"Bang!"
A thick plume of white smoke billowed upward, swirling lazily before thinning to reveal the titans at its core.
A massive, pudgy Giant Salamander loomed central, ringed by a colossal blue-and-white Slug oozing protective slime, a toad gripping a towering cleaver with casual menace, and a serpentine giant snake coiling restlessly in the mist.
The nearby shinobi wasted no time, scattering with swift Body Flicker bursts to carve out breathing room for the behemoths' clash.
"Oh? These are your big guns?" Hanzo sneered from his perch atop the Giant Salamander's broad skull, his gaze sweeping the quartet with mocking ease. "Even the fabled Three Great Sage Realms? Mere fragile toys in my world—shatter at the first real swing."
His keen eyes had clocked the origins instantly: summons hailing from the mythic realms of toad, snake, and slug lore. Yet fear found no foothold; to Hanzo, these beasts amplified their summoners at best, but bridged no chasms. Tsunade's crew lagged miles behind his edge—no pets would flip that script.
Gamabunta, freshly materialized and itching to boast his arrival, bristled at the slight before a word escaped. Rage flared hot; hind legs coiled like springs, launching him skyward in a thunderous bound. He plummeted toward Hanzo mid-leap, cleaver whistling down in a devastating overhead chop aimed to cleave skull and all.
"Watch it—tighten up!" Jiraiya bellowed from his vantage on the toad's crown, voice laced with urgent warning.
"Clang-clang-clang!"
Hanzo met the assault coolly, chains rattling free from his form. A precise whip of his wrist snagged the cleaver mid-descent, locking it fast. With a savage yank, he unbalanced the massive toad, the weapon ripping loose from Gamabunta's grip and spinning away.
Wrist snapping again, Hanzo redirected the momentum—the chained scythe at the links' end hurtling toward Gamabunta's exposed dome like a boomerang of death.
"Water Release: Needle Jizo!"
"Hiss—hiss—hiss."
Jiraiya countered in a flash, his mane exploding outward in elongated, rigid spikes that intercepted the blade. Sparks erupted in a furious cascade, metal grinding on fortified hair, but the defense held firm, blunting the lethal arc.
With the opening breached, Orochimaru and Tsunade surged into the melee from their flanks. The four colossal summons collided in a maelstrom of roars and thrashing limbs—claws raking, fangs snapping, the ground quaking under their fury.
Elsewhere, as the elite duel ignited, the broader armies mirrored the spark. Lines blurred into chaos, Konoha and Amegakure waves crashing together in a symphony of steel and shouts, the plain erupting into full-scale bedlam.
"Water Release: Rain Array!"
From his squad's anchor, Kyuushin triggered his First Gate Gene Lock in a surge, palms slamming together to unleash the opener. Chakra flooded outward in a torrent, birthing a shimmering veil overhead. From it, a barrage of pressurized water projectiles rained down, a storm of liquid lead punching toward the Rain shinobi ranks.
"Swish-swish-swish!"
A handful of foes crumpled before awareness dawned, holes blooming through armor and flesh. Survivors scrambled defenses, weaving hasty jutsu barriers, but the array's might proved relentless—each shot a high-velocity dart with piercing bite. Singular blocks buckled under the onslaught; the deluge overwhelmed, shattering shields and claiming lives in sprays of mist and blood.
As the technique faded, a swath of Rain ninja sprawled lifeless before Kyuushin, the earth slick with their end.
Konoha comrades nearby froze for a split-second, awe flickering across faces at the redhead's raw display. Battle's roar offered no pause for praise, though; they filed the image away—a young powerhouse worth watching in the grind.
Across the field, Hanzo—locked in his tangle with the Sannin—sensed the chakra spike like a fresh wound. A glance diverted his focus: dozens of his troops felled by the unfamiliar barrage. Fury twisted his features; Body Flicker primed, he coiled to teleport and erase the source.
