On the scorched, cracked ground where magma flowed, the thick black smoke and choking dust were slightly dispersed by an invisible airwave, and the field of vision became somewhat clearer.
Biwa Jūzō narrowed his eyes, straining to look toward the edge of the explosion's center.
The next second, his pupils suddenly contracted slightly!
Through the gradually thinning smoke and dust, a colossal dark-gray shadow, immense as a mountain, loomed faintly in view!
The sheer pressure emanating from that silhouette seemed to freeze the very air, making Biwa Jūzō recall something.
He couldn't help but gasp sharply; even the sulfuric and scorched stench in the air seemed to turn chilling and biting.
He muttered under his breath, "The Three-Tails… Has the Mizukage finally released it after all?"
Beside him, Uchiha Izumi tried hard to open her eyes wide, gazing curiously yet instinctively warily into the distance.
Through the obstructing smoke and dust, she could only barely make out a massive, turtle-shaped outline like a small mountain.
The first impression that silhouette gave her was that of an enormous turtle, magnified a thousandfold and filled with an ominous aura!
That colossal creature seemed to be in a state of extreme rage.
Every breath it exhaled roared like a violent gale, carrying a deep, thunderous sound that made one's heart tremble!
Even across such a vast distance, Izumi could clearly feel the faint tremors coming from the ground beneath her feet—
—and the pure savagery and will to destroy contained within that sound.
"This is… the same kind of tailed beast… as the Nine-Tails that attacked the village?"
Izumi murmured softly, her palms slightly sweating.
As the drifting smoke was further blown away by a wave of hot air, the awe-inspiring true form of the Three-Tails was finally fully revealed before everyone's eyes.
Its appearance indeed resembled a giant turtle, yet it was a form distorted by the hand of creation devoid of any sense of beauty.
Covering its enormous body was not an ordinary turtle shell, but a thick carapace with a gray-white metallic sheen, cold and heavy, covered in countless gigantic spikes that jutted upward like mountain peaks, giving it a hideous and terrifying look.
Its head was abnormally large, its crown and lower face covered by chaotic, gray-white spikes, one eye seemingly blind while the other was filled with primal ferocity.
It gave off an indescribable sense of ugliness and ferocity!
Behind it, the three tails, as massive as giant serpents, swung wildly. Each tail was covered with hard joints and barbs, producing a piercing sound as they sliced through the air.
The parts of the Three-Tails' body not covered by its shell were dark red, resembling living muscle.
Across that surface ran patterns like biological muscle fibers, faintly wriggling, exuding astonishing vitality.
What drew even more attention was this—on top of that grotesque, enormous head, the upper half of the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, was clearly visible!
His lower body seemed to have completely fused with the body of the Three-Tails, his eyes tightly shut, his face an unnatural shade of pale.
It was as if he had fallen into a deep sleep. This did not seem like the rumored perfect jinchūriki—he was not perfectly controlling the power of the tailed beast at this moment.
It seemed…
This Fourth Mizukage was indeed being controlled by someone.
Izumi was not seeing a tailed beast for the first time.
The terrifying scene of that night of the Nine-Tails still haunted her as a nightmare—the massive orange-red demon fox rampaging and roaring, and her father's figure forever buried beneath the ruins at that moment…
"Hu…"
She exhaled a deep, turbid breath, trying to suppress the surge of emotion, and murmured, "In Konoha, he released the Nine-Tails; in Kirigakure, he controlled the Three-Tails… Uchiha Obito truly is just as Keizumi-senpai said—dying ten thousand times would not atone for his sins."
Standing on her shoulder, Tachibana Jirō's cat eyes widened round as saucers. In the end, he could only force out a sigh of amazement: "What a huge turtle, meow…"
He paused for a moment, then couldn't help but add from the heart, "Meow, it's ugly in such a special way!"
…
"M-Mizukage-sama… h-he has unleashed the power of the tailed beast!!"
In the distance.
A gravely wounded Kirigakure Anbu ninja struggled to prop up his upper body with one arm while clutching his agonized chest with the other.
When he raised his head and clearly saw that gigantic monstrosity within the smoke and dust, his face was full of shock and disbelief.
He tried to get up, wanting to rush forward to provide support.
But the tearing pain spreading through his body made his legs give out, and he fell heavily to his knees once again!
[Pff—]
Several more mouthfuls of bright red blood spurted from his mouth, splattering across the scorched ground.
His complexion grew even more haggard, his breath like a candle flickering in the wind.
