Chapter 46: Fuguki Suikazan's Escape Route
Like a sudden mountain flood, torrents of water cascaded down Ishigoryu Mountain, uprooting layer after layer of forest.
Fuguki Suikazan's Water Dragon explosion forcibly carved out a muddy, silt-choked lake at the foot of the mountain.
On the gentle slope below the summit, the waters gradually receded.
But only now was Fuguki truly preparing to unleash his full firepower.
The vast chakra within his body—vast enough to be called oceanic—was mobilized in earnest. He was clearly preparing to bombard the battlefield with high-level ninjutsu.
Water Release: Breaking Torrent Flow
Water Release: Water Fang Bullet
Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique
His assault came in an endless stream. Fuguki showed no concern whatsoever for chakra expenditure, continuously firing off ninjutsu like a living artillery platform, pouring out destructive force without pause.
And yet—
The results were disappointing.
No matter how massive the attack, no matter how novel the technique, Hyūga Ritsu withstood them all. A single technique—Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation—ground Fuguki's momentum down until there was nothing left.
From initial confidence to a face dark as storm clouds, Fuguki's mood plummeted so fast it felt steeper than leaping off a cliff.
And then he heard a shout that made things even worse.
"Shisui—together!"
Ritsu's voice rang out across the battlefield.
There was a time and place for playing the lone hero.
The enemies Ritsu had boasted of handling alone were only the nameless Mist shinobi. A legendary veteran like Fuguki had never been included in that claim.
More importantly, after this prolonged exchange, Ritsu now had a clear understanding of his current level—and he had already achieved his original goal in doing so.
He truly had stepped into the ranks of a village's top-tier combatants.
But he was a lopsided one.
If defense was his strong leg, then offense was his crippled one.
The Byakugan's perception, combined with Eight Trigrams Palm: Rotation, allowed him to handle nearly all physical attacks. The fusion of Byakugan and Shikotsumyaku gave him incredible adaptability, letting him counter ambushes from virtually any angle.
However—
Both Gentle Fist and Shikotsumyaku excelled only in close-quarters combat. While deadly at short range, and effective in single-target engagements even at mid-range, they were utterly lacking in true area-of-effect offense.
In his memories, Shikotsumyaku's "Dance of the Seedling Fern" was a large-scale attack technique—but it was clearly an ultimate move akin to Rotation within Gentle Fist.
Mastering it required both extraordinary talent and relentless training.
Ritsu did not doubt his talent.
But he simply had not yet paid the price in sweat.
At present, he had not even brushed the edge of that technique.
Against disposable fodder who were barely worth naming, Gentle Fist and Shikotsumyaku were more than enough to claim their lives with ease—
But when facing someone like Fuguki Suikazan—a powerhouse with seemingly bottomless chakra reserves, mastery over numerous Water Release techniques, balanced offense and defense, and virtually no obvious weaknesses—Ritsu felt the shortcomings of his own combat style with painful clarity.
His methods of attack were too limited.
His overall offensive power was insufficient.
Against experts who lacked clear flaws, Ritsu believed there were only three effective approaches:
First—defeat them with an unexpected trump card that lay outside their ability to anticipate.
Second—force a breakthrough with an overwhelmingly destructive killing move.
At present, Ritsu possessed neither.
Which left only the third option—
Seek help from someone capable of solving the problem.
In other words: call for backup.
All things considered, there was no need to continue playing the lone hero. The time for individual bravado was over. What followed was teamwork—coordination, mutual support, and the power of bonds.
"Shisui! Stop playing with the Hōzuki prodigy—let's join forces and kill Fuguki Suikazan first!" Ritsu shouted.
The moment he heard that call, Uchiha Shisui decisively abandoned the sticky, hard-to-kill Hōzuki Mangetsu. Activating his signature Body Flicker Technique, he did not move toward Ritsu—instead, he instantly charged straight at Fuguki.
In the next instant, Samehada, the massive cleaver in Fuguki's hands, seemed to come alive. Its barbed body twisted unnaturally, swinging around behind its master and forcing Shisui back.
But Shisui reappeared at Fuguki's left in a flash.
Hand seals completed, he unleashed Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique at point-blank range.
Fuguki reacted swiftly. Samehada's blade expanded outward, flattening like a shield and blocking the incoming fireballs.
Eight Trigrams Air Palm!
Ritsu rushed in, seizing the opening Shisui had created, and fired an Air Palm straight into Fuguki's exposed flank.
With a loud bang, Fuguki's body dissolved into a cloud of milky-white chakra smoke.
A shadow clone.
Shisui raised an eyebrow slightly.
Ritsu's gaze sharpened.
When had Fuguki created the clone?
And where was his real body hiding?
Ritsu pushed his Byakugan to its absolute limit, his vision piercing five meters underground—
Nothing.
"Senior Ritsu, can't find him?" Shisui asked.
"No trace at all," Ritsu replied.
Scanning the area again, the only remaining chakra fluctuation came from the massive blade lying on the ground—
Wait.
Samehada?
"Shisui, that sword—"
Before Ritsu could finish, Samehada dissolved into smoke—not the dispersal of a clone, but the unmistakable spatial ripple of a summoning technique.
Ritsu immediately extended his vision, stretching it outward.
Nearly a kilometer away, Hōzuki Mangetsu was visible, a scroll spread open beneath his feet. The outline of Samehada, writhing in rejection under chakra pressure, was clearly inscribed upon it.
In the next moment, Mangetsu rolled up the scroll with practiced speed, hoisted Samehada onto his shoulder, and bolted downhill toward the gathering Mist forces.
"Senior Ritsu, what's going on?" Shisui asked as he approached, short blade still in hand.
"He got away."
"Got away? How?"
"Fuguki was probably hiding inside Samehada. Mangetsu used a summoning technique to pull the blade—and him—out. They're already retreating downhill. There's no catching them now."
"…He was hiding inside the sword? You can do that?"
Shisui was genuinely stunned.
This was intelligence Konoha did not possess.
"That blade—Samehada—is something special," Ritsu said quietly. "A shame. I really thought the two of us could finish Fuguki today. But top-tier monsters like him aren't easy to kill."
His gaze followed Mangetsu's retreating figure.
Yet Ritsu's thoughts had already drifted elsewhere—back to the memory of a dying Kaguya clan survivor, and that final technique that had come within a hair's breadth of killing the future Fifth Kazekage.