Chapter 124: The Unseen Mountain's Return
A charred hole gaped in Killer Bee's abdomen. Ai launched a desperate, furious charge at Kagenori, forcing him to momentarily disengage. In that split second, Ai grabbed Bee and flashed away, putting critical distance between them and the terrifying shinobi.
"Bee! Are you okay?!" Ai's voice was tight with fear.
"I'm... I'm alright, bro..." Bee grunted, removing his hand from the wound. The flesh was already knitting itself back together, the Tailed Beast's regenerative power sealing the horrific injury.
Ai let out a shaky breath of relief, but the tension in his body did not ease. He had to face the brutal truth: together, they were no match for Kagenori. As long as they couldn't penetrate the mystery of their failing jutsu, defeat was inevitable.
"Is this the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan's ocular techniques?" Ai muttered. As the heir to the Raikage, he was privy to the secrets of other villages' bloodlines. The Uchiha's Sharingan was among them, but records of the Mangekyō were scarce, limited to legends of Madara and Izuna. It was said to grant two unique abilities and a third, ultimate power. The intelligence on Kagenori was non-existent, but the fact remained: within a certain radius of him, their chakra techniques simply unraveled. They were forced to rely on pure taijutsu.
"Bee," Ai said, his mind racing for a solution. "Our jutsu fail when we get too close. We need to use that move—use chakra to propel our bodies before we enter his range. Even if the technique itself fails, the physical momentum will remain!"
Bee gave a grim nod. "Got it, bro!"
In a flash of blue light, Ai used Lightning Flash to appear behind Kagenori, his Strongest Lightning Armor erupting around him once more. Simultaneously, Killer Bee's Tailed Beast Cloak intensified, three crimson tails of chakra lashing behind him.
In perfect, thundering unison, they roared, "Double Lariat!"
They became twin blurs of raw power, one blue, one crimson, charging from opposite directions, their arms held out to clothesline Kagenori from both sides.
Kagenori stood his ground, his right Mangekyō Sharingan spinning wildly. The ocular power, Fumetsuzan (Unfading Mountain), was at its peak, voraciously recording the immense chakra signatures and the nature of their combined assault. The sheer volume of Killer Bee's Tailed Beast chakra accelerated the process, filling the "record" to its brink.
Ai and Bee were a single step away, their powerful arms rising to crush Kagenori's head between them in a pincer motion.
At that exact moment, two things happened. The chakra enveloping Ai and Bee was violently rejected by the Kyozetsu (Rejection) field from Kagenori's left eye. And simultaneously, the recording limit of Fumetsuzan was reached.
A cruel smile touched Kagenori's lips.
It ends now.
"Fumetsuzan: Kai!" (Unfading Mountain: Release!)
A cataclysm was unleashed from the core of his being. A shockwave of pure, violent, and chaotic chakra—a condensed reflection of every technique Fumetsuzan had absorbed and recorded—exploded outwards in a sphere of absolute destruction.
The force of the blast struck Ai and Bee head-on.
The world turned white with noise and force. Trees for hundreds of meters in every direction were flattened, ripped from the earth like weeds. The shockwave hurled the seven watching Konoha ninjas through the air like discarded dolls.
When the roaring finally subsided, the landscape was a scar. A perfect circle of devastation, razed flat.
Kagenori panted slightly, bringing a hand up to clamp over his violently throbbing right eye. The power of Fumetsuzan's release was staggering, far exceeding any of his individual techniques. But the cost was equally severe. His right eye was searing with pain, utterly useless for the time being.
He opened his left eye, scanning the wasteland. Not far away, the bodies of Ai and Bee lay, broken and still.
He walked over, his brow furrowed. They were a mess, their bodies looking more like pulped meat than men. Deader than dead.
Suddenly, Kagenori's ninjato flashed into his hand. "Thunder Breathing, Fifth Form: Heat Lightning."
A blade of superheated energy shot from his sword, slamming into the two corpses. Instead of tearing through flesh, the bodies contorted and dissolved, revealing themselves to be a single, large octopus tentacle.
"A Transformation Technique," Kagenori murmured, unsurprised. Even his Mangekyō had been fooled by the realism of the substitution. What had felt wrong was their positioning; if his blast had thrown them back, they should have landed apart, not side-by-side.
He pushed the tentacle aside, revealing a hastily dug tunnel beneath. They had escaped underground. Still, the point-blank detonation would have inflicted grievous wounds.
He didn't bother to pursue. His mission was to stop their incursion, not necessarily to kill them. The death of the Raikage's son or the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki would force Kumogakure into a total war of vengeance Konoha wasn't ready for. The objective was achieved.
Sheathing his sword with a sigh, Kagenori pulled out a blank storage scroll and sealed the octopus tentacle as a trophy. He then turned and left.
As he passed the dazed and battered Konoha ninjas, they looked at him with a mixture of awe and terror. Awe for the power that had driven off two of Kumo's strongest. Terror of the cold, detached killer who wielded it, his expression promising death to any who crossed him. Kagenori ignored them completely and vanished into the scarred landscape.
Miles away, Killer Bee emerged from a hidden exit, dragging a barely conscious Ai onto the surface. He hoisted his brother onto his back and began to run, his own body aching but healing.
Ai coughed, blood speckling his lips. His right chest and arm were a ruin of torn flesh and shattered bone. "Don't... don't worry, Bee. I'm not dead yet..." he rasped. "You... and the Eight-Tails... using that tentacle as a shield... took the brunt of it for me. Otherwise..."
He coughed again, a wet, painful sound. "I never imagined he was that strong. His speed, his power... they surpass mine. And those eyes... those damned eyes..."
"Just hang on, bro! We're almost to the base!" Bee urged, his voice thick with fear and rage.
Ai's head lolled against Bee's shoulder, his voice a weak but grim promise. "Bee... remember him. He will be our most formidable enemy."
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