Below the Hidden Sand Village, Shiraishi scanned the four Warring States-era powerhouses with a cold gaze.
Based on their attire and the crests etched into their armor, he quickly identified their origins: one from the Hagoromo clan, two from the Senju clan, and one from the Uzumaki clan.
Before Shiraishi could strategize further, the two Senju warriors launched a preemptive strike. Their long blades lunged forward as they dove into the earth at incredible speeds.
Earth Style: Subterranean Voyage! This technique used chakra to liquefy the surrounding earth, allowing the user to swim through the ground as if it were water.
As the ground churned, Shiraishi instantly transformed the earth beneath his feet into a towering Magnet Release sandstorm.
To his surprise, the two Senju brothers seemed to move even faster once they entered the magnetic sand.
To prevent the village from sustaining collateral damage, Shiraishi used his Magnet Release to erect a massive perimeter, carving out a private battlefield away from the residential sectors.
Mount Myoboku had clearly done its homework. These two Senju clansmen were historically the clan's most gifted Earth Style masters.
From their facial features, it was clear they were biological brothers, and their coordinated subterranean assaults were exceptionally difficult to pin down.
Unfazed, Shiraishi remained stationary. A silver longsword materialized in his hand, radiating a divine and magnificent glow.
Countless metallic particles from his Magnet Release manifested as Silver Feathers, swirling around him to form a specialized sensory domain.
Shiraishi's mastery of Magnet Release had evolved to a point of fluid versatility; as the feathers orbited, he lunged forward, his silver blade trailing a sharp wake of sand and wind.
The "Shinto Heaven Blade"—the form taken by his Amanonuhoko—was one of Shiraishi's hidden trump cards.
He chose not to reveal its legendary Spear of Heaven form, instead using his Yin-Yang Release to shape it into a sword.
' Despite the change in form, its power was immense. The blade unleashed a hurricane of wind needles that shrieked as they sliced through the air.
As Shiraishi pressed the attack, the Hagoromo clan warrior suddenly produced a strange, ornate mirror. It emitted a distorted beam of oscillating light.
Shiraishi raised the Shinto Heaven Blade to parry, only to find the light carried a localized frequency that induced auditory hallucinations, attempting to invade his brain cells.
"A useless trick!"
With a burst of air from his blade, Shiraishi shattered the light beam. He flickered behind the Hagoromo warrior in an instant, but the two Senju brothers reappeared from the ground, unleashing a joint Earth Style jutsu that twisted the very landscape.
Shiraishi retreated a few steps, just as the Uzumaki powerhouse in the sky clapped his hands and dove like a meteor.
Boom! Shiraishi's silver feathers swirled into a vortex of kinetic energy, neutralizing the Uzumaki's descent.
However, the impact triggered a shockwave that cracked the ground for yards. Shiraishi realized he was looking at the origin of Tsunade's Monster Strength—a technique designed to enhance explosive physical power, rooted deep in Uzumaki lineage.
With the Senju brothers utilizing the ground to boost their mobility and the Hagoromo warrior providing suppression with strange ninja tools, Shiraishi found himself in a stalemate. \
If not for Tomoki tying up the Uchiha warrior elsewhere, dealing with all five at once would have been a grueling task.
The Tide Turns
Elsewhere, Uzumaki Tomoki had entered a state of absolute focus. Small dragon horns protruded from his forehead as a dark blue, translucent chakra armor—the signature of his Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode—wrapped around his body. His Reflect shield had expanded to a massive scale.
"Tomoki, their chakra is leaking!"
As an Uzumaki, Tomoki's sensory skills were top-tier. He realized that without the stone statues to act as "batteries," these resurrected warriors didn't have the infinite chakra or immortality of Orochimaru's future Edo Tensei.
The Earth Style Reincarnation was essentially a high-level preservation of "living corpses." Once the statues were destroyed, they were limited to the chakra reserves they held at the moment of their peak.
"Earth Style: Samsara Hell!"
"Earth Style: Added-Weight Rock Jutsu!"
The two Senju brothers unleashed a combined jutsu that caused the earth to boil and steam, significantly increasing the gravity in Shiraishi's immediate area.
Sensing the ground was becoming a liability, Shiraishi's dragon marks flared. He exhaled a colossal torrent of water, flooding the entire battlefield and turning the cratered earth into a literal sea.
Water?
It was an unexpected counter. Shiraishi stood atop the waves, then used his Freezing Flames to instantly petrify the water into ice. The two Senju brothers were caught mid-emergence and frozen in place.
Just as the Uzumaki warrior attempted to intervene, a puppet flickered past, its blades—crafted from Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse)—lunging with blinding speed.
"Your opponent is me!"
Shikasa intercepted the Uzumaki warrior with his chakra threads, while Morimoto Ryoji unsheathed his Black Sword to face the Hagoromo warrior and his mirror.
The Black Sword—originally the key to the Box of Ultimate Bliss—had been heavily modified by Shiraishi. It now acted as a natural predator to ancient ninja tools; the Hagoromo warrior's mirror vibrated with a visible, anxious tremor as the Black Sword approached.
With the arrival of the "Two Titans," Shiraishi's pressure vanished. Arakawa Arashi, having recovered his chakra through the Sand Collection Technique, also stepped forward.
"The Hidden Sand is more than just the Kazekage."
The Three Titans, combined with Aoki Shiraishi and Uzumaki Tomoki, formed a line of five Kage-level fighters to match the invaders. Regardless of their past political frictions, at the village's darkest hour, they stood as one.
Shiraishi looked at the comrades standing beside him and felt a rare warmth. Perhaps, he wasn't alone after all.
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