The moment Kiyohara and Kakashi finished speaking and prepared to carry out a decapitation strike, a far stronger surge of chakra suddenly erupted from within the dense fog.
It hit like a wave crashing out of nowhere, heavy and forceful, so overwhelming that every hair on Kiyohara's body seemed to rise.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Whip!"
The next instant, several long whips of highly compressed water lashed out of the fog from different angles, whipping toward Kiyohara with enough force to shatter stone.
"Tch!"
Kiyohara pivoted and slipped sideways.
In the blur of motion, he finally caught a clear glimpse of the person who had stepped onto the field.
She looked about his age, with long, curly reddish-brown hair, bright emerald eyes, and smooth, fair skin. Every line of her face was charming, and every movement she made seemed to carry a strange, effortless allure.
Hidden Mist. Extraordinary Water Release. That face.
A name flashed through Kiyohara's mind at once.
Terumi Mei.
The future Fifth Mizukage. A terrifying prodigy who would one day possess two bloodline limits at once—Lava Release and Boil Release.
Even she had joined the attack?
"This damn fog..."
Kiyohara frowned.
Since that was the case, there was no point in holding back. While weaving around Mei Terumi's attacks with his ninja sword in hand, he continuously drew shuriken from his ninja pouch and scattered them as he moved.
Mei Terumi watched his footwork with cool focus. Every so often, she flicked a water whip through the air and sent the incoming shuriken flying away.
Inside the thick mist, both sides suffered from poor visibility.
But the Hidden Mist ninjas had grown up in conditions like this. They were clearly more at ease inside the white veil than any outsider could be.
"Hmph. Throwing shuriken at a time like this?"
Mei Terumi was already beginning her hand seals, but the more she watched Kiyohara dodge, the less impressed she became.
For a moment, she had thought he'd be interesting.
A rare handsome face. Decent presence. Sharp reactions.
What a pity.
After exchanging blows for this long, all he'd done was evade.
This, she thought, was the weakness of sword-focused ninjas. If they only relied on basic blade work, then once they ran into someone with strong mid- to long-range ninjutsu, they'd be dragged around and crushed.
Before Mei Terumi could finish her hand seals, Kiyohara moved first.
His fingers twitched inward, almost like he was forming a seal of his own—and suddenly, the faint smell of scorching metal spread through the fog.
Thin lines, nearly invisible a moment earlier, began to tighten and gleam in the dimness.
Because of the dense mist, those lines had been even harder to notice than usual. Even Mei Terumi had failed to realize that so many had already been strung across the battlefield.
Hiss.
A lock of her curly hair was sliced cleanly off by one of the tightened wires.
These copper wires had been specially modified. Only the very ends were ordinary; the middle sections had been honed until they were thin and viciously sharp.
If used carelessly, they could just as easily cut their owner to ribbons.
"How is this possible...?"
Mei Terumi's brows knit tightly as she raised her head and looked around.
Only then did she realize that at some point, a cage-like web had been woven all around her.
"How did you manage this? And how did your lines not tangle?"
For the first time, her composure cracked.
In such a short exchange, he had used his shuriken to weave a trap around her. That meant every throw had been planned from the very beginning.
Even the shuriken she herself had knocked away had been turned into part of the snare.
He wasn't even an Uchiha—so how could his shuriken technique be this refined?
"Kakashi, don't come over here."
As Kiyohara spoke, his fingers curled inward again.
The wire net shrank further.
In the next breath, crackling arcs of electricity raced inward along the copper lines, flooding the entire cage in blue-white light and trapping Mei Terumi within.
"Lightning Release: Shuriken Lightning Guiding Technique!"
At the same time, Kiyohara dropped into another hand seal.
He slammed a second lightning technique into the ground beneath her feet.
"Lightning Release: Earth Walk!"
Azure arcs crawled over the earth like venomous snakes, racing under the web toward her.
Then Kiyohara fed Wind Release chakra into the entire construct.
That was the true role of Wind Release: Gale Palm.
It did not merely enhance thrown weapons—it amplified the force and penetration of Wind chakra itself. And at that moment, wind and lightning merged, the combined power of the shuriken trap swelling so violently that tiny cracks even began to appear across the strained copper lines.
Left hand wind, right hand lightning.
Move as the heart commands.
Kiyohara looked at Mei Terumi, whose expression had finally changed, and let out a faint smile.
"Let's see how the Hidden Mist deals with this."
Alarm bells rang wildly in Mei Terumi's mind.
The copper-wire cage pulsed with blinding electricity as it closed in on her from every side, while arcs of lightning climbed out of the ground below. Wind and thunder reinforced one another, forming a trap that was sharp, violent, and nearly impossible to evade.
There was nowhere left to go.
"Damn it!"
A serious chill flashed through Mei Terumi's emerald eyes.
She had intended to finish this fight with pure Water Release and preserve her true cards.
Instead, from the moment Kiyohara moved, he'd thrown down one linked attack after another, forcing her back without giving her a chance to breathe.
Now, faced with a combination attack that could maim or kill her if she hesitated for even an instant, she had no choice but to reveal her hand.
"Lava Release: Lava Monster Technique!"
Mei Terumi parted her red lips.
