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Inside the former Konoha No. 1 Maritime Outpost.
The terrifying Fire Release assault caught the Kirigakure ninjas completely off guard.
Soon after, Kirigakure's forces surged forward to block the Konoha squad from advancing. To avoid having his men picked off one by one through assassination, Uchiha Hazuki regrouped the team and ordered a concentrated push in a single direction.
Just as the dispatched Kirigakure units were on the verge of being wiped out, the overall commander on this front—Hōzuki Suikagami—entered the battlefield. Activating the Hōzuki clan's Hydrification Technique, he coordinated with Kirigakure's Water Release, darting rapidly across the battlefield.
Wherever the pale gleam of his blade passed, a Konoha ninja fell.
"It's a Kirigakure ninja from the Hōzuki clan! Quick—use Lightning Release to stop him!!" Uchiha Hazuki shouted commands across the sea.
In Konoha, most ninjas trained in Wind, Earth, Fire, or Water Release. Lightning Release users were relatively rare—mainly because high-level Lightning techniques were difficult to develop, and Konoha lacked any truly iconic advanced Lightning Release jutsu at present.
Among the sixty-five ninjas still able to fight, aside from the dead or critically wounded, only two specialized in Lightning Release.
"You think I'll give you the chance to use Lightning Release?!"
Hōzuki Suikagami burst out in liquid form, his hand seals forming far faster than those of the two chūnin.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
But in Uchiha Hazuki's eyes, that speed wasn't fast at all. The young man's own hand seals matched Suikagami's pace exactly.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
In an instant, two towering water dragons rose from the sea, coiling around each other, tearing and biting—
BOOM!!!
As the two Water Dragon Bullets collided and exploded, torrents of water rained down from the sky, soaking the hair of the two men standing at the very front of the battlefield.
Hōzuki Suikagami stared in disbelief.
"An Uchiha… copying my Water Release, and it's not inferior to mine?!"
"That's impossible!!!"
"Heh." Uchiha Hazuki panted slightly, his gaze fixed on Suikagami's eyes.
"I'm an Uchiha who has mastered both Water and Fire chakra natures."
"Otherwise, why do you think I was sent to guard the Land of Water's border?"
"This ends now."
"Demonic Illusion: Sharingan!"
"Damn it—"
Because Hazuki had perfectly mirrored his Water Release, Suikagami's emotions wavered for an instant—and in that moment, he accidentally met the gaze of the Uchiha's Sharingan.
Suikagami struggled, slamming his hands together with all his strength.
"Release!!"
Ordinary Sharingan genjutsu focused on restraint. The moment the illusion binding him was broken, Suikagami immediately prepared to use a Water Clone—
—but the Lightning–Water Dragon Bullet was already bearing down on him.
BOOOOM!!!
"AAAAAAH—!!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
"Lightning Release: Ground Flow!" ×2
"Combination Jutsu: Lightning–Water Dragon Bullet!!" ×3
The combined strike of three chūnin engulfed Hōzuki Suikagami completely. Lightning coursed through the water, paralyzing his body.
—The price of mastering the Hōzuki clan's Water Release secret techniques.
A weakness not unlike Deidara's Earth Release clay.
"Captain!!" ×N
Inside the outpost, Kirigakure's sensory unit detected that Hōzuki Suikagami had been defeated by Konoha. Two more assassination squads immediately deployed to rescue their commander, while the remaining forces finished destroying the outpost's stored intelligence and prepared to withdraw by boat.
"Trying to rescue him? It won't be that easy."
With a sweeping gesture from Uchiha Hazuki, the Konoha ninjas still capable of fighting stepped over Kirigakure corpses floating on the sea and pressed forward.
—Step step step!
"Third squad, four o'clock direction! Someone's there—don't get closer!" Hyūga Chiya shouted.
A Konoha ninja ahead swung his blade, colliding with the weapon of a hidden Kirigakure chūnin.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
After three rapid slashes, two more members of the third squad rushed in to assist—only to strike empty air. The squad leader noticed a disturbance in the mist beside his teammate and yelled:
"Chinatsu! Left side!!"
Shk—!
In the foggy night, sparks flashed again. Kirigakure continuously dispatched assassination units. Even the Water Release squads abandoned maintaining the Hidden Mist barrier and joined the rescue.
A Special Jōnin remaining at camp feared that Suikagami's intelligence might leak out.
Even if they had to die alongside Konoha's ninjas, they could not allow news of Kirigakure and Kumogakure's forces arriving tomorrow to be exposed!
—In truth, most of that intelligence had already been leaked by someone, and Nara Shikayoshi had already deduced as much.
Clang!
Elsewhere on the battlefield, sparks flew as a kunai collided with a blade.
The next instant—
Pshhk—
To Baixing's surprise, the Kirigakure chūnin in front of him abandoned his weapon and drove his own kunai straight through his body, using the last of his strength to latch onto Baixing.
"Now!! Take me with him—let's die together, you jōnin!!"
"I understand, Matsuru!!"
Tears streamed down the face of a Kirigakure female chūnin. Her hands flew through seals—seven in total. From the pattern, Baixing instantly recognized it.
Water Prison Technique.
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!!" she roared, slamming her hands onto the sea.
Water Release chakra rippled across the surface, surging forward.
When it reached Baixing and the suicidal Kirigakure chūnin—
SPLASH!!
Seawater surged upward, engulfing both of them completely.
If Baixing's Ope Ope no Mi had a seawater weakness, he'd be dead right now.
Of course, it was precisely because he didn't fear seawater that he dared to take this head-on.
"Interesting."
Baixing felt an odd sense of déjà vu, like he'd turned into Uchiha Obito.
"What—are you about to spit out cement too?"
He asked curiously.
The Kirigakure chūnin loosened his grip. Baixing's cold smile lingered as his gaze swept over the fallen comrade on the sea, then toward the female chūnin maintaining the Water Prison.
"I won't let you die so easily."
"Come with me—down to hell!!"
"Summoning Jutsu!!"
"This time… everyone can eat their fill."
POOF!
Inside the water appeared more than a dozen small piranhas. Seeing the Kirigakure chūnin pierced through his vital points by a kunai, the piranhas shed a single tear—then bared their teeth in vicious grins and turned their bloodthirsty eyes toward Baixing.
"Eh?" Baixing scratched his cheek.
"Did I become the villain?"
"But just a few piranhas… probably not enough to deal with me~~"
As ninja beasts, they naturally understood human speech.
In an instant, all the piranhas lunged forward.
Blood trickled from the Kirigakure chūnin's lips as he smiled cruelly.
"Go. All of you."
Names he'd given each piranha flashed through his mind—his final montage.
Outside, the female chūnin sobbed, tears and snot streaming down her face.
"Goodbye… Matsuru."
"ROOM."
With that single word, a pale blue spatial field reflected in the woman's blurred vision. Her hands were still pressed to the sea, continuously channeling Water Release chakra.
Before she could react—
An invisible slash swept toward her.
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