Chapter 559 Before Dawn
Hashirama Senju formed the hand seals for the Substitution Jutsu just before being attacked.
As a ninja who had fought against Jigen in his previous form, Hashirama knew one thing better than anyone else present.
Compared to the completely liberated state before, there must be a much greater difference between Cixian's first state and even his previous second state.
Therefore, when Hashirama defeated Guy, Toneri, and Obito with a speed far exceeding all previous attacks, he had already made a judgment.
A direct confrontation offers no chance of victory; we must first evade and buy time.
As the First Hokage appeared beside Tsunade, his hands were already forming hand seals.
"Darkness Travel Technique!"
Ichishi's vision was suddenly swallowed up by pure darkness.
The technique, specially prepared for users of pupil techniques, caused him to lose his vision at this moment.
But it was only for this moment.
From the moment their vision was taken away to the moment their technique was completely cracked, it only took a single breath.
But all Hashirama needed was a single breath.
The branches that had been gathering strength on the ground wrapped around Kai and Toneri's bodies, dragging them back to Tsunade's side.
At the same time, more than a dozen wooden clones detached from Hashirama's body and rushed towards the grayish-white figure.
The wooden dragon roared out of the soil, and the red torii gates of the Myojin Gate descended from the sky, smashing one after another into Isshiki's shoulders and back.
The tree roots coiled upwards from all directions like a raging python, blocking all escape routes.
The First Hokage gave his all at this moment.
He could hear his wooden clone shattering, feel the wooden dragon being broken off one by one, and count the number of fragments that the Clear Divine Gate had shattered into as Yi Shi broke free.
One second — two seconds — twenty seconds.
As the last wooden clone was pierced through the chest and turned into white smoke, Hashirama's main body landed heavily in front of Tsunade.
His red armor was studded with seven black rods, and four more were slanted into his back.
"Is that all?"
Yishiki stood still, with the shattered Myojin Gate beneath his feet.
Where is Madara Uchiha?
Hashirama calmly replied, "They're probably on their way."
Before the words were even finished, the giant wave had already arrived!
The water, appearing out of nowhere, bypassed the suspended black cube and rushed down from the corner of the room.
Otsutsuki Isshiki turned his head.
With just one glance, the water that could have washed away the entire forest was reduced to tiny droplets that fell into the soil without leaving a trace.
Tobirama Senju's figure appeared following the flow of water. Dozens of large shuriken shot in from all directions, their spinning blades cutting through the air with a sharp whistling sound.
Yi Shi remained merely observing.
Those ninja tools, powerful enough to pierce armor, shrank into barely visible dots in mid-air and fell to the ground.
The scraps of paper floated up and gathered from the crushed, filthy soil.
Obito's body reformed. Kamui's spatial vortex unfolded beside him, unleashing a torrent of ninja tools with accelerated kinetic energy.
Kunai, shuriken, and senbon—a dense barrage of bullets, propelled by spatial forces, hurtled toward the enemy at an even faster speed.
Yishi's gaze swept over them.
The young Kunguna launched another attack, shrinking all the blades before they could even get close.
Within this shrunken barrage of bullets, two Fuma Shuriken, maintaining their original size, spun and flew toward his face.
For the first time, a look of surprise flashed in Isshiki's eyes.
The sword in the Wind Demon's hand blossomed, transforming into two shadow clones of Tobirama Senju.
Two shadow clones, each wielding a kunai, stabbed at his neck from the left and right at almost skin-to-skin distance.
"What good will this do?"
With a backhand swing, the black rod pierced through the chests of both clones simultaneously.
The clone exploded into white smoke, and Kakashi emerged from the spatial vortex at that moment. He stood side by side with Obito, their two Mangekyou Sharingan eyes simultaneously locking onto the same target.
That was the overlap and superposition of two divine powers of the same origin at this moment, acting simultaneously on one body.
This tearing force is enough to shatter even the toughest armor and separate the complete body into two different time periods.
Shiki's body began to deform in the distorted space.
He shrank himself.
Like a speck of dust breaking free from Kamui's locking range, it shot towards Obito and Kakashi along the gaps in the tear in space.
Those two Sharingan users. Once we take care of them, this troublesome technique won't appear again.
The Wood Release barrier suddenly appeared in front of Kakashi and Obito.
Layers of wooden shields grew from the ground, blocking Kakashi and Obito's path. The attack pierced through the first, second, and third layers without slowing down in the slightest.
