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Ĺnoki instinctively frowned.
How many years had it been?
Besides Uchiha Madara, no one had ever dared to be this arrogant in front of him.
But the old, cunning Ĺnoki would never underestimate his enemy.
The white light of Dust Release blazed, too bright to look at directly.
At that moment, no one could see what was happening inside the blinding dome.
Suddenly, Ĺnoki's confident expression shifted.
His body⌠wouldn't obey him.
The next second, a violent white light flooded his vision.
Instinct made Ĺnoki pull back his hands, collapsing the Dust Release.
When the light faded, the person trapped inside wasn't the masked man.
It was himself.
A cold drop of sweat traced a path down Ĺnoki's temple. His palms were slick.
If he hadn't retracted his technique in time⌠the consequences were unthinkable.
Lunar God Transfer. A skill that was downright broken in combat.
"My turn now."
Thick, radiant light swelled like a churning tidal wave.
For a moment, the sky became an ocean of light, a galaxy reborn before their very eyes.
"Cosmic Coronium Strike!"
BOOM!
A pillar of light shot into the heavens, piercing the very fabric of space.
Ĺnoki's body locked up under the sheer pressure.
Terrifying energy swept across the battlefield.
Rocks shattered mid-air as a gale-force wind howled.
Everyone shielded their eyes, unable to face the onslaught.
In their hearts, only confusion and dread remained.
Could the Tsuchikage block this?
Were they all doomed to die here?
Such ultimate power made everyone acutely aware of their own insignificance.
The power of Ultraman Cosmos originated from the cosmos itself. In the ninja world, it was akin to Sage Techniquesâabsorbing natural energy.
But these skills were different.
There was no need to wait for absorption, no limit to the energy. In an instant, it drew upon the limitless power between heaven and earth.
Hanataki stood suspended in mid-air.
Light flowed across his form. A galaxy poured out behind him.
A scene of breathtaking beauty, yet laced with the threat of annihilation.
No one knew how long it lasted.
When the first person dared to open their eyes, they were stunned speechless.
The training ground? Gone.
Half of Iwagakure might have been reduced to dust and debris in that single blow.
The desolate, broken landscape before them bred a despair that sank into their very bones.
People fear great power.
But when that power surpasses all understanding, even fear has no place.
Only despair remains. Inescapable, suffocating despair.
The Tsuchikage must have perished, too.
The light died in many eyes, replaced by hollow grey. If the Tsuchikage was dead⌠how long would they last?
"As expected of Hanataki!" Sasori watched from a distance, a note of awe in his voice.
"Wait!"
A blur shot across the crowd's vision.
Heshu, gripping Ĺnoki by the collar, landed in a safe spot. At the last possible moment, he had made his move.
Ĺnoki was covered in wounds, his robes tattered. Even though Heshu had saved him, the force he'd faced head-on had been enough to inflict serious damage.
"To think⌠cough⌠it would be youâŚ" Ĺnoki's gaze was complex as he stared at Heshu, a cough he couldn't suppress tearing from his throat.
Heshu raised a hand. A soft, healing glow emanated from Ĺnoki's injuries as the flesh knitted itself back together.
"Tsuchikage, securing the civilians is your task. Leave the masked man to me." Heshu looked up at Hanataki, who hovered in the sky like an undefeated god, his expression solemn.
Ĺnoki was taken aback. "You⌠you would intervene?"
This was Iwagakure's problem, after all. Tsukimi Heshu was the Hokage of Konoha. He could have easily stood by and watched.
"No matter what, the shinobi world is one. If I stand idly by today, the day of unity and peace for our world will never come."
His voice wasn't loud, but it resonated with shocking clarity, striking a chord deep within everyone who heard.
All eyes followed him. In that moment, the prejudices of village and border faded away.
"Lord Hokage, we'll fight with you!" Yako stepped forward, her delicate face set with determination.
Beside her, Shisui, JĹŤri, and Kakashi said nothing, but their expressions mirrored Yako's resolve.
Heshu smiled and shook his head at them. "Bearing the title of Hokage⌠of course I must protect you."
The red-and-white robes fluttered in the wind. The word 'HOKAGE' seemed to burn brightly upon his back.
"I've long heard of the Hokage's fame. I've been looking forward to this battle," the masked Hanataki's voice rang out.
