Leaving aside the battle at UzUzushiogakure for the moment, back at the former Mist ninja encampment, the Cloud ninja were swallowing soldier pills at full speed to recover their depleted chakra while also cleaning up the battlefield.
Tian CunZairo stayed together with Yotsuki A and Fukai, studying the sword Samehada. All three of them were intensely curious about this living-type ninja blade.
Samehada, meanwhile, struggled nonstop, resisting fiercely as if trying to return to its original master.
"It even recognizes its owner!"
Yotsuki A clicked his tongue in amazement. That Kirigakure could create such a bizarre ninja blade was truly unbelievable.
Fukai was equally astonished. It was his first time seeing a living creature capable of devouring chakra—one that could even swallow chakra techniques that had already undergone nature transformation.
Tian CunZairo was watching as well, but suddenly his expression changed.
Without hesitation, he kicked Yotsuki A and Fukai away, then flung out bundles of explosive tags. Each bundle contained ten tags—he threw ten bundles at once, a full one hundred high-quality explosive tags.
At almost the same instant, a dense barrage of water bullets blasted toward their original position, most of them concentrated on where Yotsuki A had been standing—clearly aiming to kill him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The explosive tags detonated in rapid succession, erupting into a massive fireball.
Hearing the commotion, nearby Cloud ninja immediately converged, realizing an enemy had appeared.
When the flames dissipated, a battered figure was revealed—it was none other than Hōzuki Jagetsu, the commander of the Mist ninja army.
"Damn it!"
Seeing Yotsuki A—who had been kicked away at the last second—still alive, Hōzuki Jagetsu ground his teeth and glared at the short masked figure, wishing he could devour him alive.
Their losses this time were far too great. He had planned to kill the Raikage's son to vent his hatred, but at the final moment everything failed—and he had been bombarded by an absurd number of explosive tags, blasted straight out of the ground.
After giving that hateful little brat one last vicious look, Hōzuki Jagetsu's body turned into water as he tried to sink into the earth and escape.
Unfortunately, the explosion had already cost him the best chance to flee.
A lightning-wreathed ninja blade flew through the air and pinned him to the ground, the Lightning Release chakra forcibly disrupting his Water Transformation Technique.
Before he could react, another ten bundles of high-quality explosive tags rained down.
With no chance to respond, Hōzuki Jagetsu—already grievously wounded and nearly out of chakra from the previous battle—was finished off.
His death was gruesome. Not even a complete corpse remained.
This was the reality of shinobi—fragile by nature. Once chakra was depleted, they became extremely brittle. Even someone as powerful as Uchiha Madara could still be killed by a single stab if caught unprepared.
"Looks like it really was the Mist army's commander—he was still alive,"
Fukai said as he picked up the ninja blade that had been blasted away, recognizing the enemy's identity.
The moment Tian CunZairo kicked him away earlier, Fukai had known something was wrong. He immediately poured chakra into his body and, once he saw the enemy clearly, infused Lightning Release chakra into his blade and hurled it.
Fortunately, the blade contained chakra-conductive metal, allowing it to retain Lightning Release even after leaving his hand, disrupting the Water Transformation Technique. Otherwise, it would've been hard to stop the escape.
"Brother, you saved my life!"
Yotsuki A finally reacted, stepping forward with deep gratitude—and lingering fear.
That ambush had been far too sudden. He hadn't had time to react at all. Without his Lightning Armor active, those water bullets would've pierced straight through his body and killed him on the spot.
This was a genuine life-saving favor.
Tian CunZairo nodded to both of them, then walked over to the massive crater left by the explosions and rummaged around. Soon, he found a hole about as thick as an arm.
"Damn it, this thing's basically a rat hole!"
Staring at the tunnel leading deep underground, Tian CunZairo felt utterly baffled by the Hōzuki clan's Water Transformation Technique.
He had detected the enemy's approach through his Good-and-Evil Perception. That intense killing intent had been far too obvious.
The moment he sensed it, he knew an enemy was about to strike.
That was why he immediately kicked Yotsuki A and Fukai away, using the recoil to fling himself backward out of the attack range, while throwing explosive tags to bombard the area and prevent any follow-up techniques.
"Confirmed—it really is Hōzuki Jagetsu. The strongest of the Hōzuki clan, said to be able to rival a Mizukage."
Tsuchidai stepped in after calming the gathered Cloud ninja. He picked up the shattered head and confirmed the identity.
He had already noticed earlier that the Mist army's commander was missing. He'd assumed the man escaped using a secret technique—never expecting him to be lying in ambush here.
Truly insane.
But it really had been dangerous. From what just happened, there was a real chance the ambush could've succeeded. If the Raikage's son had died, the blow to Kumogakure would've been devastating.
"Killing a Kage-level powerhouse—you're going to become famous,"
Tsuchidai said as he looked at Tian CunZairo with growing satisfaction.
This wasn't just eliminating a powerful enemy—it was saving the Raikage's son. Especially the latter; it had spared Kumogakure from a massive crisis.
"I don't want to be famous yet,"
Tian CunZairo muttered.
What he needed right now was low-profile growth. That was exactly why he had worn a mask during this expedition.
Although his armor and twin blades were still somewhat conspicuous, at least his face and age were hidden. Others would just assume he was a short adult, not a child—making him much less noticeable.
Once his strength truly rose in the future, it wouldn't matter anymore.
"How did you sense him?"
Tsuchidai chuckled, then asked about Tian CunZairo's perception method.
So many of them hadn't detected Hōzuki Jagetsu's infiltration at all—yet this kid had noticed. There had to be a reason.
"It's an ability I gained after deeply refining and fusing the chakra of Kinkaku and Ginkaku,"
Tian CunZairo didn't hide it, taking the opportunity to explain.
"I can sense others' intent within a ten-meter range. Malice directed at me is the most obvious."
He still needed Kumogakure's help to acquire more of the Nine-Tails' chakra to strengthen this ability, so there was no reason to conceal it.
Judging by the timeline, the First Hokage's wife likely wouldn't be able to hold on for many more years. When the Nine-Tails was transferred, chakra would inevitably leak—that would be their opportunity.
If they could even pinpoint the time and location of the transfer, triggering a Nine-Tails incident and capturing the entire beast outright wasn't impossible.
Of course, that wasn't something he could do alone—it would require Kumogakure's involvement.
And they'd need to further strengthen the Third Raikage as well. As he was now, the Third Raikage was only roughly on par with the Eight-Tails—nowhere near enough to face the Nine-Tails.
After all, in the Fourth War, just half of the Nine-Tails had crushed the other tailed beasts with ease. They weren't even in the same league.
"The Nine-Tails' power, huh?"
Tsuchidai's eyes flickered with thought.
"But did Kinkaku and Ginkaku have that kind of ability?"
Yotsuki A asked in surprise. He'd read their records—nothing like this was mentioned.
"It's probably a Nine-Tails trait,"
Fukai speculated.
"Kinkaku and Ginkaku once devoured the Nine-Tails' flesh and gained its power. Their corpses must still contain residual chakra. The records don't mention this ability—so it's likely something special that was awakened only after A-Zairo fused with the Nine-Tails' chakra."
"Probably."
Tian CunZairo let the explanation stand.
"Why do you have Great-Aunt's ability?"
At that moment, a red-haired girl suddenly poked her head out from behind a rock, staring fixedly at the despicable big villain.
"Why wasn't she tied up?"
Tian CunZairo's face darkened instantly.
An important hostage like this should've been bound like a rice dumpling and hung up under heavy guard.
Yet now she was wandering around freely—hiding nearby and eavesdropping on classified information.
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