"Excellent!"
Mei Terumi was overjoyed.
"Give the order! Assemble and retreat..."
..
During the assault on the Kirigakure stronghold, Yugito Nii, Kumogakure's speed specialist, served as the scout. She raced ahead, observing the Mist's movements.
As the Raikage had predicted, Kirigakure had indeed abandoned their base and fled. But there was one unexpected detail.
"What? The Mist shinobi are retreating together?" the Raikage asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.
Yugito confirmed his report. "That's right. My reconnaissance just confirmed that several hundred Mist shinobi on the island are retreating south as a single group."
The Raikage had worried that the Mist would scatter, making it impossible for the Cloud shinobi, who were unfamiliar with the terrain, to catch more than a few. But now, they were moving as one.
"All units, on me! Pursue!" the Raikage roared, charging ahead in the direction of the fleeing Mist forces. A large contingent of Cloud shinobi followed closely behind.
Naturally, he noted that this unusual retreat was likely a trap. Therefore, he didn't dare to get too far ahead of his forces for a solo assault. The Raikage scanned the terrain as they ran, searching for narrow passes or other areas where the Mist might have set an ambush.
But everything seemed normal. Kirigakure had only set up minor obstacles, designed to slow their pursuit without causing any real harm.
Although the Mist shinobi ahead were more familiar with the terrain, their ranks were filled with ninja of varying skill levels. Many of them were not particularly fast, certainly not as fast as the Cloud shinobi. The Kumogakure forces who had survived the tsunami were all formidable warriors. This was why, even knowing it was likely a trap, the Cloud was determined to give chase.
The Mist fled, and the Cloud pursued. After about two hours, the Cloud shinobi could finally see the tail end of the Kirigakure column. The stamina of both sides had been severely drained, and exhaustion was plain to see on every face. It wasn't just them; numerous scouts from various factions had been gathering intelligence from a distance, and after running for so long, they too were showing signs of fatigue.
The Raikage proceeded with caution, encountering no traps. But as the Mist forces came into view, he finally lost his patience and prepared to surge forward alone. Just then, the entire Cloud pursuit force, led by the Raikage, came to a halt as they entered a wide, open field.
Their path was blocked by two figures, standing motionless in their way.
The appearance of one of them immediately gave away his identity. He had white hair, green eyes, red markings around his eyelids, and two crimson dots on his forehead.
"A member of the Kaguya clan!?" the Raikage exclaimed, his eyes wide with astonishment.
How could there still be a Kaguya alive? The clan's distinctive features, especially the maro eyebrows, were unmistakable. From his appearance, this man was no youth. If he was truly a Kaguya of this age, his power would undoubtedly be immense.
The other man had no distinguishing features. But to dare stand against so many Cloud shinobi, he could not be an ordinary person. The Raikage's guard went up instantly.
These two were, in fact, two of Kawasaki's clones, left behind specifically for this purpose. His goal was to eliminate a few more of the Cloud's top shinobi, or at the very least, boost Kirigakure's morale. Kawasaki had used the Transformation Jutsu to create the two figures. One took the form of a Kaguya clan member, while the other appeared as a plainly dressed man in a worn-out kimono, his hair tied back like a wandering samurai.
The Kaguya's appearance was based on Kimimaro, but he was made to look considerably older, inconsistent with Kimimaro's current age.
"Who are you!?" the Raikage's eyes narrowed as he bellowed the question. Though normally brash, the recent series of defeats had taught him caution, especially with so many of his men behind him.
The Kaguya clone, played by Kawasaki, advanced toward the Raikage, his pace quickening. "Men of the Cloud," he said, his voice as cold as ice. "It seems you've grown tired of living, daring to run wild in our lands. None of you will be leaving today!"
The Raikage was almost amused. He had yet to meet a worthy opponent here, and this one was displaying such arrogance.
Having made his grand pronouncement, Kawasaki's clone prepared to strike. He knew the Raikage was incredibly fast. If he got too close and was struck, dissolving into a puff of smoke would be an embarrassing end. This clone of Kawasaki now activated its Cursed Seal! State Two flared to life.