Orochimaru anticipated, sleeves flaring as a nest of serpents erupted, lashing toward Hanzo in writhing coils bent on binding.
Hanzo's brow furrowed, scythe blurring in rapid arcs to sever the onslaught—heads tumbling, bodies twitching. The bind failed, but it shattered his launch window, buying precious seconds.
Tsunade pounced on the lapse, vaulting from Katsuyu's back in a blur. Her fist rocketed forward, a meteor aimed at Hanzo's torso. Perched high on the salamander, evasion cramped, he countered by angling his scythe into a desperate guard.
"Boom!"
The impact thundered, Tsunade's blow driving Hanzo to one knee atop his mount. The Giant Salamander buckled, sinking into churned soil as fissures spiderwebbed outward, the plain groaning under the force.
Hanzo stifled a grunt, chakra flaring in a explosive pulse that hurled Tsunade back. He flexed his throbbing arm, gravity etching his expression for the first time—serious, unyielding.
The trio pressed him hard enough to deny easy outs; solo, he'd dismantle any one with calculated ease, but their seamless interplay turned the tide, quick kills elusive.
Resigned, Hanzo dragged his focus inward, ignoring the wider carnage. The duel reignited fiercer, blows and jutsu flying in a deadly ballet.
Kyuushin, oblivious to the unwanted spotlight, held position after his strike. The Rain Array's moniker understated its pedigree: the Second Hokage's signature A-rank masterpiece, its devastation proof in the tally of fallen.
His brief lull stemmed not from fatigue—chakra reserves brimmed—but from scanning for Minato and Nawaki.
They'd shadowed Orochimaru's unit pre-clash, but with the Sannin now entangled, Kyuushin bore the watch. Relief hit as he spotted them: syncing strikes fluidly, holding ground without peril. Satisfied, he refocused, diving back into the fray with purpose.
This war's endgame burned clear in his mind—cull Rain's viable fighters to dust. Mercy had no place; jonin and lesser who crossed him met swift ends, crippled or cold in one decisive exchange.
His rampage drew fire, though. After a string of kills, Rain survivors circled warily, auras spiking as three elite reinforcements joined the net—stronger presences, intent on crushing the whirlwind.
Konoha allies nearby strained to breach the ring, shouts lost in the din as enemy numbers pinned them down, unable to punch through.
Kyuushin, at the encirclement's heart, betrayed no panic. In that press, Shikaku's parting words resurfaced, clarity dawning like a kunai's gleam.
"You'll see it clear on the field, right?" he whispered to the chaos. The insight crystallized now, sharpening his edge.
As the Rain squad charged in unison, Kyuushin sealed his hands once more, inner chakra roiling to life.
Moisture in the air coalesced swiftly around him, twisting into a nascent whirlpool that hugged his frame—a prelude to storm. But he poured deeper, amplifying the flow; the vortex ballooned outward, spiraling taller, its base narrowing while the crown flared wide into a towering funnel of liquid fury.
The encircling Rain ninja lunged to disrupt, kunai drawn and seals forming, but Kyuushin's casting outpaced them—too swift for interruption. Escape attempts faltered as the maelstrom engulfed the field.
The funnel pierced sky to sod like a living cyclone, dragging them inward with inexorable pull. Inside, terror unfolded: this wasn't pure water arts. Wind chakra laced the core, accelerating the torrent to razor speeds—blades of pressurized spray scything through armor, muscle, bone.
In heartbeats, the vortex spat carnage; distant onlookers from Rain lines gaped as the trapped turned to crimson haze, bodies shredded beyond recognition.
Those on the fringe, spared the full embrace, recoiled in wide-eyed horror, scrambling backward from the bloodied epicenter, whispers of dread rippling through their ranks.
As the tornado unwound, dissipating into harmless mist, Kyuushin stood revealed amid the ruin—no foe dared close the gap, a lone figure in a ring of slaughter.
"Composite Ninjutsu: Wind and Water Tornado!" he murmured, the declaration low but resonant.