Chapter 122n
2-in-1-chapter
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Swept into the sky like a kite caught in a whirlwind, Meguro was flung far into the distance. But to his surprise, he felt almost no pain. He had expected to be shredded to pieces. As someone well-versed in Lightning Release, he understood Wind Style's cruelty—its terrifying slicing force.
Given the scale of that storm, he thought he was done for.
Being chopped apart would've been a blessing. More likely, he had expected to be turned into minced flesh.
But when the wind actually hit him, he realized something: while the power was enormous—enough to blow him and his two comrades far away—Uchiha Rēn hadn't activated Wind Release's deadly cutting properties at all.
"Shisui!"
Having purposely missed his chance to land a fatal blow, Rēn didn't pursue.
Instead, he shouted across the battlefield.
Uchiha Shisui, hearing the call, sheathed his sword. As he did, he casually slit the throat of a nearby attacker. Blood sprayed from the wound with a sharp hiss, like a burst pipe. Yet not a drop touched Shisui's sleeves.
He had already moved using Body Flicker, arriving at Rēn's side in an instant.
"What do you need?" he asked.
"Go capture that one—Meguro." Rēn lifted his fan and pointed toward the distant storm and the figure tumbling through it. "Don't let him escape. He dared raise a hand against me, so he must accept the consequences. Alive or dead—just bring him back to me."
Saying that, Rēn gave Shisui a knowing look.
"Leave it to me."
Understanding the implications, Shisui took a deep breath and sprinted off after the storm. Meanwhile, Rēn surveyed the surroundings. All around him rang the sounds of clashing steel—Mist-nin fighting Mist-nin, Mist-nin fighting Konoha, and Mist-nin standing by each other, not interfiring.
Once Meguro, the lead coordinator of the welcoming party, revealed himself as an attacker, anyone with a functioning mind could deduce that his subordinates were likely complicit. In fact, that's exactly what was happening. From the moment Meguro openly attacked Rēn, the battlefield erupted in chaos. The scale of combat intensified dramatically.
Those Mist-nin who had previously been staging half-hearted skirmishes now turned their full aggression on the returning Mist-nin forces accompanying Yagura. It was unlikely they expected to annihilate the entire unit. More likely, they intended to buy enough time to eliminate Yagura and the Konoha shinobi.
Rēn narrowed his eyes, his mind rapidly calculating.
........
"Bastards… All of you are bastards!"
Terumi Mei was livid.
The whip of water in her hand slithered like a living snake, tightly wrapping around her chosen prey. She stepped forward and, with swift brutality, shattered the bones of one Mist-nin attacker. At that moment, she understood why the Fourth Mizukage had been so harsh in suppressing his own men before.
Compared to death, a few broken bones and two or three months in a hospital bed were nothing.
Standing on the body of a Mist-nin who had passed out from pain, Mei quickly surveyed the area. She saw the assassins converging toward the Fourth Mizukage and the Konoha shinobi, throwing explosive tags as if they cost nothing. Even Konoha's battle-hardened ninja had no choice but to fall back under such a barrage.
This was, truly, a burn-money tactic.
Explosive tags were expensive, especially in the Land of Water, where Fire Style users were scarce. Even fewer people had the time and skill to craft the tags themselves. Kirigakure couldn't produce enough to meet demand and had to rely on the black market.
And black market prices were downright gouging.
"Meguro, you bastard…"
Terumī Mei clenched her teeth.
There was no way so many explosive tags could have come out of Meguro's own pocket. The most likely explanation was that Meguro had accessed, without authorization, the supplies stockpiled at the port intended for the frontline troops. That had to be it. As the largest port in the western part of the island, this location served as a vital hub connecting to the frontlines. Vast quantities of materials were stored here, and explosive tags, being military-grade supplies, were always prepared in surplus—never lacking.
And now, all of it had been wasted on that bastard Meguro.
"Mangetsu, Kisame, Zabuza, come with me. We're going to support the Konoha shinobi. Don't let too many of those idiots get themselves killed." The "idiots" Mei referred to weren't the Konoha shinobi—but the Mist-nin who had launched the attack. After drifting at sea with them for days, she knew full well just how dangerous that seemingly small squad of Konoha shinobi really was. They were hardened killers, through and through.
Meguro's subordinates were capable, yes, but even without comparing them to Konoha, the defeated forces behind Mei—composed of some of the Hidden Mist's top prodigies—could thrash them easily. Hōzuki Mangetsu, Hoshigaki Kisame, Momochi Zabuza, Ringo Ameyuri—every one of them was an elite.
"What a pain."
Hōzuki Mangetsu shattered another charging water clone. His Water Gun Technique pierced both clone and explosive tag, causing them to fizzle out and drop as useless scraps into a puddle. "If those idiots want to die, let them. Why bother saving them? Even if we do, odds are they won't be grateful. Drag them back to the village and it's just more trouble."
"Don't talk nonsense. Meguro's actions are one thing, but the rank-and-file soldiers likely don't even know the truth. Besides, we're all Mist-nin. They're our comrades."
As Mei spoke, she had already leapt into action on her own initiative.
