Rain and fog fused into one continuous veil.
Pinned beneath Kono Taketori's blade, Kisa Hoshigaki lay sprawled in the water, his body riddled with punctures from serrated spines. Blood stread freely. The deep-blue chakra core that had once pulsed with restless vigor was now dull and lifeless, devoured until it barely glimred.
"Ngk, cough cough…"
He fought to push himself up, arms trembling, but the crushing force on his back pressed him flat against the surface. He could not move an inch.
"Huff… Sahada… even you betrayed !"
Kisa's roar was thick with bitter unwillingness. If Sahada hadn't turned on him, how could he have been taken so easily? He hadn't even had the chance to use his trump card, Sahada Fusion.
Sahada, currently indulging itself as it drank chakra, seed to catch Kisa's emotion. The massive mouth biting into his shoulder loosened slightly, serrated teeth pulling free with a wet rip, streaked with blood.
"Sahada…"
Hope flickered in Kisa's eyes. His nearly dried-up chakra core sparked again. If Sahada changed its mind, he could still fight.
"Sahada!"
Kono Taketori retracted her tailed beast cloak and tightened her grip on the handle, continuing to feed Sahada chakra without pause.
"Mmnh…"
That delicious violet power flowed into its body. Sahada visibly relaxed, its spines stretching out, then curling in again like a little hedgehog going defensive, only to unfurl the mont it slled food.
"Gah!"
Kisa scread. The light in his chakra core dimd again.
Sahada's jagged teeth clamped down once more, biting deeper, harder, as if proving loyalty to its new master.
"What a fine blade," Orochimaru said, crouching on the water as he studied the living weapon with undisguised delight.
"Can we trade?"
"You tell ."
Kono Taketori rolled her eyes.
Lightning Release chakra mode, the Three-Tails' seal-less Water Style, and the tailed beast cloak were all chakra-hungry monsters. And her greatest weakness was that she simply didn't have the absurd reserves of true chakra freaks.
Sahada's chakra-absorbing ability was, to her, like giving wings to a tiger.
Unless soone handed her Rinnegan eyes, there was no chance she would trade.
"A pity," Orochimaru sighed, shaking his head as he stopped fantasizing. Then he glanced at Kisa beneath her blade.
"This shark man has excellent physical qualities and strong chakra. He's very suitable for experints…"
"Take him."
Hearing the implication, Kono Taketori lifted Sahada and casually handed Kisa over to Orochimaru.
In that fight, Orochimaru had done the heavier lifting. She had taken the most valuable prize, Sahada, so letting Orochimaru "drink so soup" wasn't a problem.
They would be dealing with each other for a long ti. There was no need to clutch every benefit to her chest.
And Kisa's ability was completely countered by Sahada. Even if Orochimaru made a mistake and let him escape later, Kisa would pose no threat to her at all.
Kisa lay in the water, listening as they decided his fate like they were carving up a pig. Despair filled his eyes.
"Straightforward. Ugh."
Orochimaru laughed in his low, magnetic way, then opened his mouth and vomited out a sticky scroll.
With Sahada on her shoulder, Kono Taketori frowned and took half a step back.
That thod of "storage" was genuinely nauseating.
Seeing her recoil in clear disgust, Orochimaru didn't care. He dunked the scroll in the water, rinsed it, then tossed it to her.
"Implant…"
Halfway through, he abruptly paused and flicked a glance at Kisa, who still had his "ears" pricked up. His voice turned vague.
"You helped stall those two. The deal was completed perfectly. The right arm is sealed inside. We didn't even trade for an eye this ti. That old bastard Danzo really got off cheap."
He's actually keeping his word?
Kono Taketori accepted the dripping scroll, surprised. She broke the seal to confirm, and only after she verified it truly was the arm did she put it away.
Orochimaru's eyes glinted, but he said nothing about her distrust.
With the combat power she'd shown, she had the right to be a little offensive.
His hands flew through seals.
Five different chakra flas ignited on the fingertips of Orochimaru's right hand.
"Five Elents Seal!"
He slamd his palm onto Kisa's chest.
Hiss!
It was like a red-hot brand pressed against flesh. Kisa let out a strangled grunt. White steam rose around the imprint. When Orochimaru pulled away, five oval symbols were clearly burned into Kisa's blue skin.
Kono Taketori, who had never stopped guarding against Kisa, watched as his chakra was locked tightly inside his core. It slamd and surged, but could not break free from the Five Elents Seal.
