Infinite Anime [262-263] (Patreon)

Chapter 262: Chaos

Tsunade looked at the two figures clashing in the field, surprise flickering in her eyes. She hadn't expected that in the years she'd been away from Konoha, a taijutsu ninja this powerful would emerge.

Might Guy—he was actually completely suppressing the Calamity, Gusion, head-on on the battlefield!?

The two fought at such speed that even her naked eyes struggled to follow. On top of that, the momentum and pressure of Guy's strikes were so overwhelming that no ninja could get close to the battlefield between him and Gusion.

Boom—

Guy kicked again. Gusion gripped the Mazuko with one hand on the hilt and one bracing the spine. Even as he deflected the force, he heard the blade groan with a creaking wail, as if it were about to snap!

Once Guy entered this state, he only grew fiercer the longer he fought. Every move was heavier than the last, and each successive strike was even harder to block, blasting Gusion away like a cannonball.

That kick shattered Gusion's balance; he smashed through Konoha's buildings as he hurtled backward and finally crashed straight into Konoha's outer wall—right back to where the fight had started.

After slamming into the wall, Gusion coughed up blood.

With the Seventh Gate open, Guy was a complete monster—and this was without him using his strongest move in this state within Konoha.

In the original story, Guy's Daytime Tiger focuses an ultra-high-speed straight punch at a point, compressing the air and then releasing it in an instant. The resulting air cannon takes the shape of a tiger, devastatingly powerful; the spreading shockwave could make people kilometers away struggle to keep their footing.

Right now Guy was clearly holding back, worried about damaging Konoha's buildings and injuring other Konoha shinobi.

In Gusion's scouting skill, Guy's current status had already turned into a string of question marks. Judging by the feel of the hits, Gusion estimated the opponent's strength attribute to be at least 80 points, conservatively.

If not for his superb deflection techniques, just those few moves from Guy would have pounded him into a meat patty.

Gusion felt he had to take back what he'd said earlier: the chakra system did have a very high upper limit. The Eight Gates technique provided a massive temporary boost within the system. If used by someone with an even stronger baseline, it was hard to imagine how terrifying it could be.

For a moment, he grew intensely interested in the Eight Gates. If he had the chance, he must get his hands on it during this plan to destroy Konoha.

"Still not down… As expected, Gusion, you're strong."

Seeing Gusion walk out of the depression in the wall as if nothing had happened, Guy spoke solemnly.

The Eight Gates were powerful, but the drawbacks were just as obvious: the later the gate, the heavier the burden on the body.

Honestly, the Seventh Gate was already his limit now, and even in actual combat he couldn't throw many moves in this state. At this moment his bones and muscles were screaming, lodging a fierce protest against their master.

If he couldn't finish Gusion quickly, once the Eight Gates state ended, he'd become a temporarily limp invalid.

With that in mind, he dared not waste time and charged again.

This time, with Gusion forced back to the village wall and no other Konoha ninjas around, he could unleash his full strength without scruples, end this threat to Konoha, and fulfill the wish he'd held since youth.

As Guy sprinted along the street, sweat vaporized from the heat into blue steam. He became a streak of blue light; the sheer gale he raised as he crossed the battlefield smashed nearby Sound ninjas to pieces.

When he was within a few dozen meters of Gusion, Guy adjusted his sprint, his torso arching back like a tiger raising its spine. Massive force transmitted through the ground, chakra surging, energy detonating at a point.

Boom—

As Guy punched, the surrounding ruins of Konoha were swept up in a powerful air current that took the shape of a tiger. Debris entangled in the turbulence formed stripes along the tiger's body.

"Daytime Tiger!"

With a battle cry, Guy unleashed the strongest technique of his life so far, vowing to end the Calamity.

The cerulean tiger pounced; Sound ninja nearby couldn't evade in time and were pulverized without even a scream.

With an earth-shaking roar, the tiger slammed into the wall and exploded with a thunderous blast. The compressed airstream surged forward in advance, spreading southeast in a V-shape toward the forest.

The powerful force toppled the trees like cutting through rot, parting the forest into a clean middle part—leaving only a sky full of dust.

