Master, Please Become a Hokage

At close range, Sarutobi Ryō could clearly see the details of this sword.

The blade's surface reflected faint frost patterns, like a clear spring, giving off a sharp, freezing sensation with its cold gleam.

There is a difference in quality and sharpness between weapons.

The Qingfeng Sword's blade had embedded itself into a portion of the greatsword's blade.

To be precise... the Qingfeng Sword had cut through the greatsword!

"What a sharp blade!"

Sarutobi Ryō's eyes widened slightly, feeling even more that this sword of his was no ordinary item.

You should know that Sarui's greatsword was made of high-quality steel, easily capable of cutting ordinary kunai.

Yet, it had been cut open by the opponent's blade.

Whoosh!

Akatsuchi quickly retreated backward.

Although it seemed like he had the upper hand, in reality, as soon as they exchanged blows, he discovered that Sarutobi Ryō's strength was astonishingly great.

"What amazing arm strength..."

That greatsword, by visual estimation, weighed dozens of kilograms, yet this son of the Hokage wielded it as if it were a toy.

Akatsuchi, whose arm was slightly numb, immediately used a ninjutsu that every Iwagakure ninja knew.

"Earth Release... Stone Fist Technique!"

Crack, crack, crack!

A layer of earth-brown color rapidly covered Akatsuchi's arm.

This technique could increase the user's defense and attack power.

It was equivalent to covering the arm with a layer of powerful armor.

In the original story, this technique was shown many times.

For example, Ōnoki used the Stone Fist to smash the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu's, summoned beast.

Another example was when Kitsuchi punched and sent flying the Six-Tailed transformed Kinkaku.

But Akatsuchi's Stone Fist Technique, after slight adjustments, was slightly different.

His arm now looked like it was covered with a thin layer of arm armor.

The increase in defense and attack power might not be very large, but it possessed the buffering force of clay.

It could effectively dissipate most of the opponent's power when fighting against those with great strength.

After using the Stone Fist Technique, Akatsuchi attacked again.

This time, the aura around him became completely different!

This meant... he was starting to get serious!

The shouts of battle on the battlefield never ceased.

Sarutobi Ryō and Akatsuchi completely ignored the battles around them.

The two of them exchanged blows, constantly clashing.

Sarutobi Ryō had Hatake Sakumo as his swordsmanship teacher.

Akatsuchi had also been trained by many swordsmanship masters of Iwagakure.

Both of their taijutsu skills were quite astonishing.

The overflowing killing intent alone made others unable to help but retreat.

"The White Fang of the Leaf doesn't plan to take action?"

While fighting an enemy, Yekura looked at Hatake Sakumo standing there, seemingly not planning to move.

She immediately had some guesses in her mind.

On the other side, Namikaze Minato was constantly reaping the small fry.

His gaze also frequently turned towards Sarutobi Ryō's side.

"Ryō-shōnen..."

Looking at Sarutobi Ryō, who was completely different from what he remembered.

Namikaze Minato's eyes flickered, and the doubts in his heart gradually became clearer.

"Could it be that Ryō-shōnen is indeed the same kind of existence as me?"

He accepted the prophecy of the sage of the sacred land, thus opening a "second loop" in life.

This was why his performance was so different from the "original future"...

Whether it was the title of Black Reaper or the completely changed strength.

"Let me properly confirm it in this mission!"

Chapter 24. Storm Release Appears for the First Time! What Do You Mean by Lightsaber!?

Iwagakure Village.

It was a militaristic ninja village.

The entire ninja village was united, with the Tsuchikage and the Daimyō forming an ironclad alliance.

The Tsuchikage ruled Iwagakure Village with strict military discipline.

They even set up a department called the "Military Court" to punish those who committed crimes.

Because of these reasons, very few ninjas in Iwagakure dared to disobey military orders.

This led to the original story... 10,000 Iwa ninjas besieging the Third Raikage for three days and three nights.

The so-called overcorrection.

An overly harsh military administration was a more terrifying existence than death.

And therefore...

Sarutobi Ryō: "Though a state be vast, warfare will doom it!"

Iwagakure was precisely because of this militarism that it ultimately led to the original story... the jade-shattering of 10,000 Iwa ninjas. Making Iwagakure slump and completely lose the possibility of contending for the ninja world.

Hearing Sarutobi Ryō's evaluation of his village, Akatsuchi revealed a ferocious look: "It's still stronger than your weak Konoha!"

As soon as the words fell.

Akatsuchi used his trump card.

He held the sword in his right hand and raised his left hand.

With his palm facing the position where Sarutobi Ryō was, he pushed it out fiercely.

And in Sarutobi Ryō's eyes, a wisp of fire ignited from the opponent's palm.

Then, the light shone, as if a sun had appeared!

It was "Fire Release"!

Tsuchikage Ōnoki possessed the Dust Release Kekkei Tōta.

Dust Release was formed by the fusion of three chakra attributes: wind, fire, and earth.

Kitsuchi inherited Ōnoki's earth attribute as the main attribute.

And Akatsuchi... inherited Ōnoki's fire release as the main attribute!

In an instant.

Under the desert sun, a second sun appeared.

Everyone was dazzled by the appearance of this sun and couldn't open their eyes.

The scene of the battle stagnated.

The burning sun directly bombarded Sarutobi Ryō.

This move had a B-rank starting point.

If combined with the difficulty of performing the technique without hand seals, then... the difficulty of the technique should at least be A-rank!

You should know that even Uchiha Madara's Great Fire Annihilation required hand seals, and it was clearly marked in the official data book that Great Fire Annihilation was "B-rank."

Or rather, most fire release ninjutsu did not exceed this B-rank difficulty.

Akatsuchi's A-rank hand seal-less fire release ninjutsu was enough to make his fire release ninjutsu attainments rank among the top tier in the ninja world.

Just this move alone could reverse too many situations.

However, Sarutobi Ryō, facing this extremely fierce move, simply closed his left eye.

His "right eye," however, was not affected at all.

At the moment of the flash in front of his eyes, he fiercely pushed out his right palm.

"Ice Release - Crushing Palm!"

Cold air fluttered, intertwined with heat.

With a bang, explosive steam surged.

In Akatsuchi's perception, Sarutobi Ryō's palm carried violent chakra and the coldest killing intent sweeping over.

With the position where the two made their moves as the center.

The air seemed to have turned into an invisible shock wave, suddenly boiling in all directions.

After one move.

The two retreated at the same time.

Steam rose from Sarutobi Ryō's body, faintly burned by the steam.

On the other side... Akatsuchi exhaled cold air, his face pale, and his body was slightly trembling.

More importantly, his left hand was not covered by the Stone Fist Technique, so... after being hit by Sarutobi Ryō's violent power, his left hand probably had a slight fracture.

"Very good..."

Akatsuchi breathed out a mouthful of air and put down his longsword.

This time, it was both hands.

Looking at it, the palms of his hands, which seemed to be combined falsely, looked like Ōnoki performing Dust Release.

A sun had risen from his hands again.

And this time, the power of the fire release ninjutsu was incomparable to before.

The scorching light illuminated his face and dispelled the chill of the ice release he had received.

His ferocious face carried the ultimate killing intent.

He wanted to bury the Hokage's son here with this move.

In an instant, Sarutobi Ryō had a feeling of being locked on.

"Shōnen, be careful!" Yamanaka Hikari's exclamation came from afar.

As a sensory ninja, she reminded her young master at the first moment that the opponent was going to risk his life.

This kind of hint indicated that what was coming next was a fight to the death.

Akatsuchi had a trump card, and naturally, he also had one.