She nodded, stepped back two paces, and left Kisa to Orochimaru.
Still not satisfied, Orochimaru stretched his neck and bit into Kisa's shoulder. The curse-seal toxin that could steal a person's ability to move spread rapidly through Kisa's body.
For an "evil scientist" who supposedly loved courting death, Orochimaru was unbelievably steady and careful.
That battlefield fell silent.
Die had been tracking Kono Taketori's side the whole ti. Seeing Kisa in such a miserable state, the suffocating pressure from Uchiha Itachi eased slightly.
"Night Ferry's side has already taken him down."
"So fast? As expected of one of the Three Sannin," Arashi said in disbelief. The image of that enormous, tsunami-summoning power was still vivid in his mind. And yet it had ended this quickly.
"No," Die said. "It was Night Ferry who took him down."
Arashi and Iwaguma both snapped their heads around. Even Itachi and Abura Ryoma, who had been maintaining their tense "standoff," were drawn in.
Kisa's strength was beyond argunt. The massive lake under their feet was proof of it. He was clearly a top-tier powerhouse who could clash with a village's Kage.
If Kono Taketori could defeat soone like that, then she now had combat power comparable to Danzo, maybe even the Third Hokage himself.
"She's getting more and more ridiculous," Arashi rasped.
Not Orochimaru's magnetic rasp, but the dry, sand-choked sound of soone who'd been stranded in a desert too long. After witnessing Kisa's disaster-level power, rembering he'd fought Kono Taketori twice before made cold fear creep up his spine.
Good thing she's my teammate…
In that very mont, Itachi ford hand seals inside his sleeve and, without warning, spat out a raging blaze.
Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!
Even startled, Ryoma's group never once took their eyes off Itachi. They reacted instantly, scattering to avoid the ambush.
Then they realized the fireball, large as a house, wasn't aid at them at all.
Whoosh!
The flas incinerated the kikaichu swarming the sky. They crackled as they fell from above, and the tightly wrapped insect screen instantly tore open into a huge gap.
Itachi's crimson Mangekyo t Ryoma's gaze for a heartbeat. Then he lowered his body, followed behind the fireball, and shot out through the opening.
On this side.
Kono Taketori stood with Sahada on her shoulder as Orochimaru manipulated bandages, wrapping Kisa into a cocoon like Sahada itself. A single white character slowly appeared at the center of the bandages.
Seal.
He really was too steady.
Whoosh!
A massive oval fire projectile suddenly flew in from the distance.
The blaze was so fierce it evaporated the rain. Mist spiraled up in wisps. Even from far away, the heat was suffocating.
Such savage nature transformation.
So this is Uchiha Fire Style?
Having just finished sealing his one piece of loot, Orochimaru felt the scorching approach.
He slapped a hand onto the water.
Water Style: Water Formation Wall!
Like Kono Taketori, Orochimaru was proficient in all five chakra natures, and what he was best at was elental countering.
A towering wall of water surged up.
With the environnt on his side, Water Formation Wall was massively boosted. The magnificent water wall collided with the flas. The fire flared in one last burst, then was smothered under the downpour until it vanished.
Hiss…
Scalding steam spread everywhere.
Orochimaru licked his lips. The sudden rise in heat disrupted his infrared sensing, and with the fog boiling up around him, his vision turned into a blur.
"Kah, kah, kah!"
Countless crows swirled above him, wings beating as they converged, forming the silhouette of a man in a black cloak patterned with red clouds.
Crimson Mangekyo looked down with contempt.
Orochimaru knew the enemy was overhead, yet he didn't dare raise his head. He watched Itachi's movents through the warped reflection in the water, chakra roaring through his body.
Itachi gave him no ti at all. The opening strike was lethal.
His right eye widened, the pupil locking onto Orochimaru's head. Blood vessels crawled outward across the eyeball.
Amaterasu!
"GRAAAH!"
Black flas ignited on Orochimaru's scalp without warning. The burning pain made him scream as he plunged headfirst into the lake.
Drip.
Blood tears fell into the water. Itachi shut his aching right eye, grabbed the bandage-wrapped Kisa, and withdrew at speed.
Boom!
A monstrous "fish" slamd into the spot where they had stood a mont ago. The lake surface buckled under several tons of force, the water level dropping sharply for an instant.
Then a boundless wave exploded outward.
Splash!
Sahada shrank back to Kono Taketori's feet, disgorging a mouthful of clear water in apparent disgust.
Step, step, step.
