171-175

Chapter 171: The Water Transformation Technique’s Divine Might  

"Water Release: Water Gun Jutsu!"  

Ignoring the others, Yoru raised his hands like pistols—*Pew! Pew!*—firing two high-speed water bullets from his fingertips.  

Thunk! Thunk!  

The shots pierced straight through Akatsuchi and another Iwa-nin’s chests, sending them flying.  

At the same time, Kurotsuchi’s fist slammed into Yoru’s body—  

SPLASH!  

His form dissolved like water.  

If Hōzuki Suigetsu had been there, he would’ve cheered—because this was the Hōzuki clan’s signature ability: the Water Transformation Technique!  

"Impossible!" Kurotsuchi’s eyes widened in shock.  

Yoru… is from the Hōzuki clan?!  

"Earth Release: Earth Clone—!"  

Instinct kicked in. She formed hand seals, desperate to escape. Fighting Yoru alone was suicide.  

"Now, now… why leave so soon?"  

Yoru’s voice, cold as a demon’s whisper, sent a shiver down her spine.  

SLASH!  

A gleaming white blade stabbed through her chest.  

"Bastard!!"  

Akatsuchi, Hōki, and Ōnoki roared in fury as they watched Kurotsuchi crumple.  

CRACK!  

But before they could react, Akatsuchi and Hōki were blasted again—ribs shattered, bodies sent flying like ragdolls.  

"Dust Release: Particle Style—Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"  

Ōnoki didn’t need hand seals for his Kekkei Tōta, just a brief charge-up.  

But in those few seconds…  

Three of Iwa’s strongest had already fallen.  

Yoru’s power was terrifying.  

"DIE, YOU MONSTER!"  

A blinding, annihilating light shot toward Yoru.  

He dodged—  

But the beam expanded mid-flight, stretching farther than expected.  

Not as vast as "Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World," but enough to catch Yoru off-guard.  

BOOM!  

Half of Yoru’s body vanished in the blast.  

Ōnoki smirked. Got him.  

"Now, someone break this damn genjutsu!"  

An Iwa-nin formed the release seal—  

But nothing happened.  

Ōnoki remained frozen.  

"What?!"  

A chill ran down his spine. An unbreakable genjutsu? Even the Sharingan shouldn’t be this strong!  

"Tsk, tsk… that was close, Tsuchikage-sama. Your Kekkei Tōta is terrifying."  

Yoru’s voice echoed again.  

From the sea, his body reformed—water coalescing into flesh, completely unharmed.  

Ōnoki’s face darkened. "You planned this… didn’t you?"  

"You chose the ocean as the battlefield to suppress our Earth Release."  

"Clever."  

Yoru chuckled. "Well, it’s not like I completely sealed your earth techniques. Look—"  

He pointed to distant Iwa-nin, slamming their hands on the water.  

Three seconds later… weak earth spikes barely pierced the surface.  

Most resorted to "Rock Fist" or "Flying Stone" jutsu instead.  

"Hmph!" Ōnoki scowled.  

Fighting at sea crippled Iwa’s defenses. It was infuriating.  

"Don’t look so sour. We’re outnumbered—using terrain advantage is just common sense."  

"Besides, what kind of idiot wouldn’t use the ocean when fighting for Kirigakure?"  

"Enough stalling. Let’s end this."  

On land, Yoru might’ve struggled against Ōnoki.  

But here?  

The sea was his domain.  

With a burst of speed, he lunged at the immobilized Tsuchikage.  

"Protect the Tsuchikage!"  

Iwa-nin scrambled to block him.  

"I don’t need protection!"  

Even paralyzed, Ōnoki had one advantage—  

Flight.  

With a thought, he levitated upward.  

"Oh? Is that so?"  

Yoru’s grin sent a jolt of dread through Ōnoki.  

WHOOSH!  

Yoru hurled his sword like a kunai.  

Ōnoki dodged—  

But then—  

Yoru vanished.  

A single hand seal. A flash of movement.  

"Shit—!"  

Ōnoki’s stomach dropped as Yoru’s glowing eyes locked onto him.  

"Clay Birds!"  

A young voice cut in.  

BOOM!  

