Chapter 381: The Rebellious Ninja Sword

Chapter 381: Chapter 381: The Rebellious Ninja Sword

"ROAR—!"

The Three-Tails’ furious roar shot straight into the heavens, reverberating throughout Kirigakure, which was shrouded in dense mist.

Hearing that earth-shaking roar of a Tailed Beast, seemingly infused with chakra and powerful enough to strike fear directly into the heart, the villagers of Kirigakure immediately descended into panic. One light after another flickered to life throughout the village.

By comparison, Kirigakure’s shinobi were much calmer.

Everyone knew that Utakata, the Six-Tails’ Jinchūriki, had already defected and fled the village. At present, the only Jinchūriki remaining in Kirigakure was the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi—the Jinchūriki of the Three-Tails.

And as everyone knew, Yagura Karatachi was one of the very few perfect Jinchūriki in the entire shinobi world.

He was a powerful shinobi capable of completely controlling the Three-Tails, Isobu, while still retaining his own will and remaining fully conscious even after transforming into his Tailed Beast form.

"The Fourth has personally taken action?"

For a moment, the same thought flashed through the minds of every Kirigakure shinobi.

Mei Terumi and the othebrs were no exception.

Without needing anyone to remind him, Ao immediately turned his gaze toward the Mizukage Building. As he carefully observed the area with his Byakugan, he described what he saw to everyone around him.

"There are many chakra signatures gathered in front of the Mizukage Building. Five of them are particularly powerful. The Fourth is among them, and he’s already entered his Tailed Beast form. His chakra is spilling out so heavily that it’s practically visible to the naked eye!"

The fact that the Fourth Mizukage had entered his Tailed Beast form meant that he had encountered a difficult battle.

And the chakra spilling uncontrollably from his body indicated that the Fourth Mizukage’s emotions were fluctuating violently at this moment.

He seemed to be in an absolute rage.

"Can you confirm that it really is the Fourth?"

The elder, who had been perfectly composed just moments ago, was now beginning to panic.

Although he was one of Kirigakure’s Elder Advisors and wielded considerable authority within the village, he still felt apprehensive when faced with the formidable Fourth Mizukage. In his nervousness, he even asked a foolish question that someone of his position should never have needed to ask.

Ao replied solemnly, "There’s no mistake. No one else can imitate the Three-Tails’ chakra!"

Mei Terumi, however, looked puzzled.

"Does the Fourth really need to enter his Tailed Beast form just to deal with Zabuza?"

Ao shook his head. "No. Zabuza hasn’t joined the battle. There are other people fighting the Fourth. Huh... Shikotsumyaku? It’s a remnant of the Kaguya Clan! And there’s Kisame Hoshigaki... along with one other person!"

At that, Mei turned toward the elder.

The elder pondered for a moment before nodding.

Since the coup launched by Zabuza had already forced the Fourth Mizukage himself into action, it was time for the Elder Faction to make its move as well.

Seeing that the elder had given his approval, Mei no longer hesitated. With a wave of her hand, she ordered,

"Move out!"

At Mei’s command, the shinobi of Kirigakure’s Elder Faction, who had long since assembled and were standing ready, immediately followed behind her and rushed straight toward the Mizukage Building.

......

Mizukage Building

BOOM—!

BOOM—!

With a muffled impact, Renge was struck head-on by a sweep of the transformed Fourth Mizukage’s tail. His entire body was sent flying, smashing violently into the outer wall surrounding the Mizukage Building.

Climbing out from the pile of rubble, Renge wiped the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and snorted.

"Hmph. I thought Akatsuki was supposed to be so formidable. Never expected them to screw up like this."

Only someone from the Kaguya Clan, possessing the Shikotsumyaku, could take a direct blow from a Tailed Beast’s tail, immediately climb back to his feet, and casually complain as though nothing had happened.

Barely avoiding a swipe from the Fourth Mizukage’s claw, Kisame shouted, "Bastard, quit talking and get over here to help!"

Kisame specialized in Water Release, but against the Fourth Mizukage—who was equally proficient in Water Release—he found himself completely suppressed.

