Fuguki Suikazan endured the burning pain in his tail and used Water Release to dilute the heat in the surrounding water before suddenly sinking deeper.
"You brat… I'll show you what real despair looks like!"
He formed hand seals underwater, chakra surging as he refined it.
"Water Release: A Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
Crash…!
With Fuguki at the center, the seawater within a hundred-meter radius instantly boiled—
not from heat, but from the violent churn of countless sharks!
One, ten, a hundred… in the blink of an eye, a full thousand translucent water sharks, each far larger than the ones from his earlier Rain of Four Sharks, burst from the sea.
Every one of them was the size of an adult tiger shark, their fangs formed from highly compressed Water Release chakra.
All thousand water sharks lifted their heads at once and gave a silent roar before, like a school receiving a command, they lunged at Kiyohara from every direction—above, below, left, right—in an overwhelming wave.
And he still wasn't done.
Fuguki bit his thumb and slammed his hand against his chest.
"Water Clone Technique!"
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop…
Fifty figures identical to his real body rose up from the water and took positions all around Kiyohara, completely surrounding him.
Each water clone only had one-tenth of the original's strength, but fifty of them working together, combined with the Thousand Feeding Sharks tearing in, created a kill zone terrifying enough to make most ninja pale.
"Die!"
All fifty Fugukis roared at once as the thousand sharks closed in simultaneously.
At that moment, all Hyuga Ginka could see through her Byakugan was a mass of sharks converging on Kiyohara.
She hurriedly used Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms, but she still couldn't disperse many of the sharks.
Everything was simply moving too fast.
Caught off guard, she couldn't unleash many strikes in time.
"Kiyohara…!"
Rin's scream was swallowed by the crashing roar of the shark swarm.
Kakashi tried to rush over, but Kaguya Dairo kept him pinned down.
Might Guy roared and tried to open the Sixth Gate again, but having used it repeatedly just moments ago had already left his chakra pathways throbbing in pain.
He could only keep fighting in the Fifth Gate state.
Kurenai formed hand seals, trying to release genjutsu to interfere, but in front of a technique on this scale, her chakra was like a firefly before the moon.
And just when everyone thought Kiyohara was about to be swallowed—
Kiyohara raised his head.
In his crimson Sharingan, the three tomoe suddenly began spinning faster.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan."
Just one look.
The fifty water clones charging toward him all froze at once.
Their eyes reflected those spinning Sharingan, and the chakra flowing through them instantly fell into chaos.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop…
A chain of explosions rang out.
The fifty water clones burst like balloons into sprays of water.
But the Thousand Feeding Sharks were still coming.
They had no consciousness—just chakra constructs, still following the last command to devour him.
Fuguki's real body stood in the distance, lips curling into a savage grin.
So what if he'd broken the water clones?
The Thousand Feeding Sharks were a true offensive ninjutsu. Every single one of them could bite through steel.
He was practically already imagining Kiyohara being torn into shreds.
But Kiyohara remained perfectly calm.
"Sage Art: Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique."
He copied the same hand seals Fuguki had used earlier, but this time mixed in cursed seal chakra.
And that chakra carried natural energy.
It now belonged squarely in the realm of… Sage Arts.
Boom!
A gigantic shark-shaped water projectile—more than twice the size of the Great Shark Bullet Technique Fuguki had used earlier—burst up from the sea in front of Kiyohara!
The instant it appeared, the surrounding seawater began flowing toward it, making it swell even larger.
"What?!"
The grin on Fuguki's face froze.
"No way—even if he copied my technique, there's no way he could produce something on this scale in an instant…"
His words died in his throat.
Because the giant shark moved.
It opened jaws big enough to swallow a house and bit straight into the Thousand Feeding Shark swarm!
With one bite alone, it swallowed nearly a hundred of the water sharks.
The sharks consumed inside its body quickly broke down, and the giant shark swelled even larger.
It lashed its tail, whipping up a towering wave.
The remaining hundreds of water sharks threw themselves at it, biting wildly, but their teeth couldn't even break its surface.
That was the difference in power Sage Art made—far beyond ordinary Water Release.
"ROAR!"
