Facing that lightning-fast strike, Uzumaki Suigetsu—whose strength was only at the early Kage level and who was in her normal state—had virtually no chance to evade it.
In Yoshida Eiichi's eyes, the old woman was already a dead corpse.
He refused to believe that his own speed, swift as lightning itself, could be slower than someone merely called "lightning."
The next instant, a thunderous boom rang out.
That lightning dragon slammed into a tall figure standing in front.
On closer inspection, the attack hadn't hit Uzumaki Suigetsu at all—it had crashed directly into Arata.
In the split second between lightning and thunder, Arata had placed himself squarely between the lightning dragon and Uzumaki Suigetsu.
And from the look of it, he hadn't used a single ninjutsu—he had blocked it with his body.
Seeing Arata recklessly take the attack head-on, Yoshida Eiichi broke into a cruel grin.
"An idiot who doesn't know when he's about to die. Even the Third Raikage wouldn't dare take this jutsu head-on with his flesh!"
This move didn't just carry the heat and piercing force of lightning—it was fused with Wind Style, an element that countered Lightning Release. Strangely enough, instead of clashing, the two elements reinforced each other, drastically increasing its cutting power.
Even the Third Mizukage sneered inwardly.
So he's still just a kid. No matter how strong he is, how strong could he really be?
To dare block a jutsu clearly focused on piercing and slicing with nothing but his body—his combat experience was laughably shallow.
Even Uzumaki Suigetsu covered her eyes the moment she saw the attack, unable to bear witnessing what she assumed would be Arata's gruesome end.
Once struck, that jutsu was like execution by a thousand cuts—it would flay a person layer by layer, leaving a scene too horrific to look at.
The other Uzumaki clan members followed suit, all covering their eyes, afraid to watch.
When the blue lightning finally dissipated, everyone slowly opened their eyes.
All twenty thousand members of the allied forces stared wide-eyed, unable to believe what they were seeing.
After taking the lightning dragon head-on, Arata's entire body was still wrapped in crackling electricity. Every inch of his skin bore signs of having been sliced—yet there was no blood. Instead, beneath the torn flesh shimmered pure blue lightning.
It was as if Arata's body wasn't made of flesh and blood at all, but condensed lightning itself.
Now that Arata's power had awakened, he was already capable of fully controlling lightning. Even if he hadn't blocked the attack directly, he could have simply seized control of that lightning dragon with a thought and sent it back.
He had only wanted to test whether, after awakening, he would still lose elemental form when struck by Kage-level Lightning Release like before.
The result was obvious.
The gap between their lightning energies was far too vast. Even without any defense, the attack couldn't harm him in the slightest.
Although he still hadn't fully converted into an elemental body, the disparity in lightning quality alone was insurmountable—Arata could completely ignore the jutsu.
That was why everyone around him was so utterly stunned.
Standing there, Arata looked less like a human and more like lightning incarnate—so much so that an uncontrollable thought arose in everyone's mind:
This man is a god of thunder.
After all, no matter how powerful ninjas were, they merely manipulated elements. No one had ever truly become one.
The Third Mizukage murmured under his breath upon seeing this.
"Is this… something like the Hōzuki clan's ability?"
At that very moment, the towering tsunami in the distance finally slammed into Uzushiogakure.
Uzushiogakure wasn't small—it was comparable in size to an island nation—but before that colossal wave, it looked utterly fragile.
Already on the brink of collapse after the earlier slash, the island was struck by unimaginable mass and force the instant the wave hit.
The surrounding seawater offered no resistance at all—it was obliterated instantly, merging into the raging ocean.
The wave surged inland, and wherever it passed, the magma erupting from the island's failing crust was instantly cooled into stone.
Uzushiogakure, where the Uzumaki clan had lived for generations, was erased in an instant—leaving not a single trace behind.
Soon, even the ninja continent itself began to tremble violently.
Arata understood immediately.
Uzushiogakure was finished.
The next moment, thunderous collapses echoed nonstop as the already failing island sank beneath the sea.
The once-mighty Land of Whirlpools, which had shaken the shinobi world in its time, was finally swallowed by the tides of history.
From now on, the Uzumaki survivors would likely have no choice but to join Konohagakure. There was no unclaimed land left in the shinobi world where they could rebuild a nation of their own.
Witnessing the Land of Whirlpools sink with their own eyes, the allied shinobi forces felt a wave of dread—and relief.
Good thing we ran fast…
Otherwise, they would have been buried along with the island.
The Uzumaki clan members, who had already begun retreating, stood frozen as they watched their homeland disappear beneath the sea. Eyes reddened, some knelt outright, bowing toward the direction where Uzushiogakure once stood.
Uzumaki Suigetsu, however, knew one thing clearly.
As long as they lived, the Uzumaki clan could always rebuild.
Arata found himself idly wondering—now that Uzushiogakure had sunk to the ocean floor, no one would ever be able to reach the Uzumaki ruins again to find the Shinigami Mask used for soul-sealing.
Then again, at this point in time, no one in the shinobi world had even been sealed by the Reaper Death Seal yet.
The focus shifted back to the Third Mizukage.
His expression was grim.
He hadn't forgotten why Uzushiogakure had sunk.
A flash of purple light—one strike—had split the island cleanly in two.
That meant somewhere on the mainland, not far from the Land of Whirlpools, an existence of truly terrifying power had been fighting.
He wasn't the Third Raikage and hadn't noticed the Monkey Sage—besides, being blind, he relied solely on perception. Even if the Sage had fallen closer by, he wouldn't have seen it.
But Arata's reputation in Kumogakure labeled him as a Super-Kage–level existence—and now he just happened to be nearby.
A chill crept up his spine.
With a trembling voice, he asked,
"Arata… the one who split the sea earlier—was that you?"
Arata had been admiring the devastating scenery his attack had created when he heard the question. He raised an eyebrow slightly.
The grieving Uzumaki clan, the tens of thousands of allied shinobi, and the remaining Kage all snapped back to reality—remembering that breathtaking flash of purple.
Combined with Arata's lightning-forged body, their fear deepened even further.
Arata answered casually,
"The attack that split Uzushiogakure in two... was mine!"
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