Infinite Anime [241-242] (Patreon)

Chapter 241: Monster Showdown

Most of what was on the flyers was nonsense, but the explosive core of the news was true—after all, the Mizukage being controlled was a fact.

For Zabuza to return to Kirigakure and hand out such flyers was undoubtedly dancing on the edge of a blade, a move courting death—but at this point he could only trust Gusion, trust the perfect opportunity Gusion had created for him.

The two of them had a special way to stay in contact; just half an hour ago, Gusion told him he could enter Kirigakure and begin the plan.

Gusion assured him that during this window, none of Kirigakure's high-end combat power—Mizukage included—would be returning to the village.

And since Zabuza hadn't been gone from the Mist for too long, he still had a fair amount of prestige. In Kirigakure's dungeon there was still a batch of ninjas imprisoned—those who had rebelled with him back then—among them not a few elite jōnin.

All he needed to do was slip into the village, scatter the flyers, tell the villagers the truth, then free the faction that belonged to him from the dungeon, and he'd be able to seize control of Kirigakure's situation in short order.

Of course, those elders who stood with Terumi Mei would definitely jump out to denounce him.

Even if they knew he, too, had the village at heart, they would still try to exclude him. Why? Because their political stance had already changed.

In the early years, everyone in Kirigakure wanted the Mizukage's brutal rule to end; those elders might even have favored Zabuza back then. But now they had thrown in with Terumi Mei. They were just waiting for the Fourth Mizukage to abdicate, and then they would push Terumi Mei to the top.

That way, they would still able to maintain their lofty status in the Mist.

Which meant Zabuza, as a rogue ninja, naturally wouldn't be their first choice.

Zabuza, however, didn't care what those elders thought. As long as he controlled public opinion and won people's hearts, and had a batch of powerful ninjas at his back who would follow him, those elders' words would be no better than a fart—meaningless.

Sure enough, after he scattered flyers throughout the village, Kirigakure plunged into chaos. People in every street and alley were discussing the matter.

It had to be said: the Mizukage's faction had made a fatal mistake—namely, they hadn't told the villagers the truth about Yagura being controlled.

From the Mizukage faction's point of view, this was understandable. Yagura was the Mizukage; if word got out that he'd been controlled, it would be a humiliation. The Mizukage of the Land of Water—one of the Five Great Nations—being controlled by an outsider's genjutsu? How could that be tolerable?

For the nation's and village's face, they wouldn't let this get out; they certainly wouldn't let the ordinary ninjas in the village know.

From Yagura's personal perspective, he might have had a desire to atone and wanted to make the truth public, but the people around him would stop him, urging him to preserve the village's and the nation's dignity.

And Yagura would soon go along with that decision, because he wanted revenge against the Akatsuki and Uchiha Madara. In that case, the Mizukage's position and identity were still useful to him for the time being, which meant he also couldn't reveal the truth about being controlled.

Thus the matter was kept hidden—until today, when Zabuza exposed it.

The same matter, if announced by the Mizukage's faction would provoke a completely different reaction than having it revealed by Zabuza in this fashion.

In the former case, villagers would be angry, but they would also feel an extra measure of understanding and sympathy for the Mizukage.

In the latter, the villagers would feel nothing but anger and disappointment. They would think Yagura, for the sake of appearances, wasn't even willing to apologize for what he had done over the years.

In an instant, the villagers' anger cut them off completely from the Mizukage's faction. And how would they see Zabuza, this rogue ninja?

 He was both the man who had once defied tyranny, stood up for the villagers, and rose up to correct the Mizukage's mistakes—and the hero who, even today, had not forgotten the peril of his homeland, braving the huge risk of his rogue-ninja status to return and tell the people the truth!

In just half an hour, the wind shifted in Kirigakure. The Mizukage and his people would never have imagined that while they were away, their home was being stolen.

Zabuza freed his old comrades from the dungeon—those who had revolted with him back then. When they met, aside from being moved, there were few pleasantries; they immediately began efficiently moving to seize control of Kirigakure.

It was clear Zabuza truly had high prestige in their hearts—and they were willing to trust him.

Bear in mind: none of them knew what the situation was outside. To an ordinary perspective, the Mizukage had only stepped out for a while.

If they broke out now and made a move with Zabuza, they were putting their heads on the block. Even if the Mizukage was no longer controlled, afterward he wouldn't lock them up again—he would execute them all.

