Chapter 455: Annihilate the Cloud Village Infiltrator Squad
The torrential downpour hammered against the curved roof tiles of the Daimyo's Residence, shattering into icy mist. Water cascaded from the eaves in unbroken sheets, flooding the stone-paved courtyard below. Beneath the deluge, two opposing forces stood locked in a deadly standoff. The sheer weight of their killing intent seemed to suffocate the storm itself, turning the frigid air razor-sharp.
"Break through!" Raigamaru roared, his voice tearing through the sound of the rain.
He did not hesitate. Facing an elite Uchiha execution squad led by two Jonin with fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan, a head-on clash was nothing short of suicide. Their only sliver of hope lay in the legendary speed of Kumogakure.
Eight Kumogakure shinobi detonated their chakra reserves in perfect unison. While lacking the monstrous, devastating aura of the Raikage, the sheer density of their lightning chakra still supercharged their nervous systems to a terrifying degree. Blue arcs of electricity crackled wildly across their soaked uniforms.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Flicker!"
Eight figures vanished into the storm, leaving behind only blinding flashes of blue light and ozone-scented afterimages as they scattered toward the four corners of the high-walled courtyard.
"Trying to run?" Uchiha Takuya's lips curled into a cold, mocking sneer. He drew his longsword with a sharp hiss of steel, the rain instantly sizzling against the chakra-infused blade. "Playing with speed in front of the Sharingan? Naive."
Behind him, ten Uchiha Chunin moved as a single, flawless entity. Their hands blurred through a sequence of hand seals, moving so fast the rain seemed to part around their fingers.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson!"
A barrage of scorching fireballs erupted from their mouths, illuminating the dark courtyard in a hellish red glow. Hidden within the core of each searing flame spun a razor-sharp shuriken. Guided by the predictive tracking of their Sharingan, the fiery projectiles curved through the air in unnatural, predatory arcs, perfectly sealing off every possible escape route the Kumogakure shinobi had calculated.
Sparks showered through the downpour as metal clashed against metal.
Forced to abort their sprint, several Kumogakure shinobi skidded across the wet stones, desperately swinging their kunai to deflect the flaming shuriken. That single, fatal fraction of a second was all the Uchiha needed.
"Got you."
Uchiha Jūdai materialized behind a Kumogakure Chunin like a phantom born of the storm. His crimson eyes, spinning with three black tomoe, locked onto his prey.
'Genjutsu.'
The Kumogakure shinobi's entire body locked up, paralyzed by an invisible force. Within his fractured mind, the rain-swept courtyard dissolved into a boiling sea of hellfire. Charred, skeletal hands burst from the molten earth, their agonizing grips crushing his ankles and dragging him downward into the abyss.
"Aaaagh!"
The man's shrill, bloodcurdling scream echoed over the walls. It was silenced just as quickly. Jūdai drove his kunai cleanly through the base of the man's spine, piercing the heart from behind. Hot blood sprayed across the cold stone.
"Third!" Raigamaru's eyes bulged, the blood vessels snapping in pure, unadulterated rage. "You bastard!"
"Lightning Release: Heavy Flow Torrent!"
Raigamaru roared. A blinding aura of raw, untamed lightning erupted from his muscular frame. Abandoning all thoughts of retreat, he launched himself directly at Uchiha Jūdai. His acceleration was so violent it tore a vacuum through the falling rain, leaving a trail of displaced water in his wake. He drove his elbow forward, heavily armored in crackling electricity, carrying enough kinetic momentum to shatter a boulder into dust. He aimed straight for Jūdai's sternum.
Facing the lethal, high-speed strike, Uchiha Jūdai merely tilted his chin. The three tomoe in his crimson irises spun into a dizzying blur.
Through the absolute dynamic kinetic tracking of the Sharingan, Raigamaru's blinding speed was dissected and dragged into slow motion. The minute twitch of the Kumogakure captain's shoulder muscles, the chaotic surge of lightning chakra, the subtle shift in his center of gravity... every single variable was laid bare.
A microsecond before the electrified elbow could obliterate his ribcage, Jūdai pivoted. He took exactly half a step to the left. Only half a step.
Raigamaru's devastating strike grazed the fabric of Jūdai's dark cloak, plunging harmlessly into empty air. The sheer force of the missed blow slammed into the earth, detonating the stone paving and blasting a crater of mud and fractured rock into the storm.
"In front of a fully matured Sharingan, your speed is nothing but a joke." Jūdai's cold whisper brushed against Raigamaru's ear.
Before the captain could recover his balance, Jūdai drove a brutal knee strike upward, sinking deep into Raigamaru's unprotected abdomen. The impact cracked ribs. Raigamaru's eyes nearly popped from their sockets as a sickening mixture of bile and blood erupted from his mouth. His massive frame folded inward, curling up violently before he was launched backward through the rain.
"Captain!" The remaining Kumogakure shinobi screamed, their eyes bloodshot with grief and desperation. "Fight them to the bitter end!"
"Lightning Release: Lightning Illusion Flash Pillar!"
