A civilian version of Amaterasu? It burns any target to ash, just not people? Could the original Amaterasu even burn people to death reliably?!
"Let's take the fight outside the city. The commotion would be too great inside, and there's no need to incur the Land of Iron's hatred unnecessarily." Even though it was just a civilian version, this Amaterasu significantly boosted Ruri's confidence in fighting Hashirama. If it couldn't burn people, couldn't it still burn Wood Release? The only uncertainty was Amaterasu's chakra cost. Without the Sharingan, the consumption for using Amaterasu was likely substantial.
Soon, the two were outside the city, followed by the observation party of the other four Kage and their guards.
"Big Brother, let me fight him first." Kakuzu suddenly spoke up.
"Huh?" Ruri knew Kakuzu had always wanted to challenge Hashirama, but he hadn't expected him to propose it at this moment.
Seeing the sincerity in Kakuzu's eyes, Ruri understood his intention: he wanted to test Hashirama first and potentially wear him down for Ruri.
In Kakuzu's view, Ruri was strong—so strong that even he couldn't gauge his true depth—and he had even revealed never-before-seen abilities during this Six Kage Summit.
But after all, Senju Hashirama was the God of Shinobi, a figure who dominated an era. He was genuinely worried his big brother might not be able to win.
This wasn't Kakuzu showing weakness; anyone would think the same. Even if the other four Kage believed Ruri could trade blows with Hashirama, they didn't think he stood the slightest chance of victory. His opponent was that man, after all!
Ruri was about to refuse, confident that with the Seven-Tails' chakra and the Truth-Seeking Ball, maintaining a stalemate would be relatively easy. But on second thought, he agreed. A fight with the God of Shinobi would undoubtedly be beneficial for Kakuzu's growth.
Moreover, after years of Ruri's training, Kakuzu's control over ninjutsu had reached an instinctive level, and he possessed many novel techniques. It was possible he could catch Hashirama off guard and make him stumble.
And so, Kakuzu ended up fighting Hashirama. However, in the eyes of the other Kage and Tobirama, Ruri's motives weren't for Kakuzu's development. They interpreted it with malicious intent, believing Ruri was using his subordinate to deplete Hashirama's chakra.
They even felt a sense of mockery inwardly, especially Tobirama. Hashirama's ocean-like chakra reserves weren't something that could be easily drained. The Warring States Period had plenty of elite shinobi, yet no one had ever seen Hashirama exhausted.
This monster, with his terrifying stamina and chakra, simply couldn't be defeated through attrition. The Takikage was indeed still too young!
Kakuzu instantly appeared in front of Hashirama, throwing a punch. He chose to test with taijutsu first; if Hashirama used Wood Release to create distance, it would be nearly impossible to fight effectively.
However, Kakuzu's preemptive strike was ineffective. A wooden wall appeared before Hashirama, completely unmoved by Kakuzu's punch. The next moment, the wall transformed into a massive hammer, slamming heavily towards Kakuzu, who dissolved into a puddle of water under the impact.
Water Clone? The Clone Technique was one of the basic three jutsu, studied by every village, who treated improved versions using elemental chakra as treasures. Techniques like Iwagakure's Earth Clone, Kumogakure's Lightning Clone, and Kirigakure's Water Clone were closely guarded secrets of their respective villages.
Byakuren's face turned ashen. The Water Clone was a technique he had developed, only circulated within Kirigakure. How had it reappeared in the hands of the Takikage's guard?
And judging by the execution and hand seal speed, it had clearly been practiced for many years!
Seeing Byakuren's complicated expression, Ruri chuckled inwardly. Although Kakuzu could use ninjutsu of all five natures, at this point, without his forbidden technique and additional hearts, he only possessed water and earth chakra natures.
So, when the two researched jutsu together, they primarily focused on these two attributes. Between the two, Kakuzu preferred Water Release, so they were likely to see more such scenes in future battles.
"Lightning Style: False Darkness!"
Kakuzu, who had somehow appeared behind Hashirama, unleashed a powerful Lightning Style attack!
A flash of lightning crackled above Hashirama's head, but after it dissipated, only a few wooden tendrils extending from his feet were visible.
A lightning rod? Ruri was dumbfounded. Wood isn't a conductor, right? How could this work?
This was completely illogical! But the evidence was right there. Fortunately, drawing on years of ninjutsu development experience, Ruri finally deciphered the principle.
Although Wood Release created wood, its chakra composition was water and earth. This meant Hashirama possessed both these chakra natures. Even though he never used Water or Earth Release separately in daily life, it didn't mean he couldn't. Wood doesn't conduct electricity, but simply coating it with water-nature chakra would solve that!
Thinking his Lightning Style had succeeded, Kakuzu let his guard down slightly, failing to notice the wooden tendrils at Hashirama's feet gradually spreading and binding him tightly!
"Fire Style: Intelligent Hard Work!"
The most effective ninjutsu against Wood Release was Fire Style. Unfortunately, Kakuzu lacked a fire nature, so the power of this technique was somewhat lacking, barely managing to burn through the Wood Release bindings.
Freed, Kakuzu charged at Hashirama from the side, closing the distance rapidly. Hashirama formed hand seals: "Wood Release: Wooden Pillar Prison!"
A giant log appeared horizontally in front of Hashirama, shooting straight towards Kakuzu. It was clear Hashirama was holding back; otherwise, it wouldn't be just a single log.
Facing the oncoming giant log, Kakuzu didn't dodge at all, maintaining his charge towards Hashirama, merely raising his right hand to block.
With a tearing sound, the log blocking Kakuzu's path turned into a pile of splinters, and he was already upon Hashirama!
"Wind Style: Rasengan!"
"This technique?!"
Ishikawa looked at Ruri. Among everyone present, only he had some knowledge of this jutsu. He had long heard that Ruri knew a seal-less ninjutsu, but he never expected him to teach it to someone else.
"Seal-less ninjutsu?"
The observing Byakuren, A, and Reto only felt a violent fluctuation of wind-nature chakra but saw no hand seals from Kakuzu. After some thought, this was the only conclusion they could reach.
For villages established just a few years ago, with shinobi systems still imperfect and clans hoarding their techniques, the impact of a seal-less ninjutsu was simply too great!
"This is a seal-less ninjutsu I developed called the Rasengan. Its power isn't overwhelming; its only advantage is not requiring hand seals."
Ruri said nonchalantly. The Rasengan was such an easy technique to replicate—the original work even laid out the training method step-by-step—so copying it required little effort.
Previously, Ruri had kept the Rasengan a strict secret. After all, without sufficient strength, such a rare technique would only attract covetous eyes. Basically, anyone who had seen him use the Rasengan was dead.
Ishikawa had learned of it by chance but hadn't previously believed a seal-less ninjutsu could exist in the shinobi world, as it fundamentally defied shinobi. So, he hadn't looked into it much.
But now things were different. Ruri was the Sixth Kage, an equal to the Five Kage, the Takikage. With great power, it was time to show it.