Mangetsu scratched his head hard and sighed in irritation. He hated tasks like this. Taking captives was too troublesome. Bringing them back meant trials, imprisonment, executions… He could already picture the wave of headaches flooding in like a tide.
"Seriously, what a damn pain."
He grumbled under his breath, but still, faced with hundreds of Mist-nin now engaged in chaotic combat, his face darkened and he moved to intervene. This time, he avoided using the highly destructive Water Gun Technique. Instead, he employed a restraining-style technique, like Water Whip, to control the situation.
Hoshigaki Kisame followed suit. This man, who resembled a shark, was a model shinobi. He never let personal feelings interfere with the mission. As deputy commander of the forces, Mei's orders would be carried out with one hundred percent precision by Kisame.
Of course, not everyone was like Kisame.
Some, like Momochi Zabuza, stood off to the side.
No matter what Yagura Karatachi had gone through, Zabuza had long concluded that Yagura was an unfit, incompetent Mizukage. During the days on the ship, Zabuza had already been contemplating the idea of gathering like-minded allies to overthrow Yagura once he recovered from his injuries.
He hadn't expected someone else to beat him to it.
Zabuza had no intention of rescuing Yagura. But neither did he want to associate with the group responsible for the ambush. If the Fourth Mizukage were to be assassinated, Zabuza wanted to be the one to do it—personally. Not some tagalong to someone else's scheme. So he acted as if he hadn't heard Mei's command and joined a number of like-minded Jōnin who had chosen to sit out the chaos. Together, they stood by, watching coldly as their fellow Mist-nin tore each other apart.
Even so, the attackers were clearly no match for the returning veteran forces from the frontlines—let alone with Konoha shinobi reinforcing them. The attackers found themselves increasingly cornered. Their commander, Meguro, had already been swept away by a single strike of Rēn's fan and hadn't been seen since. Gradually, their assault began to falter.
Yet paradoxically, the more desperate their situation became, the more these young attackers seemed to awaken a bloodthirsty, unrelenting will.
Realizing their inferiority in combat strength, they didn't fall back to regroup. Instead, they launched a new offensive with a suicidal ferocity. This time, they abandoned the use of standard techniques and focused entirely on mass-producing Water Clones, strapping them with explosive tags and sending them charging forward in self-detonating waves.
Boom!!
Boom!!
Deafening explosions rang out one after another. The intense heat from the blasts instantly evaporated the clones, filling the battlefield with thick white mist. Visibility, already poor, dropped even further. Without advanced sensory abilities, it was like fighting blind.
"Damn it, how many explosive tags do they have? Did these Mist-nin empty out Kirigakure's entire supply depot?!"
Inuzuka Gaku and his ninja hounds scrambled back from the waves of detonations, retreating to regroup with their allies. He cursed furiously. Not even the wealthiest parts of Konoha would burn through explosive tags like this. No matter the village, most Genin and Chūnin had to buy a few tags out-of-pocket as a last resort. Only during full-scale war did villages distribute supplies like kunai, explosive tags, and ration pills per soldier.
"They're heading straight for the Mizukage and Lord Rēn!"
Yamanaka Mokuren, using his clan's mental techniques, tracked the enemy's movements and relayed the situation to the others nearby.
"They're going for Lord Rēn too?" Kurama Unkai raised an eyebrow. If the attackers had targeted only the Mizukage, the outcome would have been uncertain. But now that they were aiming for Rēn as well, "Looks like we won't need to lift a finger," he muttered. His comment was met with nods of agreement all around.
From the very beginning, Rēn had sensed something off about this assassination attempt against Yagura Karatachi. On the surface, the reasoning seemed solid—radical factions within Kirigakure, fed up with Yagura's abysmal rule, launching a direct strike against him.
And yet—
The timing was wrong.
They hadn't waited to strike when Yagura was isolated and vulnerable. Instead, they chose to move right after he had returned with his army in full strength. Was the mastermind behind this soaked in so much water that it had muddled their brain? Or perhaps—this so-called assassination of the Mizukage was just a smokescreen, a diversion for some other, hidden objective.
At that point, his train of thought hit a wall. Rēn remained certain his instincts were correct, but the missing piece was still out of reach. What was the attackers true goal?
"With just these small fry... what could they possibly achieve?"
He watched as another Mist-nin burst through the thick fog, their body covered in ignited explosive tags—most likely another water clone. Rēn swatted lazily with the Fan as if brushing away an insect. He'd only infused it with a small amount of chakra, yet even that was enough to summon a violent gust that shattered the fragile clone. The explosions from the tags were swept backward in the same motion, carried back along the wind path.
Still—
The nuisance of insects was in their persistence. Swat one, and two more buzzed in.
Using waves of explosive tags to clear the path, the attackers forcibly drove back the Konoha shinobi blocking the way. They carved open a narrow passage leading straight toward Rēn. Clone and true body alike surged forward, one after another, falling over the uneven terrain now riddled with cratered scorch marks. Blood and water splashed indiscriminately as Mist-nin threw themselves into the breach.
The sight only deepened Rēn's confusion.
Throwing lives away like this—what was the purpose?
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