The giant shark bellowed again and suddenly spun.
A vortex.
With it at the center, a giant whirlpool more than a hundred meters wide formed instantly.
The terrifying suction dragged in the remaining sharks and crushed them apart in the violently rotating water.
This technique would instantly absorb the chakra in any physical attack that struck it, growing even larger.
Unless it took a single hit beyond its capacity—like the Daytime Tiger—it was extremely hard to break.
And Kiyohara's version was an enhanced model powered by natural energy.
Then the translucent giant shark turned toward Fuguki.
Seeing that, every hair on Fuguki's body stood on end.
Just as the giant shark was about to lunge, Mei's voice rang out from the side.
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!"
At some point, she had rushed close to Fuguki. Her hand seals were already complete, and with her red lips parting, she exhaled a soft-looking white mist.
The mist drifted toward the giant shark.
Ssssssssss!!!
Terrifying heat and strong acid acted at once!
The outer layer of the giant shark's Water Release chakra melted and evaporated at a visible pace, like ice dropped into boiling acid.
This was her kekkei genkai—Boil Release, the fusion of Fire and Water chakra into something that combined extreme heat with corrosive acid.
Its corrosive power was so strong it could even melt the skeletal form of Susanoo.
The giant shark's massive body rapidly dissolved inside the acidic mist.
Seeing this, Fuguki finally snapped back to himself and shouted in delight:
"Mei, nice! If we join forces—"
Unfortunately, he never got to finish.
Kiyohara was already beside him.
As everyone knew, villains died from talking too much.
They always gave everyone else time to exchange a bunch of dialogue, gather their bonds, and charge in together.
Kiyohara had no intention of just standing there while Fuguki recovered.
The moment he got close, Kiyohara's right hand settled on the hilt of the ninja blade at his waist.
When?!
Fuguki hadn't even seen Kiyohara's movement.
He instinctively tried to step back, form hand seals, use his hair as a weapon—
But Kiyohara's sword was faster.
Shing!
The blade came free of its sheath.
A white streak traced through the air as the sword entered through Fuguki's right shoulder, cut diagonally across his entire chest, and exited from the left side of his waist.
Slash!
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Fuguki's right arm, along with nearly half his chest, was cut clean off and sent flying.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
His scream tore across the shoreline.
Fuguki staggered backward, blood gushing from the severed shoulder like a fountain, the pain nearly enough to make him black out.
But he wasn't dead yet.
His vitality was far beyond a normal human's now. In this fused Samehada state, he had already left humanity behind.
"Damn you… damn you!!"
Fuguki snarled, his remaining left hand forming a seal.
"Ninja Art: Hair Needle Senbon!"
The orange hair remaining on his head stood on end, hardening into thousands of steel needles that shot toward Kiyohara like a storm.
At this range, with such dense coverage, it was nearly impossible to dodge.
Clinkclinkclinkclinkclinkclink…!
A rapid series of metallic impacts rang out.
Kiyohara stood where he was, not even bothering to raise a hand.
Those hair needles, each strong enough to pierce steel plate, all bounced off his body the instant they struck.
Fuguki's pupils shrank.
Now he saw it.
Kiyohara's skin was covered in a black metallic sheen.
Steel Release: Hardening.
"This is over."
Kiyohara raised his left hand, lightning exploding in his palm.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Current."
Crackle!
Blue-white arcs burst out from Kiyohara's body and spread instantly across Fuguki's entire form.
"Gahhh!"
Paralysis.
The violent current shot through every muscle and every nerve.
Fuguki's body convulsed uncontrollably and locked up completely.
Kiyohara stepped forward, reached out with his right hand, spread his fingers, and lightly placed them around Fuguki's neck.
The next second—
Crack.
A sharp, crisp sound of bone breaking.
Fuguki Suikazan's neck was crushed outright.
In his wide eyes—fear, unwillingness, regret…
All of it froze in an instant, then went empty.
Splash.
His huge body toppled backward into the sea, splashing up crimson water.
Dead.
One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, the first wielder of Samehada, Fuguki Suikazan…
had fallen.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
Only the sound of waves hitting the rocks remained, along with scattered battle noises in the distance.
