"Please enlighten us, my lord!"
Kisame Hoshigaki and Biwa Jūzō moved in unison. Kisame drew his chakra-forged blade, while Jūzō hefted the massive Kubikiribōchō. Crossing paths in a crisscross charge, they shot toward Uchiha Gen.
Suikazan Fuguki immediately leapt back, retreating to higher ground to avoid the inevitable clash.
Gen drew Shizukamaru from his waist, his eyes spinning into the three-tomoe Sharingan, and stepped forward to meet them. They had agreed not to use summons or forbidden jutsu, but Shizukamaru was fair game.
Jūzō gripped the Kubikiribōchō in both hands, bringing it down in a heavy vertical slash. The sheer weight of the blade, coupled with his brute strength, made the strike like a falling boulder. Normally, the wise move would be to evade and counter but Gen didn't flinch. He raised his sword and met the attack head-on.
Clang!
The crash of steel split the air, sparks flying, a ripple of force bursting outward. A notch appeared on the Kubikiribōchō's edge.
Jūzō's eyes widened. He stopped my two-handed strike with one hand?! The strength flooding through Gen's arm felt inhuman.
Before he could recover, Kisame swept in from the side, his blade thrusting toward Gen's waist. The timing was perfect.
Gen didn't even glance at him. His free hand shot out, skin darkening to a hardened brown hue as it clamped around the blade with iron grip.
Kisame's foot lashed up in a kick toward Gen's back then stopped short. He twisted away, abandoning his weapon just in time.
A heartbeat later, Shizukamaru and the blade in Gen's hand both erupted with crackling arcs of blue-white lightning. The current surged, crawling across the steel, and in an instant began sawing through the Kubikiribōchō.
Jūzō recoiled in alarm, yanking his great sword back before it was split in two.
"Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
Kisame, now high in the air, finished a rapid string of seals. A torrent of water spewed from his mouth, swelling into a surging flood that swallowed the canyon, waves crashing like a rising inland sea.
Gen leapt back, vaulting onto the cliff face with precise steps, avoiding the onrush.
"Water Release: Water Fang Bullet!"
Jūzō's hands blurred. Three spiraling jets of water shot skyward, curving down to spear Gen from left, right, and center.
"Fire Release: Exploding Flame Bullet!"
Gen clapped his hands once, inhaled, and spat three golden-white fireballs, each expanding mid-air into roaring spheres the size of bathtubs.
Boom!
The fireballs slammed into the water pillars, exploding on impact. The blast shattered the jets before they could smother the flames, vaporizing water into scalding mist.
But Kisame wasn't done. His hands blurred again. "Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"
This time, the technique connected the canyon directly to the sea. Saltwater thundered in, the water level rising fast. Kisame and Jūzō rode the surging tide forward.
Gen's lips curved faintly. He pressed his palms together, drawing in natural energy. "Sage Art: Great Fire Annihilation!"
White-hot flames gushed from his mouth like a river, dwarfing even the vast sea. The inferno rolled across the canyon, air distorting from the sheer heat.
From the cliff, Fuguki's jaw tightened. Such Fire Release… monstrous.
Kisame and Jūzō, charging forward, froze for a heartbeat. Then instinct took over. They abandoned the surface and dove deep, cutting through the water like predators.
Ssssshhhhh—
Steam erupted as fire devoured sea. Water boiled away layer by layer, vapor rising in suffocating clouds. The canyon became a cauldron, the twenty-meter-deep flood reduced to a few scalding pools.
The two swordsmen exchanged a glance underwater. This place is death. We need the open sea. With powerful strokes, they swam toward freedom.
Gen tracked them easily, his senses following their movements. He smiled, cloaked himself in a thin layer of black chakra, and dove into the mist. Landing lightly atop the boiling surface, he sprinted across the water, chasing them out into the ocean.
The mist broke, revealing Gen standing tall upon the waves. Beneath, Kisame and Jūzō crept closer, releasing water clones before moving to flank him.
But Gen saw through them instantly. Lightning blossomed around his hands, violent arcs tamed into precise strikes. He thrust them into the sea.
Blue-white bolts split, racing toward both clones and originals.
