"Then… I won't dodge."
Kiyohara planted his feet and formed hand seals in front of his chest.
Crisscrossing black markings spread over his skin, even turning the whites of his eyes pitch-black.
Then those same markings began changing his skin to a light brown shade, and a huge tail grew from behind him.
Cursed Seal Transformation — Stage Two.
Kiyohara could feel an extra mass of chakra appear inside him.
It was the cursed chakra normally stored up inside the seal, much like the Strength of a Hundred Seal—it would only be released when needed.
The difference was that this accumulation happened subconsciously inside the caster's own body.
Then Kiyohara sank his consciousness deep into his mind.
Toad Kiyohara's spiritual form opened its slit-pupiled eyes.
"You want to borrow senjutsu chakra?"
"That's right. I'm under attack."
Kiyohara nodded.
He intended to end this quickly.
Hiruko's Swift Release really was impressive. He was fast.
And he also had Steel Release, just like Kiyohara.
Of course, Kiyohara's Steel Release was stronger, because he could stack Earth Release: Earth Spear on top of it.
"All right."
Toad Kiyohara did not refuse.
They had already reached Summoning Island. They were only one step away from fulfilling that lingering wish.
The Ultimate Summoning Beast stood right on the border between "strong" and "very strong."
An underdeveloped Ultimate Summoning Beast was only stronger than ordinary summoning beasts, not overwhelmingly so.
It was only after devouring large numbers of summoning beasts, evolving step by step, and filling out more of its genetic makeup that it became truly troublesome.
If they got rid of Hiruko now, they could find the Ultimate Summoning Beast that much sooner.
When Kiyohara opened his eyes again, orange-red pigmentation had appeared around them.
This was what people called the Sage's eye pattern.
Now part of Toad Kiyohara's spirit had merged with Kiyohara, helping him refine senjutsu chakra.
In a way, it resembled Jiraiya's partnership with Fukasaku and Shima.
Jiraiya's Sage Mode required the two toads to use Sage Art: Amphibian Technique together.
So this counts as another version of Sage Art: Amphibian Technique, Kiyohara thought.
Gathering natural energy required absolute stillness, which was why that part was called "stillness." But Sage Art: Amphibian Technique split the process in two, allowing one part to maintain that stillness without interfering with movement in battle.
Dozens of Hiruko's afterimages lunged at him at once.
Kiyohara simply raised his right hand and spread his fingers.
"Sage Art: Magnet Release: Gold Dust World Prison."
Gold dust poured from his gourd and surged up from the ground as well.
Each grain carried natural energy.
They wove together in midair, interlocking to form a golden cage.
The instant Hiruko's dozens of Swift Release afterimages touched that field, they burst one after another like bubbles.
Hiruko's real body was forced into view. His rapidly moving path crashed left and right through the golden prison, but every burst of acceleration was intercepted by more newly formed structures of gold dust.
"So that's the Sand Village's Magnet Release…"
Hiruko frowned.
He had seen Rasa use this technique before.
This meant he could no longer use Swift Release freely.
Unless he layered Steel Release on top of Swift Release.
But if he did that, the chakra cost would be too great.
He made a snap decision. A black vortex reappeared in his left palm.
Dark Release: Inhaling Maw!
But this time, when the golden grains touched the black vortex, they were not absorbed as easily as the earlier ninjutsu had been.
The gold dust infused with natural energy had a much more stable chakra nature, and it violently resisted Dark Release's absorbing power.
Screeeech!
A harsh grinding sound rang out. The black vortex trembled violently, its absorption speed far slower than before. Some of the gold dust even forced its way past the edge of the absorbing field, turning into fine needles that shot straight at Hiruko.
Hiruko jerked his head to the side at high speed, and several strands of hair were sliced away by the golden needles.
His right hand instantly took on a dull metallic sheen.
Steel Release: Steel Hardening!
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The gold dust needles struck his metalized arm and sent sparks flying. They did not break through his defense, but Hiruko still felt the impact shudder through him.
"Even Dark Release is having trouble absorbing it… His senjutsu seems different from Jiraiya's."
Hiruko's thoughts raced, and he realized he could not keep fighting this passively.
He abruptly retreated, trying to get out of the range of Sage Art: Magnet Release: Gold Dust World Prison.
