Gengetsu Hozuki looked almost… satisfied.
After everything - after the mirages, the endless explosions, the weight of history pressing down on a battlefield filled with the living and the dead - his expression held none of the rage people expected from a legend being cornered. Instead, there was a strange calm in his eyes, as if seeing what Kirigakure had become was the only closure he'd ever wanted.
Then the air changed.
Mei Terumi, Hoshigaki Kisame, Hozuki Mangetsu, and the newly arrived Uchiha Sasuke struck in perfect sync, their chakra surging like four tides collapsing into one.
"Yoton: Yokai no Jutsu ("Melting Monster Technique")!!!"
"Suiton: Suikodan no Jutsu ("Water Shark Bullet Technique")!!!"
"Hiramekarei: Kaiho ("Release")!!!"
"Susanoo: Yasaka no Magatama ("Yasaka Beads")!!!"
Mei exhaled, and a torrent of corrosive acid poured from her mouth - thick, violent, and ravenous - hissing as it tore through the air toward Gengetsu. At the same time, Kisame's Suiton condensed into a massive water-shark projectile, a cannonball of crushing pressure that screamed forward with lethal momentum. Mangetsu forced Hiramekarei open, shaping its chakra into a gigantic spinning shuriken that carved straight through the chaos, while Sasuke's Susanoo answered from afar, launching Yasaka beads that dropped like judgment from the sky.
The combined barrage hit the giant pyramid head-on.
The structure didn't merely crack - it was obliterated, stone and sand detonating outward as the battlefield shook beneath the impact.
Rumble - !
Rumble - !
BOOM - !!!
Even protected by Suika no Jutsu ("Hydrification Technique"), Gengetsu was torn apart, his body scattering like fragments under the pressure. For an instant, it looked like they'd reduced him to nothing.
But Edo Tensei regeneration was merciless.
His body began to reassemble at once, chakra and flesh knitting back together with unnatural certainty - until Kirigakure's forces snapped the trap shut before he could fully reform.
"Sabaku Sotaiso Fuuin ("Desert Layered Grand Funeral Seal")!!!"
"Kongou Fuusa ("Adamantine Sealing Chains")!!!"
"Kekkai Fuuin no Jutsu ("Barrier Sealing Technique")!!!"
Bi and Sagiri's Sand-Control Unit surged forward, chakra-threaded sand crashing down in heavy, compressing layers. Uzumaki Mie and Uzumaki Karin unleashed golden sealing chains that snapped into existence with a brutal clang, binding Gengetsu's rebuilding form and locking him in place. Over it all, the Barrier Sealing Unit layered formation after formation, seals interlocking into a tightening cage that left no room for escape.
It was decisive. Beautiful, in a cold, ruthless way.
Gengetsu watched the sealing field close around him with the faintest grin - no longer mocking, no longer playful. More like a man witnessing proof that his village had finally outgrown the era that had buried it.
"Tell Chiba - no… tell the Godaime Mizukage…" he said, voice carrying clearly even as the seal swallowed him. "In the name of a former Mizukage, I thank him for what he's done for Kirigakure."
His gaze shifted to Mei, steady and unshaken. "With Kirigakure in his hands… I can finally be at ease."
Mei let out a quiet breath, something between respect and relief. "I'll tell him, Nidaime Mizukage-sama."
Gengetsu's smile softened - his last expression oddly peaceful - before the sealing formation closed completely and his presence vanished from the battlefield.
It should have been a turning point. Uchiha Itachi was gone. Gengetsu Hozuki had been sealed. Two pillars of the Akatsuki force deployed against Kirigakure had fallen.
But the war didn't slow.
Because the Edo Tensei army still held the ghosts of Kirigakure's blood-soaked past - the previous generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.
Suikazan Fuguki.
Kurosuki Raiga.
Biwa Juzo.
Jinpachi Munashi.
Akebino Jinin.
Kushimaru Kuriarare…
And they were already locked in brutal combat with the new generation Chiba had forged.
Ringo Ameyuri.
Haku.
Momochi Zabuza.
Hozuki Suigetsu.
Chojuro.
They were young - so young that, in another era, they might have been dismissed as promising blades not yet tempered. But talent like theirs didn't wait politely for permission, and power like theirs didn't need time to announce itself.
More importantly, the living held the true weapons.
The legendary seven swords existed in Kirigakure's hands, carried by shinobi who could actually wield them properly, while the resurrected swordsmen were forced to fight with ordinary blades. Edo Tensei granted infinite chakra and bodies that refused to die, but it couldn't restore the core advantage that had once made the Seven terrifying: their swords.
