Oppression.
For the first time, Yagura felt oppressed by someone other than Uchiha Madara.
But who was Uchiha Madara? The strongest shinobi who'd made his name since the Warring States era—the one who lost at the Valley of the End by barely half a move to the God of Shinobi, Senju Hashirama.
Could it be that the man before him had already reached that legendary level!?
Yagura lifted his gaze to lock onto Gusion, dropped his hips, gathered his strength, and was the first to charge him.
As the Mizukage, he could not retreat at a time like this. He had to be the first to rush in to rouse everyone's morale.
In partial Tailed Beast Transformation, Yagura swung his black rod, sweeping at Gusion with the power of his Coral Palm.
Gusion did not underestimate Yagura just because he'd entered Sage Mode. In truth, thanks to Black Tech's gear, Yagura was stronger than when they first met—and now he was fighting with the resolve to defend his village to the death.
And he judged Yagura's current call to be correct. Full Tailed Beast Transformation did grant overwhelming power and durability, but at the cost of flexibility.
After all, the Three-Tails itself was a giant turtle—slow and cumbersome in a fight.
Only in partial transformation was Yagura at his most well-rounded, able to fluidly employ ninjutsu and taijutsu.
In the next instant, Mazuko and the black rod clashed, sparks bursting. The two were locked in the air for a heartbeat before they recoiled apart from the impact.
On the surface it was an even exchange, but Yagura knew he was already running out of stamina.
In that clash, he hadn't injured Gusion at all. On the contrary, the blade aura from Gusion's sword had cut open his chest. The corrosive force gnawed at his body, and even his jinchuriki-level regeneration struggled to keep up.
Worse, the sword in Gusion's hand was absorbing his chakra. He had far less chakra than when he started.
Fortunately, he wasn't fighting alone. Seizing the moment, Kisame attacked from the flank. The greatsword Samehada was ecstatic at the sight of Gusion's chakra. Its spikes burst through the bandages, baring themselves hungrily toward Gusion.
Bang—
Mazuko met Samehada with a dull thud, sounding nothing like two blades clashing. When the weapons connected, their energies tugged at each other.
Samehada was, in essence, a living being. When Mazuko slashed it, it actually injured Samehada.
That meant Mazuko's passive would siphon the residual chakra within Samehada.
As a result, not only did Kisame fail to drain chakra from Gusion, he was almost reverse-siphoned through Samehada instead.
And Kisame's confidence in his own physique looked laughable before Gusion. In a head-on collision, an irresistible force surged through his arms, as if it would crush every bone in his body.
Boom—
Kisame crashed into the ground like a cannonball, blasting open a deep crater. Black Tech broke out in a sweat at the sight. But his mind was no longer on fighting Gusion to the bitter end so he could continue his grand Kirigakure plan afterward—he was wondering whether he should run.
He was an Explorer, and he felt nothing for Kirigakure. If Gusion truly meant to annihilate the village, why should he stay to be buried with it?
Running now would only waste the time and money he'd sunk into his setup. The shinobi world was big; he could recoup elsewhere.
But if he died at Gusion's hands, then he'd have nothing left.
With that thought, he stopped hesitating and turned to flee.
"Hey, I just spotted a deserter."
Garaga bared its fangs, lunging at Black Tech.
"Out of my way!"
Black Tech snarled. He had no time to tangle with a dumb snake. He blasted out a palm strike. As a traditional cultivation-path reinforced fighter from Heaven's Will Space, he was very well-rounded, with overall stats superior to Garaga's.
Garaga hadn't expected the short guy who hardly attacked Gusion to be this strong. Its jaw took the hit, its body even hung in the air for a moment, and it landed groggily.
Getting up, it was burning with shame and anger. It had just boasted it would prove itself the strongest summoning beast.
But it had already suffered at the hands of the Three-Tails Isobu, and now it had been floored by a short human. Where was it supposed to put its snake face?
Rumble—
Just as it was about to give chase, a gust of force roared past. Yagura had been blasted aside, bowling over a row of trees.
With Shunpo paired with Lightning Release Chakra Mode, Gusion moved like a specter—most people couldn't even catch a glimpse of his shadow. He slipped past behind Garaga, not aiming at the Mizukage who'd just staggered up from being launched, but at the fleeing Black Tech.
Every cell in Black Tech's body screamed danger. He turned, circulating his mystic arts. His robe billowed, his face flushed red, and an ancient sword appeared in his hand. He slashed toward the streak of light surging at him.
As a fourth-tier Explorer, his overall stats were actually quite high—not worse than Gusion's current numbers. Yet he still wanted to run because he simply couldn't track Gusion's movements.
He really wanted to complain: You're wielding a Shinigami's Zanpakutō, stepping with Shunpo, stacked with Lightning Release Chakra Mode and Sage Mode buffs—who the hell is supposed to play against a wall-hacking cheater like you!?
With all those states layered, Gusion's speed didn't match his stats at all. Even a fourth-tier Explorer like him couldn't see clearly.
As The Beast from kung fu hustle said: Of all the martial arts under heaven, speed is the only unbreakable one.
The Fourth Mizukage was the example. In his hands, the Three-Tails Isobu was a heavy armored war machine with a brain. Yet before Gusion, it was a turtle shell to be toyed with. In the end, even Yagura had to switch to partial transformation.
