For a whole day now, the wind and snow had continued unabated.
At the ruins of a village in the old Land of Whirlpools, Hagoromo and Kakashi had once again encountered enemies. Kakashi's opponent was yet another eyebrowless brat from the Mist, whose target was the Executioner's Blade. Hagoromo's opponent, meanwhile, was the Four-Tails Jinchūriki of the Hidden Stone.
And the opponent had seen through his identity.
Over the past year or so, Hagoromo had been fully immersed in the war. He had been quite active. In terms of strength, he had been steadily improving, which meant that, objectively, the casualties he caused among the enemy were anything but small. Many of the corpses produced by his hands... well, their state of death was sometimes quite tragic, and sometimes even worse than tragic.
With his "cruel" methods, he had firmly solidified his title as the "Yaksha." He was a textbook example of someone who excelled at their craft. His pure white mask was frequently stained with blood, and his black iron gourd had taken on a reddish hue.
—That's just how shinobi are. Even someone with a personality like Rin Nohara wouldn't hesitate when it was time to strike.
So, following his notoriety among the Sand, he was now quite famous among the Cloud and Stone as well. He was a highly recognizable ninja; even with the mask, he usually carried that gourd. It was a specialized tool, and not many used such things on the battlefield—even fewer "young gourd-carrying kids"—so after a few encounters, the enemy remembered him.
Hagoromo and his squad spent most of their time jumping around the Cloud front, with intermittent chaos-making on the Stone front, usually managing to retreat unscathed. Hagoromo himself was rarely injured.
It wasn't surprising that the Hidden Stone had files on him. But it was a bit strange that Rōshi knew his data, especially considering the man's presence here.
Helping the Mist snatch the Byakugan? Their relationship isn't that good. Planning to let the snipe and the clam fight so the fisherman can profit? Snatching the Byakugan for himself? Seems logical, but this is an emergency—how could the Stone react so fast? Just passing by? Too much of a coincidence, and his composure doesn't look like someone just passing through.
Also, are there other Stone ninja here?
In an instant, Hagoromo's mind raced through countless possibilities, only to discard them one by one. But he had no time for deep thought; the Jinchūriki was putting a lot of pressure on him.
"Can we exchange some intel? Inform each other of our reasons for being here," Hagoromo tried to fish for information.
Clearly, the opponent's IQ was well above 80. Hagoromo wouldn't tell the truth, and Rōshi had no obligation to tell Konoha anything.
"Is negotiation useless? In the end, a ninja still has to speak through the number and power of the jutsu they've mastered..." Hagoromo sighed, sounding like some sort of pacifist.
Actually, this viewpoint matched quite well with a certain member of the Sannin. In fact, he could probably get along with all three of them.
"According to our Stone intelligence, the White Yaksha has strong control over Lightning Style. You'd likely be categorized among the strongest of lightning ninja. But unfortunately, any physical contact-based attack will be at a disadvantage when fighting me..."
Regardless of Rōshi's goal, combat was inevitable. As if to prove the persuasiveness of his words, the moment Rōshi finished speaking, his hand signs were complete.
In an instant, his entire body was dyed a brownish-red color. Even from a distance, Hagoromo could feel the scorching heat radiating from him.
"Lava Style?" Though he phrased it as a question, Hagoromo could confirm that Rōshi had immediately activated his Lava Release Chakra Mode.
This mode made Rōshi's body surface look as if it were covered in high-temperature lava. This extreme heat put him in a state where physical contact was impossible. Under this mode, anything he touched would melt; flesh and blood were a joke to him.
Lava Release Chakra Mode possessed both offensive and defensive capabilities. In that sense, it was similar to Hagoromo's Chidori Nagashi, yet stronger—especially in terms of defense.
"Are you trying to seal off my close-quarters attacks with that?"
Rōshi had gone straight to his big move, likely out of wariness for Hagoromo's Lightning Style. Against this technique, Hagoromo truly couldn't use Raikiri or Chidori to attack. Exchanging damage using Chidori Nagashi... was even more out of the question.
Hagoromo couldn't use short-range Nintaijutsu, while Rōshi could practically ramp-page through everything.
Advantage neutralized?
If it had been a year ago, Hagoromo would have found this very troublesome. But unfortunately, the him of today was different from a year ago. At thirteen and a half—rounding up, he was practically fourteen—he could almost be seen as a mature shinobi.
"All you think you know is the 'me' of the past..."
As he spoke, Hagoromo lowered his body slightly. He extended his left arm forward, fingers together, palm vertical to the ground. He pulled his right arm back, fist clenched. It looked as if the punch he was ready to throw had an impossibly long attack range.
Behold: JET Hagoromo. Even a Jinchūriki's gonna cry.
Well... according to the setting, Hagoromo was originally a massive One Piece fan with a heavy history of "Chunibyo." Though he had long since become cynical/depressed, it seemed some side effects remained.
Of course, he wasn't actually going to pull off a "Gomu Gomu no Jet" whatever. He was just bluffing.
To Rōshi, it looked like Hagoromo was using his stance to aim at him. Is there some powerful, high-speed move that requires such precise aiming?
Still, a ninja of his caliber, even if not known for speed, wasn't exactly slow. In a lightning-enhanced state, Hagoromo might gain a speed advantage, but only an advantage—not total suppression. Fast combat styles have their ways, and slow styles have theirs; it's not like the former always wins.
While Hagoromo was still posing, Rōshi moved. A fist wrapped in scorching lava-like heat was already enlarging in Hagoromo's eyes!
In Hagoromo's vision, he could clearly see the air refracting from the heat, as if space itself were being distorted. The area around Rōshi was no longer a realm governed by wind and snow; the steaming, boiling Lava Style was enough to destroy the weather within a certain radius!