Naruto: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 259: Hagoromo Gengetsu Enters His Peak State

The Great Toad Sage never imagined that Hagoromo Gengetsu would have the Truth-Seeking Ball as a trump card.

There was no time to think.

With the distance too short to dodge, it took a deep breath, causing its massive body to deflate instantly to increase the distance, while emitting a peculiar frog sound from its abdomen.

"Sage Art: Frog Call!"

In a desperate attempt to buy time, the unique auditory genjutsu of Mount Myoboku was unleashed with all its might by the Great Toad Sage.

Hagoromo Gengetsu was momentarily dazed but quickly snapped out of it, his fingers spreading as the Truth-Seeking Ball continued to shoot forward.

Despite its lack of speed, the Truth-Seeking Ball's power far surpassed that of bloodline limits and selections. With the target right in front of it, there was no way it would miss.

Due to the genjutsu's effect, the Great Toad Sage could only manage to slightly turn its body, raising its left arm in front of itself as a shield, before it could do anything else.

In the next moment.

The Truth-Seeking Ball collided with the raised left arm of the Great Toad Sage.

Everything seemed peaceful.

No explosion, no tearing, no sound of impact.

The moment the Truth-Seeking Ball touched the Great Toad Sage's arm, it was as if a breeze blew away sand.

Visibly, the part of the Great Toad Sage's left arm touched by the Truth-Seeking Ball disintegrated into nothingness.

The effect was similar to Dust Release.

However, even Dust Release could only inflict some damage on the magically resistant Great Toad Sage and could no longer reduce it to atomic states as it did before.

The Truth-Seeking Ball was different.

Although it couldn't dissolve sage arts like other jutsus, contact was another matter.

Unless one possessed the power of the Six Paths, any life form that touched the Truth-Seeking Ball would be utterly disintegrated.

At this moment.

The Great Toad Sage's thousand-year-tempered, incredibly resilient body was like paper.

With a gentle touch from the Truth-Seeking Ball, it broke apart.

As the Truth-Seeking Ball continued forward, the Great Toad Sage's left arm, like a collapsing sandcastle, disintegrated bit by bit.

The Truth-Seeking Ball obliterated most of the Great Toad Sage's left shoulder before shooting away with its inertia.

Having used all its efforts, the Great Toad Sage managed to save its life at the cost of an arm.

Ignoring the pain, it prepared to leap back and escape the range of the Truth-Seeking Ball.

Seeing this, Hagoromo Gengetsu gently uttered a single word.

"Explode!"

Boom!

Blinding white light burst from the Truth-Seeking Ball, followed by a massive explosion.

The devastating force, enough to obliterate a forest, erupted in an instant.

An immense heat wave ensued.

The Great Toad Sage, closest to the explosion, could only raise its remaining right arm in front of itself before being engulfed by the blast.

Even as the owner of the Truth-Seeking Ball, Hagoromo Gengetsu had to quickly retreat to avoid the full force of the explosion.

He retreated to the edge of Mount Myoboku before stopping, turning back to witness the unprecedented explosion that had transformed into a gigantic mushroom cloud, far more powerful than Super Shinra Tensei.

It took a full minute for everything to settle.

Hagoromo Gengetsu stepped forward, flickering several times to return to the explosion's center. Scanning the area with his Rinnegan, he let out a soft exclamation:

"It didn't die?"

He waved his hand, dispersing the lingering smoke ahead with a gust of wind.

Looking again, he saw a blood-soaked, orange toad, about his size, missing its left arm and shoulder, panting heavily.

It was the Great Toad Sage.

After the Truth-Seeking Ball's explosion, enduring unimaginable pain, it rapidly shrunk its body to reduce the impact area.

Relying on its formidable physique and sage arts, it had managed to survive the explosion of the Truth-Seeking Ball.

At this moment, upon seeing Hagoromo Gengetsu, the Great Toad Sage straightened up, suppressing its fatigue. Under the diminished effects of sage art chakra, its numerous wounds healed at a visible rate.

However, the left arm and much of the shoulder struck by the Truth-Seeking Ball were beyond repair, even with regenerative abilities.

"What a tough life," Hagoromo Gengetsu remarked.

He had thought the Truth-Seeking Ball would seal the Great Toad Sage's fate.

Unexpectedly, the opponent had endured.

"But how much longer can you hold out?" Hagoromo Gengetsu spread his hands, two black rods slowly extending from his palms.

The Great Toad Sage, now missing an arm, did not revert to its original form.

Remaining human-sized, it first glanced at its empty left shoulder, then looked at Hagoromo Gengetsu, solemnly saying:

"I take back my previous words. Now, you are not only not inferior but, in some ways, have surpassed the Hagoromo of the past."

Hagoromo Gengetsu smiled faintly, "The Hagoromo of the past? My true goal is to surpass the Sage of Six Paths. But by then, you won't be around to say such things."

"Is that so?" The Great Toad Sage exhaled, calmly stating, "The Truth-Seeking Ball has given you a lot of confidence. Show me the new Truth-Seeking Balls."

"If you only had one, you wouldn't have detonated it so easily."

After the Truth-Seeking Ball explosion, it didn't disappear completely.

For those below the Six Paths level, it required a long cooldown to summon it again.

During their battle, the Great Toad Sage had gained a thorough understanding of Hagoromo Gengetsu.

This was a bold, meticulous, never-rash, always-calm, formidable opponent.

For him to use the Truth-Seeking Ball all at once meant he likely had more.

As expected.

Hearing the Great Toad Sage's words, Hagoromo Gengetsu shrugged and said:

"I wanted to surprise you, Sage."

As he spoke, Hagoromo Gengetsu lowered his left hand, holding a shorter black rod, while raising his right hand to rest a katana-length black rod on his shoulder.

At the same time, two newly formed Truth-Seeking Balls materialized, floating around him.

Accompanied by the fully unsealed Yin Seal, his unique blue sage eye shadow, and the Rinnegan.

At this moment, Hagoromo Gengetsu officially entered his peak state.

Having acquired the Rinnegan and complemented the Rinnegan's Yin-Yang and elemental knowledge with his own Yin-Yang and elemental powers.

Hagoromo Gengetsu had completely perfected the final piece of the puzzle for the Truth-Seeking Ball, becoming the third person after Hagoromo Otsutsuki and Hamura Otsutsuki to create Truth-Seeking Balls with seven types of chakra.

With his power and foundation, the number of Truth-Seeking Balls he could create at once was naturally not limited to just one.

In contrast.

The Great Toad Sage, now with significantly reduced sage art chakra and a missing left arm, had clearly reached its lowest state.