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Chapter 74 - Chapter 74: Clash with Hiruzen Sarutobi

"Summoning Jutsu!"

"What's going on, Sarutobi? Where's the enemy?" The aged Monkey King appeared by the Third Hokage's side. His once-pristine white fur now showed signs of age, but he still exuded a powerful presence.

Unlike humans, the older a summoning beast, the stronger it typically is.

"It's Danzo. No time for questions—transform!"

"Understood…"

Poof!

Hiruzen gripped his staff, forming a one-handed seal as he charged at Danzo.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bomb!"

"I've been itching to test my strength against the so-called 'Strongest Hokage.'" Danzo dodged the incoming fire with ease, sticking to the side of the narrow, rectangular bridge like a gecko. His tone was laced with sarcasm.

Hiruzen, now fully in battle mode, didn't so much as flinch at Danzo's taunts.

Clang… clang, clang!

Clash!

The bridge's smooth, flat surfaces on all four sides made it an ideal battleground.

After a brief exchange, Hiruzen pulled back, noting the cracks in his kunai. Even with Danzo's "Vacuum Blade" chakra-infused strikes, it was impressive he could fracture the weapon.

Hiruzen, now hanging upside down beneath the bridge, plunged his staff into the stone and swiftly formed hand seals.

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"

The interval between the two techniques was less than a second. Wind pressure enveloped the fireball, propelling it towards Danzo at an accelerated pace. As the flaming sphere hurtled forward, it expanded violently, its orange-red flames swirling around the bridge like a fiery vortex. The flames sealed off all sides of the bridge as they rushed toward Danzo.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"

Danzo unleashed a powerful gust downward into the gorge, creating a massive suction force. The incoming firestorm was sucked into the abyss below, swirling as if devoured by a monstrous, unseen entity.

"Hmph…?"

The light around them began to fade, and darkness crept in from all directions, swallowing Danzo in its embrace.

"Bringer-of-Darkness Technique? As expected of a jutsu designed by the Second Hokage to counter the Sharingan."

Dodging a sudden strike from behind, Danzo retaliated with a swift slash of his Vacuum Blade.

Danzo had never feared close combat—especially after receiving Tsunade's approval and mastering Yang Release enhancements.

Clang… clang…

With a relentless flurry of attacks, Danzo's blade finally found an opening, stabbing straight at Hiruzen's chest.

Poof!

Hiruzen's body dispersed into smoke.

"Knew it…"

Danzo scanned the area, his sharp eyes taking in the vast canyon. He now stood alone on the stone bridge, frowning.

"Ninja tricks. Always so annoying. Wind Style: Net Trap."

Danzo swept his Wind Style technique across the entire gorge, but the wide-scale search yielded no results.

Something's wrong…

Instinctively, Danzo leaped back, swinging his arm to unleash a crescent-shaped wind blade that sliced clean through the bridge.

Boom… boom!

A clean horizontal cut severed the three-meter-thick bridge, splitting it in two. The stone structure, now destabilized, began to crumble and fall into the gorge below.

Both combatants clung to the sheer canyon walls using chakra, their eyes locked in wary vigilance.

Hiruzen's heart pounded. His earlier attempt to ambush Danzo from within the bridge had nearly backfired. When had his old friend grown so skilled in Taijutsu and Wind Release?

"You've grown soft from your cushy life, Sarutobi."

Danzo defied gravity as he raced along the cliff face, closing in for another attack.

"Earth Release: Underground Projection Fish Technique!"

Hiruzen melded into the rock wall.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"

Danzo shot a concentrated wind column at Hiruzen's last known location, punching a six-meter-deep hole into the cliff. But there was no sign of his opponent.

Suddenly, the rock wall softened beneath Danzo's feet, threatening to suck him in.

He's using Earth Release this smoothly, even in this terrain? I reinforced the stone walls around Root's base for this exact reason!

Danzo narrowly dodged a barrage of earthen spikes and a swampy mire attempting to swallow him whole. His patience was wearing thin.

"If you won't come out, then stay buried!"

"Sealing Jutsu!"

Danzo slammed his hands against the cliff face. Black sealing runes spread outward like ink, negating Hiruzen's terrain advantage and forcing him to emerge.

The moment Hiruzen surfaced, Danzo's attack was already upon him.

Clang… clang!

"Wind Style: Gale Palm!"

"Come on, Sarutobi. If I'm wrong, defeat me and prove it."

Danzo leapt back, trapping Hiruzen in a corner.

"Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere!"

This time, Hiruzen didn't dodge.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Three Hiruzen clones materialized and began weaving hand seals in unison.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Lightning Style: Thunder Burst!"

"Earth Style: Silver Light Armor!"

A dragon-shaped water column, covered in earthen scales and crackling with electricity, surged forward with terrifying force.

Boom!

With Hiruzen continuously channeling chakra into the technique, the combination jutsu tore through Danzo's Vacuum Great Sphere and barreled toward him.

"Wind Style: Continuous Vacuum Waves!"

One strike wasn't enough. Two, three… in the blink of an eye, Danzo unleashed hundreds of slicing wind blasts.

Zzzz… zzzz…

The canyon echoed with the sound of air being torn apart. Both men were momentarily deafened by the onslaught.

The mighty water dragon dissipated into a shower of droplets, unable to hold its form under the relentless barrage.

Hiruzen's breathing grew ragged. His chakra was starting to falter.

Danzo, however, showed no signs of fatigue.

"Big Ball Rasengan!"

A massive blue sphere of chakra spun in Danzo's hand as he charged Hiruzen at full speed, carving a deep trench into the cliff as he approached.

Without hesitation, Danzo drove the Rasengan down.

Boom!

The cliff wall exploded, leaving behind a massive crater, perfectly spherical like a scoop of ice cream had been taken out of the stone.

Several dozen meters away, Hiruzen clutched his staff, sweat pouring down his face and pain radiating from his back. He had narrowly avoided the Rasengan, but Danzo's wind-infused whip had lashed his back mid-escape, leaving deep, bloody gashes.

"This little jutsu packs quite a punch," Danzo said, twirling the wind whip casually.

When Danzo had fully mastered controlling his Vacuum Blade chakra, he'd experimented with forming this whip—a flexible, bladed weapon that didn't require hand seals.

It wasn't as powerful as the Rasengan, but it was far more unpredictable and stealthy.

Danzo launched himself forward again.

This is my kind of battle. We may look evenly matched, but I have more stamina, more chakra… and more cards up my sleeve.

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Pls Drop some Power Stones

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