Chapter 250: Capturing Uchiha Tatsuhata Alive
Hiruko's expression turned grave.
The replica Third Raikage alone already forced him to struggle desperately in defense. Though Hell Stab's straightforward approach lacked variation, its destructive power was truly astonishing. No matter what ninjutsu he deployed, it could smash through.
Moreover, the replica Third Raikage's physique was equally terrifyingly powerful!
In life, the Third Raikage possessed not only the all-conquering "Strongest Spear" but also the "Strongest Shield"—reportedly unable to be broken even by Tailed Beast Balls—namely, his thousand-times-tempered physical body.
All of Hiruko's counterattacks struggled to penetrate the Strongest Shield. Unable to inflict effective damage on the Third Raikage, he could only delay and maneuver.
This wasn't because the five bloodline limits he possessed were useless.
The problem remained insufficient time.
His Chimera Technique had only allowed him to acquire these five bloodline limits. He needed time to develop and excavate these five bloodline limits. But incidents came like waves, one after another, never giving anyone a chance to breathe.
Therefore, Tatsuhata releasing just the replica Third Raikage tightly entangled Hiruko. The replica First Hokage blocked the siege by over ten other Konoha jonin. Then the replica Third Kazekage and replica Fourth Kazekage also joined forces to attack, assaulting Hiruko together.
"Very cautious!"
Ritsu's brow furrowed slightly.
The replica Second Hokage remained constantly at Tatsuhata's side, showing no signs of leaving. The impression given was that if any accident occurred, he would immediately take Tatsuhata and depart.
"Looks like I only have one chance!"
Ritsu took a deep breath.
He didn't plan to continue waiting.
The current moment wasn't an excellent opportunity to strike. But if he continued waiting for the so-called right timing, many lives would probably be paid as the price. Not only here at the Hokage Building—the situation at the shrine also wasn't optimistic.
He formed hand seals with both hands, instantly entering Sage Mode.
Then—
Heavenly Transfer Technique, activate!
A dazzling white light shot skyward, instantly attracting the attention of everyone outdoors in Konoha Village. Most people felt somewhat bewildered or panicked, unclear what this white light meant. Some even thought it was a method deployed by attackers like Tatsuhata.
But perceptive individuals recognized Heavenly Transfer at first glance.
The reanimated Madara was one of them.
"Heavenly Transfer Technique?"
He froze momentarily.
If he remembered correctly, this secret technique was inherited in the Hidden Cloud Village, wasn't it?
He widened his eyes, seeing the direction where the white light descended. It was clearly the Hokage Building's location. According to the plan, Tatsuhata should be hunting the prey Hiruko at the Hokage Building right now.
This Heavenly Transfer... who was it?
His brow furrowed as an ominous premonition surfaced in his heart.
At the same time, Tatsuhata had completely failed to react. He knew of this secret technique Heavenly Transfer, but his experience and knowledge couldn't let him connect this white light with Heavenly Transfer in the first instant.
Therefore, by the time the white light suddenly descended before him and he saw Ritsu in Sage Mode, his brain finally snapped to attention.
But by then, it was too late.
Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill!
Ritsu's left palm gently pressed toward the replica Tobirama's chest.
Nine forces penetrated the replica Tobirama's body, instantly shattering his body into complete annihilation without leaving even a trace of residue.
At the same time, his right hand also pointed toward Tatsuhata's chest. Gentle Fist Style: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms—he deployed it completely with one hand. His Gentle Fist had reached a level of complete mastery.
Caught off guard, Tatsuhata took Ritsu's Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms head-on. The chakra pathways throughout his body were almost completely sealed.
Even his Mangekyō Sharingan instantly degraded and disappeared, simply becoming pitch-black pupils, unable to maintain even the three-tomoe state.
"Heavenly Transfer?! The Cloud ninja's Heavenly Transfer? How do you know the Cloud ninja's Heavenly Transfer?"
Tatsuhata released a crazed howl. Beneath the tiger mask, his features twisted. He'd already been extremely careful and cautious. But he truly hadn't expected Ritsu to master this technique with speed fast enough to rival space-time techniques.
This led to him being closed in on instantly, caught completely off guard.
Emotions like anger and unwillingness erupted in his heart like a volcano, making him unable to maintain his composed calm any longer.
However, these out-of-control emotions weren't entirely genuine. They also contained deliberate acting. Though his own chakra had been sealed, his replicas could still maintain some mobility for a short time without his chakra supply.
Therefore, there was no need to despair yet.
