Chapter 459: The Thunder Blade That Reversed the Situation
"Ninja who have mastered Fire Release, fight with confidence. Under this sunlight, your Fire Release will grow stronger, while the enemy's Water Release will be weakened." Mugetsu raised his voice after completing Great Sunny Day.
There was no point trying to hide an effect like this. Great Sunny Day was not boosting one or two people, or weakening one or two techniques. It was a battlefield wide shift in power. So Mugetsu stated the effect openly.
Even if the Mist ninja understood it, they had no way to make Great Sunny Day ineffective.
The Fire Release ninja around Mugetsu were stunned, then thrilled. Only now did they finally understand why Orochimaru had forcibly pulled them from their original squads and formed a dedicated Fire Release unit.
Before this, many had been puzzled. The Mist forces were packed with Water Release users, and water naturally countered fire. Creating a Fire Release squad seemed counterintuitive.
But Orochimaru's authority was too heavy to question.
Now, all they wanted to do was praise his foresight and marvel at Lord Mugetsu's technique.
No one had imagined Mugetsu possessed something so absurd, a jutsu that strengthened Fire Release while suppressing Water Release across an entire battlefield.
On the other side, Mist ninja who heard Mugetsu's voice went pale. They could not wrap their heads around a jutsu that countered Water Release itself.
A few quick thinkers immediately had the same thought. If Fire Release was boosted, then they could use Fire Release too.
It was pointless.
There were not many Fire Release users in the Mist forces to begin with, and even those who knew it usually lacked proficiency. In actual combat, their Fire Release would still be worse than their Water Release, because Water Release was what they trained, what they trusted, and what their bodies remembered. Even with Great Sunny Day tilting the scales, the gap in mastery still existed.
"Teacher Mugetsu actually has a jutsu like this!" Obito stared up at the dazzling sun hanging in the sky, his heart burning with desire. "After this battle, I have to ask if I can learn it."
Pulling off something like that in the middle of the night was ridiculously cool. It made Mugetsu the most eye catching figure on the battlefield in an instant.
And for Obito, it was even more tempting. Fire Release was his best skill. Strengthening Fire Release meant strengthening him.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"
Obito gathered a massive amount of chakra in his throat and unleashed a huge, roaring fireball that tore through the night toward the Mist ranks.
This was not like their smaller clashes. The enemy had more than a thousand ninja. Obito did not waste chakra on flashy extras. The Great Fireball was strong, efficient, and perfect for a real battlefield.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!"
A Mist ninja formed signs and exhaled a surge of water, raising a defensive wall in front of himself.
He underestimated Obito's fire and overestimated his own water.
Obito's Fire Release was boosted twice over, first by Flame Breathing, then by Great Sunny Day. Meanwhile, the Mist ninja's Water Release was being suppressed. One rose, one fell. The result was inevitable.
Sizzle!
Boom!
Obito's Great Fireball devoured the water wall. The flames rolled forward and wrapped the Mist ninja whole, scorching him in an instant.
"Secret Technique: Great Fire Technique!"
Several Sarutobi Fire Release users gathered together, formed signs in unison, and unleashed their clan's war grade secret technique.
Scorching flames blasted from their mouths, multiple streams merging into a wide sea of fire. Any Mist ninja touched by it was reduced to ash.
A Sarutobi ninja could not help blurting it out. "Lord Mugetsu's jutsu and the Great Fire Technique are a perfect match."
The Great Fire Technique had been created for war. Its heat was terrifying, and its one weakness, limited coverage, could be solved by having multiple users release it together. With Great Sunny Day amplifying it on top of that, it became a nightmare made real.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Jutsu!"
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Jutsu!"
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
A wave of Mist jonin and chunin shifted their focus and launched coordinated attacks at Mugetsu, trying to kill him and erase the source of their suppression.
They could not break the jutsu, so they chose the next best thing.
Kill the caster.