Curiously—or rather, cleverly—Zabuza never told the villagers he'd returned to start a revolution or overthrow the Mizukage's rule.

From start to finish, he only said he was there to tell everyone the truth. The ninjas who followed him were only responsible for dealing with the people the elders' faction sent to try to control the flow of information.

In this way, Zabuza's image in the eyes of the people became even more solid and reliable—definitely not some rebel.

This, too, was part of Zabuza's plan—or rather, something he had agreed upon with Gusion.

Because if Zabuza openly rebelled, many would still refuse to accept it, and it would give people grounds to attack him.

So Zabuza planned to cooperate with Lord Calamity and put on a great show.

…

Amid earth-shaking roars, swathes of the wet woodlands collapsed as a mountain-sized monster barreled at Gusion. Its rock-hard body could not be stopped even by lightning.

Gusion had just used Mazuko to block a tail slash from Yagura when he saw Yagura—now transformed to the size of the real Three-Tails—gather a pitch-black sphere in his mouth.

In a flash, dark-red lightning crawled over Gusion's body, stimulating his cells and boosting his speed further. He side-stepped like a bolt of lightning, evading the Tailed Beast Ball's blast.

Boom—

The Tailed Beast Ball landed near Kirigakure. The ground swayed as a mountain-sized mushroom cloud rose, sending the villagers in the distance into a panic.

In this state, Yagura still retained reason and tactical acumen, but his fighting style had clearly become more impulsive and ferocious.

That Tailed Beast Ball—if it had strayed a bit and missed Gusion—would have hit Kirigakure directly and erased the ninja village.

The Tailed Beast Ball is the key that allows a tailed beast to serve as a weapon of last resort; not everyone can take it head-on and live. Within the blast radius, none of Kirigakure's villagers would have survived.

Seeing this, Terumi Mei's fair face beaded with sweat. Forcing herself to focus, she unleashed Lava Release, trying to ambush Gusion from the flank.

She didn't know if Gusion was doing it intentionally or not, but throughout the fight he had been moving in the direction of Kirigakure. If they kept fighting in that direction—

Even leaving Gusion aside, Fourth Mizukage Yagura, in his tailed-beast form with a colossal body, could make a mistake and cause casualties in the Mist.

"Big guys really are a pain."

After dodging the Tailed Beast Ball, Gusion rolled his sore wrist. Wrestling with a giant like Yagura, even with Ryuō coating, he'd be outmuscled—the size difference was just too great.

With that thought, he drew a finger across Mazuko's edge. A crystalline bead of blood appeared. "Summoning Technique!"

With a bang, white mist billowed, and a looming giant emerged amid the damp woods.

"You finally remembered your lord and master. That old hag of a White Snake was nagging me to death."

The gigantic Garaga shook its head, scattering the mist, and groused.

It glanced at Yagura. "Isn't that Isobu? Long time no see."

"This is bad… Our intel never said Calamity had a summoning beast this huge!"

Terumi Mei craned her neck to look up at Garaga, panic in her eyes. If this giant snake and Yagura both charged into Kirigakure, wouldn't the village be wiped off the map?!

 Giant summons had always been weapons of war, mainly because ordinary ninjas simply couldn't handle them. With the advantage of their massive size, just a few rolls across the battlefield would cause severe casualties.

Sensing the colossal chakra in this snake, Terumi Mei's heart pounded. This was on par with the One-Tail, wasn't it?

 Boom—!

Garaga wasn't summoned to chat. It quickly grasped the situation. Seeing the Three-Tails rushing at it, it charged straight in to meet it.

Two gargantuan monsters crashed together, the visual impact overwhelming.

Standing atop Garaga's head, Gusion couldn't help but sigh—Summoning really burned chakra. If not to cooperate with Zabuza's play, he would never be fighting the Mizukage in such a drawn-out way.

Thinking so, he immediately began slashing from Garaga's crown, siphoning chakra by cutting into the Three-Tails to refill his reserves.

Garaga was worthy of a millennia-old serpent. Isobu was a round, chubby giant turtle; as a long, serpentine creature, Garaga would lose in a straight collision. So after a single exchange, it immediately switched tactics, wrapping itself around the Three-Tails in a constricting coil.

In an instant, the two titans tangled together, rolling through the wet forest.