That imbalance made the clashes vicious. The dead didn't fall, the living didn't slow, and every exchange rang with steel and hatred.
Even so, the gap was obvious.
Chiba's new Seven weren't merely matching the old guard - they were surpassing them outright. Their foundations had been reinforced across the board: chakra reserves, vitality, recovery, stamina, physical strength. Hashirama's cells had turned already-elite shinobi into monsters who could keep pressing forward without their bodies betraying them.
Edo Tensei shinobi had endless chakra and regeneration, but their combat ability didn't exceed their peak in life. If anything, there was always a faint dullness - reaction, output, sharpness - just enough to matter against opponents this overwhelming.
Biwa Juzo glared across at Zabuza, eyes burning as the Kubikiribocho flashed in Zabuza's grip.
"You bastard… I remember you," Juzo snarled. "A Kirigakure missing-nin. The one who rebelled, who tried to assassinate the Mizukage. And now you're holding my Kubikiribocho?!"
Zabuza's reply was cold enough to bite. "I betrayed the previous Mizukage," he said flatly. "Not Kirigakure."
He tightened his grip, the blade steady as an oath.
"The current Mizukage, Lord Chiba, gave me this sword. And I wield it now to protect Kirigakure."
Clang - !
Steel slammed together, sparks bursting in bright arcs. The exchange lasted only a moment before Zabuza's strength crushed through the dead man's guard. Juzo was launched backward, skidding hard across the ground.
Nearby, Ringo Ameyuri had Kurosuki Raiga pinned down completely. Without Kiba, his movements were forced into compromises - angles that didn't suit him, timing that didn't hold. Ringo, on the other hand, moved like lightning given a human shape. Even without Chiba's enhancements, her talent with Kiba and Lightning Release was famous for eclipsing her predecessor's. Now, strengthened further, she didn't merely outclass him - she overwhelmed him.
"Raiton: Raigeki no Jutsu ("Lightning Strike Technique")!!!"
The crack of lightning split the air. Raiga's defense folded under the pressure, his posture collapsing into pure survival as Ringo kept driving him back.
On another front, Haku faced Kushimaru Kuriarare. Without Nuibari, Kushimaru was still jounin-level, still dangerous - but stripped of the weapon that made him truly lethal. Haku, however, wasn't simply one of the Seven. He was a Yuki clan shinobi, a master of Hyoton so refined it felt like the battlefield itself was turning against his opponent.
"Hyoton: Makyo Hyosho ("Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals")!!!"
Mirrors flashed into existence, crystal-clear and merciless. Within that mirrored domain, Haku's presence became everywhere at once. A blur of movement - then a sharp, final cut.
Kushimaru's legs were severed cleanly in an instant, blood splattering across the ice-bright reflections before the mirrors began to fade.
At the same time, Chojuro - wielding Bakuto: Shibuki - fought Jinpachi Munashi in a violent storm of impacts and explosive pressure, while Suigetsu swung Dontou: Kabutowari against Akebino Jinin, the clash of heavy steel and raw force shaking the ground beneath them. The resurrected bodies kept repairing. The living kept hitting harder.
Yet among the Edo Tensei swordsmen, one figure wasn't fully committed to the brawl.
Suikazan Fuguki - the strongest of the old Seven, the man who had once competed with Chiba for the title of Godaime Mizukage - stood apart, watching with narrowed eyes. He had been waiting for Chiba, waiting for the chance to carve revenge into the present.
But as he stared at the Mist's allied forces - at their discipline, their coordination, the sheer scale of their power - something unexpected crept into his chest.
Not fear.
Emptiness.
A hollow, quiet disbelief that swallowed the hatred he'd been clinging to.
Because he had never seen Kirigakure like this. Not once. Not even in the most arrogant dreams of his youth. A Mist Village this vast, this dominant, this brilliant in strength and structure - it felt like an impossible world that shouldn't exist.
And yet it did.
And there was only one name that could explain it.
"Chiba…" Fuguki murmured, voice rough, almost reluctant. "Chiba…"
His jaw tightened, the next words dragged out like they hurt to admit - not praise freely given, but truth forced out by what stood in front of him.
"You really are Kirigakure's savior."
He let out a breath that sounded like a bitter laugh, eyes dimming for a moment.
"Back then… I lost to you completely. Now I understand why. Of course it was inevitable."
His gaze dipped, heavy with self-contempt.
"To think I tried to compete with you for the Mizukage's seat…"
He scoffed, and the sound was empty.
"I was nothing but a joke."
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