Akio sensed the overwhelming chakra surging inside Jitou's body. His expression darkened, his thoughts even heavier.
Is this karma for not seeing him off back then…?
"Sensei! What is even happening right now?!"
Jitou looked utterly conflicted, glancing down at the injured young man in his arms.
"Who is this guy? And why am I holding him?!"
Akio took a slow breath, forcing himself to calm down. A reassuring smile appeared on his face.
"Good disciple," he said gently.
"That's my enemy. How about you punch him really hard for me?"
Jitou blinked.
"Oh? Sure!"
He agreed instantly but his body moved on its own.
His feet shattered the ground beneath him, and he vanished in a blur.
Akio looked up through the hole in the ceiling, where blue sky and white clouds peeked through, and sighed.
"Poor kid…"
He flickered upward as well, exiting the underground facility through the broken opening and reappearing directly in front of Jitou.
"Sensei! I want to hit him, but my body won't listen to me!" Jitou shouted.
Even as he spoke, his movements didn't stop. He twisted midair and hurled the young man in his arms with brutal force.
"So naïve," Akio muttered.
"You think that's enough to escape?"
He ignored Jitou and formed seals.
"Sage Mode, activate!
Sage Art: Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World!"
A massive white, cone-shaped crystal shot out from Akio's palm, chasing after the fleeing young man. To prevent Jitou from interfering, Akio deliberately used Dust Release, something pure taijutsu couldn't block.
What Jitou did next completely exceeded his expectations.
Jitou arrived before the attack, flashing behind the young man and driving a savage kick into his back. The blow accelerated the young man upward, narrowly dodging the Dust Release beam.
Jitou himself barely managed to twist aside; his left arm was grazed by the technique.
Akio froze.
"Is he trying to kill himself too?"
The young man avoided a direct hit and escaped faster, but that kick… judging by how much blood he coughed up, half his life was probably gone.
Tough bastard, Akio thought.
Still, one more solid hit would finish him.
But Jitou like this is a bigger problem. I need to restrain him first.
As the young man vanished from sight, Akio frowned and flashed in front of Jitou.
"Sensei, watch out!" Jitou shouted.
His injured left arm was still regenerating, but his intact right arm ignited from friction with the air. He threw a blazing punch straight into Akio's chest.
Akio grit his teeth and swallowed the blood that rushed up his throat. He looked down at the fist buried deep into his chest, almost punching straight through him and forced out a crooked smile.
"Good disciple… I'll deal with you later. For now...
go inside."
Jitou vanished instantly.
Akio had thrown him into the Eight Trigrams Space.
"…Success," Akio exhaled.
"I really am a genius."
His expression relaxed as he bit down and regenerated the caved-in section of his chest.
A dozen seconds later, his ribs finally reformed. Akio immediately flickered in pursuit of the young man who had been kicked away.
"You thought summoning Jitou with Edo Tensei would let you escape? The Gate of Death doesn't open instantly, good thing I reacted fast and sealed him away"
PUFF!!
Akio's muttering was cut off abruptly.
His body froze mid-step, and a massive spray of blood burst from his mouth.
Jitou reappeared in front of him.
The blue aura around Jitou had turned blood-red.
With a face full of misery, Jitou spoke, nearly in tears.
"Sensei… I really can't control myself.
The Gate of Death still opened.
A-Are you okay?"
Akio sighed, pressing his hand against the slowly healing, fist-sized hole in his abdomen.
"I underestimated the Eight Gates formation…
He actually broke the Eight Trigrams Space."
He looked up at Jitou again, forcing a cheerful smile.
"Your teacher's fine. Really.
That kick you landed earlier probably killed him outright.
And if it didn't, maybe the fall did.
And if not… hey, maybe he landed on a wild boar and got gored to death.
Plenty of ways this ends badly for him, right?"
The blood-red steam pouring off Jitou dyed half the sky behind him. His expression crumpled.
"Sensei… I'm sorry.
But you need to be careful.
My body feels… wrong."
Akio's expression turned serious.
Of course it felt wrong.
The one used as the sacrifice to summon Jitou was the Intermediary, the immortal body of a cultist who worshiped an evil god.
Akio had many ways to kill an "immortal"…
but using one as an Edo Tensei sacrifice was not one of them.
Meaning the person standing before him was still the Intermediary
just wearing a limited-edition "Jitou skin."
If this weren't the case, the summoned body would be hollow, bloodless, incapable of burning blood, and incapable of using the Eight Gates.
"Honestly, it's better this way," Akio muttered.
"If this were really Jitou's body opening the Eight Gates… I wouldn't even be able to stall."
He sensed the chakra raging inside Jitou, several times greater than his own. His expression grew heavier.
"Even so… I'll have to go all out.
Shadow Clone release!
Eight Gates Sixth"
"…Hm?!"
Before the Sixth Gate could open, memories flooded back into Akio's mind.
His shadow clone's memories.
He froze.
"…Was my shadow clone assigned comic relief duty or something?!"
"Sensei, be careful!" Jitou shouted.
"It's starting!"
His left arm fully regenerated. His body turned into a blur, circling Akio at terrifying speed.
Akio's abdominal wound finished healing. He frowned, staring at the cracked earth beneath his feet.
"Jitou's movement alone is causing earthquakes…
We need to relocate, or half the Land of Fire will be gone when this ends."
"Sixth Gate—Gate of View—open!"
"This is a chained taijutsu attack from first to fifth speed Evening Elephant!
Interrupt me! First strike!" Jitou warned.
"Eighty Gods Vacuum Fist!"
Countless compressed shockwave punches tore through the air, colliding with Jitou's glowing rectangular air cannons.
The two forces clashed, then detonated.
For a moment, it felt like the center of the world.
Blinding light exploded outward in all directions. Wherever it touched, invisible ripples erased everything into dust.
Jitou instantly flickered away from the blast.
Akio clenched his teeth, activated repulsion, and surged into the shockwave appearing in front of Jitou and grabbing his left arm with both hands, stopping the second strike.
"Heh," Akio laughed.
"This time I'm not throwing you into a space seal
this is random teleportation. Let's roll the dice and find ourselves a deserted battlefield."
The scenery shifted instantly.
Akio burst into laughter.
"Hahaha! An endless ocean!
Nothing but water!"
He grinned broadly.
"Talk about perfect luck.
This fight just got a whole lot easier."
---
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