A Battle for Fame (2)

Li Yu activated the Flying Raijin Jutsu and vanished from his spot, this time setting his sights on the team consisting of the Third Kazekage and Hanzo the Salamander.

Arriving atop a mountain peak, he looked down from his vantage point and quickly formed hand seals, crossing his hands in a cross shape.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Bloom."

He surrounded all the ninjas in the center; massive tree trunks surged from beneath the earth, cleaving through the mountains, piercing the rock, and enveloping the entire terrain.

The hundreds of ninjas trapped in the middle screamed and scattered in a desperate attempt to flee.

"Help me!"

"What is this thing?"

"Stay away!"

They frantically flung their kunai and shuriken in a panic.

The elite ninjas who narrowly dodged the initial assault were still congratulating themselves on not being ensnared.

Trees covered the entire area, and several enormous flowers sprouted from the branches; these bewitching red blossoms slowly unfurled, releasing vast clouds of toxic pollen.

Everyone in the area collapsed, save for a few guards near the Hokage who had managed to retreat from the zone quickly enough.

A ninja from the Hidden Stone Village pointed toward the neighboring battlefield in astonishment and shouted.

"Look, what is that?"

"Such massive flowers!"

"What a terrifying Wood Release, the range is immense."

Roshi said to Han, "That brat must have nearly exhausted his chakra after unleashing two ninjutsu of that scale."

"We're moving in. We'll transform into our Tailed Beasts together and finish him off."

He turned back and commanded, "Take the Tsuchikage and retreat; get far away."

Li Yu, meanwhile, knew his natural energy was running low and that he should finish off the Third Kazekage and Hanzo the Salamander.

"Magnet Release: Iron Sand Shower!"

"Fire Release: Explosive Flame Formation!"

The two men showed no mercy, unleashing their ninjutsu upon Li Yu. The Kazekage's pebble-like iron sand shot toward Li Yu at high speed, making it extremely difficult to dodge.

The ground beneath him began to sink, revealing numerous Explosive Tags.

Whoosh, whoosh.

Boom, boom.

The iron sand struck and the Explosive Tags beneath his feet detonated, but Li Yu's body dissolved into a pile of mud and vanished.

"Earth Clone."

Li Yu landed in the distance and formed seals.

"Wood Release: Wood Hand Jutsu."

He slammed his hands onto the ground, channeling his chakra into the earth to generate countless wooden hands that he could control at will.

They lunged rapidly toward the Third Kazekage and Hanzo the Salamander.

The Third Kazekage failed to react in time and was seized by a giant wooden hand.

Relying on his superior taijutsu, Hanzo the Salamander narrowly dodged the grasping strikes of over a dozen wooden hands.

Li Yu used the Body Flicker Technique to appear behind the captured Kazekage, striking him with a Sage Art: Big Ball Rasengan that sent him flying.

Seeing this, Hanzo the Salamander bit his finger.

"Summoning Jutsu: Salamander!"

Bunpuku, the One-Tail jinchuriki, saw the Kazekage struck and injured, and no longer caring about suppressing the One-Tail, he instantly transformed into his Tailed Beast.

He became a massive yellow tanuki, his entire body wreathed in black curse marks.

"Ninjutsu: Feigning Sleep Technique."

"Wahahaha, I'm finally out! I'm going to kill you little ants!"

Just then, the Five-Tails and Four-Tails jinchuriki arrived. Seeing that the One-Tail had already transformed, they exchanged a glance.

Communicating with the Tailed Beasts within them, they followed suit and transformed as well; amidst two bursts of white mist, a multi-horned white horse and a red-furred gorilla appeared.

Seeing this, Li Yu used the Flying Raijin Jutsu to put some distance between them.

Suddenly, he realized his eight-minute Sage Mode had ended; the green markings on his face and the eyeshadow around his eyes vanished.

"It seems I must let you witness the power with which the First Hokage suppressed the nine Tailed Beasts."

