The blood gushed out of Fuguki's mouth as he lost his grip on Samehada.
His body trembled uncontrollably as Kisame's broken sword was found to be embedded deep in his chest. His eyes were flipped back.
He fell with a thud. The man named Suikazan Fuguki was no more.
Juzo didn't even need to interrupt. Kisame, without his help, defeated the wielder of Samehada by himself; it was an incredible feat.
Was it that Fuguki had gotten weak? Or was it that Kisame was far stronger than what Juzo imagined?
Either way, that wasn't what mattered right now.
"What now, Kisame?"
Juzo had to ask. Kisame was someone who shared the same enemies as them, but this didn't guarantee that he wouldn't oppose them afterward. Now that their common enemies were dealt with, he had to be cautious.
Mei and Juzo retrieved Kabutowari and Shibuki. On the other hand, Samehada was under Kisame's grasp now.
"Will you be succeeding the title of the Seven Swordsmen?"
"Seven Swordsmen? of the Bloody Mist?"
Kisame snorted, wiping a trail of blood down his chin,
"As if."
Then, silence. Kisame himself didn't know what to do anymore, after all.
What came after the revenge was a sense of fulfillment, but at the same time, a sense of hollowness.
'What now?'
Kisame thought—
Boom.
There was no time for him to ponder that question, however.
There was a quake. A violent one at that.
A horrifying roar thundered across the entire Kirigakure.
With an enormous puff of smoke, a figure—so huge that everyone could see—appeared.
Turtle-like body, crab-like shell, spikes, three shrimp-like tails, human-like hands, red eyes...
"...No, it can't be. Three tails... how?"
Mei whispered in disbelief.
"Impossible. Yagura is the Mizukage, someone with enough strength to keep the tailed beast contained in him. The seal used to seal the tailed beast in him is the application of the Uzumaki clan's fuinjutsu... the beast shouldn't have been freed. If Yagura was defeated, the beast should've faded as well..."
Mei, Juzo, and Kisame's eyes caught one another.
Grimacing, they simultaneously began to head toward the site where the three tails spawned.
"What a tiring era to live in."
Witnessing the scene within the house, Kirano shook his head. Peeking to the side, he saw Gai and Hidan looking at the full form of the three tails, worried.
"Akashi..."
Gai whispered. His grip over a nearby ledge tightened out of worry.
...
The three tails roared.
Civilians everywhere shuddered. They, running wildly and frantically, held their family members, children, and anyone in need of help.
"..."
From afar, the obese daimyo of the land of water was spectating this, solemnly.
"Here it goes."
He whispered.
"At last, after years of waiting..."
By his right side, the white-haired shinobi who previously killed Jinin and Jinpachi, crackled.
"The land of water is finally about to return to its rightful owner."
Turning to the right, the daimyo looked at the white-haired shinobi.
"The Kaguya clan."
Turning to the left, the daimyo looked at another shinobi, a muscular one, who stood with his arms crossed.
"The Funato clan."
And behind him, there was someone else standing.
"Along with my dearest advisor... Zetsu."
A person—or a humanoid creature—whose skin is entirely white, smiled at that.
"I—no, we, will make the land of water great again."
The daimyo watched as the civilians were heading toward where he and his group stood.
He looked so obsessed with his idea that he didn't see that the ninjas of the Kaguya and Funato clans were holding their laughs, clearly amused by his words.
...
"..."
Akashi stared at the three tails right in front of him.
The tailed beast was as terrifying as the legend told.
Its size, its chakra, and its demeanor... its very existence seemed to vastly outclass what a human being was capable of doing.
A natural disaster. No word fitted better than this in explaining the tailed beasts.
'...Tailed beasts are the embodiments of chakra.'
Akashi recalled what he knew about them.
'They are essentially immortal. They can be destroyed, but after some period of time, they will be reborn, for chakra cannot be annihilated.'
During his time in Amegakure, Akashi studied many things. History, of course, was one of them.
They said that in the long past, the endless war befell the world.
To stop the war, princess Kaguya consumed the forbidden fruit of the God Tree and attained chakra, singlehandedly ending the war. For that, she was bestowed with the title of Rabbit Goddess.
She gave birth to two sons. One of them, Hagoromo, was the renowned Sage of Six Paths, one who defeated the demon that went on a rampage in the world and spread the doctrine of chakra to humanity.
