Chapter 437: Kakashi vs. Darui
A blinding pillar of pure white light tore through the sky, erasing everything in its path as it shot straight toward Deidara.
Facing the terrifying annihilation of the Third Tsuchikage's Dust Release, the blonde bomber did not show a single trace of fear. Instead, a manic grin stretched across his face.
"Tch, this move again." Deidara scoffed, leaning forward against the wind. "Old man, I am getting completely sick of seeing your stale techniques!"
He stomped his foot hard against the clay beneath him.
Responding instantly, the massive C2 Dragon banked sharply to the side. Its colossal body twisted with a sudden, unnatural agility, narrowly scraping past the deadly core of the Dust Release beam.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.
The edge of the white light grazed the dragon's right wing. There was no explosion, no sound of tearing flesh or breaking stone. Half of the massive wing simply ceased to exist, vanishing into the void without leaving a single speck of dust behind.
"That was close, that was close." Deidara patted his chest in mock relief, though the wild, playful smirk never left his lips. "But it is completely meaningless if you cannot hit your target, yeah!"
He formed a single hand seal.
"C2: Dragon Tail Swipe!"
Under his precise control, the off-balance clay dragon used its lost momentum to spin. It whipped its massive, thick tail through the air, generating a howling gale as it smashed directly toward Onoki's floating figure.
"Hmph! Mere parlor tricks!" Onoki snorted, his aged face wrinkling with disdain.
The Tsuchikage's small body twisted nimbly in mid-air, slipping past the crushing sweep of the tail with inches to spare.
"Weighted Rock Technique!"
Closing the distance in a flash, Onoki slammed his palm flat against the C2 Dragon's flank.
A terrifying surge of gravity erupted from his touch. The once-lightweight, buoyant clay construct suddenly felt as though an entire mountain range had been dropped onto its spine. The dragon let out a distorted, groaning cry as its remaining wing snapped under the pressure. It plummeted from the sky, spiraling uncontrollably toward the earth below.
"Get down there!!" Onoki roared, his hands blurring through a new sequence of seals.
"Earth Release: Golem Technique!"
Down on the battlefield, the ground violently ruptured. Massive boulders bulged upward, rapidly assembling into a towering giant of solid rock. The stone behemoth rose from the dust, pulling back a fist the size of a house to smash the falling Deidara into paste.
"Tch, what a troublesome old man." Deidara clicked his tongue, kicking off the plummeting dragon. He flipped gracefully through the air, entirely unbothered by the giant stone fist rising to meet him.
"Since C2 is not working, try this on for size!"
His hands flew through a rapid series of seals, molding the explosive chakra deep within his palms.
"C3: No. 18!!"
A dense, black clay bomb shaped like a grotesque little doll dropped from the sky.
This was his absolute masterpiece. Once that doll detonated, the resulting blast radius would be more than enough to wipe a small ninja village off the map.
Onoki's expression twisted in horror. He knew the devastating payload of that black doll all too well. If he allowed it to detonate above the Allied Shinobi Forces, the casualties would be catastrophic.
"Do not even think about it!!"
Abandoning his pursuit of Deidara, the Tsuchikage threw himself desperately toward the falling C3 doll.
"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!!"
A cube of translucent white light expanded between his hands. He had to trap and disintegrate the bomb before it made contact with the ground.
Meanwhile, on the shattered earth below.
The clash between the Fourth Raikage, Ay, and the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku, had escalated into a storm of pure destruction.
"Lightning Oppression Horizontal Chop!!"
Ay transformed into a living thunderbolt. His massive, muscular frame blurred into a streak of violent blue lightning as he brought his hand-knives down upon the ethereal armor of the Susanoo. The strikes fell like a torrential meteor shower, each impact ringing out with a deafening boom.
Fugaku's Susanoo was not yet in its Perfect state. Under the Raikage's completely unreasonable, brute-force bombardment, the glowing skeletal ribs were already webbing with deep, jagged cracks.
"Hahaha! Break! Break!" Ay laughed wildly, his eyes wide with battle lust. "The Uchiha's little turtle shell cannot stop this old man's iron fists!"
The Raikage's ferocity only multiplied with every strike, his lightning chakra flaring brighter, scorching the very air around them.
Inside the protective ribcage of the Susanoo, Uchiha Fugaku stood with his arms crossed. His brow furrowed slightly as he watched the cracks spread.
'He truly is a tireless monster.' Fugaku noted silently.
Yet, looking at the raging Kage just inches away, there was not a single trace of fear in the Uchiha patriarch's eyes. Only cold, calculating precision.
"However, I have already seen through your rhythm." Fugaku murmured.
Just as the Raikage leaped high into the air once more, drawing his arm back to deliver a fatal, shattering blow to the weakened ribs.
The complex Mangekyo patterns in Fugaku's eyes spun frantically.
Through the crimson lens of his visual prowess, the Raikage's blistering speed ground to a crawl. The trajectory of the lightning, the shift of Ay's muscles, the exact angle of his descent—it all unfolded in agonizing slow motion.
"I see it."
A cold, mocking smirk curled the corners of Fugaku's lips.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Destruction!"
Instead of pouring more chakra into his failing defense, Fugaku went on the offensive. He commanded the Susanoo to open its massive, spectral jaws. A terrifying, concentrated torrent of white-hot flames erupted outward, blasting directly into the descending Raikage's face.
It was a suicidal counterattack.
To think he could predict the exact millisecond of the strike and trade blows so accurately.
Ay's pupils constricted to pinpricks.
"Bastard!" The Raikage cursed through gritted teeth.
His momentum was entirely committed. There was absolutely no time to pull back his strike or dodge.
A catastrophic explosion thundered in mid-air as lightning met fire. A shockwave of scorching wind and crackling electricity swept across the cratered wasteland.
