"What a pitiful beast."
Isshin looked expressionlessly at the twisted and ferocious face before him and said calmly, "Being a Jinchuriki for decades seems to have made you completely forget how a ninja is supposed to fight. On the battlefield, all you know is how to charge around like a wild animal."
"What a disappointment."
Before his words had even finished, Isshin's large foot had already slammed down onto Hyakume Sosuke's hideously distorted face.
The tremendous force made the already twisted face become even more terrifying, and the ground beneath him collapsed into a massive crater, with rainwater and mud flooding into it.
Humiliation! Utter humiliation!
Hyakume Sosuke froze for a moment, then a surge of rage, accompanied by violent chakra, exploded from his body!
His eyes instantly turned blood-red, and an inhuman roar burst from his throat as he prepared to rise again, but the moment he moved, the man before him seemed to have anticipated it long ago. He sidestepped and smoothly swung the Adamantine Nyoi in a full arc, like a baseball player delivering a home run; he smashed it fiercely into his body!
Hyakume Sosuke was blasted away by that strike, his entire body becoming like a cannonball hurled through the air. He crashed directly into the Village Hidden in the Mist formation, mowing through it as he went and killing more than a dozen Kirigakure ninjas on the spot!
Only when Yagura suddenly intervened, pressing his hand firmly against Hyakume Sosuke's back, was the uncontrollable body finally brought to a stop.
"Senior, are you alright?!"
Yagura asked urgently.
"I'm fine…"
Hyakume Sosuke was about to answer, but the words died in his throat.
In the distance, Isshin suddenly stomped his foot.
The earth exploded beneath him, creating a deep crater, while his entire body shot upward like a spring compressed to its limit, blasting straight into the sky.
After reaching a certain height, endless winds surged around him once more while layer upon layer of air currents pushed him even higher.
"Fall back!"
Koharu Utatane's pupils contracted as though she had realized something. She immediately shouted an order, having ninjas from Konoha rapidly widen the distance from the Kirigakure forces.
At this moment, Isshin's figure had already ascended to the height of the clouds. Endless lightning surged behind him. Suspended between the thunderclouds and the earth, he looked like a God standing above the heavens.
"The depth of the sea? Is that all?"
Isshin's voice was calm, yet it clearly spread across the entire battlefield, as though every raindrop and every current of wind had become a carrier of his words.
For a moment, the Kirigakure side was filled with uncertainty, and no one dared step forward recklessly.
Standing amidst endless lightning, he looked down upon the ruined land below and upon the pale-faced, drenched enemies while calmly speaking: "Ninjas of the Kirigakure, born of the sea and destined to die in the sea… have you ever seen a sky deeper than the ocean? Have you ever heard a thunderclap deeper than the waves?"
As he spoke, the Isshin slowly raised his right hand under the uncertain gazes of everyone present.
As that hand rose, the already turbulent thunderclouds behind him seemed to ignite!
A thunderous roar exploded through the heavens, vast echoes rolling endlessly across the sky.
The churning black clouds transformed into boundless tidal waves, while countless electric serpents danced wildly between them, rapidly becoming coated in a brilliant golden radiance.
Against that sea of golden lightning, the boy's figure appeared like a divine being descending from heaven.
At the same time, while everyone's attention was firmly fixed on that golden figure, deep within the thunderclouds behind him, Shinichi was frantically weaving hand signs, continuously stacking special effects around the clone.
Golden arcs of lightning shot from his fingertips one after another. The thunderclouds rumbled under his control, and every lightning bolt that descended from them had its angle and visual effect meticulously adjusted.
Under the illumination of the golden light, Isshin's expressionless face truly looked sacred and majestic, as though a celestial being had descended into the mortal world.
That's right, Shinichi had finished preparing.
Strictly speaking, there was no need at all for the Isshin to fly back into the sky and become the center of attention.
In fact, to maximize lethality and surprise, Shinichi should have launched the attack immediately and caught the enemy completely off guard, but there was no helping it.
For the sake of upgrading his talent, for the sake of maximizing recognition, he had to steal the spotlight.
He had to perform a miracle before the masses.
Or, to put it more plainly, he had to show off.
"Be careful!!"
Yagura roared hoarsely.
Although he still had no idea what Shinichi Higashino was about to do, the strongest sense of danger he had ever experienced in his life had already risen from the depths of his heart.
Meanwhile, Hyakume Sosuke beside him was far more direct; he let out a heaven-shaking roar as massive amounts of chakra erupted once more, his body rapidly expanding and transforming within the crimson glow.
He entered the Complete Tailed Beast State again!
"Together with the Thunder's Roar!"
High in the sky, the young man seemed completely indifferent to the various responses of the Kirigakure forces below.
At this moment, his right hand had already risen above his head.
A snow-white katana silently appeared before him, floating motionlessly in the air.
Flowing Cloud Sword!
The hardest sword among the Swords of Kusanagi, it possesses the most outstanding chakra conductivity.
The instant it appeared, countless golden lightning swords burst through the clouds behind him!
Every sword tip pointed downward, and the sound of sword cries rang out like ten thousand bronze bells tolling simultaneously!
At that moment, the heavens themselves seemed to ignite.
The previously dark and gloomy clouds were completely dyed brilliant gold, as though the entire sky trembled for this final strike.
"Disappear."
The instant those words fell, the young man's sword fingers slashed forward!
Boom!!!
A thunderous explosion of lightning erupted, powerful enough to echo through heaven and earth!
Deep within the thunderclouds, the Blade of the Thunder Spirit floating before Shinichi exploded at that very moment, its hilt and the golden Crystal Gem within shattering simultaneously!
It transformed into a colossal golden lightning bolt, flowing like liquid thunder, carrying world-destroying power as it blasted outward!
In an instant, the countless natural lightning bolts and golden lightning swords that had long been gathering power within the clouds were all ignited like fuses!
All the lightning in existence converged through the Flowing Cloud Sword, transforming into a single beam of thunderous radiance!
That golden pillar of lightning that pierced heaven and earth crashed toward the Kirigakure forces.
From afar, it looked as though an invisible god was wielding a colossal lightning sword and thrusting forward from the ninth heaven with a strike capable of splitting the world apart.
The divine punishment had descended, and there was nowhere to escape.
Lightning Style: Heavenly Clouds!
"Aaaaaaahhhhh!"
Hyakume Sosuke let out a deafening roar, his arms suddenly retracted, arching the enormous shell on his back, large enough to shield an entire hill from wind and rain, forward to completely cover his body and stand before the Kirigakure ninjas.
His chakra surged wildly, drawing water, rocks, and air, everything he could grab and use, before him.
This old ninja, who had lived for more than sixty years, squeezed out every last trace of chakra and every defensive method he possessed to face that colossal lightning sword descending from the heavens.
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