In the ninja world, there truly were techniques that would collapse if the user was eliminated. Some required constant chakra output. Once the source was severed, the jutsu naturally ended.
They did not know Great Sunny Day was not that kind of jutsu.
And they did not understand that eliminating Mugetsu was not something they could simply decide to do.
"Everyone, spread out. Get some distance from me." Mugetsu waved the nearby Konoha ninja back. "I'm going to use a wide range technique."
A huge range was power, but it was also danger. Friendly fire was not something reality allowed you to toggle off.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
Mugetsu switched his breathing to Flame Breathing. Chakra surged through him, transformed rapidly into Fire Release chakra, then he expelled it in one crushing breath.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A sea of flames poured from Mugetsu's mouth, expanding in an instant into a blazing tide that swallowed everything in front of him.
The temperature spiked so quickly that even ninja at a distance broke into sweat, their skin prickling as if the air itself had become a furnace.
Now the Konoha ninja understood why Mugetsu had ordered them back. One step too close and that fire would not distinguish ally from enemy.
The sea of flame painted the battlefield in fierce red, and every Mist ninja facing Mugetsu had their features lit sharply by firelight.
They watched, horrified, as their Water Release was consumed and erased.
For a moment, it felt like the natural counter had flipped.
As if fire was the element that devoured water.
"His Fire Release is this strong?" A Mist jonin shouted in disbelief.
When they spoke of Mugetsu, the Mist forces feared three things most.
First, the Flying Thunder God Technique, that same terrifying movement style that once belonged to the Yellow Flash.
Second, his Ice Release, powerful and lethal.
They had never expected to see Fire Release on this level, because in previous battles Mugetsu had never displayed anything this exaggerated.
"Even without that blazing sun secret technique, Lord Mugetsu's Fire Release could rank third in all of Konoha." Orochimaru's peripheral vision caught the scale of Mugetsu's flames, and his assessment came instantly.
Third, only because the top two were monsters.
Second would be Jiraiya, Orochimaru's fellow Sannin.
First would be Orochimaru's teacher, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
With that alone, Mugetsu could likely enter the top five Fire Release users in the entire ninja world. Orochimaru's mind even jumped to Amegakure. Besides Ninja Master Sosuke, he could not think of anyone outside Konoha whose Fire Release would surpass Mugetsu.
Ninja Master Sosuke was a rare combatant. He had defeated Hanzo, a man famed for Water Release, using Fire Release. Orochimaru judged Sosuke's flames to be much stronger than Jiraiya's, and likely even stronger than Hiruzen's.
Of course, Fire Release alone did not define overall strength. Hiruzen had mastered thousands of jutsu. He did not rely on a single element.
"Mugetsu. It's you again." Yagura's brow tightened.
Last time, the Mist's excellent momentum had been shattered by that sudden encounter battle. The Mist had held the upper hand on the East Bank, then took heavy losses, and everything shifted.
Now, they had achieved a crushing advantage in the intelligence war, only for Mugetsu to reveal an unknown technique that strangled Mist forces at the root.
"I have to eliminate him," Yagura thought, killing intent boiling. "If he lives, he will become a major threat to the Hidden Mist."
Great Sunny Day was too impactful. In a large scale battle, using it at the right moment could directly lower the overall strength of the Mist forces.
Unless the Hidden Mist never gathered for large scale battles again, Great Sunny Day would remain a blade hanging over their heads.
That was unrealistic.
Konoha could not counterattack the Land of Water right now, but the future was not guaranteed.
"Mangetsu. Find an opening and kill Mugetsu." Yagura issued the order, then gave a look to a nearby Mist ninja as well.
Hozuki Mangetsu stiffened for a heartbeat.
His strength was close to Reiki, and Reiki had not been able to defeat Mugetsu. Killing Mugetsu was an impossible mission.
But on the battlefield, rank crushed doubt. Orders were absolute.
Mangetsu used Body Flicker to break away, no longer entangling with Ino Shika Cho.
