The sudden attack from the Mist caused Hyuga Shinichi's face to sink instantly. He had used the ocular power of the Tenseigan to help Yagura break free from Uchiha Obito's genjutsu, yet instead of gratitude, he received a coordinated assault.
Shinichi had made a massive misjudgment regarding his prestige in the ninja world. Having lived in Konoha for years, he had grown accustomed to the deep respect and deference shown to him by the village's Jōnin.
This led him to subconsciously believe his "face" carried global currency. He thought that by simply showing himself and granting a favor, these people would naturally stand down.
The reality was harsher. Having never officially participated in a Great Ninja War, he possessed no widespread reputation outside Konoha.
Even though his strength had reached a dimension beyond the imagination of ordinary ninjas, his fame did not match his power. This disconnect led to his tactical error.
In Yagura's eyes, while the enemy who controlled him was a coward using him as a tool, the opportunity to seize the Byakugan was too great to ignore now that the puppet master was gone. As the Mizukage, Yagura could not simply walk away. To him, Hyuga Shinichi was a nobody.
Yagura coordinated with Terumī Mei's attack, launching a fierce offensive. Although he felt an indescribable pressure radiating from Shinichi, it wasn't enough to make him abandon the prize.
He was the Mizukage, the Three-Tails Jinchūriki. In his mind, there were only a handful of ninjas in the world who were his equals; how could this young man possibly defeat a "Kage"?
As the acidic mud lunged toward him, Shinichi looked up. A black Truth-Seeking Orb manifested in front of him, instantly expanding into a small black shield. The shield was no larger than an umbrella, covering only the immediate area, but it completely neutralized Mei's corrosive attack.
Simultaneously, Shinichi shifted his gaze toward Mei while casually lifting his foot. He brought it down directly onto Yagura's staff.
With a dull thud, the hook of the staff was pinned into the hard earth. The force was so immense that Yagura's hands were nearly jarred loose. The weapon hit the ground with a heavy vibration.
Thud!
Without any visible exertion, Shinichi had neutralized both high-level attacks.
"This..."
Yagura's expression turned grim. In a single exchange, he—the Mizukage—had effectively been disarmed. Seeing Shinichi's effortless composure, he realized his decision might have been reckless. But considering the value of the Byakugan, Yagura chose to double down.
"Go! Kill him!" Yagura commanded, leaping backward and abandoning his weapon to create distance. He knew his opponent was a Taijutsu specialist and needed room to maneuver.
A chorus of drawing blades hissed through the air. At Yagura's order, the Mist elites surged forward.
The sound of a hundred swords being unsheathed put immense pressure on Naruto, Sasuke, and the others within the encirclement. The children huddled behind Kakashi, their eyes fixed on Shinichi.
Hinata's face was pale with despair. So many Mist ninjas... no matter how strong Brother is, he can't fight them all! Despite being his sister, she had never seen Shinichi's full power and had no metric for his true limits.
Naruto and Sasuke shared her fear; to them, Shinichi was just a familiar but mysterious figure from the Academy years.
Even Kakashi, Shinichi's comrade-in-arms, couldn't accurately judge the current gap. He knew Shinichi was stronger than him, but he didn't realize they were now in entirely different worlds.
The truth was, the power of a fully awakened Tenseigan was not something the current ninja world was qualified to resist.
The Dimensional Strike
Three Mist ninjas, masters of Taijutsu, reached Shinichi first, attacking from three different angles.
"Trash should stay far away," Shinichi murmured.
Two more Truth-Seeking Orbs joined the first, swirling silently around him. They lunged at the attackers like black lightning. Three streaks of light later, the three ninjas collapsed. The momentum of their charge carried their corpses sliding across the ground for several seconds.
Sshhh— The sound of bodies rubbing against the soil made the hair on the other ninjas' necks stand up. Their charge slowed to a halt.
They hadn't even seen Shinichi move, yet their comrades were dead. In the Mist, "friendship" was worthless; they were driven by results and power, but fear was a universal language.
Shinichi's anger did not dissipate with these small kills. The blood on the ground was merely proof of the warning he had issued.
"So... so strong!" Naruto gasped. The sight of Shinichi's effortless lethality left an indelible mark on the boy's mind. Kakashi, too, narrowed his eyes.
What is that? His Sharingan had caught the movement—the black spheres were faster and more versatile than anything in the Hyuga repertoire.
Yagura and Mei also noticed. They realized the black shield and the projectiles were the same substance.
"That black sphere can change shape to defend and attack," Mei thought, her face darkening behind her mask.
The Truth-Seeking Orbs didn't belong to any known Ninjutsu category, which made them infinitely more dangerous. In the ninja world, the stranger the technique, the stronger the user.
The Massacre
Uchiha Obito retreated to the outermost edge of the battlefield. Unlike the Mist, he knew exactly how dangerous Shinichi was. He had felt the sting of the Flying Thunder God before. He stayed only to gather more data on Shinichi's new techniques, hoping to find a weakness.
The Mist ninjas hesitated, but Shinichi's "mercy" had run out. If they threw his kindness back in his face, they could die. If these "elites" couldn't help him against the future threat of the Ōtsutsuki, they were useless anyway.
I'll kill them all and force the Land of Water into submission, Shinichi decided, his eyes narrowing.
The three Truth-Seeking Orbs accelerated, diving into the crowd like scythes. Ninjas tried to block with blades, kunai, Water Style, and Earth Style. But the orbs passed through their defenses like they were air.
It was a dimensional suppression—only Senjutsu could touch a Truth-Seeking Orb, and none of these elites possessed it.
Six more orbs condensed behind Shinichi, bringing the total to the limit of nine. He began to float slowly off the ground.
In the minutes it took to manifest the full set, one-third of the Mist's elite force had been wiped out. The survivors were only those with the sharpest instincts and high-level Jōnin reflexes who managed to dodge by a hair's breadth.
Yagura and Terumī Mei could no longer stand by. No more talk. Yagura tapped into the Three-Tails' power, and a crimson chakra shroud enveloped him.
Three tails whipped violently behind him, each twitch generating a small gale. While not a perfect Jinchūriki, Yagura was as close as one could get.
The Mist ninjas retreated to the edges, clearing the field for their leader. Mei moved to a support position.
"Haaa—" Yagura let out a low, guttural roar as the Tailed Beast power began to corrode his skin. He lunged, his three tails extending to sweep toward Shinichi at blurring speeds.
Shinichi remained unmoved. The nine Truth-Seeking Orbs converged behind him and expanded into a perfect black sphere, encasing him completely except for a small opening.
BOOM!!!
The three tails slammed into the barrier with enough force to shatter a mountain, but the Truth-Seeking Orb shield didn't even vibrate.
"As the Mizukage, is this all you have?" Shinichi's voice echoed from within the orb. "I'll allow you two more moves. After that... prepare to die."
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