"Step back a bit, you two." Hearing Neji Hyuga's report, Mizuki didn't hesitate any longer. "Aoba, you'll be in charge of directing Neji and Shino. I won't be able to watch everyone once this starts. Remember what I told you—don't try anything reckless. Notify me immediately if anything changes..."
Whoever was approaching was definitely someone Mizuki couldn't handle easily. If he needed to activate Sage Mode to boost his combat power, the tailed beast chakra already blended into his system would further impair his chakra control and dull his sensory abilities. With his sensory abilities weakened, having allies to back him up became crucial.
Without wasting time, Aoba Yamashiro turned around and quickly led the two Genin backward. Meanwhile, Mizuki took out the Summoning Scroll and directly summoned the giant bear. The massive Master Botai, under Mizuki's command, rapidly cleared away the small forest surrounding them, using its tremendous strength to knock down trees along the way.
In no time at all, everyone helplessly watched as a large area of land was instantly transformed into open ground.
"This is the captain's summoned beast? I've never seen it before..." Neji said in astonishment at the bear's strength. Master Botai didn't look special at first glance beyond its raw power, truly lacking anything flashy or eye-catching. But then again, something unimpressive doesn't necessarily mean ineffective. The simpler it is, the easier it becomes to use effectively. In skilled hands, it can always produce unimaginable results.
"That's some seriously fast cleanup work," Shino Aburame also expressed great admiration for such a straightforward display of force. It was completely different from the subtle and quiet influence insect techniques usually exerted.
Seeing that Mizuki had finished preparing, Aoba Yamashiro turned to Neji and Shino and said, "Once it starts, your job is to support me and stay alert—watch out for any hidden enemies. And above all, protect yourselves."
"Understood," they both said at the same time. At times like this, even Neji and Shino knew better than to act recklessly. Self-preservation came first, followed closely by doing whatever they could to help.
After confirming that the battlefield had been arranged properly, with practically no hiding spots left, Mizuki leaped onto Master Botai's back. Facing the direction from which the enemy would come, he started forming hand seals while gathering chakra.
As Mizuki performed these actions, a massive surge of chakra fluctuations began spreading outward from him in all directions, quickly drawing everyone's attention. Although Konoha—who possessed the strongest reconnaissance ability—had already issued warnings earlier, Sunagakure and Iwagakure held back cautiously, unsure of the true scale of the threat. Now, however, they were stunned by the immense amount of chakra Mizuki was releasing. Generally speaking, even when using a suicidal technique, a powerful Jonin wouldn't unleash energy on this level.
"What in the world is he trying to pull?" Baki asked, glancing at Temari in confusion. "Did he use something like this last time?"
"Absolutely not," Temari shook her head. "We're certain about this—he wasn't this strong last time."
"This level of oppressive force alone, coming from wild fluctuations in his chakra energy, is already enough to make him dangerous. No wonder Konoha promoted him to jonin now," Baki remarked enviously. Compared to Iwagakure, Konoha's endless stream of new ninja talents—even after suffering heavy personnel losses—was truly overwhelming. Even after taking heavy casualties, genius ninja kept emerging one after another, leaving Sunagakure's barren resources far behind.
"What exactly is he trying to do? Maki, do you know? Is it a [Sealing Technique]?"
"There are fluctuations of a [Sealing Technique], but…" Maki carefully observed before replying, "Certainly the sealing technique plays a major role, however, handling such an enormous amount of chakra definitely requires something more than an ordinary sealing method. Moreover, there's something strange inside—it's beyond my comprehension..."
"Hmm, let's focus on identifying our own enemy first," Baki said. The enemy targeting Sunagakure—in other words, Gaara, the host of the One-Tail—deeply angered him. His student had been targeted repeatedly, and despite these foes being S-class rogue ninjas from the Akatsuki organization, for one of the Five Great Ninja Villages like Sunagakure to suffer such persistent humiliation was infuriating.
