With the enormous staff his summoned beast had transformed into slung over his shoulder, Hiruzen Sarutobi regained his confidence.
"Uchiha Byakuya, I'm going to finish you today..."
"I'll show you the Hokage's power!..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi roared and swung the giant staff at Byakuya.
The staff was thick and looked incredibly heavy, but in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands, it was surprisingly nimble. He swung it with fierce force, bringing it down on Byakuya from every direction.
On top of that, the staff could keep extending and retracting, so it posed a real threat to Byakuya for a while.
"Kamui..."
Faced with the attack, Byakuya had no choice but to use Kamui.
A dense web of staff strikes passed straight through his body without harming him in the slightest.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, is this the Hokage's power you were talking about!? You're really weak..."
"If the First and Second Hokage knew the Third Hokage was only this strong, would they be able to rest in peace!?..."
Byakuya continued to taunt Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Damn it, you accursed Uchiha..."
At Byakuya's words, Hiruzen Sarutobi seethed with rage, and a flood of Negative Energy poured into Byakuya's hands.
[Hiruzen Sarutobi's anger detected: +1500 Negative Energy, Taijutsu +90]
"Hiruzen, what's going on!?..."
"My attack clearly hit him. How did he dodge it?..."
Even the Monkey King, transformed into a staff, was baffled when he realized the attack had missed Byakuya.
As the staff wielded by Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Monkey King knew very well that the attack had definitely hit Byakuya.
And yet, Byakuya had somehow evaded it.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu!..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said gravely.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu! That's going to be a problem..."
"Wait, Hiruzen. I remember your Second Hokage knew Space-Time Ninjutsu. As his student, didn't you learn it?..."
The Monkey King seemed to remember something and asked.
At that, Hiruzen Sarutobi's old face reddened. Though he was known as the "Professor of Ninjutsu" and was proficient in all of Konoha's jutsu, he knew nothing about Space-Time Ninjutsu.
"Ahem. Enma, now isn't the time to talk about that. We should focus on finding a way to break his Space-Time Ninjutsu..."
To ease his embarrassment, Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly changed the subject.
"Understood. Let's keep attacking. Every jutsu has a weakness..."
The Monkey King replied at once, and the two continued to attack Byakuya in tandem.
Could Byakuya's Mangekyō Sharingan technique, Kamui, be broken? Of course.
Like Obito's Kamui, Byakuya couldn't remain in the other dimension for long.
At most, he could stay in the other dimension for five minutes.
Still, forcing Byakuya out of the other dimension was no easy task for Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Pant, pant... Boom, boom..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi kept attacking, but no matter what he tried, he couldn't hurt Byakuya.
And with his relentless assault, Hiruzen Sarutobi's stamina was rapidly running out. He was left panting heavily.
"Hey, Hiruzen Sarutobi, are you running out of steam?..."
"I didn't expect you to be this weak. You even look a little impotent..."
Byakuya continued to taunt the panting Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Now's my chance. Extend, Adamantine Staff!"
Seeing Byakuya speaking, Hiruzen Sarutobi quickly extended the staff in his hands and slammed it toward him.
"Bang..."
With a deafening crash, the staff struck Byakuya hard.
But at the critical moment, Byakuya activated Susanoo and blocked the attack.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, you're shameless—you actually tried to catch me off guard..."
Byakuya said disdainfully.
Byakuya understood now: Hiruzen Sarutobi had only pretended to weaken himself to distract him and set up a sneak attack.
Good thing Byakuya had reacted quickly and activated Susanoo at the last moment to block the strike.
"All's fair in war..."
"Against an enemy like you, there's no need to show mercy..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said without the slightest embarrassment.
All he wanted now was to defeat Byakuya and reclaim the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. What did it matter if he had to resort to schemes to achieve that?
"You really are shameless... You shouldn't be called the strongest Hokage. You should be called the most shameless Hokage..."
[ ]
Byakuya said disdainfully. At the same time, he willed Susanoo to rapidly take shape, forming a long sword that slashed toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Block it!"
Facing Byakuya's attack, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately raised his staff to defend himself.
"Bang... Boom..."
With a deafening crash, the staff in Hiruzen Sarutobi's hands successfully blocked Byakuya's attack.
"He actually blocked it!?..."
Byakuya looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi in surprise.
"Hmph. Enma has a body of adamantine. You can't break through his adamantine body..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said with confidence.
He had always trusted the strength of his summoned beast.
Together, he and his summoned beast had defeated countless powerful enemies.
Hiruzen Sarutobi believed that the two of them could defeat Byakuya as well.
"Is that so? Let's see just how tough you are..."
"Dōjutsu: Futsu-no-Mitama..."
Byakuya once again had Susanoo raise its sword and attack Hiruzen Sarutobi.
This time, he wasn't just using Susanoo's power—he was also using the ability of his dōjutsu, Futsu-no-Mitama.
With the dōjutsu's power, what looked like an ordinary attack from Byakuya suddenly became several times stronger.
"Bang... Ah..."
A thunderous crash was followed by a cry of pain.
Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly felt an unstoppable force bearing down on him. The staff flew from his hands, and it reverted from its transformed state into the Monkey King.
"This... How is this possible..."
"You actually broke through Enma's adamantine body..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression quickly changed from confidence to shock.
"Enma, are you all right!?..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately looked toward his summoned beast.
"Pfft..."
Enma first spat out a mouthful of blood, then said weakly,
"Hiruzen, I can't go on. All my ribs are broken. I can't fight anymore..."
Enma managed to get out a few words before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
His injuries were simply too severe for him to maintain the summoning.
"Damn it, is this the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan?..."
Seeing his summoned beast disappear, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face darkened further as he stared at Byakuya's eyes in disbelief.
He had known that the Mangekyō Sharingan was incredibly powerful, but he hadn't expected it to be this strong—to take out his summoned beast in a single move.
With his summoned beast gone, Hiruzen Sarutobi had lost a major advantage. And with Byakuya's unpredictable Space-Time Ninjutsu, he had completely fallen onto the back foot.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, your monkey's gone. Now it's your turn..."
As Byakuya spoke, he sent Susanoo charging at Hiruzen Sarutobi again.
"Boom..."
A tremendous explosion sent clouds of smoke billowing into the air.
Was it over?
But when the smoke cleared, Hiruzen Sarutobi was nowhere to be seen. All that remained was a shattered wooden log.
"He got away? He may not be much in a fight, but he sure can run..."
"Just as you'd expect from the most shameless Hokage..."
Byakuya thought disdainfully.
As the Hokage of Konoha, he had abandoned all the Anbu and run off by himself.
What else could you call that but shameless!?
Just then, Byakuya felt a sharp pain in both eyes. He immediately released Susanoo and deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Looks like until I awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, I absolutely can't overuse the Mangekyō Sharingan..."
After his fierce battle with Hiruzen Sarutobi, Byakuya had depleted a great deal of his ocular power.
If he kept fighting, his body wouldn't be able to take it.
The only way to eliminate the Mangekyō Sharingan's drawbacks was to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Byakuya willed it, and a status screen appeared before him.
"700,000 Negative Energy..."
That was what Byakuya had gathered over this period. He wasn't far from one million Negative Energy, and soon he'd be able to awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and use the power of his eyes freely.
Meanwhile, with all the points he had accumulated, Byakuya's abilities had all reached S-rank.
He could now be considered a full-fledged Kage Level powerhouse—and even among Kage Level fighters, he was one of the very best.
Before you continue