"Go and die!"
Before the Raikage could even speak, a squad of elite jōnin hidden in the shadows rushed forward!
They knew the man before them—Ryoma—had already slain the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, the Third Mizukage, and was now hailed as one of Konoha's new powerhouses. If they could take him down here, their names would spread across the entire shinobi world. They would become heroes of Kumogakure!
Even if the difference in strength was overwhelming, they believed it impossible for one man to slaughter them all. With thousands of comrades behind them, even sheer numbers could crush him to death!
Suppressing their chakra, the six jōnin appeared around Ryoma in an instant, their kunai suddenly crackling with terrifying arcs of lightning.
"Lightning Release: Sonic Thunder Blade!"
This jutsu channels lightning chakra into a blade, amplifying its sharpness. By generating high-frequency vibrations, it grants the weapon penetration power that even wind techniques struggle to match. It was a signature assassination art of Kumogakure's elites.
Ryoma glanced at the six shinobi surrounding him, a faint smile curling on his lips. His figure blurred, vanishing from their simultaneous strikes.
The Third Raikage's brow furrowed.
"What speed…"
The thought barely formed before his eyes widened, and he roared:
"Retreat, now!"
"Huh?"
The six jōnin hesitated. What was happening?
Their gazes instinctively shifted to the ground—Ryoma was said to wield Wood Release like the First Hokage, a bloodline powerful enough to slay even the Mizukage. They braced for Mokuton.
But instead, Ryoma weaved a different set of seals.
"Water Release: Water Gun Technique — Barrage!"
Inherited from the Hōzuki clan, this secret technique forms a pistol shape with the hand, firing compressed streams of water like bullets. Ryoma unleashed a reinforced version—both hands spitting rapid-fire torrents like twin machine guns!
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!
The six jōnin were riddled with holes in an instant, collapsing into bloody heaps.
"Damn you! Lightning Release: Thunderclap Arrow Axe!"
The Third Raikage erupted with crackling lightning, killing intent surging as he leapt skyward. His leg, wrapped in violent chakra, came crashing down on Ryoma.
Boom!
The strike obliterated Ryoma's body—only for the Raikage to realize it was a mere afterimage!
Ryoma had already outpaced him, slipping past and charging straight into Kumogakure's thousand-man formation.
"Stop him!"
To the shinobi of Kumogakure, it seemed suicidal—one man rushing alone into their ranks. But in the next breath, confusion turned to horror.
Ten… twenty… thirty… shinobi were sent flying, smashed aside like dolls.
"Too refreshing…"
Ryoma's blows looked simple, a punch or a kick, yet each landed with monstrous power.
The Raikage turned, stunned. Ryoma rampaged like a tiger in a flock of sheep—every strike dropping another victim. No one could stand against him.
"Clear out, all of you!"
The Raikage bellowed, and the thousand shinobi retreated in waves.
But Ryoma didn't relent. He dove into each group before they could scatter, fists and kicks dropping dozens more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
One man against a thousand! A pure taijutsu massacre.
Ryoma kicked one shinobi aside, then spun to floor another with a punch. His form loomed larger and larger in their terrified eyes. A hapless chūnin stumbled back, frozen in fear, only for Ryoma's fist to fill his vision before he collapsed.
Using the fallen as a springboard, Ryoma vaulted high, crashing down into another cluster. His kick shattered the earth, injuring three jōnin instantly.
"Die!"
A Kumogakure jōnin slashed with a lightning-imbued blade. Ryoma sidestepped, raised his hand in pistol form, and fired. The water bullet pierced clean through the man's chest.
"Ugh—!"
The shinobi fell, lifeless.
"Damn it!"
Killer B's brother, the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, Fukai, growled in fury. In mere moments, Ryoma had flattened over a hundred shinobi. If this continued, Kumogakure's forces would be destroyed before even reaching Konoha.
One man against a thousand—undeniably kage-level strength.
And yet, Ryoma hadn't even used Mokuton.
Fukai and the Raikage exchanged grim looks. This couldn't be the First Hokage's bloodline at work. No—this man fought with Water Release. He had to be of Tobirama's lineage!
Without hesitation, Fukai's body swelled, tails sprouting as he entered a half-transformed state of Gyūki, the Eight-Tails. Horns jutted from his head as he charged at Ryoma.
Simultaneously, the Third Raikage burst forward from the opposite side. Both raised their right arms, their killing intent united.
The infamous tag-team of Raikage and Jinchūriki—A and B Combo!
"Lightning Release: Double Lariat!"
From both sides, their lightning-clad strikes closed in, giving Ryoma no escape.
Still in the midst of crushing Kumogakure's rank-and-file, Ryoma sensed the killing intent and turned.
"Wood Release: Wooden Golem Technique!"
A massive wooden avatar rose, but the Raikage and Fukai struck before it could fully emerge, shattering it instantly. Ryoma narrowly avoided being cleaved in two, perched atop the golem's head.
BOOM!
The blast shook the battlefield.
Ryoma dropped low, ducking under Fukai's swing, his hand glowing with five-elemental chakra. He drove his fingers deep into the jinchūriki's stomach.
