As Ren launched himself in his fully-hardened form toward Tsunade, he felt his speed slow down. The additional weight from the fully reinforced body was substantial. But he was already prepared as he blasted chakra from his legs in sharp bursts, compensating entirely for the weight. His movement stayed tight, clean and fast with no lag at all.

Tsunade braced herself. The armor radiated dense earth and yang chakra, something she hadn't seen before. It reminded her of the Raikage's Lightning Cloak, but clearly different. She noted the mobility loss. Still, with the chakra Ren was flooding into his limbs, she couldn't be certain, so, she didn't wait. She met him head-on.

Ren opened with a straight lunge, fist aimed at her face. Tsunade deflected it with the back of her wrist and swung a low kick toward his ankle. Ren blocked with his shin, dragging the hardened leg back to absorb the blow. Her kick cracked the earth beneath them, but didn't budge him.

He pivoted off the block, slammed his elbow toward her ribs. Tsunade shifted and caught it with her forearm, grounding her feet as the impact thudded across the courtyard. Ren didn't stop. He pressed with a spinning backhand, as his hardened knuckles hissed through the air. Tsunade ducked under it and brought her palm up under his arm.

Ren twisted midair before she could follow up, landed behind her, and fired forward with a knee aimed at her back. Tsunade dropped low and drove a fist behind her blindly.

Ren caught it with both arms crossed but the force skidded him back five feet before he slammed a hardened heel into the ground and stopped as he used the jagged earth as a hook to dig himself in.

Dust burst from his feet as he darted forward again. Now it was steady pressure, with blows coming in from all sides, relentless. He rotated between arms, fists, knees, elbows. Every strike was reinforced with dense earth-yang chakra. Hardened surfaces met soft tissue, but Tsunade never let herself get caught flat-footed. She slipped just outside most hits, deflected others. Her counterattacks were short, precise, aimed at testing the limits of the armor.

Ren absorbed a palm to the shoulder and turned with the hit, swinging a spinning heel toward her head. She ducked again. He followed with a jumping knee which was blocked. A downward elbow was caught. Then a full-power cross which Tsunade weaved under and cracked his ribs with a body blow.

But the armor didn't break yet.

She slid back, hand aching, and raised her guard again. Ren rushed, leading with a shoulder bash. She braced and caught it, digging her heels in, but the sheer impact threw her off balance. He pressed his advantage, short jab to the ribs, uppercut to the chin, hook to the temple. She blocked the last with both arms and was forced to jump back.

Ren didn't stop. He flared chakra into his legs again and launched forward, punching with a two-handed hammer blow. Tsunade sidestepped at the last second, the ground exploded under the impact. As the dust cleared, she snapped a side kick into his ribs. Ren slid left with the blow, took the hit full on, and drove his elbow into her sternum.

They separated.

Tsunade's chest rose once and she cracked her neck, then darted forward. She struck with rapid jabs and Ren met her, blow for blow. Forearm against forearm. Shin against shin. She dropped low and aimed at his thigh. He stomped down into it, hardened knee catching her blow and stopping it, then launched an overhead strike.

Tsunade blocked with both palms. Her arms shook under the weight.

Ren used the moment and chakra surged again. He threw her back with a shoulder, then exploded forward and spun as two hardened fists slammed into her guard one after the other, cracking the earth beneath her feet. She barely managed to twist away before the third punch landed.

He advanced again, footsteps booming across the courtyard.

He was fully armored now, hair wild, arms and torso jagged with rock-like plates, chakra coating his frame. He didn't let up as he launched another strike, then another.

Tsunade blocked each one, but now her feet were dragging. The ground split behind her and Ren's next step crushed it.

He stood fully hardened now. A towering mass of reinforced chakra and earth, breathing slow, steady.

~

Ren took a moment and assessed his current state, feeling the weight drag him down more than expected. He hadn't meant to go this far with the hardening, but in the heat of the moment, he had instinctively layered the armor far more than he usually did.

The result was a jagged, dense crust of hardened earth chakra wrapped around him like a shell, protruding spikes, rough ridges, a full-body weapon and shield in one. It was heavy, sure, but at the same time, the sheer increase in offensive and defensive power was undeniable.

With the armor formed like this, even a glancing blow from someone barehanded would risk tearing skin or breaking bone. If someone struck him without some kind of chakra protection, they might as well be punching a moving wall lined with spears. On his end, his own strikes would now land with much more weight behind them, and the sharpened edges added puncture force that wasn't there before.

