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When the twin water dragons came roaring in to strike once more, Hiruzen countered with his own Water Dragon Bullet. The two aquatic serpents collided with devastating, bone-rattling force. The resulting explosion of water sprayed upwards like a torrential downpour before crashing back down upon the sea.
Using the curtain of falling seawater as cover, Hiruzen launched himself from the ship and forced his way onto the shore. His gaze immediately locked onto the figure of Gengetsu. His brow furrowed deeply, his expression turning dead serious. "The Impure World Reanimation?"
"Yes. I never imagined I would encounter you all under these circumstances either. But the brutal truth is, I have absolutely no control over my own body," Gengetsu said, raising his arms in a theatrical, helpless shrug.
"Then there is nothing to be done about it," Hiruzen stated, his voice grim and unyielding.
It was truly fortunate that Mei Terumi had sent advance warning of Kabuto's capture by the Akatsuki. That intelligence had granted them a precious window to formulate countermeasures. To stop these individuals "resurrected" through the Impure World Reanimation, there were only two viable options.
They either had to force the jutsu's caster to release the technique, or they had to successfully seal the physical bodies of the reanimated. But Gengetsu alone was already a monstrously troublesome opponent. If Pain were to join the fray as well, even Hiruzen would find the situation dauntingly perilous.
"You should never have come here," Pain declared from his distant vantage point.
"To seek the power of the Ten-Tails is to willingly make an enemy of the entire shinobi world," Hiruzen countered.
"Am I not, myself, a part of that very shinobi world?"
Hiruzen did not dignify Pain's question with a reply. Instead, he shifted his piercing, accusatory gaze directly onto Itachi. "So this was your choice?!"
"It was," Itachi affirmed without hesitation.
"In case you've forgotten, it was also he who killed Uchiha Fugaku," Zetsu interjected maliciously.
"Shut your mouth!" Itachi cut Zetsu off mid-sentence.
"Is that the truth?" Hiruzen demanded, staring at Itachi with undisguised shock.
"Believe it or not, as you wish. But there is something I have wanted to say for a very long time. Hiruzen, I utterly detest the Hidden Leaf Village under your rule. By the same measure, I felt no love for Uchiha Fugaku either. All of you pushed and shoved the Uchiha clan forward, never once giving its members any true choice in the matter. That even Shisui's death could be so quietly, so conveniently swept under the rug... How bitterly ironic," Itachi glared at Hiruzen with undisguised venom.
Hiruzen shook his head slowly. The Uchiha clan had been a festering, intractable problem for the Hidden Leaf Village for as long as anyone could remember. It had become a deep, agonizing knot in the village's very heart. He alone, even with the authority of the Hokage, was powerless to mend the fractured relationship. The most he could ever do was prevent the rift from widening further. And even that fragile goal had been shattered with the death of Minato Namikaze.
"I cannot permit you to speak any further. Our time is also extremely limited," Pain declared. He extended his open palm, aligning it squarely towards Hiruzen. In an instant, Hiruzen felt an immense, irresistible gravitational force seize hold of his body, dragging him involuntarily through the air. The Deva Path swung his black chakra rod, thrusting it viciously towards Hiruzen's abdomen. He had fully expected the rod to impale the old man's body clean through. To his astonishment, the tip of the black rod met resistance and could advance no further.
"Did you truly believe I would be defeated by the exact same technique twice?" Hiruzen demanded.
Pain glanced down sharply. He saw that Hiruzen's arms had turned a deep, lustrous black.
"Earth Spear?!" Pain exclaimed, caught off guard.
The corner of Hiruzen's mouth curled upwards. But before he could voice a retort, a colossal wave of repulsive force slammed into him without warning. He was sent hurtling backwards, crashing heavily onto the sandy beach.
At that very moment, the shinobi of the Hidden Leaf had already fully engaged Gengetsu and the other reanimated warriors in fierce combat. The Leaf shinobi's advantage lay in their overwhelming numbers. The seven ships had carried a total force of nearly two hundred elite fighters, the cream of the Hidden Leaf's military. While the Akatsuki's contingent could not match them in sheer volume, each individual member possessed utterly exceptional, monstrous combat prowess.