What Akashi learned was vague and unclear. However, he did understand that all the chakras that humans and the world possess today originated from that one fruit that Kaguya ate.
He also speculated that, just as Kaguya and Hagoromo were the origins of how humans got to use chakra, the 'demon' mentioned in Hagoromo's lore is likely to be the origin of the tailed beasts.
But then, something felt off.
If chakra was born from the fruit that Kaguya ate, and that fruit was grown from the God Tree, that means that the God Tree had an ability to create chakra...
The God Tree was planted on the earth. Creating something out of nothing is, in Akashi's perspective, impossible. The tree must've absorbed the energy of the earth, notably the Yin and Yang, to create chakra and bear fruit out of it.
If so, where did that God Tree come from in the first place?
'I cannot be sure, but... there is a high likelihood that the reason why the fruit was forbidden to eat was because eating so would bring a disaster... such as the demon that the Sage of Six Paths defeated.'
It was highly likely that the demon was yet another form of the God Tree.
The demon was defeated by the Sage of Six Paths, but considering the nature of chakra, killing it was likely impossible.
"Therefore, the Sage of Six Paths divided its power into nine portions, thus giving birth to the tailed beasts...'
Akashi chuckled, wondering how likely it is for his theory to be true.
"Now, aren't I relaxing too much in front of one of them?"
"Akashi!!"
Just as Akashi shook his head, someone called out to him.
Turning, Akashi saw the approaching figures of Mei, along with Juzo and Kisame.
From the other side, Ao and Zabuza were reaching as well, slowly.
"Huff... huff... what is going on?!"
Mei urgently asked.
"The three tails..."
"Yagura is dead."
Akashi relayed.
"It seems that the seal was designed such that the tailed beast would be released should the host confront an unavoidable death."
"To think... damn it..."
Mei gritted her teeth. She was about to say something, but stopped; the frustration was evident in her.
"Why?"
Ao whispered.
"The fact that this kind of seal was used means that from the start, the village was planning to release the tailed beast... even though the Second Shinobi World War was already over."
It meant one thing: that the Third Shinobi World War was predicted to happen even though the Second Shinobi World War had just ended, and everyone was tired of warring.
No one in Kiri would've thought of such a possibility. The Second Shinobi World War was already a far stretch for them when their second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, died during the First Shinobi World War. Even if they were to be the Bloody Mist, they knew that they needed time to recover.
"Come to think of it, nothing about this Third War was normal. It began with Iwagakure's ambition to take over Konohagakure, but spread throughout the entire world. Even now, children are being groomed as soldiers. The hidden villages are sacrificing their future. All the nations are getting weaker, but by an equal magnitude, such that the stalemate doesn't break."
Mei spoke, grimly.
"It's as if... there is someone pulling strings from the back, trying to create an ideal condition to take over the world."
"Whatever thoughts you may have, keep them in."
Akashi voiced.
Three tails lowered its head, staring at Akashi and those around him with its frightening crimson eyes.
"Now is not the time."
The three tails then blasted an enormous ball of water. Dense and heavy, it was powerful enough to crush anything that came in contact with.
Kisame's eyes widened. Alerted, he raised Samehada that he now owned. Knowing its ability, he was planning to sever the ball of water, even though he wasn't sure if it was possible to perform such a feat with his and Samehada's current state.
Mei too raised her hands, about to undergo hand seals and blast the strongest ninjutsu that the current herself could muster.
However, their actions ended up not mattering.
Akashi soared up high, leaping from his position, with Ryuma blazed up in crimson fire.
Fearlessly, the blade met the ball of water.
The fire severed through the dense water.
Steam splattered. Water evaporated. Akashi, slicing the ball of water into two and causing it to lose momentum, flew through it without an injury.
"...Huh?"
Kisame was at a loss for words.
"Who..."
Now, he was shocked and curious.
"Who is that man...?"
The black cloak that Akashi wore fluttered against the wind. As the fire on Ryuma illuminated the cloak, others saw the stains of blood—shaped in a way that reminded them of...
"...A red cloud?"
Kisame whispered.
"The foreigner. That's who he is."
Zabuza answered, frowning in dislike as he did so, for he didn't like the idea of leaving the fate of the village to an outsider.
"S-ranked rogue ninja. Wanted for numerous murder cases, but the greatest one of them all is his attempted assassination of Hanzo of the Salamander."
Ao, having managed to stop the bleeding of his wounds, spoke weakly.