The residual airflow continued for several kilometers before gradually dissipating.

Konoha's people, including Tsunade and Jiraiya—who was gathering natural energy—were stunned. They hadn't expected a pure taijutsu ninja like Guy to wield a technique with such destructive power.

Dark Sky Demon and the others looked grim. They had guessed Gusion would act with Orochimaru and came to Konoha to catch a ride on the chaos.

And now the Calamity had been blown up with one punch by an unleashed Guy!?

What the hell were they supposed to do, then!? Konoha's two Sannin weren't pushovers.

If Gusion really bit it, wouldn't they be done for too?

"Cough, cough…"

Just as Konoha's ninjas and explorers were about to cheer and Orochimaru's camp wore long faces, a cough sounded from outside Konoha's gate.

A sharp-eyed Konoha ninja looked toward the woods outside the village and saw a figure. His voice shook with shock. "It's the Calamity—he's not dead!"

Gusion stepped forward along the felled trees, coughing up mouthfuls of blood and clots from internal organs. A restorative glow flickered over him, healing his grave internal wounds.

In that instant earlier, when Guy closed in at extreme speed, committed to a kill with Daytime Tiger, locked onto him by intent and airflow, Gusion simply couldn't dodge.

He had a Lightning Release Chakra Mode and Shunpo-like speed, but Guy's body flicker wasn't a joke, and his stats completely overwhelmed Gusion's. A taijutsu master wouldn't whiff a decisive technique like that.

When Gusion walked out of the dent in the wall, he had already judged that he couldn't easily evade Guy's ultimate move—so he immediately gathered natural energy and entered Sage Mode before Guy struck.

He pushed his temporary attributes to the peak he could currently reach, then assumed a close-quarters breakfall/receiving posture to meet Guy's Daytime Tiger head-on.

At the same time, he mobilized a maximum amount of soul source to conjure Bakudō #81. Dankū in front of him. But that barrier shattered almost instantly under Guy's blow; other ninjas didn't even notice it had appeared.

Gusion received Guy's punch in a breakfall stance. In that moment, he felt every bone and muscle in his body screaming. The colossal force penetrated his defenses and tore at his internal organs.

He made himself as light as a leaf, yielding and drifting with the force, retreating while offloading impact, and relied on two powerful defensive pieces of equipment to barely hold on.

Even so, he was severely injured. Without Seimei Kikan, he would have lost combat capability.

By the time he reached Konoha's gate, most of his injuries had healed, though he had consumed a considerable amount of soul source to repair his body.

Outwardly, he was no longer as pristine as at the start. The Midnight coat was ragged from the blow, full of holes with frayed edges.

The Ice Cloud Battle Armor's durability had also dropped by nearly half, which pained Gusion.

"Huff… huff… huff—"

Guy stood at the gate, breathing heavily. That last strike had exhausted everything he had. Though his will to fight remained, his body collapsed against his control.

Gusion glanced at the slumped, battle-spent Guy. "In taijutsu, Guy, you've already reached the pinnacle."

Guy's Eighth Gate battle in the original story left too deep an impression, making it easy to overlook his baseline strength. In truth, with the Seventh Gate open, Guy was already a top-tier super-elite that ordinary Kage-levels couldn't handle.

Kisame, a Kage-level with strong toughness, was one-shotted by Daytime Tiger—proof of Guy's explosive power.

But Guy's overwhelming power came as a time-limited card. If you weathered his three big opening blows, he'd be spent.

Gusion didn't know whether Guy had trained far enough to open the Eight Gate yet, but these Seven Gates had certainly put heavy pressure on him, nearly derailing his Konoha plan.

"Even Daytime Tiger… isn't enough…"

Regret tinged Guy's gaze. The extreme overdraw on his body made him faint outright.

Thankfully, his best friend Kakashi arrived in time, propping Guy up and hoisting him onto his shoulder to evacuate him from the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the recovered Tsunade finally snapped back to action and launched a punch at Gusion.

But this time, to Tsunade's surprise, Gusion didn't dodge. He threw a straight counterpunch.