Everyone stopped moving.
The faces of the Kirigakure ninja were filled with confusion and shock.
Their commander, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, had just died like that?
Killed by a boy who looked like he couldn't even be out of his teens, as casually as crushing an insect?
"F-Fuguki-sama…"
One Kirigakure chunin trembled as he spoke.
The next moment, his voice turned into a shrill roar:
"Avenge Fuguki-sama!!"
"Kill him!!"
Dozens of Kirigakure ninja surged toward Kiyohara like an enraged swarm.
But then—
Slash!
The Executioner's Blade pierced straight through the chest of the chunin leading the charge.
The Kirigakure chunin looked down at the blade tip jutting out through his chest in disbelief, then twisted his head around with difficulty to look behind him.
Juzo Biwa expressionlessly pulled the Executioner's Blade back out.
Blood ran down the blade and was quickly absorbed into it.
The rust-like wear across the Executioner's Blade began recovering Juzo's stamina from the hilt outward, slightly healing his injuries.
"J-Juzo-sama… why…"
The chunin coughed blood, completely unable to understand why Juzo had stabbed him in the back.
Weren't they allies?
And with Konoha's ninja right there in front of them, why would they start killing each other?
In Kirigakure, unless it was some formal selection ritual, ordinary internal fighting was strictly forbidden.
Otherwise, Mist's ninja population would've died off long ago.
Juzo shook the blood off his blade and bared his white teeth in a grin.
"Why? Because I need blood."
He said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
He looked at the rest of the Kirigakure ninja around him with the kind of cold eyes one might use on livestock.
"As for revenge?"
Juzo paused, then continued:
"Oh, I'll avenge him. But before that…"
He swung his blade again and cut down another Kirigakure genin who had been trying to retreat.
"I'll borrow your blood first."
"You…!"
The Kirigakure ninja were stunned and furious.
They had never expected one of their own to turn on them.
In Kirigakure, the scariest people weren't enemies.
They were other Kirigakure ninja.
Watching all this, Rin murmured quietly to Kurenai beside her,
"Are… all Mist ninja like this?"
Kurenai pressed her lips together, disgust flashing in her eyes.
"I've heard Kirigakure follows the 'Bloody Mist' policy. Their methods of training ninja are unbelievably cruel. Teammates killing teammates, masters killing students… for them, it's normal."
Kakashi tightened his grip on his kunai and, in the middle of his clash with Kaguya Dairo, flicked his Sharingan toward Juzo.
"Be careful. He's using the Executioner's Blade to absorb blood and recover."
Kakashi warned the others.
Sure enough, the wound Kiyohara had driven through Juzo's chest was already healing at a visible rate.
Not as fast as medical ninjutsu, but enough to noticeably restore his combat ability.
Juzo took a deep breath, feeling strength returning to him, and looked toward Kiyohara.
"Fuguki was a fool. He got careless."
He hoisted the Executioner's Blade onto his shoulder and pointed the tip at Kiyohara.
"But I won't."
Before the words had even finished, he burst forward as a blur.
Not in a straight line, but in a weaving approach, every step kicking up exploding sprays of water.
He was at least thirty percent faster than before.
"Die!"
The Executioner's Blade screamed through the air as it chopped down.
This blow contained all of Juzo's strength and killing intent.
With this same strike, he had split boulders, cut through iron-plated ships, and reaped the lives of countless jonin.
He was sure that even if Kiyohara had Earth Release hardening, the force of this blow would still shatter his internal organs.
In that instant, Kiyohara raised another weapon.
It was Samehada, freshly pulled from beside Fuguki's corpse, still twitching slightly.
The way Kiyohara held it was clumsy. His grip was wrong too.
But the moment the Executioner's Blade was about to collide with Samehada, Kiyohara twisted his wrist.
Samehada's barb-covered blade met the Executioner's Blade.
Not with a direct clash.
With a shave.
"Samehada: Crushing Slash."
Kiyohara calmly spoke the five words.
KRAAANG!!!
The clash between the two swords sent towering columns of seawater exploding upward all around them.
