Infinite Anime [260-261] (Patreon)

Chapter 260: Three Legendary Sannin, Three Consecutive Battles

The moment Gusion arrived, he fixed his gaze on Jiraiya, the legendary Sannin—someone fierce enough to duel Nagato for a long stretch. A top-tier powerhouse just a shade below super-Kage level; Gusion dared not take him lightly.

The demon blade at his waist slid free. Conqueror's Haki and Ryuo entwined, turning the blade's purple-black hue into a dark crimson as he slashed at Jiraiya.

The dark red sword light carved through the night sky and crashed into a colossal Rasengan. For an instant, time seemed to halt. The vortexing, twisted energy tried to forcibly wrench Gusion's blade off its line, while his edge, reinforced by Conqueror's Haki and Ryuo, pressed straight in with brutal resolve.

Boom—

A thunderous detonation scattered a vortex-storm in all directions. Gusion's strike finally split the Rasengan and drove straight toward Jiraiya's throat.

At the critical moment, Jiraiya's long white hair whipped up, hardening into ironlike white spikes that intercepted the dying force of the blade.

Metal rang on metal; both men were knocked back by the recoil. Their fierce clash even made Garaga's head ache from the stomp Gusion had planted on it.

Gusion flipped in midair, then steadied himself on nothing but air. "Garaga, that toad is yours."

He hardly needed to spell it out: Gamabunta, short blade in hand, was already charging Garaga. Garaga was no less bold; his charge was fiercer than Gamabunta's.

The two giant beasts collided in the center of the battlefield, turning the terrain upside down. Despite his advantage in steel, Gamabunta was briefly suppressed by old-hand Garaga.

Gusion stepped forward in a blur, entering his Raijin form in Shikai. Dark red lightning fell on Konoha like a waterfall, scouring the massed ninja ranks.

But to his surprise, a second waterfall of cyan-blue lightning surged up from the ground, meeting his in midair. The clashing currents canceled his attack out.

That familiar power let Gusion instantly lock onto the source.

Among the crowd, he spotted a white-robed mage wearing an awkward smile.

After buying Gusion's Goro Goro no Mi from "WhyAreYouBarking," the man had paid a hefty sum to power it up. Being a mage by class, his expertise with pure energy attacks naturally surpassed Gusion's. In a direct clash of similar attacks, he wouldn't be overwhelmed.

Even so, meeting Gusion now was embarrassing—after all, his power came from the other side. He also had no desire to be Gusion's enemy; anyone who'd managed to collect ten Devil Fruits in the One Piece world was, in his mind, the ultimate madman.

Truth be told, Gusion had made a big splash in the Naruto world as well; you could say his name shook the shinobi world.

Earlier, MoveOverImBarkingNow had wondered why Dark Sky Demon would side with Orochimaru. So it turned out the "Mazuko" was part of this Konoha Destruction Plan too—no wonder the mission's upper-bound difficulty was "certain death."

Unfortunately, since they were already in the game, deserting on the battlefield would bring severe penalties. All they could do now was grit their teeth, hang on, and survive the war.

Gusion didn't know MoveOverImBarkingNow's little inner calculus, but he could see the embarrassment on the man's face—and that, for now, they weren't intent on crossing him. Their positions differed, but he didn't have to force a fight.

In fact, he wasn't planning to annihilate Konoha at all—though Konoha didn't know that.

"Gusion, your opponent is me!"

Jiraiya charged back in. Seeing Gusion unleash lightning on the army gave him a chill; he knew he couldn't let that continue. Gusion had to be killed, and it had to be by his hand.

He leaped onto Gamabunta's head, and the old partners moved in perfect sync to unleash a joint ninjutsu.

Jiraiya had a keen sense for timing. Gamabunta and Garaga had just crashed apart, and Gamabunta was facing away from the village toward the invading army. If they fired a wide-range technique now, they could reap massive results.

