As Aozora clashed with Danzo, Tsunade shakily pushed herself up and staggered toward Shizune.
Standing before Shizune, she saw the dark blood pouring from Shizune's chest and panic flooded her eyes again, collapsing beside her companion.
Collapsed on the ground, Tsunade felt not rough flooring beneath her hands, but thick blood pooling around her. The sticky sensation triggered memories of the day the two most important people in her life had died, making her instinctively curl into a ball, retreating into her own world.
The battle between Aozora and Danzo raged on with tremendous noise—clangs and crashes filling the air—but in Tsunade's ears, there existed only Shizune's increasingly weak breaths.
Before her eyes, the figures shifted—from Nawaki and Dan lying in pools of blood to that of a young girl.
A girl with short black hair.
On the day Dan died, this girl had become a true orphan—without even one living relative, let alone someone from her own clan.
Love begets love—Tsunade took her along when she left Konoha.
But how could someone like herself—who suffered from a fear of blood and was trapped in painful memories—properly care for another person?
She merely kept numbing herself with alcohol, drowning her sorrows through gambling.
Throughout all that time, rather than resenting Tsunade for acting less like an adult, the little girl matured quickly.
Despite being just a child, she pretended to be grown-up, calling herself a servant yet fulfilling the role of a sister—tending to Tsunade's daily needs and constantly encouraging her to stay strong...
Listening to Shizune's weakening breaths, Tsunade turned over and knelt beside her body.
In the past, Shizune had been nothing more than a token of Dan.
But now, Shizune was an irreplaceable family member.
Green light shimmered across her palms as she pulled the Kunai embedded in Shizune's chest.
Blood splattered across her face, sending a subtle tremble through Tsunade's body—but her hands remained steady upon Shizune's wound, not even slightly wavering.
[Palm Healing Technique!]
[Extraction of Minor Afflictions Jutsu!]
["..."]
One after another, powerful and precise Medical Ninjutsu techniques rolled out, gradually restoring color to Shizune's pale complexion.
...
A shuriken smaller than a human palm—an insignificant tool in the hands of ordinary ninja used mostly for distraction or testing an opponent, rarely capable of inflicting real harm.
But the shuriken speeding toward Aozora carried deadly intent.
Infused with wind-natured chakra, it became cloaked in an aura of swirling air blades nearly half a meter wide—capable of slicing effortlessly through rock.
Aozora regretted not learning at least one or two Earth Release defensive jutsu; otherwise today wouldn't feel so difficult.
Regret changed nothing.
Therefore, he severed such thoughts immediately, flipped backward through the air, and rapidly calculated his next move.
Shisui stood close behind him—leaving little room for maneuverability.
Suddenly, he noticed the single spot on the spinning shuriken without the wind blade—the center.
Eyes hardening with determination, Aozora moved forward instead of retreating.
Slightly shifting his body sideways, he allowed the first Wind Release shuriken to pass right by his ribs. Then, extending his right index finger lightning-quick, he drove it straight into the central hole of the flying shuriken.
The center of the Shuriken indeed lacked an Air Blade, but with Wind Release enhancing it, the shuriken spun at an astonishing speed. Instantly, it tore through Aozora's fingertip, exposing the white bone beneath.
Skreee—
The shuriken spun rapidly around Aozora's knuckle, continuously scraping and producing sharp sounds.
Though intense pain surged through him, Aozora didn't even flinch. He redirected the spinning shuriken and threw it again.
Launched at the precisely calculated angle, the shuriken instantly knocked away three incoming ones, giving Aozora time to replace it with a fresh kunai.
With the new kunai in hand, Aozora blocked the remaining five shuriken.
Before he could even catch his breath, a visibly massive air cannon came rushing toward him.
If Danzo's previous Vacuum Sphere had been like a machine gun, this Great Vacuum Cannon was now like a rocket launcher, capable of obliterating any enemy standing in its path.
The air cannon came too suddenly. Ignoring all pretense, without forming a seal, Aozora opened his mouth wide.
[Fire Release – Great Flame Annihilation!]
He chose the fire jutsu under his command with the strongest impact to counter it.
Surging red fire chakra burst from Aozora's mouth, condensing into a blazing meteor-like fireball that flew toward the air cannon.
Peng!
The two huge spheres collided midair, temporarily holding against each other before exploding!
Boom—!
The white sphere fragmented into countless sharp air blades, while the red fireball scattered into clusters of flames.
Fire Release does indeed overpower Wind Release—there was no mistake in that.
However, Danzo had seized the initiative first. Although the air cannon dispersed, the gusts still blew directly at Aozora.
Therefore, most of the air blades and flames hurtled toward Aozora's side.
Seeing the onslaught of wind blades and fire raining down, Aozora gave up resisting.
It was already too late to perform another jutsu. At this moment, he could only use Earth Release to dodge most of the attack, but the Shisui behind him would certainly suffer serious injury—or death.
Aozora chose to stand directly in front of Shisui, blocking the entire assault.
Although it was wind and fire, he mentally joked that it was just an early practice run for the second stage of Lightning-Fire Golden Body.
This much damage might be fatal to ordinary ninjas with their fragile bodies, but for him, it'd be no more than critical injuries.
Shisui suspected Aozora's identity already, and seeing him willingly take the hit while shielding himself only confirmed his suspicions.
Each wound Aozora received brought a piercing pain inside Shisui's chest. He bitterly cursed his own weakness—why did he need his brother to shield him?!
As the storm of slicing winds and flaming destruction approached, anguish filled Shisui's eyes and he desperately wanted to scream at his brother to dodge.
Yet Aozora stepped forward, completely blocking him from harm.
Seeing this, the shuriken Mangekyou swirling in Shisui's eyes began to spin violently, tears of blood streaming down his cheeks.
Emerald-green chakra broke free from the Cursed Seal's restraint and surged out from his body.
Instantly, a giant arm appeared, wielding a shield that blocked in front of Aozora.
Boom—!
Shrrrsh—!
The hurricane of flames and gales exploded before Aozora, and through the emerald-green semi-transparent "glass," he witnessed a dazzling, violent burst of flame and wind right before his eyes.
In that moment, the battlefield fell into total silence.
Whether it was Danzo, Orochimaru, or even Tsunade—who was urgently treating Shizune—all of them, including the two individuals idly standing by, Black Hawk and the other, had their attention seized by this suddenly appearing giant arm.
Danzo's expression changed drastically—not only because of Shisui's [Susanoo], but also because he had broken free from his seal binding.
Orochimaru's eyes displayed even more curiosity. No, what filled his eyes now was greed.
Tsunade gasped aloud: "[Susanoo]?!"
As both a former opponent and partner of the Uchiha clan, the Senju clan understood Uchiha abilities thoroughly. Therefore, she knew how powerful this ability was—and that this was not its primary form.
She couldn't believe that the Uchiha clan had actually produced such a young genius.
After recovering from their shock, Black Hawk and Hirano Haru exchanged glances. Neither felt like fighting anymore.
The fight inside the Gambling Den didn't seem to matter to them anymore.
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