Tsunade had clearly finished her own analysis of the armor as she gave a small nod and finally spoke up, "Hm. As I thought. This is just like the Raikage's lightning armor, but substituted with earth chakra. Heavy and tough instead of fast and sharp."

She tilted her head slightly, "Do you go strike-by-strike for the hardening, or can you just… armor up all at once?"

Ren didn't mind explaining. In fact, this was a good opportunity to reflect on how far he'd pushed the technique. "Either way works," he said plainly. "I prefer going strike-by-strike though. That way, I don't have to consciously locate the damage point. The chakra automatically reinforces the part that's about to be hit, or just got hit."

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "So it tracks damage on its own?"

"Sort of," Ren replied. "Not really a full automation but with my perfected Hyperfocus, I could see so much and feel so much that sometimes I feel like I'm even capable of seeing the future. I use the Hyperfocus to keep track of hits so I can instantly harden that part."

He continued explaining, "I can also do it on my own, but for it I have to first locate the point I want to harden, only after that can I harden it, but with strike by strike basis I just guide the earth-yang chakra mix where my chakra moves to heal me."

Tsunade asked, "You achieved passive healing already?"

Ren shook his head, "Not really, it's more like… I've been flooding my body with yang chakra for years now. It's improved my natural healing by a good bit, so when something tears, I don't really need to think about where, it's already reaching there through habit. I just let the earth-yang chakra mix follow the same flow."

"Hm." Tsunade rolled her shoulders slowly. "Well, healing's good and all, but this technique deviates you from your natural fighting style and makes you more of a defensive ninja."

"I mean, kind of," Ren replied, "But I won't be going with a complete defensive style even in this state. I'm testing it to see whether it holds up against top-tier physical pressure. If this thing can handle even a portion of your full strength, I'll know it's usable in real combat with my other offensive methods."

Tsunade snorted at that, stretching her neck side to side with a couple of cracks. "You know if I get serious, I'll break it in one punch."

Ren gave her a blank look. "That's because you're a monster. But by my calculations, this level of reinforcement should be enough to survive against most Kage-level fighters, at least for a bit. I just haven't had a chance to test it. So I figured, better to test it on you. You gradually ramp up the power, and I'll see where it cracks."

Tsunade grinned, flexing her fingers, knuckles popping one by one. "It's been a while since I had a good punching dummy. Let's see how long you last."

Ren shifted his stance, letting the jagged edges of his earth armor grind against themselves. Each motion of his limbs scraped stone against stone, heavy but grounded, and radiating dense chakra. His fists clenched and released, testing the mobility of his hardened form. The armor wasn't just skin-tight, it had formed outwardly, rough and protruding in spikes and ridges. He was practically a walking geological hazard.

Tsunade flexed her fingers once, then took a relaxed stance, weight low, shoulders loose.

Ren didn't wait anymore, he lunged forward, chakra blasting from his legs in a focused burst. The ground shattered where he launched from, and he closed the distance in an instant fist already cocked and glowing with focused chakra.

Tsunade's eyes tracked the movement. She pivoted to the side and raised her forearm just in time to block the punch.

THOOM.

Her arm jolted as the impact rang out. She skidded back half a meter, eyes narrowing. Her arm didn't bruise, but the weight of the strike surprised her. There was no finesse just brutal force, delivered through a frame heavy enough to rupture foundations.

Ren followed with a low hook to her ribs, the jagged edge of his forearm spinning in a brutal arc. Tsunade dropped her elbow and caught it clean, but the force still pushed her back again. Her feet left light gouges in the packed earth.

"Your strikes are getting heavier," she muttered, more to herself.

Ren didn't answer, instead his next attack came faster, a short-range shoulder bash followed by a downward elbow strike. Tsunade took both, testing his damage potential, letting each hit land squarely against her blocks. By the fifth strike, she finally stepped in and retaliated with a sharp jab to his side with about 10% of her full strength.

The blow landed and a muffled crack echoed from the armor.

Ren barely reacted to it as the armor absorbed all of it, not even a shallow dent formed, and his posture didn't shift. He leaned into the impact, used the moment to trap her arm between his elbow and side, then delivered a brutal uppercut aimed at her chin.

Tsunade twisted her body at the last second, letting the strike graze her shoulder. Still, she stumbled back.

Ren didn't give chase this time. He stood straight, fists up, breathing even. A flake of rock slipped from his arm and crumbled to dust.

"Alright then," Tsunade said, rolling her shoulders. "Let's turn it up."

She blurred forward.