Gamabunta's cheeks ballooned as if holding something in, then he spat a flood of oil.

"Fire Style: Toad Oil Flame Bullet!"

The combo technique launched; Bunta's oil merged with Jiraiya's fire to form a massive oil-flame shell, sweeping across a swath hundreds of meters wide, like world-ending fire roaring toward Otogakure's lines.

Seeing this, Gusion stopped paying attention to the explorers. He decided to focus on Jiraiya first, then clean up the small fry.

Facing that enormous sea of fire, he flashed forward before Garaga. The Mazuko had returned to its sheath at some point. Night wind tugged his short hair back as he surged in.

Lightning sigils in his pupils were dyed red by the blaze, his fighting spirit rising.

In the next instant, he drew and slashed on a diagonal. Starlight and moonlight spilled down, swallowed by the dark red blade. The pitch-black edge met the crimson inferno as though to hew down the stars themselves.

Empowered by Shunpo and Lightning Chakra Mode, his sword struck like a dragon. Before the blade fully swept out, sword aura had already begun carving the battlefield.

The black sword light extended forward—an invisible edge crisscrossing—slicing the ocean of flames in an instant and cleaving on into the endless night.

Esoteric Legacy, Gusion's original sword art—Falling Star!

With a sky-shaking rumble, the Toad Oil Flame Bullet split apart. Fire rain sprayed in all directions, whirled aloft by the gale.

Yagura's Edo Tensei body happened to fall back, formed seals, and slapped his hands to the ground. "Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"

A towering wall of water rose, shielding Orochimaru's allied ninja from the remnants of the flames, nullifying Jiraiya's wave.

At the same time, Gusion didn't slow after his strike. He drove straight for Jiraiya on Gamabunta's head.

High-voltage current rippled along the ground, instantly numbing Gamabunta as he tried to move. To protect Bunta from being cut down, Jiraiya had to abandon evasion and take Gusion head-on.

He formed a Rasengan in one hand to meet the descending blade and, at the same time, his hair billowed wildly—aiming to entangle Gusion with Wild Lion's Mane during the collision.

But Gusion was on the offensive now, not passively receiving. In an instant, he breached the Rasengan's twisting field and sliced through the hair ensnaring him.

His momentum didn't falter. The edge drove for Jiraiya's chest.

In the nick of time, Jiraiya leapt back. A spray of blood burst from his chest, but he avoided a fatal wound.

That dodge spelled disaster for Gamabunta. Gusion's cut half-missed, but he didn't sheathe. Riding the momentum, he twisted midair and brought another spinning slash down.

Squelch—

The extended sword aura of that blistering cut ran long, carving a gash more than ten meters along Gamabunta's back, deep to the bone.

A veteran battle-beast, Gamabunta didn't cry out, but the agony made him convulse and collapse. He clearly couldn't keep fighting.

Seeing it, Jiraiya was wracked with guilt. He hastily dispelled the summoning and sent Bunta back to Mount Myoboku to heal, and in his heart he raised his alert on Gusion even higher.

It wasn't that he'd been careless before; humans don't change their ingrained views in an instant. Even with Gusion's feats in mind and sensing his considerable "chakra," in his memory Gusion was still a junior active on the battlefield—not someone on his level.

Now, after being wounded in two exchanges and seeing Gamabunta badly hurt, he no longer dared hold back. He retreated while forming a summoning.

With a puff, two clouds of white smoke burst on his shoulders. When the mist cleared, two elderly little toads stood there.

"Dear, is the late-night snack ready yet?" Fukasaku Sage still seemed groggy, asking his wife about supper.

"Where did I put the seasoning? I'm sure there was some left," muttered Shima Sage, equally lost.

"Elder sages, forget the snack—I'm facing a tough enemy. I need Sage Mode!"

Jiraiya cut them off, sprinting madly and struggling to evade Gusion's attacks as he urged them on. "Another word and I'm a dead man!"

