Mizuki's right pinky twitched.
Orochimaru's Binding Curse Seal was weakening. The snake poison in Mizuki's body was also being eroded, washed down by chakra surging through his meridians.
No one there was slow. The instant the finger moved, everyone noticed.
Orochimaru barked, voice tight with urgency, "The Curse Mark's restraint is slipping. Once it fails, we're done for! Kill him while it still holds!"
Hiruzen was anxious too. Conflict flickered in his eyes, as though he could not bring himself to make the final call.
Mizuki spoke calmly, "I've had my fun. Third Hokage… next, I'll send you on your way."
He had dragged things out for a single reason: to temper his own combat instincts.
Otherwise, he could have used Takamimusuhi no Mikoto from the very start, silenced Hiruzen, and finished him in one strike.
Mizuki understood the value of real battle experience. Having chakra and knowing ninjutsu did not automatically make someone strong.
Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was proof. She possessed monstrous chakra and an absurdly powerful Kekkei Mōra, yet she still fell to Naruto and Sasuke.
Madara was the opposite. He had less chakra than Kaguya and nothing like her Kekkei Mōra, but his fighting sense was sharper.
If Black Zetsu had not torn out his heart, Naruto and Sasuke would never have stood a chance.
So with an opportunity like this, Mizuki pushed himself as hard as he could. Today's battle paid him back in priceless lessons.
One of them was simple: never trust allies completely. You never know when someone beside you will become an enemy and sink a blade into your back.
And this time it was only Orochimaru. If it had been Black Zetsu instead… would he already be dead?
"Let's end it."
Susanoo's skeletal fist smashed backward toward Hiruzen. Mizuki could not turn, but Echolocation mapped the old man's position with ruthless clarity.
Hiruzen blurred aside. Susanoo's fists crashed down one after another, yet he moved with unbelievable agility. Punch after punch landed nearby — none found their mark.
"Hmph."
Banshō Ten'in ▻ Universal Pull
A sudden attractive force seized Hiruzen and yanked him straight toward Mizuki.
"Now you can't dodge!"
Susanoo's skeletal fist crashed down with terrifying momentum. This time, Hiruzen had nowhere to slip away.
Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Enkōō: Enma ▻ Summoning Technique: Monkey King: Enma
At the brink, he summoned Enma.
"Enma — now! Throw me clear!"
Enma moved without hesitation. He seized Hiruzen and flung him aside.
A heartbeat later, the descending fist struck the Monkey King head-on. Wounded, Enma dispelled himself and vanished.
Hiruzen landed hard. The wavering in his eyes was gone, replaced by steel.
He had made his decision. Turning to Orochimaru, he said, "Orochimaru… from this moment on, Konoha will rely on you. I hereby appoint you as the Fifth Hokage."
In the next instant, his hands flashed through seals.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu ▻ Shadow Clone Technique
More than a dozen shadow clones burst into being. But he wasn't finished.
Doton: Doryūheki ▻ Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall
Towering earthen walls surged up on all sides, sealing Mizuki and Hiruzen inside — so high that even Susanoo fell short of their crest.
Doton: Otoshibuta ▻ Earth Release: Dropping Lid
A black, otherworldly opening split the air overhead. A colossal lid dropped and settled across the four walls. Darkness swallowed everything.
Suiton: Suikyō Nabara ▻ Water Release: Water Glue Capturing Field
Hiruzen spewed adhesive fluid, sealing every seam between wall and lid.
An airtight prison took shape. At the same time, his shadow clones began to unleash their jutsu.
Fūton: Shinkū Taigyoku ▻ Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere
One after another, the clones drew in enormous gulps of air. In the confined space, the atmosphere thinned instantly — until the last trace was stripped away.
The trick was cruelly simple. They held the stolen air in their lungs and refused to exhale, leaving the surroundings starved — approaching vacuum.
So this is how the technique is meant to be used.
"Body-Switching (Body Swap) and Shadow-Shifting (Phantom Body Switch) are strong." Hiruzen said, voice steady, "but you must lock onto a target first. It's pitch-black — you can't see. And in a vacuum, sound can't travel — you can't hear. Your techniques are useless. Even if Orochimaru's Curse Mark restraint fails, you still won't escape."
To counter the enemy's body-shifting, Hiruzen had wrung his mind dry and built this chained sequence of jutsu.
Not far away, Mizuki felt the environment change and couldn't help but admire him. To devise a counter like this… the old man truly was a genius.