Amidst the flying splinters, Tsunade pulled out the last black rod from Guy's body. She poured all her chakra into Guy's body, healing his wounds.
Kai coughed.
He opened his eyes, and his black pupils returned to normal from their previous white state.
My vision was still a little blurry. The sounds around me seemed distant. The emptiness I felt from being pierced by the black rod was fading, replaced by the familiar, hot flow of blood.
Then he saw it.
As Isshiki shrunk his size and closed in, a black rod pierced through Tobirama's shoulder from the side. Before the debris from the Impure World could dissipate, a black cube that suddenly appeared forced him into the ground.
Obito and Kakashi were forced to retreat under Isshiki's relentless advance. Obito used his Kamui's intangibility to constantly restrain Kakashi with his ninja tools, but the intervals between each counterattack were getting shorter.
Fragments kept falling off Hashirama's body, and he couldn't fully recover due to the interference of the black rods.
Kai's breathing gradually calmed down.
He slowly stood up.
The cursed markings reappeared on his skin, and his fingers pressed against the pressure points on his chest.
"Kai".
Tsunade knew the meaning of the gesture and instinctively reached out to stop it.
Kai didn't stop.
"When I went to school, I just wanted to find a child to whom I could spend my youth."
He said.
"But hope was found in the children who were originally the enemy. Deidara, Atsui—"
"I instilled in them the will of youth, and they carried that will back to their respective villages."
"There's also Lee, Neji, in the village—"
He paused for a moment at this point.
"He's also trying to forge his own path, with an attitude of never giving up —"
Kai gazed at the distant battlefield. One strike had already cornered Kakashi; the greyish-white hand was about to touch the silver-haired ninja's body.
"As a teacher, if there's anything I regret—"
His fingertips pressed heavily on the acupoints.
"I guess I wasn't able to tell them at this moment what the final chapter of their youth would look like!"
The Eighth Gate: The Gate of Death.
Open!
The natural energy accumulated by the transformation of the Cursed Seal Sage and the brief but intense flame of life that appeared when the Gate of Death opened reacted in a way that no one could have predicted.
Red steam rose from every pore of his body, gathering around him to form a blurry yet fiery human figure.
Even Tsunade was forced back a step by this shockwave.
Kakashi looked towards the source of the chakra, his eyes filled with disbelief: "This is—Gai—"
And one style —
Isshiki's hand stopped in mid-air just before it was about to touch Kakashi.
He turned around, and his pure white, insightful eye and his right eye, which was surrounded by eight golden triangles, simultaneously locked onto the approaching red trajectory.
This is... a human?!
No—this is a monster disguised as a human!
Before he could even react.
Kai threw his first punch at that moment, and before Yi Shi could even react, the shockwave formed by compressed air had already slammed him into the ground.
The soil exploded outwards, forming a circular crater with a diameter of more than ten meters.
Kai didn't give him any time to adjust.
The second punch came down from directly above.
Just as he adjusted his posture from the impact of the first strike, the second strike, Evening Elephant, landed on his chest.
The body sank even deeper into the pose.
He activated his Lesser Kunguna, shrinking himself to his limit in an attempt to escape the attack.
He can't.
Red steam was everywhere.
Even when shrunk to its limit, Yi Shi was still locked within that domain constructed of pure power.
The air itself was compressed into a cage by Kai's movement, and every inch of space trembled in the aftershocks of the evening elephant.
A black cube tilted out of the alternate dimension, attempting to block the figure with its mass. However, before the cube could fully unfold, another punch landed on Yishiki's body.
His body crashed through the gap in the cube he had released, and something spilled from the corner of his mouth.
He wiped his hand with the back of his hand, revealing a dark red liquid on his grayish-white hand.
blood.
He hadn't seen his own blood in a long time.
Humans, however—
The Great Box Heaven actually began to sway under Kai's fist wind; it was the lament of absolute mass in the face of even more absolute power.
Unable to land a hit, Kai chose to bypass the barrier and look for a point of attack, but in the meantime, more black cubes landed around Isshiki.
The high-ranking warriors of the Otsutsuki clan chose to shrink their bodies, using a cube as cover, to find themselves some breathing space.
However, even through those mountain-like barriers, Kai's every punch still shook their positions.
The gaps between the cubes continued to widen during the vibration.
Yi Shi knew in his heart that this wouldn't last long.
This state of being a Konoha ninja was clearly temporary and unsustainable.
The body was burning; with each punch thrown, life drew one step closer to its end.
