Zzzzt!
The shrinking Lightning Release cage contracted inch by inch, slicing the alloy floor into neat metal strips.
The petite figure in the center stood motionless, seemingly helpless against the life-or-death crisis, as if she'd given up resisting.
The Lightning-Fire Dual Seal.
A combined technique fusing two of the most explosive chakra natures, with an A-rank difficulty. In the Cloud Village, only Darui could wield it.
Using the aggressive properties of lightning and fire, it formed an untouchable prison. Lightning countered water and earth, while the inner fire offset lightning's weakness to wind.
If not for its strict activation conditions—requiring pre-inscribed seals and luring the enemy into a trap—this technique would be flawless.
"Reveal your true identity and purpose, and I'll spare your life," Yagura said, suppressing his killing intent as he tried to persuade her. He never believed she was from the Mist's Anbu.
The Mist Village had long enforced a closed-border policy, separated from the Cloud by a vast ocean, with almost no conflicts. Her style and mask suggested she was a subordinate of the legendary "Darkness of the Shinobi."
The Cloud had recently clashed with the Leaf. It made sense if she was from the Leaf.
"Wrapping fire with lightning to create a high-temperature, high-pressure chakra surge—what a brilliant design," Haku said, ignoring his question. She studied the laser-like cage with excitement.
Countless techniques and knowledge surged through her mind—fire, water, wind, earth, lightning. Years of training and insights from her shadow clones fused together.
Water counters fire; wind counters lightning.
To break this seal, a wind-water combination was ideal. Haku extended her hands, summoning a violent storm and torrent in each palm.
The wind compression technique she'd learned from Danzo, the high-pressure water jet she'd abandoned after mastering lightning, the vacuum cannon she'd created from the Eight Trigrams Empty Palm but deemed too slow for her fighting style—all these discarded, uncontrollable techniques aligned under the inspiration of the Lightning-Fire seal.
Whoosh!
A massive volume of water compressed into a sphere, bubbles bursting with a rumbling roar. Her Byakugan analyzed the lightning-fire pillars' mechanics, her precise control wrapping the water ball in a dense wind membrane.
Seeing the terrifying chakra fluctuations from Haku's wind-water sphere, Darui's eyes narrowed, his chakra surging wildly.
Zzzzt!
The laser cage tightened, sparking against the floor, the already cramped prison now barely offering space.
The water sphere's pressure intensified, roaring like colliding rivers. Haku held the newly crafted orb—one hand above, one below—aiming at the shrinking cage and Darui's clasped hands.
Her wrists flared like petals, the water sphere trembling violently.
A chill ran down Darui's spine, a shock-like sense of danger shooting from his spine to his brain. His Anbu-honed instincts screamed in alarm.
"Get down!" Yagura's pupils shrank to pinpricks. His muscular arm shoved Darui's head down, both men hitting the ground.
Hiss!
The sound was like a pressure cooker venting or a cobra spitting venom.
A hair-thin water jet shot from the sphere's crack, its tip laced with wind chakra that tore through everything, emitting a mosquito-like whine.
The laser-like lightning-fire pillars contracted inward, clashing with the wind-water jet.
Zzzzt!
Arcs burst from the pillars' surface, but the wind sliced them in half, exposing the orange-red flames within.
Whoosh!
The scorching fire tried to ignite the wind, but the icy, pressurized water cooled and scattered it. The seemingly perfect lightning-fire pillars were pierced by the wind-water combo.
The high-speed jet cut through everything, grazing over Darui and Yagura's heads, punching a pinhole through the warehouse's thick alloy wall.
Zip!
Haku gripped the violently shaking water sphere, twisting it slightly. The piercing jet swept from left to right.
No resistance.
The lightning-fire cage erupted in sparks, and the entire alloy warehouse was sliced in two.
Hiss…
Sizzling steam filled the air.
Stepping out of the shattered prison, Haku crushed the now-drained water sphere. Looking at the two men rising from the ground, shaken, she tilted her chin. "Nice technique. What's your name?"
"D-Darui," he stammered, swallowing hard. The anger in his blue eyes had turned to fear. If Yagura hadn't pushed him down, he'd be in pieces like the bodies outside.
He stared at the ten-meter-thick alloy wall, a faint line of light at waist height cutting clean through. He'd never seen water rival lightning's penetration, and that wind membrane perfectly countered the lightning-fire pillars. The technique's precision made him question himself.
Had his intel leaked, letting her prepare? Or was it just bad luck, meeting a perfect counter?
Surely she hadn't created this technique on the spot to break the Lightning-Fire seal. That was too absurd to consider.
"Darui? Never heard of you," Haku said, searching her memories but finding no trace of him in the original story. He wasn't a notable character.
But…
She turned to the man in front of Darui.
His towering, iron-like physique and spiky hair seemed familiar.
Did all Cloud ninjas look the same?
"And you?"
"Yagura… of the Night Moon clan," he said gravely.
Staring at the silently pierced alloy wall, he knew his Lightning chakra mode stood little chance against that jet. She was a formidable foe.
"Is Yagura the Elder your father?" Haku asked.
"You are from the Leaf's Root!" Yagura growled, lightning arcs crackling across his face, his tiger-like eyes wide. Hearing his father's name confirmed her identity.
This was the Leaf's revenge.
Zzzzt!
Lightning flared from Haku's body—the Cloud's secret technique, Lightning chakra mode.
No words were needed.
Using the Night Moon clan's sacred Lightning Armor before them was a blatant provocation, igniting Yagura's fury.
