Just as Kiyohara and Kakashi exchanged a brief few words and were preparing to execute their decapitation strategy, the thick mist suddenly pulsed with a surge of chakra far stronger than anything they had felt before.
A massive wave of chakra swelled.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Whip!"
In the next instant, several long whips made of highly compressed water tore out from the mist, striking toward Kiyohara from multiple angles at once.
These water whips were not only incredibly fast, but each contained enough impact force to smash boulders into rubble with ease.
"Hm?"
Kiyohara twisted his body and slipped past the first strike.
At that moment, he saw the attacker clearly.
She looked roughly the same age as him, yet she had long, wavy reddish-brown hair, jade-green eyes, and pale, almost porcelain skin.
Her facial features and every subtle movement carried a natural, captivating allure.
Combining her appearance, her Water-style mastery, and the fact that she was from Kirigakure…
A name flashed through Kiyohara's mind in an instant.
Terumi Mei!
The future Fifth Mizukage—
A prodigy possessing not one but two bloodline limits—Lava Release and Boil Release.
She was actually participating in this attack?
"This mist… it's still troublesome," Kiyohara muttered, frowning.
If that was the case, then—
While clashing with Terumi Mei using his shinobi blade, he continuously shifted positions, and at the same time, he kept pulling shuriken from his tool pouch, hurling them in different directions.
Mei noticed this and casually lashed out with her water whips, knocking the flying shuriken aside.
Within this suffocating mist, visibility was almost nonexistent.
However, Mist-nin were specially trained to fight in such conditions, giving them a natural advantage.
"Hmph. Throwing shuriken, is it…?"
Mei began forming hand seals, already losing interest as she watched Kiyohara dodging in a seemingly pathetic state.
She had been expecting something exciting—after all, that face of his was impressive.
But it turned out he was merely pleasant to look at and nothing more.
All this time, he had done nothing but dodge.
And that was the weakness of kenjutsu specialist shinobi—merely relying on basic kenjutsu made it hard to compete against long-range ninjutsu.
But before Mei could finish her hand seals—
Kiyohara moved first.
With a small flick of his finger—almost like forming a tiny seal—
the faint smell of something burning drifted through the air.
Almost invisible threads began tightening, appearing throughout the fog-filled battlefield.
Because of the thick mist, these wires were nearly impossible to detect.
Even Mei, with her sharp combat senses, hadn't realized that while she was focused on Kiyohara's blade and shuriken, so many wires had already been laid around her.
Slice—
A strand of her curly hair was cleanly cut off by a taut copper wire.
These were not ordinary wires—they were custom-made copper strings, intentionally sharpened along the middle while the ends remained sturdy.
A technique like this was so dangerous that if handled poorly, it could easily harm the user themselves.
"How…?"
Mei's brows knitted as she lifted her face and swept her gaze around.
To her astonishment, she realized that she was already surrounded—
an intricate, net-like formation of wires encircled her from all sides.
"How is this possible? Your lines don't tangle?!"
Mei's eyes widened in disbelief.
He had woven a full encirclement using shuriken in such a short time.
This meant Kiyohara had planned the trajectory of every single shuriken—including the ones she had knocked away!
This man wasn't even from the Uchiha clan—
so how could his shuriken control be so absurdly precise?
"Kakashi, don't come near this area."
Kiyohara warned without turning around, and his fingers pulled inward.
The wires tightened, the copper strands drawing the net closer.
A moment later—
Lightning erupted.
Arcs danced across the wires and surged inward, engulfing the surprised Mei.
Lightning Release: Guided Current Manipulated Shuriken Technique!
At the same time, Kiyohara rapidly formed another set of hand seals.
He slammed his palm onto the ground.
Lightning Release: Earth Walk!
Electricity crackled across the ground like a nest of serpents, racing toward her feet.
And he wasn't finished.
Kiyohara channeled Wind-style chakra into the shuriken still anchored along the wires.
This was the enhancement effect of:
Wind Release: Gale Palm!
By infusing wind chakra into shinobi tools, it dramatically increased their penetration and cutting power.
Now—
Wind and Lightning intertwined.
The power surging through the copper-wired shuriken spiked violently, cracks forming along their surfaces from the unstable, overwhelming energy.
Wind to the left, lightning to the right —
And both obey my will!
"Now then, Mist-nin… how will you respond?"
Kiyohara looked toward Mei, whose expression had finally turned strained and serious.
This formation sealed off every possible escape.
There was nowhere to run—
neither above nor below.
Mei's instincts screamed danger.
The lightning-lit wire net was closing in fast, the electrified ground surged upward, and the combined Wind-Lightning resonance formed a killing strike.
There was no dodging this.
"Damn!"
A heavy look settled in Mei's emerald eyes.
She had wanted to subdue him using only pure Water Release and avoid exposing her trump cards, but Kiyohara's relentless chain of attacks had completely disrupted her rhythm.
Facing this deadly, layered technique, she could no longer afford to hold back.
"Lava Release: Melting Apparition Jutsu!"
Mei's red lips parted, and a surge of viscous, molten, acid-infused chakra erupted from her mouth!
She vomited lava—
not ordinary lava, but her unique Kekkei Genkai: Lava Release!
Hisssss!
Thick white vapor exploded into the air.
Everything the corrosive acid touched sizzled violently.
The boiling, sticky melt wave slammed into the shrinking lightning-charged net and the crawling earth-lightning at her feet.
However—
For the first time, Lava Release failed to instantly melt through a jutsu.
Countless bubbles formed within the acidic fluid as it churned violently, losing its stable structure.
The Gale-enhanced wind pressure and lightning conduction disrupted its viscosity, weakening its defensive force.
Even though Mei managed to block the majority of the combined attack—
The Wind-Lightning fusion still punched partially through her Lava Release and struck her directly.
"Ugh!"
She staggered back with a muffled cry.
Her sleeve and shoulder were torn open, her white, lotus-like skin marked with shallow cuts from the wind pressure.
She was panting heavily now, her elegant expression replaced by shock.
If she hadn't used her bloodline limit in time, that attack would've left her severely injured—if not outright killed.
A civilian shinobi… with such troublesome methods!
"To force me to use my bloodline limit…"
Mei's whispered, staring at Kiyohara's calm face.
All trace of arrogance and carelessness had vanished.
"Mei, fall back!"
An urgent shout came from her side.
It was Ao.
He had been concealing himself nearby, using Water Mirror–type technique to observe the battlefield at all times.
When he saw Mei forced into using Lava Release and still ending up slightly injured, his expression twisted in alarm. He could no longer sit still.
This girl was a future pillar of Kirigakure.
She was only brought along to gain field experience—any real harm to her was unacceptable.
Ao stepped in front of her, placing himself between her and Kiyohara.
"Ao!"
Mei gritted her teeth, unwilling to retreat, but she knew—
in that last exchange, she had indeed lost the upper hand.
If he hadn't intervened, she might have recklessly continued charging in.
"So, you finally decided to come out…"
Kiyohara swallowed a soldier pill.
If they could just eliminate the shinobi responsible for interfering with the Byakugan—
then with Hyuga Ginka and Hyuga Nobuhiko, both full-fledged jōnin, joining the fight…
would taking down Ao really be a problem?
When should he fulfill the last will of "avenging" his alternate self?
Why, today, of course.
(End of Chapter)