Shikaku and the others immediately tried to stop him, but several jonin, including Juzo Biwa and Kushimaru Kuriarare, blocked them.
Orochimaru prepared to use Wind Release to support Ino Shika Cho, but then his eyes narrowed.
A terrifying aura rose without warning.
A middle aged Mist ninja who had looked completely ordinary suddenly shifted form, becoming an old man with a white beard. A stony tail grew from behind him, taller than his own body.
The old man's chakra erupted like a flood, and he attacked Orochimaru without hesitation.
The Three Tails jinchuriki had been present on the battlefield for some time. Yagura had kept him hidden, restrained, low profile, waiting to spring the surprise when it would hurt most.
"They deployed the Three Tails jinchuriki…" Orochimaru's expression darkened.
Even after learning the Mist had gathered its main forces, Orochimaru had refused to gamble on a direct assault for precisely this reason.
He feared the reinforcements might include a jinchuriki.
His worst concern had become reality.
Whoosh!
"Summoning Jutsu!"
Orochimaru retreated rapidly and summoned Manda at once.
Manda could not defeat a tailed beast, but it was durable enough to withstand brutal punishment. It could stall, entangle, and buy time.
White smoke burst.
A gigantic purple snake with dark stripes appeared, coiling into the battlefield like a living wall.
"Orochimaru. Where are my hundred sacrifices?" Manda spoke without courtesy.
Unlike most summoned beasts, Manda did not treat Orochimaru as a master, or even a companion. Orochimaru was simply a collaborator with a price.
"You will get what you're owed," Orochimaru said flatly, standing atop Manda's massive head. "This enemy isn't simple. Don't get careless."
If Manda were not powerful, Orochimaru would have turned such arrogance into a corpse long ago.
Orochimaru glanced toward Mugetsu's side.
With Manda, he could at most guarantee survival and retreat for himself.
Whether Konoha could win depended on whether Mugetsu's side could explode with momentum, eliminate Mangetsu, and then swing the battle back to Orochimaru's front.
"Water Gun Technique!"
Hozuki Mangetsu appeared behind Mugetsu without a sound, raised his finger like a pistol, and fired the Hozuki clan's secret technique straight for Mugetsu's head.
A water droplet pierced the air like a bullet.
Mugetsu tilted his head at the last instant, dodging cleanly as if he had already seen it coming.
"He's sharp." Mangetsu's eyes narrowed. He surged forward and raised his other hand, forming the same pistol shape.
"Water Release: Twin Shot!"
Bang! Bang!
Two high speed water bullets fired from both hands at once.
This was the Hozuki clan's strength. No hand signs, extreme speed, and killing power built on Hydrification mastery.
Mangetsu did not believe Mugetsu could dodge all of it just by twisting his body. This was four times the pressure of a normal Twin Shot.
Whoosh!
Mugetsu vanished.
In the next heartbeat, he appeared beside a cluster of Mist ninja and kicked them away in a spinning whirlwind kick.
Mangetsu's face darkened. His chakra consuming strike had hit nothing.
"Damn that Flying Thunder God…"
Mugetsu had not thrown a kunai since the battle began, but they were fighting around a Konoha camp.
How could Flying Thunder God markers be absent?
"Water Release: Water Hail!"
Irritated, Mangetsu did not chase Mugetsu immediately. He raised his hand and instead targeted the ordinary Konoha ninja nearby.
If he could not hit Mugetsu, he would kill the people around him.
Dense water bullets sprayed outward.
They looked frightening in number, but each individual shot was far weaker than Twin Shot. Their strength was coverage, not penetration.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall!"
Kakashi formed signs, and an earth wall rose from the ground to block the volley.
Mugetsu's disciples were clustered around him, fighting close enough that they could respond and support each other.
After dealing with several Mist ninja, Mugetsu formed a sign.
"Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Jutsu!"
A blazing fire dragon surged forward, snapping its jaws toward Mangetsu.
Mangetsu did not dare take it lightly.
