A cold dread settled in Hozuki Satsuki's gut.
His chakra reserves were still decent, and he bore no visible wounds, yet the situation was becoming dire. The damned Uzumaki had successfully activated the Four Violet Flames Formation, sealing him inside a barrier with his executioner.
The Yuki clansman who had been trapped with him are already dead, killed with terrifying ease.
Now, he stood alone against the Konoha prodigy.
'The sheer power of those last two Wind Release techniques…' he hadn't witnessed such destructive force since he was a boy, watching the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, in his prime.
His one sliver of hope was that the boy had so far only used Wind Release. There was no sign of Lightning Release Jutsu. As long as that held true, his Hydrification Technique could keep him alive. This battle would become a war of attrition, a contest of who would run out of chakra first.
And in that regard, Hozuki Satsuki was confident.
No matter how much of a genius the boy was, he couldn't be more than twelve or thirteen. His chakra reserves had to have a limit.
He just unleashed two S-rank techniques back-to-back; the chakra drain must have been immense. In contrast, maintaining the Hydrification Technique required relatively little chakra.
If he could just drag this out, there was hope. Not hope of victory, but hope of survival—of stalling until his comrades outside broke the Uzumaki defenders and collapsed the barrier.
Above all, he had to survive to report back to the village. A monster like this, born in Konoha? Kirigakure needed to know. They had to prepare.
Gritting his teeth, Satsuki reformed his body from the puddle of water, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
—
'He survived again with that technique?' Yuta mused, a flicker of annoyance crossing his features. 'The Hydrification Technique is ridiculously convenient.'
A single, well-timed liquefaction had allowed Satsuki to evade both his attacks.
While neither technique had been aimed directly at him, their area of effect was devastating. Any ordinary jonin would have been shredded like the two Yuki clansmen.
A familiar tightness spread through Yuta's muscles. Sage Mode was almost at its limit. It was time to end this, and for that, he needed the one thing the Hozuki clan feared most.
But he couldn't reveal his hand too early.
Instead of lightning, Yuta's hands flashed through a different set of seals.
Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!
A torrent of flame roared from his lips, swelling into a massive fireball that hurtled toward Satsuki like an enraged dragon.
A wave of relief washed over Hozuki Satsuki. 'So, the brat had realized Wind Release was ineffective and is switching elements? Fool.'
"Fire Release to defeat me?" he muttered, a grim smile touching his lips. "I'm not afraid of fire boy!"
His hands moved into the complex seals for the Water Dragon Jutsu, his speed noticeably slower than Yuta's near-instantaneous hand seals.
Just as the inferno was about to consume him, he took a deep breath and spat a colossal, cannonball-like dragon of water.
The two techniques collided in the center of the barrier with a thunderous BOOM!
Steam erupted from the point of impact, a thick, hot fog that rapidly filled the confined space of the Four Violet Flames Formation. The scorching heatwave sent gravel and ice shards skittering across the ground.
Standing within the concealing mist, Satsuki allowed himself a small, triumphant smile. 'This is manageable. If he uses fire, I counter with water. If he uses that wind technique again, I liquefy. I just have to outlast him.'
But in the next second, his smile froze.
The boy had clearly possessed enough chakra to use that terrifying wind technique again. So why switch to a less effective Fire Release?
'Unless… the fire wasn't meant for me.'
His eyes widened in horrified realization. The fireball's true target was the environment—to create this blinding steam!
Yuta's figure had vanished.
Acting on pure instinct, Satsuki dissolved his form once more, splashing into a puddle on the ground. Right on cue, Yuta shot out of the mist, his fist passing harmlessly through the space where Satsuki's head had been.
'Heh… too slow,' Satsuki thought, his liquid form quivering with relief. 'I saw through your—'
The thought shattered as a violent, numbing sensation wracked his entire being.
'This feeling… Lightning Release chakra?!'
'He can use Lightning Release too?!'
Disbelief, cold and absolute, swallowed him. He had built his entire strategy on the assumption that the boy lacked this chakra attribute. He had believed he could stall, and could wait for rescue.
Instead, the brat had hidden this trump card until the very last possible moment, delivering a perfectly calculated, fatal blow.
'This damned, cunning brat!'
His final, bitter thought was not for himself, but for his village. He would never get to send this vital intelligence back.
'In the war that was surely coming, how many of Kirigakure's shinobi would die because they didn't know to fear this boy's strength?'
Sage Art: Lightning Release: Chidori!
A thousand birds shrieked. The powerful lightning chakra violently disrupted the Hydrification Technique, forcing Satsuki's body to reconstitute—not by choice, but by compulsion.
He had no defense. The consequence was inevitable.
The Chidori pierced clean through him. Hozuki Satsuki's body convulsed violently as the lightning coursed through him, then went limp, collapsing to the ground as all life fled.
Yuta withdrew his hand, the crackling energy fading from his palm. He let out a long, slow breath, the tension draining from his shoulders. As if on cue, the markings in his face receded, marking the end of his Sage Mode.
He glanced beyond the shimmering violet walls of the barrier. The situation outside was resolving itself faster than he'd expected.
Perhaps the loss of their leader, Hozuki Satsuki, and two key Yuki clansmen had broken the Mist ninjas' morale. Or perhaps Uzumaki reinforcements had finally tipped the scales.
Whatever the reason, the Uzumaki defenders were now prevailing. The remaining Mist ninja, seeing that the tide had turned, were beating a disorganized retreat.
"Next, I need to deal with the trouble on the other side..." Yuta muttered to himself. Then a wry thought struck him. "Then again, if Uzumaki Ashina himself is here, the battle there is probably already over."
His mouth twitched into a faint, resigned smile, followed by a heavy sigh. He had a sudden premonition.
The trouble with Kirigakure was finished. But his own trouble was just beginning.
He had a feeling that he was about to be promoted to full-time battlefield medic.
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