for Tsunade.
"You?!" Orochimaru's pupils shrank, startled.
"And you," Ryo said coldly, his other hand lunging toward him.
Before anyone could react...
Inside the cave, four figures—Ryo, the dying Jiraiya, the stunned Tsunade, and the shocked Orochimaru—vanished completely.
All that remained on the wall was a kunai engraved with the Flying Thunder God seal, trembling faintly.
Silence. Outside, hundreds of Iwa shinobi struck at empty air.
The adjutant's face twisted between horror and disbelief.
The entire Iwa force stared at the blood-soaked ground and the vanished cave.
The sealing was destroyed.
The man was gone.
That red-haired monster had escaped using space-time ninjutsu, right under their noses, taking everything they fought to protect.
Rumble. The endless rain poured down, washing over corpses, shattered earth, and the despair etched into every Iwa shinobi's face.
They had lost half their elite force in exchange for a ruined battlefield and an unbearable humiliation.
What now? Which way to pursue?
Could they even catch him?
The rain drowned out their rage.
(To be continued.)
I can only say maybe, since it was his first real battle in the war. His lack of experience and perhaps a touch of overconfidence likely led to those rookie mistakes