There's no need to fight to the death with someone who's about to die. It's better to retreat to the alternate dimension, retrieve Hyuga Neji, re-enter the wedge, and wait for this body to burn out before returning to clean up the mess.
Even if his life was short, it was still longer than that of the ninja who was about to burn out.
Yishi made a judgment and opened a rift in the other dimension.
The moment he disappeared, the black cube that had been blocking Kai's path was absorbed by Kakashi and Obito using Kamui.
The spatial vortex swallowed them one by one, revealing the ground riddled with holes by Kai's fist winds.
Kai stood still, the red steam on his body gradually thinning like a dying sunset.
His lips parted slightly, and with his last remaining strength, he made a request to his dearest friend.
"Kakashi, can you take me there?"
He wanted to use his last moments to catch up with them.
Tobirama's voice came from the side.
His lower body was still pressed under the black cube, and the fragments of the impure earth were slowly reforming. He supported himself with his remaining upper body, looking up at the fading red steam on Kai's body.
"That's enough, Kai."
Kai did not turn around.
"It's not time to die yet."
The red steam seemed to dissipate somewhat because of those words.
Kakashi abruptly turned to the former Hokage, who was now only half a body: "Second Hokage, is there any hope for Guy?"
Tobirama replied in half, "The Gate of Death continuously transforms life into chakra; it doesn't mean death is complete once it's opened."
"He will keep burning until only a tiny bit is left. As long as his body is preserved, his soul is stabilized, and enough life force is replenished after that, he has a chance to survive."
He raised his eyes and looked into the distance.
"Nagato—you can come now."
Obito understood the meaning almost immediately.
The power of the Rinnegan does indeed have a way to pull people back from that boundary.
"So that's why Nagato hasn't been allowed to participate in the battle, in order to preserve his chakra for the Rinne Rebirth technique?"
"However, even if he is in perfect condition, using this technique will render Nagato unable to move, even if he doesn't die."
Kai began to pant, his life force waning, and he was about to refuse this offer of kindness that might be a matter of life for life.
Tobirama said coldly, "Don't get me wrong, Obito Uchiha."
"Reincarnation is born with the ability to exchange life for death, and it's only necessary when facing the dead. Kai is just in a state of near death, not dead."
"Let Tsunade use medical ninjutsu to save his life and replenish his vitality. The probability of him dying is still there, but it's far less than that."
"There's no need to resort to methods for the dead until we've exhausted the options for the living."
Nagato heard the last few sentences but made no comment. He looked down at the man who had just displayed power that had shocked even the Otsutsuki, his tone calm.
"I will use my abilities in the human realm to preserve your soul and prevent it from entering the Pure Land."
"Please begin, Fifth Hokage."
Kai could no longer hold on and fell forward.
Kakashi supported him and gently lowered him to the ground.
His lips were moving, but no sound could come out.
His eyes were still open, but the light in his pupils was gradually fading.
The body, scorched by the red steam, was completely charred black. Blood and bodily fluids seeped from the cracked skin, which were then evaporated into a pale red mist by the residual high temperature.
Tsunade placed her hands on Guy's chest. Green chakra surged into the charred body. Her brows were furrowed, and all her attention was focused on the meridians beneath her fingertips that were breaking inch by inch.
While Tsunade and Nagato were doing their best to keep Guy alive, Tobirama's body finally broke free from under the cube, and the fragments of the Edo Tensei resurrection reassembled into a complete form.
He turned to Kakashi and Obito.
"You two, use Kamui to intercept the path that Otsutsuki is using to enter the western suburbs and Konoha with his space-time ninjutsu. Since you were able to break it once, you can probably do it again."
"I will assist you."
"The village's barrier team is also ready."
Then he looked at Hashirama.
"Big brother, tell me clearly what happened after you left Madara. And Madara, where is he?"
The First Hokage, still with black rods stuck in his body and not fully recovered, was sternly ordered around by his younger brother. He couldn't help but laugh for a moment: "Ah—well, I didn't notice because I was in a hurry to get back."
"However, he must be arriving soon."
When he said this, Hashirama was absolutely certain.
Tobirama looked at him for a moment, then looked away.
"In that case, he's just waiting for our strength to be depleted so that we can no longer stop him."
The Second Hokage looked at the barrier, which was now full of fragments but still stood.
"The Jinchuriki have already begun transferring chakra. Shuji will wake up even faster."
Let's try to buy as much time as possible.