The fight had dragged on long enough for both sides to realize the truth—neither could land a clean hit.
Sukuna's fists and slashes passed through water. His flames fizzled against walls of liquid. And Mangetsu, no matter how precise his swordsmanship was, found his strikes missing. He didn't even know how exactly.
Most of the time the boy behind that mask just dodged, like the little brat knew what he was about to do. However, the few times when he did catch him off guard, those attacks never connected. It looked like Sukuna dodged by inches, but Mangetsu was sure he had hit the boy.
It was frustrating.
Little did he know that Sukuna was constantly flickering back and forth with Kamui during the fight, and he was also using minor Genjutsu techniques he himself had learned to prevent Mangetsu from perfectly seeing the gaps.
It wasn't much—just a little blurry edge, hazy moments, obstacles that prevented Mangetsu from determining whether he was getting clean hits or not. And the Genjutsu were so minor that they were hard to trace too.
However, ultimately, it was an exhausting stalemate.
"Tch," Sukuna muttered, sweat rolling down his face. "This is going nowhere. Fight me head-on or stop wasting my time." Sukuna pretended that he was annoyed since his attacks weren't working, confident that Mangetsu himself hadn't caught on to him using something similar so far.
Mangetsu's grin widened, shark-like. "It seems like the case… then I'll stop holding back."
Sukuna blinked. That was such an anime main character line right there. He watched intently as the man pulled out another sword from a sealing scroll strapped to his back. A massive hammer and axe pair slammed into the ground with a boom.
It was Kabutowari.
"Oh, come on—" Sukuna jumped back as the hammer swung, splitting the earth. Before he could recover, Mangetsu dropped the weapon, pulling out a different blade. Lightning crackled violently along twin swords.
These were the Kiba blades.
'Those are…' Sukuna recalled those weapons. Earlier he hadn't remembered what kind of weapon Mangetsu was using. He still didn't know that Mangetsu was Suigetsu's brother—he had just connected them through their similar power and name. After all, even he couldn't remember every single detail about an anime in his mind.
However, it was coming back to him now. He might not know Mangetsu that well, but he knew this weapon. At least the Kiba blades.
It was Raiga's weapon from the Naruto series. He remembered that filler episode.
The air itself screamed as Mangetsu slashed, arcs of lightning splitting trees. Sukuna phased through one, cursed, and countered with a slash of his own, but the man dissolved into water again.
"Annoying bastard!" Cursing under his breath, Sukuna's eyes narrowed at those blades.
He didn't have much time though, as Nuibari whistled again, threads cutting through the air, forcing Sukuna to dodge low. Just when he thought he had a rhythm, Mangetsu pulled out a massive blade wrapped in paper tags.
Shibuki, the explosive sword.
The explosion thundered, blasting dirt and rock everywhere, forcing Sukuna to use Kamui to avoid being torn apart.
"FUCK!" Sukuna yelled, coughing as dust clouded the battlefield. "Who the hell are you, how come you have four of the Mist blades and use them all?!"
Mangetsu laughed, his voice echoing through the haze. "I'm Mangetsu Hozuki. I was meant to master all seven blades. Today you'll see why."
'What? He mastered all of them? This guy's cheating. How come this guy wasn't mentioned in Naruto? What the hell, Kishimoto?'
Sukuna grit his teeth, heart racing as the four blades alternated in Mangetsu's hands, each attack a different style, a different rhythm, each one demanding Sukuna's full attention just to survive. Kabutowari smashing from above, Kiba lashing out with lightning arcs, Nuibari sewing the battlefield, Shibuki exploding with every swing—
For the first time in a long while, Sukuna was on the back foot.
"…Heh." Despite the chaos, despite the danger, Sukuna's lips curled into a grin. "Finally. A real damn fight."
And thus started the mouse and cat chase—Sukuna, for once, being the mouse.
Sukuna darted left and right, barely keeping up with the storm of attacks. Each swing of Mangetsu's blades forced him to adapt on the spot. Kabutowari smashed down like thunder, Kiba lashed with lightning, Nuibari stabbed from impossible angles, and Shibuki exploded with every slash.
He was on the back foot, yes, but his eyes sharpened with every exchange. He was watching, learning.
He wasn't just any mouse, oh no. He was Mouse D. Jerry. And he was learning, he was adapting, and more importantly, he was waiting. Waiting to steal the cheese right from under Tomflamingo's hairy leg.
