"Eightfold Light Wheel!"
Takeshi continued his ferocious assault.
"Vacuum Slash!"
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!"
Even under the three-pronged assault, Sloth didn't move an inch.
Just standing there, he tanked all their attacks head-on.
"Ice Release: Piercing Duke!"
Seeing that his opponent refused to move, Takeshi decided to open the door to a new world for him.
Crystalline ice clusters shot up and rapidly froze Sloth's feet, while sharp icicles stabbed straight toward his rear.
"Break."
Facing the imminent loss of his "backdoor," Sloth finally drew one of his twin long blades.
It was a weapon that radiated a sci-fi feel — grooves and seams running along its body, a faint blue light glowing along the spine of the blade.
As the weapon was unsheathed, a burst of white light flashed.
The newly grown ice shattered into powder, and Uchiha Inaho, who had tried to take advantage of the moment to close in, instantly lost both his arms.
"Inaho!"
Hakuyun Sōken shouted, lunging toward him.
So fast.
That seemingly lazy man's power and speed far surpassed everyone present.
Seeing Sloth swing his blade toward Hakuyun Sōken, Takeshi quickly erected three layers of ice walls in an attempt to block the attack.
All three walls cracked down the middle at once.
Hakuyun Sōken, who had barely managed to pull Inaho away, screamed in agony as his left calf was forever left behind.
"I'll handle this."
From the communicator came Uchiha Fugaku's voice.
"Wait a little longer — see if the enemy has any reinforcements."
Takeshi quickly stopped Fugaku, and at the same time sent others to assist Hiruzen and Danzō, who were still fighting Yōwan.
"But..."
Before Fugaku could finish, Takeshi cut him off sharply:
"The battle that comes next — it's between me and him."
Takeshi understood well that when facing an enemy of this level, collateral damage was no longer something he could afford to worry about.
He gathered every last bit of chakra he had.
Cold — a bone-piercing cold — spread across the battlefield.
The ground was quickly coated with a layer of crystalline frost, crawling along pillars and walls, spreading all the way toward the Daimyō's palace.
"Ice Release: Frozen Snow Prison!"
Massive icicle pillars pierced through the palace roof, stretching upward toward the heavens.
Countless tiny ice spikes burst from the frozen ground, shooting toward Sloth's direction.
Even so, the ground beneath his feet remained unchanged — as if the deadly cold had no effect on the area he stood upon.
"Break!"
Sloth drew his second blade — identical to the first except that its spine glowed with a red hue instead of blue.
Red and blue lights intertwined and pulsed, sweeping away the ice within several meters around him.
A sea of ice spikes surged forth, threatening to engulf Sloth completely.
Even when faced with an attack capable of subduing tailed beasts, Sloth didn't dodge, didn't defend, simply stood there in that same lazy stance.
As the waves of ice spikes reached within a meter of him, Sloth crossed his two weapons — and with a mechanical whirr, they merged into a curved, white construct.
The sound of shattering ice echoed through the air.
Takeshi's expression darkened.
That attack… had been blocked.
Though it was only a hunch, he didn't dare let his guard down.
With the enemy's condition uncertain, Takeshi launched another barrage.
All the frost in the area responded to Takeshi's chakra, condensing into razor-sharp icicles that blotted out the sky.
The layer of ice covering the Daimyō's palace began to spread outward, as though seeking to encase the entire city.
Above the icicles, half-bodied armored warriors formed out of ice, assembling into a formation to join the assault on Sloth.
As Sloth's position was completely swallowed by the encroaching frost, Takeshi raised his right hand high.
With Ice Release, he forged a massive spear of ice — ten meters long — floating in midair.
When the last of its details were complete, Takeshi swung his arm down, sending the spear crashing through the frozen zone before him.
As the ice spear pierced through, the sound of fracturing crystals rang out continuously, followed by a thunderous explosion.
Shards of ice scattered.
Gradually, the scene ahead cleared.
The once untouchable Sloth — his tanned skin now streaked with blood — and the strange weapons in his hands had ceased to glow.
"You... are... annoying."
Sloth seemed to have taken considerable damage; his already slow speech became broken and halting, blood seeping faintly from the corner of his mouth.
"So that's it... even so-called artificial humans bleed red, huh?"
Seeing his opponent finally wounded, Takeshi's tense heart eased slightly.
Orochimaru once said — if something can be observed, it can be interfered with; if it can be interfered with, it can be controlled.
As long as this man wasn't truly invincible, then Takeshi — or rather, the entire shinobi world — would one day find a way to defeat him.
Takeshi's fighting spirit surged.
He was ready to send this unknown artificial being back to wherever it came from.
But before doing so, he checked on Isobu's chakra reserves.
Isobu replied, "After that last jutsu... I can still handle a few more like it."
Isobu's response filled Takeshi with renewed confidence.
In that case — let's do this!