It was the first time everyone heard it clearly. It wasn't the elderly voice many had imagined, but one that was surprisingly young, almost boyish.
Someone so young possessed this kind of power?
Ĺnoki watched Hanataki warily, positioning himself as a shield before the civilians. Beside him stood the colossal Taixu Ancient Dragon, Xiaoqing, upon whose head stood Shisui and the others. Their eyes were locked on the impending clash.
"Who are you?" Heshu stood poised in the air, his gaze fixed on the masked man.
'Host, your acting skills have improved again.' In his mind, the system sighed with admiration.
Who could guess the masked man opposite was the host himself? Fighting himself. The system was thoroughly impressed. What masterful acting!
"Worry about keeping yourself alive first, Hokage!" the masked Hanataki sneered.
His body shot forward, appearing instantly before Heshu.
Heshu's right hand gripped ShinsĹ. The silvery-white blade extended at a speed never seen before.
It was a blur to everyone's eyes, followed by the sound of something shattering.
CRASH!
In the distance, a massive boulder pierced by ShinsĹ collapsed.
The masked man should have been in the blade's path. But his figure had already reappeared high above.
A stream of radiant light spilled onto the ground for a split second. On the masked Hanataki's arm, the black robe with red clouds now bore a long, clean tear.
Unlike Ĺnoki, who hadn't even touched the man's sleeve, the Hokage had taken the upper hand from the start. Hope flickered anew in many hearts.
"As expected of the Hokage." The masked Hanataki's soft sigh held a strange, unreadable emotion.
But no one had the mind to dwell on such details. All they cared about was the outcome of this battle.
The masked Hanataki ripped away the torn sleeve, revealing pale skin. He clenched his fists, and a surging power rippled outwards.
A shockwave rolled across the ground. Cracks spiderwebbed across the earth, unable to bear the oppressive energy. Feeling the suffocating aura from the masked man, many hearts clenched.
In Heshu's hand, ShinsĹ remained a simple, unadorned short blade. But after that first attack, everyone understood. To mistake it for an ordinary sword would be a fatal error.
WHOOSH!
Two blurs, too fast to follow, collided.
The masked Hanataki's speed had clearly increased, now almost matching Heshu's own instantaneous movement.
ShinsĹ's extension speed was absolute. While the masked man couldn't completely dodge it, he could predict its trajectory. Each time, the silvery-white blade of light grazed past him by mere millimeters.
Though he dodged the blade, ShinsĹ's attacks landed fully on the surroundings of Iwagakure.
To the onlookers, the two combatants were invisible. Too fast. Not even afterimages could be caught.
The silvery-white light pierced through floors, rocks, walls, distant mountains⌠A massive mountainside was instantly sheared into a flat plane. A corner of a wall was cleanly sliced off. The collateral damage was more devastating than the duel itself.
Flying sand, shattered stone, explosions everywhere.
The high-temperature beam of Moonlight Crusher shot from the masked man's right hand. Simultaneously, the light of Lunar God Transfer shot from his left.
Time and space seemed to freeze.
In the dilated pupils of the watchers, the figure of the Fifth Hokage stalled for an instant. The next moment, Heshu's form appeared directly in front of the Moonlight Crusher beam.
"Lord Hokage!" Yako's eyes widened, a sharp cry escaping her.
Ĺnoki's brow furrowed. "That masked man has a technique that allows him to teleport both himself and his opponent. The Hokage was just moved into the path of that attack."
His brief exchange with the man hadn't lasted three moves, but it was enough to identify the skills he used. His explanation was for the Hokage's subordinates; the Hokage himself would have already realized this from watching their earlier fight.
JĹŤri clenched his fists, red threads creeping into his eyes. The next second, the black tomoe spun wildly, gradually connecting into a strange, intricate pattern.
No one noticed JĹŤri's change.
Heshu prepared to absorb the beam into his storage space.
But then, an invisible ripple spread before him. The beam of extreme heat suddenly refracted at an impossible angle.
Its new target was the masked Hanataki himself.
The masked man flickered away as the beam shot toward the distant horizon.
BOOM!
A mountain peak in the distance crumbled.
"Reflection?" The masked man was the first to look back at Heshu.
Heshu raised an eyebrow. He hadn't acted.
