Hōzuki Mangetsu, the future strongest member of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen, possessed extraordinary talent. In terms of chakra reserves, mastery of techniques, and overall ability, he was only slightly inferior to Juzo Biwa—but he still lacked experience in many areas.
After Shiraishi's single strike heavily injured Mangetsu, he did not pursue further. Instead, massive black mist surged around his body as he retreated. At that moment, countless senbon needles were fired, locking onto his escape route.
More Kirigakure assassination units appeared. As the storm of senbon flew toward him, Shiraishi evaded—but suddenly a violent, destructive airflow erupted behind him.
It was Juzo!
Explosive air pressure burst forth. Shiraishi barely avoided the executioner's blade, yet Juzo pressed forward relentlessly.
The whirlwinds generated by the massive sword shaved off several strands of Shiraishi's hair. He launched countless cyclone blades in response, but Juzo blocked them with Water Release.
I can't keep wasting chakra like this!
This was not the Wind Country. Without desert terrain, Shiraishi could not use Sand Gathering. His chakra consumption was enormous.
Without Sand Gathering, even many of his core techniques—including the Round Eyes—had to be used sparingly. He could not fight with the reckless extravagance he had at Kikyo Mountain.
In fact, even Kikyo Mountain had originally been unfavorable to Sunagakure. Only after more than a dozen sand controllers flooded the battlefield with Sand Release had the terrain been forcibly turned into a desert.
As the two clashed again, white mist and black mist intertwined. Zabuza kicked Mangetsu toward the Kirigakure rear lines, signaling them to retrieve him.
Blades collided repeatedly. Shiraishi grew increasingly frustrated—Juzo's fighting style was simple, but it contained almost no exploitable flaws.
After several exchanges, Shiraishi released countless bubble shadows. The executioner blade blocked them—but at that instant, Shiraishi used Mirage to reposition.
Yet the shadow of the executioner's blade appeared behind him.
"In close combat, even tiny habitual movements will get you killed," Juzo sneered. "You still need to fix that, kid!"
The executioner's blade slammed down. Shiraishi barely avoided a fatal hit—but his back was ripped open, a massive bloody gash tearing through his flesh.
"Finally hit you," Juzo grinned. "Your abilities are well-balanced, but I specialize in seizing any flaw in battle and turning it into a killing blow."
Despite his brutal appearance, Juzo had already analyzed Shiraishi's abilities during their fight.
Shiraishi had defeated the Kurama Clan with genjutsu, but from Juzo's probing exchanges, he concluded that Shiraishi's illusions were primarily counter-based, not conventional control-type illusions. Standard anti-Uchiha tactics would suffice.
Juzo had also noticed two details:
– His own mist had disrupted Shiraishi's Mirage technique.
– Mangetsu had fallen into a genjutsu only after making eye contact.
Shiraishi's genjutsu was powerful, but it relied on his massive mental world and amplification from the Moonwheel Bat. However, after the Kurama Clan battle, the Moonwheel Bat had suffered backlash and had not yet recovered, so Shiraishi was now relying mainly on his own mental power.
As for ninjutsu, Shiraishi knew many techniques, but his core was still Wind and Water. Earth was mostly supported. Fire Release was incomplete.
That left taijutsu—his strongest area. Although Shiraishi was extremely fast, Juzo had observed his habits throughout the fight. When Shiraishi stabbed Mangetsu, Juzo seized the moment and landed a devastating counter.
Information gathering.
Data processing.
Tactical execution.
Juzo completed all three in an instant.
Even with Shiraishi's many secret techniques, he was being suppressed by Zabuza's brutally simple three-step killing style.
So this was the power of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—the elite jōnin of one of the Five Great Villages…
The executioner blade drank Shiraishi's blood. Juzo gave him no time to breathe and charged again.
Their blades clashed. Juzo kicked Shiraishi hard, then flipped forward and slammed a hand onto his throat—only for Shiraishi to dissolve into a mud clone.
But Juzo hurled the executioner blade instantly, slicing through the air toward Shiraishi's true position.
Forced to block midair, Shiraishi was struck again as Juzo appeared behind him, unleashing a violent water shockwave.
The blast smashed into Shiraishi—but he forced his way through and drove his silver blade into Juzo's arm.
Both were injured and retreated.
Shiraishi was far worse off.
Juzo licked the blood from his arm and smirked.
"Even with glasses on, you're pretty tough."
Ignoring him, Shiraishi activated Sand Control, trying to create a small desert zone.
But before the sand could form, massive torrents of water surged upward like towering waterfalls, crashing down into a raging river.
"Water Release – Great Waterfall Technique!"
One of Kirigakure's signature jutsu.
Juzo burned huge amounts of chakra to cut off Shiraishi's sand control chain.
So this was what an elite jōnin could do…
Just a few simple jutsu and standard taijutsu were enough to suppress him completely.
Even Juzo was frustrated—having to go all out against a kid was humiliating.
He was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen!
But the water didn't recede.
Instead, it spread wider.
Shiraishi's instincts screamed danger—
Suddenly, countless water prisons rose!
A blue monstrous blade lunged forward—
Samehada!
It bit into Shiraishi's arm, tearing away flesh and cloth alike, ripping off a massive chunk of meat.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Fuguki entered the battlefield, Samehada in hand, smashing Shiraishi again and draining what little chakra he had left.
Sweat streamed down Shiraishi's face. His upper body was exposed, bloodied, and trembling as he stared at the two Kirigakure elite jōnin before him.
His silver blade was barely holding steady anymore.
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