His Sage Mode could massively boost his power, but it had a flaw: his training wasn't perfect. He couldn't enter Sage Mode seamlessly and needed Fukasaku and Shima's help to gather natural energy, which took time.

That time could be fatal—especially against a blisteringly fast, explosive opponent like Gusion. He felt that five minutes was a pipe dream—five seconds might be too much.

Even so, he had to activate Sage Mode. Without it, he saw no realistic way to defeat Gusion. The man was too fast, with battlefield mobility Jiraiya lacked.

Even if he could stalemate Gusion head-on, Gusion could circle around and slaughter other Konoha ninja.

To stop the bleeding, he had to be able to kill Gusion—impossible without Sage Mode.

Jiraiya never expected that a twenty-one-year-old junior could push him this far. The last time he'd felt such pressure in battle was back in the Sannin days, when he and Orochimaru and Tsunade fought Hanzo the Salamander.

"Tsunade! If you don't pull yourself together, Konoha will fall today! How many more deaths do you want to see!?"

Boom—

Chasing Jiraiya, Gusion suddenly jumped sideways. A figure crashed down where he'd just been. The fist's impact was cataclysmic—an entire building exploded, and the shockwave gouged a crater in the ground.

Gusion adjusted midair and landed in a blur, eyeing the blonde, buxom beauty with interest—hard to believe she was over forty; her face could pass for a woman in her twenties.

No need to ask: this was the shinobi world's super cash cow, Lady Tsunade.

In Tsunade's eyes, panic had receded. From the power of that last punch, there'd been no hesitation—she was aiming to kill.

So the hematophobia was gone just like that? As expected, people need a push to unlock their potential, Gusion mused.

"Cut the chatter and get into Sage Mode," Tsunade snapped, settling into a fighting stance and fixing Gusion with a heavy gaze. "I'll hold him!"

Gusion met Tsunade's eyes for two seconds, then chuckled. "Lady Tsunade, your eyes aren't firm enough. You think you can stop me like that?"

A close look showed she hadn't truly conquered her inner demons—she was forcing herself to act because the village faced annihilation, propping herself up for the battlefield.

"Talk big while you still can," Tsunade said coldly. Facing someone even Jiraiya couldn't pin down, she dared not hold back; she came out swinging with everything she had.

"Ninja Art: Creation Rebirth—Strength of a Hundred!"

The Yin Seal on her forehead unbound; the markings spread across her face. Her body entered a rapid passive regeneration state—she was clearly ready to trade blows.

As a ninja, she knew she wasn't a nimble speedster or a crafty tactician. What she could do was push the Senju clan's monstrous strength to the limit and slug it out up front.

If she could land a hit, taking a cut in exchange would be worth it.

Chapter 261: Konoha's Blue Beast

"You've banked quite a lot of chakra..." Gusion said with a teasing lilt. He didn't interrupt Tsunade opening her Strength of a Hundred—it was, frankly, a chicken-rib technique for this matchup.

Jiraiya included. 

If he'd truly come to slaughter Konoha today, the battle would already be over.

He'd had a chance just now to chase and finish Jiraiya in a single combo. Even though Jiraiya's overall attributes were high, his tactics skewed defensive and reactive. Against Gusion's speed and heavy slashes, he'd have had no trades to make.

The reason he spared Jiraiya wasn't because of fondness from the manga, but because he wanted to test himself against Jiraiya at peak—to see how far he was from super-Kage power.

Only by defeating Konoha's strongest head-on could he plunge them into deeper despair and pressure; then, when the Uchiha acted, the effect would be greater.

With that, Gusion vanished into the night in a step.

To Tsunade's eyes, he simply disappeared. She felt a mortal threat.

When the shadow reappeared in her view, the blade had already fallen—a descending diagonal cut that ripped her clothes, sliced across her massive chest, and traced a wide crimson arc.