ThenâŚ
"JĹŤri! Your eyes!" Yako's gasp drew everyone's attention to him.
In his eyes, the complex pattern slowly rotated. His face paled. JĹŤri raised a hand. He could feel itâa torrential, surging power within his body. This power had transcended the Sharingan, reaching a new threshold.
JĹŤri had awakened the MangekyĹ Sharingan. Its ability, for now, seemed to be reflecting attacks.
Suddenly, the heated battlefield was pierced by a wave of biting cold. Before them, walls of ice erupted from the ground, shielding them. Through the transparent ice, they saw the Hokage's expression.
JĹŤri froze. The fire in his veins turned to ice.
He understood Heshu's decision. Heshu had severed his intent to intervene.
A blast of frigid air brushed past Heshu's cheek. He flickered away, and the ground where he'd stood was instantly coated in thick frost. This Ice Release had come from the masked man.
"He uses Ice Release too?" Shisui frowned. The coincidences were piling up. The Hokage's instant movement, Ice Release⌠the opponent had them both. Even their hair color was the same. Shisui glanced at the masked man's long, silver-white hair floating in the wind, his suspicion deepening.
The masked Hanataki lowered his hand. That was Divine Cold Air, another of Ultraman Cosmos's combat techniques. He'd revealed it on purpose. As the similarities grew, a seed of doubt would be planted in people's minds.
"Enough playing with the Hokage!"
The masked man shot higher into the sky. Arcs of electricity crackled to life in his hand.
Simultaneously, the clear sky was swallowed by silvery clouds. Blue-purple lightning danced within them. Thick, dark clouds shrouded the land as if night had fallen in an instant.
Flickering lightning was reflected in everyone's eyes. Thick bolts of thunder brewed and intertwined in the heavens. The sharp, sizzling crackle of current assaulted their eardrums.
The masked Hanataki raised his crackling hand high.
CRACK!
The lightning in his hand connected with the sky. Waves of force rolled out, the gale threatening to topple them. His robes whipped violently in the turbulent air. Under the strain of the colossal energy, a tiny crack formed on his mask.
"Thunderbolt Crusher!"
Unleashed in Cosmic Coronium Mode, the attack carried an aura of absolute annihilation. Its power was such that resistance seemed a futile thought.
"Cursed Technique Reversal: Blue!"
"Cursed Technique Lapse: Red!"
Spheres the size of small meteors coalesced on Heshu's left and right. Space began to warp under the intense pressure.
"Imaginary Technique: Purple."
The two spheres merged. Red and blue shifted into a profound, ultimate violetâa sphere multiple times larger than any Tailed Beast Ball.
The concentrated pillar of lightning collided with the violet sphere.
BOOOOOOMâ
A deafening roar filled their ears, followed by a sharp, stabbing pain in their minds.
Drops of blood fell to the ground. Weaker ninja had blood trickling from their ears and noses.
Blinding white light engulfed all of Iwagakure.
The Taixu Ancient Dragon Xiaoqing coiled its massive body, shielding everyone beneath it. Golden patterns glowed on its violet-gold scales.
Ancient trees were uprooted. Houses collapsed instantly. Tall city walls turned to dust. The vast expanse of Iwagakure, under the residual pressure of the clash, became a field of ruins.
The white light slowly receded.
Everyone strained to open their eyes, desperate to know the outcome.
A black figure fell like a broken butterfly.
"The Hokage won!" someone shouted.
A cheer erupted. They looked up at the figure still standing in the sky.
Sasori caught the masked man's limp, falling form. "Hanataki?"
"I'm fine!" Hanataki hung his head, a curtain of disheveled silver-white hair hiding his face. The cheap mask had long since turned to ash. Fearing exposure, he covered his face with one hand. Between his fingers, dazzling sky-blue eyes glinted.
His other hand gripped Sasori, his voice urgent. "Go!"
Silver-white light flashed from his body, enveloping them both. The next second, they vanished from the battlefield.
"Lord Hokage!"
"Lord Hokage!"
Cheers rose from the crowd.
Xiaoqing shrank back to its normal size, returning to Heshu's wrist.
Everyone stood in place, looking at Heshu. Tears welled in their eyes. Gratitude, admiration, respect, emotion⌠A whirlwind of feelings overwhelmed them, and some broke down, sobbing.
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