Boom!
His right leg slammed into the ground.
Using the recoil, Yagura's body shot forward like a cannonball.
In less than half a second, his massive frame loomed over Haku, casting her in shadow.
His fierce eyes locked onto her.
That wind-water technique required three to four seconds to prepare—enough time to pound her into pulp.
This was the confidence of a taijutsu specialist.
His arm muscles bulged as he raised a fist the size of a sandbag, smashing toward Haku's face.
"Such a predictable attack," Haku muttered.
Activating her neurons with Lightning Release, her Byakugan pupils contracted. The fist's high-speed approach slowed to a crawl in her vision.
Yagura the Elder had once overwhelmed her with Lightning chakra mode's speed and reflexes. Now, having mastered the same technique, Haku had erased her weaknesses.
With Lightning Armor and Byakugan synced, her reflexes and dynamic vision aligned. Attacks too fast for normal eyes were snail-like to her.
Bzzz!
Lightning stimulated her muscles.
Sidestepping the fierce punch, she planted one foot, raising the other.
Her muscles coiled into a unified force.
Zzzzt!
Lightning chakra surged to her toes, the blinding flash like a flare in the dark, dazzling Yagura.
Side kick!
Whoosh!
The warehouse echoed with a thunderous boom as her black-tipped foot slammed into Yagura's left ribs.
Zzzzt!
Lightning clashed, neither yielding.
But the sheer force sent Yagura's feet off the ground, his massive body flying sideways like a broken kite.
Boom!
He crashed into the wall.
The already-sliced wall couldn't hold, and Yagura smashed through, flying out of the warehouse.
It all happened in under three seconds—from Yagura's charge to his ejection.
Only then did Darui finish his final hand seal.
His chest puffed up.
Wind Release: Vacuum Wave Barrage!
Bzzz!
Continuous vacuum slashes sprayed from Darui's mouth. As a Cloud ninja, he knew Lightning Armor's weakness.
Its defense relied on offense, destroying anything that got close with lightning.
But against high-frequency Wind Release, Lightning Armor struggled to keep up, unable to fully defend.
As the endless vacuum slashes barreled toward her, Haku wouldn't let them hit. As a shadow clone, even a scratch could dispel her.
No need to test Lightning chakra mode's defense.
With a flash of lightning, she dodged the vacuum waves.
The ground trembled.
A terrifying weight, like a charging elephant, hurtled toward Darui.
The best way to counter a genjutsu or ninjutsu specialist was a swift, close-range assault.
Though she'd called Yagura's attack unoriginal, Haku made the same choice.
Battles didn't need novelty—just efficient kills.
Bzzz!
The vacuum waves pummeled the wall.
The warehouse, already missing a load-bearing wall, couldn't hold.
Creak!
With a piercing groan, the roof tilted, and the ten-ton steel-alloy ceiling collapsed.
Darui smirked. Everyone knew taijutsu specialists' tactics. The vacuum waves weren't meant to hit a lightning-fast enemy.
As the owl-masked figure closed in, her eyes pitch-black…
Zzzzt!
Lightning Armor wrapped Darui's body. Standing at the door, he darted out of the collapsing warehouse before Haku.
"Captain!"
Yagura, somehow already at the door, saw Haku charging. Crossing his arms over his chest, he braced himself.
Boom!
They collided.
The gap in mass and strength was stark. Yagura felt like he'd been hit by an elephant, his body flying back without pause.
His lungs jolted, and he spat blood mid-air.
But his block halted Haku's charge.
The heavy beams and roof collapsed, walls toppling, dust rising. In moments, the warehouse was rubble.
"Ugh! Cough, cough!"
Yagura, flung dozens of meters, coughed on the ground, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, staining the earth.
The metallic taste filled his lungs.
This was Lightning chakra mode's second weakness.
Its frenzied lightning could resist blades and ninjutsu but not raw physical force. Usually, he overwhelmed enemies with his strength. This was his first taste of being crushed by power.
His organs were nearly displaced, his heart and lungs heavily injured.
"Cough—Darui, is the enemy down?"
"…"
Silence.
A chilling silence answered him.
A bad feeling rose in Yagura's chest. Propping himself up, his stern eyes widened.
At the rubble's center…
The black figure stood unscathed, a crimson cloak billowing in the wind.
A malevolent black-red chakra formed two giant hands. One propped up the ten-ton warehouse wreckage; the other, stretching over ten meters, gripped Darui's head, lifting him into the air.
"Meow—!"
Darui's legs flailed, but he couldn't resist the terrifying strength. His eyes rolled back, his face purple.
The giant hand tightened, Darui's Lightning Armor sparking wildly.
"Aaagh!"
His scream pierced the sky.
Crunch!
The sickening sound of crushed bones echoed. Darui's head exploded in the crimson hand, red and white splattering like a smashed watermelon.
Thud.
His headless body fell, blending with the corpses on the ground.
The figure in the crimson cloak sauntered out of the ruins.
Boom!
The roof finally collapsed, kicking up more dust.
Pale red bubbles rose into the sky. The roiling black clouds stopped churning, now eerily converging and spinning.
The air grew humid, green sprouts emerging from the earth.
Yagura's throat went dry as he watched the girl approach, cloaked in fiery red.
The Cloud Village housed the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails Jinchuriki. As a former Anbu captain, Yagura knew what that malleable crimson cloak signified.
This girl was the Leaf's… perfect Jinchuriki!