White clay birds swarmed between them.  

A massive clay hawk swooped down, snatching Ōnoki to safety.  

*"Art… is an explosion! Detonate!"*  

The remaining birds erupted in a chain reaction.  

"Lightning Release: Gratitude Wave!"  

Yoru’s lightning neutralized the blast—  

But the force still sent him plummeting.  

"You’re my test subject now! No escape!"  

The same voice cackled as a swarm of clay sparrows engulfed Yoru.  

KABOOM!!!  

The sky itself trembled.  

"Did… did we get him?"  

Iwa-nin stared, stunned.  

Had Yoru—the man who pushed Ōnoki to the brink—really been taken down so easily?  

"Don’t celebrate yet, Deidara. That bastard has the Water Transformation Technique."  

"Land now, or you’re next."  

On the clay hawk, Ōnoki—finally free from the genjutsu—glared at the blond, ponytailed teen.  

No prizes for guessing who this explosive artist was.  

Deidara.  

Chapter 172: Utterly Frustrated  

"Tch, shut it, old man Tsuchikage! Leave this to me!"  

Deidara completely ignored Ōnoki’s warning and scoffed, "I saw your fight earlier."  

"His ground combat skills are solid, but aerial combat? That’s a different story!"  

"And the sky is my domain. Watch this!"  

With that, he thrust out his right hand—where a grotesque mouth on his palm spat out a flock of tiny clay birds.  

Below, Yoru reappeared, predictably unharmed.  

"Explosive Clay: Twin Birds!"  

Deidara swooped lower on his clay hawk before hurling a swarm of winged clay bombs at Yoru.  

"Taste my art, Yoru!"  

They were the same age, both prodigies. Deidara needed to see just how strong Yoru really was.  

"Don’t disappoint me," he muttered. "Or I’ll blow you to pieces."  

"Whoosh!"  

The birds streaked through the air at blinding speed, their trajectories erratic and unpredictable.  

And if one looked closely—clinging to their wings were tiny clay grasshoppers and spiders.  

"Detonate!"  

Deidara triggered the explosion.  

In an instant, the sky filled with skittering insects, latching onto Yoru’s body and scattering across the surrounding sea.  

The blast was so overwhelming, no one would notice the hidden threats.  

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"  

A chain reaction of explosions engulfed Yoru, flames roaring across a fifty-meter radius.  

"Another Explosion Release user? How interesting. Yoru’s having way too much fun over there," Yugito mused from a distance, sparing a glance before refocusing.  

"ROAR!"  

But her momentary distraction was all the opening the Five-Tails’ Jinchūriki, Hān, needed. He launched himself at her like a cannonball.  

Hān’s fighting style relied on the Five-Tails’ steam power, amplifying his physical strikes to monstrous levels.  

"CRASH!"  

Yet brute force wasn’t the Two-Tails’ style. Yugito nimbly dodged, countering with a burst of eerie blue flames.  

Hān immediately cloaked himself in tailed beast chakra, intending to shred the fire—  

But the flames split apart, morphing into a swarm of fiery mice that attacked from every angle.  

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!"  

The flames themselves were negligible, but Yugito had already closed the gap, her claws slashing across Hān’s torso.  

Hān wasn’t slow either. The moment he took the hits, he retaliated—compressed steam erupting from his fist in a shockwave that sent Yugito flying.  

A dead-even exchange.  

Meanwhile… 

"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"  

The Three-Tails churned the ocean into a crushing tidal wave, hammering the Four-Tails without mercy.  

On land, the Three-Tails would’ve struggled. But here? The Four-Tails’ Lava Release was useless against the sea’s endless water.  

And Yagura’s techniques were even more oppressive.  

His Coral Palm Jutsu forced coral to sprout from the victim’s body, immobilizing them for a brutal follow-up. The Four-Tails had barely escaped by incinerating the growths with molten rock.  

But worse was Yagura’s Water Mirror Jutsu—a nightmarish ability that reflected attacks.  

When the Four-Tails unleashed a torrent of lava, the mirror copied it perfectly—making him the first to ever burn himself with his own flames.  

"ROOOOAR!"  

