The Hidden Mist Village was established deep within the mountains.
The terrain of the main island sloped downward from left to right, featuring a highly developed water system and rugged, uneven ground. To reclaim as much habitable land as possible within the valleys, the Hidden Mist had constructed a massive dam on the upper reaches of its river system.
At this moment, atop the dam amidst a torrential downpour, a group of people was sprinting forward. At their head was Yagura Karatachi, the leader of the coup d'état organization known as "Kirisame." Behind him followed four young Hidden Mist Jonin: Kanryū, Tsurugi, Ao, and Gonbei. These men were the future backbone and elite of the village. They had come here at this critical, urgent juncture to execute a mission of the utmost importance.
"According to the information from the scouting team..."
Ao, who would later serve as the right-hand man to the village Elder, shared the intel with his teammates as they ran.
"The Three-Tails Jinchuriki has remained at the dam. He doesn't seem to have cooperated with the Third Mizukage or participated in this civil war. Our sensory ninja also confirmed this repeatedly twenty minutes ago."
"A massive source of chakra has been stationary in the center of the dam."
Finally, Yagura Karatachi set the final tone for the mission. "The source of the intel the Elders suddenly received is unknown, and we cannot verify its truth. However, to be safe, we must eliminate all possibilities of failure."
"Our mission this time is to prevent the Jinchuriki from directly participating in the coup and entering the village, which would cause uncontrollable variables. Therefore, the five of us will quickly suppress the Three-Tails Jinchuriki. Once he has lost the ability to resist, we will lock him in the special Jinchuriki prison at the dam's outlet. After that, we return to the Hidden Mist Village immediately to reinforce the Elder and engage in the final battle with the Third Mizukage at the Mizukage Building!"
As he led the dash across the dam's structure, Yagura calmly laid out the deployment. "Gonbei and I will provide frontal suppression against the Three-Tails. Tsurugi and Kanryū, prepare the sealing jutsu. Ao, maintain a constant sensory watch of our surroundings."
"Understood!" "Yes!" "Roger!"
Three voices responded simultaneously, but Yagura noticed that Ao—the Jonin proficient in sensory ninjutsu, swordsmanship, Water Style, and Earth Style—had not replied. He immediately turned his head slightly and saw a look of pure astonishment surfacing on Ao's face.
"Ao, what is it?" Yagura's gaze sharpened as he asked.
"Dead... they're all dead..."
Ao's hands were still held in the Ram seal, but he suddenly stopped in his tracks. His face turned pale with horror. "The chakra signatures of the scouting team members we stationed at the side of the dam have all disappeared... and—"
Ao snapped his head up, swallowing hard. "There are several individuals with incredibly powerful chakra approaching us from the center of the lake. Those are... the Seven Ninja Swordsmen!"
"What?!"
Yagura's expression shifted, and in the next heartbeat, an unsettling, violent aura erupted from the center of the lake!
Yagura immediately performed hand seals, took the hooked staff from his back, and traced a circle in the air. "Water Style: Water Mirror Jutsu!"
A mirror made of water materialized before them. The image on the surface zoomed in rapidly, revealing the scene in the center of the lake several miles away.
Two sturdy figures, carrying distinct shinobi blades on their backs, were leaping away from the Three-Tails Jinchuriki's residence, carrying a dying figure clad in a haori.
Those figures were none other than Jinin Akebino and Raiga Kurosuki of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. And the person they were extracting was not the current Three-Tails Jinchuriki at all, but rather—
The current Six-Tails Jinchuriki of the Hidden Mist, Suan, who was nearing the end of his term and was due to be replaced.
In the image, Raiga Kurosuki suddenly tilted his head up and gave a predatory grin toward Yagura and the others behind the water mirror. Then, he set the Six-Tails Jinchuriki down and spoke to him.
"Suan, surely you understand your current situation."
"In the 'new era' of the Hidden Mist they talk about, there has never been a place for old-guards like us—those who sacrificed everything for the village!"
"The Elder Council already intends to have your son, Utakata, inherit the Six-Tails. Heh... however, the Third Mizukage moved Elder Harusame away and ordered us to get you out."
"You know what needs to be done now, don't you?"
With his face pressed against the ground, the expression of this generation's Six-Tails Jinchuriki remained hidden. All that could be heard was his indifferent, despairing voice, which carried a faint, underlying tone of madness. "Give the Third Mizukage my thanks."
"And... the rest of you... better run..."
As his voice faded, crimson chakra surged from within the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, crawling across half of his body!
Raiga Kurosuki and Jinin Akebino locked eyes and nodded. Then, without hesitation, they flickered away in opposite directions!
Soon, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Suan, seemed to gain strength from the transformation. He slowly crawled up from the ground, lifting a hideous face where half the flesh was peeling away under high-temperature chakra.
"Ha... ha..."
"Six-Tails... haven't you always wanted to escape this prison of mine? Now... I'm giving you the chance!"
"Lend me all of your power!"
As if hearing the man's words, the beast imprisoned within the insect-like form finally responded to his wish at that moment!
In the next instant, tails of scorching, crimson chakra swayed out from behind him! A massive pillar of crimson light shot into the sky!
"GRAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
A violent surge of chakra exploded outward in all directions, causing the entire Hidden Mist dam to vibrate and kicking up waves over ten meters high!
At that moment, the Water Mirror Jutsu was shattered by the impact of the Six-Tails' chakra, and the image cut out abruptly!
The faces of Yagura's team turned incredibly grim. "The Six-Tails... is going berserk!"
"And looking at this, the Three-Tails must have been moved by the Third Mizukage in advance... This is bad! The surprise attack force led by Ao and the Elder are in danger!"
However, there was no time for deeper thought. A terrifying gale swept in from the center of the dam three kilometers away!
Yagura snapped his head up and saw a crimson figure like a demon, its six tails swaying as it shot across the water's surface from the opposite bank. It carved a trench in the water over two kilometers long as it lunged toward the five of them with extreme speed!
"ROAR!!!"
It no longer sounded human; it was the pure howl of a beast echoing through the rain!
Even from five hundred meters away, the creature simply threw a punch!
BOOM!!!
A massive shockwave kicked up a wave five meters high in the reservoir, creating a tsunami-like wall of water that bore down on the five Hidden Mist shinobi with overwhelming force!
"This... is the power of a Tailed Beast?!"
Yagura's height of 1.43 meters seemed small and humble against such a cataclysmic scene. However, he stood at the very front of his four teammates, his expression becoming solemn and determined.
"There's no other way..."
Yagura knew this was the Third Mizukage's trap—intended to make him expend a massive amount of chakra here and stall his progress. Meanwhile, the Third Mizukage could rely on his own powerful Blood Style and the assistance of the Three-Tails Jinchuriki to crush the surprise attack force and the Elders.
It was like a game of military chess. Because of the hidden strength of the Third Mizukage, the "Kirisame" faction had been forced to split their forces into four routes. They had sent Yagura and the units comprised of the Kekkei Genkai clans to control the two additional Jinchuriki before meeting at the Mizukage Building.
But with this switch, the route belonging to the Kekkei Genkai units had hit a dead end. Simultaneously, Yagura—the strongest combatant of the Kirisame side—was being stalled by the berserk Six-Tails. The surprise force led by Ao would encounter a Three-Tails Jinchuriki they weren't prepared for. The original deployment was completely disrupted... and the Third Mizukage would suddenly gain a trump card that could influence every other direction!
[Translator Note: The various fronts of the Hidden Mist civil war are roughly as described, in case readers are confused by the strategic shifts.]
At this moment, thinking of how the various front lines would deviate because of this one trade, Yagura felt an urgent pressure in his heart, yet he was helpless. Facing the berserk Six-Tails Jinchuriki, he had to focus with absolute intensity. He clapped his hands together, and a terrifying chakra surge, no less than that of a Tailed Beast, erupted from his small frame and shot toward the sky!
"Ha!"
"Wind Style: Typhoon Following Wind!"
Yagura threw his arms open, and a horrifying storm rose from behind him!
The scale was exaggerated, a Wind Style that felt as if a typhoon were passing through. It instantly cleared the vision obscured by the heavy rain. This was a top-tier Wind Style that differed from the principles of Hyuga Yu's Wind Style; it was a pure display of "brute force creates miracles." It was a savage ninjutsu that only a monster like the future Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi—whose chakra rivaled a Tailed Beast—could perform!
BOOM!
The gale swept forward, forcibly blowing the "tsunami" pressing down on Yagura's team in a different direction. With an even more violent and aggressive posture, the wind and water crashed back toward the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Suan.
Suan evidently hadn't expected Yagura to be this powerful. His hollow, white eyes blinked as the gale filled his face and mouth, pulling his skin back as he was forced to raise his arms to block a Wind Style of this caliber.
Then, he was submerged by the crashing "tsunami."
"AOOO!!!"
Tons of pressure impacted him instantly, snapping Suan's arm and chest bones. Suan let out a cry of agony as he was slammed into the bottom of the reservoir.
The battlefield suddenly became quiet.
"Huff..."
And Yagura, after performing such an absurd strike, was only slightly out of breath.
Behind him, Gonbei, Ao, and the others let out a collective sigh of relief, exclaiming one after another, "Too... too strong!"
"As expected of Yagura!"
"To suppress a Tailed Beast single-handedly... he really is the future of the Hidden Mist! He is our chosen... Fourth Mizukage!"
However, Yagura did not let down his guard because of his teammates' praise. On the contrary, his expression grew even heavier. Generally, top-tier powerhouses in the shinobi world could suppress a berserk Jinchuriki who had lost their mind, but a mindless berserk Jinchuriki was an entirely different matter from one who retained their reason.
And the Six-Tails Jinchuriki had now completely released his suppression of the beast. Therefore, Yagura was now facing the real Six-Tails!
But for Yagura, that wasn't the biggest problem.
In the reservoir terrain, his Water Style received a 200% boost. Combined with his massive chakra reserves, suppressing, defeating, and resealing the Six-Tails was a foregone conclusion for him.