A thick, molten, sludge-like fluid mixed with fiercely corrosive chakra burst from her mouth.
She sprayed it out in a flood.
This was no ordinary Water Release.
This was her bloodline limit—Lava Release.
Ssssss!
A harsh, pungent white steam exploded into the air, accompanied by the sound of metal being eaten alive.
The scorching, acidic lava met the tightening lightning net and the arcs surging up from the ground.
The electric current was chewed apart the moment it made contact with that corrosive fluid.
The copper-wire cage began to melt at a visible rate under the lava's erosion, while the sharpness granted by the Wind Release chakra was buried beneath the overwhelming pressure of the viscous flood.
But Kiyohara's linked attack had too much force behind it.
Especially after the enhancement from Gale Palm, the penetrating power and killing force of the lightning had already gone far beyond what an ordinary Chunin should have been able to unleash.
Mei Terumi's desperate burst of Lava Release blocked the worst of it.
But not all of it.
The remaining lightning and wind pressure still broke through and struck her body.
"Ugh!"
She let out a muffled grunt.
The sleeves and shoulders of her clothes tore open, and several cuts opened across her fair skin where the wind pressure had sliced past. She looked disheveled for the first time since entering the fight.
Breathing hard, she stared at Kiyohara in disbelief.
If she hadn't used her bloodline limit in time, that attack would have left her heavily wounded—if it didn't kill her outright.
This commoner ninja... was far more troublesome than she had imagined.
"You actually forced me to bring out a bloodline limit..."
The contempt in Mei Terumi's eyes vanished completely.
Only then did she truly begin to regard him as a real threat.
"Mei Terumi, fall back!"
Just as she steadied herself and prepared to launch a more serious counterattack, a hurried shout came from behind her.
Ao had finally stepped out.
He had been observing everything through a water technique similar to a remote-viewing jutsu. The instant he saw Mei Terumi forced to reveal Lava Release just to survive Kiyohara's trap—and still come out of it lightly injured—his scalp went numb.
This wasn't just any Hidden Mist shinobi.
This was Terumi Mei.
A once-in-a-generation prodigy.
She had only come this time to gain experience. If something happened to her here, the entire mission would become an unforgivable disaster.
"Ao!"
Mei Terumi clicked her tongue, unwilling to retreat, but she was not foolish.
She knew very well that if Ao hadn't intervened when he did, she might have charged in again and walked straight into an even uglier exchange.
"So the mastermind finally stepped out on his own."
Kiyohara swallowed a soldier pill in one motion.
As long as they found a way to deal with whatever was interfering with the Byakugan, then with Hyuga Ginka and Hyuga Nobuhiko—both Jonin-level assets in terms of reconnaissance and close combat—the situation could still be reversed.
If everyone joined forces, why wouldn't they be able to take Ao down here and now?
When else would he fulfill this final wish if not today?
Ao stood between Mei Terumi and Kiyohara, one eye fixed sharply on the battlefield.
Behind that eye, his mind was already racing.
The first objective had been to neutralize the Hyuga scouts by exploiting the Red Eye's interference.
The second objective had been to crush this Konoha squad cleanly while they were blind.
Instead, the battlefield had spiraled into something very different.
Kiyohara had not only seen through the possibility of interference against the Byakugan, he had even forced Mei Terumi into a corner.
That black-haired brat was far too dangerous to be left alive.
"That boy's too sharp," Ao said coldly. "Kill him first."
The moment the order was given, several Hidden Mist shinobi shifted in the surrounding fog.
The air itself seemed to tense.
Kiyohara felt it instantly.
The pressure in the mist had changed.
Their target was no longer the Hyuga.
It was him.
Beside him, Kakashi's gaze sharpened. Though the fog still disrupted visibility, his killing intent read the battlefield clearly enough.
"They're changing focus," Kakashi said. "Kiyohara, if we're going for the commander, we have to do it now."
"That's exactly what I was thinking."
Kiyohara rolled his shoulders, sword still in hand, then glanced once through the mist toward where young Kiyohara's spirit sensed Ao.
Young Kiyohara's tone was ice-cold.
"He's there. I won't mistake him."
He had no intention of forgiving the man who had killed him in another future.
Neither did Kiyohara.
If they let Ao continue commanding from the rear while the Red Eye user crippled the Byakugan, then the longer this dragged on, the worse it would get.
They had to cut off the head immediately.
Only then could they tear open the whole trap.
Kiyohara raised his sword and exhaled slowly.
The blade at his waist gave off a faint metallic hum, as if it too had sensed the coming bloodshed.
This time, he had a real weapon.
This time, he had inherited a swordsman's foundation.
And this time, the enemy he needed to kill was finally standing right in front of him.
"Kakashi," Kiyohara said softly, eyes fixed ahead. "The moment I break through, follow me."
Kakashi lowered his center of gravity. Lightning began to crackle faintly around his right hand.
"Understood."
Ao's expression turned grim.
Mei Terumi's eyes narrowed.
The thick fog, the killing intent, the blood, the scattered shuriken, the crackling wires that still smoked on the ground—everything on the battlefield seemed to hold its breath for a single instant.
Then the next clash began.