The Four-Tails seethed. This was the most humiliating fight of his life.  

"Getting frustrated? Tch tch tch… Bad mindset," Yagura taunted, lounging in his miniature Three-Tails form.  

Even on land, he could overpower the Four-Tails. At sea? It wasn’t even a contest.  

"The Fourth Mizukage is incredible!"  

"If he’s this strong… Just how powerful is Yoru-sama, the man who defeated him?"  

The surrounding ANBU’s morale skyrocketed.  

Meanwhile, the Iwa-nin were losing it.  

"Damn these Kiri bastards! Why won’t they break?!"  

Despite outnumbering the Kiri forces six-to-one, the battle was deadlocked—all because of the Hidden Mist Jutsu enveloping half their troops.  

Three thousand Iwa-nin had vanished into that fog. No movement. No sound. No survivors emerging.  

It was like they’d been erased.  

The remaining two thousand Iwa-nin were forced into a stalemate against Kimimaro and Haku’s squads, while long-range Kiri teams rained explosive tags on them.  

"Hah! Thought you could roll over us, Iwa scum?"  

"Push forward! Follow Captain Kimimaro!"  

"Cut them down! For glory!"  

"Nothing beats the thrill of beating the odds!"  

The Kiri-nin fought like men possessed, their bloodlust unnerving the exhausted Iwa forces.  

Inside the Mist… 

A slaughter.  

"No… NO!"  

"I don’t wanna die here!"  

"Why can’t we see? Why can’t we hear anything?!"  

"We’re just sitting ducks!"  

"That guy’s just a clone?! How’s the real one this strong?!"  

The Iwa-nin were trapped in hell.  

No visibility. No sound cues. No way to tell friend from foe.  

Even when they did stumble upon an enemy, their attacks phased harmlessly through water-logged bodies before a counterstrike obliterated them.  

Sometimes, they’d hear whispers—only to realize too late it was a trap, luring them into killing each other.  

Chapter 173: Desperate Struggle  

The most terrifying part? Sensory-nin tried to detect their surroundings—only to despair.  

The mist was like a void to their perception. They couldn’t sense anything beyond arm’s length.  

They couldn’t escape.  

They couldn’t fight back.  

They couldn’t even scream for help.  

This was hell. A hell that harvested their lives.  

"Hahaha, this is amazing! Now THIS is true assassination!"  

"I’m intoxicated… I finally understand the art of killing!"  

"As expected of Yoru-sama! No wonder he was confident leading just a handful of us against an entire village!"  

"This is his world… and we’re living in it!"  

While the Rock-nin were deaf and blind, the hundred-strong Mist assassination squad moved freely, guided by Yoru’s water clones, slaughtering their enemies with ease.  

In this mist, the Rock-nin weren’t warriors—they were just prey.  

A true massacre.  

Out of 3,000 Rock-nin, half had already fallen in mere minutes.  

200 Mist-nin, averaging seven kills each.  

The speed was horrifying.  

"Focus. Finish them quickly. The Hidden Mist Jutsu won’t last forever," Yoru’s water clones warned coldly.  

Maintaining a high-level mist over kilometers while controlling a hundred clones was draining his chakra at an insane rate.  

Just a few minutes had already burned through 40% of his reserves.  

"Understood!"  

The assassins sharpened their focus, killing with even greater efficiency.  

But inwardly, they swore to train harder after this—to master the Hidden Mist Jutsu until they reached at least 60% of Yoru’s level.  

Outside – Yoru’s True Body 

"Earth Release: Ultra-Added Weight Rock Technique!"  

With Deidara’s support, Ōnoki finally had room to unleash his full power.  

He slammed his palm onto the sea—instantly, the water beneath them cratered downward.  

Mist-nin in the area suddenly felt their bodies grow impossibly heavy, plunging helplessly into the depths.  

"Yoru! Let’s see how your speed holds up now!" Ōnoki sneered.  

Yoru resurfaced, his expression grim. Chakra rippled violently under his feet as if he could barely stay atop the water.  

"How does it feel? Like you’re carrying a mountain? Every movement a struggle?"  

Ōnoki hovered above him, hands clasped. The Dust Release flickered to life.  