However, Yagura couldn't finish the fight quickly. If he wasted too much time here, this coup... would be over soon.
Yagura's heart grew more anxious. He wanted a quick victory, but the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, Suan, had not yet surfaced from the water. It was like a hunting beast, lurking beneath the surface, calmly waiting for the small figure on the water to show a weakness.
"I can't wait anymore!" Yagura finally lost his patience. He gritted his teeth and stomped on the water. His gaze quickly fell beneath the surface, tracking the crimson shadow darting through the depths. His hands blurred through seals!
"Water Style: Water Pillar Prison!" "Water Style: Thousand Flowing Whips!"
As his foot landed, crashing waves gathered and protruded beneath him. Below the surface, dozens of spinning water pillars over twenty meters long formed, sealing off the Six-Tails Jinchuriki's room to maneuver. Then, Yagura pulled his clasped hands apart, drawing out countless whips of water, and slammed them against the surface as he crouched!
In the next heartbeat, countless water whips solidified into different densities underwater. They shot through the gaps of the water pillar prison, lashing out to entwine the Six-Tails Jinchuriki!
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
Suan, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, swam through the water at near-sonic speeds. Like a man dodging missiles, he constantly spiraled and turned, evading whip after whip. But with nearly a thousand water whips, he eventually had nowhere to hide. Finally, a look of ferocity flashed in Suan's eyes.
Crrr-clack, crrr-clack!
His entire body expanded slightly. His spine began to twist and dislocate, and his humanoid body actually warped into a snake-like form in that instant!
"Leech Gap Technique!"
This jutsu allowed the Jinchuriki's body to deform into a serpentine shape, greatly accelerating their mobility. In the process, it produced a massive amount of highly corrosive liquid, turning the Jinchuriki into a humanoid acid cannonball!
In the next instant—
BANG!
A massive sonic boom ring rose from beneath the water!
Splash!
The entire surface of the reservoir vibrated in unison!
Kanryū, Tsurugi, Ao, and Gonbei all turned pale. On such violently vibrating water, they almost lost their balance.
As Jonin, they still had the strength to fight a normal Three-Tails Jinchuriki; they could seal, interfere, and provide intel support. However, when facing a battle of this caliber—where the Jinchuriki had manifested more than three tails and the combat was at the Kage level—the jutsu they usually relied on were as weak as a joke.
At this moment, even Ao, the strongest sensory ninja among them, could only vaguely sense a figure approaching rapidly like a cannonball from below. But by the time he sensed it, it was already too late.
He didn't even have the chance to open his mouth to warn his teammates!
Ao's mouth hung slightly open, his pupils trembling. He tried with all his might to force a sound from his throat to tell them to run, but in the process, he could only meet Yagura Karatachi's eyes, which had just reacted with a hint of panicked realization!
"No!"
Yagura whipped his head around. His consciousness, following his chakra, tracked that crimson snake shadow nearing at extreme speed. His pupils dilated as he finally realized—
The Six-Tails Jinchuriki's target wasn't him! It was his four teammates!
WHOOSH!
Like a spiral drill breaching the surface—BANG!
Violent acid swirled and spun, transforming into a serpentine lance that shot straight toward Ao, who was standing beside Yagura!
"Yagura Karatachi, you can't protect anyone!"
"ROAR!"
The madly spinning Suan looked delirious, letting out a ferocious howl. "Dogs of the Kirisame, die for me!!!"
For a moment, all five people on the field changed expression. Ao, the target, stood with his mouth wide, pupils quivering, a look of despairing terror on his face!
However, just then—
Without any omen or warning, a figure like a deity slowly drifted down onto the water surface that had been drilled open by the acidic snake lance, arriving directly in front of Suan.
The five people present watched as the figure, wearing a "blank" mask, slowly raised a hand toward the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.
He calmly issued a cold, indifferent command:
"Get back, you beast."
As the words fell, his five fingers spread open, and he pressed downward!
It was like the hammer of God!
With that figure as the center, within a radius of 150 meters, the entire surface of the reservoir was pressed down flat by three meters! A massive, concave, arc-shaped crater 300 meters in diameter appeared in the center of the lake!
BOOM!!!
In the sudden, violent roar, the five shinobi surrounding that figure felt their scalps go numb. They saw stars, felt a momentary weightlessness, and were then violently pushed back dozens of meters by an irresistible force!
As for the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, who had just breached the water—his head was flattened by that strike, as if hit by a divine hammer!
"This... how is this possible?!"
Suan felt a massive pain in his head. With his flattened, hollow white eyes, he stared in disbelief at the tall, masked figure standing above the water.
However, under the heavy, high pressure dropping from the heavens, he only resisted for less than half a second. His entire body turned into a crimson vertical line, like a nail being hammered back beneath the water. He was shot down eighty meters, pinned directly into the mud at the very bottom of the reservoir!
Dozens of meters away, Yagura and the four others finally managed to steady themselves on the high-pressure water. They couldn't help but turn their heads in unison to look at the mysterious, unfathomable figure in the center of the field!
At the same time, the same question appeared in all five hearts:
How could there be such a powerful ninja?!
And: Who... is he?!
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