There was no time to curse Hanzō for unleashing such a vile attack that didn't distinguish between friend and foe. Akaishi, with the fastest hand seals of his life, completed his jutsu just as the surging, flood-like wave of poison mist closed in. He dove headfirst into the ground, burrowing more than ten meters deep before changing direction and pressing forward toward the abandoned village.
Above him, chakra fluctuations were fierce.
Even though he was underground and not a sensory ninja, Akaishi could feel the overwhelming disturbance!
Fortunately, no one on the surface pushed their assault underground, allowing him to widen the distance between himself and that terrifying chakra presence. He pressed on another forty to fifty meters. By now, if he surfaced, the ruined village should be right before his eyes.
But there was no way slipping into the Koeda Clan's camp would be so easy.
Akaishi thought darkly to himself.
Sure enough, as if someone had read his mind, a surge of powerful chakra poured into the ground, instantly seizing control of the surrounding earth within an eight-meter radius and a depth of over twenty meters. Akaishi's movement slowed dramatically, as though he had been caught by the Mud Binding Jutsu.
"Earth Release: Moving Earth Core!"
The same technique again.
Underground, Akaishi couldn't form seals, couldn't cast jutsu to resist.
Once more, he was forcibly dragged up to the surface.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"
The upraised earth crumbled into fine sand, scattering and leaving Akaishi exposed.
"Well, we meet again, Akaishi-senpai!"
Kyoichi stood calmly on the mountain path, smiling as he looked at him.
"…So you were prepared for me?"
Akaishi's eyes shifted from Kyoichi to the abandoned village behind him. Strangely, it remained silent and orderly—no chaos, no movement, not even a single shadow shifting about. It almost made one doubt whether anyone was inside.
But there was no question the Koeda Clan was there.
That much Ame's sensory ninja had confirmed. And those two hundred-odd non-shinobi clansmen couldn't possibly have split from Kyoichi and the others' protection; that would be nothing but suicide—any random genin could slaughter dozens of untrained men.
Therefore, there was only one explanation: the Koeda Clan had prepared in advance.
"Preparation means nothing. Today… your Koeda Clan will fall!" Akaishi roared, forming seals rapidly.
Whether or not the Koeda Clan and Akatsuki were ready didn't matter. Their numbers were limited. They couldn't conjure more jōnin out of thin air. On his side, with Ame and Iwa allied, they held absolute superiority in jōnin strength.
Even if Akatsuki's Nagato was formidable, Hanzō of the Salamander had once been spoken of as the very pinnacle of the shinobi world—a title given after the Second Hokage and the other Second Generation Kage had passed and the Third Generation leaders rose to power.
In short, Hanzō was too strong. Akaishi couldn't imagine how this operation could fail.
All that remained was to annihilate the traitors of the Koeda Clan.
"Earth Release: Steel Prison Technique!!"
Akaishi poured a torrent of refined earth chakra into the ground beneath him.
The earth shook.
A massive rock golem, nearly fifteen to sixteen meters tall, erupted from the ground.
The last time he clashed with Kyoichi had proven that hand-to-hand combat could never bring that boy down. This time, he would open with his strongest move—settle things in a contest of jutsu.
However—
Before Akaishi could even command his giant, Kyoichi's hands flashed through familiar seals.
"Earth Release: Steel Prison Technique."
In the next instant, another rock giant rose from the ground—this one over twenty meters tall, visibly larger and more robust than Akaishi's construct.
"…Where did you learn the Steel Prison Technique?"
Akaishi's eyes widened in disbelief.
This wasn't just some common jutsu. The Steel Prison Technique was a high-level earth release known only among Iwagakure's upper echelons. It wasn't merely earth chakra—it involved the application of yang release as well. Even the Uchiha, with their Sharingan, had never succeeded in copying it. Only those personally entrusted by the Tsuchikage could train in this secret art.
The Koeda Clan had never had such access—even at their height. So how could Kyoichi possibly have learned it?
"Why, from you of course, Akaishi-senpai!"
Kyoichi shouted back cheerfully from atop his own giant.
"Bullshit!"
The usually steadfast Akaishi cursed, his temper breaking.
"I'm telling the truth. I saw you use it last time. Didn't look that hard. Thought about it for a couple days, worked it out, and here we are." Kyoichi explained helpfully, as though that were perfectly normal.
At the same time, his rock giant lunged.
With lightning speed, it swung a whip-like kick straight into the knee of Akaishi's construct.
Boom!
The leg shattered into rubble.
With one limb gone, Akaishi's golem lost balance and toppled sideways.
"Damn you!"
Akaishi's face turned pale.
But he didn't lose his cool to rage. His mind, though chaotic, was split between Kyoichi's words and the battle before him. He told himself not to think about it now—but he couldn't help it. Was this really possible?
Could Kyoichi truly have mastered the Steel Prison Technique just by seeing it once?
If so… then Iwagakure had truly suffered a devastating loss.
Such genius was worthy of inheriting the Tsuchikage's mantle itself. As Ōnoki's confidant, Akaishi knew full well the old man had long sought a successor strong enough to take up his will—but had never found one.
And yet, this prodigy… turned out to belong to the Koeda Clan.
The thought made Akaishi want to vomit blood.
Distracted and unsettled, he couldn't fight at full strength.
He leapt from his collapsing construct, sprinting across its crumbling body, weaving away as Kyoichi's even larger giant's colossal fists came crashing down.