But Ryusei was already there.
He exploded forward in a blur of speed, the Fifth Gate burning inside him like lightning bottled in flesh.
His Yin Seal was released, its marking glowing and spreading from his forehead epicenter.
Creation Rebirth was similarly fully active, his body constantly repairing itself at a cellular level to handle the strain.
The moment he lunged, Han reacted. Steam burst from the vents in his armor, propelling him backward in an instant.
Kitsuchi slammed both palms into the ground. "Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation!"
The earth beneath Ryusei's feet surged violently, a massive stone tower erupting upward to throw him off balance and separate him from Han.
Ryusei landed lightly against the side of the rising formation, chakra flaring under his soles.
He didn't try to overpower the earth with Water Release; it was a losing matchup, but he used it cleverly to absorb and cushion the impact.
The rock shattered around him, water and dust bursting outward like a wave.
Rōshi seized the moment, leaping above him, hands already glowing red.
"Lava Release: Scorching Stream Rock Technique!"
Massive, burning orbs of molten rock flew toward Ryusei, hissing through the air and melting the stone walls they passed.
Ryusei weaved through hand seals, his voice calm. "Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave."
A massive surge of water burst from his mouth, crashing into the lava projectiles.
The two elements met in a violent detonation of steam and heat that engulfed the entire battlefield.
The temperature spiked immediately, air pressure dropping as visibility disappeared.
"Shit! It's boiling!" Takuya yelled, retreating and throwing clay charges blindly.
"Keep your distance!" Kitsuchi ordered, shielding with another Earth Wall.
Han's voice rumbled from within the haze, "He's blending chakra nature counterattacks in real time…"
Rōshi gritted his teeth, molten cracks spreading along his arms. "He's no ordinary shinobi."
Then came the second clash.
Rōshi roared and formed a seal, his entire body radiating volcanic energy.
"The Flower-Fruit Mountain!"
A blazing eruption burst from the ground where Ryusei stood, the lava exploding outward like a blooming crimson flower.
Ryusei responded instantly, his hands already forming another sequence. "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A colossal surge of water erupted from beneath his feet, rising into the air before crashing down in a tidal wave.
The two forces collided, lava and water, fire and flood, creating a cataclysmic explosion that tore apart the landscape.
The blast hollowed out the surrounding terrain, the shockwave flattening trees and shaking distant ridges.
When the smoke and debris settled, the entire battlefield was blanketed in thick mist and vapor, turning everything into a gray void.
Perfect conditions for Ryusei.
The four Iwa elites regrouped, their visibility near zero.
"Where did he go?" Takuya hissed, scanning with his explosive chakra sensors.
Kitsuchi's voice was low, wary. "Don't lower your guard. He's still here."
Han's armor hissed faintly as steam built again. "I can feel him watching."
Rōshi clenched a fist, the molten glow flickering through the fog. "Let him come. I'll burn him out."
But none of them could see what Ryusei saw.
Through the mist, his Byakugan illuminated everything.
He saw their chakra networks clearly, their pulses, their muscle contractions, the flow of their energy through the haze.
And in that moment, his lips curved slightly.
"Found you."
With that whisper, Ryusei vanished from where he stood, body flickering through the steam, straight toward Han's chakra.
Ryusei, meanwhile, had already created one more shadow clone in the chaos, freeing his real body to focus entirely on Han.
The clone immediately leapt into action, intercepting dozens of other Iwa elites who rushed in nearest after the initial four.
These new arrivals weren't ordinary foot soldiers; they were veterans, each one trained to reshape the battlefield itself.
They began a coordinated assault, hands flashing through seals in rapid succession. "Earth Release: Fissure!"
The ground beneath them split open, forming a massive rift that tore through the terrain in a straight line, swallowing up several of Ryusei's other nearby clones and Iwa shinobi alike.
The earth groaned and cracked, jagged rocks bursting upward from below while others caved in, creating an ever-shifting labyrinth of hazards.
The new clone Ryusei sent, with full chakra, responded instantly, parrying debris midair, vaulting between exploding fissures, and countering with wide-range elemental bursts.
Yet even as he did, the ground itself continued to change.
Stone pillars rose suddenly, walls formed and then shattered again, detonating talismans buried beneath their foundations.
The explosions sent tremors across the valley, filling the air with dust and fragmented chakra.
It was chaos, pure, structured chaos. But Ryusei expected it.
This wasn't just any Iwa camp; it was one of their most fortified strongholds, meant for their highest-ranking shinobi, where every technique was meant to crush invaders through sheer terrain control.
Still, Ryusei's real body pressed forward, slipping past the chaos like a phantom. He was almost at Han's location when suddenly, the ground beneath him began to vibrate, deep, resonant, and heavy.
He immediately stopped, his senses flaring.
Chakra pressure surged everywhere around him. It wasn't subtle; it was overwhelming, massive in scale, spreading across several hundred meters.
He recognized it instantly.
"Earth Release: Sandwich Technique."
