Melee!

But this was not the end; who knew if there were other hidden entrances and exits in this vast valley?

If these thieves were allowed to sneak away and escape to other hills, even more people would suffer!

Crystal Release: Crystal Explosion Technique.

Torifu Akimichi manifested an irregular crystal sphere in his palm, roughly the size of an adult's head.

He exerted force and hurled it high above the valley, soaring past the surrounding mountain walls.

"Explode!"

In an instant, the crystal sphere shattered and vanished, the crisp sound of breaking glass echoing through the valley, causing the bandits to grow vigilant.

However, after a while, they noticed nothing had happened and stopped paying attention.

But the recent explosion had scattered Crystal Seeds into every corner outside the valley!

At this moment, Torifu Akimichi was consuming a massive amount of Chakra, frantically stimulating the seeds to grow.

This was the first time Torifu Akimichi had used such a large-scale Ninjutsu, and the Chakra consumption was staggering!

He had used a full 1 unit of Chakra, which was already half of his total reserves.

Yet, the reward was gratifying; without anyone noticing, Torifu Akimichi had completely encased the entire exterior of the valley with Crystal Vines.

Had he not prepared enough Crystal Seeds in advance, he feared he would not have a drop of Chakra left in his body by now.

"The consumption is about what I imagined. Let me recover quickly; I'll leave the small fries to them for now."

Using so much Chakra at once was a heavy burden on Torifu Akimichi's six-year-old body.

To avoid affecting the upcoming battle, he had no choice but to rest in place and adjust his condition.

After about twenty minutes, Torifu Akimichi stood up from the ground, dusted off his clothes, and walked toward the center of the valley.

That was the final battlefield!

Though this place was called a bandit den, it looked no different from a small village.

Perhaps the only difference was that these people committed every evil imaginable.

The further he went, the more corpses and blood he saw.

They all appeared to have died in an instant, a sign of great skill.

There were others with additional wounds, and Torifu Akimichi knew exactly who had killed them without needing to ask.

Just as Torifu Akimichi passed a small hut, a sudden roar rang out.

"Die!"

A ragged, middle-aged man holding a notched broadsword lunged at Torifu Akimichi.

A triumphant smile played on his lips.

Torifu Akimichi merely glanced at him before extending his left hand toward the bandit.

In a flash, a Crystal Vine shot out from Torifu Akimichi's sleeve, binding the bandit tightly.

But upon closer inspection, one would notice this was different from the previous vines; its tip was a snake head with sharp fangs!

Crystal Release: Crystal Poison.

The snake head bit fiercely into the bandit's neck, injecting all the venom into his body.

The bandit's body crystallized rapidly, starting from his neck; he didn't even have time to utter his final words before his entire head had turned into crystal.

The binding vine was then retracted into Torifu Akimichi's sleeve.

Small fry like this weren't worth using Chakra on, but Torifu Akimichi just wanted to test his Ninjutsu.

Come to think of it, the inspiration for this move came from Orochimaru's Hidden Shadow Snake Hands. Regardless of whether Orochimaru's strength was high or not, his various survival Ninjutsu were definitely the best in the ninja world.

Torifu Akimichi had drawn a lot of inspiration from Orochimaru.

For example, moving in and out of the Crystal Mirror while fighting Uchiha Chirori was borrowed from Orochimaru's technique of spitting out snakes and swords.

Using this Snake Vine combined with Crystal Poison had an incredible effect.

Without wasting any more time, Torifu Akimichi continued toward the center after killing the bandit to rendezvous with Hiruzen and the others.

He could already hear the sounds of battle, and Torifu Akimichi couldn't help but quicken his pace.

When Torifu Akimichi reached the meeting point, the fighting had already begun. Kagami Uchiha and Danzo were dealing with the strongest of the five samurai.

Hiruzen, Koharu, and Torifu Akimichi were handling two ninjas.

Mitokado Homura was fighting four samurai alone, but being outnumbered, he could only fight while retreating.

Because it was far too dangerous, Uchiha Chirori was not here.

"Brother Homura, I'm here to help!"

Crystal Release: Crystal Mirror, Crystal Release: Crystal Clone, both techniques were unleashed simultaneously!

Two Crystal Clone Torifu Akimichis emerged from the mirror, holding off two samurai, which greatly relieved the pressure on Mitokado Homura.

"That's enough, I can handle two samurai! Go help Hiruzen!"

Without hesitation, Torifu immediately set off. Everyone had a clear understanding of their own strength and would not try to act like a hero at such a critical moment.

On Hiruzen Sarutobi's side, the three of them could not exert absolute suppression over the two Sunagakure rogue ninjas, and the two rogue ninjas could not take down Hiruzen and the others either.

The situation reached a stalemate for a time, but fortunately, Torifu had arrived, and it was time to counterattack!

"Multi-Size Technique!" Torifu Akimichi seized the opportunity, enlarged his hand to a massive size, and slapped away Lomaru, who specialized in Fire Release, with a single blow.

Hiruzen and Koharu also took this opportunity to launch a fierce attack on Rojin, who was skilled in Wind Release, successfully separating the two brothers!

Even without the support of their combined ninjutsu, the brothers were still extremely powerful individually.

"Fire Release: Fireball Barrage!"

Lomaru performed hand seals at high speed, and then, like a machine gun, continuously spat out fireballs from his mouth!

Although the power of each individual fireball was small, there were simply too many of them!

Torifu Akimichi, having grown larger due to his technique, undoubtedly became a living target, his palms scorched by the continuous flames.

"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"

Torifu spat out a large amount of water from his mouth, forming a defensive wall of water in front of the two of them.

Lomaru's fireballs were quickly extinguished upon hitting the Water Formation Wall, producing waves of steam.

"Damn it! This brat is actually good at Water Release; I have to kill him first!"

He then erupted into action, rushing toward Torifu.

Torifu Akimichi used the Multi-Size Technique to enlarge his entire body, clenched his fist, anticipated Lomaru's movement, and then slammed his fist down violently.

Just as the blow was about to connect, Lomaru changed his movement in time, narrowly escaping; otherwise, he would have been crippled, if not killed.

Torifu smiled; from beginning to end, he had not retreated a single step because he knew he had companions, and they protected one another.

Lomaru's failed strike meant he had missed his best opportunity; trying to launch a surprise attack again would be nearly impossible.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique."

The large volume of water released earlier through the Water Formation Wall swirled and gathered around Torifu, finally forming a ferocious water dragon!

It charged toward Lomaru!

"How does this brat know such ninjutsu?!"

"Damn it! Fire Release: Flowing Fire Technique!"

Lomaru took a deep breath and violently spat out surging flames!

These flames moved forward like winding water, quickly wrapping around the water dragon and strangling it!

The Water Dragon Bullet also extinguished the winding flames, the two canceling each other out as the collision of water and fire erupted into a massive cloud of steam.

This left everyone unable to see the situation on Torifu's side for a moment.