Juzo felt a terrifying force surge through his blade, splitting his grip open, and the Executioner's Blade was knocked violently aside.
How was that possible?
Even if Kiyohara had copied Fuguki's technique, there was no way he could use it this skillfully on his first try—
Wait.
Juzo's eyes suddenly widened.
He saw it now.
Kiyohara's right hand gripping Samehada was radiating intense heat.
Fire Release chakra.
He was using Fire Release chakra to burn Samehada.
In that instant, Juzo had the strange image of a plantation master lashing his servants with a whip.
Anyone who didn't work hard got the whip.
This brat was actually controlling Samehada by terrifying it like this?
Samehada was a living weapon. Though it could devour chakra, it was still a lifeform, and instinctively feared high heat.
Now, scorched by fire, it trembled in pain, its barbs curling up.
All it could do was obey Kiyohara and keep striking at Juzo with its barbs.
"Good."
Kiyohara said softly, almost like he was soothing a pet.
"If you misbehave, it'll hurt even more."
Samehada's trembling paused slightly.
It wasn't very intelligent, but its instincts told it one thing clearly.
This human was far more terrifying than Fuguki had ever been.
Resist, and die.
Obey… and maybe survive.
After a brief struggle, Samehada gave up resisting.
Kiyohara nodded in satisfaction and fed more Fire Release chakra into the hilt—but this time, instead of burning it, he tempered it gently.
Under Kiyohara's control, the Fire Release chakra shifted into a comfortable warmth, like a hot spring wrapping around the handle.
The warm sensation made Samehada hum with pleasure.
Fuguki had only ever extracted power from it. When had anyone ever treated it like this?
It had never experienced anything like a massage before.
"All right. Time to work."
Kiyohara looked at Juzo, a faint smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
He held Samehada one-handed and pointed it at him.
"Samehada: Chakra Devouring."
Buzz!
The barbs along Samehada's body flared open like a waking hedgehog.
A pulling force began spreading from the tip of the blade toward Juzo.
Juzo's face changed immediately.
He knew that move far too well. Fuguki had used it to drain the chakra out of plenty of enemies.
"Back off!"
Without hesitation, Juzo retreated.
But Kiyohara was faster.
No—not Kiyohara.
Samehada.
Stimulated by Kiyohara's Fire Release chakra, Samehada had practically been put on stimulants. Its hunger for chakra had spiked violently.
It even extended its own blade, barbs stretching out like tendrils toward Juzo.
Samehada: Flying Chain Slash!
"Damn it!"
Juzo swung the Executioner's Blade to block, but the instant his blade touched Samehada's barbs, he clearly felt the chakra he'd poured into it being ripped away.
Samehada was devouring the Executioner's Blade's chakra.
Monster.
That was the last word that flashed through Juzo's mind.
He immediately retreated another step, stomped hard on the water's surface, and leapt into the air.
At that exact moment, Kiyohara raised his left hand, index and middle fingers together.
Lightning gathered at his fingertips, then stretched and extended…
forming a long blue spear of electricity.
"Lightning Release: Chidori Sharp Spear."
Whoosh!
The lightning spear tore through the air, punched straight through the Executioner's Blade Juzo had hastily raised, and then pierced deep into the right side of his chest.
Slash!
Blood sprayed out.
Juzo let out a muffled groan and stumbled backward.
He looked down at his chest. The lightning spear had vanished, but it had left behind a charred, smoking hole punched clean through him.
Pain made cold sweat bead on his forehead.
But he still wasn't beaten.
As long as there was blood, the Executioner's Blade could help him recover.
Juzo's eyes flicked around and locked onto the nearest Kirigakure genin.
Kill her. Absorb her blood…
The thought had only just formed when Kiyohara's voice came from beside him.
"Looking to drain blood?"
Kiyohara pressed one hand down onto the water's surface.
"Water Release: Five Feeding Sharks."
Smack.
The sound of his palm striking the water was light.
But in the very next second—
Five shark-shaped water bullets, each larger than the ones from Rain of Four Sharks but smaller than the Thousand Feeding Sharks, burst out of the water and lunged straight at Juzo!
~~~
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