"Lightning Blade Technique: Lightning Dragon!"
"Sage Art: Earth Release – Earth Dragon Bullet!!"
Every single attack launched by Kyoichi and Ringo Ameyuri struck the violet-black Susanoo head-on. This was because Uchiha Hatoha had outright abandoned any attempt to defend against their assaults, choosing instead to focus entirely on dealing with the water monster formed by Hōzuki Mangetsu.
This was not a reckless gamble.
Through round after round of exchanges, Hatoha had already more or less gauged the depth of strength possessed by the opponents before him.
Koeda Kyoichi was, without question, the most troublesome of them all. From the very beginning, it was this man who had repeatedly intercepted Hatoha's attacks, and it was also Koeda Kyoichi who shattered his still-evolving Susanoo.
Even the Wood Human Technique had been neutralized by a single grappling throw from the stone behemoth Kyoichi summoned.
After that, with Koeda Kyoichi as the core and the other two Kirigakure ninja acting in support, they had forcibly held back Hatoha's Susanoo even after it reached its fourth form, complete with a lower body and legs.
It could be said that, if Koeda Kyoichi had not been present,
Hatoha would have already slaughtered his way into Kogaku Temple, killing every living person within dozens of li around except himself. There was no way the fight would have dragged on this long without any meaningful results. The strength of this Kiri ninja named Koeda Kyoichi… Hatoha had truly learned his lesson.
However—
that was as far as it went.
Kyoichi specialized in Earth Release. In terms of defense, he was like an impregnable wall of bronze and iron, but his offensive capabilities were comparatively unremarkable. Of course, this "unremarkable" was only relative. It wasn't that Kyoichi lacked offensive ninjutsu, but rather that the defensive power of Hatoha's fourth-form Susanoo was simply too overwhelming.
If it was only Koeda Kyoichi and Ringo Ameyuri,
then even if he completely gave up defending, at worst his Susanoo would be shattered again. There was no chance their attacks could reach him inside it.
It was precisely because of this judgment that Uchiha Hatoha chose to trade taking their attacks head-on for the opportunity to free his hands and deal with Hōzuki Mangetsu, his true target of revenge.
Reality proved that his judgment was flawless.
The Susanoo was indeed shattered by the combined attacks of Koeda Kyoichi and Ringo Ameyuri, yet Hatoha himself, sheltered within, suffered no harm. And at the very moment the Susanoo was broken once more, he successfully achieved his goal.
He—
killed Hōzuki Mangetsu.
He fulfilled his revenge.
And he fired the very first shot in his campaign to destroy this utterly rotten old world!!!
The Susanoo shattered into pieces,
and Hatoha's body fell toward the ground below.
Yet beneath the beaked mask, there was no trace of worry or fear on his face. What filled it instead was the exhilarated smile of vengeance fulfilled. His lips moved slightly as he whispered, in a voice only he could hear:
"This is only the beginning."
Immediately after,
he formed hand seals.
Chakra surged out of him like floodwaters bursting through a dam.
Another overwhelmingly powerful Wood Release technique was unleashed.
"Wood Release: Deep Forest Bloom!"
Below,
the ground had already been trampled bare. Between Chōza's giant form earlier, the stone behemoth summoned by Kyoichi, the wood golem Hatoha had summoned himself, and the repeated trampling of his Susanoo, there was barely a tree left standing. As far as the eye could see, there was only barren land.
And yet, in that very instant—
all things revived.
Countless plants burst forth from the soil, growing at a frenzied, unnatural speed. In a blink, they covered the planet's exposed scar, and they continued to spread wildly. The stone behemoth beneath Kyoichi's feet was quickly bound hand and foot by the rapidly growing vegetation.
In one second, it snapped a branch while exerting force.
In the next, two more vines coiled up around it.
In just a few seconds,
the lower half of the stone behemoth was completely submerged by the madly growing plants, which continued to climb upward, chasing after Kyoichi and Ringo Ameyuri standing atop its head.
"Tch! This guy really is hard to deal with!"
Looking at the vegetation surging upward from below, Kyoichi couldn't help but click his tongue.
This unknown Uchiha's Mangekyō Sharingan ability might not be something as troublesome as Uchiha Obito's Kamui, a space–time ninjutsu. But unlike Obito, this man wasn't one-eyed. He possessed both eyes, meaning he could use Susanoo, the shared and strongest trump card of all Mangekyō Sharingan users.
Setting everything else aside,
when Uchiha Madara fought Senju Hashirama, he relied almost entirely on Susanoo to contend with Hashirama's Wood Golem. Mangekyō Sharingan techniques couldn't be said to be useless, but for top-tier experts, their lethality was merely average—just one tool among many.
Take Amaterasu, for example.
The eternal black flames sounded terrifying.
But how many top-tier powerhouses had they truly killed? The Fourth Raikage losing an arm seemed to be its most notable achievement.
By comparison, Susanoo was far more troublesome.
What made it even worse was that this pawn chosen by both Uchiha Madara and Black Zetsu not only awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan, but also mastered Wood Release of such astonishing purity. Just moments ago, Kyoichi had even worried that if this guy decided to combine Susanoo with a Wood Golem, he would really be in trouble.
Fortunately,
the opponent hadn't had his eyes for long and probably hadn't thought of such advanced tricks yet. The Wood Golem and Susanoo had not been stacked together.
Even so, Kyoichi had already gained a deep appreciation for just how difficult Susanoo was to deal with. It was offense and defense in one, activated instantly, and once it evolved to the stage with a lower body and legs, there were no flaws to exploit at all. Other than brute force, there was no alternative.
Now, after finally breaking the Susanoo, the enemy had switched to grinding them down with Wood Release.
"This thing… is really troublesome."
Kyoichi narrowed his eyes.
This Wood Release bloodline limit was genuinely restrictive to his Earth Release, even more irritating than Lightning Release. Faced with this crazily expanding forest, he ran through his repertoire in his head and found no Earth Release technique that could adequately deal with the situation.
To handle this sea of trees,
it seemed that specialized offensive techniques like Fire Release or Wind Release were the better options.
Ringo Ameyuri had been firing Lightning Release at full power into the forest below, but the results were minimal. Lightning Release excelled at penetration and paralysis; using it against trees was clearly not ideal. Fire Release's burning properties or Wind Release's cutting power would have been far more effective.
"Even though I don't know Fire Release or Wind Release… fortunately, aside from Golden Threaded Garment, I've finished developing another Sage Art. Perfect timing to use you as a test subject."
As the vines and branches crept ever closer to his feet, Kyoichi finally made his move.