Mei Terumi watched Gengetsu Hozuki's face flicker between disbelief and wild elation, and she allowed herself a faint, knowing smile. It wasn't pride for pride's sake - after everything Kirigakure had endured, it felt like the village had finally reached the point where reality itself couldn't keep up.
"Yes," she said evenly. "Mizukage-sama truly is Kirigakure's savior."
Gengetsu's eyes sharpened at once. "I can understand most of it… but Hashirama's cells? How did he even obtain something like that?!"
Hoshigaki Kisame gave a low, rasping chuckle, his grin curling with teeth. "Hashirama's cells? Don't get hung up on that."
His gaze cut through the steam and dust like a blade.
"Right now, even Konoha is already under Kirigakure's control."
"What?!" Gengetsu blurted, genuinely rattled.
He knew Kirigakure had become an unmatched force - people across the shinobi world said it openly now, calling the Mist the strongest power alive. But to fully take Konoha, the legendary village that had produced monsters like Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama, a place that had survived countless wars on sheer legacy and blood?
That wasn't simply difficult. From Gengetsu's era, it would have sounded like a drunken fantasy.
Even during the First Shinobi World War, Kirigakure had only dared to join with the other Great Villages to pressure Konoha as a united force, hoping to carve off profit and concessions. Total domination - subjugation - had never been more than a ridiculous daydream.
And yet Chiba had turned that daydream into fact.
Mei nodded, unhurried, as if stating the weather. "It's true. Lord Chiba launched a lightning strike on Konoha and seized complete control. He killed Sandaime Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, then brought Senju Tsunade - Shodaime Hokage's granddaughter - into our fold and appointed her as Godaime Hokage. Konoha is no longer an equal power. It's effectively part of Kirigakure now."
Her eyes remained steady as she continued, each line adding another weight onto Gengetsu's stunned silence.
"It doesn't end there. Sunagakure, Iwagakure, and Kumogakure have also submitted to Kirigakure."
"And the smaller villages - Takigakure, Amegakure, Otogakure, Kusagakure, and others - have become our vassals completely."
Gengetsu froze, eyes wide, mouth slightly open. For a moment he looked like a man trying to wake up from a dream that refused to release him. Then the shock finally broke, spilling into a laughter so loud it felt like it could shake the sky.
"Hahahahaha… hahahahahaha!!!"
"Chiba… Chiba!" he roared, half incredulous, half exhilarated. "To think you'd lead Kirigakure to this extent…!"
His expression softened, a strange tenderness slipping into the pride. "Good. Too good. If that's where my village has arrived… then even if I die again, I can finally rest with no regrets."
A voice snapped through the moment before it could settle into sentiment.
Hozuki Mangetsu shouted from the front line, urgency sharpened into anger. "Mizukage-sama is obviously a godlike figure - but now is not the time to chat!!!"
Gengetsu, Mei, and Kisame turned at once to follow his gaze.
Jōki Boi ("Steaming Danger Tyranny") had reached its peak again.
The Steam Imp clone had heated to the limit, swelling grotesquely - its childlike body ballooning into a massive, bloated shape, like a living bomb about to burst. Heat rippled off it in visible waves; steam hissed violently along its surface, and the air itself seemed to warp around it.
Under Mangetsu's earlier command, Kirigakure's forces had already pulled back, retreating far enough to avoid being caught in the blast.
Gengetsu smiled, almost peaceful. "I'm satisfied," he said, as though the battlefield around him wasn't chaos but closure. "Only one thing remains - waiting for you to seal me."
He lifted his chin, grin widening. "Do your best!"
The instant he finished speaking -
BOOM - !!!!!
The explosion carved a crater into the earth so deep it looked like the ground had been torn open. A scorching shockwave blasted outward - less a gust of wind than a hammer of heat - striking everything in its path with suffocating force.
Mangetsu threw up Hiramekarei, forcing chakra into a defensive shield. The barrier held for a breath - then the impact still launched him like debris. He slammed into the ground hard, skidding, coughing as blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
The one relief was that the rest of Kirigakure's shinobi had already withdrawn. There were no screams of mass casualties - only the roar of the blast fading into steam.
Mangetsu forced himself up, grimacing. "As expected of Nidaime Mizukage-sama…" he muttered. "That power is beyond comprehension."
Mei's voice snapped with concern. "Mangetsu! Are you alright?!"
