The moment that mocking laughter burst across the valley, every shinobi turned toward the source.
A silver-haired youth stepped forward, brandishing a strange, oversized weapon with the confidence of someone who'd never tasted consequences.
"Hah! Some nobody dares to invade Cloud Shinobi Village and even attacks us? You're dead, Konoha brat!"
Raizen studied them with a small, bored glance.
"You two… Golden Horn and Silver Horn, right?"
The silver-haired one—Ginkaku—burst into delighted laughter.
"Hahaha! Hear that, brother? Even Konoha trash knows our name!"
Kinkaku crossed his arms proudly, tossing Ai a provocative side-eye.
"Of course they know us. The Golden and Silver Brothers aren't like the rest of you nobodies."
Raizen scratched his cheek, unimpressed.
"Originally, I thought I'd play with you a bit."
His tone shifted, flattening into something cold.
"But you've all annoyed me. Now I'll just kill you quickly."
The air shuddered.
Crimson chakra erupted from Raizen like a volcanic plume.
Susanoo's skeletal frame rose behind him—then muscle, sinew, armor, and massive wings ignited into existence.
A demon-god wrapped in living flame.
Raizen raised the Ten-Fist Sword.
"Go to hell, you chopsticks."
The swing tore the sky apart.
"MOVE!" Ai roared, retreating in panic.
BOOOOOOM!
A ravine dozens of meters wide split open from Raizen's feet, carving the valley clean in half.
The mountain behind Cloud's line shuddered—
CRACK—
A perfect diagonal cut appeared.
Its top slid off like a severed lid.
Ai's heart lurched. Even he couldn't hide the cold sweat dripping down his back.
"He cut… a mountain…"
But Raizen wasn't done.
"Die."
Another arc of sword-light crashed forward.
This time, the Cloud elites couldn't dodge in time.
The blade passed—
And three of the twenty elite Jōnin were cut cleanly in half.
"Roco! Cass! Tem!"
Ai's voice cracked. The deaths hit him like physical blows.
Twenty elite Jōnin—Cloud's entire pride and foundation—and three were gone in an instant.
His fury burned white-hot.
"AMAMIYA RAIZEN—YOU'VE GONE TOO FAR!"
Ai flashed with blinding lightning, his body turning into a streak of blue-white destruction.
"Lightning Style—Leaping Hot Blade!"
His shoulder slammed into Susanoo's chest—
CRACK!
A jagged fracture split the chakra armor.
He'd actually scratched Raizen's complete-body Susanoo.
Raizen nodded once.
"To leave a mark on complete Susanoo… Ai, you've earned my respect."
Then Susanoo's arm backhanded him like swatting a fly.
"GUH—!"
Ai's body shot across the valley and crashed into a cliff.
Cloud ninjas screamed and charged in unison.
Raizen sighed.
"You're all barely warm-ups…"
Except one mustached man who fought with discipline.
He earned a raised eyebrow—maybe even a tiny bit of effort.
Then—
ROOOOAR!
Twin auras exploded behind him.
The brothers cloaked themselves in tailed-beast chakra, their bodies swelling with monstrous power.
"Little insect! You dare act tough in front of us?!"
Raizen's lip twitched upward.
"Wood Style: Tree Bind."
Two colossal vines erupted from the earth, lashing around the brothers like serpents.
"What—?!"
"These vines—!"
The brothers tore at the wood with enhanced claws, but every vine they ripped apart regenerated instantly, doubling like hydra heads.
Their anger deepened. Chakra surged violently.
Flesh peeled away.
Their bodies warped—features dissolving into a bestial, monstrous shape.
"Ah… the pseudo-tailing transformation."
Raizen's chuckle held razor edge.
"Let's end this."
His hands clapped together.
"Wood Style: Advent of a World of Trees."
The earth shook.
A forest burst upward in an instant, roots and trunks spiraling like serpents of living chakra.
The vines wrapped their limbs, torsos, and throats in thousands of constricting coils.
And the chakra-draining effect began.
The brothers screamed.
Their beast forms shrank to tailed-beast cloaks—
Then to flickering remnants—
Then to nothing but their human bodies, faces shriveling like dried husks.
Terror flooded their eyes.
"This… this is impossible…!"
"Our beast form never loses—!"
Raizen stepped toward them, sword lowered, voice carrying cold finality.
"That's the problem with people who get power too fast."
He met their collapsing gazes.
"You think you're kings.
Until someone real shows up."
The trees tightened once more—
And the Golden and Silver Brothers screamed.