A thunderous impact echoed.
The Flying Water Shuriken moved with terrifying speed, far more concealed than ordinary projectiles. Mixed within them were faint traces of black mist, and against opponents lacking proper sensory abilities, the effect was devastating. The genin—and even the chūnin—were caught completely off guard.
Under normal circumstances, facing Shiraishi elsewhere would not have reduced them to such a miserable state. But inside Shiraishi's residence, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.
As one kunai pierced through a Flying Water Shuriken, the most impulsive chūnin leapt forward, narrowly avoiding several of Shiraishi's ambushes. He vaulted over the courtyard and appeared directly in front of Shiraishi's true body, kunai stabbing downward—
Only for Shiraishi's figure to distort and burst apart into countless bubbles.
"This… is genjutsu?!"
By all accounts, Shiraishi was known for psychic techniques—not illusion arts. So how had he fallen into an illusion?
"Genjutsu · Mirage."
After developing the Water-nature chakra, Shiraishi had begun independently creating his own Water Release techniques. By combining bubbles with black mist, he constructed mirage-like illusions that disrupted all five senses. This was an entirely original technique.
When paired with the Substitution Technique and Clone Technique, it became exceptionally effective at misleading enemies.
In Shiraishi's view, Bubble Technique had enormous development potential. Beyond its basic Water-nature properties, it could be fused with other chakra attributes to create unpredictable effects.
In fact, since the death of the Second Mizukage, illusion techniques resembling mirages had nearly vanished from the ninja world. Now that Shiraishi had revived such methods, the Yamaji clan's ninja—who had never encountered anything like this—fell into complete disarray.
Taking advantage of their confusion, Shiraishi gripped his silver blade and spun violently.
Countless bubble projectiles shot outward.
In the instant everyone froze, Shiraishi entered his most brutal state.
His form flickered like foam on water.
The blade pierced straight through a young genin's skull—blood spraying wildly. At the same time, one of Shiraishi's nearby forms turned into an Earth Clone, launching a Whirlwind Blade that severed another teenage genin's arm.
Chaos erupted instantly.
Damn it!
A chūnin tried to advance—
Only to be ensnared by countless chakra threads dropping from all directions. As Shiraishi moved like a phantom atop drifting bubbles, a Whirlwind Blade shot forth—
The man's head was cut cleanly from his body.
One of the Yamaji clan's chūnin—far more experienced than the rest—recognized the ambush immediately and shouted:
"Don't panic! Hold formation!"
"Can you really hold it?"
The voice came softly—like death itself.
The chūnin hastily formed seals and used the Substitution Technique to retreat—
But beneath him, a Triangular Sand Tower detonated with violent force.
The explosion shattered his right leg.
In the next instant, Shiraishi appeared.
The silver blade flashed, and a domineering Whirlwind Slash tore through the air.
"Watch out!"
A third chūnin rushed in to block, rapidly forming seals for Earth Release—
But the rising earth wall exploded on its own.
"The ground here… he's already tampered with it. What terrifying foresight."
The blade appeared without warning.
Frenzied arcs of silver light filled the courtyard.
The slaughter was ruthless.
Shiraishi showed no mercy, striking again and again—each slash lethal. Blood and sand mixed together, staining the ground.
That chūnin's battlefield instincts alone had marked him as a priority target.
Still wearing the purple robes from the Sand Festival, Shiraishi calmly wiped the blood from his blade with a cloth. A sudden storm rose, lifting the fallen chūnin's corpse.
With a single seal—
The body detonated.
Black mist and blood fog fused together, spreading across the area like a suffocating shroud.
At this moment, Shiraishi was nothing like the calm, bespectacled figure people remembered. In sheer presence alone, he was disturbingly similar to Orochimaru.
The stench of blood filled the air.
Candlelight flickered weakly.
The massacre continued.
With Yamaji Ryōko's main force absent, the Yamaji clan's remaining chūnin and genin—originally meant as support—were now nothing more than prey.
"Retreat!"
In mere minutes, over half of their number had fallen. They knew that without their clan head's support, they could not stop this monster. If they stayed, the Yamaji clan's next generation would be wiped out.
But Shiraishi would not let them escape.
The Whirlwind Blade condensed violently.
Among all his techniques, this one flowed through his body with perfect familiarity. The silver blade and Whirlwind Slash merged—
And struck.
Stone walls erupted from the ground, blocking every escape route. Shiraishi's Earth Clones surged forward, engaging the survivors.
Moments later—
The battle was over.
Blood dripped from the blade's edge onto the ground.
Shiraishi showed no restraint. Every ninja who invaded his home paid with their life. Corpses littered the courtyard, soaked in blood—a testament to the ferocity of the battle.
Hidden observers from Sunagakure's intelligence and sensory divisions felt their scalps tingle.
They had not expected the Elder Council's disciple to be this terrifying.
That mirage-like illusion combined with ghostly assassination techniques—
It was even more horrifying than Kirigakure's infamous killers.
Within Sunagakure, ANBU and intelligence units were firmly under the Elder Council's control. The moment the Sand Festival incident occurred, Ebizō and Chiyo had ordered them to secure the perimeter, preventing further provocation from the Yamaji clan.
When Shiraishi finally pushed open the gate—
The scene inside made many Sunagakure ninja avert their gaze.
These were supposed to be comrades meant for external battlefields, not corpses fallen to internal strife.
As a Special Jōnin, Shiraishi successfully ambushing a mixed force of genin and chūnin was not entirely unexpected—especially since the Yamaji clan's true elites had been intercepted outside.
When Yamaji Ryōko arrived, several Elder Council members appeared almost simultaneously.
Seeing the devastation in the courtyard, her killing intent exploded.
"From this day on," she hissed, "the Yamaji clan will never rest until you are dead."
Shiraishi ignored her completely.
He merely gestured for ANBU and guards to enter and clean up the aftermath.
The Yamaji clan had suffered a crushing loss. Though this marked a blood feud between them, Shiraishi had already accepted his role as the fuse.
Now it was up to the higher powers to decide how the aftermath would be handled.
This battle shattered the Yamaji clan's morale—and much of that blame lay in Yamaji Ryōko's disastrous command. Dividing forces into three routes based on strength ensured that once the main force was blocked, the others walked straight into slaughter.
When Arakawa Akita arrived and saw the scene, he could only sigh.
He stepped forward and gently embraced his niece.
"Let's go home, Ryōko."
Her voice trembled as tears finally fell.
"But Uncle… he killed so many of our people."
For the first time that night, Yamaji Ryōko completely lost control. As clan head, the humiliation and pain were unbearable.
Though her judgment was flawed, blood still bound the Sand-Release Three Lineages together. Akita signaled for others to escort her away, leaving him to handle the fallen.
"You truly are a genius," Akita said calmly. "This battle alone will make your name."
His tone was even, betraying no emotion—an unmistakable mark of a great clan leader.
"This was never the outcome I wanted," Shiraishi replied flatly.
Their gazes met briefly.
Akita understood instantly how dangerous this young man truly was.
"Sunagakure cannot afford a civil war," Akita said quietly. "Our restraint today does not mean we fear your blade."
With that, he turned and left.
"Compared to Yamaji Ryōko," Shiraishi thought coldly,
"That old fox is far more dangerous."
"Unfortunately… like Yamaji Jushin before him, old war injuries are eating away at him. He won't last much longer."
"And Arakawa Maru—"
"He's even more reckless and unstable than Ryōko."
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