"Tou, Seito, Nauma, Kitane—you four handle them! When the time comes, we'll take down Danzo together!" Chiriku shouted after knocking out several Land of Fire samurai with a casual strike, calling out to the Lightning Release Four.
"Got it!" the four responded in unison.
"Lightning Release: Earth Current!"
All four formed hand signs simultaneously. Powerful lightning chakra surged into their palms, and as they slammed their hands onto the ground, arcs of lightning in the shape of snakes spread in every direction.
Crackle—Zzzzzzt!
The sound of crackling electricity echoed throughout the Daimyō's residence.
A wave of samurai collapsed as if mowed down by a scythe, their limbs twitching, foaming at the mouth, utterly incapacitated.
The combined jutsu of four elite jōnin was nothing short of devastating.
The Daimyō's face darkened, and he immediately took cover behind Fuka, Fudō, and Fuen.
Though Chiriku and the Lightning Release Four Ninja claimed they were doing this for the sake of the Land of Fire, the Daimyō wasn't naive enough to believe it.
To serve a lord is to follow his commands. Disobedience, especially under threat of force, was rebellion—nothing less.
Chiriku engaged Kazuma in a fierce battle—blow for blow, neither side yielding.
Meanwhile, the remaining five members of the Twelve Guardian Ninja were being overwhelmed by the Lightning Release Four. The Daimyō, visibly unsettled, shouted, "Danzo! Help me capture them!"
"Understood." The Danzo clone—actually an embodiment created by Uchiha Itachi's genjutsu—set down Izumi Uchiha, cracked his neck and knuckles, and strode toward the Lightning Release Four Ninja .
With Danzo joining the fray, the pressure on the defenders finally eased.
"Welcoming Approach: Thousand-Armed Murder!" Seeing Danzo enter the battlefield, Chiriku swiftly formed hand signs, pressed his palms together in a monk's prayer gesture, and released his sage chakra.
A colossal, golden Thousand-Armed Kannon formed behind him, shattering the ceiling as it rose into the sky.
It blotted out the sun.
From the mouth of the Kannon came the sound of a sacred chant—haunting, otherworldly, and utterly hypnotic.
It was like falling into a dream, a trance of divine awe.
"So it really is Sage Art... Remarkable. It closely resembles the First Hokage's Sage Art: Wood Release: True Several Thousand Hands. Not quite as powerful, but still formidable," Danzo muttered.
Thanks to his Mangekyō Sharingan, ordinary sound-based genjutsu had no effect on him.
But others weren't so lucky.
The Daimyō's samurai and servants froze, stunned by the sheer majesty of the towering, golden, glowing statue. They collapsed to their knees, reverently bowing like pious monks, faces solemn and worshipful.
They were already trapped in the genjutsu.
"Genjutsu: Release!" Kazuma and the remaining Guardian Ninja quickly disrupted their chakra flows to break the genjutsu.
But it was too late.
As they shook off the illusion, Chiriku had already prepared his ultimate attack.
The Thousand-Armed Kannon reared back.
Thousands of chakra-enveloped fists launched downward at Danzo, Kazuma, and the rest of the defenders.
Simultaneously, the Lightning Release Four Ninja moved into formation—positioned at the cardinal points of the battlefield.
"Damn it! Block it!"
"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!" The five remaining Guardian Ninja formed hand signs and raised earthen walls to protect Kazuma and Danzo.
Ora ora ora ora—muda muda muda muda!!
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
Thousands of chakra fists rained down like meteor strikes. The area was reduced to rubble. The earth walls shattered like paper. Deep craters riddled the ground, each one marked with massive fist imprints.
"Cough, cough! That... was intense." Among them, only Danzo and Kazuma remained standing. The other five lay gravely wounded, unconscious or worse—completely out of the fight.
"We... we lost?" the Daimyō murmured in disbelief.
Seven against five—and they still lost?
"You've won," Kazuma gasped, his breathing ragged.
"Won? No—so long as you're still alive, we haven't truly won." Chiriku panted heavily, clearly drained from using the Sage Art. "Only by removing those who deceive and manipulate the Daimyō can true peace come to the Land of Fire—and to Konoha."
He collapsed to the ground, the Thousand-Armed Kannon vanishing behind him.
"Tou, Seito, Nauma, Kitane!"
"Move!"
"Understood!" The Lightning Release Four Ninja were now positioned at the cardinal directions—East, West, South, and North. Their bodies crackled with intense lightning chakra, which began converging in the sky above them.
"Damn it—they're about to unleash a forbidden technique!" Kazuma's expression changed drastically. He turned to Fuka, Fudō, and Fuen, shouting, "Stop them! Now!"
Lightning Release: Lightning Dream Lightning People was a high-level forbidden ninjutsu.
When cast by four shinobi simultaneously from four corners, it turned everything within their zone into ashes—leaving nothing behind. Its destructive power rivaled a Tailed Beast Bomb—capable of leveling a city or even a nation.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Dream Lightning People!" the four shouted in unison.
A single, massive bolt of violet lightning struck down from the heavens.
KA-BOOM!!
Everything within the four's formation—land, people, matter—was vaporized. Reduced to nothing.
At that moment, Fuka, Fudō, and Fuen reached the four, knocking them to the ground and sealing their chakra pathways.
But Chiriku didn't flinch. Instead, he smiled faintly and looked at the Daimyō.
"Are you truly willing to kill Tou, Seito, and Nauma?"
"If you do... the Twelve Guardian Ninja will be down to just me and Kitane."
"Do you think if you kill them, we'll simply let it go?"
"Do you really think these three jōnin can stop me and Kitane?"
"In the end, we'd destroy each other. And when that happens... who wins, and who loses?"
"When all of the Twelve Guardian Ninja are dead... who will be left to protect you from assassination attempts by other nations?"
The Daimyō's face turned grim, then flushed with fury.
"If not for you," he roared, "the Guardian Ninja wouldn't be in this mess!"
"If not for you, the Daimyō's residence wouldn't be in ruins!"
"This is all your fault!!" he bellowed.
Chiriku let out a cold laugh. "Everything I did was for the sake of the Land of Fire. For peace."
"If only you had heeded my advice, none of this would have happened. If you hadn't listened to Danzo, the Land of Fire would be at peace right now."
"This is all Danzo's fault! All yours, you blind fool!" Chiriku snapped, eyes bloodshot, his voice cracking with rage. His sanity was hanging by a thread.
"Enough! Kill them!!" the Daimyō shouted.
Tou, Seito, and Nauma were immediately pierced through the heart with kunai—executed without hesitation.
"KILL!!" Kitane and Chiriku erupted in fury at the death of their brothers. Blood boiling, rage overtaking reason, they tore past Fuka, Fudō, and Fuen, charging straight toward the Daimyō.
The Daimyō panicked and tried to flee.
Just as Chiriku reached out, ready to capture the Daimyō and force the others into a standoff, Danzo, still accompanied by Kazuma, suddenly appeared in front of the Daimyō.
He grabbed Chiriku's outstretched hand.
"Whether you can stop us... isn't up to you," Danzo said coldly. "It's up to me."