Gazing at Hozuki Haigetsu across the water, Yamaji Mochun felt an instinctive surge of alarm deep within her soul.
"Who exactly are you?"
"That question... I'll let him answer it personally."
In response to Mochun's query, the smiling Haigetsu's "Regeneration Core" eyes flickered with light. A plain, silver mask manifested in his hand.
The moment he donned the mask, Haigetsu's consciousness retreated to the background, and the primary consciousness of Shiraishi from the Hidden Sand projected itself into the vessel.
The ocean surface began to warp into a spiraling vortex. Shiraishi stared coldly at the woman before him. Mochun sensed the shift immediately; her pupils contracted, and her face grew tight with tension.
During their brief clash at the Hozuki ruins, the aura Haigetsu exuded was entirely different from this.
This razor-sharp, overwhelming atmospheric pressure made it nearly impossible for Mochun to catch her breath.
Back then, she hadn't feared Haigetsu's strength, but now, with the mask on, she felt a bone-chilling certainty that victory was impossible.
"Yamaji Mochun, do you realize the gravity of your crimes?"
This specialized mask was a "Thought Resonance Device" developed by Shiraishi. Once Haigetsu wore it, Shiraishi's will became the dominant force.
As he spoke, the unique sound waves transformed into a Genjutsu that disrupted Mochun's senses, forcing her to stumble back in sheer terror.
It felt as though the Fifth Kazekage himself was standing right there on the waves.
With a flick of his white sleeve, Shiraishi condensed a massive, roaring torrent of bubbles. Mochun, barely breaking free from the auditory illusion, saw the new wave of attacks.
She desperately manipulated Yuri's body, channeling the Ice Style Kekkei Genkai to create a barrier, only to see a beam of light from Shiraishi's finger shatter her defenses instantly.
A Water Style beam? Is he truly the Fifth Kazekage?
Shiraishi gave her no time to think. He flickered to her flank, his fingers splayed open to create a powerful, warping suction—a specialized application of his Dimensional Rift.
Mochun held too many secrets; Shiraishi intended to suppress the Yamaji clan head with lightning-fast, absolute force.
As the rift spun, three black "wormholes" appeared around Shiraishi, acting as both shield and projectile. They shot forward at blinding speeds.
Mochun pushed the Ice Style to its limit, manifesting a giant frost lotus that bloomed outward in all directions.
Trying to suppress my speed with a large-scale area-of-effect move?
Projected into Haigetsu's body, Shiraishi was limited to Haigetsu's chakra and techniques. His advantage lay in superior skill and mastery, but the physical vessel still remained vulnerable to Ice Style damage.
With that in mind, Shiraishi performed a sequence of hand seals and slammed his hand onto the ice.
Summoning Jutsu!
Smoke erupted, and a massive Ancient Leviathan appeared with a deafening roar. The ice floes shattered instantly as a violent rainstorm began to pour from the sky, neutralizing the Ice Style counterattack.
Simultaneously, a bolt of purple lightning streaked across the battlefield.
The sheer scale of the Ancient Leviathan was overwhelming. Though Mochun fought back, she was powerless to stop the beast.
As the frost lotus was pulverized piece by piece, the head of the Yamaji clan staked everything on one final move, expanding her freezing aura into a gargantuan assault.
Haigetsu was instantly enveloped in a massive gale barrier while the Leviathan unleashed a devastating beam of Origin Wave.
Combined with the torrential rain, the beam's power was magnified, completely incinerating Mochun's final attack.
Mochun's soul was still adapting to Yuri's body, and fighting on the ocean limited her ability to use the clan's Sand Manipulation.
This one-sided slaughter was far from what she had expected. As she fell back, Shiraishi reached out to seize her, but her expression turned icy as she spat out a flurry of Blood-Sand Needles.
Her tenacity surprised Shiraishi. He used high-pressure water blades to parry the needles, looking at the proud, defiant woman before him.
"Yamaji Mochun, why did you betray the Sand and the Yamaji clan?"
At the mention of her family, Mochun let out a mocking cackle. "A 'family' is nothing more than a tool for mutual exploitation. The faces of those people have always disgusted me."
Since the day she "generously" offered the Yamaji lands in the Oasis Circle to Shiraishi, she had been laying a trap for the three Sand-Manipulation clans, eventually leading to the Arakawa family's downfall.
She held nothing but contempt for the Yamaji name. "My father's branch was the main lineage.
To produce a male heir to compete for the clan headship, he used my mother as nothing but a breeding tool. She died in labor after giving birth to my sister, and my father never even looked at her gravestone."
Mochun had been a fierce competitor since childhood, and that stubbornness remained. She gathered the last of her blood-sand needles, her gaze cold and vicious.
"Even if you win today, you won't control the Hidden Mist."
She believed that since Obito controlled the Fourth Mizukage, the Mist was essentially defenseless against the power of the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Shiraishi shook his head. "The one controlling the Mizukage has already discarded you as a pawn. How else do you think I arrived here so quickly to provide backup?"
The Akatsuki had sold Mochun out in exchange for Sand resources. Her plan had been doomed from the start because Obito never intended to share the Mist.
Despite the betrayal, Mochun's expression didn't waver. She continued her stubborn resistance against Shiraishi's bubble Ninjutsu.
"And what about Arakawa Arashi?"
"He and I were of the same kind. The only difference is he dedicated everything to the Fifth Kazekage, while I dedicated everything to myself!"
Refusing to discuss Arashi further, Mochun's attacks grew more frenzied. She began driving the blood-red needles into her own body to accelerate her chakra flow. Her aura turned feral as she unleashed a blizzard of ice needles.
Shiraishi recognized the move. Years ago, Yamaji Ryoko had used this same life-burning secret art to buy him time.
As if history were coming full circle, Shiraishi faced Mochun's final desperate struggle. A silver flame danced at his fingertips—an energy so cold it bypassed the concept of heat.
Any Ice Style technique Mochun threw was rendered meaningless before it.
Ice-Flame Style · Absolute Zero Cold Flame!
Shiraishi lunged forward, his hand shaped like a claw. Enveloped in the silver cold flame, he moved like a streak of light, piercing through Mochun's heart in an instant.
As he crushed her heart, Shiraishi's expression remained stoic. "Since you refuse to be taken alive, I will allow you to die a warrior's death here."
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