He immediately reached behind his back and pulled the sickle free.
Even from a distance, the weapon carried menace; the edge gleamed faintly with wind chakra already humming along its curve, and when he shifted his stance, the ground beneath his feet seemed to pulse.
Then, without another word, he slammed his palm against the dirt.
Chakra surged outward like a ripple, sinking into the soil, flooding the clearing.
'Hiding in Grass Jutsu!'
The grass answered.
In an instant, the already tall blades of grass around them twisted, thickened, and shot upward, stretching like serpents, doubling, tripling in size, until the clearing became a writhing field of green spears.
The air itself felt heavier as the vegetation bent unnaturally, controlled by his Yang Release chakra, swaying toward them like hungry beasts.
And then the ground split.
Summoning seals flared beneath his hand, and from the cracks, hulking crocodiles erupted, three, then five, their hides glistening with unnatural chakra reinforcement.
Their eyes glowed faintly, jaws snapping with enough force to shatter stone.
They slithered into the grass, their massive forms vanishing as if swallowed, lurking within his living trap.
Tenzo straightened, sickle gleaming as the wind chakra along its edge howled faintly.
"This is the hunting ground," he said coldly. "And I don't lose in my own grass."
For a moment, silence. The sea of swaying blades and hidden reptiles painted the clearing like a nightmare.
Emi's Byakugan flared, her voice low. "The entire field is under his control. He can see through it better than we can. And… those crocodiles, they're moving fast beneath it."
Reika's golden eyes glinted, her tone calm, detached.
"So this is Kusagakure's secret technique. Effective, if your opponent is blind."
Akane's Sharingan spun to life, the red glow casting her face sharper.
"Blind?" She smirked faintly. "Not us."
Saya twirled her scythe, licking her lips, crimson eyes glimmering.
"He made the mistake of locking himself in here with us. Let's carve our way through."
Kimimaro said nothing for a moment, just observing the swaying, lunging grass, the faint ripples that marked where crocodiles moved beneath.
His expression was unreadable, but his voice, when it came, was steady. "Remember the plan. Emi stays back, barriers ready. Reika, strip away his field with wide-area jutsu. Saya and Akane break his rhythm, force him into the open. I'll finish him once he's exposed."
He let his bones creak softly, forearm shifting into a very elongated and sharp lance, the standard whip beginning to grow from his other hand.
His eyes narrowed. "Stay sharp. This is his domain… but it's about to become his grave."
The grass moved like a tide. Blades as thick as spears lunged in arcs, whipping and stabbing, trying to close the circle around Kimimaro's team.
The ground trembled under the weight of the crocodiles slithering beneath, their massive tails thrashing as they vanished and reappeared through the cover.
Kimimaro didn't give the order.
He didn't have to.
Emi's Byakugan had already snapped open, veins bulging at her temples as her pale eyes cut through the grass.
"Three crocodiles on the left, two more circling back from underground! And him—" her tone sharpened, "—he's moving closer under the canopy, about thirty meters forward, sickle drawn."
Reika pressed her palm against the earth, golden eyes flashing with cold focus.
"Then I'll tear down his veil."
Her voice was calm, detached, as if this were simply another exercise.
Her hands blurred, ice chakra flooding the air.
"Ice Release: Frozen Wave Field."
A surge of crystalline frost erupted outward in a ring, coating the grass in sheets of brittle ice, freezing stalks mid-lunge, locking whole swaths of vegetation in place.
The green sea became a frozen wasteland in the span of a breath.
The first two crocodiles that burst forward found their heads locked in ice mid-snap, thrashing helplessly as frost spread over their hides.
Tenzo cursed under his breath, chakra flaring to keep the grass alive against the frostbite.
The vegetation resisted, creaking, splitting through shards of ice, but its speed was crippled.
He pushed harder, sickle slicing, a gale of wind chakra severing frozen stalks in his path.
Akane was already moving.
Her Sharingan spun, catching every twitch in the frozen canopy, every flicker of movement through the haze of frost.
She darted forward, twin fireballs bursting from her lips to force the crocodiles back. "Fire Release: Flame Whirlwind!"
The blaze spiraled outward, carving gaps in the field, flames licking across ice and turning it into hissing steam.
The mist curled upward, cloaking the battlefield in a choking fog, but Akane's eyes cut through it as though it wasn't there.
Her lips curved faintly. "Can't hide."
Saya laughed, the sound sharp and wild, swinging her scythe with both hands. "And you can't run."
Her blade cleaved downward, crimson chakra trailing, her Ketsuryūgan already glowing.
A small nick on her wrist sent droplets of blood spraying, shaping instantly into spears that darted through the fog.
The crocodiles lunged to intercept, jaws snapping.
Saya's blood hardened, spears piercing soft eyes, exploding into mist that blinded their movements.
