The Cloud ninjas naturally wouldn't just stand there and wait to be slaughtered. "Everyone, attack! Cut down these bone spears!"
The Cloud ninjas drew their weapons and hacked at the bone spears. However, the spears were far tougher than they imagined. Even when they managed to break one, a new one would immediately shoot up to take its place.
Kawasaki, meanwhile, weaved through the forest of bone with ease. Under the effects of the Dance of the Seedling Fern, Kawasaki had effectively gained the abilities of the Shikotsumyaku.
Years of taijutsu training had made Kawasaki a formidable combatant. Combined with his preternatural reaction speed, the Cloud ninjas couldn't even touch him before they were cut down, dying in confusion. Kawasaki moved relentlessly through the bone forest, his pace so swift that not even Yugito Nii or Killer B could keep up.
Killer B roared in frustration, "Damn Mist ninja! I'm gonna kill you, you fool, ya fool!"
The Raikage relentlessly smashed through the bone spears, but the forest seemed endless. He shouted urgently, "Don't get bogged down! Break through in one direction! Everyone, get out of this forest!"
Just then, Kawasaki's remaining shadow clone stepped forward. A Cursed Seal marking appeared on its body as well!
An immense amount of chakra erupted, surging toward the heavens.
The Raikage whirled around. How could the chakra of this person be so powerful as well?!
The Mist ninjas' eyes widened in disbelief. They had already witnessed the terror of this jutsu, and now another person was using it!
Kisame Hoshigaki was also filled with questions. He knew these two were his boss's shadow clones, but how could they possess the Shikotsumyaku? The last time, a clone had used the Hozuki clan's secret techniques. This time, it was the Kaguya clan's Shikotsumyaku. Could the last one be from the Yuki clan?
Kisame's guess was correct.
This was precisely Kawasaki's intention: to show both the Cloud and the Mist that Kirigakure still had masters of this caliber hidden in its ranks.
The air suddenly turned frigid. Gusts of cold wind swirled as ice began to form at the feet of this second shadow clone. Countless crystalline mirrors of ice materialized, gradually encircling the bone forest.
Kawasaki's clone leaped into one of the mirrors. In an instant, it emerged from a mirror near the Cloud ninjas, sword in hand, and began to reap their lives with merciless efficiency.
Enraged, Yugito Nii and Killer B smashed the ice mirrors before them, but new ones formed as quickly as they were destroyed. The two shadow clones appeared and disappeared constantly between the bone spears and the ice mirrors.
The Raikage attacked the bone forest with furious abandon, but the spears always regenerated, rising from the ground once more. He was burning with anxiety. He could break out alone, but the others couldn't keep up. If this continued, they would all be trapped and killed here!
Yugito, too, was growing desperate. "We can't go on like this! Our casualties will be devastating!"
Her brown hair flared out as her chakra surged!
Seeing this, C cried out, "Yugito, don't push yourself! Your injuries haven't healed! You can't force a Tailed Beast Transformation!"
But Yugito could no longer afford to hold back. With her chakra skyrocketing, she had to use all her willpower to suppress the Two-Tails' rampaging consciousness!
"ROAR!"
With a furious bellow, a giant, flaming cat demon appeared on the battlefield. The chakra cloaking the demon cat was extremely unstable; Yugito could barely maintain control. Fully transformed, Yugito was exceptionally ferocious. As she swiped away the bone spears in front of her, she also sent several Cloud ninjas flying.
After clearing a large area, she lowered her body and opened her massive jaws. A colossal sphere of chakra began to form in her mouth, coalescing from swirling, deep blue energy.
"Tailed Beast Ball!"
The Raikage's face paled, not because of the attack itself, but because he knew Yugito's body couldn't handle unleashing a Tailed Beast Ball in her current state!
"Everyone, get back!" the Raikage roared.
There are two ways to release a Tailed Beast Ball. One is to fire it as an exploding sphere. The other, like the Eight-Tails, Gyuki, is to launch it as a concentrated beam, like a laser cannon.
BOOM!
