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Mizunomuki Jingyu raced across the surface of the sea toward the Second Hokage, water splashing beneath his feet. Forming hand seals with both hands, he shouted:"Secret Art: Thousand Flying Ice Blades!"
The water splashes around him instantly transformed into countless ice blades, all shooting straight at the Second Hokage.
Seeing this, the Second Hokage calmly countered with a jutsu of his own:"Water Style: Hard Vortex Water Blade!"
With a wave of his arms, massive blades of water materialized out of nowhere, smashing through the incoming ice blades and charging toward Jingyu.
"Instant Water Step!"
Jingyu dodged the Second Hokage's water blades using high-speed movement, closed the distance between them, and activated:"Secret Art: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors!"
Dozens of ice mirrors appeared midair, spreading out within a 30-meter radius around him—completely enclosing the Second Hokage inside their icy trap.
Jingyu's figure vanished into one of the mirrors—then suddenly appeared behind the Second Hokage, an ice blade forming in his hand as he struck.
Sensing the ambush, the Second Hokage reacted instantly:"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"
The wall blocked Jingyu's blade just in time. In the next second, the Hokage cast a genjutsu:"Darkness Technique!"
In a flash, the entire area was plunged into darkness. Jingyu noticed all his ice mirrors were also swallowed up by the jutsu and quickly retreated from the area. Forming another seal, he shouted:"Secret Art: Shattering Ice Crystal!"
Dozens of mirrors exploded at once, engulfing the Second Hokage in the blast.
Jingyu exhaled in relief. That has to have done some serious damage...
But the next moment, the Second Hokage tore through space itself and suddenly appeared right in front of him, holding a lightning-charged sword aimed straight for his chest!
Jingyu quickly used Instant Water Step again to vanish and dodge. After avoiding the stab, he launched another jutsu:"Secret Art: Mizunomuki Kill!"
A massive water sphere formed in his palm and began firing high-speed water bullets the size of raindrops, like a machine gun, at the Second Hokage.
Not underestimating the attack, the Hokage responded with:"Water Style: Purifying Wave!"
He summoned a huge surge of seawater, crashing it down like a tidal wave toward Jingyu.
Jingyu quickly retaliated:"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A massive torrent of water crashed back toward the Hokage's wave.
Meanwhile...
"Big Blade! Bad news!"A Mist ninja codenamed "Broken Blade" sprinted toward a fellow Mist ninja wielding the Executioner's Blade. "Konoha set a trap and surrounded our 4,000 ninja in Whirlpool Country! They're pinned in a valley near the Cliff of the Sea!"
"What the hell?! Are the Mizunomuki Clan a bunch of idiots?!"The large man, codenamed "Big Blade," who carried the Samehada sword, roared furiously.
Broken Blade quickly cut in, "What do we do now? What about our mission?!"
Big Blade growled, "What else can we do?! Send the signal! The Seven Ninja Swordsmen are going after the Second Hokage again! Damn it, we had the upper hand, and now look at this mess..."
When Aki arrived at the ambush site with Hiruzen Sarutobi and Mitokado Homura, Konoha ninja had already sealed off the valley exit, trapping the 4,000 Mist nin in a deadly bottleneck.
One Mist ninja was tearing through Konoha's front lines like a hot knife through butter, cutting down enemies left and right.
Hiruzen pointed at the figure. "See? I told you that's a girl. But why does she keep acting like a man?"
Aki followed his finger and saw the Mist ninja—long flowing hair, white training robes, porcelain-doll-like face... Aki tilted his head in confusion and muttered, "Why dress like a dude then?"
Homura gave the two of them an exasperated look. "Idiots! That's Mizunomuki Kai—the younger brother of the clan leader. Don't underestimate him! Other than his brother, he's the only man who can fully use the clan's secret bloodline technique!"
Hiruzen's tone turned serious. "But here's what's weird—those Mist ninja are trying to escape... yet this Kai guy is charging deeper in? Is he trying to die?"
He summoned Enma, the Monkey King, and growled, "I held back before 'cause I thought he was a girl. But now that I know he's a guy... it's time to settle that old score."
Enma turned into his signature staff and charged toward Kai.
Homura turned to Aki. "I'll handle the defense and hold back the Mist ninja. You go help the monkey!"
Aki nodded. He knew he couldn't go toe-to-toe with that Mist ninja just yet, so he instantly activated:"Eight Gates Technique: Gate of Opening! Gate of Rest! Gate of Life! Gate of Pain—Open!"
Aki could only safely open up to the fifth gate. He now had four gates active and rocketed toward Kai.