The words echoed faintly in his mind as two colossal rock formations began rising from opposite sides, each several times the size of a fortress.
Their movement was slow but unstoppable, like two mountains shifting toward each other, grinding the air with sheer pressure.
Ryusei narrowed his eyes as the rumble intensified, debris raining from above.
He'd read about this in the original series, Kitsuchi's strongest technique, capable of trapping even the Ten-Tails for a short time.
He could almost hear the man's confident declaration back then. 'This is my strongest jutsu.'
Even Ryusei had to admit, its sheer scale was impressive.
The ground shook violently as the two titanic rock walls started to close, the air screaming from the pressure.
Han and Rōshi had already withdrawn from the area, both knowing even they could get caught in it.
Ryusei, however, only smiled faintly under his mask.
"So you'll go down first," he muttered, tone calm but mocking.
He wasn't panicking, because he'd already made preparations for exactly this kind of situation.
Inwardly, Ryusei knew he couldn't summon large Katsuyu fragments here. It would expose his identity instantly.
The Slug Summoning was one of the most recognizable contracts in the entire world; only Tsunade and he could use it, and its appearance would immediately give him away.
But that didn't mean smaller fragments were out of the question.
Earlier, during the initial confusion his clones and their counterattacks had caused, Ryusei had quietly summoned several tiny Katsuyu fragments, barely the size of pebbles, and scattered them across the battlefield.
Now, he simply reached out mentally, telepathically linking to them.
"This one… transport me."
A faint pulse of acknowledgment echoed in his mind.
In the split second before the enormous rock walls collided, his form blurred and vanished, reappearing a heartbeat later right behind Kitsuchi, who was still mid-technique.
The earth general froze. He didn't even have time to comprehend what had happened. One moment, the intruder was dozens of meters away; the next, he was at his back.
Kitsuchi's instincts screamed. His skin darkened instantly as he activated his nintaijutsu style —"Earth Release: Body Hardening Technique!"—hardening his body to stone.
But it wasn't enough.
Ryusei struck faster than a thought, his chakra-enhanced fists slamming through the hardened exterior, breaking his stance and locking his joints in one motion.
With effortless precision, he caught Kitsuchi's arm, twisted, and immobilized him completely, the pressure alone making the man's reinforced muscles creak under strain.
Kitsuchi grunted, trying to resist, but Ryusei's current strength in the Fifth Gate was beyond anything he'd faced in his three decades of life.
"Let's see what the Tsuchikage's precious son knows," Ryusei muttered under his breath, already weaving a single-handed seal.
His fingers pressed against Kitsuchi's temple, chakra flaring briefly as his eyes sharpened.
The Soul Search Technique activated instantly.
And this time, Ryusei didn't need preparation; he could perform it now in an instant.
The other three arrived again within seconds, breaking through the haze of steam and shattered terrain.
They stopped dead when they saw it, the intruder standing amidst the rubble, his hand gripping Kitsuchi by the head, the commander completely limp in his grasp.
For a heartbeat, none of them moved.
That was the Tsuchikage's son. The heir of Iwagakure's leadership, crushed and held like a rag doll by a single masked shinobi. Even the most hardened among them hesitated, unsure whether to charge in or retreat.
All around them, chaos still raged. Ryusei's clones were locked in brutal combat with the remaining elite squads, the valley shaking from explosions and collapsing terrain.
The earth was cracked open in every direction, flames licking through the dust, and the air stank of ozone, molten rock, and burning chakra.
Ryusei, meanwhile, stayed calm. His Byakugan flickered faintly as he finished what he came for. He'd already pierced into Kitsuchi's mind using his Soul Search, extracting fragments of memory about all the useful things there.
"Interesting, an unexpected little gift here indeed..." he murmured. "Those hidden techniques this guy never had the brains to master and refine… I'll make better use of them."
Without hesitation, he tossed Kitsuchi's unconscious body aside like broken cargo.
Before it could even hit the ground, Ryusei's hand formed a seal, etching a faint red mark onto the man's chest, his personal Uzumaki-style Juinjutsu seal.
It locked away his chakra network entirely, while simultaneously draining the remaining reserves into Ryusei's secondary containment mark on his forearm.
Kitsuchi hit the ground with a dull thud, alive but powerless.
What Ryusei saw in his memories could be analyzed later.
Right now, there was only one priority left on this field—Han.
He moved again, vanishing from sight.
The Fifth Gate's power ripped through the air as his body blurred into an afterimage.
Mitotic Regeneration was already on, despite the risk, because he knew he had to be fast.
Within a fraction of a second, he was upon his target this time.
Rōshi reacted first.
Lava bled across his arms and shoulders as he activated his Lava Release: Chakra Mode, the ground hissing and melting beneath him.
He moved to intercept, molten heat surging outward in waves, blocking Ryusei's direct line to Han.
On the opposite flank, Han's armor split open with a sharp hiss, white steam bursting out violently as his Boil Release: Unrivalled Strength surged to life, stronger than ever before.
