Soon, the clash reignited in full force.
The Third Kazekage floated high above, unleashing waves of massive iron constructs, spikes, hammers, and dense bullets of magnetic sand that struck like artillery shells.
Each carried enough force to shatter mountains, the air screaming under their weight.
Ryusei instantly countered, summoning a large Katsuyu to his side.
The slug's acidic spray melted through incoming projectiles, hissing as molten iron splattered across the ground.
When the bombardment grew too thick, Katsuyu split into dozens of fragments, scattering across the battlefield to avoid damage.
Ryusei took advantage of that; with those anchors in position, he could now use Reverse Slug Summon to warp between them at will.
Meanwhile, the Second Mizukage activated his Steaming Danger Tyranny, his watery clone expanding and exploding in bursts of scalding mist, flooding the field in violent surges without care for his own side as they all could recover.
The monk joined in, summoning massive golden fists of natural energy that slammed into the terrain like meteor impacts, while the samurai's Iaido style cut arcs of radiant white energy that could slice through entire hills.
Ryusei darted between all of them, teleporting in flashes of chakra light from one slug fragment to another, each movement a blur.
He tried several times to close in and seal one of them, but each time he did, the others intercepted, forcing him back, and the previously destroyed Edo Tensei's body recovered.
The battle reached a deadlock, four against one, all pushing the limits of speed and power.
Yet above them, the Third Kazekage hovered like a hawk, raining death from afar.
That distance made him the hardest to hit, and, ironically, the most tempting target.
Not to mention that he was probably the most powerful one out of them all currently.
From the beginning of this clash, Ryusei behaved as if he couldn't reach him, letting the others believe he was grounded.
However, the moment an opening appeared, he activated his Earth Style: Lightened Boulder Jutsu, his body suddenly soaring weightless.
With a final burst of quake energy detonating beneath his feet, Ryusei propelled himself upward, each shockwave from his legs erupting like controlled explosions that drove him through the air.
A rain of iron constructs met him mid-ascent; however, the sky itself was turning black with magnetic debris.
But every piece that came close shattered instantly, his fists wreathed in dense, concentrated white quake chakra, each strike sending violent ripples through the air as he punched through the storm head-on.
In seconds, he was face-to-face with the Kazekage's Edo body. Ryusei's right fist glowed white, a compressed quake bubble forming around it, humming like a caged storm.
"Too predictable," he muttered, and struck.
The impact detonated midair, cracking the Kazekage's Edo body apart in a burst of white shockwaves.
Before it could regenerate, sealing tags spread across Ryusei's arm and latched onto the fragments.
A flash of chakra light, and the Third Kazekage was soon sealed completely.
However, the next instant, a barrage of pressurised water bullets, sword waves, and golden fist blasts converged on him midair again, fired in unison by the monk, the samurai, and Gengetsu from the direction of the giant clam still cloaked in mist; they now all stood on top of it for leverage. The attacks tore through the sky toward him, brilliant arcs of light and force colliding into one point.
Ryusei met some of them head-on while dodging others with his light-weight aerial speed.
His shins and forearms flared with focused chakra as he activated his currently highest version of Flowing Willow Guard, melding vibration chakra, boiling essence, and weighted boulder jutsu chakra hardening into one seamless new defense.
The impact thundered across the battlefield, shockwaves scattering the mist below.
The pressure burned his skin raw for a moment before his regeneration caught up, but he stayed standing midair, unmoving, like a statue of pure chakra and will.
From below, under the clam's cover, the Second Mizukage performed hand seals and his body expanded, Hydrification: Giant Hōzuki Form, a massive liquid body erupting upward to engulf Ryusei completely. But Ryusei only narrowed his eyes. His chakra flared violently.
"Bad move."
A blinding pulse of white light exploded outward as he unleashed a wide-radius quake blast, vaporizing the incoming water mass into mist and tearing through the remnants of the jutsu entirely.
And then, he moved.
His hands locked into a stance, his chakra pathways roaring as the Sixth Gate finally fully stabilized within him, and he finally attempted to use his newest taijutsu technique, fit only for the 6th gate and up, for the first time.
