Chapter 91: 91 - Gates Open, Hopes Close
The scene A imagined, of the woman across from him being sent flying by his punch, did not happen. Instead, she met his punch with her own.
With the clash of immense force, a wild storm erupted, sand and dust billowed around them, blotting out the sky and sun. Unable to see clearly and wary of a sneak attack, the two fighters instantly retreated after their initial exchange missed its mark.
They then stood at the edge of the dust cloud, cautiously eyeing each other.
The moment A got a clear look at the woman before him, his face immediately flushed red.
She was unbelievably beautiful!
If he wasn't mistaken, this must be Tsunade.
Should he go all out and try to kill her, or just capture her?
Tsunade, on the other hand, didn't look too good, her fist had gone numb from the impact, and her bones ached faintly. Though such minor injuries were nothing to her and healed almost instantly, it still left her visibly displeased.
In the next moment, A moved first. His massive body seemed to vanish in an instant. Then, moving at a speed nearly imperceptible to the naked eye, he reappeared at Tsunade's side.
At this moment, A was surrounded by wildly surging blue lightning chakra. It writhed like countless electric serpents crawling over his body, crackling and snapping violently.
The sheer force of it made the air around them tremble.
Having already crouched to build power, he suddenly drove a punch straight at Tsunade's abdomen.
Tsunade dodged like lightning. After leaping a few meters away, she forcefully launched herself off the ground and threw a similar punch at A's head, only to have it blocked with a raised arm.
For the next minute, the two became the center of a storm. Flashing afterimages darted around as fists and feet collided with explosive force, whipping up fierce gales.
After forcing A back with a kick, Tsunade flipped away, her expression more serious than ever. Though the battle had seemed even, she was clearly at a disadvantage.
A outmatched her in both strength and speed, leaving her constantly pressured and forced onto the defensive. Her incredible instant-recovery ability had so far prevented her from being defeated, but if the fight continued, losing was inevitable.
As expected, Shin was right, this guy was a monster. Even with her Chakra Enhanced Strength: Ultra Precision Mode, she wasn't his match.
When Shin had told her she wasn't the strongest taijutsu fighter in the shinobi world, citing previous Raikage and their descendants, she had been unconvinced.
I'm not the same woman I was a year ago. Haven't you seen how terrifyingly fast I've improved? And yet you still doubt me?
But he was right.
Still, she wasn't discouraged. With Shin's help, her Strength of a Hundred Seal was nearly complete.
She was confident that once it was fully activated, her power would soar even further, enough to suppress this infuriating man without needing to use the Eight Gates.
And once the Eight Gates were opened, she'd be able to slam him into the ground with overwhelming force.
But that was for later.
"Move aside!" A said, anxious as explosions echoed behind him.
"Are you kidding? This is a battlefield," Tsunade replied coldly.
After that exchange, she now had a clear sense of her current combat strength.
As she had said, this was a battlefield, and she had no intention of stalling any longer.
At that moment, A's aura surged again. He crushed his hesitation and now harbored true killing intent. But just as he was about to go all out, Tsunade roared, "Gate of Wonder—Open!"
In an instant, her aura skyrocketed by several levels. Before he could even react, she dashed toward him.
BOOM!
A punch at the speed of lightning slammed straight into his face, sending him flying. As he tumbled backward through the air, he was stunned.
She's even faster than me?!
This doesn't make any sense!
And that strength wasn't a joke.
Just one punch broke through the defense of my Lightning Release Chakra Mode and even injured me?
If I married someone like this, no, dammit, how do I even fight someone like this?
And why is she this strong?
His answer came in the form of a flurry of punches like a violent storm.
In that moment, he felt just like he had when facing his father, he could barely fight back.
After all, he was still under twenty.
Though powerful, he hadn't reached his prime yet and was still far behind his father. How could he be a match for Tsunade after she had opened one of the Eight Gates?
The fact that he'd lasted this long without being completely defeated was already quite an achievement.
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While A was being crushed one-sidedly, the Kumo army wasn't faring any better. As waves of kunai laced with explosive tags rained down densely from all directions, the Kumo forces lost a third of their numbers in an instant, many others were wounded as well.
Although explosive tags were often seen as harmless as the Great Fireball Technique in many people's eyes...
The Great Fireball Technique was real. And Explosive Tags were severely underestimated.
In reality, many shinobi had lost their lives to explosive tags over the years.
The reason they weren't widely used on the battlefield wasn't because they weren't effective, but because they were expensive. Most couldn't afford to use them in large numbers.
After that overwhelming bombardment of explosive tags, the Kumo ninjas suffered devastating losses. Almost simultaneously, the Uzushio ninja forces launched an assault on the remaining Kumo ninja.
After the bombing, the troop ratio had shifted to 2:1 in Uzushio's favor. Add to that the advantage of surprise, the fact that many of the remaining Kumo ninjas were already injured, and the presence of a high-level combatant like Ashina... The tide of battle immediately turned into a rout.
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Back on Tsunade's side, after three intense minutes, the fight finally ended. Once one of the Uzumaki ninjas stepped in and sealed A's chakra, she immediately rejoined the chaotic battlefield.
With the Gate of Wonder open, her strength reached the level of a high-tier Kage. A ninja of that level could dramatically shift the outcome of a battlefield. Especially since her specialty was taijutsu, making her even more effective in chaotic melee combat. Everywhere she passed, enemies were smashed aside like dry twigs.
Ninjas were not well-suited for large-scale melee battles.
When both sides were tangled together in close quarters, many powerful ninjutsu techniques become unusable, or too dangerous to use, for fear of hitting their own allies. Even without that concern, many ninja battles come down to taijutsu in the end.
Because most ninjas burn through their chakra reserves after just a few high-powered jutsu. Once exhausted, they were easy prey.
Most Chinese Naruto fanfiction authors laughed at Kakashi, treating him like a chakra measuring stick... But in reality, there weren't that many ninjas in the entire world who had more chakra than him.
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200 = +1 bonus chapter
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70+ Advance chapters!
[email protected]/Malphegor