His eyes flared crimson as the Ketsuryūgan activated, his bloodline power surging as he cast a genjutsu directly at Might Duy.
Nothing happened, the technique slid off like it did nothing. A corpse had no mind to ensnare or distort.
En Oyashiro exhaled sharply. "Hmm... That is a new information. Genjutsu doesn't seems to work this Reanimated person."
He stepped forward, placing himself squarely between Renga and Duy. "Renga-san," he said calmly, "I will stop him. Rest and assist if you can."
Renga didn't argue, he couldn't back Might Duy.
Might Duy advanced with the Seventh Gate roaring through his body as blue aura enveloped him, the air screaming around him as pressure shattered stone, while En Oyashiro met that monstrous momentum without retreat, cutting deeply into his own palm so blood spilled freely and obeyed his will, twisting into a crescent scythe that gleamed darkly.
En Oyashiro did not waste motion or breath as he stepped inside Duy's striking range, his Ketsuryūgan burning with focused intensity while the blood scythe swept in an arc fast enough to shear wind, carving through Duy's torso and leaving a hollowed cavity where organs should have been, an attack that would have ended any living shinobi instantly.
The wound did not bleed or spasm, and it did not even slow Duy for more than a blink, as pale flesh knitted itself together unnaturally and the empty space filled as though time was rewound.
Recognizing that direct destruction would only buy him fractions of seconds, En Oyashiro disengaged in a controlled leap backward, dispersing the scythe into dozens of suspended crimson threads that reassembled mid air into a massive bow and a cluster of arrows, each one pulsing not for lethality but for precise disruption of Duy movements.
He released the arrows in rapid succession, each projectile curving sharply after launch, homing relentlessly on Might Duy's limbs and joints rather than his vitals, detonating in controlled bursts of blood chakra that tore away muscle, shattered legs, and collapsed ankles, forcing Duy to stumble and fall repeatedly despite the overwhelming power flooding his body.
Each time Duy dropped, the ground cratered beneath him, and each time he rose again moments later, limbs regenerated but the rhythm of his advance was broken, his movements fractionally delayed as En Oyashiro systematically did not let him have stable footing and interrupted his momentum.
Using that narrow window, En Oyashiro slammed both hands together and expelled a surge of chakra through his blood, forming the technique Blood Net, an intricate lattice of flexible crimson filaments that erupted from the ground and air simultaneously, wrapping around Might Duy from multiple angles and anchoring him in place like a living web.
The net constricted instantly, each strand stretching and tightening with adaptive pressure, and for a brief moment the impossible happened, as the reanimated shinobi forward motion halted completely and the battlefield fell into an uneasy stillness broken only by the hiss of escaping blue aura.
En Oyashiro did not relax, because his experience told him that such victory always were costly, and his instincts screamed that something is going to happen. Even though he was in control of the battle.
--
Far away within the depths of the Fire Country but not far from the border of Land of Hot water, Orochimaru observed everything through visual conduit linked directly to Might Duy's reanimated body, his dark golden eyes gleaming with fascination rather than concern for his test subject as he catalogued the failures and successes of his first true experiment of hashirama cells in real time.
The information was invaluable, confirming definitively that conventional genjutsu failed entirely against reanimated shinobi due to the absence of normal neurological processes, while also revealing that certain blood-based techniques could still interfere with movement and control.
Orochimaru's attention lingered on En Oyashiro with predatory interest, noting the sophistication of the blood manipulation, the strategic restraint, and the adaptability displayed against an opponent who once slaughtered elite swordsmen of the mist, marking this opponent as a potential acquisition learning about this kekkei genkai rather than a disposable enemy.
He recalled clearly how he had first discovered Might Duy's remains, a scorched, barely coherent mass left behind after unleashing Eight gates of Death, moments away from dispersing entirely into ash, a corpse that most would have ignored, but which Orochimaru had recognized as the perfect foundation for experimental reanimation.
The initial reanimation had been crude and unstable, Duy's body veined with black fissures and chakra leakage so severe that sustained movement seemed impossible, forcing Orochimaru to halt further deployment until he could reinforce the vessel with something more resilient and vitality. The damage he suffered before death is retained even after reanimation.
That necessity had driven him toward Hashirama's cells, whose regenerative properties and chakra compatibility he had begun to understand through relentless experimentation, gradually integrating them into Duy's body until the reanimated form could sustain the Seventh Gate indefinitely.
Now, watching En Oyashiro control the battlefield, Orochimaru felt both irritation and delight, irritation that his experiment was being challenged so effectively, and delight that the data gathered would allow him to push the limits even further without fear of total failure as he believed the opponent would die after his subject used Eight Gates of Death.
He smiled thinly as his consciousness pressed deeper into the reanimation, asserting direct control over Might Duy's movements and unlocking suppressive seals he had deliberately left dormant until this precise moment as he started overriding Duy's control over his body.
The Blood Net began to strain visibly as the pressure within Duy's body spiked violently, crimson strands snapping one by one under a sudden surge that dwarfed the previous output, forcing En Oyashiro to widen his stance and reinforce the net with additional blood at significant personal cost of his blood.
Orochimaru's voice echoed softly in the hidden chamber as he initiated the final command he had reserved for this type of escalation, his hands forming seals. Might Duy's body convulsed as the chakra pathways flared white-hot, Hashirama cells reacting explosively to the reaction in Duy's body, muscles expanding as power surged far beyond the Seventh Gate's threshold, cracking the ground in concentric rings one deeper than the other.
The air itself screamed as the Blood Net shattered completely, strands vaporizing under the overwhelming force, and En Oyashiro staggered backward as pressure slammed into him like a physical wall, his Ketsuryūgan registered a sudden, terrifying spike that eclipsed everything before it.
From deep within Fire Country, Orochimaru's lips curled upward his eyes alight with unrestrained fascination at the thought acquiring a new potential test subject, and the reanimated Might Duy before En Oyashiro ignited with catastrophic chakra as the Eighth Gate of Death activated, amplified by Hashirama cells.
--
A/N: How strong exactly is canon Duy? Duy is a low-chunin level without any gates. With 8-gates multiplier he can exert Kage-level strength for a while. So, En oyashiro should easily handle a 7th gate Duy. However, War arc Might Guy is different. He is already a low-kage level without gates. With 8-gates multiplier he jumped multiple tiers and could contest against juubidara.
Injuries endured before death will matter... Example is the Third Raikage stabbing himself which became a weakness naruto exploited. However, Orochimaru amped Might Duy with hashirama cells which not only increased his vitality but also his ability to perform 8 gates of death which would not be possible otherwise.
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