Chapter 135 (Patreon)

“Gravity followed by repulsion… Your abilities are remarkable, young lady.”

The Third Raikage looked up at Hinata and praised her without hesitation. His expression then became serious.

“You must be careful. The control placed within my body has fully activated. From this moment onward, I’ll be forced to fight back.”

Crackle!

The Lightning Release Chakra Mode surrounding the Third Raikage suddenly grew brighter.

The piercing roar of lightning resembled a thousand birds crying out at once.

In the next instant, he disappeared.

“He’s even faster now!”

Hinata’s expression changed slightly.

Mihawk calmly closed his eyes, allowing his Observation Haki to spread across the battlefield.

“His body may have been reanimated, but his presence can still be sensed.”

Shing!

Nemesis left its sheath in a blur.

Without opening his eyes, Mihawk swung the Black Blade through the empty space to his right.

The air itself was severed.

A massive dark-red Ranged Slash twisted into existence, rising seven or eight meters high before surging forward like a roaring tsunami.

BOOM!

The Third Raikage suddenly appeared in its path.

Moving at a speed that surpassed the limits of ordinary sight, he clenched his fist and struck the incoming Ranged Slash head-on.

A violent shock wave erupted from the collision.

The surrounding air distorted as the pressure swept across the desert.

For a moment, Mihawk’s enormous Ranged Slash was stopped in midair.

Mihawk opened his eyes, a trace of interest appearing within his icy-blue irises.

The Third Raikage was only the second shinobi capable of stopping one of his Ranged Slashes head-on.

Even though Mihawk hadn't used Haki, his reputation was well deserved.

This was the legendary shinobi who had faced ten thousand enemies alone and continued fighting for three days and three nights.

Even so, he was still a step too slow.

BOOM!

After holding back the Ranged Slash for more than five seconds, the Third Raikage finally lost the contest.

With no foothold beneath him, he was overwhelmed by the force contained within the attack and blasted out of the sky.

His body struck the desert with tremendous force.

The ground shook violently as a dense cloud of sand and dust rose into the air.

Hovering above the battlefield, Mihawk spoke quietly to Hinata.

“When he comes back up, restrain him with your strongest gravity for a few seconds. That’s all I need.”

The Third Raikage’s speed was exceptional.

The Fourth Raikage and Might Guy were among the few other shinobi whose raw speed was worth acknowledging.

However, speed had never been a weakness Mihawk could not overcome.

His Observation Haki could follow the Third Raikage’s movements without difficulty, and Geppo allowed him to move freely through the air.

He simply saw no reason to turn the battle into a contest of speed when Hinata could stop their opponent in place.

While alive, the Third Raikage had fought Gyūki to a standstill.

In terms of physical power and durability, he was undoubtedly among the strongest shinobi to appear since the era of Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

His Hell Stab, Lightning Release Chakra Mode, and Black Lightning were all extremely dangerous abilities.

Mihawk had no interest in exchanging attacks with him, knowing full well that against ordinary shinobi Raikage could suffice well but against him it was meangless.

His swordsmanship existed to kill.

It pursued the simplest and most decisive result—a single fatal strike.

Since Hinata was beside him, refusing to use her abilities to create that opening would have been pointless.

“Understood.”

Hinata nodded.

Her expression became serious as the Tenseigan remained fixed on the Third Raikage beneath the cloud of dust.

Whoosh!

Before the dust had even dispersed, the familiar sound of something tearing through the air rang out again.

“Now.”

Hinata’s eyes widened as she pressed her right hand downward.

An overwhelming gravitational force spread across the battlefield like an invisible net.

The Third Raikage had only just launched himself back into the sky when the force closed around him.

Gravity seized his entire body like the hand of a giant, stopping him in midair.

His lightning-covered figure became completely motionless.

Mihawk kicked against the air with Geppo.

Bang!

His figure transformed into an afterimage as he shot downward.

The Black Blade Nemesis swept across the Third Raikage’s body in a dark flash.

For an instant, the blade appeared almost incorporeal as it passed through his waist and both arms without encountering the slightest resistance.

Shrrk!

The Third Raikage’s body separated at the waist.

Both of his arms were severed at the same moment and fell toward the desert below.

As soon as Mihawk completed the slash, Hinata’s gravity wrapped around him and pulled him back into the air.

Mihawk returned to her side and looked down at the Third Raikage’s divided body.

A body renowned for enduring even a direct Wind Release: Rasenshuriken had been cut apart effortlessly.

Even the arms that wielded the so-called strongest spear had been severed by Nemesis.

The Third Raikage now lay scattered across the ground, completely unable to move.

Several seconds passed.

The familiar white dust of the Edo Tensei did not appear.

His body was not regenerating.

“Impossible! Why isn’t his body restoring itself?!”

Kabuto’s shocked voice echoed through the dark cavern.

The composure he had maintained even while confronting Obito vanished completely.

His face was filled with disbelief, and his eyes trembled behind his glasses.

The Edo Tensei had failed.

To Kabuto, Edo Tensei was the strongest ninjutsu ever created.

Outside of extraordinary powers such as the Rinnegan or a kekkei mōra, destruction alone should never have been enough to defeat a reanimated body.

Not even Dust Release could permanently destroy one.

Under normal circumstances, only a sealing technique could stop an Edo Tensei shinobi.

Tobirama Senju had originally created the technique to produce disposable bodies capable of using the Tandem Paper Bombs. Orochimaru later improved it, and Kabuto had refined it even further.

Ever since ninjutsu emerged from the teachings of Ninshū, few techniques had ever come as close to true invincibility as Edo Tensei.

Even Mihawk had once considered it nearly unbeatable.

Its true power came from the combination of an immortal body and constantly replenishing chakra.

Techniques that could only be used as final trump cards while alive—even forbidden jutsu that sacrificed the user’s life—could be unleashed repeatedly by an Edo Tensei shinobi.

Anyone who lacked a sealing technique would eventually be worn down.

Fighting such an opponent for an extended period was little more than slow suicide.

Yet now, the supposedly immortal body of the Third Raikage had failed to regenerate.

As the caster of Edo Tensei, Kabuto could sense it clearly through their connection.

No matter how much he tried to force the technique to activate, the Third Raikage’s severed body refused to repair itself.

Amid his shock, Kabuto remembered a pair of eyes.

Icy-blue irises filled with multicolored spiral patterns.

They were as cold as ice.

Even though Kabuto had only seen them through the Third Raikage’s vision from a distant cavern, he had felt as though those eyes were staring directly at him.

A chill ran through his body.

Several years ago, Mihawk’s eyes had still been as red as rubies.

“What kind of dōjutsu was that?” Kabuto murmured, his voice trembling slightly. “And Hinata’s eyes… Where did either of them obtain such powers?”

“Nerona Mihawk was born into an ordinary family. His father was a Konoha tokubetsu jōnin who died during the Nine-Tails’ attack. His mother was a civilian who passed away soon afterward, unable to recover from her grief.”

“Neither of them belonged to a clan possessing a kekkei genkai, much less a dōjutsu.”

Kabuto’s expression darkened.

“Nerona Mihawk… Hinata Hyūga… What secrets are the two of you hiding?”

He adjusted his round-framed glasses and forced himself to regain his composure.

“No. One result isn’t enough.”

“I need to test it again.”