"Lord Raikage!!" The Hidden Cloud shinobi fighting in the distance screamed in sheer panic.
A massive, charred figure shot backward out of the billowing smoke, his boots tearing deep trenches into the earth. He slid for dozens of meters before finally grinding to a halt.
It was the Fourth Raikage.
The once-blinding Lightning Release Chakra Mode cloaking his body flickered dimly, struggling to maintain its form. Several severe, blackened burn marks scorched across his broad chest, his breathing heavy and ragged.
As the dust slowly settled, the glowing ribs of the Susanoo faded away.
Fugaku stood amidst the scorched earth. He raised a hand, slowly wiping a thin trail of blood from the corner of his mouth. His crimson eyes locked onto the panting Raikage.
"You are indeed very strong." Fugaku's voice was calm, carrying over the howling wind. "But the power of the Uchiha is not something you can break at will."
On another flank of the sprawling battlefield.
Compared to the devastating, elemental clashes of the Kage-level monsters, the slaughter occurring among the lower ranks was infinitely more visceral, bloody, and cruel.
"Charge!!"
"For the future of the Grass Hidden Village!!"
Dozens of Grass shinobi brandished their rusted kunai and chipped blades. Driven forward by their screaming commanders like a pack of starved, rabid dogs, they threw themselves blindly toward the entrenched Konoha positions.
They were the ultimate cannon fodder of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
And they were the most pitiful, tragic victims of this grinding war.
However, pity had no place on this battlefield. What awaited the desperate charge was a cold, mechanical, and utterly heartless massacre at the hands of the Konoha forces.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
The Konoha shinobi moved with terrifying synchronization. Their coordinated ninjutsu merged in mid-air, fanning out into a massive, roaring wave of fire that covered the Grass village's entire charge path. The flames rained down like a relentless meteor shower.
Instantly, the battlefield transformed into a blazing hellscape.
Agonized screams tore through the thick smoke. The crude, patchwork equipment and low individual skill of the Grass shinobi were absolutely no match for the heavily armed, flawlessly trained Konoha regulars.
Hot blood sprayed across the muddy wasteland, staining the earth a deep, sickly red. Severed limbs, charred armor, and broken bodies piled up with every passing second.
"Mon... monsters..."
A Grass Chunin collapsed to his knees, his legs giving out completely. He stared in blank horror as the comrade beside him was blown into a shower of gore by a perfectly placed explosive tag.
He looked up, trembling violently.
Standing over him was a Konoha shinobi. The man's forehead protector gleamed dully in the firelight. His eyes were dead, completely devoid of emotion, and his grip on his blood-soaked ninja sword was terrifyingly steady. A dark stain spread across the front of the Chunin's pants as his bladder let go.
"Don't... please, don't kill me..." The Grass ninja sobbed, dropping his kunai and raising his hands in surrender.
A single, silent flash of steel cut through the smoke.
A severed head tumbled through the air, hitting the mud with a wet thud.
The Konoha shinobi did not even spare a downward glance at the decapitated corpse collapsing at his boots. He simply flicked his wrist, snapping the fresh blood off his blade in a sharp arc before stepping over the body to find his next target.
Under the iron-fisted rule of Uchiha Akira, the Konoha of today had fundamentally changed. They had long since shed the soft, merciful weakness that plagued the village during the Third Hokage's era. Now, they were an army of efficient, cold-blooded killers.
In the northwest corner of the war zone, the sky had darkened, unleashing a torrential downpour.
Sizzle, sizzle.
Two figures collided at blinding speeds within the heavy curtain of rain. Every violent exchange of their weapons was accompanied by the sharp, piercing shriek of high-voltage electricity.
A kunai and a broad cleaver sword slammed together, sending a shower of bright orange sparks hissing into the wet air.
"As expected of that man's son."
Darui, the elite Jonin of the Hidden Cloud who possessed the rare Storm Release Bloodline Limit, pressed his blade forward. His posture was slouched, his expression carrying its usual lazy, lethargic droop. Yet, despite his claims of having absolutely no motivation, the gaze fixed upon his opponent was exceptionally sharp and dangerous.
"To think you can still keep up with my speed without the Sharingan." Darui noted, his voice barely rising above the thunder. "Kakashi Hatake."
Opposite him, the silver-haired Jonin held his ground. Kakashi gripped the White Fang short sword tightly in his right hand. His forehead protector was tilted up, fully revealing his left eye. The socket that had once housed Obito's legendary Sharingan now held a normal, deep black eye.
He had lost the Sharingan.
But Kakashi had not become weaker because of it.
Quite the opposite.
Freed from the parasitic, terrifying chakra drain that the transplanted Uchiha eye constantly demanded of his non-Uchiha body, his stamina had skyrocketed. The genius youth who had once shaken the entire Ninja World, the true heir who inherited the terrifying moniker of the Konoha White Fang—Kakashi Hatake—had completely returned.
"The Sharingan is certainly powerful." Kakashi replied smoothly. He flicked his wrist, the chakra-infused White Fang short sword emitting a lethal, high-pitched hum that cut through the sound of the rain.
"But there are some things in this world that cannot be seen with the eyes alone."
"For example..."
Kakashi's black eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.
His figure instantly vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a splash of displaced rainwater.
Darui's pupils constricted sharply.
'This pure Body Flicker Technique... his sheer speed is actually a fraction faster than when he relied on the Sharingan?!'
Instinct taking over, Darui's hands blurred through a rapid sequence of seals.
"Storm Release: Laser Circus!"
He thrust his hands forward. Countless blinding, laser-like rays of electrified water erupted from his palms, tearing through the rain and automatically refracting in mid-air to hunt down the vanished silver-haired phantom.
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