"Yura, Maki, coordinate with me when the time comes," Baki confidently declared, believing their strength sufficient for proactive engagement. "Temari, Kankuro, protect Gaara. If things turn bad, don't hesitate—use Shukaku's power immediately. If necessary, even release Shukaku entirely."
"Release Shukaku? Are you sure about that?" Temari exclaimed, clearly shocked by Baki's suggestion.
"No problem. Shukaku's our secret weapon too. And with this many jonin around, even if we have to pin him down temporarily, we've got two top-class seal masters—especially that Mizuki guy. He can handle it."
Baki hated having to depend on others—it made his team look weak—but he still put some backup plans in place just in case.
Meanwhile, nearby at Iwagakure's location, upon noticing both Konoha and Sunagakure growing tense, they too started making preparations and kept close watch on what Konoha and Suna were doing.
"What should we do?" Kurōtsuchi anxiously asked Akatsuchi. "Should we go offer support?"
"No need," Akatsuchi shook his head. "We still don't know the exact identity of the enemy. Although Konoha has provided some intelligence, its credibility remains uncertain. We shouldn't act rashly."
"But if we ignore them now, won't they refuse to help us later if we're in trouble?"
"That's why we brought so many backup ninja along," Akatsuchi scoffed dismissively at the idea of counting on support from Konoha or Sunagakure. "We've never relied on them in the first place—we must rely entirely on ourselves."
"Well, that may be true, but... if anything happens to Deidara-senpai, won't Grandfather be upset?"
"Kurotsuchi, I know you used to get along well with Deidara, but now—he's simply a rogue ninja."
"Akatsuchi's huge frame was as solid as a rock, and his head wasn't full of crap either. As team leader, he knew exactly how to judge priorities and urgency. 'We trained under the same master, but since he chose a different path, he has to answer for it himself.'"
"But—" Kurotsuchi sounded unwilling, "Grandfather did say we should try our best to bring him back, right?"
"You said 'try our best' yourself—not like it's a must-do mission," Akatsuchi cut in. "Besides, there's something more important we need to handle." Though Akatsuchi knew Deidara well from their time as comrades, "Iwagakure's centuries of tradition has always been unity. Once someone leaves us and betrays this tradition, they must pay the price."
Iwagakure's overall strength ranked significantly below average among the Five Great Ninja Villages, barely surpassing Sunagakure. Apart from its slightly better external environment compared to Suna, the fanatically united spirit among its people was another key factor—it had become one of the essential cornerstones that kept Iwagakure standing firm in the ninja world.
After silencing Kurotsuchi with his reasoning, Akatsuchi continued, "You just met with Deidara earlier. Did he say anything at all?"
"No," Kurotsuchi shook her head.
"If Deidara shows no interest in talking to us, then we don't have to waste any more effort. Our task remains to try bringing him back—everything else will be handled by Lord Tsuchikage."
"Fine, I guess we just have to go with that then," Kurotsuchi grumbled reluctantly.
"But that Konoha Jonin really isn't someone to underestimate," Akatsuchi observed Mizuki carefully, sighing sincerely. "Didn't realize this at first—I originally thought Konoha didn't care much about this operation since they hadn't sent any particularly capable agents. Never expected there would be such a big catch hiding here."
"What difference does it make? We're not worse than them..."
"You shouldn't be so sure about that, Kurotsuchi."
Akatsuchi had more experience under his belt, so he saw things much clearer than she did.
"That Mizuki seems like he'll be a tough match. Wonder what tricks he'll pull out next."
...
As for other people's concerns, Mizuki no longer had time to worry. With tailed beast chakra being injected, [Breath-Sealing Art] began emitting a massive amount of chakra. As Mizuki extended his perception, threads of natural energy started gathering, absorbed into his body like a powder keg ready to ignite.
"This immense power—if someone's perception of natural energy or control over chakra is even slightly lacking, their entire body might get torn apart."
