Blood dripped steadily to the ground. Fuguki Suikazan swung Samehada in a wide arc behind him, simultaneously transforming his hair into a barrage of needle-like blades.
Shiraishi, however, stood his ground. The Origin Pulse in his hands functioned like a semi-automatic pistol, firing rhythmic, concentrated bursts of energy.
Pah! Pah! Pah!
The pale blue light beams lanced through the air, puncturing bloody holes across Fuguki's massive frame. As blood gushed from his wounds, Fuguki's expression finally twisted in alarm.
Is this a reinforced version of the Hozuki clan's Water Gun technique? An attack skill that can actually photonize Water-natured chakra?
Fuguki was losing blood rapidly. Just as Shiraishi prepared to close the distance for a finishing blow, the Executioner's Blade whistled through the air with unexpected speed. The Crimson Mirror behind Shiraishi swiveled instantly, acting as a shield to deflect the heavy blade.
In a blur of motion, Shiraishi condensed a long blade of silver sand in one hand while continuing to fire Origin Pulse beams with the other.
Every movement was executed with electric fluidity, devoid of any wasted effort.
Juzo Biwa vanished into a Water Clone, utilizing a Water Style Body Flicker to reappear in front of Fuguki. He grabbed the wounded, oversized man and immediately began a tactical retreat.
Despite Juzo's reputation among the Seven Swordsmen as being less "powerful" than some of his peers, his battlefield intuition and timing were impeccable.
He recognized the exact moment the tide had turned and chose to cut their losses.
Juzo's strength was formidable; even while hauling the massive Fuguki, he moved with startling agility. "Juzo, you..." Fuguki sputtered.
"This kid is in a state no one can stop today," Juzo growled. "Retreat. We've gathered enough intel."
Retreat? How can we retreat now!
As the commander of the Land of Rivers front, Fuguki knew the stakes. Since the Mist had occupied this territory, their supplies had run dangerously low. They had relied on local resources, but recently, those supply lines had been ruthlessly severed by Konoha.
The Hyuga clan had been the executioners. Hiashi Hyuga, citing the Land of Rivers' breach of their neutrality oaths, had unleashed a bloodbath against the country's high-ranking civil officials. Dozens of heads had rolled.
After Konoha installed a new puppet government through this brutal purge, the "ambiguous" relationship between the Land of Rivers and the Mist ended abruptly. The "blood transfusions" stopped.
This was the tragedy of small nations—trying to play the Great Powers against one another through diplomacy, only to be crushed and ground into dust when the giants stopped talking.
Without the support of the Land of Rivers and with Konoha pinning them down, the Mist was desperate to break through the Sand's lines.
What was supposed to have been a perfect ambush had turned into a nightmare for the Mist, all because of the man known as the "Black Mist," Shiraishi.
"Sand reinforcements have arrived!"
Fuguki followed the scout's gaze toward the horizon. From the direction of the Land of Wind, a massive relief force composed of the Arakawa and Yamaji clans was charging at high speed. The Mist was now the one being pincered.
The Yamaji and Arakawa clans? Aren't they part of the Kazekage's 'Three Sand Styles' lineage?
Why are they supporting Shiraishi? Especially the Yamaji clan—aren't they his sworn enemies?
At the Mist's rear, Yamaji Ryoko completed a series of hand signs. A massive wave of sand erupted from the ground, swallowing several Mist ninjas attempting to flee.
Within a desert environment, Sand Control was lethal against standard shinobi; the Mist ninjas died frustrated deaths, unable to find footing against the relentless dunes.
"Grab Raiga, then I'll cover the rear," Juzo commanded.
Seeing the situation collapse, Juzo sighed. The only ones still fighting with any conviction were the Kaguya clan.
Raiga Kurosuki had been rescued, but with his hands severed by Shiraishi, he was effectively crippled. Although he held the Lightning Blades, he was merely a replacement user following the death of Ameyuri Ringo, and his true power paled in comparison to the first generation of the Seven Swordsmen.
The Kaguya ninjas continued to fight with savage madness, though their numbers were dwindling. Shiraishi used a Body Flicker to appear at the front, only to be met by a "Bone Tide"—thousands of skeletal spikes erupting from the earth.
The Macabre Bone Pulse bloodline allowed the Kaguya to manipulate their skeletal structure for both offense and defense, controlling osteoblasts and calcium density at will.
Dance of the Camellia!
A rib bone was pulled out to serve as a jagged blade. As Shiraishi dodged, he commanded his silver sand to bind the bones. With a swift stroke of his silver blade, he shattered the bone sword, only for three Kaguya warriors to pounce on him like wild beasts.
They were a clan that lived for the craze of battle, welcoming death.
With a roar, Shiraishi unleashed a Gale Blade, sending out a crescent-shaped vacuum wave that tore through one Kaguya ninja. Simultaneously, he thrust his palms forward, releasing a burst of electricity that caused the surrounding silver sand to explode with kinetic energy.
The resulting red mist was all that remained of the two Kaguya warriors. After securing the kills, Shiraishi tossed out two scrolls, sealing the Kaguya corpses inside for future research.
Through his constant refinement of Quicksand Hell and Magnet Release, Shiraishi had begun to manifest a Lightning Nature affinity. Though it was currently a weak reaction, it was a clear sign of his evolving potential.
As the Mist wavered between advance and retreat, a heaven-shaking roar erupted from the area where the Six-Tails was pinned. The beast's transformation had deepened; it was entering a state of total frenzy.
Damn, the Six-Tails is going berserk!
Tailed Beasts were notoriously temperamental. Unless a Jinchuriki lived in perfect harmony with their beast, the "berserk" state was always a risk—a mindless, catastrophic explosion of power that slaughtered friend and foe alike.
Fuguki had intended to retreat with the Jinchuriki, but the berserk state made the extraction impossible. The violent chakra surge blew back Shiraishi's Sage's Blade, which the beast ripped out of its own flesh with a roar.
"There's no more time! We have to leave!" Juzo shouted at the hesitating Fuguki. "We'll have to see if the Mist leadership can scrape together enough to ransom the Six-Tails and the Lightning Blades back."
The Sand—currently starved for resources—would undoubtedly demand an exorbitant price. To the Sand, money and land were far more valuable than the prestige of holding a foreign Tailed Beast.
Because the transformation wasn't a "Full Tailed Beast State," the Jinchuriki was currently a chaotic mass of negative energy and raw power. As the Sage's Blade flew back to Shiraishi's hand, he stared down the rampaging monster.
Kill!
The Six-Tails had no logic left, only the singular instinct to destroy the man in front of it.
In an instant, millions of grains of silver sand gathered beneath Shiraishi's feet, rising to form a Colossal Sand Titan.
The titan wound up a massive fist and slammed it into the Six-Tails with a deafening BOOM. The shockwave was so immense that the berserk beast was sent skidding back several meters, letting out a piercing, unearthly shriek.
By his own strength alone, Shiraishi was head-to-head with a Tailed Beast. He was, quite simply, a monster.
🌟 The story is already written… waiting to be unleashed. Claim early access on Patreon: Patreon.com/kazama677
🔓 You hold the keys to bonus chapters:💬 10 reviews ignite 1 bonus chapter🔷 60 Power Stones summon another
🔥 Your power determines how fast the tale unfolds.