"It’s over, Yoru."  

Yoru laughed. "Over? You’re celebrating too soon, Ōnoki!"  

He tried to retreat—  

"Oh no you don’t!"  

Deidara’s voice cut in, manic with excitement. "Dance for me, Yoru! Show me something worth my art!"  

He formed a seal and roared:  

"Art is an explosion—KATSU!"  

Clay spiders erupted from the water beneath Yoru. Tiny grasshoppers clung to his body, primed to detonate.  

But—  

"Zzt—!"  

Lightning crackled over Yoru’s skin. Every bomb fizzled out.  

"Deidara. Did you really think I wouldn’t notice the spiders and grasshoppers hidden on your clay birds?"  

"Your ‘surprise’ was amateurish."  

Deidara grinned wildly. "Heh. Then try THIS!"  

He hurled a twin-headed clay dragon—  

But Yoru wasn’t waiting.  

Weighed down and slowed, he couldn’t afford more attacks.  

"Lightning Release: Raging Thunder Tiger!"  

No hand signs. Just a sweep of his leg and a single seal—  

Lightning erupted, morphing into a roaring tiger’s maw as it tore toward Ōnoki and Deidara.  

"ROAR!"  

Deidara shot upward. Ōnoki countered with Dust Release, slicing through the tiger—  

—and aiming straight for Yoru, still struggling to escape the weight technique’s range.  

"No more running! DIE!"  

Ōnoki’s face twisted with fury. Three Dust Releases had drained him. He needed this kill.  

"Like hell I’m dying here!"**  

Yoru’s hair stood on end. The weight crushed his speed. The Dust Release was too close to dodge.  

"BREAK—!"  

He burned the last of his chakra for one burst of freedom—  

Hands slammed together. His aura turned demonic.  

"Barrier Jutsu: Six Pillars Flame Formation!"  

The sky darkened. The sea convulsed. A suffocating pressure crushed the battlefield.  

A hexagonal crimson barrier, barely a meter wide, encased Yoru—  

—just as the Dust Release hit.  

"DISAPPEAR!" Ōnoki screamed.  

This was his only chance. He poured everything into this attack.  

"BOOM—!"  

A light like the aurora swallowed the world.  

For three seconds, sound vanished. Everyone went deaf.  

When it faded—  

Yoru knelt on the water, gasping.  

His right arm was stripped to the bone.  

He looked broken.  

The Rock-nin saw their opening.  

"NOW! Kill him!"  

They charged, hungry for glory—  

"DON’T YOU DARE!"**  

Kimimaro and Haku intercepted.  

One became a monster of bone. The other froze the sea itself.  

Chapter 174: Rock Village, You Lose  

But as the saying goes—two fists can’t fight off four hands!  

Kimimaro and Haku couldn’t hold back the entire Rock-nin force alone.  

"Got him!"  

A hulking Rock-nin appeared behind Yoru, his fist encased in stone, smashing down toward his skull.  

"DIE!" The man roared in savage glee.  

"GET BACK!"  

Yet Ōnoki—weak as he was—suddenly bellowed in panic.  

The Rock-nin were confused.  

Yoru was already half-dead. What could he possibly do now? 

The Tsuchikage is being too cautious!  

But Yoru answered them in the next instant.  

"SHINK—!"  

A flash of steel.  

The Rock-nin’s arm flew clean off.  

Then Yoru’s blade punched through his throat—brutal, efficient.  

"WHOOSH—!"  

Yoru vanished again.  

Ōnoki’s blood ran cold.  

He knew. He was the target.  

Hands flew into the Substitution Jutsu seal—  

"CRUNCH!"  

A blade speared straight through Ōnoki’s chest.  

Too fast. No time to react.  

"TSUCHIKAGE-SAMA!"  

Rock-nin screamed in disbelief. Some panicked.  

"Don’t falter! I’m fine!"  

Ōnoki’s voice rang from above. The Rock-nin looked up—relief flooded them.  

The "Ōnoki" below crumbled into rubble.  

"As expected of the Tsuchikage. Sharp instincts."  

Yoru tilted his head up at the floating Ōnoki. "But how long can your chakra last now?"  

