"Still acting cocky, kid?"
Libra Jirou's voice carried across the shattered clearing, low and scornful. Around him, six towering pillars of earth trapped Raizen like a stone cage.
Raizen cracked his neck, unfazed. "You think this can hold me down?"
Before the man could reply, Raizen's figure flickered—gone. Only the afterimage of his grin lingered in the dust.
Jirou's eyes narrowed. "Tch." His palm slammed against the ground. "Earth Style—Pillar Forest!"
The terrain erupted—razor-sharp spires of stone spearing up in a sudden bloom. The battlefield became a maze of death.
Raizen reappeared atop one of the jagged cones, crouched low, scanning the chaos. "Y'know," he muttered, "for a guy built like an ox, you're surprisingly good at interior design."
Jirou raised his head. "Interesting technique you used to escape. Space-time, perhaps? Why don't you explain it to me?"
Raizen smirked. "Why don't you earn the explanation?"
"Very well," the older ninja replied coolly. "Let's see if you can still talk after this—Earth Style: Dead Crust!"
The cone beneath Raizen's feet shuddered violently. A second later, it exploded—splinters of stone ripping through the air like a storm of kunai.
Raizen cursed and blurred out of sight again, body flickering across the battlefield like a ghost.
Each time a rock shard threatened to tear him apart, the Flying Thunder God's mark whisked him elsewhere.
From below, Jirou clicked his tongue. "Not bad… You're fast."
He slammed both hands to the earth again. "Earth Style: Ground Split!"
BOOM.
The land split open with a deafening roar, both sides rising into towering walls of stone that crushed inward with terrifying force. Dust and debris blanketed the air.
For a moment, it looked like Raizen had been caught.
Then a voice called out from above.
"Sorry, old man—try again next patch!"
Jirou's gaze snapped upward. Raizen stood balanced on a hovering kunai marked with his seal, grin sharp beneath the sunlight.
"You're not from the Land of Earth," Jirou said, his expression hardening. "There's no record of someone with your power here."
"I'm from the Land of Fire," Raizen replied, tone flat. "Amamiya Raizen. I don't make a habit of being in your files."
"Land of Fire, huh… figures. You've got that reckless look." Jirou exhaled through his nose. "Then I'll give you one chance—leave this place. I'll overlook today's battle."
Raizen chuckled darkly. "So when you can't win, you start talking peace? Do I look like someone who backs down from a challenge?"
His chakra flared—golden, burning, divine.
"You attacked first, Libra-san.
Now it's my turn."
His eyes sharpened, markings of sage energy etching along his face.
"Sage Art: Welcome—Senju Massacre!"
A radiant Buddha of golden chakra formed behind him, arms upon arms unfolding like a sunburst.
Each hand pulsed with power—thousand fists poised to fall.
"Feel the weight of something beyond human reach!"
The air exploded.
Golden fists rained down in waves, shattering trees, pulverizing stone, and blotting out the battlefield in a thunder of light.
"Master Jirou!" Sae shouted from the ridge, voice trembling. He'd been watching since the start, too stubborn to retreat.
But Jirou turned, his voice firm. "Go, Sae. The fight here isn't for you. I can't guarantee your safety."
"B-but, Master—!"
"Go!" The order cracked like thunder.
Sae bit his lip hard, fists trembling, then ran—tears cutting streaks through the grime on his face.
Still, he looked back once, eyes blazing with resolve as the Buddha's glow lit the valley.
If I could master all three chakra natures I possess… I could forge my own power. A strength greater than that golden Buddha. A strength that can destroy everything in my way.
Sae clenched his fists tighter.
Back on the field, Jirou stood amidst the quaking earth, chakra surging.
"Earth Style: Cataclysmic Crust!"
The land convulsed—massive boulders tore free of gravity itself, swirling upward before hurtling toward Raizen's golden construct.
Each strike slammed into the Buddha, shaking it, dimming its glow.
Raizen grinned beneath the storm. "So that's the strength of a shadow-level ninja… yeah, that tracks."
He cracked his knuckles. "But you're not the only one who can bring the sky down."
"Sage Art—Senju Massacre, Second Form!"
The Buddha's thousand arms glowed again, fists whirling faster than sound.
They met the falling stones head-on, reducing each boulder to dust midair before driving the force straight back toward Jirou.
The air itself split under the collision.
Dust devoured the horizon.
And when it finally cleared… neither man had fallen yet.
Only the battlefield had.