"Kenjutsu:One-Thousand-Year-Of-Pain!"
The blade pierced the Mist squad commander clean from behind.
Yako surged out of the water with a splash and drove a heavy kick into the man's spine, sending him flying.
He'd been crouched down, both hands on the water's surface—making him a perfect target. The angle was just... ideal.
The nearby Mist shinobi stared in horror. The infamous Copper Fox of the Konoha ANBU had used the mud and murk as cover to assassinate their commander.
Yako glanced at the two nearest enemies, feeling a dangerous sort of pride.
'Right now, this blade's been dipped in literal crap. Who'd dare get close?'
"Kill him!" another squad leader shouted.
Four Mist shinobi rushed forward, but clearly didn't grasp the gravity of the situation.
'Don't they know what E. coli is?'
Yako carved through them, dropping them one after the other. Then, with a look of disgust, he hurled the blade into another Mist squad leader.
The blade stabbed clean into the man's gut.
'Say hello to your commander's intestinal bacteria.'
Yako vanished back into the mist, hunting close-quarters targets, his fists pulverizing ribs with every strike.
By the time the floodwaters had fully drained, that entire Mist squad was decimated.
Still, explosions echoed from the southwest—booming, fierce.
Yako pressed onward.
As he neared the source, a shockwave blasted forward, shredding the mist, followed by a searing gust of hot wind—and then, at last, the sound of the explosion itself.
The blast wave had outrun its own noise.
That... was not normal.
His instincts screamed at him.
'What the hell kind of jutsu is this? Who's fighting? Could it be Yellow Dog? His Fire Release is intense enough, but this feels... worse.'
Still, the upside was clear: the explosions had shredded much of the mist. His vision was improving.
And there they were—
Over a dozen Uchiha shinobi, retreating in tatters.
At their head was Uchiha Tōka, leading the remnants of a full squad—Uchiha Fugaku among them. They were battered, exhausted, and barely holding together.
And their enemy?
A hulking... thing.
Fat. Bulbous arms. A massive, curved blade fused to one of them.
Yako took a few more steps forward—and his breath caught.
It wasn't a man.
It was a clone. Steaming Danger Tyranny.
A secret technique once wielded by the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu—the infinite explosive clone.
It was a deadly mix of oil and water molded into a humanoid form. The clone could fly at high speeds, and if struck or heated, its oil expanded and its inner water evaporated—causing a massive explosion.
After the blast, the oil cooled and it reverted to a small, childlike form, ready to detonate again.
Brutal taijutsu, infinite explosions—Steaming Danger Tyranny was almost impossible to defeat.
'No wonder that Uchiha earlier said they were being specifically targeted...'
Against a foe like this, the Uchiha were helpless.
Their Sharingan-enhanced taijutsu? Useless—the clone only exploded faster if struck.
Their Fire Release? Even worse—it triggered instant detonation.
And Genjutsu? Worthless. It was a clone.
All it took was one Hōzuki hiding nearby to cripple a squad.
Yako didn't know which Hōzuki clan member had deployed the clone—but they were dangerous.
At that moment, four Uchiha stayed behind to cover the retreat.
They formed hand seals—Four Great Fireballs roared into existence.
Their goal was clear: force the clone to explode early, giving the others a chance to escape.
But the clone was too fast. It dodged three of the fireballs and slammed itself straight into the last one.
At that distance, it was close—too close.
A blinding flash.
Then a wave of superheated steam engulfed the four shinobi.
Their flesh liquefied. Their bones shattered.
All that remained was blood mist—and silence.
Yako backed off quickly, dodging the remnants of the blast. Through the thinning steam, he saw the clone reform—shrinking, reverting to a childlike figure, oil glistening.
It darted away again.
There was no point fighting it directly. He had to find the Hōzuki controlling it.
The Uchiha wouldn't be able to. But he could.
He slung the Twin Blades from his back and gripped them like giant clubs.
To Mist shinobi, those seven blades were sacred.
So he did the most offensive thing he could think of.
He slammed one against a nearby boulder.
CLANG!
The blade vibrated violently.
In Yako's hands, even a legendary sword was treated like scrap metal.
Any Mist shinobi watching would be furious.
"Stop!"
Bingo.
A voice rang out from the mist. Two figures stepped forward.
The first was a beast of a man, towering at least two and a half meters, built like a walrus. Bright red hair. Rows of jagged teeth.
Fuguki Suikazan.
The other was lean, almost wiry, but held a massive spiked blade aimed directly at Yako.
Samehada.
And the wielder—
A jōnin from the Hōzuki clan: Hōzuki Muratsuki.
In the original records, Fuguki Suikazan was the first wielder of Samehada in the Mist. But for some reason, much of the Hōzuki clan's history had been purged from the archives—as though they never existed.
Once the Mist's largest clan, the Hōzuki had practically vanished after the Third Great Ninja War. Only a few stragglers remained.
Even Orochimaru had protected them better than the Mist ever did.
Suigetsu was one of Orochimaru's experiments. He might survive in Orochimaru's lab—but if he ever returned to the Mist, he'd be executed instantly.
Yako's eyes shifted.
Steaming Danger Tyranny had returned—rushing forward again.
Far behind, Uchiha Tōka finally saw the clone disappear and exhaled in relief.
Thank the gods for Copper Fox.
Without him, they'd be dead.
Yako raised a hand and signed a command: Leave it to me.
Tōka nodded and barked to the survivors, "Move! Regroup with the other squads!"
His squad had fewer than twenty left.
The rest... gone.
Fugaku hesitated. "Sensei... can Copper Fox win against two elite jōnin?"
Tōka replied, "He might not win—but he won't lose either. He's got an absolute defense technique. He won't die easily."
Yako studied the two Mist elites in front of him.
An ambush turned disaster.
Five Konoha squads gutted.
His dreams of becoming a squad captain? Gone.
He looked up. The moon had finally broken through the mist overhead.
This full moon cycle… would be the cycle of death.
But before he died, he'd extract enough intel to guarantee his promotion next lifetime.
He clanged the Twin Blades against the stone again.
"Hōzuki Muratsuki," he said coldly, "who would've thought these broken blades could lure out a real shark."
Muratsuki's lips curled back, his teeth grinding. "The Seven Ninja Blades are the legacy of Lord Gengetsu! You dare treat the Twin Blades like trash?!"
Yako snorted. "Oh? So they were passed down from the Second Mizukage to the Hōzuki? Funny—I saw someone named Kurisame Tsumaru wielding the Needle Blade."
He jabbed, voice full of venom:
"Don't tell me you lot were too weak to hold onto your inheritance and let the village confiscate them?"
"If Tsumaru can wield a Seven Blade… then why the hell can't I?"