Ryū, meanwhile, possessed the Red Eye dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai, but he likewise had no effective means of dealing with the Fourth Mizukage, whose body was enveloped in a Tailed Beast cloak that rendered him immune to the vast majority of ninjutsu and taijutsu.

As a result, among the three of them, the main force capable of directly confronting the Fourth Mizukage was actually Renge of the Kaguya Clan.

At that moment, Ryū turned toward the somewhat dazed Zabuza and shouted, "What are you waiting for?! Do you really think the Fourth is going to let you off?!"

Zabuza knew there was no longer any path of retreat.

He immediately brandished the ninja sword in his hands—Samehada—and joined the battle.

Yet just as Zabuza swung Samehada toward the Fourth Mizukage, something happened that none of them had expected.

The Samehada in his hands suddenly displayed an extremely fierce resistance!

Several sharp spikes even burst directly from its hilt, piercing straight through Zabuza’s palm.

"What the hell?!"

Caught completely off guard, Zabuza instinctively released his grip, sending Samehada tumbling away.

But after being thrown aside, Samehada actually tore apart the layers of bandages wrapped around its body on its own.

Then—

It crawled straight over to the Fourth Mizukage.

Like an obedient pet, Samehada nestled up beside him, eagerly trying to curry favor.

The Fourth Mizukage immediately grasped Samehada in his hand.

In a hoarse voice, he declared,

"You’re all going to die!"

At that moment, Ryū suddenly warned everyone,

"This is bad! A huge number of shinobi from the village are rushing this way!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Kisame said,

"Retreat!"

In truth, the three of them had already been thinking about withdrawing.

After all, they were all Kirigakure shinobi, and in terms of their combat attributes, they were simply countered far too heavily by the Fourth Mizukage. On top of that, they were fighting inside the village itself and were already in danger of being completely surrounded.

If they didn’t leave now, they truly wouldn’t be able to escape.

In the blink of an eye, Kisame, Ryū, and Renge flickered away, vanishing from the spot like ghosts.

By now, Zabuza had also realized just how large the gap between himself and the Fourth Mizukage truly was.

He no longer had the luxury of worrying about the subordinates around him. Clutching his injured right hand, he hurriedly fled after Kisame and the others.

......

Inside the house where Itachi was hiding

Hearing the cries of crows outside the window, Itachi immediately walked over and opened it.

Whoosh—!

In an instant, a dark figure shot into the room.

The figure was none other than Hyuga Kagami, who had only just finished a fierce battle with Obito.

After rushing into the room, Kagami dropped heavily onto the floor. As he removed the mask from his face, he began breathing heavily, gulping down one breath after another.

Itachi was startled.

This was the first time he had ever seen Uchiha En in such a battered state. He hurriedly asked,

"En-senpai, are... are you alright?"

Kagami shook his head.

"I’m fine. I just ran into a troublesome bastard."

"You weren’t injured, were you?"

"Heh."

Kagami grinned.

"Either way, I wasn’t the one who came out worse!"

With that, Hyuga Kagami pulled a storage scroll from the pouch at his waist and casually pressed a hand against it.

Poof—!

Amid a burst of white smoke, more than a dozen blades of various shapes and sizes appeared inside the room.

Itachi looked puzzled.

"These are...?"

As the eldest son of the patriarch of the prestigious Uchiha Clan, Itachi’s knowledge and experience far surpassed that of an ordinary shinobi.

With a single glance, he could tell that every one of these dozen or so weapons was an exceptional blade, the kind that could only be found once in a thousand.

He even spotted one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist among them—

Hiramekarei!

Kagami smiled.

"Don’t say I never look out for you. Pick one! I personally inspected every one of these. They’re all good stuff—each and every one is the cream of the crop!"

Itachi selected a dagger roughly the length of a kunai and said,

"Thank you, Senpai."

Although Itachi was proficient with all kinds of ninja tools, swords, and blades, he didn’t actually rely on them very much in combat.

He simply didn’t want to reject Kagami’s goodwill, so he chose a dagger that suited his tastes from among the collection.

After putting the dagger away, Itachi pointed toward Hiramekarei and asked,

"That should be Hiramekarei, one of the Seven Ninja Swords of the Mist, right?"

He paused, staring at Kagami.

"Senpai... you didn’t actually loot Kirigakure’s treasury, did you?"