Yugito took aim at the bone forest and fired the Tailed Beast Ball with all her might. Everything in its path, whether bone spears or ice mirrors, was instantly vaporized. One side of the bone forest was completely annihilated.
"Alright!"
"Yugito is incredible!"
The Cloud ninjas couldn't help but cheer.
But Yugito, having just fired the Tailed Beast Ball, reverted to her human form.
"Urk..."
Blood poured from her mouth as she collapsed, her breathing faint. The cheering stopped abruptly, as if a hand had seized the Cloud ninjas by their throats.
C immediately rushed forward to administer medical aid.
The Raikage shot over to them. "What's her condition?!"
C's hands glowed with medical ninjutsu, his face etched with urgency. "Lord Raikage, her old wounds hadn't healed, and she just forced a Tailed Beast Transformation to fire that Tailed Beast Ball. Her condition is critical. She needs more advanced medical treatment immediately."
Before he could finish, cries of alarm came from the other Cloud ninjas.
"My god, the bone spears are regenerating!"
"The ice mirrors are reforming too! How much chakra do these guys have?!"
Sure enough, in the area scoured clean by the Tailed Beast Ball, bone spears were once again sprouting from the ground in an endless tide. In the air, the ice mirrors continued to form, spreading toward them again, albeit at a slightly slower pace.
Rage burned in the Raikage's heart, but he knew this was not the time for rashness.
"All units! Retreat!!!"
The Cloud ninjas, having been thoroughly tormented by the forest of bones and ice mirrors, hastily retreated along the path Yugito's Tailed Beast Ball had cleared. With their superior numbers, they could still support each other, helping their injured comrades escape. In that short time, Kawasaki's two shadow clones had taken down over eighty men. Kawasaki had specifically targeted the weaker ones, avoiding any direct confrontation with the stronger shinobi.
The Cloud's advance had been ferocious, but their retreat was just as pathetic. Even if the Raikage could fight a thousand men alone, his subordinates were his weakness. Kawasaki's shadow clones remained hidden within the bones and ice from start to finish, picking off the easy targets. The Raikage, for all his "bulldozer" strength, couldn't clear the regenerating spears fast enough.
The bone spears even continued to spread along the Cloud's escape route for some distance before finally stopping.
After a long moment, the two figures emerged from the forest of bone and ice. Behind them, the jutsu began to crumble and fade.
Mei Terumi's beautiful eyes were filled with utter disbelief.
Two people... against nearly a thousand Cloud ninjas.
"...We won," Mei murmured to herself.
Spies from other powers watching from a distance were equally shocked. Just two shinobi had stopped an army of nearly a thousand. By a rough estimate, the Cloud had lost close to a hundred ninja. If not for Yugito's decisive action to transform and fire a Tailed Beast Ball, the Cloud's casualties would have been far more severe.
To think the Mist Village had such power hidden away. A Kaguya clansman of such strength, and an equally formidable member of the Yuki clan.
Many began to re-evaluate the strength of Kirigakure.
Aside from their Jinchuriki, who had yet to appear, all of the Mist's other famous Kekkei Genkai had now made a showing. What the spies didn't know was that during the attack on the Eight-Tails, Feipu had also posed as a master from the Hozuki clan. The Mist, however, had this intelligence.
Ever since Mei Terumi had taken office, she had shouldered the burden of the village alone. Seeing now that the Mist still had such powerful veterans in its corner, a weight she hadn't realized she was carrying lifted from her heart.
"Whoa! We won!"
The Mist ninjas couldn't help but erupt into cheers.
Mei raised a hand, and the clamor behind her gradually died down. She walked forward and bowed to the two "Mist veterans."
"Thank you both for your invaluable assistance. May I ask your names?"
By now, the Cursed Seal markings on Kawasaki's two shadow clones had faded, but neither showed any signs of fatigue. Their composure only made them seem all the more unfathomable to Mei.
The clone disguised as a Kaguya clansman answered in a detached tone, "Kyokotsu."
The clone who had used the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals spoke with a slightly gentler voice. "My name is Hyorei."