As the Cursed Seal's markings spread, a massive surge of chakra erupted from him.
Watching from the rear, the Mist shinobi Juzo Biwa and Zabuza's eyes lit up. "Lady Mizukage, that's the same jutsu Lord Hibaku used!"
After Hibaku had returned from his assault on the Eight-Tails jinchuriki, Juzo and Zabuza had reported the battle's details to Mei. They had mentioned this secret technique, one that could provide a vast amount of chakra—enough to overwhelm the Eight-Tails jinchuriki.
Seeing the technique again, Mei's gaze was fixed on the battlefield, anticipating the shockwaves that Mr. Hibaku's friend was about to create. If Kisame hadn't specifically warned her that these two masters used techniques that could easily cause friendly fire, she would have already ordered the Mist to prepare a counterattack.
The Raikage snorted. "All smoke and mirrors!" He erupted in an aura of Lightning Release Chakra and charged straight at Kawasaki.
"Heavy Current Blow!"
The Raikage concentrated the lightning chakra into his elbow and threw a devastating strike at the Kaguya-like figure.
"Now, let us dance. Dance of the Seedling Fern."
The quiet whisper echoed across the battlefield. In an instant, Kawasaki vanished, replaced by a single bone spear that erupted from the ground beneath him.
The Raikage's elbow shattered the spear, but then more bone spears began to burst from the earth, one after another...
Thick, sharp spires of bone erupted endlessly, extending rapidly toward the Kumogakure forces.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The speed was terrifying. The Cloud shinobi scrambled to evade, but many were not fast enough and were impaled by the bone spears.
A forest of countless bones now covered the landscape, a white expanse that stretched as far as the eye could see. After using Dance of the Seedling Fern, Kawasaki could freely transport himself between any of the bone spears. He used the immense chakra from the Cursed Seal to sustain the bone forest while simultaneously weaving through it at will, as if the entire forest was an extension of his own body.
Fueled by the Cursed Seal's massive chakra supply, the bone spears grew frantically, constantly expanding their domain. Unless the entire forest was destroyed in a single moment, Kawasaki was virtually invincible within it. As long as the jutsu was active, he could continue to reap the lives of the Kumogakure shinobi. And he was decisive, never lingering in one spot.
The Kirigakure shinobi, of course, recognized this infamous secret technique.
"Shikotsumyaku!" Mei gasped, her eyes wide with shock. This Kaguya actually possessed the Shikotsumyaku!
The Shikotsumyaku was a Kekkei Genkai so rare that generations of the Kaguya clan could pass without it appearing. Any member who possessed it and survived to adulthood was guaranteed to become a top-tier warrior. Though those with Shikotsumyaku rarely lived past thirty, their power grew stronger the closer they came to death.
Kirigakure's records told of a Shikotsumyaku wielder during the Warring States Period who lived to the age of twenty-seven. When attacked by the combined forces of two major clans, he single-handedly defeated over a hundred jonin and both clan heads before finally falling. His rampage led directly to the annihilation of those two clans.
From that day forward, the Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku was held in fearful reverence. Whenever a child with the Kekkei Genkai was born, the clan would raise them in secret, only revealing their existence when they were strong enough. The appearance of a mature Shikotsumyaku user was enough to make all other clans with Kekkei Genkai act with restraint. After all, their lifespan was short; there was no need to start a conflict that would resolve itself.
Later, the Kaguya clan was wiped out by Obito, and their bloodline was thought to be all but extinct.
To think that a Shikotsumyaku user of such an advanced age had survived!? No wonder he was so powerful. Did our Hidden Mist Village truly have such a master hiding in its ranks?
.....
The Kumogakure shinobi desperately tried to escape the bone forest's range, but the spears erupting from the ground relentlessly expanded its territory. In the blink of an eye, the forest of bone had completely encircled all of the Cloud shinobi.
Nearly a thousand of them. The amount of chakra required for this was terrifying.