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Still airborne, Might Guy twisted his body mid-fall and forced himself into position, landing on both feet.
He slid backward for more than ten meters before finally coming to a stable stop.
"Good! You really are strong. If I don't fight you with everything I've got, that would be disrespectful to you… and a betrayal of my youth!"
Guy's eyes blazed. Battle intent surged off him like heat waves.
"The Seventh Gate—Gate of Wonder—Open!"
He roared.
Something inside him snapped open. Chakra erupted through his body like boiling magma.
The green vapor surrounding him shifted into a deep blue haze. Veins bulged across his forehead. His skin flushed crimson. Air currents spiraled violently around him.
At that moment, Guy looked less like a man and more like a war god descended to earth.
The pressure pouring off him now was no weaker than any Kage.
"…I didn't expect someone like this to be hiding in the village," Fugaku Uchiha muttered darkly, genuinely shaken.
The man rumored to know only taijutsu. The one he had never even taken seriously.
And yet now, he was unleashing power like this.
Fugaku felt a surge of relief. Thank goodness this mysterious powerhouse was helping the Uchiha tonight. Otherwise, facing so many elites at once, their clan might truly have been wiped from the ninja world.
With another top-tier fighter on Konoha's side… escaping unscathed would be nearly impossible for Akira now.
Fugaku's gaze toward Akira grew more troubled.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, on the other hand, was elated.
He had never imagined that such an unremarkable taijutsu specialist could explode with this level of strength.
What a pleasant surprise.
So young, yet already capable of opening the Seventh Gate.
After this is over, I must bring Guy into the ANBU and make him my direct subordinate, Hiruzen thought.
—
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
More than a dozen blue afterimages streaked across the air. It wasn't clones, just speed so extreme the eye couldn't keep up.
"Leaf Great Whirlwind!"
Boom!
A side kick carrying terrifying force crashed into Akira's shoulder. The impact thundered like a war drum, a shockwave rippling outward.
"Not bad," Akira said as his body shifted slightly to the side from the force. "You actually made me feel a little pain."
There was admiration in his eyes.
"I'm not done yet!"
Guy roared again, turning into a blur as he attacked from every direction.
In the Seventh Gate, his speed and strength had skyrocketed. Every punch and kick broke the sound barrier.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Blow after blow slammed into Akira, explosions of impact echoing nonstop.
Akira tried to counter, but Guy's speed let him evade every attempt. Akira couldn't land a single hit.
From the outside, it looked completely one-sided. Like Akira was just standing there getting pummeled.
The watching Konoha ninja erupted in cheers.
"Guy! Take him down!"
"How dare he disrespect Lord Third! Make him pay!"
"This isn't a place for someone like you to run wild! Show him what Konoha's made of, Guy!"
But while they shouted, Guy's expression only grew heavier.
He could feel it clearly.
His attacks weren't doing anything.
At best, it was like scratching an itch.
The longer he fought, the colder his heart grew.
What kind of monstrous defense is this?
Even a Tailed Beast isn't this tough…
"Fighting me and still letting your mind wander?"
Akira twisted and delivered a sudden flying kick straight into Guy's chest.
Boom!
Guy shot away like a blue comet and smashed directly into the loudest group of cheering ninja.
"Ahhh!"
"Gah!"
Several unlucky shinobi were sent flying, coughing blood.
So this is what ninja are like, Akira thought calmly. High offense, low defense. Even with the Seventh Gate open, Guy's no exception.
I can afford countless mistakes. You can only afford one.
That's reality.
He felt a quiet gratitude.
Good thing I took the Super Soldier Serum. My physical abilities have been enhanced across the board.
"AAAH! That level of attack won't defeat the youth burning within me!"
Guy burst out of the pile of bodies, roaring.
"Daytime Tiger!"
He howled as the air around him twisted violently. His aura surged even higher.
All his power condensed into his arm.
He thrust forward.
In the next instant, that power took shape, manifesting as a roaring white tiger made of compressed air and force. It lunged at Akira with a deafening roar.
The moment the white tiger appeared, suffocating pressure blanketed the battlefield.
Even the Konoha ninja watching from afar felt their hearts pound in fear, though they weren't the target.
"…That power is no weaker than any S-rank ninjutsu."
