Several seconds ticked by, yet nothing stirred in the sky.
"Did… my jutsu just fail?" For a fleeting moment, Raiga considered the absurd possibility, then shook his head at the thought. Ridiculous.
He yanked the Kiba blades from the ground and cocked his head, calling back to the boy on his back. "Ranmaru, which direction are those three brats?"
Raiga loved to shroud the battlefield in mist, but unlike Zabuza, he lacked the heightened senses to navigate it. Fortunately, he always had Ranmaru—whose detection skills could rival even the Hyūga.
"Fifteen degrees to your right, Raiga-san," came Ranmaru's soft voice from behind him.
"That so?" Raiga grinned, baring his teeth. "Then die for me!"
Lightning Release: Kiba!
He raised his twin blades, surging lightning-nature chakra arcing along their length. Blue bolts crackled, illuminating the mist.
But before Raiga could strike, Ranmaru suddenly screamed, "Raiga-san, run! Get out of here, now!"
Trusting Ranmaru implicitly, Raiga instinctively aborted his attack and leapt aside. Nothing happened. He frowned, glancing back. "What did you see, Ranmaru?"
"Run, Raiga-san, run! I'm seeing chakra—so much chakra! It's at least a hundred times greater than yours, maybe more! If we don't escape now, we're dead!" Panic laced Ranmaru's voice.
"A hundred times mine? More than that?" For the first time, Raiga doubted Ranmaru. He was an elite jōnin! Even Kage-level shinobi only had a few times his chakra. Someone with a hundred times more… Only a Tailed Beast could manage that.
And what Tailed Beast would show up here?
"Raiga-san, it's too late—he's coming down!" Ranmaru's voice trembled with terror.
"Coming down?" Raiga echoed, puzzled. He instinctively looked up. At some point, the thick fog had cleared, and a lone figure was descending from the sky.
As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist, Raiga was no stranger to power, but in his experience, only the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, could fly.
The figure landed lightly. Kai ignored both Raiga and Zabuza, his gaze locking onto Hatake Kakashi, still trapped in the Water Prison Jutsu.
"Long time no see, Kakashi. Never thought I'd catch you in such a sorry state."
"Kai!" Kakashi's pupils shrank, then he let out a breath of relief. With Kai here, it didn't matter if the entire Hidden Mist Village came after them—no one could touch him.
"Who the hell are you?" Raiga leveled his blade at Kai.
During the Third Great Ninja War, Raiga had gone into hiding after losing to Might Duy, so he'd never seen Kai before.
Before Kai could answer, Zabuza, hefting his Executioner's Blade, spoke up, eyes narrowing. "You're… Kai Mitarashi!" He stared, transfixed.
Kai raised an eyebrow and glanced at Zabuza with a faint smile. "So there are still people in the ninja world who recognize me."
At those words, Zabuza swallowed hard, reflexively.
This was the man whose name was on the very first page of his bingo book. The strongest in the ninja world, the one you must never provoke! After years off the grid, to run into him here of all places…
"We're aborting this mission!" Zabuza barked, not hesitating for a second.
"Abort? Sorry, it's already too late." Kai's voice was cold. He had no sympathy for Zabuza.
"After all, I'm still a shinobi of Konoha."
Before his words faded, a thick mist rose once more, obscuring everything. Zabuza—the man who'd dared to assassinate the Mizukage—didn't hesitate. He launched straight into his signature Silent Killing Technique.
"Throat, heart, kidneys, lungs… there are seven vital points in the human body. Which one do you want me to start with?" Zabuza's voice slithered through the fog.
The Hidden Mist Technique always gave Zabuza confidence.
"Truly… ignorance is bliss, huh?" Kai shook his head, almost pitying.
Suddenly, the Executioner's Blade flashed out of nowhere, arcing toward Kai's neck. Zabuza's eyes lit up with anticipation.
But in the next instant, his expression froze.
How could a body be this tough? His full-powered swing stopped dead at Kai's neck, unable to cut even a millimeter deeper.
He didn't notice the thin layer of black matter coating the blade where it struck Kai.
Truth-Seeking Orb—defensive mode!
Within his sphere of control, Kai could shape the Truth-Seeking Orbs into any form, for attack or defense.
"Raiga!" Zabuza shouted, realizing he'd need backup.
Raiga was ready. Against a monster like Kai, there was no room for error. He unleashed his strongest lightning jutsu right from the start.
Lightning Release: Heaven-Splitting Thunder Snake!
His arms fused with the Kiba blades, hands moving in a blur. Hundreds of lightning serpents shot out, crackling and hissing as they streaked toward Kai.
At the same time, Zabuza whipped through a flurry of hand signs.
Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
Just as wind fuels fire, water could amplify lightning. The serpents merged with the water dragon, their combined power easily rivaling an S-rank forbidden technique.
As the water-thunder dragon surged toward him, Kai's eyes remained calm. He lifted his right arm, fingers splaying wide—a black, circular shield blossomed before him.
The water-thunder dragon slammed into the shield, and what happened next left everyone speechless.
The entire attack was simply swallowed by the black shield, vanishing without a trace.
"How… how is that possible?!"
Zabuza and Raiga stared in disbelief. Zabuza had expected Kai to block the attack—but not in such an utterly bizarre, overwhelming fashion.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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