He couldn't sense anything. Neither could Hiruzen. And with the air gone, the suffocation came fast and brutal.
"What, are you trying to suffocate me to death?"
Hiruzen formed seals in the darkness.
Snake → Boar → Ram → Rabbit → Dog → Rat → Bird → Horse → Snake
At the end, he slammed his palms together.
Shiki Fūjin ▻ Dead Demon Consuming Seal
The Shinigami manifested behind him. A malign presence flooded the space, and the sound of its laughter crawled through the void — as if a vacuum meant nothing to it.
Cold prickled down Mizuki's spine. Goosebumps burst across his skin.
'Dead Demon Consuming Seal…! That Fūinjutsu. He's going to drag me down with him.'
He tried to move.
He couldn't.
Orochimaru's Curse Mark hadn't fully worn off. Mizuki could only twitch a few fingers. He couldn't even turn his head.
Worse, his chakra flow was still in chaos. He couldn't shape jutsu at all. All he had left were his Dōjutsu — and without chakra to feed them, relying on raw ocular power alone, they were a shadow of their true strength.
Even an Almighty Push might not be enough to blow apart the Earth-Style Walls. Even Susanoo could only reach its second stage.
His power had been cut to the bone.
But Mizuki refused to die here. He'd only been isekai'd for a few months. There was no way he was ending now.
"So you're forcing me to use a big move, huh."
His body lifted slowly into the air. His face stayed calm, blank — perfectly composed, slipping into full 'acting-cool' mode.
"I didn't want it… Feel pain. Accept pain. And know pain. I will never forget the pain that Tsubaki suffered. And now... this world shall know PAIN."
Silence…
Then a world-crushing repulsive force detonated outward.
Shinra Tensei: Seiatsu ▻ Almighty Push: Subjugating Pressure!!
The roof — untouched until now — finally gave way. The lid overhead and the towering earthen walls around them began to crumble, inch by inch.
Hiruzen's shadow clones popped out of existence.
Hiruzen himself took the blast like a mountain hitting him head-on. Bones shattered. Flesh folded. In an instant, the Hokage was crushed into something unrecognizable.
Even the Shinigami's laughter died. Its twisted grin froze as it stared at Mizuki with huge, ghostly eyes — pure fear written across its face. Then its intangible body tore apart. Faint, warped screams leaked out, and it dispersed like smoke.
The destruction didn't stop there. Orochimaru and the Fourth Kazekage were swallowed by it as well, their cries cut short.
The Sound Four held on with the Four Violet Flames Formation, squeezing out every last drop of chakra. When the barrier finally collapsed, the Super Shinra Tensei spent its last trace of power and died.
Mizuki's mouth twitched.
…So embarrassing.
Pain's Super Shinra Tensei had erased all of Konoha in a single move.
When he did it? He wrecked a roof… After all that swagger, that was it?
"Good thing no one heard that!"
He locked the shame away in the deepest part of his heart. No one would ever be allowed to bring it up!
It was a wake-up call, reminding Mizuki how vital chakra truly was. Without it, even with the Rinnegan, relying on raw ocular power alone meant he could barely draw out any of his Dōjutsu's true strength.
And he only had one Rinnegan. His ocular power was only half.
He looked around. The bodies of Hiruzen, Orochimaru, and the Fourth Kazekage were no longer recognizable. The Sound Four were dead too, their chakra spent.
"Hiruzen is dead… whew. What a mess. That's on me for getting carried away. The Fourth Kazekage is dead too. As for Orochimaru… there's a 99% chance he'll revive. This trip to Konoha — the objective has been achieved."
The instant Orochimaru died, the Binding Curse Seal released. Mizuki regained full mobility, and his chakra snapped back under control. The snake poison still lingered, but it was almost gone.
Just then, the ANBU who had been watching the battle rushed in.
"Kill him!"
A torrent of ninjutsu and thrown weapons rained down on Mizuki.
He frowned slightly and said in a low voice,
Shinra Tensei ▻ Almighty Push
Every attack was blown away in an instant.
But a sharp pain stabbed through his right eye, forcing him to raise a hand to cover it. That Super Shinra Tensei had overdrawn his ocular power.
"The Hokage is dead. There's no point in dragging this out. Next, its time to loot. Fushigakure is just being founded. If I don't stockpile some assets, it won't be able to develop."
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T/N: Comment, give me Power Stones, like and favorite, it all supports me and makes me go foward with this. Appreciate my other stories as well, I guarantee the good work!
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