"These guys can enter and exit the barrier freely?"
Ryosuke's expression didn't change in the face of the oncoming monstrous wave.
Instead, he was curious about how these coalition ninjas could enter and exit the barrier so easily.
He hadn't seen any passage being opened for them.
Was it some kind of special technique?
Ryosuke pondered briefly before being swallowed by the flood.
Yet, he remained standing. He was now underwater.
"Dozens of ninjas used water release together, and this is the best they can do?"
Ryosuke's physique was already so terrifyingly strong that even S-rank ninjutsu couldn't harm him.
These feeble Water release attacks?
They were not even enough to rinse off the dust.
Boom!
Ryosuke leaped out, landing steadily on the churning waves.
"Hey~! So this is your plan? Come in, throw some Water release, then run?"
He called out toward the coalition forces outside.
No one answered him. Instead, they stuck to their strategy.
First, the Water release users flooded the barrier, then the Lightning release users from Kumogakure electrified the water, covering the entire battlefield.
Ryosuke quickly saw through their plan but he didn't resist.
Instead, he watched the Kumo ninjas enter with great interest, unleash their Lightning release, then immediately retreat.
A hit-and-run strategy.
"Tsk tsk! Truly shameless."
Arcs of lightning flickered across his body as they danced along the water's surface, illuminating the entire area.
But it was useless.
Standing in the midst of the storm, Ryosuke remained completely unscathed.
He was even in the mood to chat.
"Can you guys try a little harder? You're just wasting time, you know?"
"I'll give you one more chance. If you don't show me something worthwhile, I'll start attacking."
"Hey! Did you hear me?!"
Outside the barrier, the coalition forces stared at him like he was a monster.
"What?! How is he completely fine?!"
"This doesn't make sense. How can anyone withstand an attack like that without taking damage?"
"He's a monster! This guy is an absolute monster!!"
"Oh my god. What are we even fighting against?"
Their morale wavered and some people even began to hesitate.
At this moment, Chiyo stepped forward.
"I'll handle this. Ryosuke is too strong. Ordinary attacks are meaningless. Cancel the harassment tactics. We'll send in our strongest fighters to finish this once and for all."
Originally, their plan was to wear Ryosuke down, slowly but surely, hoping to drain at least a fraction of his chakra.
But now, they realized that they had severely underestimated this young Konoha ninja.
His body was absurdly durable. Even the combined attacks of dozens of Kumo ninjas had done nothing to him.
Their plan was useless. Sending in more ninjas would just be throwing away their lives.
"Yo~! Finally, it's my turn to take the stage! Killer Bee concert, grand entrance! Time to take down Ryosuke with some killer rhymes, yeah yeah!"
Killer Bee started rapping again, moving with an exaggerated swagger.
"Kitsuchi, you take command here." Chiyo turned to Kitsuchi and said.
Kitsuchi nodded.
His strength wasn't on the same level as Chiyo or Killer Bee.
So, his job was to direct the operation and, if things went south, hold the line while the others retreat.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
One by one, figures leaped into the barrier.
Each of them was an elite of the coalition forces. All of them were Elite Jōnins at the very least.
A Kage-level powerhouse like Chiyo was leading the charge herself.
"Oh~! Finally getting serious?"
Ryosuke smirked as he surveyed his new opponents.
"So we have Chiyo from Sunagakure, Killer Bee from Kumogakure and the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Yugito Nii."
Swish!
Killer Bee moved first with an insane speed.
Before anyone else could react, he was already in front of Ryosuke.
"Yo~! So you're Ryosuke? You really are one scary dude!"
For once, Killer Bee wasn't rapping.
Although his speech still had that strange rhythm, he was more serious than usual.
Ryosuke chuckled and said, "Sending two Jinchūrikis to fight me, a single Konoha Jōnin? I'm honored!"
He studied Killer Bee for a moment, then thought to himself.
'After this, I should collect some of his chakra.'
'The biological pheromones of the Eight-Tails and Killer Bee's chakra...'
'If I am lucky, I might get one gold and one purple talent entry.'
'Even if it's just two purple talent entries, it will still be worth it.'
And on top of that, there was also the Two-Tails Jinchūriki, Yugito Nii.
And the veteran Kage-level puppet master, Chiyo.
That meant three more purple talent entries were up for grabs.
Most importantly, he could extract Two-Tails and Eight-Tails chakra from this fight.
Then, in the sealed space inside his body, he'd have his third and fourth Tailed Beasts.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
More figures moved into formation.
Chiyo unleashed her strongest puppets—the Ten Chikamatsu Puppets, their joints clicking into place as they took their battle stances.
Her gaze was serious as she studied Ryosuke.
For all his youthful appearance, he was beyond dangerous.
"It looks like everyone's here. Is no one else coming?"
Ryosuke glanced toward the outside of the barrier.
The remaining coalition forces were focused on maintaining the barrier.
"So that's all they're good for? Burning up their chakra to keep this barrier running?" Ryosuke smirked.
But this made sense.
A group of ordinary Jōnin and Chūnin rushing in was just a waste of lives unless they used hit-and-run tactics like before.
That might help them barely survive.
But what was the point?