That was with her battle instincts forcing a retreat step at the last instant. Without it, she might've been cleaved in two.

Strength of a Hundred began repairing her body immediately—almost as soon as the edge passed—but strangely, the wound closed abnormally slowly, far from what she knew her jutsu could do.

She ignored the anomaly in her body and the odd drain on her chakra and punched at the shadow.

The punch was so sharp the air itself seemed to dent. But it struck nothing, detonating a massive air bullet that smashed into the ruins beyond.

Off-balance from the whiff, Tsunade thought, Not good—and a lance of pain shot up her leg: her left Achilles had been severed.

She spun again, lashing an elbow at where she sensed him—only to hit air.

Gusion stood three meters to her flank, a ghost made flesh. He came to a stop without even stirring much wind; only the hem of his black coat fluttered.

The Mazuko's point dipped toward the ground, blood streaming in drops.

Without needing to go all out, Gusion could now perform Perfect Shunpo, though he had to admit it was mostly for show and of little practical value.

To reach peak speed, the thunderous, momentum-heavy Shunpo still worked best.

But he didn't need to be that serious against Tsunade. As the First Hokage's granddaughter... she was simply too weak.

Against ordinary ninja, Tsunade's monstrous strength plus Strength of a Hundred made her formidable.

Against a high-mobility, heavy-hitting foe, if she couldn't land a blow, she was just a sandbag—slowly bled of chakra and killed.

Gusion carved her like with a dull knife—each stroke pulled back just shy of fatal, never giving her a clean hit, his blade drinking from her Yin Seal chakra. He could almost hear a soul inside Devourer howling with delight.

"Guy, go support Lady Tsunade!"

On the main field, Kakashi saw what was happening and decided in an instant. Not that he underestimated the Sannin—Tsunade was being dismantled. Any longer, and she might be cut down.

Though he'd lost his Sharingan, his fighting power hadn't dropped much. In fact, these past few days his chakra had noticeably increased. Aside from Raikiri—harder to use without the dynamic vision—he was stronger in most other ways.

He, Kurenai, and Asuma had tied down the Fourth Mizukage on the main front, adopting a harrying strategy. Facing Yagura fighting on instinct without his tailed beast, they could just about blunt his advance.

As for Kisame, Guy had been handling him alone and was clearly on top—only, because Kisame was an Edo Tensei body, they hadn't figured out how to shut him down completely.

Kakashi wasn't avoiding helping Tsunade; he judged himself a poor match for a natural disaster type like Gusion. The best counter to Gusion was a pure taijutsu powerhouse. Otherwise you couldn't track his speed or handle his blade.

Ordinary taijutsu users would still be countered; Calamity wasn't an empty title. That ever-present lightning was lethal to anyone with a flesh body. Even if it didn't fry you, getting stunned in close quarters was fatal.

He sent Guy because he trusted Guy's monstrous physique, and the explosive chakra of the Eight Gates—enough to form a kind of special energy buffer that could blunt the lightning.

"Don't worry, Kakashi—my youth is burning!" Guy flashed a thumbs-up, white teeth gleaming, and vaulted upslope toward Tsunade.

ANBU squads filled in to keep Kisame occupied; losses wouldn't widen.

Just then, as Gusion whittled Tsunade down, he suddenly sprang back, slipping a whirling kick.

"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"

Only after the strike landed did that bright, hot-blooded voice arrive.

Guy planted himself before Tsunade. "Lady Tsunade, I'll help you face him."

Gusion looked at the man in a forest-green jumpsuit under a flak vest, thick brows and all, and his interest rose.

Honestly, compared to Tsunade, this guy could teach him more.

Even now, he definitely had the capacity to open the Eighth Gate. Gusion felt he needed to mind the challenge.

"Gusion, remember me? Konoha's Blue Beast—Might Guy!"

Guy straightened, struck a painfully awkward pose, and flashed a broad grin.