The scorched ruin left by Mugetsu's Great Fire Annihilation was still visible on the battlefield. That kind of flame was not something a normal Water Release user could treat casually, even with Great Sunny Day suppressing water across the field.
Mangetsu used Water Release of his own while also calling nearby Mist ninja to assist in resisting the fire dragon.
The battlefield had now split into two violent centers.
One was Orochimaru, Yagura, and the Three Tails jinchuriki.
The other was Mugetsu and Hozuki Mangetsu.
Originally, the Mist forces outnumbered Konoha. With the Three Tails assisting Yagura, most of the Mist jonin had been sent to pressure Mugetsu.
On Konoha's side, many jonin, led by Ino Shika Cho and Hizashi, were supporting Orochimaru against Yagura and the jinchuriki. Meanwhile, chunin and genin gathered around Mugetsu, turning his position into the anchor that held their entire formation together.
So on Mugetsu's side, the lower and middle ranks were roughly even in direct exchanges, while the upper rank pressure was being held off by Mugetsu and his disciples.
"Mugetsu, you have to win." Hizashi, with his wide Byakugan vision, could see the entire rhythm of Mugetsu's front.
Yagura plus a tailed beast jinchuriki was a brutal combination. The real key to this battle was whether Mugetsu could endure the pressure on his side and carve out an advantage.
Reaching this point was already remarkable.
They had walked into an ambush. The enemy had numbers. The enemy had prepared.
Without Great Sunny Day, they might have already been forced into retreat just to avoid being crushed.
If Hizashi was watching Mugetsu's fight this closely, then everyone near Mugetsu was doing the same.
"Reiki died to Lord Mugetsu. Mangetsu can't possibly beat Lord Mugetsu."
"Not this time. Teacher Mugetsu will win!" Shisui's eyes tracked every exchange, and his conclusion was firm.
Konoha's forces were only at a slight disadvantage right now.
A Mugetsu at full capability was not going to die here.
Some Konoha ninja fought desperately, trying to hold back Mist pressure and create space for Mugetsu. They took injuries for it.
Some Mist ninja died under Mugetsu's flames as they tried to close in.
Mangetsu stayed cautious. He memorized every location where Mugetsu's kunai had been planted and refused to step there, ensuring he would not be caught by a sudden Flying Thunder God strike.
After all, Yagura had ordered him to find an opening.
If he could not keep himself alive, what opening was he going to find?
Black Zetsu, watching from a distance, felt a strange kind of speechlessness.
Hydrification had one of the best survival capabilities in the ninja world. Physical attacks were meaningless against it. Most jutsu could be softened or dissolved by turning into water.
So how did someone with that technique develop such a cowardly, overly cautious fighting style?
Mangetsu looked like he was constantly engaging and disengaging with Mugetsu, but in truth, he was steadily closing on Obito.
According to their intelligence, Obito was Mugetsu's disciple.
Mangetsu's plan was simple. Kill a disciple, shake Mugetsu's composure, and force a mistake.
Even if he failed, killing a Konoha genius would still count as a major achievement. It would remove a future threat, and Yagura would have no right to criticize him afterward.
In truth, killing Guy would have been an even greater victory.
But Mangetsu judged that a monster like Guy would be hard to kill cleanly.
Obito was the better target.
Obito caught Mangetsu's intent.
Obito retreated at once and threw several shuriken.
With Sharingan precision, Obito's already strong throwing became vicious. Each shuriken served a different purpose. Some targeted vital points. Others sealed off escape angles.
Mangetsu sneered and accelerated.
No matter how sharp the physical attack, it would not affect him.
Then Obito saw something that made his breath catch.
The moment the shuriken struck, Mangetsu's body liquefied.
The blades passed through water and buried into the ground.
Mangetsu did not even slow down.
Obito made a decision instantly and pushed his breathing to the extreme, entering Flame Breathing chakra mode.
Running out of chakra on a battlefield was dangerous, but that was a problem for later.
