Yagura's Water Mirror is troublesome for most. Even Itachi and Jūzō together had a hard time against it. But to Gusion, it was a minor trick.
The Mirror can copy only the target's base stats, fundamental combat technique, and usable ninjutsu—it can't replicate finer details.
Especially since many of Gusion's abilities don't belong to this world's system at all. His Raijin Fruit power can't be copied, and neither can Conqueror's Haki or Armament Haki: Ryuo.
So Yagura's copy of Gusion was just an inferior counterfeit—worse even than Gusion's body after opening Demon God and Shikai. In stats and offensive might, it wasn't even on the same plane. Gusion one-shot it.
A secret art that duplicates an enemy must be incredibly costly. Only a jinchuriki like Yagura can afford to burn that much chakra. A normal shinobi couldn't use it even if they learned it.
"Calamity, with power like yours, why serve Akatsuki?"
Yagura's tailed-beast state deepened his voice. He stared intently at Gusion, feeling he was far stronger than reported.
Gusion having a lightning-based kekkei genkai and beating the lightning-using Raikage wasn't surprising. But Yagura didn't think Gusion should be this fast, nor this strong.
He was in tailed-beast mode—his physique and strength were beyond human. Yet Gusion had clashed head-on with him and forced him back twice!
"Serve?"
Gusion shook his head. "We're just using each other."
He stepped forward with a grin. "Mizukage, your ambushers seem impatient."
Yagura's heart sank. He hadn't expected Gusion's senses to be so sharp. Since they were exposed, he no longer minded ganging up on Gusion.
"Mei, move."
Yagura's voice was low. He felt Gusion was too dangerous. Just as the rumors said, the invisible edge of Gusion's blade injured him and shaved off a portion of his chakra.
A blade that devours chakra wasn't unheard of—Kisame's Samehada does that. But Samehada is a living thing, so it makes sense. Gusion's black blade seemed ordinary, yet…
If the fight dragged on, even as a perfect jinchuriki, he couldn't just let Gusion keep draining him.
After all, the Three-Tails isn't the Eight or Nine-Tails; its chakra isn't infinite.
At Yagura's order, Terumi Mei revealed herself at Gusion's rear flank and immediately unleashed her signature jutsu.
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique!"
Her Boil Release kekkei genkai fused fire and water chakra, exhaling superheated vapor whose acidity could be freely adjusted.
Gusion swiftly withdrew. He knew this mist could vaporize matter—more potent than Lava Release—and could even melt Susanoo's bones faster.
But the future Fifth Mizukage wasn't foolish. If she chose to unleash Boil Release here, she clearly believed she could hit even someone as fast as Gusion.
She had prepared during the ambush. A high-output Boil Release flooded the battlefield, closing in on Gusion from all sides.
Gusion quickly decided. Lightning flared around him, high voltage arcing into the air in all directions, ionizing the moisture. The hydrogen-oxygen mix ignited from electrical sparks—an airburst occurred in an instant.
The force and pressure dispersed the encroaching mist. Riding the wind, Gusion surged at Mei and slashed for her throat.
Bang——
At the last split-second, Yagura, who had predicted Gusion's target, arrived in time, blocking with three tails.
But Gusion was fluid in his approach, his speed advantage letting him switch offense on the fly.
His first slash bit into Isobu's tail; he used the forward force to flip in the air, adjusted mid-flight, and cut again at Yagura's rear flank.
The blade struck the inner side of a tail. With Conqueror's plus Ryuo, it wasn't something easily blocked. A gray-black iron tail flew off, crashed to the ground, and slowly dissipated back into chakra.
"Lava Release—Mel—"
Mei tried to unleash Lava Release at close range, but before her seals completed, Gusion's kick sank into her abdomen. In that sliver of time, her belly visibly caved in, and her body bent into a V before she was blasted away.
It wasn't over. Gusion caught Yagura's strike on his blade, and dark red lightning crawled like snakes through the mud, racing to finish off Mei—the lurking threat.
At the end of the line, dark red lightning exploded. The big tree behind Mei charred black in an instant and went up in flames.
"Calamity!"
Yagura growled in fury. Tailed-beast power surged through him as his black staff, backed by Coral Palm force, pressed Mazuko toward Gusion's head.
Boom——
To Yagura's surprise, even his customary overwhelming strength didn't crush Gusion outright.
Though the lightning wreathed around Gusion's body hurt and numbed Yagura, surely a tailed beast's direct power should still overpower a human?
They split under the collision of force. Yagura didn't check on Mei; his eyes stayed fixed on Gusion.
By this point, Gusion's Akatsuki cloak was still intact. As battlefield winds whipped around, lightning surged over him, the arcs all transformed into dark red.
