"Don't know how to attack?"
As the lightning light dissipated, the Third Hokage stroked his short brownish-gray beard with one hand, while his other hand pulled out a shuriken and threw it with a sideways flick.
Just as the shuriken left his hand, it split into two, then four, then eight, turning into a sky full of flowing light in an instant, attacking like a metal storm.
The same technique, in the hands of its inventor, the Third Hokage, was several times more powerful than when used by Orochimaru, and the gap was even larger compared to Maruboshi Kosuke.
Facing the thousands of flying shuriken, Uchiha Gen retreated rapidly, his left hand pulling open his right sleeve and lightly tapping the "Sword" seal paper wrapped around his forearm.
Summoning Jutsu: Lightning Flash: Blade Creation.
Accompanied by a puff of white smoke, hundreds of shuriken tied with elastic steel wires flew out.
Although the quantity was far from the "one-man army" momentum of the Third Hokage, it was not to be underestimated.
His Sharingan spun rapidly. At this moment, the Uchiha Style's shuriken manipulation was pushed to its near limit, repeatedly parrying amidst the rain of blades, scattering every shuriken aimed at him.
Although these shuriken were all physical, their nature was like Shadow Clones; they crumbled upon contact and possessed only a fraction of his strength.
A few seconds later, before Uchiha Gen could even catch his breath, the Third Hokage's attack struck again.
"Composite Ninja Art: Earth Dragon Flame Stream!"
The earth dragon opened its mouth, pouring out a rushing river of mud. Accompanied by the flames spat from the Third Hokage's mouth next to the dragon's head, it surged toward Uchiha Gen with great force.
There was no time for many hand seals!
Uchiha Gen could only retreat again and again, barely buying some time. Simultaneously, he bit his thumb and slammed his palm onto the ground in front of him.
"Summoning Jutsu: Triple Rashomon!"
Three dull metallic sounds rang out as the red, green, and blue demon-faced Rashomon gates rose up in front of him.
The first two gates collapsed under Sarutobi Hiruzen's composite ninjutsu, but the third gate, with its stronger defense, stood firmly in front of Uchiha Gen.
"Triple Rashomon? Not bad. It seems you really did learn something from Orochimaru."
This move, Rashomon, surprised the Third Hokage somewhat.
Uchiha Gen had only learned this technique in the past few days. Only Tsunade and Orochimaru knew that he had contracted the third Rashomon gate.
Making its debut in battle for the first time, it achieved good results.
Taking advantage of the breathing room provided by the Rashomon, Uchiha Gen rallied his strength again. He gulped down a large mouthful of oil, created a Shadow Clone, and both jumped onto the Rashomon together.
Although the pressure of this battle was high, it wasn't a life-or-death crisis; it was merely a sparring match for guidance.
What he should do is demonstrate as much as possible the things he wanted to show.
For example, the composite ninjutsu that the Third Hokage excelled at.
"Composite Ninja Art: Great Flame Raging Wind Jutsu!"
The fire met the oil, turning into a raging sea of flames that rushed toward the Third Hokage.
"A bit crude."
The Third Hokage chuckled and calmly formed seals.
Two Shadow Clones had appeared beside him at some unknown point, performing different hand seal sequences.
"Ninja Art: Great Flame Stream Bullet Jutsu!"
Flames and violent winds swept through the surging sea of oil, instantly colliding with Uchiha Gen's ninjutsu.
The temperature was so high that the color of the flames changed, showing blue-green tints from the white core.
Droplets of sweat rolled down Uchiha Gen's forehead, only to be quickly evaporated by the high heat.
The surrounding air began to blur and distort. Within seconds, the sea of fire surged back toward his position.
He couldn't hold on!
Their proficiency in ninjutsu was simply not on the same level.
Uchiha Gen had to leap backward again. While the third Rashomon gate blocked the impact of the intense fire, he refined a large amount of Chakra and raised a layer of earth wall as thick as possible in front of him.
"Boom!"
The third Rashomon gate collapsed with a bang. Soon, Uchiha Gen saw the earth wall in front of him gradually cracking and melting.
If the burning continued, his Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall would be turned into glass.
He couldn't take it head-on!
But the range of this sea of fire was ridiculously large. If he lost the protection of this earth wall, what else could he do?
He could only continue to output Chakra, constantly repairing and rebuilding the earth wall.
Fortunately, before long, the flames finally subsided.
Uchiha Gen estimated that the Third Hokage had held back a bit, seeing that he couldn't handle the move.
"Can you still hold on? If you have any other skills you haven't shown, go ahead and use them."
The Third Hokage stood with his hands behind his back, speaking unhurriedly.
As soon as he finished speaking, three figures of Uchiha Gen attacked simultaneously from three different angles.
Uchiha Style: Sword Leap Flame!
The two Shadow Clones beside the Third Hokage immediately protected the main body, pouncing toward the Uchiha Gen figures on both sides.
"Chidori!"
A noisy, chirping electrical sound rang out. Uchiha Gen moved like a bolt of lightning, grasping the lightning light in his hand as he charged toward the Third Hokage's main body.
"Screech—"
Accompanied by a piercing metallic screech, Uchiha Gen's charging footsteps were forced to a halt.
A tall, strong, and muscular ape wearing a tiger-skin skirt blocked the way in front of the Third Hokage.
Its thick metallic arms firmly blocked the Chidori's piercing strike.
The Third Hokage's summoned beast, the Monkey King, Enma!
With his Adamantine Body standing there, he was more effective than most defensive ninjutsu.
"That actually hurt a bit."
Enma blinked a few times and then reached out to swat at Uchiha Gen.
"Poof!"
Uchiha Gen's figure dissipated into white smoke.
This was a Shadow Clone.
The chirping sound of Chidori rang out again. Uchiha Gen's true body emerged from another corner, turning into a flash of lightning as he rushed toward the Third Hokage.
"Nice one."
Sarutobi Hiruzen praised. The Enma behind him transformed into a thick staff. With a step back to gain leverage, he thrust the long staff forward.
Chidori and the Adamantine Body clashed once more.
Knowing that the Chidori's piercing power couldn't break through the Adamantine Body's defense, Uchiha Gen twisted his body again. He drew his Sengoku ninja sword with his right hand, parrying the Adamantine Staff with his backhand. He deactivated the Raikiri in his left hand, but instantly condensed a Rasengan and thrust it toward the Third Hokage.
"Enma!"
The Adamantine Staff transformed back into Enma. One hand grabbed the Sengoku ninja sword while the other formed a fist the size of a clay pot, smashing it toward Uchiha Gen's head.
If he continued to slam the Rasengan into the Third Hokage, his own head would be crushed by Enma.
In his haste, he had no choice but to twist his body and change the direction of his arm, pushing the Rasengan toward Enma's palm.
The Rasengan exploded with a bang.
Both Uchiha Gen and Enma were pushed back by the reaction force.
The former, being lighter, used the momentum to pull away, while Enma took two steps back and looked at the faint marks on his palm.
"Is this a seal-less ninjutsu? You've got some skill, kid of the Uchiha clan."
Enma couldn't help but praise.