The Mist of Kirigakure was originally meant to protect the village, yet on this night it served only to hide Hayashi's terrifying advance.
The thick fog severely limited visibility, preventing the Mist ninja from spotting his position or converging quickly. In that confusion, Hayashi moved like a storm through the ranks.
Whether he struck with a disabling blow, a lethal attack, or even a seemingly ineffective feint, he never stayed long enough for the enemy to respond twice. A single blow and he vanished, shifting through the mist before anyone could react.
He flowed through the enemy forces like a swift current, constantly disrupting their formations and preventing them from launching coordinated area techniques. No large‑scale jutsu could be used without risking the lives of the village's own shinobi, and even if cast, Hayashi's incredible speed meant it likely would never land.
To further sow chaos, Hayashi had Dabai control the Summoning Snake squad. These smaller serpents were numerous, nearly invisible in the fog, and each carried explosive tags hidden within their coils.
Soon, explosions shook the streets of the Mist Village. No one could tell where the enemy lurked or how many invaders there were.
After eliminating several squads of Mist ninja in the streets, Hayashi sprinted toward the Mizukage Building. The village was eerily silent. Civilians must have been evacuated before his assault reached its peak, but the buildings were not so fortunate. Many structures lay in ruins.
Despite Hayashi's clever use of decoys and explosive serpents, the number of Mist ninja converging on his main force steadily grew. It no longer mattered if he avoided them intentionally; there were only a few hundred, a number he could handle all at once.
Hayashi hooked his right middle finger and drew out a black scroll marked with the symbol of Sage. Unfurling it, the sage essence appeared, and immediately he entered Sage Mode.
In Sage Mode, Hayashi could sense the chakra of every Mist ninja around him clearly.
He leapt onto a rooftop, waiting silently. Soon enough, shinobi surrounded him from all sides — in front, behind, left and right, encircling him completely.
"Excellent, this is enough," Hayashi murmured with satisfaction. There were just enough opponents for him to use his ultimate technique within Sage Mode.
The Mist ninja glared at him with hostility and then unleashed their most potent ninjutsu at once.
Spell after spell rained down from surrounding rooftops. Elemental jutsu of all kinds, nature transformations, explosive kunai — a deadly storm of chakra and steel.
Hayashi vanished from his perch in an instant, his form streaking through the air faster than any jutsu or shuriken, rising high above the cluster of ninja.
The attacks struck the empty ground below, detonating in thunderous explosions that collapsed nearby houses, but they failed to touch him.
"He's above us!"
One sensor ninja shouted as he located Hayashi in mid‑air. A chill fell across the Mist shinobi as they gathered chakra for another volley of attacks.
At that moment, a stone pillar, nearly a meter in diameter, burst up from the earth beneath Hayashi's feet, stopping his descent and providing firm footing above the chaos.
Hayashi looked down as his right hand began to form seals. Except for his little finger held straight, the four other fingers clenched lightly, his palm pressing down upon the standing pillar as dark lines of chakra rippled outward.
"What is this?" A ninja with sensory ability suddenly noticed, lowering his head as an enormous chakra signature spread rapidly through the area.
Fear flickered in the eyes of the Mist ninja. They recognized this as Hayashi's chakra, and judged from the intensity it could only lead to a technique of devastating scale.
The black lines rippled like living veins of the earth itself, forming an almost translucent cubic barrier under one hundred meters in each direction, encapsulating every shinobi within.
"Barrier?" someone exclaimed. Among them a few knew enough about barrier ninjutsu to understand the implications.
This technique drained vast amounts of chakra, and worse — it trapped them inside with no escape.
Hayashi smiled faintly. Yes, retreat was blocked — but not for him.
In such a confined space, the enemy would have nowhere left to run.
Hayashi formed seals again. Natural energy flowed through him, connecting to the earth. The ground began to writhe as though alive.
The Mist ninja recoiled, unsure of the sudden movement, many stepping back in fear.
Then the earth and ruined foundations around them liquefied, thick and mud‑like, enveloping the base of the stone pillar. The shape bulged outward, compressing the air within the barrier.
From within the shifting earth, sharp stone spears began to rise. Soon the fine points jutted outward, aimed directly at every shinobi now trapped within.
Some tried to escape using Earth Release, attempting to dive into the ground, but the living earth constricted them instantly, choking off their movements.
"What kind of ninjutsu is this?" one cried, but there was no answer. The only response was death.
Under Hayashi's control, the stone spears launched upward like missiles, impaling dozens of Mist ninja in a lethal rain of spikes.
Hayashi's main body then blended flawlessly with the stone wall of a nearby collapsed structure, remaining hidden within the battlefield.
When the technique ceased, hundreds lay motionless.
This was Inorganic Reformation, a technique that transformed lifeless matter into weapons of devastation. With sufficient chakra infused into earth and stone, it rivaled even the legendary Wood Release in destructive capability.
What jutsu could defend against such an assault?
Water Walls sagged under pressure, Earth Barriers buckled, and Mist ninja did not possess Amaterasu.
Within the sealed barrier, death bloomed like black flowers through the soil.
Hayashi opened his arms and gazed across the devastated village blanketed in mist, then softly began to recite an absurd rhyme:
"How many floors does a bag of rice need to carry,
Once it needs to carry two floors.
A bag of rice, I gave you too much,
A bag of rice, oh, I washed it!
A bag of rice, oh,
I washed so much mud!
And that many black tiles! Who gave you a bag of rice!"