Normally, [Sage Mode] shouldn't be this hard. However, due to Mizuki's physical condition, the difficulty increased greatly. Plus, he refused to rely on outside help or use secondhand Sage Arts provided by others. By removing certain potential risks, some conveniences were also lost. Without exceptional chakra control and techniques to resolve the imbalance between Yin and Yang inside his body, he probably couldn't have succeeded in training at all. Even now, although he could maintain a certain level of control during training and balance Sage Chakra production effectively, Mizuki still felt extremely strained.
However, truly entering a battle-ready Sage Mode was no easy task. In particular, maintaining Sage Mode while ensuring sufficient mobility and the ability to keep moving while releasing ninja techniques and fighting—without Jiraiya's advantage of having the Great Toad Sage's coordination—it all had to be handled alone. The multiple challenges involved would have made most others give up already.
"Balancing Yin and Yang is just too damn hard. What comes naturally to others—hell, it's completely shattered by the power of the Cursed Seal. There's simply no way to maintain."
At present, besides constantly using Breath-Sealing Art, Mizuki had also developed a sealing technique based on Kakashi's canine summoning contract scroll combined with the Soul Binding Array. This technique gathered spirit wave pulses leaking from summoned beasts and concentrated them into a mass of Yin Attribute spiritual energy, compensating for the imbalance caused by his disrupted Yin and Yang equilibrium.
As expected, as the seal arrays on his body gradually took effect, Mizuki's condition began improving steadily. With some extra energy to spare, he started sensing more natural energy and absorbing it into his body, slowly balancing it with his chakra. And once reaching a certain limit, finally, changes began occurring within Mizuki's body.
Unlike Jiraiya and Naruto Uzumaki's Frog Sage Art, and different from the Snake Sage Art as well, Mizuki's transformation wasn't particularly noticeable. His hair color underwent only subtle changes—something only someone extremely close could detect. Unlike its previous bright silver-white hue, and completely distinct from the pale whiteness brought about by physical depletion, his hair now appeared almost transparent—crystal clear and refined. Because this new shade was so similar to the old one, if you weren't paying attention, it would be hard to notice any change at all. The ends of his hair had suddenly extended much longer—originally covering just his ears and part of his neck, they now stretched past his shoulders.
As for other changes, only Mizuki himself could discern them clearly.
Since Mizuki couldn't see his own face right now, he didn't know whether there were any changes to his pupils or eyes, nor did he know if dark markings or facial patterns had appeared like those of others'. Still, when he stretched out his hand and examined himself closely, his skin tone remained unchanged, nor had his physique undergone any drastic transformation. He then reached up with his hand to feel the top of his head.
"No horns? Did I succeed or fail?"
Although this was the first time fully activating Sage Mode—a form beyond normal specifications—and although this was his initial attempt in actual combat, not finding many noticeable changes still left Mizuki feeling somewhat disappointed.
Even though he hadn't discovered any unique jutsu after entering Sage Mode, physically speaking, the sensation itself wasn't bad either.
"Alright then, time to see what this thing can really do," he muttered. Without any comparison or reference point, it was difficult to gauge how much improvement he'd actually gained. Therefore, as long as he used one technique, he could determine whether anything had changed.
[FIRE RELEASE – PHOENIX SAGE FIRE TECHNIQUE]
It was a standard Fire Release technique. Mizuki had almost never used this kind of ninjutsu since arriving in this world—it wasn't anything special. The only difference was that Mizuki intentionally strengthened its power by sensing and gathering surrounding natural energy. Clusters of small fireballs spewed from Mizuki's mouth, scattering forward like blooming flowers. As they flew, their size grew larger and larger, eventually becoming massive rolling balls of scorching flame that turned a vast area of land into scorched earth.
"This kind of destructive power is incredible! An ordinary ninjutsu like this might be hard to hit someone with, but no one can afford to ignore its overwhelming power."
Mizuki stared in shock at the still-smoldering ground. Within his sensory range, a figure burst forth from the flames—an icy smile on his face, it was none other than Red Sand of the Desert. This [large-scale ninjutsu] seemed to have inflicted little damage upon Sasori.
"No quick finish this time. Looks like you've gotten a lot more interesting than before."
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