If the Three-Tails were wild, Garaga might just be able to handle it alone.

Unfortunately, the Three-Tails was under the control of Yagura, the Mizukage—who could use ninjutsu.

"Water Release: Isobu Great Waterfall!"

A low voice rumbled from Isobu's mouth. In a flash, an enormous torrent surged skyward, swelling violently. It almost tore Garaga apart.

The impact knocked them apart. They rolled across the ground repeatedly, bursting out of the damp forest and only stopping a kilometer from Kirigakure.

"Mizukage-sama, we have to pull the battle back!"

Terumi Mei shouted, but now it was even harder for her to intervene. Yagura had entered his ultimate Three-Tails form; he was simply too big. Her techniques could easily cause friendly fire.

She couldn't risk failing to hit the lightning-fast Gusion and instead melting Isobu's excellent armor. That would be aiding the enemy.

"I know. Black Tech—use that move! I won't let him harm the village!"

The Mizukage's voice was resolute. His sense of duty outstripped his anger. He realized that if they kept fighting like this, Kirigakure itself would be in danger.

"The original plan…"

Black Tech stopped mid-sentence. What plan? If Gusion destroyed Kirigakure, he'd be left with nothing.

Without hesitation, he Body-Flickered behind Yagura, took out an epic-grade, max-rated enhancement scroll, and applied it to the Mizukage.

At the same time, he pulled out a short-range teleportation scroll and enveloped himself and Yagura.

In the next instant, Yagura's colossal form warped and reappeared before Kirigakure, blocking Gusion and Garaga's path.

Feeling the Mizukage's aura surge again, battle-lust kindled in Gusion's eyes. "So there were still some tricks. Looks like destroying the Mist won't be that easy."

They were very close to Kirigakure now, and Gusion stood atop Garaga's head, so everyone inside the village could see him.

He deliberately raised his voice so the people in the Mist could hear as well, further shocking and enraging the Mizukage's group.

"As the Mizukage, I will never let you hurt my village!"

Yagura's voice came through Isobu, carrying a resolve to die if needed.

The people of Kirigakure had been through one upheaval after another that day. Having just learned the truth about the Mizukage being controlled, they were now facing an Akatsuki raid to destroy the village. Their emotions were all over the place.

Their eyes on the Mizukage were complicated, but sensing the resolve in his words gave them a different kind of reassurance.

"Nice eyes."

Gusion praised as he met the Mizukage's gaze. "This is your strongest state, isn't it?"

Chapter 242: Sage Gusion

Perhaps the battle Yagura truly wanted to fight was never the vengeful pursuit of Akatsuki members, but the defense of his own village.

His eyes were firm now; the change in his mindset and resolve made him a different person than before.

As Gusion and the Mizukage fought up to Kirigakure's gates, Hoshigaki Kisame, sensing the crisis, abandoned his pursuit of the heavily wounded Jūzō Biwa and hurried back to help defend the village.

While Gusion and the Mizukage exchanged words, Terumi Mei and Black Tech arrived from behind, sealing off Gusion's escape routes. Kisame came in from the flank, ready to support the Mizukage at any time.

In the distance, the already injured Jūzō Biwa was both stunned and worried. He didn't know why Calamity would say he was going to destroy Kirigakure—this wasn't in their plan.

Confused, he also fretted for Calamity. He felt Gusion was pushing it too far: one man against the Fourth Mizukage, Terumi Mei, Hoshigaki Kisame, and the Mist's new generation of Seven Ninja Swordsmen—how could he possibly win?

 Even if Gusion had traded blows evenly with the Mizukage before, he didn't think Gusion could still be at ease with a human-tailed-beast like Kisame joining the fight.

Not to mention, they were at Kirigakure's doorstep. The village's other elite jōnin wouldn't sit on their hands.

At this moment, Gusion stood atop Garaga's head. The serpent raised its proud crown, lifting Gusion to the highest point to look down on the Mist's elites who were surrounding him.

Gusion's gaze swept the crowd without a hint of panic. Beneath him, Garaga—hot-tempered by nature—was brimming with fighting spirit.

The instant Gusion declared he would destroy Kirigakure, there was no need for more words. The Fourth Mizukage charged first. With Black Tech's aid, his condition was even better than before; his rush forced Garaga back step after step.

Garaga braced its massive body into a bow to hold off Isobu's charge.