Gasping for breath, Mizunomuki Jingyu stared at the Second Hokage and sighed in his heart.I'm no match in ninjutsu, not in taijutsu either... Even my speed is useless against him. Looks like I'm gonna die here today. Thank God my little brother isn't here with my troops—or the Mizunomuki clan's secret arts might have died with us.
The Second Hokage, seeing Jingyu standing still, let out a proud smirk."What? Not fighting back anymore? Looks like you've run out of tricks. Guess it's my turn now."
He crouched on the water and whispered:"Technique of the Hundred Dragons."
A hundred massive water dragons shot up from the sea and coiled around him. Standing tall, the Hokage pointed his fingers at Jingyu.
With a roar, the dragons charged.
Jingyu saw the onslaught and realized there was nowhere left to run. Gritting his teeth, he had no choice but to face them head-on.
"Ice Style: Ice Tiger Breaks the Dragons!"
As he cast the jutsu, the sea around him froze solid. A giant ice tiger burst from the ice, roaring as it lunged toward the dragons.
The tiger clawed and bit through several dragons, but it was overwhelmed and torn apart. The water dragons pressed forward, unstoppable.
Jingyu closed his eyes.So this is it. This is where I die.
Just before the dragons crashed into him, three Mist ninja suddenly appeared by his side. In unison, they shouted:"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"
A massive wall of water surged from behind them, slamming into the hundred water dragons.
The Second Hokage was caught off guard. A Mist ninja suddenly appeared beside him, swinging a giant chipped blade at his neck.
The Hokage drew his Thunder God Sword to block, but two more Mist ninja leapt from the sea—one wielding a twin-fish-like blade, the other swinging a weapon shaped like a scaled fish—attacking his waist and legs.
With a flash of Flying Thunder God, the Second Hokage teleported away and looked at his new opponents. Seven unique weapon users now stood by Jingyu's side.
One of them grinned and declared:"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist have arrived!"
The Hokage smirked, glancing at the eight Mist ninja. "You think numbers give you an edge? You're seriously underestimating me."
Mizunomuki Kai fought with desperation, pushing through Konoha's defense line. His brother was facing the Second Hokage alone—he might already be dead. If Kai didn't go help, he would die for sure!
Just as he was about to charge again, a staff shot out of nowhere, aiming straight for him. He barely dodged and looked toward the attacker.
Hiruzen stood before him. "I'm Sarutobi Hiruzen, here to settle an old score!"
Kai, focused only on his brother, glared at him impatiently. "You're the loser from last time. Killing you is no big deal!"
He cast:"Secret Art: Mizunomuki Kill!"
Tons of small water bullets launched at Hiruzen. Kai then used Instant Water Step to slip past him—he wasn't interested in wasting time.
But—
"Taijutsu: Shadow Leaf Dance!"
Aki suddenly appeared and kicked Kai in the gut, launching him skyward. While he was airborne, multiple Aki clones surrounded him.
"Taijutsu: Lion Combo!"
The clones unleashed a flurry of attacks midair. Aki himself leapt up and smashed Kai downward with both legs. He crashed into the ocean.
Seeing the opening, Hiruzen raised his staff."Thousand-Ton Strike!"
The staff extended and slammed down on Kai, splitting the sea open with the force.
But Kai reappeared between them and activated:"Secret Art: Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors!"
This time, there were even more mirrors, spreading far wider than his brother's had.
With an angry snarl, he yelled:"You want to die so badly? Fine, I'll kill you both!"
He vanished into the mirrors.
Aki quickly activated his Sharingan, scanning the area. Hiruzen spun his staff again:"Sweep the Field!"
The staff grew to hundreds of meters and smashed through the mirrors in a wide arc.
Suddenly, Kai emerged beside Hiruzen, launching a barrage of ice senbon at him.
Just before they struck, Aki dove in and spat fire:"Fire Style: Blazing Flame Spin!"
The flames surrounded Hiruzen, melting the incoming senbon. At the same time, Hiruzen shattered the rest of the mirrors with his staff.
Kai stood across from them, eyes blazing with hatred."Damn Konoha shinobi! If anything happens to my brother, I'll make every last one of you pay with your lives!"
Aki sneered, "You're not walking out of here alive, you cross-dressing freak."
Kai didn't understand what "cross-dressing freak" meant, but he did know he was being insulted. With a furious roar, he charged again.
The Second Hokage had been trading blows with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen nonstop—taijutsu, ninjutsu, the works. He finally got fed up and growled:
"Game over."
Then he shouted:"Eight Gates Technique: Gate of Opening! Gate of Rest! Gate of Life! Gate of Pain! Gate of Limit—Open!"
Five gates burst open.
Explosive chakra surged from his body, blasting the Mist ninja backward. Holding the Thunder God Sword tightly, the Hokage glared at them.
"It's time to finish this."
"....."