Chapter 7

Under the fierce assault from Ai, Byakuren, and Ishikawa, Gensou instinctively dodged to an open space.

Nearby, Ishikawa immediately revealed himself from his camouflage state, slamming his hands on the ground to unleash a high-level Earth Release technique he had prepared.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The ground shook as two massive hemispheres suddenly appeared on either side of Gensou, pressing towards him with overwhelming force.

Gensou tried to escape the technique's range, but the narrowing passages were already blocked by Byakuren and the others, their dazzling and dangerous jutsu preventing him from moving forward.

Gensou frowned slightly and stopped.

He looked expressionlessly at the mountains on either side about to crush him.

With a loud crash.

A massive mountain peak appeared in the valley.

Swish! Swish! Four figures landed around the mountain peak.

Looking at the motionless mountain ahead, Reto, who finally had a moment to tend to his arm injury, casually asked:

"Is it over?"

Ishikawa nodded confidently: "Even a tailed beast trapped in the Mountain Earth Technique would take a long time to escape."

Byakuren frowned, uneasy: "I'll add another layer of protection."

Saying this, he approached the mountain peak to perform a sealing technique.

Boom!

The mountain peak in front of him suddenly trembled.

Byakuren's face changed, and he was about to act, but it was too late.

Like a volcanic eruption, molten lava spewed from the mountain's peak, shooting skyward and then flowing downward due to gravity.

Within it, a figure wrapped in lava burst out, spreading his arms as he aimed directly for Byakuren.

"Got you!"

Gensou darted towards Byakuren like lightning.

Byakuren's face changed drastically, and he quickly performed a jutsu to buy some time.

But this time was different.

Facing the incoming jutsu, Gensou directly extended his right hand.

Dark Release: Inhaling Maw! Instantly!

Gensou's right palm acted like a black hole, greedily absorbing Byakuren's jutsu completely.

This was one of Gensou's trump cards that he had never shown before.

In previous encounters with the Four Kage, he had kept it hidden for this very moment.

"One down!"

Amidst the sound of a thousand birds chirping, Gensou rushed towards Byakuren, extending his right hand with the Chidori.

"You—"

Byakuren looked at the sudden appearance of Gensou in disbelief, wanting to say something.

Rip!

Gensou's right hand had already pierced Byakuren's heart.

"Stop!"

Everything happened too fast.

By the time Ai, the fastest among them, reacted and arrived, it was already too late.

"Damn it!"

No one expected that despite the Four Kage teaming up against one person, one of them would fall first.

Furious and ashamed, Ai immediately targeted Gensou.

However, his quick reaction left him no time to think about why Byakuren's jutsu had disappeared. Continuing his taijutsu attack on Gensou as before.

Ai couldn't understand why Reto and Ishikawa, arriving behind him, were both shouting for him to stop.

It wasn't until the next second, when his body, covered in Lightning Release chakra, visibly lost its charge, all of it being absorbed into Gensou, that he realized the mistake and tried to withdraw his hand.

But it was already too late.

Gensou pulled out his right hand, the Chidori continuing to cut towards Ai, who had brought himself to him.

In a critical moment, Ai made a swift decision, biting his teeth and choosing the best option.

Rip.

Blood spattered.

A massive severed arm fell to the ground.

One dead, one crippled; this was Gensou's long-prepared trap.

This shows how crucial information is in the ninja world.

Even Jiraiya, unaware of Pain's abilities, managed to destroy three of his bodies.

If he had known more about their abilities beforehand, his fate would not have been so tragic.

The same applies here.

As Ishikawa and Reto assisted the injured Ai, they looked back at Gensou with shock, worry, and even despair.

Since the creation of ninjutsu by Indra, a thousand years have passed.

In this long history, various Bloodline Limits have been born.

Some, like rivers, have been passed down through generations.

For instance, many current ninja clans.

Others have flashed by like meteors.

For instance, the root cause of the current situation, Dark Release.

Dark Release is an extremely rare and unique Bloodline Limit.

Ask today's ninjas, and nine out of ten might not know it.

Ishikawa and Reto learned about it only after consolidating the resources of the Lands of Earth and Wind, using their villages' extensive intelligence-gathering capabilities to uncover bits of information from history.

It was because of this knowledge that they felt so disheartened.

Dark Release can absorb any external ninjutsu and chakra, making it the absolute bane of ninjutsu-type ninjas.

But that wasn't all.

The real issue was that, aside from Dark Release, Gensou also possessed Steel Release, which negated physical damage.

Immunity to both physical and ninjutsu attacks—how could they fight that?

At this moment, not only the Kage present but also the future second-generation Kage watching the battle were stunned by Gensou's combination of Steel Release and Dark Release.

Hozuki Gengetsu had initially wanted to avenge their First Mizukage, but now, seeing Gensou's unreasonable power, he wasn't sure if his strongest ninjutsu could harm him.

Compared to the others, Tobirama, having seen much with his brother, remained calm.

"Dark Release and Steel Release, quite a combination. But even the strongest Bloodline Limits have limits. The Four Kage might not succeed, but that doesn't mean my brother won't."

Tobirama's thoughts were correct.

Hiruko, who also possessed Dark Release, couldn't absorb Naruto's Wind Release: Rasenshuriken due to the overwhelming chakra, leading to his death.

This proved that Dark Release has its limits.

Of course, Gensou wasn't like Hiruko, who had forcibly extracted Dark Release through the Chimera Technique, resulting in a lower quality power.

Hiruko's crude method of accumulating power ultimately led to his body breaking down and his death.

In contrast, Gensou, walking the right path, had far superior strength and foundation compared to Hiruko, making his use of Dark Release much stronger.

At least, he could easily absorb multiple Wind Release: Rasenshuriken.

With this judgment, Tobirama, more intrigued by Gensou's abilities, frowned slightly as he glanced at his brother's position:

"Waiting a bit longer might be better. But it seems my brother can't hold back anymore."

No one knows a brother better than his sibling.

Given the current situation, Tobirama actually hoped Gensou would cause more damage.

Facing weakened ninja villages after the battle, Konoha could secure greater benefits.

However, he knew his brother's nature too well.

Hashirama would never allow their current allies, the other Kage, to fall one by one before his eyes.

Sure enough.

Hashirama, who had been observing from a distance, finally made his move.

(End of Chapter)