Chapter 168: The Final Slash and the Unsheathed Fang
"Did it… die?"
Jiraiya stared at the gradually settling black swamp. The violent bubbling had ceased, leaving only a viscous, silent mire. A proud grin spread across his face. "See that? The three of us, working together for years—our teamwork is flawless. We're unstoppable!"
"Tch." Tsunade shot him a withering glance. Jiraiya's tendency to declare victory prematurely was a chronic condition. "It's far from over."
Orochimaru's serpentine eyes never left the swamp's surface. "Jinchuriki are Jinchuriki precisely because of the Tailed Beast within them. They cannot be judged or measured by ordinary standards. Assume it is defeated, and you die. Maintain readiness."
"Orochimaru is right," Tsunade said, her body coiled like a spring, ready to explode into motion at the slightest sign of movement.
Jiraiya clicked his tongue. Come on. A Jinchuriki is still human. Submerged in that, no air, a few minutes, they'll suffocate like anyone else.
At the Iwa command post, the Third Kazekage observed the submerged Jinchuriki with barely concealed contempt. "This is your vaunted secret weapon? It appears three elite jonin are sufficient to neutralize it."
Nōhei's jaw tightened. Internally, he was screaming. Gōki! What are you doing! Even if you die, drag those Konoha dogs down with you! Outwardly, he maintained a mask of calm composure. "Patience, Lord Kazekage. Gōki has not yet begun to fight in earnest."
"We shall see," the Kazekage murmured, his gaze already drifting to the other, more spectacular duel unfolding across the scarred battlefield.
"THIRTY-SIX CONSECUTIVE STRIKES: STORM'S END!"
"Twenty-fifth strike!"
Hatake Sakumo and Kyūmiya Emon were now completely cocooned within a howling, impenetrable dome of razor wind. No one dared approach. The very air for hundreds of meters was a blender of invisible, chakra-infused blades. Trees, earth, even solid rock formations that strayed too close were instantly shredded into fine dust.
Within this maelstrom, Kyūmiya Emon was a demon of the wind. His blade descended in an endless, accelerating torrent. Each stroke was faster than the last, each impact heavier. The thirty-six consecutive strikes were designed as a relentless escalator of death. By the final blow, the accumulated momentum, force, and killing intent should have overwhelmed any opponent.
Yet, from the first strike to the twenty-fifth, Hatake Sakumo remained an immovable island in the storm. His White Fang blade, still in its sheath, intercepted each slash with pinpoint precision. His movements were economical, almost languid. His eyes betrayed no fear, no strain—only the calm, patient focus of a master who had seen and survived everything this art could offer.
Sakumo was the still lake to Emon's howling gale. The wind could churn the surface, but the depths remained untouched.
Twenty-five strikes. In Emon's calculations, twenty should have been sufficient. His anxiety began to fray at the edges of his perfect focus.
"Twenty-six!"
"Twenty-seven!"
"Thirty-two!"
"Thirty-four!"
"THIRTY-FIVE!"
Blades of wind and lightning crisscrossed, their collisions producing a continuous, deafening metallic scream. Sparks showered like festival fireworks. The two swordsmen's faces, separated by mere inches, reflected in each other's eyes—one burning with desperate fervor, the other cold as winter steel.
They parted, Emon launching himself skyward with a final, explosive burst of wind chakra. He hovered there, a dark silhouette against the grey sky, the very atmosphere bending to his will.
"WHITE FANG!" His roar carried across the silenced battlefield. "THIS IS THE FINAL BLOW!"
"If you can withstand this… then I will fall here!"
"This slash is not merely the thirty-sixth. It is the summation of the thirty-five that came before! Every ounce of momentum, every shred of power, every fragment of my spirit and life force—ALL OF IT IS IN THIS SWORD! THIS IS MY ULTIMATE APEX!"
Madness and enlightenment were often neighbors. For a swordsman like Kyūmiya Emon, who had devoted his entire existence to the perfection of his art, such a moment of absolute, suicidal focus was the closest thing to divinity.
A colossal, concentrated mass of cyan wind chakra gathered upon his blade. The pressure alone warped the air. The grey, weeping clouds above the battlefield convulsed, then parted—ripped asunder by the rising gale.
This sword was changing the sky.
The entire battlefield, thousands of shinobi, froze. Fights halted mid-swing. All eyes turned upward, drawn by the primal instinct that recognized the arrival of something transcendent. This was no longer merely a duel between two skilled ninja. This was a collision of legends.
Kyūmiya Emon, wreathed in light cyan radiance, floating like an avatar of the wind itself, his face a mask of serene, terrifying piety.
On the distant hilltop, Uchiha Madara's expression shifted. A slight nod. A flicker of genuine interest.
"Madara-sama nodded!" White Zetsu chirped. "Does that mean the Suna swordsman has won?"
"No," Madara said, his voice quiet, almost contemplative. "The outcome remains unseen until the final instant."
His ancient Sharingan reflected the scene, but his mind wandered—decades back, to a riverbank littered with Senju and Uchiha dead. To a time when he and Hashirama were not yet legends, but merely the strongest sons of their clans, bound by a strange, conflicting friendship.
Every battle between their clans, he and Hashirama would meet. They would exchange their token, almost ceremonial clashes. And while they did, their younger brothers—his brother, Izuna; Hashirama's brother, Tobirama—would find each other on the battlefield.
He had watched those duels. Izuna, with his天赋, his Sharingan, was always the superior. Tobirama was persistent, clever, but never quite enough. Madara had been confident. He was the one who faced Hashirama. His brother's victory was assured.
Then, one day, it wasn't.
Tobirama, in an instant, had dealt Izuna a wound from which he would never recover. Mortal. Fatal. And Madara had been too consumed by his own battle with Hashirama to notice, to intervene, to save him.
The guilt was a cold, immovable stone in his gut, even now, even after decades, even after he had transcended mortality itself.
No one knew. He never spoke of it. But the lesson was etched into his bones: Never assume victory before the final blow lands.
Back on the battlefield, Kyūmiya Emon's ultimate technique reached its zenith.
"GALE CUT: BREATH OF ANNIHILATION!"
The sword descended.
It was not a slash. It was a world-ending event contained within a single arc. The very fabric of space seemed to crease, to fold before the edge of that blade. The wind screamed with the voices of a thousand dying souls.
Hatake Sakumo's expression did not change. It became, if possible, even calmer.
He brought the White Fang blade, still sheathed, upright before his chest.
Then, he grasped the hilt.
CLICK.
The sound of the blade being drawn was quiet, yet it carried across the entire battlefield like a temple bell. The silver steel emerged from its scabbard—slowly, deliberately, like dawn breaking through the longest night.
A single, pristine ray of cold light escaped the sheath.
The world gasped.
From the very beginning of this duel, through thirty-five furious, escalating strikes, Hatake Sakumo had fought with his sword sheathed. Every parry, every deflection, every desperate defense—all executed without baring the White Fang's true edge.
Now, the fang was unsheathed.
Brilliant white arcs of lightning erupted along the exposed blade. The sound of a thousand shrieking birds, condensed into a single, piercing note, filled the void.
The White Fang's sharp edge caught the light, reflecting it into the masked face of Kyūmiya Emon.
And on the other side of that blade…
…was the truth.
(End of Chapter)
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