"Akashi of the Red Blade... that's who he is."
Akashi, landing on the ground, leaped again at an incredible speed.
Gate of Opening.
Gate of Healing.
Gate of Life.
Gate of Pain.
Gate of Limit.
His skin reddened. His long, brown hair floated wildly. His lone eye was without a pupil.
The fire on Ryuma intensified. And that wasn't the end.
Lightning.
Atop the fire, a layer of just as wild lightning manifested.
Wind.
Atop the lightning, the sharp wind wrapped itself around.
The three layers of destructive elements were then mixed—no, it was akin to a purification.
The properties that defined them as fire, lightning, and wind were lost. It was as if something was being 'extracted' out of them, and that was the pure Yang energy.
Energy Release. It's other name was Yang Release.
The purest form of energy that exists in this world. Ryuma glowed brightly in green, and holding the blade with a tight grip, Akashi flew toward the three tails.
Low amount of chakra remaining. Rising physical exhaustion.
Akashi planned on ending the fight against the three tails with just this one attack.
Having read his plan, the three tails too began to prepare.
Out of its mouth, the black energy began to gather. Taking on the form of a ball, it began to grow.
Bijuudama. The three tails was about to utilize the same technique that Yagura used in his jinchuriki form.
However, it seemed to be at least several-fold stronger.
'...This isn't enough.'
Akashi's instinct told him that the magnitude of the technique that he was about to use wasn't enough.
'Then,'
He had to improvise—in this second's time.
Water.
The layer of water surrounded the green energy that glowed around Ryuma.
Earth.
The layer of fine-grained earth swirled atop the layer of water.
Akashi needed to extract the energy, the 'Yang', out of them.
After all, all matter in this world today contains chakra. Chakra is born from the mix of spiritual and physical energies. Spiritual energy is called Yin, while physical energy is called Yang.
The spiritual energy, or the consciousness, separated one matter from the other. It was the trait that gave things their characteristics.
Akashi's Energy Release is about removing the spiritual energy from them. It was easier for the cases of fire, lightning, and wind, for they are closer to the definition of energy than water and earth.
Now, he had no choice. Although extracting the energy out of water and earth was harder, even though he was without practice, he had to do so.
That didn't mean he would fail, however.
Swoo...
The water and grain of earth rotated rapidly around the blade of green storm.
To repel the natural disaster named a tailed beast, Akashi was utilizing the power born from the very nature of the world.
And, his godly chakra control didn't let him down.
The water and earth disintegrated into the energy of their own. Smearing onto the layer of green, the energy brightened.
The color changed. Ryuma was no longer green, but a blazing white.
For the first time, Akashi completed a technique worthy of calling it as...
"Yang Release."
It was no longer an Energy Release, for unlike the mix of the energies from fire, lightning, and wind that contained the impurities, by mixing them with the energies of water and earth, it was in its purest form.
Yes, Yang Release it was.
"Blade of Ember."
The sky was no longer dark, but brighter than the day.
A white night.
"...It's as if,"
Mei whispered, with her eyes locked on Akashi,
"I am witnessing a sun."
The three tails blasted their gigantic Bijuudama.
However, against Akashi's blade, it was completely crushed, dispersing in an instant.
The blade continued to travel.
Upon Akashi's slash, the huge arc of white energy struck the three tails.
Then, the light brightened even further.
No longer able to witness the scene, everyone turned their eyes away.
The light took over the entire village.
...
Akashi was surrounded by white. Nothing was present around him but said color.
Ahead, he saw a young boy crying.
"Thank you... thank you..."
The boy whispered, wiping his eyes.
"Thank you... for freeing us..."
"You are..."
Akashi's face turned stoic.
"Karatachi Yagura."
"...Yes. That is my name."
Young Yagura, raising his head, turned his teary, pupilless eyes to Akashi.
"By ending my life and stopping Isobu, the genjutsu on the two of us was undone. All thanks to you."
Young Yagura was letting out the tears of joy, happy with the fact that he was freed from the life of a puppet.
"Before I go... I want to tell you one thing."
'...Genjutsu?'
Akashi frowned. It was the moment that his thinking earlier on turned out to be true.
"The name of the person who placed this accursed genjutsu on us. The one that made me become a tyrant, a fool hungry for nothing but power and destruction."
Akashi couldn't believe what he heard the next moment,
"Uchiha Madara."