Thud—

With a dull boom, the ground beneath them caved in and shattered. As Gusion dispersed the force, he only slid back a step, while Tsunade was blasted away, flipping midair to regain balance after retreating over ten meters.

With his clothing torn, Gusion's skin was partially exposed. By Konoha's burning light, they clearly saw the dark red dragon scales surfacing on his body, the plates opening and closing like breath, clinking like metal when they collided.

He lifted one hand to the back of his neck, rolled his shoulders, and grinned, showing a row of gleaming white teeth. "Anyone in Konoha who hits harder?"

In Sage Mode, his composite attributes soared to 75 points. Paired with Ryou and Conqueror's Coating, he could contend with Tsunade's monstrous strength head-on.

Guy's kind of stat monster wasn't sustainable. Having weathered his brutal waves, Tsunade-level power just didn't feel that heavy to him anymore.

With that, the Mazuko reappeared in Gusion's hand as he strode forward to cut down Tsunade.

Konoha's elite jonin, led by Kakashi, saw this and stopped worrying about the Fourth Mizukage, rushing in to support.

But once Gusion plunged into them, even with taijutsu alone he tore through them like a tiger through sheep. In an instant, several fell. Others were kicked clean out of the battlefield, coughing blood midair and vomiting chunks of viscera.

Watching Gusion butcher Konoha's shinobi, Tsunade's rage burned away her inner scruples. She charged him in fury.

At the same time, Jiraiya finally finished preparing Sage Mode and attacked from the flank. "Sage Art: Super Big Ball Rasengan!"

A Rasengan as large as a small car formed in his hand and came crashing at Gusion from the upper diagonal.

Gusion, also in Sage Mode but still adjusting his internal injuries, didn't take the hit head-on. Instead, he used Cicada-Shell Shunpo, leaving only a torn flap of his coat behind.

He himself flashed in front of Tsunade, severed her left arm with one stroke, then twisted his waist to carry the momentum into a cleave that knocked Asuma's trench knives flying.

Next, he kicked Asuma, folding him into a V as he blasted away, smashing through row after row of houses before falling silent—life or death unknown.

As for a few explorers who dared rush him, high-voltage current spread across the ground, making them convulse. Before they could retreat in terror, Gusion's blade arrived. Three heads fell, tracing arcs in the air.

"Gusion!"

Jiraiya cried out in shock and fury. He hadn't expected that even with Sage Mode, he still couldn't suppress Gusion.

Chapter 263: The Drawbacks of Sage Mode

Within the forest created by Deep Forest Emergence, the Third Hokage darted at high speed, dodging the pursuit of several Impure World Reincarnation bodies.

"Huff… huff… huff…"

He panted, drenched in sweat and stained with blood. Not ten minutes into the fight, he was already close to exhaustion.

The First and Second Hokage weren't summoned at full power, and they'd had their self-awareness stripped by Orochimaru. As their student who knew their abilities well, the Third could still barely cope.

But that third Impure World Reincarnation body was lethal to him: Sasori was fighting with his own will.

He wasn't obeying Orochimaru—he was just partnering again with a former Akatsuki associate. After all, attacking Konoha was something he wanted too.

And when it came to killing the Third Hokage, Sasori was going all out.

The Third didn't have the kind of monster strength that conveniently crushed puppets. His ninjutsu was heavily restricted within Deep Forest Emergence, and the Second Hokage's Flying Thunder God harassment was lethal. He had no way to directly attack Sasori, a puppeteer.

Thus he had to face endlessly replenished puppet armies—among them the deadly Third Kazekage puppet. Magnet Release was draining the life right out of him.

"Hehehe, Lord Hiruzen—running out of steam?"

Orochimaru's sinister laugh came from the trees. He stepped out from behind a trunk, eyes glinting oddly despite his smile as he took in the Hokage's sorry state.

"Orochimaru, even if you kill me, you won't destroy Konoha!"

The Third raised his voice. "And I will never let you leave here to bring further calamity to Konoha!"

"Old man, you seem to be mistaken. You're the one scrambling for your life. You're not the one holding us here."