But Yagura's low voice rumbled from Isobu's mouth, and the Three-Tails shifted.

In the next moment, Isobu hunched its whole body, the huge, heavy carapace on its back wrapping it tight. Like a wheel, it rolled forward at high speed, using its enormous size and weight to crush Garaga.

Gusion knew this tactic: Yagura wanted to force the giant summon away from the village first, to prevent Garaga's bulk from damaging Kirigakure.

Seeing Garaga couldn't withstand the assault, Gusion leapt from the serpent's head. He coated Mazuko with Ryuō and brought down a ground-cleaving slash.

A dark-crimson blade-light flashed and vanished across the sky. The Three-Tails' hard armor cracked under Gusion's strike, and blood sprayed into the air.

Reeling in pain, Yagura lost his balance. Garaga seized the chance, planted itself, and knocked the tailed-beast Yagura aside, sending him rolling off to one side.

No sooner had the clash of titans paused than another strong foe arrived. As the gale dispersed the ever-present fog, a blue-skinned, shark-faced man lunged from behind: "Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave!"

Hoshigaki Kisame exploded with chakra, spewing oceanic waves from his mouth. In an instant he formed a massive ellipsoidal water prison, wrapping it around Gusion.

He knew Gusion was a lightning-style ninja, so he used this move only to trap, keeping himself outside to avoid Gusion using lightning's conductivity through the water to counter him as the caster.

In a normal fight he wouldn't waste chakra like this, treating Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave as a super water prison. But Gusion's performance had been outrageous; he'd suppressed the Mizukage earlier. Kisame didn't dare hold back and opened at full power.

He didn't expect this move to defeat Gusion outright—but at least it needed to pin him down. And he wasn't fighting alone!

 Sure enough, the powerful recoil from Gusion's slash to halt Yagura was something even Gusion couldn't instantly nullify. Kisame's judgment proved correct. The Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave couldn't be evaded at top speed; it engulfed Gusion and became a suspended water mass the size of a lake at the center of the battlefield.

Before the water closed over him, Gusion took a deep breath and was about to Shunpo out when Terumi Mei and Black Tech's attacks arrived.

"Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique!"

Terumi Mei fired Lava Release into the water mass to cooperate with Kisame, trying to transform the giant water prison into a lava-water prison to directly corrode Gusion's body. She believed that as long as he couldn't break out, within two seconds he'd be nothing but bones—if even bones remained.

Black Tech, as a Tier-4 Explorer, wasn't slacking either. He mimed hand seals: "Sealing Technique: Heaven-Binding Chains!"

Glowing white chains burst from Gusion's body mid-surge, binding his limbs in a strange pattern, restricting his movement.

Terumi Mei's lava had already entered Kisame's water mass. Seeing his control technique land, Black Tech finally exhaled a little.

This Explorer called Calamity was indeed strong—but he was underestimating ninja teamwork too much. They were elite, battle-hardened, Kage-level comrades from the same village.

"Brat!"

Seeing Gusion trapped, Garaga roared.

But it had just been sent spinning by Yagura and was still rolling outward under inertia; it had no way to assist in time.

The experienced Yagura, on the other hand, gritted through the pain in his back. He aimed at the airborne water mass. A pitch-black Tailed Beast Ball formed rapidly and fired!

Boom—

The gigantic lava-infused water sphere exploded instantly under the Tailed Beast Ball, turning into a deluge of acid rain. The residents of Kirigakure scrambled into buildings, terrified of being melted to sludge by Terumi Mei's lava.

Because of the intense chemical reaction, flames also bloomed at the blast's center. After the acid rain came a rain of fire—a doomsday scene.

"Damn you! How dare you kill my contract holder!"

Garaga bellowed in fury. It was the first time it had been summoned; it wanted to prove itself as the strongest summoning beast in the shinobi world. But how could the strongest summoning beast have its summoner killed the moment it appeared?

"Calamity!"

In the distance, Jūzō Biwa cried out at the sight. Ignoring his own severe injuries, he rushed back to see if Gusion still lived. If he did, Jūzō would try to get him out.

"Did we get him? What a terrifying opponent…"

Terumi Mei let out a breath as she watched the rain of fire. She actively dispelled some of the acid rain still under her chakra control to avoid large-scale damage to the Mist.