This time, her punch was at 20%. The blow landed clean against his chest and it felt like a battering ram hitting a slab of reinforced stone. The impact resounded across the clearing, echoing against the shattered trees. Ren was pushed back several feet, boots digging trenches into the earth, but the armor held.

Barely a chip.

Ren adjusted his footing and stepped forward, rotating into a spinning backfist that aimed to slam into her temple. Tsunade raised both arms and caught it, bracing. She countered again, this time with 30%.

Her palm struck his sternum like a piston.

CRACK.

The impact fractured the outermost layer of his armor. Shards of stone burst from his chestplate, scattering like shrapnel. Ren grunted, shifting his weight immediately to reforge the chakra flow, the earth armor filled in the cracks almost instantly, but it wasn't smooth anymore.

Still, he moved forward. His next attack was pure offense, a flurry of body shots, elbows, and jagged knee strikes. The ground vibrated with each step as his momentum built. Every blow carried with it the density of stone and the ferocity of a war hammer.

Tsunade deflected most of them, letting her arms take the pounding while she timed her next hit.

40%.

Her next punch was a clean hook to the side of his torso. When it landed, a dull shockwave rippled out from the point of contact. Cracks spiderwebbed along his side. Ren exhaled sharply, not in pain, but in acknowledgment. That one had almost forced him to step back.

He pressed forward. Elbow, knee, uppercut, all delivered with raw chakra-powered momentum. His offense wasn't elegant anymore, but it was still efficient due to Hyperfocus.

Tsunade was no longer unshaken, her sleeves were fraying, her stance adjusted to deal with weight more than speed.

She caught his next strike, a two-handed hammer fist with both palms. Her heel dug into the dirt.

50%.

Her punch this time was more of a jab, aimed directly at his collarbone. It cracked clean through the outermost layer and even slightly dislodged the second. A thin line of blood welled at the corner of Ren's mouth as his body had absorbed some of the shock.

"Alright," Ren muttered, blinking blood away. "It's starting to crack faster."

He reset his stance. The armor was holding barely, but it was clearly losing the pristine resilience it had at the beginning. Chunks had fallen off and certain areas were unevenly reformed.

Tsunade cracked her knuckles. "Not done yet."

60%.

The next blow was a straight punch to his stomach.

CRRRRK.

Ren doubled slightly as the armor around his midsection splintered. He caught himself with a palm to the ground and immediately flared chakra through his core. The armor surged again, reforming but now the surface was rougher, uneven, and darker in tone. It was holding together through sheer chakra circulation.

Tsunade let him recover as the armor was still active.

Ren didn't respond. His next move was a shoulder charge, followed by a rising knee. Tsunade took both hits but retaliated immediately with a sweeping kick to his ribs.

70%.

This time, a chunk of Ren's side armor blew off. It didn't just crack, it exploded outward and dust and stone filled the air.

Ren stumbled a half step. His breathing was heavier now. He hadn't expected it to last forever, but it was still impressive. Most of the damage was only showing now, after over a dozen direct hits from Tsunade herself.

He rotated his neck slowly. "One more probably."

Tsunade's grin widened slightly. "If you say so."

She stepped in.

80%.

The punch that followed was the first to carry real killing intent. She didn't aim for the face or chest, she went straight for his solar plexus, a downward hook loaded with devastating weight.

The second it connected, time seemed to pause.

BOOM.

The armor exploded, not in fragments, but in a full-body detonation of hardened earth. The shockwave rippled out in a ten-meter radius. Ren's body was launched backwards, skidding and flipping over itself as dirt and smoke scattered in his wake.

He crashed into a boulder and cracked it in half before slumping forward onto his knees, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

The battlefield fell silent.

Tsunade exhaled and lowered her fists. "There's your data."

Ren slowly pushed himself up, torso bruised, remnants of armor still flaking off. His breath was ragged, but his eyes were sharp as he asked, "So, how much was that?"

"Seventy holds," Tsunade spoke, "Eighty breaks."

He spat to the side and rolled his shoulder. "Not bad."

Tsunade chuckled faintly. "Not bad at all."

~~~~~

{Hardening pics in discord}

{Well an action chapter was due, and I also had to show how well the Hardening holds, as it wasn't really shown well against Roku, so I just took the chance.}

{Some of you might have wanted a more flashy battle, but first, we just had Ren blasting Kisame with every fire style jutsu known to Konoha and second, this was still inside the village so they couldn't really go too wild.

I'll explain how much of Tsunade's power was that in the next chapter so it becomes even clearer.}

{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}

{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }

{You know what else}

{280 Stones = Extra chapter}

{STONES!!!!}