Ōnoki scoffed. "Long enough to see you defeated."  

Inside, he was calculating:  

"Two-tenths of my chakra left. I’ll use my aerial advantage to stall him. He must be running low too."  

Then—Deidara’s voice cut through the air:  

"Yoru! Try THIS on for size!"  

A clay dragon plummeted from the sky.  

"Lightning Release: Raging Thunder Tiger!"  

Yoru’s hands blurred—Dragon–Tiger–Rat–Rabbit–Rat–Tiger—seals formed in a second.  

Lightning erupted around him like a storm god’s mantle.  

This Raging Thunder Tiger dwarfed the last one—several times stronger.  

"ROAR—!"  

A nine-meter-tall lightning tiger’s head devoured the clay dragon mid-air—then kept charging straight at Deidara.  

"Tch—!"  

Deidara barely swerved his clay bird aside in time.  

The tiger tore into the heavens, vanishing into the clouds.  

"Heh. Missed me, Yoru! Losing your touch?" Deidara taunted—but his eyes darted warily.  

Then—  

The sky darkened.  

In seconds, black clouds swallowed a 500-meter radius.  

"Oh no you don’t!" Deidara snarled. "You’re not calling down lightning on me!"  

"Clay Dragons—GO!"  

He hurled three more toward Yoru—then bolted for clear skies.  

Ōnoki didn’t need warning.  

"ALL ROCK-NIN—RETREAT ONE MILE! NOW!"  

He knew exactly what Yoru was planning.  

And he wouldn’t give him the chance.  

"Too late."  

Yoru’s voice was ice.  

The clay dragons closed in—  

He raised a hand like a wrathful deity.  

"RAGING THUNDER TIGER—UNLEASH!"  

This wasn’t just lightning.  

This was judgment.  

A tiger’s roar split the world.  

The battlefield plunged into darkness.  

Then—  

Soldiers looked up.  

And froze.  

The sky—miles of it—had turned black.  

A mountain-sized tiger’s head parted the clouds, eyes blazing, fangs bared.  

"GROWL—!"  

It dove.  

Lightning engulfed Ōnoki’s vision.  

Deidara’s too.  

One thought flashed in both their minds:  

"We’re dead."  

No time to dodge. No time to breathe.  

Just—  

A colossal paw crashing down.  

Then—nothing.  

Below, Rock-nin collapsed, trembling. Some soiled themselves.  

This wasn’t battle.  

This was doom.  

Even the Mist-nin panicked—  

This attack spared no one.  

Had Yoru gone mad?  

Then—  

"Scatter."  

A single word.  

The tiger dissolved into thousands of smaller lightning bolts—each one a miniature tiger, homing in on Rock-nin only.  

"AHHH—!"  

Screams erupted as soldiers were blasted back, bodies convulsing.  

And Yoru—?  

He was already moving.  

Streaking toward two unconscious figures floating in the sea—  

Ōnoki. Deidara.  

"LIKE HELL!"  

The Four-Tails Jinchūriki lunged, fists blazing.  

Elite Rock-nin converged.  

No way in hell they’d let their Kage be captured!  

"OUT OF MY WAY!"  

Yoru’s sword cleaved the air itself.  

A monstrous slash ripped through the Four-Tails’ chest, hurling him back.  

The elites staggered to a halt—terrified.  

By the time they blinked—  

Yoru already had Ōnoki by the throat, sealing jutsu flaring.  

Then—Deidara.  

Two hostages.  

He raised his voice—cold, final:  

"Rock Village… you lose."  

"Surrender now—or watch your Tsuchikage die."  

Silence.  

Then—chaos.  

"The Tsuchikage… lost?"  

"He’s been captured?!"  

The Rock-nin’s faces paled.  

Their world shattered.  

Chapter 175: We Surrender  

"BASTARD!!!"  

The Four-Tails roared in fury—yet didn’t dare make another move.  

"I’ll give you three seconds to decide: surrender or keep fighting!"  

"If you choose battle, I doubt any of you can stop me!"  

"Go ahead, try it! See how many of you make it out alive!"  

"But if you refuse to surrender… well, I can’t guarantee the Tsuchikage’s safety."  