Hell Stab: One-Finger Nukite!
The replica Third Raikage had already fully deployed this technique called the Strongest Spear. From Four-Finger Nukite, he'd progressively advanced all the way to the strongest One-Finger Nukite. In this state, both speed and destructive power reached their peak!
A pale blue lightning flash arrived behind Ritsu in an instant.
One finger stabbed out with power like a cannonball.
Ritsu's body was simply torn open by this terrifying penetrating force, creating a massive gap. Internal organs and bones all shattered. Even his left arm was broken and crushed!
Unfortunately, this severe injury that normal people absolutely couldn't endure meant nothing to Ritsu now. The only imperfection was that his Level 5 Physical Regeneration couldn't eliminate pain. The physically literal heart-rending agony twisted his expression to an inhuman degree.
But he bit through his tongue, forcibly enduring this intense pain.
At the same time, he continued attacking Tatsuhata.
His left hand and torso were injured, but his hair remained.
Ninja Art: Wild Lion's Mane Technique!
His jet-black long hair grew and twisted wildly like dozens of vines. Like lightning, they stabbed out, piercing through Tatsuhata's hands and feet, wrapping him up layer by layer.
Simultaneously, the horrifying wounds on his body regenerated and healed at an equally jaw-dropping speed.
Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill!
While his wounds healed, Ritsu twisted his body. Reversing his hand, he delivered Nine Aspects Rotation Kill toward the massive Wood Golem summoned by the First Hokage, cleanly shattering the golem's fist and arm to powder.
He immediately flickered his body.
Wood Clone Technique!
Five wooden clones grew from his body. After landing, they immediately split up to intercept the attacking replica Third Kazekage and replica Fourth Kazekage.
"Ritsu!"
"Beautifully done!"
The liberated Hiruko shouted excitedly and loudly.
Of course, he didn't just cheer verbally. His hands quickly completed hand seals.
Storm Release: Laser Circus!
A beam shooting from his hand at extreme speed pierced through the replica Fourth Kazekage's gold dust and penetrated the replica Fourth Kazekage's chest.
But the replicas Tatsuhata created had no vital points in the conventional sense.
Only inflicting a certain volume of damage could cause effective harm. After the Laser Circus's destructive power was diminished one layer by the gold dust, the damage to the replica Fourth Kazekage decreased to a very low degree.
But he wasn't fighting alone now.
Before the replica Fourth Kazekage stood Ritsu's clone. He seized the instant when the replica Fourth Kazekage suffered Hiruko's attack and his body became stiff—
Water Release: Spiral Destruction Needle!
The Wood Clone didn't use Nine Aspects Rotation Kill.
That thing's destructive power was indeed astonishing, but it wasn't without drawbacks. Using it placed quite a heavy burden on the body. Ritsu's real body didn't fear this heavy burden. His Level 5 Physical Regeneration was fearless.
But the Wood Clone couldn't withstand that heavy burden.
Ritsu had experimented.
Even the Wood Clone with the highest damage-bearing capacity couldn't deploy Nine Aspects Rotation Kill. It would directly destroy the Wood Clone's chakra balance due to the heavy burden, causing the Wood Clone to collapse and disappear immediately.
Wind Release: Rasenshuriken was the same principle.
These techniques that harmed the enemy one thousand while damaging oneself eight hundred were difficult to use through clones.
Conversely, Water Release: Spiral Destruction Needle had sufficiently strong lethality yet completely no side effects on oneself. At this moment, it was most suitable for clones to use.
The azure chakra sphere struck the gold dust blocking ahead. The high-speed rotating water needle pierced through the thick layer of gold dust, directly striking the replica Fourth Kazekage's neck.
He slightly adjusted the water needle's size, directly breaking off the replica Fourth Kazekage's neck.
The head flew high into the air.
It transformed into thousands upon thousands of pale command threads mid-air and scattered. The headless body simultaneously transformed into command threads that lost control and dispersed. Moreover, these command threads flew toward Tatsuhata, the technique's caster.
As long as he recovered some command threads, he could summon the Fourth Kazekage's replica again next time.
But Tatsuhata had no next time.
Ritsu's injuries completely recovered. He extended his left hand, grasping Tatsuhata's neck. His right hand punched toward the Wood Golem controlled by the replica Hashirama.
Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill!
As the saying goes: one trick works everywhere.
He relied on just this one move to smash the majestic Wood Golem towering like a mountain range into pieces. With the Wood Golem's collapse, the replica First Hokage also ceased operations.