A Kumogakure Jonin slammed his palms together, completing a rapid sequence of seals. His entire body detonated with an incandescent, blinding white light, a desperate attempt to burn out the retinas of the Uchiha executioners.
Uchiha Takuya watched the pathetic display, his lip curling in absolute disdain. He casually closed one eye to preserve his night vision and formed a single hand seal with his right hand.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
A terrifying, apocalyptic sea of flames erupted from Takuya's mouth. The sheer volume of the fire was staggering, sweeping across the enclosed courtyard like a raging crimson tsunami. The torrential rain evaporated on contact, hissing violently as it transformed into a thick, suffocating blanket of white steam. The Kumogakure Jonin's blinding flash of lightning was instantly swallowed, rendered utterly insignificant against the overwhelming inferno.
"Aaaagh!"
Agonized screams pierced the roar of the flames. Two Kumogakure shinobi, caught dead center in the blast radius, were instantly incinerated, their bodies turning to ash before they even hit the ground. The surviving few were blasted backward, forced into a corner of the burning courtyard. Their flak jackets were charred black, their skin blistered, and their breathing ragged.
"Cough... cough..."
Raigamaru dragged his broken body from the smoking debris, his trembling hand wiping a thick smear of blood from his chin. He stared at the slaughter around him, his heart twisting in agony. These were the proud elites of the Hidden Cloud. Warriors who had survived countless battlefields, only to be butchered and toyed with like helpless prey.
Raigamaru ground his teeth together until his gums bled. A fleeting shadow of despair crossed his eyes, instantly swallowed by a feral, suicidal madness.
"Do not underestimate Kumogakure!"
He reached into a hidden compartment of his ninja pouch, retrieving a blood-red pill. Without a second thought, he tossed it into his mouth and swallowed. It was a forbidden Kumogakure stimulant, a lethal narcotic designed to instantly cannibalize the user's life force in exchange for an explosive surge of chakra.
Sinister, ink-black lightning erupted from his pores, tearing his skin apart as it violently arced around his body.
"Black Lightning: Black Panther!"
Raigamaru's hands contorted into vicious, beast-like claws. The destructive black electricity surged forward, condensing into the shape of two massive, roaring feline predators made of pure, unstable energy.
"Even if I drag myself to hell, I am taking you bastards with me!"
He vanished. This time, the sheer velocity of his charge was more than double his previous limit. The explosive acceleration tore up the very foundation of the courtyard. Even the predictive tracking of the Uchiha's Sharingan struggled, capturing only a distorted, jagged afterimage of black lightning tearing through the steam.
Uchiha Jūdai's brow twitched. For the first time since the slaughter began, a flicker of genuine seriousness hardened his crimson eyes.
"Cannibalizing your own life force for a final strike?" Jūdai murmured, his tone devoid of pity. "Interesting."
He did not retreat.
"Takuya!" Jūdai called out.
"Way ahead of you." Takuya grinned, his eyes gleaming with sadistic anticipation as he stepped up beside his comrade.
The two Elite Jonin moved in perfect, terrifying harmony. Their hands blurred through a complex sequence of seals, their synchronization reaching an absolute, flawless hundred percent.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
A massive, roaring dragon of white-hot fire erupted from Jūdai's mouth, while Takuya expelled a devastating, high-pressure gale. The wind fed the flames. Empowered by the violent current of the Great Breakthrough, the fire dragon swelled to three times its original size. The ambient temperature spiked to catastrophic levels, instantly melting the remaining stone slabs into glowing, bubbling slag.
A true composite ninjutsu.
The colossal fire dragon and the twin black lightning panthers collided head-on in the center of the courtyard. The resulting explosion was deafening, a thunderous roar that shook the very foundations of the capital. A terrifying shockwave of fire and black electricity ripped outward, completely obliterating the thick defensive walls of the Daimyo's Residence and sending a massive plume of dust and smoke spiraling into the stormy sky.
"Cough... urgh..."
As the thick smoke began to settle, a broken figure remained in the center of the crater. Raigamaru knelt on the scorched earth. His entire body was charred black, his flesh burned away, and his arms were mangled to the point where splintered white bone protruded through the muscle. He could no longer feel his legs.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The unhurried sound of wooden sandals against stone echoed through the settling dust. Uchiha Jūdai and Takuya strolled out of the smoke, their dark cloaks completely untouched by the devastation.
Behind them, the courtyard was a graveyard. The remaining Kumogakure shinobi lay motionless in expanding pools of blood, while the Uchiha Chunin moved silently among the corpses, methodically driving their blades into throats and hearts to ensure there were no survivors.
"It is over," Jūdai said, stopping just a few feet from the dying captain. He looked down at Raigamaru, his expression as cold and indifferent as the falling rain.
Raigamaru let out a wet, miserable laugh, blood bubbling past his lips as he stared up into those glowing crimson eyes.
"The Uchiha... you truly are... monsters..."
A longsword slid smoothly through his chest, piercing his heart with surgical precision. Raigamaru's pupils dilated, the last spark of life fading from his eyes. His massive body slumped forward, collapsing limply into the mud.
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