Ninjutsu without Hand Seals

A civilian version of Amaterasu? It burned through every target, but couldn't burn anyone to death? The genuine Amaterasu couldn't burn people to death either!

"Let's fight after we leave the city. Causing too much of a commotion inside would only earn us the Land of Iron's resentment." Even if it was only a civilian version of Amaterasu, Ruri's confidence in facing Hashirama had soared. If it could not burn people to death, could it not at least burn through Wood Style? The only thing he did not know was how much Amaterasu would consume. Since Ruri did not possess the Sharingan, its consumption should have been considerable.

Before long, the two left the city. The four Kage spectators and their guards followed after them.

"Big Brother, let me fight him first." Kakuzu suddenly spoke up.

"Hm?" Ruri knew that Kakuzu had always wanted to challenge Hashirama, but he had not expected him to bring it up at this moment.

Seeing the sincerity in Kakuzu's eyes, Ruri understood his intentions. Kakuzu wanted to help him wear Hashirama down first.

In Kakuzu's eyes, Ruri was very strong. He could not even gauge Ruri's true strength, and during this Six Kage Summit, Ruri had displayed abilities he had never used before. But Senju Hashirama was, after all, the God of Shinobi, the man who had subdued an entire era. Kakuzu was worried that his big brother might not be able to defeat him.

It was not that Kakuzu was being timid. Anyone would have thought the same. Even if the other four Kage believed Ruri might be able to trade blows with Hashirama, they did not think Ruri had even the slightest chance of winning. His opponent was that man!

Ruri had initially wanted to refuse. With the Seven-Tails' chakra and the Truth-Seeking Orb, maintaining an undefeated stalemate would have been easy enough. But after giving it some thought, he agreed. Fighting the God of Shinobi would certainly benefit Kakuzu's growth. Moreover, after all these years of Ruri's training, Kakuzu's control over ninjutsu had reached the point where he could wield it as naturally as his limbs. He also had quite a few novel techniques. Perhaps he could even make Hashirama suffer a small loss while he was unprepared?

And so Kakuzu began fighting Hashirama. However, in the eyes of the Kage Alliance, Tobirama, and the others, Ruri was not doing this to nurture Kakuzu. All of them interpreted his actions with malicious suspicion, believing that Ruri was using his subordinate to deplete Hashirama's chakra.

Some of them even mocked him inwardly, especially Tobirama. Hashirama's chakra was as vast as the sea; it could not be depleted so easily. There had been no shortage of elite shinobi during the Warring States period, yet no one had ever seen Hashirama collapse from being worn down by successive battles. A monster with such terrifying stamina and chakra could never be defeated through attrition. The Takikage was indeed too young!

Kakuzu appeared before Hashirama in an instant and threw a punch straight at him. He chose to probe with taijutsu. If Hashirama used Wood Style to widen the distance between them, there would be no point in fighting at all.

However, Kakuzu's preemptive strike did not work. A wooden wall appeared before Hashirama, and when Kakuzu's fist struck it, the wall did not budge. The next moment, the wall transformed into a hammer and smashed heavily toward Kakuzu. Under the blow, Kakuzu turned into a puddle of water.

A Water Clone? As one of the Three Basic Techniques, the Clone Technique was studied by every shinobi village. Their improved elemental chakra clone techniques were treasured even more highly. Earth Clones from Iwagakure, Lightning Clones from Kumogakure, and Water Clones from Kirigakure were all secret techniques that each village refused to pass on.

Byakuren's face turned livid. The Water Clone was clearly a technique he had developed, one that had only ever circulated within Kirigakure. Yet now it had reappeared in the hands of the Takikage's guard? And judging from Kakuzu's hand seals and the speed at which he formed them, he had clearly practiced it for many years!

Seeing Byakuren's complicated expression, Ruri subconsciously rubbed his nose. Although Kakuzu could use ninjutsu of all five elements, he did not yet possess Earth Grudge Fear or any additional hearts. He only had water- and earth-nature chakra. Thus, when Ruri had researched ninjutsu with Kakuzu in the past, they had mostly focused on those two elements. Compared to Earth Style, Kakuzu preferred Water Style, so there would likely be many more scenes like this in the battles to come.

"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" Kakuzu, who had somehow appeared behind Hashirama, unleashed a powerful Lightning Style attack!

Lightning flickered around Hashirama's head, but after the Lightning Style dissipated, all they saw were several wooden tendrils extending from beneath his feet.

Lightning rods? Ruri was dumbfounded. Wood was not a conductor, was it? It could be used like that? This was completely unreasonable! Yet that was exactly what had happened. Fortunately, with his years of experience developing ninjutsu, Ruri eventually figured out the principle behind it.

Although Wood Style was wood, its chakra was composed of water and earth. In other words, Hashirama possessed chakra of both attributes. Just because Hashirama never normally used Water Style or Earth Style did not mean he could not use those two types of chakra separately. Wood did not conduct electricity, but all he had to do was coat it with water-nature chakra!

Thinking his Lightning Style had succeeded, Kakuzu let his guard down slightly. He did not notice the wooden tendrils beneath Hashirama's feet gradually spreading out and binding him tightly.

"Fire Style: Searing Migraine!" Fire Style was the most effective ninjutsu against Wood Style, but Kakuzu did not possess fire-nature chakra. The power of this move was somewhat lacking, barely enough to burn away the Wood Style.

After breaking free, Kakuzu attacked Hashirama from the side, rapidly closing the distance. Hashirama formed hand seals. "Wood Style: Adamantine Wood!"

A massive tree trunk appeared before Hashirama and shot straight toward Kakuzu. It was clear that Hashirama was holding back. Otherwise, it would never have been as simple as a single giant trunk.

Facing the massive tree trunk rushing at him, Kakuzu did not evade at all. He continued charging toward Hashirama without changing direction, merely raising his right hand to block it.

With a sizzling sound, the giant trunk before Kakuzu turned into a pile of splinters, and he had already reached Hashirama!

"Wind Style: Rasengan!"

"That ninjutsu?!" Ishikawa looked toward Ruri. Of everyone present, only he knew anything about this technique. He had long heard that Ruri could use a ninjutsu without hand seals, but he had never expected him to teach it to someone else.

"Ninjutsu without hand seals?" Byakuren, A, and Retto, who were watching the battle, only felt an intense surge of wind-nature chakra. They had not seen Kakuzu form any hand seals. After thinking it over, this was the only conclusion they could reach.

For villages that had only been established for a few years, in an era when the shinobi system was still incomplete and the great clans guarded their ninjutsu as fiercely as cherished brooms, the impact of ninjutsu without hand seals was simply immense!

"This is the Rasengan, a ninjutsu without hand seals that I developed. Its power is not particularly great. Its only advantage is that it does not require hand seals." Ruri spoke calmly. He had copied the Rasengan long ago, such an easy technique to replicate. Even the original work had explained its training method clearly, so copying it had taken no effort at all.

Ruri had once gone to great lengths to hide the Rasengan. He lacked sufficient strength at the time, and such a rare technique would only attract the covetous gaze of those with ulterior motives. Basically, everyone who had seen him use the Rasengan had died. Ishikawa had only learned of it through a coincidence, but he had not believed that ninjutsu without hand seals could exist in the Shinobi World. It was a technique that violated all shinobi common sense, so he had never looked into it further. But things were different now. Ruri was the sixth Kage, the Takikage, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Five Kage. True strength had to be displayed.