Not because he had no methods remaining, but because his chakra had hit rock bottom.
Without Tatsuhata's continuous supply, these replicas only had three-axe abilities. Once the three axes proved ineffective, there was no show to perform!
The replica Third Kazekage was the same. Though Iron Sand techniques were formidable, without sufficient chakra support, those powerful moves couldn't be deployed.
"Uchiha Tatsuhata, your death day has arrived!"
Looking at Tatsuhata held up by the neck in his grasp, Ritsu felt he wasn't grasping a person's neck but a miraculous elixir that could let him reach the heavens in one step!
His body craved the final puzzle piece named Uchiha.
Just then—
"Hyuga brat, let go!"
An angry roar came from the distance.
The reanimated Madara, controlling a towering Wood Golem, charged over with large strides. The moment he saw Heavenly Transfer appear and felt an ominous premonition, he'd abandoned the opponents at Tamae Shrine and rushed directly toward here.
Upon arriving and looking, sure enough—that useless Tatsuhata had dropped the ball again. Moreover, this time he'd screwed up himself, actually captured alive by Ritsu.
His heart burned with fury.
Clearly possessing such a powerful ocular technique, yet making such a complete mess of the plan... Once he rescued Tatsuhata this time, he'd forcibly transplant the Rinnegan no matter what. If Tatsuhata cooperated, fine. If not... they'd have Black Zetsu do it by force!
His heart turned vicious.
But his thinking remained clear.
Right now, the most important thing was still rescuing this useless Tatsuhata. Only with Tatsuhata alive could subsequent matters proceed. Otherwise...
Things would truly become massively troublesome!
"You say let go and I should let go? Wouldn't that make me lose face? Already-dead old relics should obediently die. This ninja world long ceased being a stage for old relics like you!"
Ritsu snorted coldly.
He stomped his foot.
A Wood Golem rose from the ground.
Two similarly-sized Wood Golems began fist-to-wood brawling in Konoha Village's center. No fancy ninjutsu—only the most primitive violence.
But their massive size made this violence appear extraordinarily shocking.
The reanimated Madara's face turned iron-blue.
He discovered rescuing Tatsuhata might prove impossible. In his current state, his strength was greatly reduced. Forget the Rinnegan's many methods—he couldn't even use Susanoo.
Dealing with this Hyuga clan monster brat, he actually felt somewhat powerless.
But Ritsu wore a pleased smile.
With matters developing to this point, the overall situation was already decided.
Mere Orochimaru and the reanimated Madara posed no threat. Orochimaru's troublesome aspect was being difficult to kill. Direct combat held nothing to fear, even though the current Orochimaru had gained both Sharingan and Wood Release bloodline limits.
Speaking of which, Orochimaru was still battling and entangled with Jiraiya, Uchiha Fugaku, and others at this moment, fighting fiercely. What incredible intensity!
Ritsu lacked patience to drag this out.
The final puzzle piece should be consumed as quickly as possible for safety, lest dragging out time produced other complications.
Therefore—
Sage Art: Nine Aspects Rotation Kill!
Ritsu struck to assist the Wood Golem. One attack shattered the reanimated Madara's Wood Golem arm into fragments. The balance broke. The reanimated Madara's Wood Golem instantly fell into disadvantage, beaten into continuous retreat.
"Hyuga brat, you win this time. But once I'm resurrected, I'll let you know my power!"
The reanimated Madara tossed out harsh words.
Twisting around, he leaped down from the Wood Golem's head. The White Zetsu hiding on his body instantly appeared, wrapping him from head to toe like a bodysuit. Like a water droplet falling into the ocean, he drilled underground.
Even the Byakugan lost positioning in an instant.
Ritsu was too lazy to pursue.
Though he could try conducting area-covering saturation attacks at this moment—perhaps inflicting damage on the reanimated Madara—it would only be inflicting damage. Completely killing him would be very difficult.
The reanimated Madara's strength was indeed greatly reduced, but conversely, his survival capabilities had also massively improved.
In any case, Ritsu had no heart for pursuit.
He was even too lazy to support Konoha Hospital. Right now, his single-minded focus was consuming Tatsuhata, this final puzzle piece, letting his bloodline become completely perfected!
Moreover, Konoha Hospital didn't need support. Orochimaru wasn't the type to fight to the bitter end. When he discovered the Hokage Building battlefield had ceased operations, he didn't hesitate—he fled at the first opportunity.
Thus, an anticlimactic raid action ended.
Konoha—
Complete victory!