But there was no way Kiyohara would let him.
"Trying to run?"
Kiyohara formed more hand seals.
The structure of the golden cage changed in an instant. Huge masses of gold dust gathered from all directions, extending into dozens of giant golden hands that slammed down toward Hiruko with crushing pressure.
Hiruko's figure flickered repeatedly as he darted through the gaps between the giant palms, almost becoming a blurred white streak.
But there were too many palms, covering too much space, and they worked together to seal off most of his avenues of escape.
Boom!
At last, the edge of one giant palm clipped his left shoulder.
Even with Steel Hardening protecting him, the sheer force made his body twist to one side and sent his blood surging. A flash of pain crossed his face beneath the mask.
Worse still, after he barely absorbed part of the attack with Dark Release, he discovered that the natural energy mixed into the gold dust was making his arm stiffen.
If he had to describe it, it felt like it was starting to turn to stone.
That made Hiruko instantly realize he could not absorb senjutsu.
It was hard enough to absorb as it was, and once he finally did, it backfired on him.
"Damn it…"
A vicious light flashed in Hiruko's eyes.
He knew that relying only on Swift Release, Steel Release, and Dark Release would no longer be enough to deal with Kiyohara head-on.
Their figures kept flashing through the forest, and every collision between them kicked up violent gusts that sent dust flying.
As he watched the way Hiruko used Steel Release, Kiyohara copied Steel Release: Steel Hardening.
That was a Steel Release technique Kiyohara had not yet mastered before. It made Steel Release far denser and more refined.
Nice…
The more Kiyohara fought, the more satisfied he became.
Hiruko possessed many bloodline limits, and Kiyohara might very well obtain them all himself in the future. Learning more about their applications now was only a good thing.
He was especially interested in Hiruko's Dark Release.
He could tell Hiruko no longer dared absorb any of Kiyohara's techniques once they were enhanced with senjutsu chakra, because they also contained natural energy.
But that was only because Hiruko did not know senjutsu himself.
If he did know senjutsu, that petrification would not have been a problem for him at all.
Unlike Kiyohara's ease, the pressure in Hiruko's heart was growing heavier and heavier.
He also had to stay wary of whether Kiyohara's companions would suddenly step in—or whether Honoka Uzumaki might abruptly use Adamantine Sealing Chains.
I didn't want to use that move here…
Hiruko weighed his options in an instant and made his decision.
The nail of his right index finger quietly sliced open his left palm, drawing a thin line of blood, and then he wiped it away while forming hand seals at blinding speed.
At the same time—
Rumble!
From deep in the forest behind the institute, closer to the volcanic crater, came an earth-shaking roar.
It was neither lion nor tiger, but a horrifying mixed shriek that sounded like countless species all at once, full of berserk violence.
Then came the crash of collapsing buildings, the flashes of ninjutsu going off, and the short, terrified screams of humans.
"What was that?"
Tsunade and the others' expressions changed instantly as they all looked toward the institute.
Honoka Uzumaki's eyes went wide.
"That sound… it's that thing, the Ultimate Summoning Beast. Why would it suddenly appear here…"
A thought hit her all at once.
No wonder they had never been able to find the Ultimate Summoning Beast.
It had been hiding in the most obvious place all along.
Before her words had even fully landed, black summoning patterns spread across Hiruko's palm.
Poof!
When the smoke cleared, Hiruko had summoned a monster.
It was something almost impossible to describe in words.
Its main body looked like a lizard enlarged dozens of times over, its whole body green. A huge mouth full of fangs had grown out of its abdomen, while the original head was now nothing but tentacles. On its back grew two pairs of eagle wings covered in metallic feathers, with a wingspan of over twenty meters.
Its head looked like some grotesque fusion of a deep-sea fish and a land predator, and along its neck several murky eyeballs had been arranged in a row.
Most disturbing of all, the ends of what should have been claws on its forelimbs had evolved into something like human hands.
At that very moment, those hands were holding the corpse of a researcher like a snack and stuffing it into the creature's hideous mouth.
And standing on the monster's head was another figure dressed exactly like the Hiruko in front of them.
"That's… a shadow clone? What is he doing?"
Shizune cried out.
"He's… fusing with that summoning beast?"
