Cap 311: Feel the power of my Conviction!
Cap 311: Feel the power of my Conviction!
"No..." - Kurama answered seriously as he continued to watch the fight - "They can handle something like this, not to mention that you know very well that we'll have to intervene when things take a turn for the worse..."
"For the worse?" - Sasuke asked with a frown because even though Gai was at a disadvantage, he still continued to have a good chance of victory if he had a moment where Madara let his guard down.
"Exactly" - Kurama replied as he watched Gai activate his last gate - "Gai is risking his life on this and honestly it's the first time I've seen the last gate of the Hachimon Tonkou technique so I don't know how long he'll be able to maintain that state..."
"Ok, I'm going to listen to you this time" - Sasuke answered seriously.
* * * * *
"Hachimon Tonkou: Shimon - Kai!" - Gai roared as the chakra around his body changed to an intense blood-red color - "Time to end this!"
Madara was about to say something, but his expression changed to one full of surprise when he saw Gai's fist in front of his face - "Ugh..."
He couldn't do anything to defend himself from his enemy's attack and to make matters worse every time he changed his axis so he could make a counterattack, Gai would send him flying as if he was a rag doll.
"OK, this is annoying and painful in equal parts..." - Madara said, only to be surprised to feel the increased air pressure.
"Take that! Sekizou (Evening Elephant)!" - Gai's body began to be surrounded by a silhouette like the leg of a large elephant as he threw strike after strike - "First Step! Second Step!"
Madara could only let out a sharp groan of pain because he could feel how his body was starting to break at the same speed as it was regenerating, demonstrating the destructive power of the Taijutsu expert's technique.
"Third Step! Fourth Step!" - Gai shouted with all his might as he once again impacted his strikes against the Uchiha, sending him flying into the sky only to reappear behind the Uchiha and give him one last blow that sent him straight into the deepest depths of the earth - "FIFTH STEP!"
* * * * *
"We'd better jump high, Sasuke" - Kurama said as he watched a huge shockwave begin to expand from where Madara impacted.
Sasuke didn't think twice, he jumped next to Kurama as they watched the destruction that Gai's technique had caused. The place that was once a forest was now nothing but a desolate wasteland with all the trees shattered by the power of the shockwave.
"OK, time to intervene..." - Kurama said as he landed, only to disappear from the scene.
"What do you mean?" - Sasuke asked, but his expression changed when he noticed the silhouette of a man emerging from the ground - ". . ."
"Ok, I admit it, that hurt brat..." - Madara said as he held out his hand - "Bansho Ten'in..."
Gai flew off in Madara's direction, who didn't even think twice when he saw that he was in a more than perfect distance - "Kuroi Jushinki (Black Receiver)..."
"Gaha!" - Gai coughed blood as he felt a huge number of black rods piercing through his body, while slowly draining his chakra.
"Now... die..." - Madara muttered, only to see as before he could continue, Gai went flying backward - "I see your Rinnegan mastery is quite good for someone who didn't possess Doujutsu until recently..."
"What can I say, I've been told that I adapt quickly to situations" - Kurama replied as he helped Gai lie down on the ground. He quickly removed all the black bars the man had on his body as he kept his full attention on the Uchiha who was now the Jinchuriki of the original Bijuu.
"A rather desirable skill, young Uzumaki" - Madara said as he narrowed his eyes.
"I guess it's our turn" - Sasuke said as he cracked his neck - "I was starting to get bored."
"You shouldn't be this impulsive, young Uchiha" - Madara said neutrally.
"Kurama-san..." - Gai said as he slowly opened his eyes, showing that despite being exhausted, he still had energy left. He was still holding his Jutsu because he knew it was not yet time to fall - "I want you to do me a favor..."
"Speak, Gai-san" - Kurama replied calmly as he looked at the Taijutsu expert.
"I want... I want you to help me... give me some of your chakra so I can continue fighting..." - said Gai as he stood up with difficulty - "I want to finish this fight or I won't be able to keep moving forward..."
Kurama gave the Taijutsu expert a surprised glance, only to let out a sigh when he noticed he was being serious - "I'm going to regret this, but will do it..."
"Thank you" - Gai smiled as he felt the vitality return to his body. He could feel the wounds in his body begin to heal, as the ligaments torn by his technique began to knit together, as his chakra returned to safe numbers, it was as if his body had returned to its pre-battle state.
"What I did was to mix some of my Senjutsu Chakra with my Bijuu chakra to create a chakra with a high regenerative factor, although I have to warn you that when the battle is over or you run out of chakra, you will be in grave danger" - Kurama said seriously - "My corrupted chakra has been purified through the Senjutsu, but the Natural Energy will still be present, so if you have bad luck your body will start to show symptoms of turning into stone."
"It doesn't matter... if I fail I will be dead" - Gai replied seriously - "As I said before, never giving up is my Nindo, no matter the situation, I will never take a step-down..."
"Remember your daughter, Gai..." - Sasuke said seriously because he knew about the little girl who had fallen victim to Menma's machinations."
". . ." - Gai closed his eyes as he calmed down because that was one of the reasons why he was fighting - "She deserves a better future... one that I plan to give her with my own hands..."
A small smile appeared on Kurama's face when he heard this as he watched Gai prepare to initiate.
Gai closed his eyes for a few seconds as he recalled his past, what his first days of school had been like and how his classmates had reacted to the fact that he would never be able to practice the Ninjutsu and Genjutsu Branches because of his near-zero chakra reserves that even a civilian would surpass.
Memories shifted to when his father came to pick him up and how he had heard the pitiful nickname all of his classmates' parents gave him... Maito Dai, the Eternal Genin. That day, he had thought the Maito family was cursed, but after talking to his father, he understood the truth.
"A good ninja is not the one who has more chakra than others... it's not the one who throws the most fantastic Jutsus..." - Gai muttered as he felt his chakra begin to expand - "A good ninja is the one who completes his mission... is the one who protects his teammates and watches over his village... a good ninja... It Is the one who has an unquenchable flame, a flame that will burn for all eternity!"
Gai's chakra began to rage loudly as his muscles seemed to scream in pain, though he was ignoring it without a second thought - "No matter what others say, their insults are only incentive to keep going, their laughter is the wood that helps our conviction never wane, that our desires to be that much stronger, burn like a thousand suns! That's the power of youth, the power of the future, the power to keep going for a better tomorrow! That's why I fight, that's why I won't fall, that's why I'm willing to sacrifice my life!"
Gai could feel the memories of all the people special to him flash through his mind. His father, Lee, Neji, Tenten, Kakashi, his little daughter he had adopted and who looked forward to him every day at home.
"My conviction is like an eternal sun, one that will light the way to the future!" - Gai exclaimed as he continued to repeat his mantra, a prayer that made his power increase more and more, to the point that hardly his body could maintain that potent level of power he had reached and that seemed to explode at any second - "Feel my power, Uchiha Madara, feel the power of my flames of Youth! Yagai (Night Guy)!"