As the head of the Hidden Mist ANBU, Ao was never the strongest fighter on the battlefield. His true edge came from his Byakugan—intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, and sharp analysis. In pure combat, his Rubber Release was reliable for defense and support, but not much for direct offense.
Ōpeng, though, was a veteran of a hundred battles. He saw his chance instantly: the rubber sphere containing Kaguya Menma was being shredded by a barrage of bone spikes, about to burst apart. Without hesitation, Ōpeng surged forward, hands flying through hand seals.
"Water Release: Water Prison Technique!"
Just as Menma tore through the last layer of rubber, he found himself trapped in Ōpeng's water sphere.
Menma panicked, thrashing wildly. Bone spikes erupted from his body, stabbing at the watery confines, while bubbles streamed from his mouth in frantic bursts.
Ōpeng didn't flinch—he held the seal, expanding the water prison's radius until Menma's struggles became pointless. All he had to do was wait for the rebel leader to drown.
"Why didn't you just wait until I was dead to show up?" Ōpeng groused, annoyed.
Ao bowed in apology. "What can I say? You know I'm short on manpower. These few are borrowed from Master Genshi. If I didn't have a guaranteed kill, I'd just be throwing my life away. As soon as reinforcements arrived, I rushed in."
"Hmph." Ōpeng grunted, but let it drop.
"These traitors shouldn't be allowed to live. Once we put down this rebellion, send a team to Kiriyuki Island—wipe them out, old and young, leave nothing behind!" For once, the usually mild-mannered Ōpeng radiated pure killing intent.
On the battlefield, losing Menma barely slowed the Kaguya rebels. They'd been fighting on raw fury and bloodlust—now, they just fought with blind desperation. But without a leader, their resistance was scattered. Mist ninja quickly split them into isolated pockets, surrounding them in the alleys. Anyone could see this was a lost cause.
Ao frowned. "That won't be easy. These bastards cost us a lot of brothers. To finish them off, we'll probably have to wait for the Mizukage to return. Young Master, could you leave a few alive? I'm very interested in how they got to the island."
"Right! Didn't they trade all their boats for food? How'd they get here—swim? Run? Someone had to help them! Never mind, the others probably don't know anything. Just ask him—he's the clan head, he'll have the answers. Wait until he finally passes out. Oh, and before interrogation, pluck out every bone, leave only the head."
Ōpeng spoke with chilling indifference, as if discussing how to carve up a chicken.
Inside the water prison, Menma's already blue face twisted even further. He managed a vicious grin and extended all ten fingers toward Ōpeng.
"Watch out!" Ao shouted, acting fast—he dove, tackling Ōpeng out of harm's way.
Crash! The Water Prison shattered. Menma hit the ground, hacking and coughing up water, gasping for breath.
"What the hell—ugh, what's this…" Ōpeng started to complain, but then saw Ao's face contorted in pain, blood soaking his shoulder.
Gritting his teeth, Ao jammed his hand into his own wound, rooting around until he yanked out a small shard of bone.
"That was his finger bone. When he reached out, he tried to shoot ten bone bullets at you. If you'd taken the hit, you'd have ten new holes."
Ao tossed the bone aside and pointed to Menma, who was already getting his wind back. "Quick—kill him. We'll worry about intel later."
Ōpeng set Ao down and turned, fury burning in his eyes. Menma, breathing steadily now, began to rise.
Truthfully, Menma's mind was a total blank.
Wait—how did I get here?
Why am I fighting?
Who sent me?
(He'd fought his way here under Xuechi Gaojin's genjutsu, so of course he had no idea.)
But none of that mattered anymore. This was exactly the kind of chaos he craved. His mind didn't have room for doubts—just the instinct to fight.
His combat reflexes took over. With a sudden backflip, Menma vaulted over the Mist ninja's cordon, landing among his own clansmen—a pocket of seventy or eighty rebels, the largest group in the encirclement.
"Brothers, form up—Bone Forest!"
Instantly, the Kaguya rebels locked arms, shoulder to shoulder. Sharp bones erupted from the ground, spreading rapidly until half the street was a forest of white spikes. Mist ninja caught off guard were skewered where they stood. The bone forest grew thick and dense, covering nearly the entire street.
"Fall back! Retreat!" Ōpeng ordered, rallying the Mist ninja to withdraw.
Some rebels broke out of the encirclement and melted into the bone forest. The "bone trees" kept spreading, eventually overrunning all of Shishin Street.
A few Mist ninja tried to approach, but the bone forest seemed alive—step too close, and spikes would lash out to impale you.
The Kaguya clan's Dead Bone Pulse made them walking pincushions—impossible to approach.
"Burn them out! Blast them to hell! I refuse to believe we can't deal with these bastards!" Ao snarled.
But fire oil was nowhere to be found at this stage. There were some explosive tags, though. Ninja tied tags to kunai and hurled them into the bone forest, but most were deflected by spikes. The few that detonated barely made a dent.
Just as Ao prepared to launch a barrage of clustered explosive tags, something strange happened—colorful bubbles began drifting down from the sky.
Ao froze, then his face broke into a wild grin.
"With this guy here, the rebellion's finished!"
The bubbles multiplied, filling the entire street.
"The Hidden Mist Saizō Iron-Blooded Youth Corps is here! All unrelated personnel clear the area to avoid collateral damage!"
A crisp, energetic voice echoed through the street, though no one could see the speaker. Mist ninja turned to Ao, waiting for orders.
"What are you staring at me for? Wasn't that clear enough? Get clear!" Ao barked, leading the retreat. Ōpeng and the rest followed.
They'd barely cleared the street when a series of earth-shaking explosions thundered behind them.
Ao's eyes went wide. "These kids are insane—they just blew up an entire street!"
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