From Gusion's perspective, the performance art was... abstract. But past the overblown passion and odd aesthetics, Guy was the hidden strongest on the field.

"Guy, stand aside. I don't want to kill a classmate," Gusion said coolly. Canonically, they'd been at the Academy together.

Like Kakashi, he'd been active on the battlefield since his teens. Guy had graduated later and hadn't fought in the Third War.

"I don't know why you left the village, but attacking it is wrong. I'll defeat you here!" Guy declared, hot-blooded as ever, as chakra mist billowed from him.

He'd only opened the Third Gate against Kisame earlier. Facing Gusion, he dared not hold back.

Since their student days he'd known how strong Gusion and Kakashi were. He'd hoped to catch up through effort. He'd tested himself against Kakashi; now he would measure himself against the Calamity.

This time, it wouldn't be a friendly spar.

Boom—

Chakra roared off Guy's body. Veins bulged on his forehead; muscles and bones groaned under the pressure as he opened the Eight Gates in succession.

The Injury Gate... the Du Gate... the View Gate... the Shock Gate!

He stopped only at the Seventh Gate. The surging chakra put a brutal load on his body; his skin flushed red, azure steam coiling off him.

Gusion didn't rush to strike. He watched Guy's rising aura and rocketing stats, a brighter light kindling in his eyes.

This—this was the opponent he wanted.

For a moment, Jiraiya and Tsunade dropped from his mind. The dark red lightning cinched tight, folding back into himself.

"Gusion, I'm coming!"

Guy was scrupulously sporting—he even called his attack first, which made the newly-steady Tsunade roll her eyes.

"Go together!" Tsunade barked, trying to reclaim some face.

But Guy didn't wait. When he moved, the ruins underfoot exploded. The earth shook as if a tailed beast had stomped.

He didn't use any fancy footwork, yet reached a speed that even made Gusion marvel.

No technique—just raw stats.

Boom—

A lightning-fast kick. High-pressure air wrapped his leg like a shield—his strike landed before his foot.

Gusion slashed with the Mazuko; the keen aura cleaved apart the high-pressure wind and met Guy's specially-made boot with a singing clang.

The force of that kick transmitted straight through. Even with Gusion's skill at dispersing impact, he was driven back, smashing through three rows of houses before he stopped.

He flexed numb fingers and grinned, teeth white as bone. "Guy, your taijutsu lives up to its name."

Guy didn't pause for praise. To him, the best respect for a former classmate turned traitor was to defeat him at full power.

Facing a sword-user, he kept his secret steel boots and guards on. At the Seventh Gate, weight hardly mattered; they made fine armor.

The first blow failed. Wrapped in blue steam, the Blue Beast pounced like a tiger.

At that speed, with the Seventh Gate's chakra erupting like a bijuu cloak, he blasted down the street with ear-splitting sonic booms. The hungry wind shattered windows along his path.

The storm roared where he passed; the blue beast, tiger-like, drove a straight punch.

Boom—

Like a cannon. Cyan mist curled his fist; speed condensed the air into a massive shell that hurtled toward Gusion.

The sheer force of that straight punch made Dark Sky Demon break into a cold sweat—they wanted to flee the field outright.

Gusion didn't yield. He cut down with Mountain Sunder, slicing the unseen pressure in the air. Most of the attack shattered, but the wind still shoved him back, his feet furrowing long tracks in the ground.

With his Raijin bloodline only at level 2, it was great for mowing mooks, but against someone like Guy at the Seventh Gate—chakra roaring like a bijuu cloak—it wouldn't do much. He didn't try lightning on Guy.

He also wanted a pure taijutsu duel, to feel the pinnacle of Naruto-world hand-to-hand, without flashy skills muddying the experience.

War-lust burned on Gusion's face. He charged straight into the gale of Guy's fists. The Mazuko's purple mist shredded into fine ribbons behind him, his silhouette like a devil breaking out of hell.