Getting caught by Mangetsu up close was immediate death.
Mangetsu's Water Instant Body was terrifyingly fast. He crossed the distance in a blink, stopping less than a meter from Obito.
Both hands rose, fingers shaped like pistols.
"Water Release: Twin Shot!"
To prevent any surprise, Mangetsu used the more powerful version, double Twin Shot.
Obito did not hesitate.
Flames erupted across his entire body. Leveraging Flame Breathing chakra mode's boost to Fire Release nature transformation, he formed a protective flame shield around himself in an instant.
Whoosh!
Before Twin Shot could pierce the shield, Mugetsu appeared beside Obito in a flash of Flying Thunder God.
Mugetsu drew Enma with controlled precision and unleashed No Thought Strike.
The moment the blade moved, Lightning Release surged along the edge. Thunder roared, loud enough to draw the attention of every ninja nearby.
Mangetsu instinctively activated Hydrification.
Then his expression changed violently when he saw the lightning wrapped around Enma.
Hydrification was powerful, but it had a weakness.
Lightning Release.
Electricity could paralyze the Hydrification user, preventing full liquefaction, forcing the body to take damage.
"Move. Move!" Mangetsu tried desperately to dodge, but Mugetsu's slash was too fast.
"I'm going to be badly hurt," Mangetsu thought with cold clarity as he confirmed he could not escape it. "Good. We have more people. I can still run after."
Lightning Release countered Hydrification, but it did not guarantee instant death. If touching lightning meant dying, the Hozuki clan would never have risen to power. Learning Lightning Release was not some impossible cost.
"This one is dead," Kakashi judged silently.
As someone currently learning No Thought Strike, he understood just how terrifying this Lightning Release blade technique was.
It was not something you could take head on and live.
Obito dropped out of chakra mode as the immediate crisis ended, his heart still racing.
He admitted it. Mangetsu had nearly caught him with that ambush.
But against the all capable Mugetsu, Mangetsu's life was a candle in a storm.
Still trying to hit him while Mugetsu was right there? What kind of decision was that?
The electric light filled Mangetsu's vision.
When Enma struck, Mangetsu's eyes went wide, and pain exploded outward from the point of impact, spreading through every part of his body like it was being torn apart from within.
In that instant, Mangetsu realized he had been wrong.
He had underestimated this Lightning Release slash by a horrifying margin.
He never imagined that Mugetsu, whose Fire Release surpassed ordinary people, whose Ice Release was no weaker than Reiki, and who had mastered Flying Thunder God, also possessed a Lightning Release sword technique this lethal.
Even as his consciousness collapsed, Mangetsu could not understand how Mugetsu trained so many skills.
Even if someone trained from the womb, it should not be like this.
Did Mugetsu have two hundred and forty hours in a day?
Mangetsu did not suffer long.
Almost the moment the pain struck, his body shattered.
A scorched slash mark was burned into the ground where he had stood.
"Lord Mangetsu!" Nearby Mist jonin shouted, shocked and grief stricken.
Everything happened too fast.
A moment ago, Mangetsu had been trading exchanges with Mugetsu.
Then he was erased in a single drawn strike.
Even if the Mist wanted to support him, it was already too late.
Mugetsu did not stop.
He formed signs on the spot and spat fierce flames, sending them surging into the Mist lines.
Trying to kill his disciples in front of him was asking to die.
Because it was a battlefield, Mugetsu had given each disciple two Flying Thunder God kunai, one for throwing and one kept on their body at all times, ensuring constant positioning and instant response.
"A bunch of useless trash! Is killing Mugetsu really that difficult?!" Yagura's voice carried fury as the battle tilted again.
Such a huge advantage, and it kept slipping through his fingers as the fight dragged on.
Now even a core Hozuki fighter had died.
Orochimaru's lips curved upward, the expression sharp and satisfied.
"Lord Mugetsu, you truly are someone I can trust."
….
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