They would just consume their chakra, and it would have no effect on Ryosuke at all.
It was a better use of chakra to keep the barrier running.
After all, maintaining such a large barrier requires an enormous amount of chakra.
It wasn't even comparable to the Four Violet Flame Formation that Orochimaru's subordinates used during Konoha's collapse plan.
"Ryosuke, being betrayed by your own village, you must be feeling terrible, right?" Chiyo spoke lightly.
"Ah? Terrible? Not really. It was expected."
Ryosuke looked indifferent.
In truth, he had long expected Homura and the others to be disloyal.
But Ryosuke had absolute confidence in his strength so he didn't care.
Besides, wasn't this advantageous to him?
It even gave him an excuse to attack the other villages.
They couldn't expect to intercept and kill him while he wasn't allowed to take revenge, right?
And as for how far that revenge would go?
Ryosuke had always believed in cutting the grass at its roots.
However, for the sake of the [Public Enemy] talent entry, he would still leave the three villages with a bit of breathing room.
After all, each of them provided a 100% boost to ninjutsu power, taijutsu power, and physical strength.
It would be a waste to let them completely disappear.
"What about this? Did you expect that you'd die here today?"
Chiyo's cloudy eyes flickered with coldness.
"Die here? With just you?"
Ryosuke couldn't help but laugh out loud.
This joke was just too funny.
These so-called Allied Forces?
In his eyes, they were nothing more than a bunch of chickens and dogs.
Where did they even get this confidence?
Thinking they could kill him?
"You people truly have no idea what real power is."
Ryosuke looked at them with contempt.
"You're really arrogant!"
The woman with blonde braided hair, Yugito Nii, stared at him.
"Arrogant?"
Ryosuke smiled faintly. "You'll find out soon enough."
"Attack!" Chiyo shouted.
In an instant!
The ten Chikamatsu Puppets under her control charged directly at Ryosuke.
"Puppets? Just a pile of junk."
Ryosuke didn't even bother pulling out his sword.
He just punched. A terrifying force erupted from his fist.
Boom!
One of Chiyo's puppets exploded into splinters.
"Be careful! His taijutsu is incredibly strong!" Chiyo shouted a warning.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
"Earth Release: Earth Spear!"
"Wind Release…!"
"More people?"
Ryosuke glanced at the group of Elite Jōnin surrounding him.
The corner of his mouth curled up.
In the next second, he clapped his hands.
Instantly, more than a dozen Wood Clones appeared, charging at the coalition ninjas.
In a flash, screams filled the air.
Against Ryosuke, these Elite Jōnin were no stronger than ants crawling on the ground.
They were all trash, and were crushed in an instant.
In just one exchange, apart from Chiyo and two others, every single Elite Jōnin was slaughtered.
Of course, before finishing them off, Ryosuke made sure to collect their biological pheromones.
Even though they were dead, as long as he gathered the pheromones before they perished, they were still useful.
These could only be converted into blue talent entries. But he could dismantle them into experience points.
Each one was worth 100 points.
Dozens of them meant thousands of experience points!!
And right now, Ryosuke desperately needed experience points.
He had been using up every bit to synthesize two gold talent entries.
But, even after spending so much, he still hadn't succeeded.
"Damn it!"
Chiyo's expression twisted as she watched several Sunagakure Elite Jōnin, including Baki get killed one after another.
Even worse, her Chikamatsu Ten Puppets were like fragile rag dolls against Ryosuke.
In just one move, three of them had been destroyed.
Her puppet attacks either got blocked outright or were dodged effortlessly. They couldn't harm him at all.
"How is he this strong? Was the intelligence really accurate? Or was it exaggerated?"
At this moment, Chiyo regretted everything.
She had initially refused to take part in this operation.
She believed that unless the Four Great Hidden Villages joined forces, it would be suicide.
But she had let herself be convinced by that old man Ōnoki.
He had said that Kirigakure's absence didn't matter.
And now?
It really didn't matter.
Because whether Kirigakure came or not, they would still be completely outmatched.
This man…
He was as strong as a monster.
How did he train to this level?
And what about Wood Release?
Why had he only used a Wood Clone?
Did he think they weren't worthy of more?
Chiyo's guess was correct.
Ryosuke hadn't used other Wood Release simply because they didn't deserve it.
Would he waste something like Wood Golem on a few Kage-level and a bunch of Elite Jōnins?
Not a chance.
Taijutsu alone was enough to crush them.
Why waste effort?
A single punch was all it took to obliterate trash like them.
If Chiyo knew what Ryosuke thought of them, she'd probably vomit blood in rage.
He had called them garbage.
And worse, it was true.
Could anyone not be furious after hearing that?
"Mouse Hairball!"
At this moment—
A figure suddenly appeared in midair behind Ryosuke.
It was Yugito Nii.
She used her chakra threads to manipulate a wave of Fire Rats, launching them at him from all directions.
"Let's see you dodge this!"
Yugito Nii's voice was icy cold.
"Dodge?"
"Why would I need to dodge?"
A voice suddenly whispered right in her ear.
Then, a hand grabbed her from behind.
And in the next moment—
Slam!
She was sent crashing into the ground with a violent impact.
***
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