"Hah—hah—hah—"

Yagura released his tailed-beast form and landed beside the others. A huge wound carved across his back still bled freely. He was breathing hard.

Clearly, the intense battle just now—and the physical injuries—had drained him.

He stared solemnly at the center of the flaming rain, a bad feeling gnawing at him—one he hoped wouldn't come true.

With his rich combat experience, the Mizukage felt something was off. He glanced around, and his heart clenched. "His summoning beast hasn't disappeared!"

As if to confirm his words, the mass of fire in midair underwent a secondary explosion. A scorching blast wave ripped outward. The superheated acid rain left Kirigakure's walls pitted and scarred.

Driven by the blast, the flaming rain scattered widely. In the center, the strange suction of a wind-eye pulled everything inward, forming a towering fire twister.

As the storm raged, the surrounding fog and smoke were blown away, revealing the scene at the eye.

Within the tornado of flame, dark-red lightning interwove and crackled with a chilling sizzle. At the very center of the eye, a man stood, aura farming.

His Akatsuki cloak had several new holes. Every button along the front had come undone, the garment whipping backward in the gale.

The clothes beneath his upper body were mostly corroded away, revealing a sculpted torso whose musculature looked god-wrought. Plates of crimson scales clung to his skin.

They weren't like common fish or snake scales, but gleamed with a metallic luster. With each breath, they opened and shut, clinking like steel upon steel—like a living suit of armor.

The scales climbed up to the side of Gusion's face and stopped. Together with dark violet demonic markings, that face resembled the masterpiece of a maddest painter—seething with boundless frenzy and a disturbing beauty.

Dark-red lightning rose from him while purple-black miasma slowly sank. He looked like he stood at the source of creation itself, looking down upon all beings.

Sage Mode: Dragonform.

"Don't make such a fuss. Worried about me that much?"

Gusion's voice was teasing.

Garaga's serpentine face flushed. It turned aside quickly. "I was only worried you'd die too fast and unsummon me before I'd had a chance to show off."

Gusion didn't keep teasing Garaga. He looked at the Mizukage's group, sweat beading on their foreheads. "Come at me with everything you've got…"

Yagura had re-entered a partial tailed-beast state. His expression was grave as he issued orders. "Mei, help evacuate the villagers to the rear. I'll defeat him."

He held a black rod tipped with a flower—but the blossom looked withered, as if about to fall.

Terumi Mei didn't argue. She knew her abilities were too prone to friendly fire on such a battlefield and could be turned by Gusion to harm allies. She immediately withdrew toward the village to direct evacuation.

"This is ridiculous…"

Black Tech stared at Gusion in the sky. He didn't know what technique this was, but Gusion's aura had surged by a whole tier—he looked like a different person than the one they'd fought moments before.

He also couldn't comprehend how Gusion had survived their coordinated strike.

Gusion in midair, however, could have answered him. He had to admit he'd nearly overplayed his hand. Because he was orchestrating things so Zabuza could cooperate with his performance, he'd been analyzing the battlefield too much and slipped for a moment—giving Kisame the opening.

These ninjas really knew how to capitalize. A silky-smooth little combo, and they'd almost killed him.

Fortunately he had the Clearheart bloodline, and decent resistance to physical control. Their crowd-control only stiffened him for a heartbeat before he shook free.

Right then, Yagura's Tailed Beast Ball arrived. Gusion couldn't take that head-on. In the nick of time he Flash-Stepped, narrowly avoiding a direct hit.

Even so, the Tailed Beast Ball's blast wasn't something he could shrug off, and Terumi Mei's corrosive lava inside the water mass was closing in fast.

Gusion didn't dare delay. He decisively activated Sage Mode. His composite stats spiked to 75—numbers exploding.

Bear in mind, his base Strength was only 56. With various temporary modes stacking, it was a complete metamorphosis.

With the explosive stat boost, Gusion sheathed himself in Ryuō, tanked the indirect shockwave from the Tailed Beast Ball, and came out mostly unscathed.

As for Terumi Mei's lava, it hadn't yet broken through his defenses before the Tailed Beast Ball blew the water mass apart. That didn't make Yagura a bad teammate—no one could guarantee Gusion wouldn't break out; a Tailed Beast Ball as a finisher was reasonable.

Now that he'd opened Sage Mode, Gusion had no intention of prolonging the fight. He would sweep the opponents before him at once.