Mangetsu was fast, but even fast fighters had habits. Sukuna began to notice the rhythm—how Mangetsu shifted his stance when changing swords, how Kiba's lightning always flared before a big strike, how Nuibari's threads slowed just a fraction before pulling taut.
His Sharingan wasn't just for Kamui; there were other ways he could use those eyes.
"Got you figured out, puddle boy," Sukuna muttered, a grin tugging at his lips despite the bruises on his arms. To not give away his Kamui this early in the fight, just to have a perfect sneak attack later on, he had even taken damage.
And now was the time to act.
This was the moment he was waiting for. Mangetsu lunged with Kiba, lightning screaming across the battlefield, while his other hand reached for Nuibari. For a split second, both blades crossed, his stance open.
Sukuna's Sharingan eyes glowed faintly. His Kamui warped space in a blink. His long-distance activation of Kamui was still slow and took too much concentration to activate. However, it was stable enough to use in a fight now.
The Kiba blades vanished from Mangetsu's grip—into a spiraling void of nothingness.
Mangetsu froze, eyes widening. "What—?!"
Sukuna had a devilishly wide smile on his face. Space spiraled once again and soon, in his hands, he held the twin blades loosely. Electricity sparked in his grasp, his grin wide and mocking.
He was half afraid that his CE wouldn't work like chakra and the blades wouldn't generate lightning—but he was relieved now. Just like their fame, the blades were conducting lightning on their own by simply pouring his energy into them. It worked with chakra, and now he knew they worked with CE as well.
As for why bother getting them from him, even going so far as to reveal his eye power to that guy?
Simple.
The Hozuki clan's hydrofication had one weakness.
Electricity.
Since they turned their bodies into water, they were highly conductive. That's why he had been on the back foot till now—his techniques had no lightning-based attack.
He doubted that even using long-distance Kamui on Mangetsu would have worked, seeing how hard it was to even get this blade from Mangetsu's hand. He had only gotten them because he caught him off guard when he was almost changing his weapon.
Use it on him with his current ability and most likely Mangetsu would dodge it by twisting his body with hydrofication.
"Thanks for the gift. Don't mind if I borrow these for a while."
Lightning flickered dangerously up his arms as the blades hummed, already resonating with his energy. Sukuna twirled them once, adjusting their weight.
"For someone like me," he said, crackling arcs dancing in the air, "these will do nicely."
Mangetsu's playful smirk was gone now, his expression sharp and serious.
The moment the Kiba blades sparked to life in his hands, the fight shifted completely. Lightning crackled around Sukuna, arcs leaping off the twin swords as if they had found their new master.
Mangetsu gritted his teeth and came at him with Kabutowari, swinging down to smash his skull. Sukuna raised the Kiba blades, lightning exploding on contact. The impact sent shockwaves through the ground, but this time, Mangetsu was the one pushed back.
"Not so fun when they're used against you, huh?" Sukuna smirked.
Mangetsu quickly switched weapons, threads of Nuibari flashing like silver streaks. But Sukuna's Sharingan spun, tracking every twitch of his fingers, every angle of the strike. He sidestepped with ease, sparks of lightning forcing the threads to snap midair.
He pressed forward, slashing with arcs of electricity that hissed and tore through Mangetsu's watery form. The Hozuki's hydrofication flickered under the shocks, his body stuttering between water and flesh.
Mangetsu tried to counter with Shibuki, the explosion ringing out, but Sukuna warped space with Kamui, slipping through the blast unharmed.
Now Sukuna had him.
He grinned, lowering his stance. "Ah, seems like I have to find out what you are to dear little Suigetsu myself, huh…" He provoked.
Who told the man to show he cared about that boy to his enemy—of course the enemy was going to use it against him. Sukuna was no saint.
Mangetsu roared and lunged, Kiba's former blade of lightning extended in a piercing thrust.
But it was bait.
Sukuna flickered, his body vanishing into Kamui. The strike cut through empty air.
In the next instant, Sukuna appeared at Mangetsu's flank, both Kiba blades slashing in a cross. Electricity surged, stabbing deep into Mangetsu's body. The lightning forced him out of hydrofication, his body convulsing as sparks danced across his skin.
Before Mangetsu could recover, Sukuna's fist was coming right at him, slamming across his head.
To even his amazement, black lightning came to life. His mind cleared, and the next second the Kiri-nin was sent soaring back by the terrifying punch.
The missing-nin dropped, unconscious.
Sukuna stood over him, blades humming, grinning wide. "Of course. Who said I don't have lightning? Black Lightning is still lightning."
xxx
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