"STOP!!!"
The voice was like thunder from the sky, the force like a dragon bursting from its mountain pass.
Before this sudden, overwhelming storm of lightning, even the imposing presence of Taki Tachibana paled in comparison.
Fortunately, Taki's earlier strike had only been a probing attack—its chakra and force could be reined in. At the last moment, he withdrew his offensive.
Still, judging by the cold sweat on his face, it was clear the newcomer before them left quite a psychological impression.
"Big brother, what are you doing here?"
Taki dispelled the lightning around him, looking unexpectedly obedient.
"Hmph, if I hadn't come, who knows what kind of mess you'd make."
From the fading lightning emerged a voice full of dominance. Ranzuki's Tenseigan had already observed the arrival, so she was unsurprised.
Indeed, the newcomer was none other than Ai Tachibana—whom Satsuki had once glimpsed through Shirakumaru's eyes.
A genuine Kage-level powerhouse in today's shinobi world.
After chiding his younger brother, Ai turned his gaze toward Ranzuki. "You're the one planning to take the bounty on Suzuki Kaguya?"
"That's me. So what?"
"We've already detailed Suzuki Kaguya's abilities and threat level on the bounty notice," Ai said gravely. "Even knowing that, you still intend to take this mission?"
"Of course." Ranzuki pouted. "Old man, you're really annoying. Are we fighting or not?"
Her cool tone piqued Ai's interest. The person before him was clearly just a young girl, yet wrapped in a high-level illusion that even he couldn't pierce. And after hearing about the target's danger, she still had the confidence to face him alone. Either she was a fool—or she truly had the strength.
If she was a fool, he would teach her the consequences of mocking the Tachibana clan. But if she really had that power… The thought made his brow twitch, and battle intent surged through him. "Then let me be the one to conduct this test."
"Hey, big brother, this is my job," Taki protested.
"Nonsense. It's rare to meet someone taking an S-class assessment—I'm not letting this go."
Before the test even began, the two brothers were already arguing.
Ranzuki could tell Ai was a battle maniac, probably here mainly to fight whoever came for the assessment. That was fine by her. Whether the opponent was Taki or Ai didn't matter—if anything, the stronger the opponent, the better.
Seeing them bicker, she said, "Why don't you both come at me together?" She clasped one hand behind her back and raised the other in front. "To be fair, I'll only use one hand."
Truth be told, she had no intention of using Truth-Seeking Balls or Tenseigan Chakra Mode—otherwise, there'd be no suspense.
But her attitude lit Ai's temper.
The brothers stopped their quarrel. The taller Ai shoved Taki aside, and lightning exploded from his body, radiating dozens of meters. Everything in its path shattered, and even Taki was flung far away.
Turning his head, Ai said, "In the shinobi world, there are few who dare challenge me alone. To dare provoke both me and my brother at once—you're the first."
Before his words even faded, Ai crouched low. In the next instant, he shot toward Ranzuki at a speed surpassing even the three-tomoe Sharingan's ability to follow.
His opening strike was a simple punch, infused with lightning nature transformation—not a formal taijutsu technique, but pure speed, strength, and chakra.
Ranzuki's Tenseigan flashed as she read the straightforward attack. Without dodging, she answered with a one-handed punch of her own.
One fist crackled with thunder and bulging muscle, the other plain and unremarkable—yet it struck first.
Boom!
The head-on clash was like thunder booming and waves crashing against cliffs. A shockwave born purely of immense power radiated from them, leaving devastation and cracks in its wake.
Even Taki and his subordinate, flung far away earlier, were lifted again by the force and pushed to the edge of the mountaintop.
"Impossible… without any nature transformation, just pure taijutsu power, this person actually matched my brother's punch!" Taki's eyes nearly popped. He knew better than anyone the strength of his brother—a man who once sent the Eight-Tails flying with a single punch, and who shattered Tajima Uchiha's Susanoo in a final, desperate clash. Even without going all-out, no mere girl should have been able to withstand him.
His female subordinate had already been blown away by the shockwave and would have been lost to the winds if Taki hadn't caught her.
Between their fists, blue lightning chakra and pale violet Tenseigan chakra clashed and spiraled into twin vortices.
In the deadlock, Ai Tachibana's eyes shone with admiration. "Such force, such reflexes!"
He suddenly broke into roaring laughter. "Hahahaha! Interesting! Very interesting!"
Before his words ended, the second wave of attacks had already begun.
"Lightning Release: Lariat!"
Explosive lightning chakra burst from Ai, shaking Ranzuki's arm aside. He then concentrated the lightning into his right arm, charging at far greater speed than before. The lightning strike cleaved forward like a blade.
In Sage Mode, Ranzuki's expression didn't change. As the Lariat closed in, she slid half a step to the side, evading with pinpoint precision. Her free hand caught Ai's lightning-free left arm, locking his body in place. She leaned in close, then detonated chakra from her shoulder and back.
Iron Mountain Lean!
Though Ai reacted quickly, he had never faced a small-framed opponent with such monstrous strength. Off guard, he was struck squarely.
Boom!
The massive impact scattered his power in an instant. The towering two-meter figure was sent flying by someone barely reaching his shoulder.
The sight was absurd.
Ranzuki smirked. "You look so big, but your strength's pretty weak. Did you skip lunch?"
Landing from his flight, Ai was shocked. Her sequence of moves had been too fast to react to, and the force behind them immense. Even his incomplete Lightning Release Chakra Cloak, activated instinctively, had only managed to block part of the damage—without it, his organs might have been injured.
Clearly, her willingness to take on Suzuki Kaguya's bounty came from genuine strength.
But this wasn't enough to quench Ai's battle spirit. With a shout, he forced lightning to gather around him, forming an unstable cloak—the famed Lightning Release Chakra Mode of the future.
"Continue!" he demanded.
As the words left his mouth, both vanished from sight.
A bolt of lightning and a stream of pale violet chakra wove and collided, each clash ringing with sonic booms and thunder. The entire mountain shook under the impact, waves surging tens of meters high below.
Even Taki could no longer follow their speed, forced to dodge wildly while holding his subordinate, searching for safe footing.
Such rapid exchanges left no room for error.
With her Tenseigan chakra, Ranzuki's speed had already surpassed conventional Body Flicker. Ai's incomplete Lightning Mode still managed to hold on.
In just three minutes, they had clashed hundreds of times. Ai grew increasingly shocked—her speed seemed endless, always pressing him back. If she'd used both hands, he might already have lost.
Meanwhile, Ranzuki, reading the fight like palm lines, had learned all of Ai's attack habits and tells.
Suddenly, she accelerated, jabbing at his armpit—the thinnest point in his lightning chakra flow. To her secondary Tenseigan, the flaw shone like a beacon.
Her strike landed, and her chakra disrupted his Lightning Mode. Ai moved to unleash a wide attack to force her back, but his chakra suddenly failed to obey.
In that instant of shock, Ranzuki leapt and delivered a flying kick, launching him like a cannonball into the already-ruined mountaintop.
Landing lightly on a pile of stone, Ranzuki stood calmly, looking down at the fallen Ai.