Ten!!!
Shimura Danzō, who was resurrected for the tenth time, gasped for breath and did not launch another attack. Instead, he stared at Shihouin Naraku with wide, disbelieving eyes.
"Why?" he demanded.
Shihouin Naraku waved Kurikara casually and tilted his head as he looked at Shimura Danzō, whose eyes were now bleeding. "Why what?"
Shimura Danzō's face contorted with rage, and he screamed madly: "Why didn't Kotoamatsukami work?!"
"Oh? That's what you're asking about!"
Shihouin Naraku smiled slightly and gazed calmly at Danzō. "I am naturally immune to genjutsu!"
"Impossible!"
"Absolutely impossible!"
"You must be joking! How can such a thing be true?"
Shimura Danzō lost all composure and screamed frantically at Shihouin Naraku, completely unable to accept such an answer.
The smile on Shihouin Naraku's handsome face disappeared as he gradually regained his serious demeanor. "You look pathetic like this!"
"Let me finish you off one last time!"
The pitch-black tip of his blade stabbed forward with lightning speed, leaving Shimura Danzō no time or space to dodge.
It's over! There's no time to set up the seal to restrain Shihouin Naraku!
Too fast!
At the critical moment, Shimura Danzō summoned all his remaining strength and barely dodged the blade, but Kurikara still sliced into his pale right arm.
"Wood Style: Thrusting Wooden Spears!"
Danzō's right arm expanded rapidly, and an extremely thick tree grew instantaneously. While defending against further cuts, the tree's wood encased Kurikara, trapping the blade as outstretched branches quickly moved to wrap around Shihouin Naraku.
Instinctively, Shihouin Naraku leapt backward, avoiding entanglement by the tough branches.
With a sharp crack, Danzō controlled his partially petrified right arm to detach from the tree. He then bit his thumb, drawing blood, and quickly formed hand signs for a summoning jutsu!
"Summoning Jutsu: Baku!"
"BOOM!"
A massive tapir-like creature appeared in a cloud of smoke. It resembled an elephant but with a much larger body. Its massive claws crushed the ground beneath it, causing violent tremors.
"WOOOOOO—"
The Baku roared, expelling a large cloud of mist from its long trunk. Then it opened its enormous mouth toward Shihouin Naraku.
In the next second, a tremendous suction force erupted from its maw!
Gravel, wood splinters, and debris were swept into the air by the powerful vortex, all of it falling into the seemingly bottomless mouth of the Baku.
Shihouin Naraku's body was involuntarily pulled forward, flying toward the Baku's gaping mouth.
"Now that you've lost your weapon, I wonder how you'll escape!" Danzō shouted triumphantly.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!"
Shimura Danzō formed seals with his hands and expelled a violent ball of compressed air from his mouth, rocketing toward Shihouin Naraku like a projectile from a powerful launcher.
With the Baku's pull from the front and the Wind Style jutsu pushing from behind, Shihouin Naraku accelerated helplessly toward the creature's bloody maw.
"Wind feeds fire! You idiot!"
With a deafening bang, Shihouin Naraku's body erupted with orange-red flames, as if a massive fireball had exploded inside the Baku's mouth.
The strong wind swept upward, instantly intensifying the scorching flames. A huge sphere of fire expanded and engulfed the enormous body of the Baku, burning ferociously.
"ARRRRGGHH!"
The Baku roared in agony as the smoke dispersed instantly. The summoning was broken, and the creature disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"What kind of Fire Style jutsu is this?"
Shimura Danzō stared in disbelief at Shihouin Naraku's transformation into flame, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.
Could it be a ninjutsu similar to the Lightning Release Chakra Mode?
The Wind Style jutsu had struck Shihouin Naraku directly, but instead of harming him, it had only made him stronger.
How is this possible?
Danzō knew that if he couldn't figure out the nature of Shihouin Naraku's abilities, he would not survive this encounter.
Of course, no shinobi in the Hidden Leaf Village could possibly recognize the powers of the Mera-Mera Fruit's elementalization.
What came to mind instead were ninjutsu that might produce similar effects.
For example, the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique—a secret jutsu that allowed the user to transform into liquid, becoming immune to physical attacks.
But the Hydrification Technique had a significant weakness: Lightning Style ninjutsu!
The paralyzing effect of Lightning Style would prevent the Hydrification Technique from functioning properly, creating a fatal vulnerability.
Shimura Danzō quickly recognized the similarities between the two abilities, except one utilized water while the other employed fire!
If it was Fire Style, then it should be vulnerable to Water Style!
This presented a problem, as Danzō himself was not proficient with Fire Style.
His specialty was Wind Style!
What made this situation particularly frustrating was that the Wind Style techniques Danzō excelled at would actually enhance the power of Fire Style ninjutsu, while the Water Style he barely knew would be effective against Fire Style!
Of course, not being proficient didn't mean he knew no Water Style jutsu at all.
"THUD!"
Shihouin Naraku landed on the gravel, the flames covering his body gradually diminishing. He raised his eyes and calmly watched as Shimura Danzō rapidly formed hand signs.
Those seals... they're for Water Style...
It seems Danzō has figured it out.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
"I am the Second Hokage's student! Don't underestimate me!" Shimura Danzō roared as he summoned a serpentine water dragon that charged toward Shihouin Naraku with a mighty roar.
"Really? You certainly don't fight like it!"
Compared to his Fire Style ninjutsu, Danzō's Water Style not only required more hand signs and took longer to execute, but the water dragon's power was also vastly inferior to what a true master could produce.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
Shihouin Naraku stepped forward firmly with his right foot. Immediately afterward, a rumbling sound preceded several extraordinarily hard earthen walls rising from the ground, blocking the Water Style attack.
"CRASH!"
When the water dragon collided violently with the barrier, the earth walls shook vigorously. Despite the powerful impact, not even a single crack appeared on their surface.
"Did you really think I only knew Fire Style?"
With Shihouin Naraku's current mastery of Fire Style, this level of Water Style jutsu posed no threat whatsoever.
A simple bucket of water could never extinguish a forest fire!
The main reason Shihouin Naraku blocked with Earth Style was simply that Danzō's Water Style was so weak that a basic Earth Wall could easily stop it. Why get soaked when you could stay dry?
Shimura Danzō reached out to grasp Kurikara, which remained trapped in the wooden growth from his earlier jutsu. He attempted to take the blade for himself.
Having witnessed firsthand how deadly the sword was, Danzō was delighted at the prospect of claiming it. Without this weapon, Shihouin Naraku's combat effectiveness would surely be reduced.
Danzō truly was not skilled with Water Style ninjutsu. The simple Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu had consumed more chakra than two Wind Style techniques would have.
Besides, Shimura Danzō had only learned a handful of Water Style jutsu throughout his long career.
So Danzō's new plan was to engage Shihouin Naraku in taijutsu combat. According to his assessment, if Naraku lacked his weapon advantage, he would be no match for Danzō in hand-to-hand combat.
Now that he was about to claim Kurikara, Danzō believed he could definitely overcome Shihouin Naraku in close-quarters combat!
He felt utterly confident!
"WHOOSH—"
Just as Shimura Danzō's palm was about to grasp Kurikara's hilt, intense flames suddenly erupted from the entire length of the sword. The fire lashed out, instantly igniting Danzō's pale right arm!
"AAAGGHH!"
This unexpected development shocked Danzō to his core!
The flames enveloped his arm and spread rapidly, consuming his entire body within seconds and causing Shimura Danzō to scream in agony.
The excruciating pain of being engulfed by the raging inferno pierced straight through to Danzō's heart and lungs!
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