"I'm fine," he said, wiping at his mouth, "but…"
He looked upward.
The sky had become a veil of steam, but it rose quickly, cooled, and condensed. Within moments, it hardened - hail began to fall, tapping armor and earth with sharp, cold strikes.
And under that drop in temperature, the Steam Imp clone shrank rapidly, its swollen form tightening and compressing until it returned to its childlike shape once more - resetting, preparing to begin the cycle again.
Mei's expression tightened. It's going to keep exploding…
Then a violent hum cut across the battlefield.
A Kagutsuchi-enhanced arrow shot forward - black, razor-straight - piercing the Steam Imp clone cleanly.
The clone didn't collapse. Piercing alone wasn't enough. Its outer shell, formed from oil, wasn't "killed" by a hole.
But the next instant, Amaterasu ignited.
Black flames clung to the oil like a curse, burning with merciless hunger. The outer layer began to be consumed, oil turning to nothing under inextinguishable fire - while the water inside heated violently, pressure spiking toward another detonation.
Mei snapped her gaze to Sasuke, alarm flashing. "Sasuke! If you do that, won't it make it explode even faster?!"
Sasuke's eyes stayed cold, calculating. "Yes," he answered without denial. "But we don't need to stop it from exploding."
His voice lowered, hard with certainty. "We just have to survive this one."
Mei inhaled once. Then she nodded. "Fine."
She surged forward, chakra swelling like a tide unleashed.
Suiton - Suijinchu ("Water Release: Water Formation Pillar")!!!
A colossal pillar of water erupted, far larger than anything she'd used before. It wasn't simply a technique - it was a towering mass of pressure and volume, roaring upward as if an ocean had been forced into the shape of a single spear. In the original timeline, Mei had used this jutsu to suppress even Uchiha Madara's Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation. Water naturally countered fire, yes, but only overwhelming output could force such a clash into submission.
And Mei's output now was in another league.
With Hashirama's cells integrated into her body, her chakra reserves and vitality had surged - stamina, recovery, even raw physical force strengthened to a level that would have sounded absurd in another era.
At the same time, Kisame slammed forward, roaring as he unleashed a flood of his own.
Bakusui Shōha ("Exploding Water Shockwave")!!!
Chakra became a deluge, the battlefield drowning beneath lake-like waves that surged outward and swallowed the burning clone. The water smothered the spread of heat, crushing the flames under sheer volume.
Two layers of defense.
Two oceans of pressure.
The Steam Imp clone detonated again.
BOOM - !!!
Waves burst upward, spray and shock ripping into the air. The force still hit like a battering ram, but now the destruction was contained - converted into violent water surges rather than lethal heat and shrapnel.
Mist shinobi were shoved back by the flooding tides, battered and soaked, but alive.
And then -
It stopped.
No reset. No shrinking. No next cycle.
The Steam Imp clone did not return.
Gengetsu smiled, satisfied, like a man watching a puzzle finally solved. "I see… Amaterasu's inextinguishable flames burned away the oil - and most of the water with it."
His eyes gleamed with approval. "Jōki Boi can explode endlessly, but it still needs that oil layer to maintain the expansion-and-contraction cycle. Without oil, it can't repeat the loop. No loop… no more explosions."
Then his gaze shifted toward Sasuke, surprise returning in a new form. "Mangekyō Sharingan… and the path of Susanoo. So the Uchiha have joined Kirigakure too?!"
Sasuke nodded once. "Yes. Mizukage-sama is the benefactor of the Uchiha… and my master."
Gengetsu burst into laughter again - this time pure admiration. "What a man!" he exclaimed. "And you - impressive. You awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, and your Susanoo has already reached this level. Aside from Uchiha Madara, you're the first I've ever seen with such mastery."
He spread his arms slightly, almost theatrical, but there was sincerity beneath it.
"Alright," Gengetsu said, voice bright and calm. "Now you can seal me without worry."
His grin softened into something strangely peaceful.
"With Chiba in Kirigakure…"
His eyes narrowed with satisfaction.
"I can finally die… without regret!!!!"
___________________________________________________________________________________
Additionally, more chapters exclusive content are available on Patreon: https://patreon.com/ImmortalEmperor?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
- CHRONICLES OF THE ICE SOVEREIGN
-PLAYING ANIME LEGENDS
-THE OTHER WORLD'S ANIMATOR
Join now and help shape the future of the story while enjoying special rewards!