The Iwa-nin trembled with rage, fists clenched, eyes burning—but beneath the fury lay despair.  

Yoru was too strong.  

That Lightning Tiger technique from the sky had wiped out nearly five hundred of them in an instant.  

How were they supposed to fight that?  

And after unleashing such a devastating attack, Yoru wasn’t even winded. No sign of depleted chakra. No weakness to exploit.  

Worst of all—he had the Tsuchikage as a hostage.  

The Iwa-nin were trapped, torn between shame and survival.  

The word "surrender" stuck in their throats.  

But with Ōnoki captured, Kurotsuchi and Akatsuchi critically wounded, and no high-ranking officials left to command… who could even make that call?  

"One!"  

"Two!"  

Yoru’s countdown was merciless, leaving no room for deliberation.  

"Three!"  

Silence.  

A slow, bloodthirsty grin spread across Yoru’s face.  

"So you’ve chosen death."  

His blade flashed, humming with lethal intent—  

"STOP! WE SURRENDER!"  

The voice cut through the tension.  

All eyes turned to Tsuchikage’s right-hand man—Ōnoki’s most trusted general—Tsuchi.  

The Iwa-nin stared at him, disbelief and resentment warring in their eyes.  

"Tsuchi-sama… Are we really…?"  

"We have no choice." His voice was heavy.  

If not for Ōnoki’s capture, they could’ve retreated and regrouped. But now?  

He locked eyes with Yoru, jaw tight.  

"I speak for the Tsuchikage. The Hidden Stone surrenders to the Hidden Mist."  

"Name your terms for his release."  

Yoru’s smirk turned razor-sharp.  

"Simple. Just one condition."  

"March your forces to Maoming Town immediately. Reinforce the Fifth Mizukage against Suna."  

"Crush the Sand forces. Capture the Fourth Kazekage and deliver him to me."  

"Sign a binding contract, and once the war ends… we’ll exchange hostages."  

"No reparations. No further demands. A generous deal, don’t you think?"  

Tsuchi’s face darkened.  

"A wolf hunting a tiger. Clever."  

But after a tense pause, he gritted out:  

"Fine. We agree. Hand over the contract."  

No hesitation. No stalling.  

He wasn’t just doing this for Ōnoki.  

Another battle would mean annihilation.  

Yoru’s power was monstrous—a one-man army with no equal on that battlefield.  

"Wise decision."  

Yoru pulled a scroll from his pouch and tossed it to Tsuchi.  

"Sign it."  

The fact that he’d prepared the contract in advance—so utterly confident in his victory—sent a chill through the Iwa ranks.  

Even as enemies, Tsuchi couldn’t help but respect that sheer, terrifying arrogance.  

Once signed, Yoru tucked the scroll away with a chuckle.  

"You saved yourselves a lot of pain."  

Tsuchi frowned—until Yoru snapped his fingers.  

The mist shrouding the distant battlefield dissipated.  

And what it revealed—  

Every Iwa-nin froze.  

Blood.  

So much blood.  

The sea was crimson, littered with corpses—over 2,500—all with identical clean slits across their throats, faces locked in horror.  

The surviving Iwa-nin turned ghost-white, staring at the Kiri ANBU hunters like they were reapers.  

"Heh. Lucky you missed the party."  

"How’s it feel? The terror of the Hidden Mist Jutsu?"  

The Kiri-nin grinned, relishing their enemies’ shock.  

"T-They had over 4,000 men in there… and now…?"  

"How…? Even slaughtering unarmed civilians wouldn’t be this fast!"  

"What the hell happened inside that mist?!"  

Even Tsuchi felt his scalp prickle.  

Yoru hadn’t been bluffing.  

A few more minutes, and the Stone’s army would’ve been erased.  

10,000 vs. 1,500… and they’d lost.  

A legendary upset. A battle that would be etched into history.  

"We’ll meet again after the war for the hostage exchange."  

"Don’t worry—I’ll take good care of them."  

"Now move out."  

Yoru’s tone left no room for argument.  

Tsuchi glared.  

"You’d better keep your word."  

With that, he barked orders—4,000+ Iwa-nin turning toward Maoming Town.