"Go! Crush that arrogant bastard!"
"No way he survives that!"
Excitement burned across their faces as they waited for Akira to be obliterated.
"What's he doing? Hand signs?"
"Idiot! Trying to counter Daytime Tiger with ninjutsu? He's dead!"
—
On the field, before the attack even reached him, fierce winds whipped Akira's long hair into a frenzy.
Facing the roaring white tiger, he didn't move.
Instead, his hands flashed through seals.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!
A colossal fireball erupted from his mouth.
Flames raged like a miniature sun, turning the black night sky into daylight.
"…That chakra…" Hiruzen's composure shattered.
In his memory, only one man could unleash Fire Style on this scale.
The man of legend.
Uchiha Madara.
Damn it.
Has another monster capable of standing shoulder to shoulder with Madara appeared in the ninja world?
Hiruzen's face darkened. Was tonight meant to be the Uchiha clan's annihilation… or Konoha's?
Around them, the Konoha ninja stared in disbelief.
How is this possible?!
It's just a B-rank Fire Style jutsu!
How can it display S-rank destructive power?!
This… this isn't normal.
It shattered everything they thought they knew about ninjutsu.
Boom!!!
The massive fireball collided with the white tiger in a catastrophic explosion.
The blast roared through the night. A towering mushroom cloud rose into the sky.
"This… He canceled my Daytime Tiger with a casual Fire Style?"
Guy stood frozen, eyes dull and unfocused.
He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
His strongest technique… erased by a mere Great Fireball.
For the first time in his life, his spirit took a devastating blow.
Even his youth no longer felt like it was burning.
He sagged.
"So that's it?" Akira appeared in front of him, voice calm, eyes faintly disappointed. "That's your strongest attack?"
"Without the Eighth Gate, you're still just an ant to me."
"Looks like this fight ends here. I was actually expecting more."
His leg whipped out in a vicious roundhouse—
But Guy wasn't sent flying.
Because the kick never landed.
Akira's powerful, muscle-bound leg stopped midair.
A pitch-black shadow had wrapped itself around it.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu… successful."
Not far away, Shikaku Nara knelt on one knee, hands locked in a seal. His shadow had stretched across the ground and connected with Akira's.
"Puh!"
Shikaku suddenly coughed up blood.
"Damn it! Why is he this strong? He's not even human!"
He gritted his teeth and shouted urgently:
"Quick! Get Might Guy out of there! He's not fit to keep fighting!"
"Move! I can't hold this for long!"
"Puh!"
Another mouthful of blood spilled out.
"Don't panic, Shikaku! I'm coming!"
Inoichi Yamanaka rushed forward.
"One attack from inside, one from outside. Let's see him deal with that!"
He formed a frame with his fingers like a camera, locking onto Akira.
"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"
In an instant, Inoichi's consciousness shot into Akira's mind.
Then—
"What… what is this?!"
In his mental form, Inoichi stared ahead in horror.
Before him stood a towering giant.
It stretched from earth to sky. He couldn't even see its full height. It felt like a god looming above the world.
And he, Inoichi Yamanaka, was nothing more than an ignorant insect daring to trespass in divine territory.
"This… this is his consciousness?"
"How vast does his spiritual power have to be to take a form like this?"
"I've entered countless minds before. I've never seen anything like this. It's unbelievable…"
He whispered, utterly shaken.
The stronger a ninja's mental power, the larger their manifested consciousness.
And Akira, bearing both the Rinnegan and the Eternal Mangekyō, possessed terrifying spiritual strength.
"This is bad… I have to get out. A consciousness like this isn't something I can control!"
Yamanaka Inoichi snapped out of his shock.
"Hey! You think you can just leave? My mind isn't some public park you can stroll into and stroll out of!"
The giant Akira grinned viciously, his voice crashing down like thunder.
The sheer force of it nearly blew Inoichi's consciousness apart.
"Damn it… Mind Body Switch Technique—release!"
But—
He didn't return to his body.
Panic flooded his face as he stared at the towering figure before him.
"Y-You… what are you? You can control your own mind to this degree? You're locking me in?!"
Akira let out a low, cruel chuckle. "Next time, don't rely on that busted clan trick of yours to barge into someone else's head whenever you feel like it."
He reached out and pinched.