Orochimaru smiled. "At this point, what gives you the confidence to say I can't destroy Konoha? Do you even know who my partner is?"

He flicked his tongue across his lips. "It's Gusion—the Calamity you and Danzo personally drove out. He has descended upon Konoha."

The Third's face darkened. As Hokage, he knew the inside story of Gusion being driven out.

He'd driven Orochimaru away because his human experimentation had gone too far—and because word had spread among villagers, making it impossible to conceal as Hokage. He had no choice but to expel his student.

But Gusion? He knew that Konoha's war hero had no real stain on his record. Claims about massacring civilians were nonsense, and human experimentation was out of the question.

But they couldn't expose enormous crimes by an elder advisor—it would have been a fatal blow to Konoha's image. And Gusion might have threatened Minato's position at the time. So he turned a blind eye and let Danzo handle it.

The result: Gusion was driven to defect. The boy he'd once known eventually returned—and after eight years imprisoned in Kumo, he no longer had the innocence of youth.

The Third knew they themselves had created a demon of vengeance. He didn't regret the decision he made back then; he only regretted not helping Danzo finish the job—letting Gusion, a rogue, escape.

Just like the man before him. "Orochimaru, I never should have let you go."

He'd caught Orochimaru red-handed at a human experimentation site years ago. Back then, with his younger and stronger self and an ops squad, he could have killed Orochimaru.

But he couldn't harden his heart. After a few exchanges, he let Orochimaru slip away.

"But Gusion and I don't see it that way. We should thank you for letting us go."

Orochimaru smiled twistedly. "You gave us the chance to come back."

"Orochimaru, are you two done chatting? My time is precious—you know that."

Sasori dropped down beside Orochimaru, displeasure plain on his face.

He hated dawdlers. When he assassinated the Third Kazekage, he was brutally efficient.

"Apologies for wasting your time, Sasori."

Orochimaru licked his lips. "Let's shut the old man up."

As soon as he spoke, he and Sasori attacked together, striking at the Third Hokage.

The Third's eyes hardened. He knew he'd die today, but he still shouted for all Konoha's fighters to hear. "Orochimaru, you won't get away today—Jiraiya is still out there!"

As Hokage, it was a display of weakness, but he had to shout it—to give every Konoha shinobi still fighting a shot of courage, to make them understand that the village's strongest wasn't this aged Hokage.

It was Jiraiya in his prime. He would lead them to turn the tide and defeat the invaders.

Boom—

Right as his words fell, a massive roar sounded. A kilometer of the Deep Forest Emergence zone was punched clean through. Those sturdy giant trees snapped one after another, woodchips flying as they toppled.

The impact only stopped near the edge of the forest zone behind the Third. He stared at the figure who had been blasted away. That iconic long white hair said it all.

Jiraiya had been blown away!?

Everyone on the field was stunned by the sudden impact, turning to look where Jiraiya had crashed. Orochimaru paused with a smile, curious to see the Third's reaction.

Jiraiya's facial skin had turned bumpy like a toad's, red markings tracing his face. He had clearly entered Sage Mode—making the Third even more shocked.

He knew his disciple's strength best. In terms of direct battlefield power, Jiraiya in Sage Mode was the strongest of the Sannin.

But even in Sage Mode, Jiraiya had been sent flying this miserably—it was unbelievable to the Third.

Jiraiya struggled to his feet, coughing blood. Even with his deliberate protection, the sages Fukasaku and Shima on his shoulders had taken some damage from the impact.

"Little Jiraiya, the enemy is tricky. We might not be able to help you maintain Sage Mode."

Fukasaku spoke, blood at the corner of his mouth.

"What are you saying, dear? Without Sage Mode, little Jiraiya will die."

Shima said, eyes worried.

Jiraiya gave a bitter smile. "Don't blame the two sages—it's my incomplete training."

His Sage Mode was indeed strong, and compared to Gusion's Sage Mode he clearly had a greater amount of senjutsu chakra and a sturdier physique. But he had a fatal flaw.

He wasn't entering Sage Mode by his own power. He had a clear weakness.