He formed seals with his hands, and a Wood Clone located within the Land of Bears vanished into a log with a poof.

Li Yu re-entered Sage Mode.

"This battle was too rushed, but I've prepared this final Sage Mode to finish all three of you in one go."

Wood Release: Wood Human Technique.

By channeling chakra into trees, he caused them to grow rapidly into a colossal wooden giant, with a wood dragon coiled around its body. Its size and combat power were comparable to a Complete Body Susanoo.

Li Yu stood atop the giant wood human's head, controlling it as it took a massive leap, swinging a gargantuan fist toward the head of the One-Tail.

The three tailed beasts froze at the sight of the wood human; they recognized it all too well, remembering the terror once inflicted upon them by the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.

Seeing the giant fist closing in, the One-Tail let out a harsh, grating sound.

"Bunpuku, hurry and let me go back! Wake up!"

On the ground, Hanzo the Salamander watched his teammates' maneuvers, unable to comprehend what was happening.

He had just summoned his salamander, ready for a grand battle, but the scale of the fight had escalated instantly. As a demigod, he had been reduced to a mere bystander.

His summoned salamander was blown away by the shockwaves of the One-Tail's transformation, sent flying off to who knows where.

Hanzo didn't hesitate; he gathered his remaining men and retreated in a panic.

"When gods fight, mortals suffer."

The Kazekage was carried away by the ninjas of the Hidden Sand.

Boom! Boom!

With a single punch, the One-Tail was slammed into the ground, causing a massive tremor and sending dust billowing into the air.

Li Yu maneuvered the wood human to grab the One-Tail's tail with both hands, swinging it around and hurling it toward the Four-Tails.

Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique.

The wood dragon on the wood human's body lunged straight at the Five-Tails, easily binding it and restricting its movements.

The Five-Tails let out a shrill scream, "Ahhh!"

The wood dragon was covered in thorns and capable of absorbing the target's chakra, tightening its grip the more the beast struggled.

This was a technique capable of binding the Nine-Tails; restraining the Five-Tails was a trivial matter.

The giant wood human leaped once more, striking the One-Tail and the Four-Tails with a fist in each hand.

Bang! Bang!

The two tailed beasts were sent reeling, dazed and battered by the blows.

The ground shook repeatedly, and several nearby mountain peaks, unable to withstand the tremors, collapsed one after another.

The surviving ninjas in the distance watched the scene, swallowing hard.

"Three tailed beasts are being pummeled."

"They have no power to fight back."

"Is this the power of Wood Release?"

Seeing the two tailed beasts beaten to the ground, Li Yu raised his fists and unleashed a barrage of strikes, leaving the beasts on the ground howling in agony.

Seeing that it was enough, it was time to get down to business.

Recalling the wood dragon from the Five-Tails, Li Yu formed hand seals once more.

Sage Art: Gate of the Great God.

He summoned thirteen red torii gates that descended from the sky, pinning the tails and necks of the three tailed beasts to the ground.

A dozen thunderous booms echoed across the land.

Seeing that the job was done, Li Yu pulled three sealing scrolls from his back and performed the necessary seals.

After sealing half of each tailed beast's chakra into the scrolls, he tucked them away with satisfaction.

"Heh, I couldn't let this fight go to waste."

The three tailed beasts, heavily wounded, all reverted from their beast forms, leaving three figures lying on the ground.

Li Yu glanced at the ground, dispelled all his Wood Release techniques, and without looking back, dashed toward Konoha. He needed to find a place to rest while his Sage Mode was still active.

In this battle, the Third Tsuchikage Onoki was severely wounded, the Third Kazekage was heavily injured, and the three jinchuriki suffered great vitality loss, unable to tap into their tailed beasts' power for some time.

Ironically, this had delayed the rampaging of the One-Tail Shukaku; the Hidden Sand should have been thanking Li Yu.

Following this battle, Zi Yu became famous throughout the ninja world. Following the First Hokage, a new generation of super-Kage level powerhouse had been born in Konoha.