Tsunade's experience let her see through part of what was happening immediately.
"This is bad! Stop him!"
Honoka Uzumaki shouted anxiously. More than anyone, she understood how terrifying that creature's capacity for evolution was.
Who knew what kind of greater horror would emerge from this?
Ignoring the strain on her body, she forced more chakra through herself, and several golden chains shot out from behind her again.
Adamantine Sealing Chains!
The chains shot like lightning toward Hiruko's shadow clone and the Ultimate Summoning Beast, trying to interrupt the fusion.
"ROAR!"
The Ultimate Summoning Beast snapped its head around, all of its eyes locking onto Honoka at once.
One of its eagle wings beat once, and dozens of metallic feathers shot out like bullets, slamming into the golden chains.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks exploded everywhere. Most of the feathers were shredded by the chains, but a few broke through, forcing Honoka to dodge.
At the same time, the beast's fish-and-beast hybrid head opened its mouth and spat out a stream of acidic breath straight at Honoka.
Honoka gritted her teeth and rapidly formed defensive sealing hand signs.
But she had already burned through plenty of chakra helping block Hiruko's earlier attacks, and now, under rushed conditions, she was clearly struggling to hold on.
Splash!
In the end, the edge of the acidic breath clipped past her defense and struck her shoulder.
Honoka let out a muffled cry and was blasted backward, coughing up a small mouthful of blood before crashing to the ground, unable to get back up right away.
"Honoka-san!"
Rin tried to rush over to help, but Shizune grabbed her.
"Don't! That monster's too dangerous."
Meanwhile, Hiruko's real body smashed through Kiyohara's golden prison, dispelled the shadow clone, and then, while the Ultimate Summoning Beast kept Honoka occupied, hurled himself straight into the creature's chest.
"Chimera Technique!"
The Ultimate Summoning Beast's enormous body started trembling violently. All the already unstable biological traits on its surface began writhing madly.
Green muscle swelled like something being inflated. The metallic feathers became denser and sharper. Two more eyes opened on its fish-beast head, and as they rolled around, they now carried a trace of human cunning.
"Haha… hahaha!"
"Can you feel it, Kiyohara? This is evolution! This is the beauty of power! This body with limitless potential is about to become one with me!"
He suddenly turned toward Kiyohara, his eyes blazing with fanaticism.
"Once I fully merge with it and gain its power of devouring and evolving… your Sharingan will become the most precious foundation on my road to perfection!"
"Now, the game is mine to control!"
"Is that so."
Kiyohara's expression still did not change much.
Perhaps Hiruko's experiments were not finished yet, because his body was nowhere near the shriveled, small, ugly appearance he had in the movie version.
So his strength was much greater too.
But… so what?
Kiyohara's opinion was simple: Hiruko had gone from being worth one Wind Release: Rasenshuriken to being worth two.
The only reason Kiyohara had been dragging this out was because he wanted to copy a few more techniques.
The next moment, the gold-dust wall directly in front of Hiruko split apart, and Kiyohara's figure appeared like a teleport.
The distance between them closed instantly to less than three meters.
Kiyohara clenched his right fist.
It had turned pitch-black, with faint arcs of electricity flickering around it.
Sage Art: Magnet Release: Electromagnetic Fist!
That punch looked almost plain on the surface, but it was as fast as lightning.
Hiruko did not even have time to use Swift Release to evade before the punch landed.
The shockwave exploded outward in a sphere, making the surrounding trees shake and shedding leaves everywhere.
On Hiruko's crossed arms, the layer of dull metallic Steel Release defense instantly began to crack, spiderweb fractures spreading out from the point of impact.
"Gah…!"
Hiruko screamed. It did not feel like he had been punched.
It felt like a fully loaded truck had slammed into him.
The hardened steel defense was rapidly collapsing, and that condensed punch force smashed through the defense straight into his chest.
Crack!
The sound of bones breaking rang out clearly.
Hiruko flew backward like a torn sack, crashing hard into a house behind him and blowing half of it apart.
The pure white mask on his face cracked with a sharp snap under the impact, then half of it fell away.
It revealed the pale face beneath, twisted with disbelief.
"Hiruko… senpai?"
Shizune was the first to gasp.
