Yugito dropped to all fours, gouging deep marks into the ground as she charged again, completely unaffected.
With Chakra claws on both hands, she darted left and thrust right. Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't risk facing the Tailed Beast Chakra head-on, and was briefly forced onto the defensive.
Nii Yugito wore a solemn expression as she swung her arms with all her might, striving to land a lethal blow.
As he dodged and weaved, Sarutobi Hiruzen took in Yugito's delicate features, her face full of murderous intent, and suddenly smiled.
He stopped dodging and let Yugito's claws pierce his chest.
Yugito furrowed her brows. The smiling Sarutobi Hiruzen slowly turned into mud.
"Earth Release: Earth Clone Technique."
Yugito immediately tensed and kept watch in every direction, wary of Sarutobi Hiruzen launching a surprise attack from anywhere. She failed to notice the Explosive Tags on his Earth Clone quietly burning out.
"Boom!"
Blistering heat and the explosion engulfed Yugito. A moment later, Nii Yugito flew backward out of the smoke.
Pain showed on her face, and large patches of her fair skin were badly burned.
She had clearly taken the Explosive Tags head-on. Even as a Jinchuriki, she couldn't shrug it off.
But Jinchuriki were never that easy to deal with. Tailed Beast Chakra let them recover quickly, and she had already healed completely by the time she finished gliding through the air.
Yet as Nii Yugito dropped toward the ground, a large hand shot out and smoothly caught her ankle. With a sharp tug, it pulled her into the earth.
"Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu..."
"Earth Release: Hardening Technique!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's masterful control over Chakra Nature Transformation let him complete two different nature transformations for a single Ninjutsu in an instant.
He made the ground go from soft to hard. A real man only needed two seconds.
And in those two seconds, a cute Jinchuriki had already fallen into his trap.
Nii Yugito's eyes widened as she felt the earth around her grow denser and tighter. This is bad!
"Crackle, crackle."
Sarutobi Hiruzen rose from the ground and saw Yugito, her body wreathed in lightning, trying to break free of the hardened earth.
"Not bad reflexes."
"Just too green."
Sarutobi Hiruzen praised her.
She had reacted in an instant, using Lightning Release's nature transformation to counter Earth Release. Nii Yugito's battle instincts were quite sharp.
But as a Jinchuriki, Yugito devoted her energy to controlling Tailed Beast Chakra. Naturally, her training in the Cloud Ninja's native Lightning Release was lacking.
The Five Nature Transformations' elemental advantages depended on the person, too. Just look at how Uchiha Madara's Fire Release took an entire squad's worth of Water Release to counter.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's Earth Release was second only to that old man Ōnoki, who had mastered Kekkei Tōta.
"Five Elements Seal!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen pressed a finger to Yugito's forehead, and the sealing formula quelled her surging Chakra.
He gave Nii Yugito no further chance. Without hesitation, he knocked her unconscious with a hand chop and calmly hoisted her over his shoulder.
She was a Jinchuriki—worth a fortune.
In less than five minutes, Sarutobi Hiruzen had captured a Jinchuriki with strength on par with a Titled Jonin, without using a single high-powered Ninjutsu.
Thanks to his extraordinary mastery of Chakra Nature Transformation and his ability to read his opponent's moves in advance, Sarutobi Hiruzen had completely outclassed the inexperienced Nii Yugito—not just in combat strength, but in tactics as well.
"So my paper stats of Sage Ten aren't just for show..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't simply bragging.
The Third Hokage's battle intelligence had always been top-notch. In the original story, when Orochimaru defected, the Third Hokage had outmaneuvered and badly wounded him in a single exchange.
And since Sarutobi Hiruzen had crossed over, he had inherited all of the Third Hokage's talents. Once an opponent let him spot an opening, they would be on the back foot in an instant.
Of course, this was also because Nii Yugito couldn't yet fully control the power of the Tailed Beast.
If Nii Yugito learned a complete Tailed Beast Transformation, Sarutobi Hiruzen would probably have to work a lot harder to seal her.
Capturing the Two-Tails Jinchuriki was arguably the greatest prize of the war, even more valuable than wiping out a thousand-man unit.
After securing the fruits of victory, Sarutobi Hiruzen made no further move. He waited there for Uchiha Fugaku's reinforcements to arrive.
Meanwhile, over on the Cloud Ninja battlefield, they were already close to being overwhelmed by Fujin and Raijin's rampage.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Dragon Bullet!"
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"
Lightning flashed across the sky and ground, enveloping Fujin and Raijin's towering forms.
The crackling current brought terrifying heat with it. The combined Lightning Release techniques of nearly fifty Lightning Release Ninja were like a hell of lightning.
Countless flashes and electromagnetic bursts blanketed the area, scorching Fujin and Raijin's cells without pause.
Ninjutsu as powerful as Lightning Style: Kirin could be assembled and unleashed in an instant when a battle formation was built up with sheer numbers.
Though the combined Ninjutsu's power was terrifying, Fujin and Raijin at the heart of the formation showed no intention of dodging.
They let the current and heat ravage their bodies.
No matter how strong they were, they were still carbon-based life forms and vulnerable to extreme heat and lightning. In an instant, the Lightning Release had charred the skin on their bodies.
"It worked!"
"We finally hit them!"
"An attack this powerful could even restrain a Tailed Beast, let alone a couple of humans!"
The Cloud Ninja around them were visibly excited. The two men, clearly Konoha Ninja, were incredibly fast and strong, and had killed many of their comrades.
After buying time at the cost of countless comrades' lives, they had finally found an opportunity to lure the pair into the combined Ninjutsu's encirclement and badly wound them both in one stroke.
But before the Cloud Ninja could finish grinning, they saw something that made it impossible to smile.
The two men, completely covered in charred flesh, casually took a couple of steps forward, showing no sign of weakness.
The charred layer then fell away like snowflakes, revealing skin that had already healed, completely unharmed.
"They... They're completely fine?!"
"They're recovering so fast!"
"Regeneration on par with a Jinchuriki!"
The Cloud Ninja were aghast. All that effort and planning had yielded nothing.
Fujin and Raijin didn't care what the Cloud Ninja thought. Their bodies were whole again, and in a flash they charged back into the crowd, beginning another round of slaughter.
"Lord Toroi! We have to retreat!"
"Konoha planned this!"
"The Raikage and Lord Killer B aren't here... We can't deal with monsters like these!"
Toroi's subordinates were aghast at the sight, too. They could hardly believe humans could be this resilient—these two were practically Tailed Beasts.
But they also understood the situation. The two men before them were physical monsters no less formidable than the Fourth Raikage, able to go toe-to-toe with a Tailed Beast.
Without a powerhouse of equal strength to hold them back, no matter how many fighters they had, they couldn't handle them.
Worse, the pair had an unreasonable level of vitality. Even wearing them down like the Third Raikage would likely be impossible.
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