Black Tech had no desire to engage Gusion up close. He'd only just advanced to fourth tier and was still in a metamorphosis phase; Gusion's passives alone were terrifying to look at—Ryuo, conqueror's coating, lightning glow—one touch in close quarters would mean death or maiming!
But the worst had happened: Gusion had ignored the Mizukage and targeted him instead.
Black Tech mustered everything he had. On the knife's edge between life and death, he honed his mind to a razor's edge and slashed forward.
Whoosh—
He heard only the sound of his sword tearing the air—no ring of steel meeting steel.
A heartbeat later, he heard an artery being sliced, a blade biting bone. Then the world spun and went dark.
Gusion and Black Tech passed each other. As Gusion's figure settled, he flicked the blood from his blade. "If you're the one who dragged everyone into this game, how can you be the first to run?"
He stepped over Black Tech's corpse, turned his gaze to the Mizukage and Kisame—who had just crawled out of the crater, still coughing blood—and smiled the textbook villain's smile. "Come on, try protecting your village."
"Calamity…"
Kisame's face was grim. He again formed hand seals, unleashed Exploding Water Colliding Wave, reshaping the battlefield and diving below the surface.
Seeing this, Gusion sent a high-voltage current into the water—only for the Kisame inside to burst into a splash.
A water clone.
Gusion realized he'd treated Kisame like a fool. Knowing Gusion had a Lightning Release bloodline limit, there was no way Kisame would flood the field and then have his true body swim into it.
Sure enough, Kisame's real body had used the dust cloud to flicker to Yagura's side. He thrust a hand toward the water.
"Thousand Feeding Sharks!"
In an instant, a torrent of sharks leaped from the water's surface like a violent storm, crashing down on Gusion.
But Gusion was too fast. He wove through the gaps between the sharks. Dark red lines seemed to etch a picture into the sky. By the time he broke through the Thousand Feeding Sharks' encirclement, he was already on top of Kisame and Yagura.
Without a word, Yagura and Kisame fell into step. Yagura stepped forward, black rod swinging to meet Mazuko and check Gusion's advance.
At the same time, Kisame poured all his chakra into slamming a palm onto the water. A shark dozens of meters long vaulted up behind Gusion, jaws yawning to devour him.
Yagura's eyes held resolve. As rod and blade collided, the Three-Tails' tails snaked from his back to bind Gusion. He meant to sacrifice himself to take Gusion down with him!
Kisame did not pause his jutsu. This was his Great Shark Bullet Technique—it absorbed the enemy's chakra-based attacks and grew stronger the more chakra it ate.
If he could swallow Gusion with this technique, they would win.
He'd understood the look in the Mizukage's eyes: facing an enemy like Gusion, there could be no victory without sacrifice.
They had to defeat Gusion, or Kirigakure would be history today.
Boom—
But Kisame and Yagura miscalculated one thing in the tension of battle. A massive figure barreled through, smashing the Great Shark Bullet apart.
Garaga blocked Gusion's back. "Did you forget your lordship was here?"
Kisame's face went ashen. He'd poured everything into that last move to make sure it killed Gusion. He had almost no fight left.
"As the strongest of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, you really are something."
Gusion sighed, then amped up the current coursing through him, locking Yagura's tail rigid with electricity. He pressed forward, forcing Yagura back, and then cut for Yagura's neck.
"Mizukage-sama!"
Without hesitation, Kisame lunged and shoved the paralyzed Yagura aside, meeting the blow with Samehada.
But he was a spent arrow. In that hasty guard, he couldn't stop Gusion's sword.
Samehada was driven into his face and, following Gusion's force, was blown spinning upward. In the instant Samehada flew skyward, Kisame instinctively looked up.
In that moment, he saw a sky scrubbed clear of mist by the battle, a limpid blue vault and a warm sun.
So beautiful.
Kisame thought.
The next instant, the world went black; the lovely sight was the last thing he saw.
Mazuko traced a line across his throat, ending the life of the most formidable of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—a man whose life had been hardship upon hardship.
"Kisame…"
Seeing Kisame's head hit the ground, Yagura neither screamed nor raged. His tone held sorrow and regret.
He had been a derelict Mizukage, yet after Kisame learned the truth, he had still chosen to follow him.
Two of the people Yagura trusted had died today, but he could not stop because of grief.
Yagura straightened his back, moved to the flank, and stood in Gusion's way. Behind him loomed Kirigakure's main gate.
"Mizukage-sama!"
"Mizukage-sama, you can do it!"
"Mizukage-sama, defeat the intruder!"
…
Cheering rolled out of the village, tinged with deep worry.
One by one, jonin, chunin, even genin stepped forward, faces set with determination, glaring at Gusion with hatred and at Yagura's back with respect.
Feeling those gazes, a smile appeared on Yagura's face—the first in decades.
He leveled the black rod with the withered blossom on its tip. "Calamity, you cannot destroy the Mist."
"Can't destroy it? You, as Mizukage, are already on the verge of defeat."
Gusion stood there, aura farming, Garaga crouched by his side, its head resting near him—man and snake radiating danger.
Yagura's smile shone bright. "Even after I was controlled by Uchiha Madara and ruled the Mist with terror for decades, I could not destroy it. Water is both soft and tough. The shinobi of Kirigakure are tougher than you think."
Gusion regarded Yagura quietly, not interrupting.
Yagura glanced up at the rare clear sky, voice soft with feeling. "Even if I die, the resilience and strength of water will be passed on."