The water clones popped in bursts of spray. Jūzō convulsed as current surged through him, agony wrenching his body. His mouth opened, gulping seawater. He would've drowned if not for Kisame, who surged up atop a shark, the beast devouring the lightning as it carried both to the surface.
Gen chuckled softly. "A ninjutsu that eats chakra? Interesting."
Kisame's grin had none of its usual mockery now.
"My lord, your Fire Release earlier… and your precision just now—impressive. But don't let your guard down. The next technique won't be so easy to brush aside."
Gen gave a small nod. "Good. Show me."
"Water Release: Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"
Side by side, they completed their seals. The ocean heaved. From the waves burst a thousand sharks of water, snapping maws filling the sea. Above them rose a massive dragon, twenty meters long, spiraling in a surge of spray.
"Magnificent," Gen murmured—and inhaled deeply. "Sage Art: Great Fire Annihilation!"
This time he poured more Senjutsu chakra into the flames. White fire fanned outward like tidal waves, rising higher than the surging sea itself.
Ssshhhhhhhh—
Steam roared as sea met flame. Sharks dissolved instantly. The dragon melted into vapor. The clash turned the battlefield into a boiling fog bank.
Kisame and Jūzō regrouped, standing tense on another stretch of ocean. Both stared grimly at Gen. Fire Release over water—yet still overwhelming us. And he doesn't even look tired…
They had one chance left.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!" Jūzō roared, expending nearly all his chakra. He manipulated seawater, towering waves rising fifty meters high, cresting above Gen like a sky ready to fall.
"Water Release: Great Shark Bullet Technique!" Kisame followed, his chakra shaping into a massive azure shark that rode the collapsing wave, jaws gaping like an abyss.
Together, the wave and shark were meant to crush and consume all.
But Gen only exhaled, calm as stone. "Sage Art: Vacuum Consecutive Wave."
He inhaled, then snapped his head, releasing four colossal wind blades. They glittered like translucent gems, dozens of meters long, cutting the sky itself.
The first three sheared the towering wave into slabs, water tumbling like sliced stone. The last cleaved into the great shark, splitting it in half before tearing it apart completely. The sea itself buckled beneath the assault.
Gen stepped lightly aside as the remnants of the wave crashed harmlessly down.
Kisame gaped. "My Great Shark Bullet absorbs chakra—grows stronger with it. Why didn't it work on your jutsu? My lord, what's the secret?"
He skidded across the surface to stop three meters before Gen, eyes burning with curiosity. Jūzō leaned in as well, listening intently.
Gen smiled faintly.
"Simple. I wasn't using ordinary chakra. I used Senjutsu chakra—natural energy mixed with my own in balance. Your technique can devour chakra, but Senjutsu chakra is beyond its reach."
Jūzō's eyes widened. "Senjutsu…? The legendary Sage techniques?"
"You've heard the name," Gen said, "but I haven't entered Sage Mode. I can wield small amounts of Senjutsu chakra without it. In a proper Sage Mode, ninjutsu, taijutsu, genjutsu—everything amplifies severalfold, even dozens of times. Sensory ability as well. That was the power once wielded by the First Hokage."
Both Kisame and Jūzō sucked in sharp breaths.
"To reach it requires immense chakra, Kage-level at minimum, and perfect control. Mishandling it means death by natural energy itself. You aren't ready yet. But if the time comes, and you meet the conditions… I'll teach you."
The two dropped to one knee, voices steady.
"Yes, my lord!"
Gen gave a final nod. "Good. Await my word. I'll be in touch."
With that, his figure blurred and vanished.
Fuguki, watching from afar, finally exhaled, sweat beading his brow. Such strength… monstrous.
Kisame and Jūzō remained silent for a long moment, their earlier defiance melted into awe.
…
The next day, Uchiha Gen quietly left the village again, using the Flying Thunder God to the Land of Water. Guided by his seals, he quickly found Pakura traveling alone.
He frowned faintly. Rasa's cruelty is one thing, but this girl… her heart is too soft. Alone, on a diplomatic mission to the Mist—without a single escort. Even if she doesn't know Rasa wants her dead, she should have at least some sense of caution.