"Audacious! You want to die?"
The two Root members roared, barely containing their fury at Ryūjin's defiance.
"Since you refuse to see reason, don't blame us for showing no mercy!" one of the pig-masked ninjas growled, activating the Body Flicker Technique. In an instant, he appeared beside Ryūjin, hand reaching to seize him.
"Scram!"
Ryūjin swung his arm. The force of Shinra Tensei erupted outward, smashing into the attacking ninja.
Boom!
The pig-masked Root member's body lurched as if struck by a tidal wave, sent flying through the air in a humiliating arc. He landed disheveled and defeated.
"Attack together!"
The pig-masked and cat-masked Root ninjas exchanged a glance, wordlessly agreeing. Drawing their weapons, they split in two directions and charged Ryūjin.
"You really think I'm afraid of you?" Ryūjin asked coldly. He knew Danzo, the old fox, must be watching from the shadows, so he refrained from using the Rinnegan. Plenty of other methods were at his disposal; crushing two Root Special Jonin without the Rinnegan was child's play.
Perfect opportunity to test his other new techniques.
"Eight Gates, Gate One—Open!"
"Eight Gates, Gate Two—Rest, open!"
"Eight Gates, Gate Three—Life, open!"
"Eight Gates, Gate Four—Wound, open!"
Ryūjin opened four of the Eight Gates silently, without shouting like a fool. The power radiating from him was staggering—a living vortex of energy. The two Root members felt suffocated by the sheer force.
"What… is this strength…"
Horror crossed their faces.
Swoosh!
Ryūjin vanished using the Body Flicker Technique. The Root ninjas barely registered it.
"Not good!"
A wave of overwhelming danger struck them as Ryūjin appeared behind, fists blazing like twin meteors. The two Special Jonin reacted at the last moment, twisting midair and raising their weapons—but their tools never touched him. The immense energy surrounding Ryūjin blasted them aside.
Bang! Bang!
Two heavy impacts resounded as the Root ninjas convulsed violently, flung backward midair, coughing up blood. Gravely injured, they struggled to recover.
Swoosh!
Before they could rise, Ryūjin, moving with the speed granted by the fourth gate, appeared above them. Two precise kicks crushed their throats underfoot, killing them instantly.
"D-dead… Qing-gou and the other one… instantly killed!"
Other Root operatives hiding nearby gasped. Uchiha Ryūjin, long considered the clan's laughingstock for stubbornly focusing only on Taijutsu, had turned into a monstrous force.
"Taijutsu… how can it be this strong? What kind of taijutsu is this!" Danzo's single eye widened in shock. If not for the corpses, he might have doubted his own vision.
"Hiruzen and I were wrong. Ryūjin beat Asuma with pure Taijutsu, no Genjutsu involved!"
Danzo finally grasped the truth. Still, Ryūjin's sunglasses were suspicious—they had never been worn before. Danzo planned to investigate further.
By now, however, Danzo's interest had shifted. The taijutsu itself—the method behind it—was what he truly desired. If Root could acquire such a terrifying martial technique, Danzo's breath grew heavy imagining the possibilities.
"Uchiha Ryūjin!"
Danzo stepped from the shadows, staff in hand, his single eye blazing. "To think we underestimated you!"
"Danzo, you old schemer, finally willing to show yourself?" Ryūjin's gaze was icy.
Danzo nearly stumbled in rage. A disciple of the Second Hokage, a veteran of Konoha's founding wars, leader of Root—even Hiruzen treated him with respect—yet a teenager dared call him an old schemer. Fury consumed him.
He had planned to lure Ryūjin into Root, to slowly extract the secrets of his taijutsu.
"Take him down, leave him breathing!" Danzo ordered, killing intent radiating from him.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
At his command, Root after Root leapt forward, surrounding Ryūjin in a tight ring.
"Move!"
Every Root member drew kunai and shuriken, launching a storm of steel at Ryūjin.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh!
The air turned black with spinning weapons, leaving no gaps. No ordinary taijutsu could block such density, and even instantaneous movement was insufficient. No matter how fast one moved, every direction was covered.
Flying Thunder God!
Ryūjin vanished in an instant, gone without a trace.
"Impossible speed!" Danzo's pupils shrank. Ryūjin had shattered every understanding Danzo had of taijutsu. He still mistook the Flying Thunder God for extreme Taijutsu, never realizing its true nature. After all, since the Second Hokage's creation, only Minato Namikaze had mastered it.