Steam and light burst from his body, the air twisting with heat.
"Taijutsu — Shōten Enbaku!"
(Scorching Heaven Swallow Bombardment)
Ryusei's fists blurred, moving so fast the air ignited around them.
Each punch released a flaming shockwave shaped into swallow-like projectiles, white-blue at their core, burning red along the wings.
Dozens, then hundreds of those birds spiraled out, circling him like a storm before diving down with piercing cries.
They chased their targets relentlessly, curving midair with predator precision, detonating the instant they struck.
He had drawn inspiration from Might Guy's Asa Kujaku.
However, unlike Asa Kujaku's wide, spread-out, indiscriminate, and a bit wasteful, peacock-like flames, Ryusei shaped his shockwaves into sharp, swallow-shaped bursts of fire.
Each one curved mid-flight, homing in on its target.
Empowered by his Wind Release, the fiery swallows could adjust their paths unpredictably, making simple sidesteps more useless; these "birds" hunted their prey until they struck.
Hence, the Mizukage's water body presently boiled away under the onslaught, his form dissolving faster than it could regenerate.
The monk and the samurai struck again from below, their combined force breaking Ryusei's brief advantage and freeing the Mizukage's body from sealing range for now, but it was clear who was beginning to dominate.
Ryusei's aura blazed brighter than ever, a greenish glow from the Six Gates mixing with the white steam of pressurised boiling Five-Tails energy and quake thunder spiraling around him.
The ground trembled beneath his feet, cracks spreading outward from every step as pressure rippled through the battlefield.
The tide had shifted, bit by bit, and he was forcing them back, his momentum undeniable.
Ryusei now felt very fortunate that his enemies still hadn't realized he possessed Iwagakure's most advanced weight-manipulation technique, or at least, its refined stage that allowed for true flight. He'd never revealed it in their previous encounter, and for that, he was grateful.
That secret advantage was exactly what had let him previously catch the trickiest Third Kazekage Edo Tensei off guard, in the first place, and probably shift the momentum of this entire, decisive fight from there.
He finally felt a little more at ease, though those waves of natural energy still tore through the air, each potentially one lethal on contact, probably no weaker than the Dust Release Orochimaru had just faced. After all, the dangers of natural energy had never been subtle; the original series had shown well enough what happened when it turned against the user.
He exhaled, scanning the entire wider battlefield through his sensory network when he got a chance again in between their strikes.
Orochimaru's chakra signature was steady; his battle had ended. Ashina was still locked in a deadlock with Sakumo's Edo Tensei as before.
Tobirama was clashing with Tsunade and Kanae, but from the fluctuations in their chakra, Ryusei could tell they were now slowly being pushed back.
"Not good," he thought, his eyes narrowing. "I'd better send a Shadow Clone there. How in the hell does Tobirama already have three Kekkei Tōta mastered, winning against both!?"
It wasn't like he had calculated before this giant battle erupted. Therefore, without further hesitation, he quickly formed a clone seal.
One of the distant slug fragments near Tsunade and Kanae pulsed next, after receiving his mental commands, and summoned his clone straight into their area to reinforce them.
Yet, even as he acted, he couldn't help but feel a flicker of surprise and even disbelief.
Tobirama's growth rate in combat was monstrous, and definitely nowhere near what he presented in the original story during the Fourth Shinobi World War when he was also reanimated. It was even approaching Ryusei's current level.
It was obvious he was being carried by Hagoromo's interference recently, likely fed insights, power, and control to probably counter himself better in the future, but the sheer efficiency and adaptability of the man were still somewhat unsettling.
But, on the other side of the field, however, the tide was beginning to turn in their favor.
Renjiro was pressing Shinsuke harder now, as seen by their chakra balances, while Pakura's more advanced Scorch Release slowly overwhelmed Danzo's wind and water combination defenses from the very beginning, it seemed, as also seen from the states of their chakra.
Those two, if they held their ground, could become the breaking points even before him.