As easily as crushing an ant, he snuffed out Inoichi's consciousness.
—
Outside, because he'd used the clan's secret technique, Inoichi's body had been left in the care of fellow Yamanaka ninja.
The next second, his awareness snapped back into his body.
"Pff—!"
He coughed up a mouthful of blood, eyes flying open before rolling back. His face turned deathly pale.
His body convulsed violently.
He didn't wake.
Then someone noticed the spreading stain beneath him.
The Yamanaka around him froze.
"T-The clan head… he's—"
"He lost control?!"
"Lord Inoichi! Lord Inoichi, what's wrong?! Please, wake up! Wake up!"
"What happened in there? Why did the backlash hit him this hard? That kind of incontinence is almost unheard of!"
Panic rippled through the group.
At last, Inoichi stirred weakly. His eyes fluttered open, clouded and exhausted. Trembling, he lifted a finger and pointed toward Akira, terror plain on his face.
"H-He's a monster… Don't—don't ever use our clan's technique on him…"
And with that, he fainted again.
No matter how desperately they called to him, he didn't wake.
Mostly because… well.
He'd just humiliated himself.
Pretending to stay unconscious was the only dignity he had left.
—
Meanwhile.
Inside his mind, crushing Inoichi had taken Akira less than a breath.
But in that sliver of time, Might Guy had already been dragged away.
And the bindings around Akira had tightened.
More shadows coiled up his body, wrapping around his limbs.
If he didn't put some strength into it, he wouldn't be breaking free anytime soon.
"How about that, you muscle-bound freak? Don't underestimate the Nara clan…"
Nara Shikaku growled through clenched teeth.
"Maybe I can't hold you down alone. But with my clan backing me? Let's see you break that."
Around him stood dozens of Nara clan members, all using their secret technique.
Shadow Imitation.
Their shadows merged, layered, reinforcing each other.
For the moment, Akira was pinned.
Crack. Snap. Snap—
As Akira twisted his body, the shadows began to tear apart one after another.
The recoil slammed into the Nara clan like a hammer.
They spat blood in unison.
"What the hell is this thing?!" Shikaku roared, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth. "Even with the entire clan working together, we can't hold him?!"
Then he shouted:
"Choza! Are you done yet?! If you don't move now, this monster's breaking free!"
"Pff—!"
He coughed up another mouthful of blood.
"Hang in there, Shikaku. I'm ready."
The ground exploded upward.
A giant, well over a hundred meters tall, rose into the sky.
Ninja Art: Super Expansion Jutsu!
Akimichi Choza, his red hair whipping wildly, had used the time Shikaku bought him to swallow his clan's secret pills.
His chakra surged.
His body swelled.
In an instant, he became a titan towering over the battlefield.
"It's the Akimichi clan's ultimate technique! Get back!"
The surrounding ninja scattered as Choza's massive frame ballooned outward.
"Take this! I'll grind you into paste!"
Super Human Boulder!!
With a thunderous roar, Choza's gigantic body curled and began to roll.
He transformed into a colossal wheel, barreling straight at Akira.
The earth shook violently.
Cracks split the ground. Buildings crumbled. Boulders shattered.
A storm of dust followed in his wake.
It looked like nothing could possibly survive being caught in that path.
"Yeah! Crush him!"
"Roll him flat, Choza!"
"Show him what Konoha's made of!"
Cheers erupted from the Konoha ninja.
This was their village.
Strong warriors rising one after another.
Even if someone fell, another would step up.
Konoha, the strongest ninja village in the world. Unshakable.
—
Facing the oncoming mass, Akira's expression didn't change.
He simply raised one hand.
Carrying the hopes of every Konoha ninja present—
Carrying the force to destroy everything in his path—
Choza slammed into him.
And then—
He stopped.
Abruptly.
The smoke slowly cleared.
There stood Akira.
One hand outstretched.
Blocking the gigantic rolling titan.
A collective gasp swept through Konoha's ranks.
Impossible.
This was a giant over a hundred meters tall.
In this form, Choza had once matched a Tailed Beast in raw strength during the Third Great Ninja War.
And yet—
Compared to him, Akira was like an ant at a giant's feet.
Except now, that "ant" had just stopped the giant with one hand.
It was unreal.
"..."
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