Chapter 42 — Konoha Gold (Part 9)
Cough!
Namikaze Minato let out a muffled cough—he'd been struck by the lightning sphere!
His blue jumpsuit was burned through, the skin on his back blackened and scorched, though thankfully it hadn't reached his vital organs.
The pain was sharp, but what scared him more was the thought of slowing down—
Behind them, Munashi Jinpachi, Jūzō Biwa, and Hōzuki Mangetsu were pressing the chase, step by step.
He glanced sideways at Minamoto Ren. Ren's clothes were also torn, exposing a pale, unmarred back—he'd been luckier; the lightning sphere hadn't truly harmed him.
"You alright?"
Ren asked while darting forward, the single tomoe in his Sharingan lazily rotating.
Minato shook his head.
Ren looked away. Truth was, the lightning had hit him too—but he had blocked the damage with the bone armor of his Shikotsumyaku.
Bloodline limits… a shinobi born with one was practically a different species entirely.
Countless thoughts flickered in Ren's mind.
In the last two clashes, they'd reduced the Seven Ninja Swordsmen by four.
Suikazan Fuguki—killed in a surprise strike.
Kuriarare Kushimaru and Jinin Akebino—burned alive in a combo jutsu.
Kurosuki Raiga—self-destructed with his own blade.
Three remained… and these three together would be more dangerous than the four they'd already taken down.
Especially Hōzuki Mangetsu.
Wasn't this man supposed to be dead? How was he standing here now?
Ren flickered up into a tree, tossing a kunai back over his shoulder—not aiming to hit, only to slow their pursuit.
The gap between hunter and hunted was dangerously small.
If—If he played his trump card and unleashed Shikotsumyaku to trade injuries and kill Jūzō Biwa and Munashi Jinpachi,
That would leave only Hōzuki Mangetsu.
No good. Mangetsu was too strong.
His arsenal was vast, his close-quarters combat deadly.
Pitting an injured Ren and Minato against him would be suicide.
No matter what, Mangetsu had become the unavoidable obstacle in this battlefield…
And there would be no escaping him.
"Secret Technique—Water Shark Fang Rend!"
Silently closing the gap to his casting range, Mangetsu's first move was a Water Release secret art.
Ren had never heard of it—wasn't in the original records either.
But one truth always held: if a jutsu sat in the hands of an elite jōnin, it was never weak.
In the darkness of the forest, a massive blue shark materialized from thin air, its teeth spinning like a chainsaw. It leapt high, a predator breaching from a phantom ocean.
Ren's teeth clenched. What the hell…? No water source, yet he conjured this?
Was Mangetsu secretly Kisame's father?
Minato had seen it too. Without a word, he twisted his body and veered off in another direction.
Ren didn't take it as desertion—
He'd seen Minato's charred back, the blood at the corner of his mouth. The man split off simply because he didn't want to drag Ren down.
Minato plunged into the black forest. Ren let him go. At this point, survival was up to each man's own skill.
Mangetsu hesitated for a moment, then tilted his chin toward Minato's path.
Munashi Jinpachi and Jūzō Biwa understood, hefting their swords to give chase.
Two jōnin against an injured Konoha chūnin—that was respect enough.
As for Ren… Mangetsu would personally pursue him and put down this naturally vicious little ANBU brat himself.
The blue shark descended. Ren gritted his teeth and pushed his speed to the limit, body flicker chaining into body flicker without pause. He couldn't afford to stop even for a heartbeat.
Boom!
The shark's whirling teeth missed him by a hair, exploding violently behind him.
"Damn!"
The force of the detonation slammed into his back, propelling him forward—but it also left him unable to body flicker again.
His shunshin relied on physical movement—it needed solid footing.
Feet on the ground.
"When I get back, I'm learning a ninjutsu-based teleport," Ren swore to himself.
"Hydrification Technique."
Sensing his chance, Mangetsu dissolved into liquid, merging with the water he'd just created.
One of the Hydrification Technique's greatest strengths—near-instant movement through water.
The distance between them vanished. Mangetsu's upper body solidified from the rushing water, both twin swords Hiramekarei in hand, the white "shark's teeth" along his grin glinting coldly.
This generation's Hashirama Senju would die here, by Hōzuki Mangetsu's own hands.
He measured his strike. The first blade would pierce Ren's back and heart; two more slashes would take the kidneys—just as he himself had once been cut down.
Ren could feel it. He turned his head, Sharingan burning blood-red, meeting Mangetsu's gaze head-on.
Hōzuki Mangetsu's heart skipped a beat.
The Sharingan?
Didn't Danzō say this kid was an orphaned shinobi? Don't tell me… he's an Uchiha?
Minamoto Ren grinned wide. The surprise he had prepared for Hōzuki Mangetsu didn't end there.
"Shikotsumyaku — Dance of the Early Fern!"
Even while half-submerged in water, his toes barely brushing the ground… he could still channel his kekkei genkai. And this time, he wasn't holding back.
A torrent of chakra poured into the jutsu.
This wasn't like the time he killed Yoru Kurayami—back then, his chakra reserves had been small, and the bone spikes had only reached the height of a man.
Now, he would seal off every possible escape route. He would impale the forest within a twenty-meter radius.
Mangetsu heard the name of the technique—
And for a split second, the battle-hardened shinobi froze.
Shikotsumyaku…? Isn't that supposed to be Kirigakure's own bloodline limit?
Shhk—Shhk—Shhk!
Countless bone spears erupted from the ground like bamboo shoots after a rainstorm, gleaming with a cold, metallic white under the moonlight.
It was beauty in death.
Beauty in decay.
Beauty in the destruction of all things.
"Forbidden Art — Hydrification Rebirth!"
Caught in Ren's one-handed sealing barrier, Mangetsu had no other options left. His right-hand blade had already driven deep into Ren's body, while his left hand flashed through seals to trigger his forbidden jutsu.
But Ren held the greater trump card—bone spikes had already punched through Mangetsu's abdomen.
It was wound for wound, life for life.
Ren's grin only widened, while the smile drained entirely from Mangetsu's face.
He hadn't been wrong—if this shinobi named Minamoto Ren didn't die here, he would surely become the next Hashirama Senju.
Shikotsumyaku… Sharingan… just how many secrets was this little demon hiding? Mangetsu didn't even dare imagine.
The Hydrification Rebirth took effect—Mangetsu's body went slack, melting into sludge, and from that sludge he molded a smaller version of himself.
Hydrification Rebirth, Hydrification Resurrection… all S-rank forbidden techniques of the Hōzuki clan. Powerful in effect, but with heavy side effects.
The smaller Mangetsu could barely lift his twin swords. His eyes were dark and venomous as he stood among the forest of bones, ankle-deep in water, staring directly at Ren.
Ren's smile blazed brilliantly.
This hunt had dragged on for so long, his every trap and scheme tested to the limit—
And now, at last, he could see the dawn.
[Note: I know that the name of one of the Seven Swordsmen was not mentioned in the canon, so let Jinpachi Munashi take the role this time.]