i am kimimaro

Green light enveloped Gai's entire body, like a bird spreading its wings.

His fists clenched tightly and swung out rapidly!

The speed of his punches was so fast that it generated flames from friction with the air. This was the ultimate taijutsu when the Eight Gates were opened to the sixth gate, the Morning Peacock!

Byakugan!

Kimimaro pushed the Byakugan's power to its limit.

In his eyes, this attack held no more secrets.

"Truly astonishing, for taijutsu to reach this level."

Kimimaro marveled inwardly.

Although he knew about this technique, witnessing it firsthand still left him in awe.

Facing the fists enveloped in crimson flames, Kimimaro chose to temporarily avoid the attack.

Flash Step!

His feet tapped the ground repeatedly, as if stepping on empty air. With an eerily fast speed, he managed to escape the attack range of the Morning Peacock.

Seeing this, Gai's pupils constricted.

No one had ever escaped the range of the Morning Peacock in this situation.

"Such incredible speed, that's definitely not something achievable through pure taijutsu. In that case, I'll expand the attack range!"

If the enemy escaped the range of his fists, he would attack with the flames from his fists!

The crimson flames enveloping his fists instantly detached!

This was the true form of the Morning Peacock!

Countless crimson flames shot out from his fists, like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, dazzlingly beautiful.

Kimimaro, in mid-air, was instantly surrounded by flames.

"It seems unavoidable, then..."

Kimimaro's eyes opened and closed, and purple flames emerged from his left palm.

This fire was called Azure Flame!

Compared to the crimson flames dancing in the sky, the Azure Flame seemed quite thin.

Gai frowned, unsure what Kimimaro was doing with this purple flame, but he sensed a threat from it.

The purple flame flickered and disappeared from his palm.

This made Gai even more puzzled.

But before he could think further, Kimimaro moved!

Pushing his Flash Step to the extreme, Kimimaro's speed increased once again. He ignored the crimson flames and charged towards Gai.

His figure flickered rapidly among the red flames, narrowly avoiding each fiery attack.

The distance between them closed rapidly, and soon, Kimimaro was right in front of Gai.

With the reduced distance, the Morning Peacock's power intensified.

Gai poured all his strength into this strike without hesitation, aiming at Kimimaro who had presented himself.

Morning Peacock!

Both fists struck out, two bursts of crimson flames erupted!

Facing this thunderous blow, Kimimaro's left hand formed a palm and met it head-on!

The previously vanished Azure Flame reappeared.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"

The Azure Flame surged, and the crimson flames actually stopped, as if being pushed back.

The next moment, the Azure Flame followed the crimson flames and directly entered Gai's fists, penetrating his body!

"What is this?!"

Gai was shocked, never expecting his Morning Peacock to be broken through in such a strange way.

Even more surprising was that after the purple flame entered his body, he couldn't move!

His sense of touch was deprived!

The countless crimson flames in the sky vanished at this moment.

Gai looked at Kimimaro in front of him in shock, not understanding how he had achieved this.

The opportunity had arrived!

Kimimaro naturally wouldn't hold back.

While his left hand executed the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, his right fist was already charged up.

"Power!"

The Power Card activated, and his right fist punched out!

This punch landed squarely on Gai's chest!

But at this moment, Gai's sense of touch returned.

His chest took the punch, and severe injury was inevitable.

Gai clenched his right fist and managed to unleash one last Morning Peacock.

Crimson flames reappeared!

As Gai's body was sent flying, this punch also landed on Kimimaro's stomach!

Boom!

A deep crater was formed in the ground.

Gai was already lying quietly inside.

"Gai!"

Kakashi was alarmed. Gai, who had opened six gates, was actually defeated?

He immediately dodged Yakushi Kabuto's attack and rushed to Gai's side.

Blood once again trickled from the corner of Kimimaro's mouth, and he clutched his stomach with his left hand.

The clothes on his stomach were scorched.

That was the mark left by the Morning Peacock!

"I still haven't mastered the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. Against a strong opponent like Gai, the time I can control him is too short. I almost messed up."

The Morning Peacock that Gai managed to unleash was far less powerful than before.

Apart from this trace of blood and the pain, it didn't cause any other harm to Kimimaro.

However, Gai, having taken Kimimaro's punch, wouldn't die, but he definitely wouldn't wake up for a while.

If Gai had continued to open the seventh gate and used the Daytime Tiger, Kimimaro felt that he might not be able to block it in his current state.

If things went wrong then, it would be quite embarrassing.

Having dealt with Gai, Kimimaro looked up at the Four Violet Flames Formation.

At this point, Orochimaru had already summoned the First and Second Hokage. With the three of them working together, the Third Hokage could only passively defend.

However, after the Third Hokage summoned Enma, he managed to stabilize the situation.

"It seems Orochimaru is doing well."

Just as Kimimaro was about to move, three figures suddenly appeared before him.

Kurenai Yuhi!

Shikaku Nara!

Anko Mitarashi!

"If you want to leave here, I'm afraid it won't be that easy. Your next destination is the Konoha prison."

Anko said coldly, the three of them already surrounding Kimimaro.

Kimimaro wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with his right thumb, then gently rubbed the blood on his thumb with his index finger.

"That depends on whether you have the ability."

Among the three, only Shikaku Nara's strength made Kimimaro somewhat wary. Kurenai and Anko's strength didn't pose much of a threat.

Seeing this, Shikaku and the others didn't dare to be careless either.

While dealing with their own opponents earlier, they had also noticed the battle between Kimimaro and Gai.

That scene had left them quite shocked.

Precisely because they knew his terrifying strength, they chose to team up.

"I didn't expect to encounter such a big trouble while coming to watch my son's match. It's really a headache."

Shikaku Nara, as the leader of the Konoha Jonin squad, might not be the strongest Jonin, but he had the best mind among them.

Teams with him rarely lost.

Although the three of them hadn't worked together before, Shikaku knew Kurenai and Anko's abilities.

In this situation, he could formulate the best battle plan in the shortest time.

"Shikaku-senpai, now is not the time to complain. This guy is very strong, he even defeated Gai-senpai. If we want to take him down, we have to rely on you."

Although Anko was confident, she also knew that Kimimaro was extremely powerful, and even the three of them together might not have much chance of winning.

Their only chance lay in Shikaku's mind.

"Don't worry, anyone who attempts to destroy Konoha, no matter how troublesome, I will deal with them."

As Shikaku said this, a spark of determination finally appeared in his usually lazy eyes.

(End of Chapter)