Chapter 478: Can You Be Faster Than Lightning?

Chapter 478: Chapter 478: Can You Be Faster Than Lightning?

Watching Kagami pull a bone blade from his palm, Hiruko sneered.

"Shikotsumyaku?"

With the Mist Squad having joined Akatsuki, Hiruko was no stranger to the Kaguya clan’s Shikotsumyaku. In fact, he had even privately sparred against the entire Mist Squad once before.

Although neither side had gone all out in that exchange, judging purely by the battle itself, Hiruko had single-handedly suppressed the entire Mist Squad.

Because of that, he didn’t think particularly highly of Kirigakure’s Shikotsumyaku or Red Eye.

Hiruko raised his right hand and slowly spread his five fingers.

In an instant, a flash of lightning streaked through the black clouds overhead before plunging straight down into his palm.

The violent lightning, however, behaved like a docile spirit in his grasp.

Holding the dazzling lightning in his hand, Hiruko grinned.

"If Shikotsumyaku is your only trump card, then I’m going to be very disappointed!"

Kagami replied indifferently, "I just hope you won’t regret those words in a moment."

Whoosh—!

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kagami’s figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

The corner of Hiruko’s mouth curled upward.

"Can you be faster than lightning?"

As he spoke, he slammed the lightning gathered in his palm toward the ground.

Bzzzt—!

In an instant, highly concentrated lightning spread across the ground like a curtain of light.

Countless arcs of electricity danced and leaped like living spirits, surging outward in every direction!

Seeing the lightning rushing straight toward them, Tsunade shouted, "Everyone, get out of the way!"

At Tsunade’s warning, the Konoha shinobi around the edges of the battlefield immediately scattered in every direction.

In the middle of the battlefield, Hiruko continuously swept his hands through the air, controlling bolt after bolt of lightning from the thunderclouds overhead.

At that moment, he was like a conductor, with the raging lightning serving as the notes under his command. Wherever his fingers pointed, the lightning struck!

Amid the interweaving bolts of lightning, Kagami’s figure flickered unpredictably like a ghost, moving at an unbelievable speed!

The clash between the two powerful shinobi left the Konoha shinobi on the sidelines suffering terribly. Even with Tsunade’s warning, how could ordinary shinobi possibly outrun lightning?

"Argh!"

"AAAH!"

In the blink of an eye, screams rang out one after another!

Many Konoha shinobi were struck by Hiruko’s Storm Release. In an instant, their bodies were reduced to smoking, charred corpses. Even several Konoha ANBU were among the casualties.

"Wild Lion’s Mane Technique!"

Jiraiya, who had his hands clasped together as he prepared to enter Sage Mode once again, hurriedly unleashed a hand-seal-free technique.

With a shake of his head, his long white hair instantly expanded, enveloping several nearby Konoha shinobi and just barely shielding them from the incoming lightning.

"HAAH!"

On the other side, Tsunade let out a shout and slammed her fist into the ground.

BOOM—!

Amid the thunderous roar and violent tremors, the ground struck by Tsunade’s fist heaved upward in one massive slab, shielding both her and several nearby Konoha shinobi from the sweeping lightning.

Over on Hyuga Kagami’s ANBU Team Seven, Kagami’s shadow clone had warned his subordinates to retreat well in advance. But Kurenai had been too focused on watching the battle and reacted a step too late. By the time the other three members of Team Seven had already retreated far away, she was still standing in place.

Whoosh—!

Just as the lightning was about to sweep across Kurenai, Kakashi appeared beside her using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

In the next instant, the two vanished from the spot together.

Soon afterward, Kakashi and the members of Kagami’s Team Seven took shelter inside a relatively intact building in the distance.

After setting Kurenai down, Kakashi turned to Kagami with a serious expression.

"Kagami, how’s the situation?"

They were too far away, and the battlefield was constantly alternating between blinding flashes and darkness. Without his Sharingan, Kakashi found it extremely difficult to make out what was happening.

Kagami’s shadow clone activated his Byakugan, then shook his head.

"Lightning is everywhere across the battlefield. There’s no way to properly observe what’s happening. But there’s no need to worry too much. That member of the Kamigami shouldn’t lose."

Kurenai turned her head and gave Kagami’s shadow clone a somewhat suspicious look.

Kagami’s shadow clone asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Kurenai replied, "Kagami, I keep feeling like there’s something strange about you tonight. With how arrogant you are, how could you possibly stay this calm after seeing experts of this level fighting?"

Kagami’s shadow clone was speechless.

"When exactly did I give you the impression that I’m arrogant?"

Beside them, Hayate wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Other than Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade, there’s no one here who can even interfere in a battle at this level! The captain might be arrogant, but he’s not stupid!"

Yugao nodded in agreement. "Mm-hmm!"

Kagami’s shadow clone was rendered even more speechless.

"Hey, hey! You idiots, stop talking nonsense! That’s called confidence, not arrogance!"

Kurenai leaned closer to Kagami’s ear and whispered, "Tell me the truth. Do you know Furin?"

Ever since she had seen the Byakugan in the eye sockets of the Type-A Wind Release clone, Kurenai had firmly believed that the Kamigami’s ’Furin’ was a member of the Hyuga clan—and very likely someone from the prestigious Main Family.

Kagami’s shadow clone shook his head.

"I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about."

The reason Kagami’s shadow clone had been sitting on the sidelines all night, which had aroused Kurenai’s suspicions, wasn’t because Kagami had overlooked how suspicious his behavior might seem.

Rather, Kagami’s spirit was currently inhabiting the Type-A Wind Release clone, which meant he couldn’t continuously supply his shadow clone with Tenseigan chakra.

As a result, this shadow clone couldn’t participate in any high-intensity fighting. Otherwise, there was a very real possibility that it would exhaust its chakra and unexpectedly disperse.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield—

After only a few flickers, Kagami had already closed the distance and appeared directly in front of Hiruko.

"You—!?"

Seeing Kagami pass straight through layer after layer of the interwoven lightning net, Hiruko’s face filled with disbelief.

He simply couldn’t imagine what kind of speed and visual perception were required to accomplish something like that!

Beneath his mask, Kagami’s expression remained cold.

Without the slightest hesitation, he brought the bone blade in his hand slashing down!

Still caught in his astonishment, Hiruko reacted half a beat too slowly. Despite possessing Swift Release, there was no longer any way for him to evade Kagami’s vicious strike.

All he could do was hastily raise his right arm to protect his face.

CLANG—!

The razor-sharp bone blade struck Hiruko’s pitch-black right arm, which had been reinforced by Steel Release, producing an ear-piercing metallic screech!

"You think a mere bone blade can break through my Steel Release?"

The corners of Hiruko’s mouth curled upward uncontrollably.

He was all too familiar with that sound.

Nearly every time a blade struck his body, it produced exactly the same noise. He had heard the sound of blades shattering against his body countless times before.

However, the smile on his face quickly froze.

Because the scene reflected in his scarlet Sharingan was not the bone blade shattering—

It was his Steel Release-reinforced right arm being severed cleanly at the elbow!

"What!?"

Still reeling from the shock, Hiruko instinctively swung his left hand toward Kagami.

In an instant, countless bolts of lightning surged toward him!

Yet Kagami didn’t dodge.

He simply reached out with his right hand and caught the incoming lightning in his palm.

Then—

He clenched his fist.

The lightning was instantly extinguished, leaving behind nothing but a thin wisp of smoke...