His entire body glowed under the pressure, every vent on his armor spewing vapor hot enough to sear stone.
Both jinchūriki burned like miniature suns, lava and steam, red and white, twin furnaces radiating killing intent.
And then, from behind, the sharp crack of detonations rolled across the field.
Tatsuya, the Explosive Corps captain, had joined the fray at last.
His hands slammed together, chakra surging into the earth.
"Explosive Release—Landmine Field."
The terrain lit up with a deep, ominous glow, faint seal marks spreading like veins under the dirt. Ryusei could feel the vibrations of chakra linking underground, dozens, maybe hundreds of small explosive seals spreading out, connecting like a nervous system.
But the man wasn't done.
Tatsuya's eyes narrowed as he kicked off the ground, his feet bursting with explosions to propel him forward. Each strike he threw detonated on impact, sending concussive waves in every direction.
"Explosive Release—Shockwave Pulse!"
A circular blast ripped through the valley, throwing ash and rock into the air.
The shockwave struck Rōshi's lava projectiles midair and scattered them, merging with the steam Han produced, turning everything around them into a wall of fire and smoke.
Through that storm, Ryusei barely slowed.
He slipped between explosions as if gravity itself bent around him, flickering from one point to another, his regeneration healing every burn before it could even scar.
He closed in on Han, but Rōshi intercepted again, molten fists meeting Ryusei's bare hands. Each hit cracked the air.
The lava splashed harmlessly off Ryusei's skin, his healing already erasing the burns the moment they appeared.
Han followed up from behind, steam pressure bursting from his armor like a cannon, launching him forward with tremendous speed.
His punch came from Ryusei's blind spot, but the Byakugan's all-seeing field caught it easily.
Ryusei ducked low, twisted, and struck Han's ribs, sending him flying through a half-melted rock formation.
"Fast," Han muttered, steam hissing from his vents as he tried to stabilize his stance.
Tatsuya appeared again, hands clapping once more. "Explosive Release—Chain Reaction!"
The field ignited. Seals hidden across the terrain began to flash, one after another, each explosion triggering the next in a rolling wave of detonations that swallowed the entire battlefield.
For a moment, even the jinchūriki paused.
But when the dust cleared, Ryusei was gone.
He'd already synced with one of the small Katsuyu fragments scattered during the first chaos. The instant the first explosion went off, he reverse-summoned himself right behind Tatsuya.
The captain turned at the faint sound of Ryusei's landing—but by then, it was already over.
A palm strike, swift and surgical, slammed into his chest.
Chakra surged, and a pulse of sealing energy detonated through his body from the inside out.
The explosion expert's eyes widened in disbelief as the seal burned across his torso, suppressing every last trace of chakra before he even hit the ground.
"Too noisy," Ryusei muttered, stepping over the corpse.
The other two, sensing the captain's death, snapped.
Their chakra surged violently, tailed beast energy spilling into the air, burning, twisting the terrain into molten glass.
Rōshi's skin cracked, glowing with red magma veins, while Han's armor hissed with superheated steam.
But Ryusei was already in front of them again.
"Coiling Serpent Fist.", "Shatter Palm.", "Shock Step."
His strikes came like lightning, coiled and piercing.
One slammed into Rōshi's stomach, the next into Han's shoulder, the third sweeping through both at once, sending shockwaves that cracked the air.
He vanished and reappeared midair, twisting his body. Chakra flared at his heel.
"Senju Heel Drop!"
He came down with an impact that split the earth open.
The crater swallowed both jinchūriki, shockwaves flattening what was left of the terrain.
The heat, the lava, the steam, all of it broke apart under the force.
When the mist finally cleared, both Rōshi and Han were sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily, transformations fading.
Ryusei landed beside them silently, his expression calm again.
"Juinjutsu: Suppressing Seal."
Red formulae wrapped around Rōshi first, draining a portion of his lava chakra, which Ryusei sealed neatly into a containment mark, a future gift for Ashina.
Then he turned to Han, his palm glowing faintly with sealing chakra.
"Now, for you."
With one swift motion, the chakra of the Five-Tails was silenced, compressed into another seal.
Within moments, both jinchūriki were immobilized and powerless.
Then he turned toward Han's body again, crouching beside him.
The steam armor hissed faintly, half-melted, as Ryusei grabbed the man by the collar and studied him for a moment.
Han's chakra was still there, deep inside, wild but stable, exactly what he came for.
With one hand, he sealed Han's movements completely, immobilizing him, then used a storage seal on his wrist to mark and preserve his condition.
He'd take him back, extract what he needed under better conditions, without this battlefield mess. He would see what he would do with him from there.
Ryusei exhaled slowly, surveying the smoking battlefield.
The entire elite Iwa division lay in ruins.
He glanced at the nearest Katsuyu fragment still pulsing faintly in the dirt.
"Take me back."
A flash of light followed, and in the next instant, the field was empty, only steam, corpses, and cracked stone left behind.
Iwagakure's strongest had fallen in under five minutes.