The Seal-less Ninjutsu

A civilian-grade Amaterasu? It burns everything to a crisp, yet it can't actually kill anyone? Well, the original Amaterasu couldn't kill anyone either, could it!

"Let's fight once we're out of the city. If we do it inside, the commotion will be too great, and it wouldn't be good to needlessly provoke the enmity of the Land of Iron." Even though it was just a civilian-grade Amaterasu, it greatly boosted Ruri's confidence in battling Senju Hashirama. If it couldn't burn a person, surely it could burn through Wood Style? The only uncertainty was the chakra consumption; Ruri didn't possess a Sharingan, so the cost of Amaterasu shouldn't be trivial.

Before long, the two left the city, followed by the Five Kage observation group and their respective guards.

"Big Brother, let me be the first to face him." At this moment, Kakuzu suddenly spoke up.

"Hmm?" Ruri knew that Kakuzu had always wanted to challenge Senju Hashirama, but he hadn't expected him to bring it up at this specific moment.

Looking into Kakuzu's sincere eyes, Ruri understood his intent; he wanted to help Ruri wear Senju Hashirama down first.

In Kakuzu's view, Ruri was very strong—his true strength was something even he couldn't fathom—and during this Six Kage Summit, he had revealed abilities never seen before. But Senju Hashirama was, after all, the God of Shinobi, a figure who had suppressed an entire era. He was deeply worried that his Big Brother might not be able to win.

It wasn't that Kakuzu was showing weakness; anyone would have the same thought. Even if the other four Kage felt that Ruri might be able to trade blows with Senju Hashirama, they didn't believe Ruri had even the slightest chance of victory. His opponent was that man, after all!

Ruri was about to refuse—after all, with the Seven-Tails' chakra and the Truth-Seeking Orbs, ensuring a draw was quite easy—but upon second thought, he agreed. Being able to fight the God of Shinobi would certainly be beneficial for Kakuzu's growth. Moreover, after years of his cultivation, Kakuzu's mastery of ninjutsu had reached a point of effortless execution, and he possessed quite a few novel techniques. Who was to say he couldn't catch Senju Hashirama off guard and land a small blow?

And so, Kakuzu began his fight with Senju Hashirama. However, in the eyes of the various Kage and Tobirama, Ruri wasn't trying to cultivate Kakuzu at all. They all speculated with malicious intent, believing that Ruri was undoubtedly using his subordinate to drain Senju Hashirama's chakra.

They even felt a sense of mockery in their hearts, especially Tobirama. Senju Hashirama's ocean-like chakra was not something that could be drained so easily. There had been no shortage of elite ninja during the Warring States period, and they had never seen Senju Hashirama exhausted by a gauntlet of challengers. Such a monster, with terrifying stamina and chakra, could never be defeated by a war of attrition. The Takikage was truly still too young!

Kakuzu appeared before Senju Hashirama in an instant, throwing a punch straight at his face. He chose to test him with taijutsu; if he allowed Senju Hashirama to create distance with Wood Style, the fight would be as good as over.

However, Kakuzu's preemptive strike did not succeed. A wooden wall appeared in front of Senju Hashirama, and when Kakuzu's fist struck it, the wall didn't budge an inch. The next moment, the wall transformed into a hammer, slamming heavily toward Kakuzu, who dissolved into a puddle of water under the impact.

A Water Clone? As one of the basic Three Clone Techniques, every village had some exposure to it, and they all treated their improved elemental chakra clone techniques as treasures—like Iwagakure's Earth Clone, Kumogakure's Lightning Clone, or Kirigakure's Water Clone, all of which were closely guarded secrets.

Byakuren's face turned ashen. The Water Clone was clearly a technique he had developed, circulating only within Kirigakure, yet now it had reappeared in the hands of the Takikage's guard? And looking at the execution, the speed of the hand seals, it was clear he had been practicing it for years!

Ruri looked at Byakuren's complex expression and subconsciously rubbed his nose. Although Kakuzu could use ninjutsu of all five elements, he didn't have Earth Grudge Fear at this time, nor did he have other hearts; he only possessed Water and Earth chakra. Therefore, when Ruri and Kakuzu had researched ninjutsu together in the past, they had focused primarily on these two elements. Since Kakuzu preferred Water Style over Earth Style, it seemed they would be seeing quite a few scenes like this in the coming battle.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" Kakuzu, who had appeared behind Senju Hashirama at some point, unleashed a powerful lightning technique!

A flash of lightning crackled over Senju Hashirama's head, but after the lightning dissipated, all that could be seen were several wooden tendrils extending from beneath his feet.

A lightning rod? Ruri was dumbfounded. Wood isn't a conductor, is it? Can you even play it like that? This is completely unreasonable! But the facts were the facts. Fortunately, relying on his years of experience in ninjutsu development, Ruri finally cracked the principle.

Although Wood Style is wood, the composition of Wood Style chakra is water and earth. This meant that Senju Hashirama possessed both types of chakra. Even though he didn't usually use Water or Earth Style, it didn't mean he couldn't use the two types of chakra individually. Since wood doesn't conduct electricity, he just had to coat it with water-attribute chakra, didn't he!

Kakuzu thought his lightning technique had succeeded and, slightly off-guard, failed to notice the wooden tendrils beneath Senju Hashirama's feet gradually spreading, binding him tight!

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" The most effective technique against Wood Style was Fire Style, but since Kakuzu lacked fire-attribute chakra, the power of this move was somewhat lackluster, barely managing to burn the wood away.

Having freed himself, Kakuzu attacked Senju Hashirama from the side, rapidly closing the distance. Senju Hashirama formed hand seals: "Wood Style: Adamantine Wood!"

A giant log appeared horizontally in front of Senju Hashirama, flying straight toward Kakuzu. It was clear that Senju Hashirama was holding back; otherwise, it wouldn't have been as simple as just a giant log.

Facing the incoming log, Kakuzu didn't dodge at all, continuing his charge toward Senju Hashirama without changing direction, merely raising his right hand to block.

With a screeching sound, the log blocking Kakuzu's path turned into a pile of splinters, and by then, he had already reached Senju Hashirama!

"Wind Style: Rasengan!"

"This technique?!" Ishikawa looked at Ruri. Among everyone present, only he had some understanding of this technique. He had long heard that Ruri knew a seal-less ninjutsu, but he hadn't expected him to teach it to others.

"A seal-less ninjutsu?" Byakuren, A, and Retto, who were watching the battle, only felt a violent fluctuation of wind-attribute chakra but didn't see Kakuzu perform any hand seals. After thinking it over, this was the only conclusion they could reach.

For a world where ninja villages had only been established for a few years, where the ninja system was not yet perfect, and where various clans hoarded their ninjutsu, the impact of a seal-less ninjutsu was truly too great!

"This is the seal-less ninjutsu I developed, the Rasengan. Its power isn't considered too strong; its only advantage is that it requires no hand seals," Ruri said indifferently. The Rasengan was such an easy technique to copy that he had done so early on. In the original work, even the training method was written clearly, so it hadn't taken any effort to replicate.

In the past, Ruri had tried his best to hide the existence of the Rasengan. After all, he hadn't possessed sufficient strength, and such a rare technique would only attract the covetous eyes of those with ulterior motives. Basically, everyone who had seen him use the Rasengan had died. Ishikawa had learned of it by chance, but he hadn't believed that a seal-less ninjutsu could exist in the ninja world—it violated common sense—so he had never bothered to look into it. But things were different now; Ruri was the sixth Kage, the Takikage, who could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Five Kage. It was time to show off his formidable strength.