The six shinobi resurrected through the Impure World Reanimation were so formidable that they did not even require the intervention of Itachi or the others. Those six alone were sufficient to single-handedly stall the entire two-hundred-strong vanguard of the Hidden Leaf.
"Allow me to explain to you precisely how to defeat me. However, whether or not you are actually capable of doing so will depend entirely upon your own strength. Not long ago, Hozuki Mangetsu gave it his best attempt... and the result was that I very nearly killed him. I do hope you won't disappoint me as he did," Gengetsu announced. He spread his arms wide, and a dense vapor of water began to coalesce and envelop his body. In mere moments, a smaller, child-like doppelganger of Gengetsu materialized before everyone's eyes. Despite its childish appearance, its sheer, monstrous volume was staggering.
"This technique is called the Steam Imp Threat. Its exterior is a layer of oil, while its interior is composed of water. It will rapidly expand in size, then release an absolutely staggering amount of energy, resulting in a cataclysmic explosion. After the detonation, its volume will shrink dramatically, and then the entire cycle will begin anew. This will repeat endlessly unless you manage to defeat me first. Prepare yourselves to experience the full, terrifying power of this explosion, time and time again. As a small aside, the moment immediately following each explosion will be when I am at my absolute most vulnerable. Whether or not you can seize that fleeting opportunity is entirely up to you!" Gengetsu laid out the mechanics of his technique with brutal, matter-of-fact clarity. All the while, as he spoke, the child-like doppelganger's body had already swollen to twice its original size.
"What do we do? This monstrous thing looks incredibly dangerous!" Choza Akimichi stared up at the massive doppelganger, his voice tinged with awe and alarm. Compared to that colossal entity, even Choza's own considerable bulk seemed almost slender by comparison.
"Assume defensive formations!" Kakashi commanded.
"But are we truly just going to stand here and watch it expand to its maximum size and then detonate?" Shibi Aburame asked, his brow furrowing deeply.
"He has already told us the countermeasure. If we charge in blindly right now, we will very likely suffer catastrophic losses."
"You actually trust what he's telling us?" Choza shot back.
"I do," Kakashi replied without a moment's hesitation. "We have no other choice but to trust him. The gulf in power between us and him is simply insurmountable."
"Is that truly the case?" Choza looked back at the rapidly, grotesquely swelling form of Gengetsu's doppelganger. An icy chill still slithered down his spine. Terrifying, oppressive waves of chakra radiated outward from the colossal construct.
"This is the Second Mizukage... His power far exceeds that of the current Mizukage," Kakashi stated. His hands flew through a rapid sequence of seals. From the sandy ground, a thick, heavy earthen wall erupted, shielding the Leaf shinobi behind it. Seeing this, the other Hidden Leaf shinobi immediately followed his lead. Within a matter of mere seconds, over a dozen earthen walls had sprung up from the beach, forming a layered defensive bulwark that shielded almost everyone.
"Choza, Guy! Gengetsu himself stated that after the doppelganger detonates, he will be critically vulnerable. That will be one of our very few, fleeting opportunities. The two of you will initiate the first wave of attack. Immediately after, Shibi, Tsume, and I will follow up with the second wave. The Sealing Squad will advance directly behind us and seal him away!" Kakashi swiftly and decisively laid out the sequence of their assault.
Before any of the others could even voice their assent, a concussive blast of sound, powerful enough to rupture eardrums, tore through the thick earthen walls and hammered into everyone's ears. It was immediately followed by a cataclysmic eruption of raw, destructive energy. The earthen walls that had been raised for protection were obliterated, swept aside with devastating, irresistible force. Kakashi clamped his hands tightly over his ears, simultaneously bracing himself against the stinging, flying sand and debris. A maddening, deafening ringing filled his head, drowning out all other sound entirely.
In a single, terrifying instant, yellow sand choked the sky, blotting out all vision. Even breathing became a hazard, as the fine grit threatened to choke anyone who so much as parted their lips.
"Art! Now this is what true art looks like!!" Deidara, still perched atop his giant clay bird, had also been buffeted by the shockwave. But his attention was riveted, utterly transfixed, upon the technique itself. Witnessing the raw, annihilating power of the Steam Imp Threat, Deidara found himself completely captivated by the jutsu. His one, singular regret was that he was incapable of using that technique himself.