"Lava Style: Rubber Wall!"
The Cloud front still held masters in reserve; it was none other than Tutai, the assistant to the Raikage and a practitioner of Lava Style.
A long, yellow wall of rubber surged up between the Leaf and Cloud forces, providing a sudden window of escape for the retreating ninja. Yagami felt a surge of unease seeing Garui prepare to flee.
He couldn't afford to die twice at the same man's hands; if Garui managed to ambush him again in the future, who was to say he wouldn't stay dead next time? He couldn't let him leave.
Yagami unleashed a Water Severing Wave.
The high-speed jet of water slammed into the rubber wall, but to Yagami's surprise, his water didn't slice through. The rubber was incredibly elastic; the impact caused the wall to undulate and writhe, absorbing the pressure without tearing.
Against top-tier defensive ninjutsu, pure Water Style felt insufficient—he would have to find a way to reinforce this technique later.
Even if the water jet failed, Yagami was determined to kill Garui. He leaped over the rubber wall, giving chase. Hatake Sakumo, seeing Yagami's uncharacteristic urgency, followed suit without hesitation, leading the rest of the squads.
Of all the Leaf ninja present, Yagami had become the one with the most resolute killing intent.
The distance was significant. Yagami repeatedly fired off Water Severing Waves, forcing Tutai to stop and manifest rubber barriers over and over.
Seizing a precise moment, Yagami suddenly switched techniques. Just as the next rubber wall was about to deploy, he used Earth Style: Earth Flow Spear.
With a single seal, dense stone spears erupted from the ground. The rubber wall was propped up by the stone spikes, prevented from touching the ground and sealing the path. Yagami immediately pivoted back to the Water Severing Wave, aiming the high-pressure jet directly at Tutai.
'Damn it,' Tutai thought. He desperately wove signs to create a second wall, but the ANBU's water jet was too fast. He was about to be skewered.
In that split second, Garui's Storm Style laser arrived.
Storm Style: Laser Circus. Tutai used to think the name was a meaningless joke coined by some dim-witted ancestor of the Storm Style clan, but now he felt nothing but profound gratitude toward those predecessors. The technique was a lifesaver.
The beam of light, combining the properties of water and lightning, moved with blinding speed and collided head-on with the water jet. Yagami felt a faint numbness at the corner of his mouth as lightning traveled back through the water stream toward him, forcing him to cancel the technique.
Just then, a brilliant white arc of chakra cleaved through the air, aimed straight at Tutai's head. Yagami had stalled long enough—Hatake Sakumo had arrived.
The White Fang's chakra blade, extended by several meters, bore down on Tutai. The Cloud ninja used Rubber Ball, manifesting a hollow sphere of rubber around himself.
Yagami watched with anticipation; the Rubber Ball was a top-tier defense known to withstand hits from the Third Raikage himself. He wondered which was stronger: the White Fang's spear or the Rubber Ball's shield.
The blade struck. A jagged rent instantly appeared in the rubber. Through the crack, Tutai's eyes wide with terror! His Lava Style was being overwhelmed by the White Fang?
However, the blade didn't slice all the way through. The second function of the Rubber Ball kicked in: upon taking a heavy hit, the sphere compressed and then rebounded violently backward.
Tutai pressed himself against the back wall of the sphere as Sakumo's blade carved through nearly three-quarters of the thickness before its energy was finally spent. The nearly-severed ball shot backward, carrying Tutai out of the immediate kill zone.
Garui exhaled in relief; Tutai was alive. However, he immediately witnessed the terrifying chemistry between Sakumo and the Copper Fox.
The Fox flickered in front of him, unleashing another Water Severing Wave. Without losing momentum, Sakumo forcibly twisted his body mid-stride, the blade that had just sent the rubber ball flying now arcing toward Garui.
Garui's first instinct was to use Lightning Body Flicker to dodge. To his horror, he found the water jet already cutting across his intended escape route. 'How does this Fox understand the Lightning Flicker so well?'
With his next step predicted, Garui was forced to change direction mid-air, his posture breaking. The water jet sliced horizontally through the air, severing Garui's legs at the shins!
No matter how strong Garui was, he was no match for the combined pressure of the White Fang and the Copper Fox. His lower legs vanished from the knees down, leaving two twin sprays of blood on the white stone.
Garui hit the ground and used his hands to push himself backward. Seeing his pathetic state, Yagami hesitated to land the finishing blow, fearing the Cloud commander might have a suicidal trump card up his sleeve. He couldn't take the risk; another death would be permanent.
Sakumo, seeing Yagami hold back, assumed the Fox was giving him the opportunity to claim the glory of the kill.
In the rapidly shifting tides of battle, Sakumo lunged forward, unleashing a ten-meter arc of white chakra at point-blank range.
'Train an army for a thousand days for a single moment of use,' Yagami thought. 'Sakumo, I've treated you well—it's time to clear the mines for me!'
At such close range and with such a massive blade of energy, there was no escape. Garui stopped trying to dodge. He wove a final set of signs as lightning flared around his entire body. Using his own blood as a medium, he pushed the Storm Style to its absolute, most volatile peak. The lightning took on a crimson hue.
Garui self-detonated!
Yagami felt a lingering chill; thank goodness he hadn't charged in. Sakumo landed slowly as the smoke cleared. Garui was dead.
"Garui!" Tutai screamed from the distance, his voice broken. He turned and fled without looking back. Shinma and the others immediately gave chase.
Sakumo watched the Fox, thinking to himself: 'Fox is truly a pure-hearted ninja, remaining unmoved by the prospect of great merit.'
Slaying a Cloud commander was a massive achievement, yet the Fox stepped aside.
Sakumo saw in him the unique spirit of the ANBU from the era of the Second Hokage: one who doesn't covet glory, seeks only the mission's success, and suppresses all personal ego for the sake of the Leaf.
'If I ever become Hokage,' Sakumo realized, 'I can safely entrust the ANBU to Fox.'
Whether in ability or temperament, he was the ideal candidate to lead the shadows.
"Lord Sakumo, let us press the advantage," Yagami said. Sakumo nodded, and the two gave chase.
Ahead, Tutai and his remaining men leaped into the mist-shrouded gorge. Shinma jumped in after them but was immediately forced back up. A kunai thudded into the cliffside, and Shinma pulled himself up by the wire, looking shaken.
"There are traps everywhere down there!" he reported. He created a Shadow Clone and sent it down to test the area. Explosions and the whistling of kunai echoed from the fog.
Sakumo wove the signs: "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
Dozens of clones leaped into the abyss. Explosions continued to ripple through the valley. To protect their HQ, the Cloud had spared no expense on traps.
Multi-Shadow Clone was often considered the "cheapest" S-rank forbidden jutsu—anyone who knew the basic clone could technically perform it.
The issue was that most people lacked the chakra to sustain it, and the neural feedback from dozens of clones being destroyed simultaneously would shatter a normal person's mind.
By the time the traps were cleared and they reached the valley floor, the Cloud camp was a scene of wreckage—abandoned tents and discarded equipment everywhere.
They continued the pursuit but soon found the valley branching into six different directions, forming a natural labyrinth. With false trails scattered everywhere, tracking became impossible.
"Back to the main camp!" Sakumo ordered. "While the Cloud is reeling from Garui's death, we organize a full offensive! We end this conflict once and for all!"