Chapter 523: Ino vs. Shinnō
After entering Sage Mode and sensing Shinnō's location, Ino smashed open the main door with her staff. With a flick to the left and a parry to the right, she easily dispatched two Sky Ninja who appeared to be at the jonin level of a small village.
"You guys also want to—whoa, what the hell!" Before Ino could even finish her line, she was face to face with Shinnō, who was now emitting billowing black steam.
Previously, Shinnō had been a scrawny, white-bearded old man. Now, his muscles were bulging and knotted, his hair fell to his waist, and his white hair had turned black. He looked more than thirty years younger.
"The Eight Inner Gates?!" Ino disliked forbidden techniques like this, which desperately extracted energy from cells and pushed chakra beyond its limits in exchange for dozens, or even hundreds, of times more power. This temporary power was too violent and prone to losing control. The damage to the user's body was simply too great—a classic case of suffering a thousand losses to inflict eight hundred on the enemy.
She knew Rock Lee and Might Guy. Even though she had never practiced it herself, she recognized the characteristics of opening the Eight Gates. And because she knew, she was stunned.
How many gates has this guy opened? She was a bit confused. The man was covered in black chakra, yet his body was brimming with vitality. It was an utterly illogical and contradictory state.
Shinnō sneered. "You have a keen eye. You are the only ninja to have ever seen me open the eighth gate. You should be honored."
Ino tried to stall for time, her expression appearing apprehensive. "Impossible, you opened the eighth gate, the Gate of Death? Are you insane? That's certain death!"
She wanted to chat with Shinnō for five minutes, but Shinnō, having lived to his age, was no fool.
"The Gate of Death? Before my Cell Activation Technique, there is no such thing as a gate of death!" Seeing Ino open her mouth to argue, Shinnō stomped his feet. His body, radiating scorching black steam, shot forward more than ten meters, and he threw a punch.
So fast!
Even with Sage Mode active, Ino found his speed terrifying.
She raised a hand, and the moisture in the air condensed into ice. An ice wall materialized in front of her.
With a crisp crack, shards of ice flew everywhere as Shinnō shattered her wall. His momentum spent, he immediately stomped his feet again, twisted his torso, and switched from a punch to an elbow strike, lunging toward her face like a human chariot.
Ino held her staff vertically, mimicking Sasuke's Chidori Blade. Lightning Release chakra coiled around the tip, blue-white electricity dancing wildly. Like a spear, her staff hummed with a crackling sound as she thrust it straight at Shinnō's heart.
Recognizing the deadliness of the move, Shinnō stomped hard, pivoting mid-charge to circle around the staff, and launched a kick toward Ino's waist.
Ino formed a hand sign with one hand, completing six signs in a second, then swiped her palm through the air in front of her.
A perfectly smooth water mirror appeared out of thin air.
"Sage Art: Water Release: Water Mirror Technique!"
A muscular man identical to Shinnō burst out of the mirror, kicking with the exact same posture.
"Imposter!" Shinnō threw himself forward, his shoulder slamming into the water mirror Shinnō's chest. The blow was incredibly powerful, shattering both the clone and the mirror.
The first rush fails, the second wanes, and the third is exhausted. Blocked first by the ice wall and then the water mirror, Shinnō's momentum was gone. Ino switched her staff from a thrust to a swing and viciously struck him across the back.
A sickening crunch echoed from Shinnō's bones as he was sent flying like a cannonball.
Ino had already leaped into the air. She switched the staff to her left hand and grabbed Shinnō's neck with her slender right, her nails piercing the skin.
She said mockingly, "Old man, you gave me a scare. This Eight Inner Gates of yours is far worse than the one I've seen! Your eighth gate is, at best, equivalent to a normal seventh gate."
Like an enraged lion, Shinnō roared. The muscles in his right arm bulged like rock, and his chest and abdominal muscles swelled as he threw a punch mid-air.
Ino squeezed her fingers. With a snap, she broke his neck first.
Ino could hear the sound of the bones in Shinnō's neck breaking, but to her astonishment, she saw no sign of him dying.
She swept her staff horizontally, batting the old man away half a second before his punch could land.
Shinnō landed on the ground, grabbed his slightly askew head with both hands, and with a twist, forcibly set the broken cervical bone back in place.
His expression was pained, but as the black chakra covered his body, the wounds on his neck and back healed instantly.
"No matter how many ninjutsu you've mastered, they are all useless before my ultimate body!" Shinnō declared menacingly.
Ino used Shisui's Phantom Body Flicker Technique to create seven phantoms to draw his attention, while her real body darted to Shinnō's side, swinging her staff viciously at his head.
Without even looking, Shinnō leaped into the air and kicked out like a hawk.
Ino took a deep breath, gathering Water Release chakra in her mouth and quickly infusing it with senjutsu chakra.
"Sage Art: Water Release: Heavenly Weeping!"
The Water Release ninjutsu transformed into dozens of fine needles that rained down on Shinnō's exaggerated muscles. But the man seemed to have a "Pain Editor" of his own; his expression didn't change in the slightest as his whip-like kick came straight for her.
Ino had no time to form hand signs and was forced to parry with her staff.
Holy crap! The moment she blocked the kick, she felt as if she were facing some primordial beast. His strength was unbelievable. Even in Sage Mode, her strength was no match for Shinnō's. A massive jolt ran through her hand. She didn't try to resist the immense force, instead allowing the kick to send her staff flying as she retreated.
"Sage Art: Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!" Three deep-red fire dragons, enhanced with senjutsu chakra, assaulted Shinnō from the left, center, and right.
The fire dragons created a sea of flames and kicked up a large amount of smoke and dust. Ino stared intently at the center of the flames when suddenly, Shinnō shot out from the smoke like an arrow. "Konoha ninja, where are you looking!"
"Sage Art: Ice Release: Ice Age!"
Ino had no intention of engaging in a taijutsu battle with someone who had opened the Eight Gates.
From the very first ice wall to the subsequent water mirror, heavenly weeping, and fire dragon flame bullets, she had been secretly preparing the battlefield.
Shinnō, his body showing signs of burns, crashed headfirst into the solid ice. He roared, intending to break through with his sheer physical strength, but first the fire dragons, then the ice—the sudden shift from extreme heat to extreme cold—made his vaunted muscles suddenly go limp and weak.
The muscle weakness wouldn't last long, but at this moment, it was fatal.
The room's furnishings, the floor, the weapons—everything was frozen solid by "Sage Art: Ice Release: Ice Age."
Shinnō struggled within the ice for a moment before being submerged by the endless tide of frost.
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