Night had fallen, yet this town in the Land of Rain was far from dark.
Blazing firelight illuminated every street and alley, burning the flowing blood and scattered corpses into a foul, smelly stench.
"Wind Release: Enma Split!"
A gaunt man with white hair and pale pupils laughed maniacally as he wielded a vortex like thousands of swirling blades. This wind technique, named 'Enma Split,' lived up to its title, mercilessly tearing and shredding everything in its vicinity, stripping body heat and soul from enemy frames along with their blood.
Leveraging the flexibility and range advantages of Wind and Water Releases, 'Gojō Satoru'—though unable to truly fly—could briefly remain airborne using jet points and forced maneuvers, raining down ninjutsu from above. Alone, he pinned down dozens of Konoha ninjas below, leaving them unable to lift their heads.
Securing a degree of aerial supremacy meant Rasa's bombardment style was directly learned from him, a high-intensity suppression of enemies below.
Not limited to Konoha ninjas alone, all of the town's infrastructure was also within his attack range. Under these circumstances, 'Gojō Satoru,' disregarding chakra depletion, fought with even more reckless abandon.
At the other end, 'Fushiguro Tōji' embodied an even purer form of physical violence. The black-haired giant, his body radiating condensed chakra, was like an out-of-control runaway locomotive, charging wildly through the town.
Splintered beams, collapsed walls, captured ninjas... swords, clubs, everything within reach became his weapon.
Compared to dying from wind or water techniques—deaths ninjas had grown accustomed to—being brutally smashed into a blood mist by this laughing man, exploding into dissipation, then evaporated by the scorching heatwave was far too much. horrifying.
Two ninjas coordinating with one giant puppet. In just over twenty minutes, they had inflicted nearly three hundred casualties on the Konoha camp and caused extensive damage to the facilities.
Consider that this camp only housed around three thousand personnel total. A ten percent casualty rate was scary enough.
However, correspondingly, their current state was also nearing its limit.
Seeing 'Gojō Satoru' and 'Fushiguro Tōji's' auras gradually weakened as they apparently retreated towards the giant puppet, Konoha's commander judged.
"Capture them!"
This jōnin from the Sarutobi Clan, as he watched 'Gojō Satoru's' retreating back, nearly screamed himself hoarse.
Letting the enemy sneak this close to the stronghold due to his own oversight, and causing such huge losses returning to the village, there'd definitely be 'no good fruit juice' waiting for him. That he could ignore. But if his mistake implicated Hiruzen Sarutobi and destabilized the village's hard-won to stabilize the situation, ten lives wouldn't be enough to compensate!
At the very least, at minimum, he had to capture these three culprits!!!
Three living Sand jōnin, who had risen to fame during this Second Shinobi World War, surely that would offset some of Konoha's losses, right?!
Just as he was thinking this, Shukaku Zero, its joints mostly destroyed, finally ceased movement nearby. Then 'Yorozu Kōkichi' emerged from the cockpit, waved non-chalantly at the Sarutobi jōnin, and laughed as he pressed a switch in full view of everyone. The next moment, he collapsed into a pile of iron sand. In the brief instant before the ninjas surrounding the giant machine could even turn their heads, the massive puppet exploded from within.
But what burst from it wasn't fiery, it A tremendous flash and a deafening noise followed.
Obviously, after loading various experimental mechanisms, there was hardly any space left in the puppet for powerful explosive charges. At most, it could accommodate a detonation system designed to destroy the core system.
The reason Hii Kōri had deliberately adjusted this oversized flashbang was to buy enough time.
Enough time to unleash a massive water escape.
Amidst the violent tremor, 'Fushiguro Tōji's' figure also collapsed into iron sand. And 'Gojō Satoru' could no longer maintain his current appearance, reverting to Hii Kōri.
He caught the three-section staff tossed by his iron sand clone, his figure flickering as he leaped high into the air.
"Bye-bye. This is a parting gift."
Though his hearing hadn't yet recovered, the Sarutobi jōnin clearly read this meaning from his lips.
"Water Release: Drowning" Tsunami!"
A huge wave, like a burst river, descended from the heavens.
"Ha... ha..."
On a crooked tree deep in the distant forest, Hii Kōri—having just swapped positions with his shadow clone via the technique on his three-section staff—felt the emptiness and exhaustion transmitted after his two clones collapsed, gasping heavily.
"But... it doesn't matter."
His hands swept across the scrolls on his wrists. The personal weapon system he had once demonstrated to Chiyo materialized beside him.
External neural fibers mixed in his hair extended outward, sequentially installed the device onto his right arm, then inserted as connecting lines into the device's ports.
"Chakra pathways connected. Cursed energy pathways connected. Full system self-check... complete."
As though his own brain had become part of the device, Hii Kōri's eyes gleamed with icy light as he softly recited the steps.
"And then... this. Remote Component docking successful. Activation complete.
The shield-like mechanism on the gun talon's exterior reversed and deployed, docking to form a gun barrel-like structure.
Device at the front. Red and green indicator lights illuminated, confirming smooth operation.
"Angle calculation complete. Attitude control auxiliary mechanism, deploy. Offensive Defense Shield, deploy."
Confirming the orientation through the triple sight, Hii Kōri assumed his stance. Brackets popped out from his shoulder and the tip of the talon, while another cluster of neural fibers condensed into sharp shuttles using Magnet Release at their tips, wrapping around his waist and pinning him in place.
The outer shell, constructed from barrier and sealing techniques, tightly enveloped Hii Kōri, like an insect frozen in amber.
"First to third restrictions released. Chakra conversion restrictions released. Seven Essence Release Gates: Open."
Yang Release secret technique was unleashed to its maximum extent. Not limited to the acupoints he had meticulously planned according to his own circumstances, almost all acupoints were opened, unleashing life force at maximum capacity, mixing with expanding spiritual energy into unaffiliated chakra.
His red hair, blown high by this immense force, rapidly dyed... Withered pale from the tips downward at a visible rate. Yet Hii Kōri ignored it all, continuing in a calm tone.
"Cannon curse released. Authorization granted. Curse...accumulate."
The numerous runes inscribed on the cannon lit up in sequence. An extremely ominous black mist coiled around the Scorch Release light wheel, resembling a tiny sun, condensing into the most intense curse.
"Pseudo-Scorch Release chakra: full conversion, regardless of loss. Barrel preheating countdown... 3.2.1."
"Loading complete."
"Pseudo-Scorch Release Cursed Fire Cannon: Focused Discharge!"
The scorching light, entwined with a deep curse, pierced through the raging torrent.
***
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