While his resistances in Sage Mode were high and he wasn't too afraid of Gusion's lightning, Fukasaku and Shima were not.

Electricity in combat would injure them greatly, and no one can keep gathering natural energy while being electrocuted.

So Jiraiya's Sage Mode was unstable now. If the two toad sages couldn't hold on, his senjutsu chakra would cut off directly—leaving him even less able to fight Gusion.

"Orochimaru, Sasori—why are you two old partners moving so slowly?"

Gusion stepped through the air with Shunpo, unhurriedly approaching from the rear. Though his coat was full of holes, he still looked presentable—and not at all injured.

"I hate inefficiency too."

Sasori said curtly. "Orochimaru was dawdling, chatting with the old man too long."

Gusion glanced at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru, don't tell me you're still sentimental about your teacher?"

Like a tail had been stepped on, Orochimaru gave a couple of sinister chuckles, his eyes turning poisonous. "Of course not. Gusion, go do your thing. I'll finish this battlefield shortly."

Hearing that, Gusion didn't waste more words. He strode toward Jiraiya, not even looking at the Third, who tensed in alarm.

He had no interest in bullying the elderly, and ninjutsu-types like the Third weren't the kind of opponent he wanted to engage.

The Mazuko traced a dark red arc through the dim forest, lightning arriving before the blade—preventing Fukasaku and Shima from gathering natural energy for Jiraiya.

Battles between shinobi are contests of strategy—finding the opponent's weakness. Having just taken a punch from Guy, and with the schemer Obito possibly spying in the shadows, Gusion didn't dare toy around long with Jiraiya.

So after exchanging a few blows with Jiraiya at peak Sage Mode, he decided to end it quickly—drop Konoha's apex combatant first.

"Sage Art: Needle Jizō!"

Facing Gusion's attack, Jiraiya fired his hardened hair like a storm.

The move covered a huge area to prevent Gusion from evading with speed. Jiraiya didn't expect it to kill—only to pin Gusion down and buy the two sages time to gather natural energy.

But the torrential barrage failed. As Gusion charged, his body began to spin, becoming a massive vortex of attraction, churning heaven and earth. The gale twisted the needles' trajectories, drawing them toward him to spiral around his body.

Gusion stood like the eye of the storm, untouched by external forces. He advanced with the writhing power, the vortex reversing the needles back the way they came!

Secret Sword Art—Embrace All Rivers!

Seeing this, Jiraiya forced down his shock and rapidly wove seals, coordinating with the two sages to unleash a high-powered ninjutsu. "Sage Art: Goemon!"

Jiraiya spat oil; Fukasaku added Wind Release; Shima added Fire Release. The three jutsu merged into a massive fire tornado. Temperatures shot to thousands of degrees—the strongest direct-power ninjutsu they commanded.

Facing such heat, the returning needles melted instantly. Gusion didn't dare take it head-on. He turned his blade and adjusted his movement, then cut once more.

The dark red blade gleamed against the starry night. At the boundary of yin and yang, he unleashed the strike.

An upward reverse slash—like a tide parted—the blazing storm split in two, streaming past him ten meters to either side, scorching Hashirama's forest to cinders. Nearby trees carbonized and burned to ash in an instant.

Gusion stood between two walls of fire. The air on both sides shimmered with heat, making his figure seem almost illusory.

Crimson dragon scales looked even more menacing in the flames. His dark red hair stood on end in Lightning God Mode. He was like an asura walking out of purgatory.

"Little Jiraiya, why are your Konoha rogues all this strong?"

Fukasaku stared at Gusion, grave.

"What did he do to get kicked out?"

Shima, even in crisis, couldn't help her curiosity about Gusion's past.

"I…"

Jiraiya was momentarily at a loss. How should he know why Konoha's rogues were so strong? And he remembered Gusion hadn't really done anything wrong. Records listed the Calamity's crimes, but he didn't believe Gusion capable of them—there had to be more to it.

He knew Gusion bore a grudge against Konoha, but he couldn't just watch him destroy the village. He could only fight to the death.