The Mist's interception and slaughter of the three villages' remaining forces progressed extremely quickly.
Meanwhile, Ameyuri, Zabuza, Ranmaru, Suigetsu, Kisame, and Chojuro launched a surprise assault on Konoha at the same time.
Konoha, which hadn't even had time to catch its breath yet, could only hastily respond to the Mist's sudden attack.
While the six members of the "Seven Ninja Swordsmen" were holding back Konoha's strikes—
Utakata, Haku, and Kimimaro simultaneously rushed toward the Tailed Beasts that were trapped inside the Mokuton (Wood Release) prison.
The reason Hiruzen had gone to such great lengths to bind those three Tailed Beasts in the first place was, of course, because he wanted Konoha to have enough leverage to negotiate with the other three great villages once the war was over.
Those three Tailed Beasts were the core of that bargaining power.
On this point, Danzō and the rest of Konoha's upper echelon were all perfectly clear.
And now, when they saw Kimimaro and the other Mist-nin trying to destroy the seal, everyone in Konoha instantly understood what the Mist was after.
Although the six "Seven Ninja Swordsmen" could hold Konoha's shinobi back for the moment, they clearly wouldn't be able to last very long.
Fortunately, on the other side, Utakata and the other two were only attacking the seal formed by Mokuton (Wood Release).
Calling on the power of the Rokubi (Six-Tails), Utakata spewed out great torrents of corrosive liquid, eating pits and holes of all sizes into the wooden cage.
With Haku and Kimimaro attacking alongside him, the prison holding the Ichibi (One-Tails) Shukaku was the first to be shattered.
Once the Mokuton (Wood Release) seal was gone, the Ichibi (One-Tails) Shukaku's body quickly crumbled into sand and scattered, reverting back into its jinchūriki form.
With a single Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), Haku appeared next to Gaara and slung him over his shoulder.
Elsewhere, under the furious offensive from the Konoha shinobi, the defensive formation of the six swordsmen finally began to collapse, and Zabuza, Kisame, and the others quickly fell back to regroup in front of Kimimaro and the rest.
"What a shame, there's no time left to take the other two jinchūriki as well."
Ameyuri glanced at Gaara on Haku's shoulder, a regretful look on her face.
"If Ao were leading the Mist-nin troops to support us, maybe we could pull it off—but the Mist forces have gone to intercept the remaining shinobi from the three villages," Suigetsu said, spreading his hands with a helpless look.
"Yuto-sama's original objective was just the Ichibi jinchūriki. Strictly speaking, we've already completed the mission. If the Mist troops get drawn into a full-scale battle with Konoha now, the advantage we just gained will be gone," Chojuro added quietly after giving everyone a look.
"Konoha's shinobi have already surrounded us. How exactly are you planning to retreat?" Kisame asked, glancing at the Konoha ninja rapidly closing in from ahead, curiosity in his eyes as he looked at Zabuza and the others.
"In that case, I'll just—"
Zabuza's lips twisted into a vicious grin as he rolled his neck, just about to step forward when a calm voice sounded behind him.
"Let me handle it."
Kimimaro walked past Zabuza, expression flat, and came to stand at the front of the group.
Seeing this, Zabuza simply raised an eyebrow and didn't say another word.
Boom!
A shockwave of air suddenly burst out from Kimimaro's body, and a strange, special aura surged up from within him.
A coin-sized black dot appeared in the center of his forehead, and dark markings spread around his eye sockets, giving him an eerie, otherworldly look.
Kisame froze for a moment—in that instant, Kimimaro actually gave him an extremely dangerous feeling.
He glanced at the expressions of the others and saw that Zabuza and the rest were completely calm, as if Kimimaro's sudden surge in power were nothing worth being surprised over.
Kimimaro looked toward the Konoha shinobi rushing in at them, his hands flashing through a string of seals before he slammed his palms down onto the ground:
"Senpō — Shikotsumyaku — Sawarabi no Mai! (Sage Art — Dead Bone Pulse: Dance of the Seedling Fern!)"
Rumble! Rumble!
The entire ground shook as if struck by an earthquake. The next instant, countless razor-sharp bones erupted upward from the earth.
In almost the blink of an eye, those bones had spread to cover the whole area, forming a forest made entirely of white bone.
That bone forest completely separated Kimimaro's group from the Konoha shinobi.
Kimimaro let out a slight breath, his body reverting from Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode), as he couldn't help thinking to himself:
"Just one jutsu at this level was enough to burn through all the senjutsu (Sage Techniques) chakra I'd stored?"
"As expected, the senjutsu (Sage Techniques) chakra I've accumulated is still far too little—it can't support prolonged combat at all."
Watching Kimimaro's technique, a trace of awe flashed through the eyes of Zabuza and the others.
But when they saw him drop out of Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode), a "just as expected" look passed through all their gazes.
Their condition was more or less the same as Kimimaro's; the senjutsu (Sage Techniques) chakra within their bodies was nowhere near enough to sustain a long battle.
They simply hadn't been training in Sennin Mōdo (Sage Mode) for very long, so the senjutsu (Sage Techniques) chakra they could store was still far too limited.
Compared to the faint helplessness in Zabuza and the others' eyes, Kisame's were wide open as he stared at Kimimaro.
What the hell was that chakra just now?
On his back, Samehada—the great sword he carried—rarely radiated such a mixed feeling of hunger and fear at the same time.
"Yuto-sama's mission is complete. Let's withdraw," Kimimaro said coolly.
On Konoha's side—
Staring at the bone forest blocking the Konoha forces, Jiraiya's expression grew solemn.
"That chakra just now… was that senjutsu (Sage Techniques)?"
How could shinobi from the Mist possibly know senjutsu (Sage Techniques)?
As far as Jiraiya knew, the only places in the entire shinobi world where one could learn senjutsu (Sage Techniques) were the Three Great Sacred Grounds, and all three had deep, tangled ties to Konoha.
As for the other villages, even if they wanted to learn it, they had no way of entering those three places.
"Could it be Orochimaru?"
At some point, Tsunade had come to stand at his side. Her voice was heavy as she said,
"Somehow, without anyone noticing, the Mist has gathered so many powerful shinobi. Out of the Five Great Villages this time, I'm afraid the Mist not only took the smallest losses, they also gained the most."
Jiraiya nodded, his expression just as grave as he replied,
"The Mist has now taken the Ichibi (One-Tails) jinchūriki, and counting the Tailed Beasts the Mist already possessed, they now hold three in total. We absolutely cannot afford to lose the Gobi (Five-Tails) and Hachibi (Eight-Tails) jinchūriki—those are the only bargaining chips Konoha has for negotiating with the Cloud and the Rock."
"As long as we can reach an agreement with the Cloud and the Rock, the issue between the Sand and Konoha will be easy enough to resolve. As for the Mist in the end…"
Jiraiya trailed off, leaving the rest unsaid.
Among the Five Great Villages, the Mist was the most mysterious, and the one about which the others possessed the least intelligence.
That man capable of using Kongō Fūsa (Adamantine Sealing Chains) was, in Jiraiya's view, almost certainly connected to the Mist in some special way.
But with so little information right now, Jiraiya didn't dare jump to any conclusions.
//Check out my P@tre0n for 20 extra chapters on all my fanfics //[email protected]/Razeil0810