Zzzzt!
Lightning flashed. A figure trailing a dragon of dust zigzagged unpredictably across the arena.
Soon, dust and debris shrouded the entire battlefield.
'Kuro', crackling with arcs of electricity, shot towards Tsunade at a speed that defied limits... The wind from his movement alone tore up the ground beneath him.
"Naive!"
Tsunade snorted coldly. She raised her right leg high over her head, then slammed it down.
Boom!
The ground, which had shattered countless times already, with the floor visibly several meters lower, ruptured once more. It fragmented into dense rubble, carried forward by the shockwave in a massive 180-degree arc.
'Kuro's' form twisted sharply. He leaped left, dodged right, threading between the flying rocks like a dragonfly skimming water, agile as a squirrel leaping through a forest.
But the rubble was too numerous, too dense. No matter how flexible a human body, it couldn't evade everything.
'Kuro' dodged the larger chunks he could avoid, landed smoothly, and without pause, performed a one-handed seal. Brilliant lightning erupted from his remaining hand.
[Lightning Release: Lightning Spear!]
'Kuro' swung his left arm forward. The spear of lightning shot forth, blasting through the oncoming rubble with overwhelming force, then aimed straight for Tsunade.
"Even one-handed seals... truly impressive!" Tsunade praised verbally, but her movements were swift.
She lightly stomped the ground. A massive rock, over two meters tall, rose to shield her.
Thud!
The Lightning Spear struck the boulder and dissipated.
Bang!
Tsunade punched the boulder. The immense force shattered it instantly, transforming it into a new hail of debris that shot toward 'Kuro'.
'Kuro', crackling with electricity, transformed into an afterimage, moving with incredible speed, easily dodging all the rubble before launching another attack...
—This cycle of attack and defense had continued for twenty minutes, yet none of the spectators felt bored. Their hearts remained in their throats.
The exchanges were too extreme... On the surface, Kuro constantly attacked while Tsunade could only defend passively, accumulating more and more minor wounds, seemingly on the verge of defeat.
But in reality, such injuries meant nothing to Tsunade. They didn't affect the outcome at all.
Her strength was monstrous. A single solid hit would secure her victory.
Thus, this seemingly advantageous situation for Kuro was actually a fifty-fifty stalemate. The slightest lapse from either side would decide the match instantly.
Because of this, the spectators were even more tense than the combatants, terrified that the one they supported might make a single mistake and lose.
Hiruzen glanced at Ryuji again. Seeing that confident smile still firmly in place, the words he wanted to say about declaring a draw died once more in his throat.
'What is going on?'
'Why is he so confident?'
'If Kuro had a trump card, wouldn't he have used it by now, after all this time?'
'But he hadn't. That suggested Kuro had no hidden ace.'
'Then where did this confidence come from?'
'Was he deluded by Kuro's apparent surface advantage, failing to see the true situation?'
'No, that was impossible.'
'His opponent was a Shinobi standing at the world's peak. He couldn't possibly misread the situation.'
'If not that, then what?'
'What was the source of his confidence?'
'Or was it just an act to reassure his subordinates?'
Perhaps there was no trump card at all.
Or perhaps, using Kuro's body as a vessel, even Ryuji didn't know what kind of spectacular performance Aka could deliver.
But spectacular tricks weren't needed, nor were hidden aces. Aka's raw ability surpassed Tsunade's. Even in this deadlock, the one who would ultimately fall was Tsunade.
Because Aka simply would not make a mistake.
In other words, even if Tsunade also made no mistakes, the most likely outcome was a continuation of this stalemate until one side's stamina or Chakra gave out first.
But Tsunade couldn't avoid mistakes forever.
No matter how skilled a master, they err… unless they aren't human.
Well... That's not to say Aka isn't human, nor is it an insult.
It's just that... she isn't an ordinary person.
Aka was born from the realm of gods, a manifestation of miracles, an incarnation of rules, a unique existence that cannot be replicated. She is the culmination of alchemy, one of its Three Great Miracles: 'The Creation of Life.'
She is not an artificial, human-like being like Gin, nor a life derived from another's remains like Kuro. She is a truly living being created from nothingness.
A human with no defects, no weaknesses, flawless.
Even Ryuji hadn't truly mastered this technique.
Aka's birth was a stroke of luck, a shortcut.
Over his years of check-ins, Ryuji had obtained three different Philosopher's Stones.
One represented 'Transmutation', one of alchemy's Three Great Miracles… a stone that could substitute for any metal.
This one was used recently to create the Ugo Ring.
Another represented 'The Creation of Something from Nothing', another of the Three Great Miracles… a stone that could serve as a cost to create 'anything'.
This one still lay in Ryuji's system storage.
The final one represented 'The Creation of Life', the third Great Miracle… a stone that could bestow life upon any inanimate object.
This one was used to create Aka.
However,
Although the three stones each represented one of the Three Great Miracles, the first two clearly didn't meet the true standard of their respective miracles.
The first could only substitute for specific metals.
The second wasn't true creation from nothing; it required sacrificing itself to obtain limited things. It was less 'creation from nothing' and more 'equivalent exchange'.
The third, however, was genuine life creation.
Aka's original form was merely a Golem, an inanimate object created by Ryuji using golem techniques recorded in the book Golems and Dragons… akin to an intelligent robot.
But this Philosopher's Stone bestowed life upon her.
Moreover, within the upper and lower limits of what constituted 'human', she could adjust herself freely.
As long as it fell within the category of 'human', whether it was the Sage of Six Paths or Kaguya... as long as Aka could conceive of it and witness it firsthand, that being's upper limit would become Aka's upper limit.
This 'upper limit' didn't mean copying bloodlines or techniques. It simply meant elevating all aspects of the human body's functions.
Vitality, neural reflexes, endurance, recovery rate, mental strength, speed, resilience, chakra... No matter how extraordinary the other party was, as long as they were human, Aka could adjust freely.
Through the spiritual network, Aka had witnessed countless masters and individuals with astonishing potential.
She possessed Sasori's ability to divide her attention a hundred ways. She had Minato's neural reflexes, comparable to a Six Paths-level being. She had Shikaku's brain for rapid calculation and grasping the overall situation. She had Naruto's incredible stamina and recovery. She had Tsunade's monstrous strength...
There were too many to count. So many that Ryuji himself didn't know how many innate talents Aka possessed.
Over the years, for every person Ryuji had ever seen... their talents had become Aka's talents.