His hair stood on end under the current, dyed the same dark red as the lightning. A lightning-shaped sigil appeared in the center of his pupils.
Wind swept leaves and branches toward him, but within three meters they were punched through by the high voltage and caught crimson fire, whirling around him like dancing flame sprites.
God of Thunder form: all attributes +1, and his lightning damage increased in this state.
"What a pity. Is this your all?"
Mazuko traced the air in his hand, kicking up tongues of flame as if he had stepped out of purgatory.
He cocked his head slightly at Yagura in the near distance. "Perfect jinchuriki—you're disappointing me."
Then he looked toward Mei's direction. "Or can you give me a surprise?"
From behind the burning tree stepped a man in a scholar's robe, supporting the bleeding Terumi Mei.
"Shame I've only got one arm working, or I'd clap for you, Calamity."
The man smiled wanly at Gusion, face striving for calm, but inside he was near collapse.
He had set up well in Kirigakure. In this world, he meant to use the Mist as a base to sweep the globe for profit.
But everything he'd prepared since his last visit had been ruined by the man before him.
Akatsuki hadn't sent Nagato, but they had sent a truly absurd explorer. What the hell was "Calamity"?
Back when he came during the Third War, he'd never heard of this person. What is he—an explorer of End Space or of Heaven's Will? Has Space become so shameless it can just force-insert identities?
By Space's usual rules, worlds like Naruto or One Piece, when first opened, wouldn't receive high-tier explorers—usually tier-2 or tier-3, with a lucky few tier-1s catching the inaugural wave.
Of course, tier-1 in a world like this is debatably lucky.
He'd been tier-3 during his last Naruto run, and it had taken every trick just to survive the Third War. He'd dug pits to harvest later.
This was Naruto's second opening. By custom, Space would only send high tier-3 or early tier-4 explorers. He'd entered as an early tier-4.
With that strength, he'd be a standard Kage level or more. Surely he could handle the Mist?
Then Calamity arrived…
Complaining was pointless now. He had to find a way to deal with this thorn before he could continue his plan.
"Black Teach, you and Mei control the perimeter. I'll handle him."
Yagura ordered. He had promoted Black Teach during the Third War—a war hero type like Calamity, but with less glory, and little name in the ninja world.
But Yagura knew Black Teach's strength—definitely Kage level, a hidden trump card of Kirigakure.
He also knew Black Teach and Terumi Mei weren't suited to up-close slugfests. If they paired off against Calamity, they'd lose fast.
"Mizukage-sama, are you going to use that jutsu!?"
Mei seemed to sense something. Ignoring her coughing blood, she protested, "We're too close to the village! It might be affected!"
At first Gusion thought she meant a Tailed Beast Bomb, but the next moment he realized that wasn't it.
Because Yagura's aura changed—more violent, more ferocious.
He noticed the corner of Black Teach's mouth curl. So an explorer was behind it. Whether Yagura grew fiercer didn't matter to Gusion; the fight remained within his grasp.
He only wondered how Zabuza's side was going.
…
Cut to elsewhere, time rewinding a little—inside Kirigakure.
While Yagura's group had gone out to pursue Akatsuki, a man with white bandages around his face strolled down an alley, eyes full of longing.
"You're… Mr. Zabuza?"
Among the passersby, someone recognized him, voice tinged with doubt and a hint of hope.
"It's me. I'm back."
Zabuza nodded in relief. After just two years, people here still remembered him.
"Mr. Zabuza, you're a missing-nin now. How dare you come back? You should go. I'll pretend I never saw you."
The shinobi glanced around nervously. He was Zabuza's junior and had admired him back then. He knew Zabuza was a great revolutionary—he just failed, unable to free the Bloody Mist.
"I'm not leaving this time."
Zabuza said with feeling, "I'm here to free Kirigakure."
"Free it…? You failed before. Your followers were executed. What do you have now to fight Mizukage-sama?"
The shinobi fretted. "Please, just go."
Zabuza shook his head, took out a stack of flyers, and handed them over. "If you still believe in me, distribute these to the village's chūnin and jōnin. They contain the truth behind the Bloody Mist."
The shinobi meant to refuse, but after just a glance, he gasped. "Mizukage-sama was controlled!? That's why he was so brutal all these years?"
The flyers weren't made by Zabuza. Gusion had provided the core information, and Orochimaru handled production and polish.
They recounted how the Fourth Mizukage had been controlled and why he ruled tyrannically.
They also recorded the true motive behind Zabuza's uprising. He hadn't tried to assassinate the Mizukage, but to break the genjutsu controlling him and free Kirigakure.
He failed. His comrades in that coup were nailed to pillars of shame, and he became a traitor of the Mist.