"Water Release: Twin Water Dragon Whip!"
Áo Péng's roar split the air. In each massive hand, a bone club spun, connected to swirling torrents of water. The clubs lashed out like twin serpentine whips, smashing into the advancing Kaguya rebels with brutal force.
Bone clubs danced, water dragons swept and crashed—the battlefield was chaos incarnate. Áo Péng's hulking frame moved with shocking agility, like a master dancer in the eye of the storm. Within fifty meters, not a single enemy could stand against him.
But the Kaguya clan were maniacs. They charged forward, ignoring wounds and broken bones. Even when knocked down, they clawed back to their feet, clutching bone swords and hacking at Mist ninja with relentless fury.
Áo Péng unleashed his technique—two water dragons tore through the enemy ranks, carving deep furrows in their lines. But he couldn't keep it up; the chakra drain was immense.
He vaulted high, bone club swinging down onto a rebel's skull, shattering bone and splattering brains. Yet the rebel's bone sword kept stabbing forward, mechanical and mindless, sending chills down Áo Péng's spine.
"Damn lunatics!"
He snarled, booting the corpse away, raising his club to block a flurry of bone swords thrust at him.
As the Mist's front-line commander, Áo Péng was baffled. How the hell did these idiots know the precise locations of the village's wall drainage pipes?
Just after midnight, with orders from Master Genshi, Áo Péng had scrambled two thousand ninja to reinforce the city walls. The walls, built during the Third Mizukage's reign and modeled after Konoha's, had been raised even higher under Yagura's orders—"At least make sure no jōnin can leap over in one go." The defenses were solid.
But Mist Village was plagued by rain, and those towering walls had terrible drainage. A single storm could flood the wall interiors. The builders had cleverly installed fourteen hidden drainage pipes, slanting the walls inward to prevent waterlogging.
To keep enemies from sneaking in, the outlets were secret, routed underground. No one outside the design team knew their locations.
For the record, the engineer behind the walls was Young Master Sairen—also known as Yamashita Tetsu.
Áo Péng had barely finished deploying his defenses when the village erupted in flames and screams.
"Commander! The rebels are inside—they came through the drainage pipes!"
Áo Péng was stunned. He didn't even know where the pipes exited—how did these maniacs figure it out?
No time to ponder. He rallied his ninja and dove into the village, launching into brutal street combat.
Without the walls, Mist's "scraps" were hopeless against the Kaguya's Dead Bone Pulse. Losses mounted fast, but sheer numbers kept the fight at a bloody stalemate.
Kaguya bones were harder than steel. They didn't have Kimimaro's curse mark, but their power was legendary. When they fought, their bodies bristled with bone spikes—every inch a weapon. Their will was unbreakable, and they were damn hard to kill. Unless you hit a vital spot, they'd fight to the last breath. It often took two or three Mist ninja to bring down a single Kaguya rebel.
At this rate, Mist would be wiped out before sunrise.
Desperate, Áo Péng called in the three remaining Great Guardians, joining the fray himself just to hold the line.
As he smashed another rebel aside, a sudden gust whipped toward him. Áo Péng instinctively raised his club, bracing for impact.
Clang!
Bone club met bone sword.
Damn, that's some strength!
Áo Péng was a powerhouse himself, but the force transmitted through the bone sword nearly ripped the weapon from his grip.
He realized, too late, that several bone spikes had pierced his flesh. The wounds were shallow, but they stung.
This guy was a real threat.
Áo Péng twisted, summoning all his strength to shove his opponent away. Only then did he size up the man before him.
"Who the hell are you?" Áo Péng demanded, voice low and dangerous.
You couldn't blame Áo Péng for not recognizing Menma. The Kaguya clan all looked disturbingly similar—like the products of generations of inbreeding. Unless you were one of them, you couldn't tell them apart.
The man just grinned, licking fresh blood from a bone spike. He didn't answer.
Suddenly, his body tensed. Bone spikes erupted from elbows, knees, ribs, and wrists, growing nearly a foot in an instant. He curled into a spiked ball and rolled straight at Áo Péng.
No way he could block that head-on.
Áo Péng's bone clubs were made for close-quarters combat, but if he tried to block, those spikes would tear into him.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Whip!"
A massive water dragon burst from his club. Áo Péng lashed out, striking the spinning "meatball" with brutal precision.
Crack!
Menma, about to collide, spun even faster under the whip's force. Centrifugal energy flung him several steps away.
Crack!
Áo Péng advanced, whipping again. Menma's spin accelerated, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Áo Péng's strikes came faster and faster, like whipping a giant top. He kept his distance, controlling the fight with ruthless skill.
…
"After all these years, Áo Péng hasn't lost his edge. He's still a monster."
Maki stood atop the city wall, surveying the carnage below.
"You know him, sir?" Xuechi Gaojin asked.
Maki nodded. "Yeah. We fought side by side once. He's easily top five in Mist Village."
"Should I jump in—give him some trouble?" Xuechi Gaojin offered.
Maki considered, then shook his head. "No need. He's a good guy—honest, no ambition. One of Mist's rare moderates. Killing him would be pointless."
He stretched, rubbing his back. "This is working perfectly. Gaojin, drop the genjutsu—it's time to bail."
"The main event hasn't even started. Aren't we staying to watch?"
"What main event? It's just two packs of lunatics tearing each other apart. Nothing worth seeing. We've done what we came for. If we don't leave now, we'll end up blowing ourselves up for nothing."
"What about the Three-Tails?" Xuechi Gaojin asked.
Maki shook his head. "Forget it. Jinchūriki are tough. Just us two? No way. Let Mist keep their pet."
Xuechi Gaojin nodded, quickly forming hand seals. "Release!"
"All set."
He nodded to Maki.
"Alright, let's move."
With that, the two vanished from the village wall.
Maki would never know how much chaos he'd unleashed—more than he ever imagined. The fighting lasted longer, the death toll soared, and Mist Village nearly ceased to exist.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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