Chapter 183: The Battle of Kirigakure
"Mizukage-sama!"
"Where is Mizukage-sama?!"
Explosions thundered throughout the village. Desperate villagers and shinobi alike were in chaos, and at this moment, the only person they could look to for hope was the Third Mizukage.
Atop the Mizukage Tower, the Third Mizukage stood, scanning the skies for the enemy. He understood that only by locating and eliminating the attacker could the village be spared from further devastation.
But it was too late.
The enemy's assault was far too fierce, and from such altitude, his attacks couldn't reach.
He had no choice but to first neutralize the enemy's offense.
"Pass it down: once I activate the Hidden Mist Technique, all shinobi who can use Lightning Style must cast the weakest lightning jutsu into the mist," said the Third Mizukage.
"Understood!" The ANBU and a group of jōnin behind him immediately dispersed to carry out the command.
Soon, shinobi across the village received Mizukage-sama's orders.
The Third Mizukage quickly clasped his hands, took a deep breath, and his chest swelled like a pufferfish.
"Water Style: Hidden Mist Technique!"
Thick mist gushed from his mouth, enveloping the entirety of Kirigakure. Visibility dropped to less than half a meter.
"Lightning Style: Ground Surge!"
"Lightning Style: Grateful Wave!"
"Lightning Style..."
From every part of the village, Lightning-style shinobi followed up, casting the weakest forms of their jutsu.
In an instant, the mist became a conductor. The entire Hidden Mist Village turned into a massive storm cloud, filled with arcs of electricity. Countless crackling currents danced across the fog, encasing the village in flickering light.
The arcs were not deadly—only enough to temporarily paralyze ordinary civilians. They had no effect on chakra-bearing shinobi.
But to the clay birds, they were lethal.
As lightning danced through the mist, the clay birds lost power mid-air and fell to the ground like duds.
Suddenly, the explosions ceased. Only the crackle of electricity and the soft thuds of falling clay birds remained.
"As expected of Mizukage-sama!"
"To think he could come up with this—he even cast a Hidden Mist jutsu that covered the entire village! Truly dependable!"
The silence following the halted explosions brought waves of cheers from the shinobi. Their trust in the Third Mizukage reached a new high.
Kirigakure hadn't yet become the Blood Mist of the future.
Ninja from every clan still held deep trust in their leader, and villagers looked out for one another with love and unity.
High above the village, Li Yao watched the cheers below with a faint, unreadable smile.
"You think I wouldn't know such an obvious weakness of Clay Explosion Style?"
With a single thought, the clay birds flying from his orb were now coated in rapidly circulating Wind Style chakra—like armor of wind. This not only shielded them but also boosted their flight speed.
Soon,
The wind-armored clay birds dove into the mist filled with electricity. The arcs struck, only to be deflected instantly by the turbulent wind layers. None of the lightning touched the birds themselves.
Lightning beats Earth.
Wind beats Lightning.
Li Yao knew the chakra nature relationships well—and he had total mastery over them.
But only someone like him, with absolute chakra control, could wrap every single clay bird in Wind-style armor.
No one else could maintain such precise and dense remote control.
"Not good!"
Atop the Mizukage Tower, the Third Mizukage's expression changed. He sensed the lightning within the fog failing to neutralize the incoming birds.
If they had been using powerful Lightning Jutsu, they might've broken through the Wind-style armor. But the low-level current-based attack in the fog couldn't penetrate it.
"Water Style: Black Lotus!"
Without hesitation, the Third Mizukage formed a seal. Black water gushed from his mouth, instantly forming a massive black lotus flower that covered a large portion of the village.
The mark of a Kage-level shinobi: a Kage-level chakra pool.
Boom boom boom...
In the blink of an eye, a storm of clay birds slammed into the black lotus, detonating on impact.
Despite the overwhelming barrage, the surface of the black water merely rippled—it didn't shatter. Its defense was terrifying.
During the Five Kage ambush, Li Yao had already experienced the fearsome defense of the Third Mizukage's Black Water jutsu, which is why he'd come to replicate it.
But the Third Mizukage was not Li Yao. His chakra control wasn't as refined.
Li Yao's clay birds weren't rigid—he didn't just rain them straight down.
Although the Black Lotus was large, it wasn't a full barrier capable of encasing the entire village.
Li Yao redirected the clay birds, guiding them around the lotus and into the village from all sides.
In an instant, BOOM BOOM BOOM! explosions rang out across Kirigakure once more.
"Who is it?!"
"Who the hell is doing this?!"
The Third Mizukage's face twisted in rage—helplessness at his inability to stop the destruction, and fury at the attacker's cruelty.
What angered him most was that he still couldn't imagine who in the shinobi world had this much chakra and this level of control.
Iwagakure's demolition corps were famous, each member recorded by the other villages.
None were as powerful as this enemy.
To unleash such an unending barrage of clay birds, this person's chakra pool rivaled that of a Tailed Beast. And the precision required to coat each bird in Wind-style chakra? The Mizukage had never even heard of such refined control.
"Who are you?!"
He no longer believed it was someone from Iwagakure. If they had someone this powerful, the war wouldn't have ended the way it did.
With a Tailed Beast-level attacker, any village would bolster its defenses to the extreme.
"Could it be... him?"
Suddenly, Li Yao's image entered the Third Mizukage's mind.
During the battle when the Five Kage attempted to kill Li Yao, he'd noticed Raikage's unusual behavior and suspected Li Yao possessed a terrifying ability—to copy other people's jutsu.
Including rare ones like Black Lightning, on par with kekkei genkai.
If it was Li Yao, then him unleashing this level of Clay Explosion Style made perfect sense.
Over four years had passed. With Wood Style in his arsenal, Li Yao's chakra pool must have grown to monstrous proportions—on par with a Tailed Beast.
And if it was Li Yao, he had plenty of reason to attack.
The Third Mizukage had been one of the Five Kage who tried to kill him.
"Then... is it really Li Yao?"
The Third Mizukage was still hesitant. Ōnoki's Particle Style—especially the Limitless Dissolution Jutsu—was one of the most powerful attacks in the shinobi world. Even the Third Raikage in his Lightning Armor couldn't withstand it.
He couldn't believe Li Yao had survived.
If he had, wouldn't his first target have been Iwagakure? Ōnoki had done the most damage.
That uncertainty kept the Mizukage from fully believing it was Li Yao.
Unfortunately, he didn't yet know about the destruction of the Daimyō's estate. If he did, he would have no doubt that the attacker was Li Yao.
But at this point, the attacker's identity no longer mattered.
The only thing the Third Mizukage could do now was save as many villagers as possible, getting them into underground shelters to endure the relentless onslaught of clay explosions.
(END CHAPTER)
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