"Damn it…"
He clenched his teeth in unwillingness, his fingernails nearly digging into the scorched earth beneath him.
Just then—
A large hand, its skin reddened and blistered in several places, silently reached out from behind him.
With an irresistible strength, it pressed firmly down on his shoulder.
The body he had just tried to lift was forced back down!
The Anbu ninja's pupils contracted sharply!
Long years of training had forged his battle instincts; without thinking, he reached back to his waist pouch and drew a kunai.
Without even looking, he stabbed fiercely behind him!
However, his wrist was caught in midair by another large hand, gripping it like an iron clamp.
No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn't move it even an inch!
"It's me." Only when a cold and familiar voice sounded from behind did his tense nerves finally ease slightly.
The Kirigakure Anbu ninja turned back in astonishment, seeing a face covered in dust, bloodstains, and traces of exhaustion—yet still exuding a fierce, savage aura—Momochi Zabuza!
"…Demon?" The Kirigakure Anbu ninja was momentarily stunned, clearly not expecting it to be him.
Momochi Zabuza released his grip, but his gaze never left the monstrous Three-Tails Isobu in the distance.
Blood still clung to the corner of his lips, and in an icy tone he said, "Since Mizukage-sama has already used the power of the tailed beast, that means… he's decided to deal with all the enemies on his own. We half-crippled ones, if we go now…"
He paused, his voice carrying a trace of barely noticeable mockery: "…we wouldn't be helping him, only dragging him down—becoming his burden. Do you want Mizukage-sama to fight formidable foes while also having to protect a useless cripple who can't even stand?"
Those words pierced the Anbu ninja's heart.
He opened his mouth, but in the end could only lower his head in frustration, slamming his fist heavily into the ground. "Damn it! That Lava Release monster from Konoha… how could he be this strong?!"
"With just a single exchange, we've already suffered devastating losses. Mizukage-sama was even forced to unleash the power of the tailed beast… Normally, at any other time, that would be his very last resort…"
Momochi Zabuza did not answer.
He simply stared silently into the distance at the scene of destruction, feeling the stabbing pain from the burns across his body.
There was, of course, a personal reason behind his stopping that Anbu.
That single strike from Uchiha Keizumi, like a natural disaster, instantly inflicted grievous injuries on more than thirty elite Kirigakure Anbu—its terrifying power made Momochi Zabuza feel as though, within the endless blood-soaked darkness, he had caught sight of a faint light he had never seen before.
It was a glimmer of hope to overturn the existing order.
That man…
Was terrifyingly strong!
So strong it defied reason!
Perhaps… he was the only one present who possessed the power not through schemes or assassination, but to completely destroy—head-on and by sheer might—that Mizukage who had long shrouded Kirigakure in nightmare!
Even if…
He was a shinobi from another village.
…
"The Lava Release fiend from Konoha—the man rumored to have assassinated the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, the most dangerous and unfathomable ninja in the entire shinobi world—Uchiha Keizumi!"
Elsewhere.
Terumi Mei's eyes carried deep solemnity and wariness as she recalled the rumors that circulated throughout the shinobi world about Uchiha Keizumi. She drew in a deep breath of air laced faintly with sulfur.
As a shinobi who also possessed dual kekkei genkai, Terumi Mei could clearly feel the overwhelming, despair-inducing gulf between herself and that man!
Her Boil Release and Lava Release were powerful, yet they could never produce the kind of catastrophic destruction before her eyes that seemed like a force of nature itself!
What puzzled her even more was—why?
Why would Uchiha Keizumi of Konoha suddenly appear in the Land of Water?
Wasn't Mizukage supposed to be pursuing the missing-nin Biwa Jūzō?
How had such an intense clash erupted between him and this calamity of Konoha—
—to the point that even the power of a tailed beast had to be used?
"The key is…" Terumi Mei's expression was filled with vigilance and dread. "For the most dangerous man in the shinobi world to have come to the Land of Water—this is an unforeseen disaster for the entire nation."
No doubt…
The nobles within the Land of Water, as well as the Daimyō himself, would all be losing sleep over this.
This was a ninja who truly dared to kill those deemed above all others!
Logically speaking, as a shinobi of Kirigakure, Terumi Mei should now be rushing to aid Mizukage Karatachi Yagura.
However—
She held herself back.
Her instincts told her that Mizukage was acting very abnormally right now. Perhaps, in the battle between Mizukage and Uchiha Keizumi, she could uncover something deeply amiss.