Abura Ryoma arrived with Iwaguma's trio, splashing across the water.
They weren't even slow.
The exchange between Kage-level fighters was too fast. Three or four seconds, at most. Their support was already extrely tily.
Kono Taketori and Ryoma's group converged.
"Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
Kono Taketori nodded, then glanced at Ryoma with surprise.
Above his head, emotions were flickering: concern, friendliness.
That wooden man who was usually almost emotionless looked… strangely normal now.
His favorability had even increased for no obvious reason.
But with the enemy still nearby, there was no ti to dig into Ryoma's change. Kono Taketori guarded Sahada behind her and looked toward Itachi, who was removing Kisa's bandages in the distance.
She waited quietly for him to undo the seal.
Knowing Itachi was an infiltrator, she didn't want to keep fighting. The gains from this mission were already too rich.
Thunderstone.
Ink Thunder Crystal.
The Black Lightning secret technique.
Sahada.
Danzo's right arm.
She was carrying too many treasures. If her shadow clone got blown apart by accident, she would drop a whole pile of loot onto the ground.
That loss would be unbearable.
Rain fell in sheets.
Itachi's right eye remained shut. Blood washed down his pale face, mixed with rain. He pressed both hands to Kisa's body.
The bandages vanished one by one.
"Itachi… you should just run," Kisa said with a bitter smile.
The Five Elents Seal and curse-seal toxin were still working inside him. He couldn't move at all.
And even if he returned to full strength, facing a jinchuriki holding Sahada, he was useless. Worse, he would beco a walking chakra battery for the enemy.
"Stop talking."
Even Itachi found Kisa's condition troubleso. He crouched, hoisted Kisa onto his back, and used the remaining bandages to strap him down tightly.
Kisa's gaze turned complicated. He lay against Itachi's back and fell silent.
On the other side.
"Pfft!"
Orochimaru burst up from beneath the surface, body completely intact. He stared at Itachi's reflection in the water, golden eyes so thick with killing intent it was nearly tangible.
That black fla held Yin Release power. It burned even on water and could not be extinguished.
If not for the substitution technique Orochimaru had developed, he would have been instantly killed again.
So this was the Mangekyo's power.
A genjutsu space that felt like reality.
An inextinguishable Yin Release fire.
Being "one-shot" again and again by Itachi only drove Orochimaru's craving for the Sharingan to its peak.
He didn't notice the space behind him warping.
"Watch out!"
Die, who had been sending ripple-like chakra to monitor everything, shouted the warning.
But it was still too late.
Silently, a hand reached through space and grabbed Orochimaru's right shoulder. A bizarre vortex of distortion ford where the palm touched, spreading as it twisted across his body.
At the center of the vortex, Orochimaru's eyes widened. His body began to spiral and warp, yet there was no pain.
Space-ti ninjutsu?
Orochimaru opened his mouth to cry out, but no sound ca. Even his head was twisting, deforming inside that vortex of space.
Rip!
Two pale hands thrust out from his own mouth.
Covered in sli, Orochimaru tore free of the warped "shell" like shedding a skin and fled in terror from the distortion.
Whoosh.
The discarded outer layer twisted and vanished. In its place stood a mysterious shinobi with loose hair, wearing an orange one-eyed mask patterned with swirling lines. His body flickered into existence, stepping across the water.
Splash splash splash!
The rain passed straight through him, striking the water below and leaving countless ripples, as if he were only a false shadow.
Uchiha Madara.
Mister Madara.
Itachi and Kisa's hearts both slowed by half a beat.
Itachi was Konoha's undercover agent and had just t with Abura Ryoma to pass Akatsuki intelligence. With the true mastermind arriving, he couldn't help feeling guilty.
Kisa was Madara's plant inside Akatsuki. He had failed the mission to secretly reclaim the Six Paths treasure, and he'd even lost Sahada. Compared to Itachi, he had even less confidence.
Both had once served in ANBU and had undergone specialized training. Their ntal discipline was elite.
They controlled their heartbeats and expressions, not letting a single drop slip.
Seeing the tension points blazing above everyone's heads, Kono Taketori, the one who knew the most, finally exhaled.
She gripped Sahada so tightly her knuckles whitened.
She had just wanted to blow up a mine, go ho, and get Sharingan eyes to treat an illness.
So what exactly is this turning into?
Looking at the mountaintop of Raikōzan, now drowned under floodwater, with four or five Kage-level monsters gathered in one place…
Even soone as composed as Kono Taketori couldn't help wanting to swear.
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