Crystal Release: Mirror Palace Demonic Killing Formation!

"I admit you're strong, you can come with us!"

But before Torikaze could even speak, Hiruzen Sarutobi continued, "But the battle must go on! I know you haven't used your full strength yet!"

Torikaze was stunned for a moment, then nodded, and Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled upon seeing this.

Utatane Koharu held her forehead; she had thought this spar was over, but she hadn't expected Hiruzen to really get carried away.

Mitokado Homura pushed up his glasses, looking as if he had seen through it all along, "Nothing to be done, you haven't known Hiruzen for just one day; that's just his personality."

Kagami Uchiha chimed in from the side, a faint smile on his face.

Today had given him a new impression of Torikaze: calm and collected in battle, never losing his footing when faced with a disadvantage, but instead judging the situation coolly to find an opening.

Chirori watched the match between Torikaze and Hiruzen Sarutobi with great enthusiasm; she had been the most nervous one at the start.

But in the end, she realized Torikaze's strength was even more formidable than she had imagined, so she stopped worrying.

Hiruzen Sarutobi loosened his joints, and once the feeling of the cold had eased slightly, he prepared to continue the fight.

He had Enma end the summoning; it seemed he was prepared to use ninjutsu to decide the outcome. Come to think of it, ninjutsu was his most proficient means of attack, while taijutsu was merely the icing on the cake.

"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"

In an instant, the ground beneath Hiruzen Sarutobi's feet turned completely into mud, surging toward Torikaze with extreme speed and covering a massive area, filling half the arena with mud in a moment.

There was absolutely nowhere to dodge.

Torikaze performed hand seals at lightning speed, then slammed his palms onto the ground. Instantly, countless giant crystal spikes erupted from the earth, forming a defensive wall that blocked the mud, not a drop seeping through.

Seeing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi actually laughed, "Raising a crystal wall in such a massive amount of mud only makes you a bigger target!"

"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"

A ferocious dragon head emerged from the ground, opening its maw to spray countless mud bullets at the brilliant crystal wall.

Even though the crystal's durability was higher than the mud bullets, such continuous, targeted attacks caused cracks to appear in the crystal wall.

Yet even so, the wall remained sturdy, and Kumonaka Torikaze continuously released chakra to repair it, the entire scene reaching a stalemate.

A bead of sweat rolled down Hiruzen's temple; he had clearly underestimated the defensive power of the crystal wall, but if he gave up the offensive now, he would lose completely.

Setting his heart, he began to weave hand seals rapidly.

Danzo, who had been driven into a tree by the mud, saw the seals Hiruzen was forming and felt a sense of dread! He shouted loudly, "Hiruzen! You can't control that technique yet!"

But it was too late.

"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Flames erupted from Hiruzen's mouth, transforming into a ferocious, roaring giant dragon that struck the crystal wall in tandem with the surging mud on the ground.

At this moment, Hiruzen struggled to control the trajectory of the Fire Dragon Flame Bullet to prevent it from igniting the entire forest along with the mud. He had conceived this combined ninjutsu for a long time, but had never been able to complete it.

He hadn't expected to succeed right here and now!

The combination of mud and fire, one cold and one hot, caused countless tiny cracks to appear on the crystal wall, and finally, under the constant assault of the Earth Dragon Bullets, it collapsed with a roar!

It shattered into fragments that filled the sky, sinking into the mud and vanishing.

The mud and fire instantly occupied the sanctuary within the crystal wall.

For a moment, nothing could be seen in the entire arena except for raging fire and mud.

It was then that Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly realized he might have gone a bit too far today.

He immediately ended all his ninjutsu, the flames and mudflow subsiding, and Hiruzen scanned his surroundings rapidly with his eyes.

But he saw no sign of Torikaze at all. Just as Hiruzen began to panic, a voice came from within the mud.

"Crystal Release: Mirror Palace Demon Kill Array!"

Before Hiruzen could determine the direction of the voice, countless crystal plants resembling vines grew wildly from the surrounding earth!

Like a giant cage, they surrounded Hiruzen, and then countless flower buds grew on the vines, blooming into individual Crystal Mirrors.

The continuous changes left Hiruzen Sarutobi dizzy; he could only feel immense danger! He could lose his life at any moment!

Just then, the situation changed again; Torikaze's figure appeared in every mirror, slowly emerging, leaving only his lower body inside the mirrors.

Weaving a seal with his hands, a crystal lotus bud appeared in his palm.

"Crystal Release: Single Arrow Lotus!" The Torikaze in the countless mirrors spoke in unison, and then the flower bud in his hand was violently hurled toward Hiruzen.

Seeing the flower buds, like a sky full of arrows, about to turn him into a sieve, Hiruzen shouted immediately!

"I surrender!"

In that instant, the countless flower buds bloomed simultaneously into sharp, deadly crystal lotuses. Sunlight poured down from the dome, and the entire cage seemed to transform into a brilliant palace.

Hiruzen's throat was only a shuriken's distance away from the petals of a crystal lotus, and by now, he was drenched in sweat.

But before long, the entire cage, along with the crystal lotuses, shattered and collapsed, turning into a sky full of crystal fragments before finally vanishing.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat down on the ground with a thud, gasping for air, not just because he had been frightened by Torikaze's ninjutsu.

It was mostly due to the exhaustion of having maintained his ninjutsu for so long, which had drained too much of his chakra.

"I say... are you... are you trying to kill me?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke with annoyance, having truly believed for a split second that Torifu was going to kill him.

At this moment, Torifu crawled out from the ground and scratched his head: "How could that be? It's just because Hiruzen-dage is so strong that I could only try to scare you."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's face clearly showed he didn't believe it, yet he had to admit that this child, Torifu, was truly strong—and he was only six years old!

In truth, just like Hiruzen Sarutobi, Torifu's final move had been a desperate gamble; he had only developed the concept for this technique and had never actually used it in practice before.

He had been forced into a corner today, driven to the edge, which was why he had used it. This Crystal Release: Mirror Palace Demonic Kill Formation was actually a combination of several ninjutsu.

It should be classified as a combined ninjutsu, and the crystal vines that sprouted at the very beginning were the new technique Torifu had developed.

He named it Crystal Release: Crystal Creation.

It worked by sowing crystal seeds and allowing them to germinate and grow.

As for the seeds that bound Hiruzen Sarutobi, they had been buried in the crystal wall beforehand; when Hiruzen shattered the wall, the seeds were buried into the soil along with the fragments.

It was also lucky for Torifu that if the seeds had been sown further away from Hiruzen Sarutobi, he would have been the one to fail today.

"Hiruzen-dage, I can go with you guys now, right?" Torifu scratched his head and chuckled.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not one to hold a grudge; the fight had just ended, and he no longer cared about it, wrapping his arm around Torifu's shoulder: "Of course, little brother Torifu. I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, keep my word."

Hearing this, Torifu finally felt completely at ease. He had pulled out all the stops to earn some Calmness Points; it really hadn't been easy!

Just then, the sound of the system suddenly rang out in Torifu's mind.

[Ding—Congratulations to the host for unlocking a new feature.]