"Sealing Technique: Five Elements Unseal!"
Fukai roared, his chakra cloak flaring—but it couldn't withstand the Five Elements Seal Release. Ryoma's hand pushed through, reaching into the core of the jinchūriki's body, pressing directly against the seal binding Gyūki.
The technique honed through the First Hokage's experience in subduing all nine tailed beasts was now unleashed—on the Eight-Tails' host!
Even if you have the tailed-beast chakra cloak, you can still be stabbed.
Pierce the deepest seal.
Five-Element Unsealing!
The Eight-Tails' seal shattered in an instant.
"Roaaar!"
Fuguki's tailed-beast chakra surged, ready to erupt at Ryoma's head — and then it lost control.
"Ugh!"
The jinchūriki clapped both hands to his face and bellowed, the roar swallowing the clearing. Even the Konoha shinobi who had been guarding the perimeter snapped awake and stood to attention.
"What's happening?!"
From the shadowed treeline a poisonous, oppressive chakra bled into the air. Fuguki's Eight-Tails chakra flared madly, wrapping the host like a living storm. When a half-transformed jinchūriki completes his beast, he becomes the beast itself — and Fuguki was on the verge of that terrifying change.
The Raikage's three elite thunder-shinobi erupted in brilliant black lightning. "Die!" they howled, launching a combined assault — Lightning Release: Thunder Plow Blade!
Rumble!
Their forms flickered and slammed straight through the darkness where Ryoma had been and struck the shifting mass that was Fuguki.
The blow was meant to hit two targets at once — Fuguki and whoever stood beside him. But Ryoma's body dissolved into a swirl of smoke and slowly dispersed.
Everyone's pupils constricted. Even the Third Raikage felt ice crawl up his spine.
That massive shock… and it was only a shadow clone?!
"Calm yourselves!" the Third Raikage barked, but before he could close the distance a streak of golden light stabbed into the exact spot where he'd stood.
Bang.
The ground ruptured, tearing a crater and throwing up a plume of dust. In the blast Fuguki howled uncontrollably, the seal broken and the beast's power spiraling.
The Raikage's hand went numb. An instinctive, terrible premonition clawed at him. He turned — and found that the ape-like, golden staff technique had appeared behind him.
With both hands the staff slammed, launching the three Raikage blades into the air. The wielder's movement blurred: handprints streaked through the air faster than eyes could follow.
The man who carried the name of "Dr. Ninja" was not idle. His shadow clone split five-ways in an instant — the body and four shadow copies sealing at the same time.
"Wood Release: Quintuple Element Barrage!"
The main body and four shadow clones struck with five different element attributes — fire, lightning, water, earth, wind — and besieged the enemy in a coordinated onslaught designed to shatter chakra defenses.
Rumble!
The three Raikage warriors crashed to the ground in a cloud of sparks and ripped chakra. Their bodies were blasted and scorched in multiple places; some flesh was seared or frozen, some torn by the force. They were covered in fresh wounds.
"Retreat!" the Raikage ordered, casting a reluctant glance at Sarutobi and Tsunade as he pulled back. Even with Fuguki unsealed and raging, preserving the village came first.
Sarutobi wanted to pursue, but the maddened jinchūriki's powers surged and forced him to fall back as well.
Fuguki did not chase the ape-staff wielder. His gaze snapped toward the fleeing Kumogakure shinobi; Ryoma's shadow clone onslaught had already torn huge holes in their formation. Thousand-strong squads collapsed into chaos.
What chilled every Kumogakure ninja was this: the devastation had been wrought by a mere shadow clone of Ryoma.
If his shadow clone was this fearsome, what must the real Night-Maple body be?
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and watched Ryoma's shadow press the assault. "Ryoma is right — Kumogakure wanted to strike east," he muttered.
A breathless shinobi rushed up. "Report, Naruto-sama! Mito has lost control — Fuguki broke the seal and ran rampant. Konoha is in chaos!"
Sarutobi's jaw tightened. "Fall back! Secure the village!" he snarled. This threat to the villagers could not be ignored. Tsunade and Uzumaki Mito followed, abandoning the chase for now.
…
Thousands of miles away, in the country of Yu where the two village delegations met, the Fourth Genai stared at Ryoma with ice in his gaze. The female secretary at his side slammed her palm on the table. "Ryoma! Are you saying Kumogakure attacked you on purpose? Are you trying to start a war? Do you realize the consequences?"
Ryoma looked at the woman and formed his hand into a pistol shape.
Swish.
Water Release: Water Gun.
A single compressed shot pierced straight through the secretary's heart. She collapsed where she stood, her eyes wide in shock.
Silence fell. Every negotiator at the table stared, stunned.
"Ryoma — what is the meaning of this?" the Fourth Genai roared. Lightning flared along his arms and detonated the negotiation table into splinters.
"What is the meaning?" Ryoma echoed, standing and rolling his shoulder as if nothing had happened. "She talked too much."
"I'm going after Fuguki," he said calmly. "You lot — hold them here."
And with that he was gone, vanishing like smoke toward the chaos he had unleashed.
...
TN:
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