[Ama no Murakumo]
Seeing Rōshi stare at the wound in his chest in disbelief, Yagami simply smiled. Then he brought his hands together and abruptly pulled the blade of light free.
"This is bad...!"
Rōshi's heart tightened, and he immediately tried to retreat.
From the blade in Yagami's hand, he could sense a terrifying danger.
At that moment, he was still in a tailed-beast state and couldn't use Lava Release's hardened rock defense.
More precisely, with one of his arms already severed, he could no longer form the necessary hand seals.
So the moment he saw Yagami draw that blade of light, his first instinct was to dodge.
But just as he leapt backward, Yagami's sword had already come down.
"Clang!"
"Rumble—!!!"
A golden slash more than twenty meters high and six or seven meters wide roared out from Yagami's hand.
Rōshi, who had only just jumped back, was swallowed by it instantly.
Then his body was smashed down to the earth and driven violently across the battlefield.
"GRAAAAAAAAHHHH!!"
A pained, furious roar burst from Rōshi's mouth.
He struggled desperately, trying to break free from the pressure of the attack.
But after already being heavily wounded and losing an arm, there was no way he could resist such an overwhelming slash.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Wherever that golden light passed, rock and earth alike were split apart down the middle.
The slash tore across the battlefield for hundreds of meters.
A massive trench was carved straight through the ground.
And Rōshi, pinned beneath that terrifying force, was dragged through who knew how many shattered rocks along the way.
By the time the slash finally weakened and disappeared, he was already gravely wounded and unconscious.
The only reason he had survived at all was because he was a jinchūriki, with a massive reserve of chakra sustaining him.
"Lord Rōshi!!"
"Lord Rōshi!!"
At the Iwagakure position in the rear, a group of jōnin stood frozen together.
When they saw Rōshi swallowed by that slash, only to end up lying motionless on the ground, their eyes went wide with shock as they shouted hoarsely.
No one had imagined it.
Two Kage-level fighters from their side had joined forces, and still they had failed to defeat a single man.
A crushing despair filled every heart there.
It felt as if a mountain had dropped onto their chests, making it hard to breathe.
If even two Kage-level shinobi couldn't stop him...
Then who on this battlefield could?
"Kitsuchi, hurry and give the order! We have to rescue Lord Rōshi—!"
One of the jōnin turned toward Kitsuchi and shouted anxiously.
After watching the battle for this long, all of them had already realized just how monstrous Yagami's strength was.
If ordinary jōnin rushed in carelessly, they would only be throwing their lives away.
If they wanted to save Rōshi, then only a full force advance might even make it possible.
"No!"
Kitsuchi was breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling like a bellows.
"The enemy's attack range is too wide. If we send the army in now, we'll only increase our casualties for nothing!"
Hearing his comrade's words, he still forced out that answer through gritted teeth.
Han had entrusted the army to him.
He had no choice but to put the lives of the troops first.
No one there knew how much pressure he was carrying in that moment.
But even so, he had made the cruel decision.
"So we're just going to watch Lord Rōshi die out there on the battlefield?!"
The jōnin stared at Kitsuchi in disbelief.
He clearly hadn't expected that answer.
"Leave it to Lord Han..."
Kitsuchi clenched his teeth so hard it almost seemed as if they would crack.
"Everything depends on Lord Han now. He's the only one who might still be able to save him."
At that moment, that was the only hope he had left.
Even if that hope seemed painfully slim.
The other jōnin fell silent after hearing his words.
"Get me a sensory read on the enemy immediately!"
"Quickly! I want to know the condition of that iwa shinobi!"
Over in Konoha's trench, Mimura Hamaki suddenly shouted excitedly when he saw that Rōshi had failed to rise again.
After all, a tailed beast was the symbol of a great village's military power.
And the great villages had competed against each other for years.
If they could capture Iwagakure's jinchūriki here...
Then Konoha's leverage in the postwar negotiations would rise by several levels.
"Reporting to Lord Hamaki—the enemy's chakra has become extremely weak. He appears to have suffered severe injuries."
A sensory ninja focused for a moment before reporting back, excitement plain on his face.
His thoughts weren't as far-reaching as Mimura Hamaki's.
But even to him, seeing the enemy lose a Kage-level fighter was enough to stir everyone's spirits.
After all, Kage-level shinobi were the highest combat power in any village.
"Inuzuka Tsume! I'm giving you an order right now—bring back that enemy Kage-level shinobi immediately!"
The moment he heard the sensory report, Mimura Hamaki issued the command without hesitation, his voice burning with urgency.
"Understood!"
A sharp response rang out.
A shinobi with red markings on his face rushed out of the trench astride a massive yellow hound.
Going anywhere near a Kage-level battlefield at a time like this was dangerous.
But if it meant seizing the enemy village's jinchūriki, then the risk was worth taking.
"ROOOAAARRR!!"
Han let out a furious roar.
He had just managed to recover after being kicked into the air by Yagami—
only to witness Rōshi being blasted away for hundreds of meters.
With Rōshi already so badly injured, he couldn't even tell whether the man was still alive or dead.
"And now you're the only one left."
Yagami first used Kagura Mind's Eye to check Rōshi's condition. Then he turned his head toward Han with a lazy little smile.
"So... what exactly are you planning to do now?"
If Rōshi had stayed out of partial tailed-beast transformation and focused on using Lava Release for defense, he could have at least caused Yagami a little trouble.
But in order to keep up with Yagami's speed, he had taken the initiative to abandon that advantage.
For him, that had been a fatal mistake.
Because even after pushing himself to that level—
he still couldn't keep up with Yagami's speed at all.
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