She had seen Hiruko many times in Konoha before. After all, he had been Tsunade's classmate.
Shizune was not especially close to him, but there was no way she could mistake that face.
Kurenai and Rin covered their mouths too, their eyes full of shock and confusion.
They had never imagined that the enemy attacking them and trying to fuse with the monster was actually a Konoha ninja—one from the same generation as the Sannin, no less.
Tsunade's expression became incredibly complicated in an instant. There was a trace of grim understanding in her eyes, as if part of her had already suspected this.
She clenched her fists so hard her nails nearly dug into her palms, staring at that familiar yet unfamiliar face as she murmured,
"Hiruko… so in the end, you really did choose this path…"
"Cough… cough, cough!"
Hiruko spat out a mouthful of dark blood mixed with fragments of organs. Bracing himself on broken clumps of gold dust with one hand, he raised his head with difficulty.
The fact that his identity had been exposed brought a flicker of panic to his eyes, but it was quickly swallowed by something deeper: unwillingness.
"So what if you've seen my face, Tsunade? You so-called geniuses never understood what I had to pay to catch up to you… to gain real power."
He glared hatefully at Tsunade, then snapped his gaze toward Kiyohara—especially those Sharingan eyes, made even more eerie by the Sage markings.
"And you… Kiyohara. Why? Why do you get to have the Sharingan, to be born with talent like that, while I can only rely on this…"
His eyes swept over his steel-hardened arm, now webbed with cracks, then down at his own lower body.
Hiruko had already erased the consciousness of the Ultimate Summoning Beast. His lower half was now the creature's body.
It had simply been sent flying together with him by Kiyohara's punch.
"But it doesn't matter anymore… As long as I complete the fusion and gain the possibility of infinite evolution, everything… will belong to me!"
With his still-functioning left hand, Hiruko pulled out a scroll from his robes and tore it open.
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Three bursts of white smoke erupted, revealing three vicious-looking summoning beasts.
A monstrous giant dog covered in bone spines, a black-feathered bird with blade-like plumage, and a massive purple-scaled serpent with two heads, both tongues flicking as they hissed.
"Stop them!"
Hiruko ordered the three summons while struggling to rise and pushing the Chimera Technique into a deeper fusion.
The metallic color of Steel Release gradually spread over the Ultimate Summoning Beast.
"Still won't learn your lesson, huh."
Kiyohara shook his head.
People in the ninja world were always the same—hard-headed to the bitter end.
He did not even look at the three charging summons. He simply willed it.
The remaining gold dust instantly contracted and condensed, turning into three giant golden spears. Driven by electromagnetic force, they shot out at beyond the speed of sound, arriving before the summons even could.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Each one pierced perfectly through the core of the giant dog, the black bird, and the two-headed snake.
The three summons did not even have time to cry out before dissolving into white smoke.
And Kiyohara himself was already standing in front of Hiruko again.
He raised both fists and unleashed a barrage.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
It sounded like a pile driver hammering nonstop.
The ground shook visibly beneath their bodies.
Hiruko tried to form hand seals, but all he could do was shield his face with both arms.
Kiyohara was beating him down relentlessly.
Every punch sent out a white burst of air pressure.
Wind, gravel, weeds, and broken branches all blasted outward.
That meant every single one of Kiyohara's punches was moving faster than sound.
If Hiruko did not still have Steel Release, any other ninja caught there would have been beaten into a bloody paste by now.
"So fast…"
Rin breathed.
Even if she entered Tailed Beast Chakra Mode, she still could not reproduce something like that.
Kurenai and Shizune could only stare wide-eyed.
Damn it… damn it… damn it!
Hiruko was almost exploding with frustration.
Right now, he had only completed four bloodline limits. He still lacked the fifth needed to create the Five Elements cycle.
If this kept going, he really was going to get beaten to death.
Because Kiyohara was not attacking the Ultimate Summoning Beast itself at all. He was only attacking Hiruko's exposed upper body after the fusion.
Hiruko wanted to fight back, but his resistance was like trying to resist life itself.
The only thing that happened was life beating him senseless in return.
Or rather, the only thing Hiruko could do now was keep forcing the Chimera Technique deeper, fusing himself more and more completely with the Ultimate Summoning Beast's body.
~~~
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