Chapter 536: The Second Tsuchikage and the Second Mizukage
"Heh heh, a youngster, after all. So inexperienced," the Third Tsuchikage thought smugly as he rushed into the tunnel.
When he saw Kisame fighting Ino with such a resolute, do-or-die attitude, the old man had guessed the Mist rogue-nin's intentions. Though he didn't know the reason, he knew the result.
This was nothing new. As an eighty-year-old veteran ninja, he had seen far too many psychopaths like Kisame in his lifetime. This wasn't the first, and it wouldn't be the last.
The Hidden Stone Village adhered to the Will of Stone, which emphasized being as unmovable as a mountain. The Stone believed this will could effectively resist the "madness" that was pervasive in the ninja world.
The Will of Fire, with its emphasis on sacrifice, was actually quite similar. Ninja were too powerful, they killed too much, and their mental state was particularly prone to problems.
The Third Tsuchikage flew through the tunnel. As he flew, he suddenly stopped, his somewhat cloudy eyes scanning his surroundings.
An premonition of extreme danger rose in his heart. He saw nothing unusual, but at this moment, he chose to trust his instincts.
"Who? Who's there! Show yourself!" the Tsuchikage said, his face grim, as he stared at a dark corner.
The moment he spoke, a figure emerged from the shadows in the opposite direction.
It was a man of medium height and slender build.
The man's eyes were somewhat dim, but what was most striking was that his entire body was wrapped in bandages.
"Ōnoki, it's been a long time. I didn't expect... you've gotten so old," the bandaged man's mouth was wrapped in several layers, making his voice sound quite muffled.
"Master?! You..." The Third Tsuchikage's mind had been tempered by the Will of Stone to be as hard as rock; few things could shake his will. He quickly figured it out. "I see, it's Konoha's Impure World Reincarnation technique! Damn it!"
"Yes. It is regrettable that we meet again in this way," the bandaged man nodded slightly.
The Third Tsuchikage looked at his master, the man who was like a father to him, and was speechless for a long time.
He forced himself to keep a clear head, his somewhat stiff mind working rapidly.
He believed that Ino was dawdling with Kisame outside, allowing him to see an opening and rush in first, precisely because she had already sensed his reincarnated master, the Second Tsuchikage, lying in ambush here.
These Konoha ninja are too cunning! They're always bullying us honest folk!
As he thought, he felt something was wrong.
He quickly thought of a new problem. His master himself had incredible sensory abilities and had even developed a secret technique called "Dustless Bewildering Cover" during his time as the Second Tsuchikage. This technique could block the detection of sensory-type ninja. Even the Second Hokage of that time couldn't find his master. Could Ino do it now?
The old man's gaze darted left and right. There must be another enemy hidden here! The one Ino sensed must have been this other enemy, not his master.
"Hmph, what rotten luck. My debut should be in a place where all eyes are on me, not this dark and damp hole." The Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, with his thin mustache, emerged from the shadows. He had once taught Ino with his residual chakra.
He had just been reincarnated and was a bit disoriented. He scratched his head and looked at the Second Tsuchikage and the small, old man-like Third Tsuchikage nearby.
He asked the Second Tsuchikage in a slightly flippant tone, "Hey, loser, is that floating guy over there your student? Has the Ōnoki of back then really gotten that old?"
The Second Tsuchikage said in a low voice, "I defeated you. You are the one who lost to me."
The Second Mizukage stroked his mustache, his tone surprised. "No way, I remember killing you."
"No, you remember wrong. You were the one who died first, at least five seconds before me. I remember I still had half a body left when the explosion was over," the Second Tsuchikage said with conviction, sticking to his point.
"What did you say?!" The Second Mizukage was furious. He took two quick steps, wanting to have a good talk with the Second Tsuchikage.
The Impure World Reincarnation technique stopped his movements. He only took two steps before he could no longer move.
"Damn it! The Second Hokage's ninjutsu is disgusting!" he cursed loudly, but no matter how unwilling he was, his body was not under his control. He could only stand shoulder to shoulder with the Second Tsuchikage.
The bandaged Second Tsuchikage looked at the Third. "Ōnoki, I'm sorry. This is not my will."
After speaking, the Second Tsuchikage brought his hands together, and a ball of translucent white light appeared in his palms.
This was the Kekkei Tōta that the Second Tsuchikage had developed, a power that surpassed Kekkei Genkai. It was Dust Release, formed by fusing the three chakra nature transformations of wind, earth, and fire.
The Second Tsuchikage had researched Dust Release extremely thoroughly and had later passed it down to the Third through their master-disciple lineage.
In terms of jutsu development, as a prodigy of his time, he was no less skilled than the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.
The reason the Hidden Stone couldn't defeat Konoha at that time was not because their leader was weak, but because his subordinates were.
The Second Hokage's disciples were all incredibly fierce, one after another, while the Second Tsuchikage only had the late-bloomer, the Third Tsuchikage, as his student. When the Second Hokage's side fought, what with Hiruzen Sarutobi, Danzo Shimura, Koharu Utatane, they would all charge over in a swarm. No matter how strong his Dust Release was, he couldn't fight so many people.
The Second Hokage's political skills were also the highest among all the Hokage. Even the Uchiha clan, he could cleverly make them work for Konoha.
With a host of masters on Konoha's side, plus the assistance of the Uchiha, Hyuga, and Ino-Shika-Cho clans, the Second Tsuchikage was simply powerless.
Losing the ninja wars didn't mean the Second Tsuchikage was weak. On the contrary, his personal combat power was very strong.
The Dust Release activated silently, shooting straight toward the Third Tsuchikage.
The Third Tsuchikage gritted his teeth and retaliated with his own Dust Release. The two ninjutsu, from the same origin, canceled each other out in mid-air.
On the other side, the Second Mizukage made a finger gun gesture, and a dense barrage of water bullets shot over.
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" The Third Tsuchikage countered the move.
After blocking the water bullets, he accelerated and circled around to the Second Mizukage's side, gathering a massive amount of chakra in his palm, preparing to take out the mustached Mizukage first.
"Ha?" The mustached Mizukage was furious. "Ōnoki, you little shorty, you're trying to take me out first? You think I'm weaker than that loser over there?"
The Third Tsuchikage said nothing. The Dust Release in his hand, said to be able to decompose all matter, formed a cube that enveloped the mustached Mizukage and the three-cubic-meter space around him.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
The mustached Mizukage's body was mostly disintegrated, but he turned from anger to joy. "Too bad, you're too old, your eyesight is failing. You hit the wrong target."
"It's a genjutsu!" The Third Tsuchikage quickly turned around, only to see a chubby, mustached Mizukage rushing toward him!
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