"What a pity... Mr. Itachi, I never imagined I would fall here!"
Kisame Hoshigaki tried one last time to heft the great blade Samehada, but he found his body unresponsive. It had already been reduced to a crystalline shell of frost; even lifting a finger was now a distant luxury. The gap in power was simply too vast.
In his final moments, the "Shark of the Mist" looked up and realized that the woman before him was no mere human. As she reached up to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, he noticed that the sleek, dark horns atop her head were no ornaments—they were part of her being.
"So, I fell to a celestial beast? I suppose that makes sense..."
Under the pressure of absolute zero, Kisame's physical form shattered, dissolving into a fine diamond dust that scattered into the wind. All that remained was Samehada, frozen solid like a block of lead on the forest floor.
Ganyu calmly adjusted her hair and stepped forward, sealing the legendary blade into her storage pouch. She gazed toward the distant horizon, whispering to herself, "Now it's up to you, Yae Miko... Since I have some time left, I might as well see if there are any treasures nearby worth scavenging."
She wasn't about to let a mission pass without a proper harvest. After all, their previous ventures had filled the Jade Chamber's coffers to the brim.
[The Samurai Bridge – Land of Iron]
Danzō Shimura, the "Shadow of the Shinobi," sprinted across the stone bridge, fleeing the chaos of the Five Kage Summit. Just as he thought he had escaped pursuit, he skidded to a halt.
Standing a short distance away was a woman of unparalleled beauty. Her long, pink hair flowed in the wind, but it was the multiple fox tails swaying behind her that sent a chill down Danzō's spine. The air around her hummed with a mischievous, yet lethal, energy.
"A fox demon?"
Wary of the unknown, Danzō immediately flicked several kunai to test her.
CRACKLE—!
Purple lightning flashed for a microsecond. The kunai were vaporized instantly, and the woman vanished from his sight.
"My, my... did I offend you somehow?" Her voice drifted right into his ear, warm and mocking. "To attack a Lady of the Grand Narukami without warning... tell me, are you prepared to die?"
Danzō broke into a cold sweat. His hands blurred through seals, but a spectral fox spirit tore through his chest before he could finish. He coughed up a spray of blood and collapsed, his body hitting the stone with a dull thud.
However, the corpse quickly flickered and turned translucent. Yae Miko gave a disdainful smirk, turning her gaze toward a nearby rocky outcrop. The Danzō she had just killed reappeared there, staring at her with cold, calculating eyes.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere!"
Realizing this woman wouldn't let him pass, Danzō unleashed a high-pressure blast of wind that tore through the bridge like a cannon shell. He followed up with a volley of kunai to pin her movements.
Yae Miko didn't move. She simply rang her Kagura Verity bell. A ripple of electro energy resonated through the air, and the incoming ninjutsu collapsed into nothingness.
"Is that it? You're old, you're ugly, and your tricks are... juvenile. Can't you show me something more 'interesting' to pass the time? Don't make me laugh."
Her mysterious smile and the eerie aura she projected left Danzō paralyzed with indecision. Ninjutsu was useless, and her own moves defied the logic of chakra.
[The Observers]
As they clashed, Sasuke Uchiha and Karin arrived on the scene. Karin's eyes widened in terror. "Sasuke... we have to leave. That woman... she's terrifying!"
Sasuke, his eyes bleeding into the pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan, looked at the shrine maiden in confusion. "What are you talking about, Karin?"
"I'm serious! I can sense her life force—it's like a bottomless ocean of lightning! We can't handle her!"
"Be quiet," Sasuke growled. "My goal is Danzō. No one stops me."
Danzō, noticing the Uchiha survivor, gritted his teeth. The brat is here. I have to finish this fox and escape before I'm squeezed between them.
He tried to use a Wind Style barrier to cover his retreat, but three fox spirits lunged at him from the shadows. Danzō used his Sharingan to track them, attempting to weave through, but he was caught off guard when the spirits simply detonated upon contact.
Another "life" was snuffed out.
"Hahaha! This is hilarious!" Miko laughed, her voice echoing across the bridge. "You've wasted another life. Come now, old man, you must try harder to entertain me, or I might get bored. And believe me... you don't want to see me bored."
She hadn't even drawn her blade, Hakuhime. She was simply playing with him, her fox spirits bolstered by the passive aura of her Sovereign-tier cultivation.
[The Chat Group – Shock & Confusion]
In the distance, Obito (Masked Man) and Zetsu watched from a high ridge, their brows furrowed. "Who is she? She's killed Danzō twice already, and we have zero intelligence on her."
Meanwhile, Kakashi and Sakura arrived at the tail end of the bridge.
Hu Tao: "Wait, wait! Stop the recording! Why is Kakashi alive?! Didn't he die in the Pain invasion? Didn't that shockwave vaporize him?"
Ningguang: "There is only one answer: something changed in the timeline."
Su Han: "I suspect it's Obito's doing. Or rather, the ripples from our last intervention."
Zhongli: "It is a shame Nagato passed away. His resolve was impressive; had he joined Liyue, his lifespan issues could have been easily resolved. Truly a waste of talent."
[The Bridge – The Clash Continues]
Danzō grew desperate. Wind Style was being neutralized by Miko's mere presence. He summoned a Vacuum Blade of pressurized wind and lunged at her, hoping for a close-quarters kill—the traditional weakness of "mages."
"I have always loathed foxes," Danzō hissed, swinging the blade at her neck. "Let's see how you handle this!"
CLANG—!
The blade struck an invisible wall of force centimeters from her skin.
Conqueror's Haki: Invisible Armor.
Electro-black lightning flared around Yae Miko, her eyes shifting into a cold, ruthless violet. "An eyesore like you... actually tried to touch me? Begone."
Without a visible movement, a shockwave erupted. Danzō was sent flying, six of his ribs shattering instantly as he vomited blood. The onlookers—Sasuke, Kakashi, and the hidden Obito—stood in stunned silence.
How did she hit him without moving? And how did she break through a Vacuum Blade with her bare spirit?
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