The Demolitions Unit had sent back no word, and Konoha hadn't bothered to hide what happened, so Iwa learned the news quickly.
Kitsuchi and the other front-line leaders were furious, upset, disappointed, yet helpless.
After suffering heavy losses in succession, they didn't dare act rashly again; until reinforcements arrived, they could only hold the line.
When the report reached Iwagakure, Ōnoki, after anger and disappointment, acted decisively.
Minato Namikaze had finally died; Konoha must not be allowed to produce another Minato.
That day, with its strength replenished, Iwa suddenly switched from defense to offense—and launched a large-scale assault.
Konoha's front-line command felt something was off, but with the advantage in hand they couldn't possibly back down.
Even at a disadvantage, with Orochimaru's style he wouldn't back down unless the odds were truly terrible.
Between hills and fields the two great villages' shinobi fought for their lives; as time passed the battlefield split, rank-and-file against rank-and-file, generals against generals.
Orochimaru took on Kitsuchi, while Kokugetsu hunted other high-level targets.
After sacrificing two jōnin, a third Iwa jōnin finally lured Kokugetsu to the edge of the field where Konoha support would be slow to reach.
Sensing something wrong, Kokugetsu looked up; a small figure with an enormous mass of chakra was closing fast through the air.
"Feel it, do you?"
"Hahaha… Lord Tsuchikage himself is coming for you. You're dead!" The battered Iwa jōnin cackled.
"Noisy."
Kokugetsu dipped his head and surged forward; the Iwa jōnin jolted and turned to flee.
Since the Tsuchikage was here, there was no need to risk himself.
Life came first; he couldn't let his comrades die for nothing, and the enemy wouldn't be able to get back to the main field in time anyway.
"Die."
"Stop!" Ōnoki's face changed as he roared.
Slice.
Unleashing even more speed, Kokugetsu caught up in an instant; his blade swept, a head flew, blood geysered, and the headless body crashed to the ground.
"Brat, you deserve death!"
Ōnoki stared down at Kokugetsu as he slowly descended, power rolling off him; even his sesame-seed nose seemed flushed with rage.
"Plenty have wanted me dead. They all died first."
"Also, Ōnoki, you've really got no class—worse than the Fourth Raikage. At least he doesn't come to the front to bully the young." Kokugetsu flicked blood from his blade with a mocking look.
"Hmph. Shinobi are people who use any means. That Raikage brat is a bit old-fashioned."
"Now go to hell and repent before Iwa's fine sons!"
Ōnoki snorted, his face blank as his hands formed just two signs.
Earth Release: Golem Technique.
No probing—he went all in from the start. The earth heaved, soil compacted, rock rolled, and a thirty-meter, earth-brown giant of stone took shape.
Ōnoki stood atop the golem's head, looking down at Kokugetsu as a massive stone palm slapped out.
"Ho… opening with a Gundam, huh. Shame it's so slow."
Kokugetsu slipped the blow with ease; his figure flickered again and again, like teleportation, as he drove straight for Ōnoki.
Ōnoki is a ninjutsu-type; among Kage-level fighters his taijutsu is ordinary, nowhere near Sarutobi Hiruzen's all-rounder level.
"Hmph. You think I don't know you're fast?"
"But are you faster than the Yellow Flash?"
As he spoke, Ōnoki's hands flashed through signs; spikes jutted from ground and golem alike, weaving a sky-filling net akin to the Iron Sand World Method.
"You think these can touch me?"
Lightning crackled along Kokugetsu's blade in his right hand; his left hand became a lightning-edged knife. He cut, chopped, and kicked.
With all-angle vision and a fluid, economical body line, the stabbing spikes were either shredded to scraps or shattered to dust—none could get close.
"This guy's taijutsu is absurd."
"Unlike the Raikage line's straight-on, heavy style, his is clean and elegant, no wasted motion."
"But what if I leave you nowhere to dodge?"
Ōnoki's mind turned; his hands flashed again. The ground trembled; thick walls rose on all sides, extending and folding inward.
At the same time, the stone giant leapt high, turning its bulk sideways to press down from above.
"Ōnoki, you can't pin me."
Kokugetsu spun hard in place; torrents of chakra burst from his tenketsu as a whirling blue-white dome chewed every spike to gravel.
An instant later, riding the spin's force, he shot out; a plain flying kick blew a gaping hole in the nearly sealed stone walls.
Boom.
The golem crashed down; the remaining walls collapsed in a pulverized heap. The ground shook, dust rolled, and many shinobi on nearby fronts looked over.
In truth, the moment Ōnoki summoned the golem, all eyes had turned.
Iwa's morale surged; Konoha's didn't exactly drop, but it took a knock.
Orochimaru didn't panic to beat Kitsuchi and rush to Kokugetsu's aid; he kept to his own rhythm.
If Kokugetsu died, it would only mean his strength was lacking.
Of course, Kokugetsu had never counted on Orochimaru or anyone else to support him.
Because he didn't need it. Even holding back, Ōnoki couldn't do anything to him.
Dust Release is strong, but the startup is too long; it can't pin him, and absolutely won't hit.
"Impossible—how do you know the Hyūga clan's technique?"
"And with power like that?"
At Ōnoki's age he had of course seen the Hyūga signature, Rotation, hence his disbelief.
"Hahaha, because I'm a genius." Kokugetsu laughed arrogantly.
When the dust cleared, Ōnoki's figure reappeared; he sneered. "Heh… I make a career of strangling geniuses."
"Do you? Then did you strangle Uchiha Madara?"
"Or did Uchiha Madara just disdain to bother with you?" Kokugetsu said, half-smiling.
At that name, scenes flashed unbidden through Ōnoki's mind. He didn't completely lose it, but the hit landed.
"Little punk—die!"
Earth Release: Super Light–Weight Rock Technique.
Ōnoki cursed, pressed both hands to the golem's head, then sped through signs.
Earth Release: Division Technique.
The golem collapsed in an instant; as it fell, its rocks re-formed into more than twenty two-meter stone men that bolted forward at high-speed jōnin pace.
"Ho, so it can be used like that?"
"Still can't pin me."
Kokugetsu slid his blade back into its sheath and spread his hands. In his left palm a sphere bloomed, its rim a ring of pale wind blades; in his right spun a tiny waterspout.
Wind Release: Rasengan.
Water Release: Violent Torrent.
Tempest Water-Maelstrom Technique.
He brought his hands together; wind and water fused perfectly. With a forward cast, a stream wrapped in white circular airflow streaked out.
On impact it instantly became a water twister more than twenty meters across and over forty meters tall; the wind's cutting force and the water's crushing surge shredded the stone men that were caught up.
Kokugetsu hadn't spent these years playing alone; while he hadn't trained obsessively, he'd been steady and consistent.
Seeing his ninjutsu broken, Ōnoki's face went dark; rage and headache mixed with a sour pang.
"Why is it always Konoha that churns out geniuses?"
"Why do all the good things go to Konoha?"
"I truly cannot understand!"
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