The reptiles roared, thrashing, but her laughter only sharpened. "Bleed for me."
Tenzo gritted his teeth.
His sickle whirled, slicing through ice and blood spears alike.
His chakra poured into the ground again, the frozen earth cracking as fresh growth surged from beneath, younger, sharper blades of grass punching upward through Reika's frost.
"You think you've seen this jutsu? You haven't," he growled, his voice carrying across the mist.
"This is my signature S-rank hijutsu of the Kusagakure. You're children are playing with kindling."
Kimimaro had been silent until now, bones humming beneath his skin, drill forearm spinning with a low roar.
His whip also extended, cracking outward to clear swaths of the regrown grass.
He moved with calculated patience, his eyes narrowed.
"Children?" His voice was flat, almost bored.
"Then you're prey who mistook the wolf for a lamb."
He darted forward, the whip snapping through the mist, wrapping around one of the crocodiles' necks.
With a twist, bones exploded outward along their length like jagged barbs, shredding through scaled flesh.
The beast roared once before collapsing into stillness.
Tenzo cursed again, eyes narrowing.
His body swelled slightly, muscles twitching unnaturally.
A faint bulge along his chest revealed the puncture points of his own acupuncture strikes.
Oxygen intake surged, blood pumping harder, his veins darkening under his skin.
He moved faster now, almost blurring.
Emi's voice cut through the chaos, tense but sharp.
"He's accelerating! His chakra output just doubled—no, tripled! That's not natural—his lungs, his body, they're… they're straining."
Reika exhaled sharply, cold mist curling from her lips.
"So he's burning himself alive."
Her hands froze into another seal.
"Then we'll shorten the process."
She slammed her palm down again, jagged ice pillars erupting in a straight line toward where Emi had marked his position.
Tenzo vaulted aside, his sickle flashing as wind chakra carved through one of the pillars.
He landed low, sliding across the grass, then snapped his fingers.
Another summoning seal flared under him, and two more crocodiles erupted from the ground, jaws snapping wide at Saya's flank.
But the Ketsuryūgan had already locked on.
Saya's crimson eyes burned.
Their movements faltered, bodies twitching under her control.
She laughed, cruel and delighted. "Not yours anymore. Mine."
The beasts turned sharply, lunging back at Tenzo.
For the first time, his composure cracked.
His sickle lashed out desperately, wind chakra cleaving one of them in half, but the second slammed into him, jaws snapping around his arm before he tore free.
Blood sprayed across the grass, staining the blades crimson.
Kimimaro watched calmly, whip retracting. "He bleeds. That means he slows."
Akane stepped forward, lightning dancing along her hands, her Sharingan glowing brighter.
"And once he slows… he can't hide."
She shot him a sharp smile, almost competitive, her fire and lightning chakra crackling at her fingertips.
Kimimaro's expression didn't change, but inwardly he judged the pace carefully.
The battlefield steamed with frost, blood, and wind.
Tenzo crouched in the middle, sickle raised, chest heaving unnaturally fast.
His eyes darted between them, calculating, wary now.
These weren't random cultists.
They were wolves circling, and for the first time, he looked like he understood that.
So, Tenzo's chest heaved, steam rising from his body as his overclocked lungs dragged in air like bellows. His grip on the sickle tightened, knuckles white, blood dripping down his arm.
His eyes, narrow, sharp, predatory, flicked across Kimimaro's circle once more.
And then, with a grunt that sounded half like rage and half like resignation, he pulled a small vial from his vest with his free hand.
Akane's Sharingan instantly tracked it, pupils tightening. "He's taking something."
Kimimaro's voice cut through before anyone panicked, calm and sharp.
"The Kusagakure pills."
Tenzo bit the pill clean, a crack of teeth echoing faintly in the mist.
For a moment, nothing happened, then his body shuddered violently.
Muscles ballooned unnaturally, veins bulging under his skin, his frame straining against itself.
His eyes widened, bloodshot, but focused, sharper, clearer, as if the haze of Saya's pressure had been momentarily blasted aside.
A guttural growl ripped out of him, shaking into laughter. "Now… you'll see why they feared me in Kusagakure."
The sickle in his hands howled as wind chakra wrapped it, not just a blade but a storm, edges gleaming sharp enough to slice the mist itself.
His foot slammed into the ground, chakra bursting outward, and the grass obeyed his command like an army.
Blades of green rose into a forest again, regrown faster than Reika's frost could kill them, surging higher, thicker, each stalk hardened with chakra until they bristled like spears.
At the same time, three more crocodiles burst from the soil with thunderous roars, their bodies twice the size of the last batch, eyes glowing faintly from the chakra threaded into their hides.
Even Kimimaro narrowed his eyes slightly.