Shigure thought it over carefully. No—he definitely hadn't told this girl to do that.
Hinata stood to the side, cheeks flushed, her posture stiff with nerves.
Shigure raised a hand and gently patted her back, smiling softly.
"Don't be nervous."
The others froze for a moment, stunned.
So that sudden strike from the girl earlier… was just because she was too nervous?
That was far too ridiculous.
No one would have guessed that was the reason.
Hinata nodded silently, still tense.
Shigure continued, voice calm and almost casual:
"They're not that strong. You can handle them easily."
Those words made the expressions of the Four Kage shift sharply.
They?
Not that strong?
Easy?
Hearing Shigure dismiss them so lightly, irritation surged through the group.
One by one, their faces darkened—especially the Fourth Raikage, who had just pulled himself out of the shattered wall. His expression was thunderous.
The earlier attack hadn't injured him, but the ease with which he'd been struck was humiliating.
"Bastard!"
"You're not taking us seriously at all, are you?"
He snorted coldly.
At once, Darui moved. The other guards reacted immediately as well.
As the Kage's Guard Corps, it was routine to test an unknown threat.
"Lightning Release: Black Panther!"
Black lightning exploded from Darui's hand, roaring toward Hinata.
Hinata's palms rose fluidly—two precise bursts of chakra striking forward.
Her chakra shockwaves met the lightning mid-air, dispersing it instantly.
But Kurotsuchi was already in motion.
"Earth Release: Fist Rock Technique!"
Her hands encased themselves in stone, forming massive fists as she lunged forward.
Hinata's stance shifted; her fingers curled into a compact fist as she struck back directly.
Kurotsuchi sneered internally. Punching against earth-enhanced stone? Idiot.
But the moment their fists collided—
CRACK—!
The stone around her arm shattered cleanly.
Kurotsuchi was blown backward, only caught at the last second by Deidara.
"This woman is weird…" she muttered.
She shook out her numb arm. "My earth couldn't block her chakra. It went straight through."
Penetrated?
Kakashi's brows knit together. Only the Hyūga clan's Jūken could create such effects—chakra that could slip through defenses and strike directly.
Had the earth chakra shield not been there just now, Kurotsuchi's arm would have been broken.
Then something clicked in Kakashi's mind.
A girl with such chakra control…
A girl taken from Konoha by Shigure…
Hinata.
This had to be Hinata.
And she had grown strong. Very strong. Strong enough to repel the Raikage's elites, strong enough to swat aside the Fourth Raikage himself. Her original talent had always been excellent, but nowhere near the level of a true guard.
Now she was unrecognizable.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Flower Nail Crimson!"
Fugaku's voice cut through the tension.
Fist-sized fireballs erupted from his mouth, streaking toward Darui with incredible speed.
Then more—another flame, then another. In seconds, six or seven blazing projectiles filled the air.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Explosions flowered across the earth.
Stone walls rose defensively—but even they were blasted open, leaving smoking craters.
The caster was none other than the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.
He stared at Fugaku in open surprise.
"What powerful fire…"
"It broke through my earth so easily!"
Fugaku remained calm, posture steady, as if this were nothing special.
Shigure blinked in mild surprise.
Who would've thought Uchiha Fugaku—so often treated like a background character—would display such mastery over Fire Release?
Then again…
If he were truly a fool, could he really have fathered two geniuses like Itachi and Sasuke?
This alone was enough to prove that Uchiha Fugaku's talent was far from mediocre.
The earlier exchange had already revealed the depth of his Fire Release.
And yet, Fugaku's expression remained calm and composed—he clearly hadn't used his full strength.
Creak—
Without warning, a puppet slipped silently behind Shigure.
At some unknown moment, it had already taken position.
A hidden mechanism clicked open. A poisoned stinger shot straight toward Shigure's back.
But in the next instant—
Fugaku raised his hand.
A crescent-shaped arc of flame burst from his mouth, curving past Shigure with precise control and incinerating the incoming needle midair.
Bang!
Fugaku stepped forward and shattered the puppet with a single punch.
Fragments scattered across the ground.
He slowly withdrew his arm and glanced sideways at Kankurō.
"I noticed you a long time ago," Fugaku said calmly. "Trying to ambush our Mizukage-sama? That won't do."
Kankurō's expression darkened.
He had concealed the chakra threads carefully. When had this man noticed?
Meanwhile, the Kage guards had already engaged—but they were completely suppressed by Fugaku and Hinata. They couldn't even break through their defense.
The Fourth Raikage's patience finally snapped.
"What are you waiting for? Move!"
Then he turned toward Tsunade.
"Konoha… If you intend to stay out of this, I won't object!"
With that, he exploded forward in a flash of lightning, charging straight at Hinata.
On the surface, he targeted her—but his true aim was Shigure.
However—
In the next second, Shigure appeared directly in front of Hinata.
He calmly raised a single finger.
BOOM!
The Raikage's lightning-wreathed fist slammed forward with terrifying force—
And stopped.
It halted less than ten centimeters from Shigure's fingertip.
There was no visible contact.
Yet an invisible pressure held it in place.
A violent shockwave erupted outward, tearing across the battlefield.
The Raikage's eyes widened.
At that same moment, high above—
Ōnoki clasped his hands together.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A massive white cube of pulverizing chakra descended, bypassing the Raikage and completely enveloping Shigure.
The battlefield was swallowed in blinding light.
RUMBLE—!
An earth-shaking explosion followed.
Ōnoki narrowed his eyes.
"Is it over?"
Tsunade shook her head.
"No. If he could be defeated that easily… he wouldn't be Shigure."
The light began to flicker.
A voice echoed from within.
"You really do understand me… Tsunade-sister."
Shigure's body reformed from scattered particles of light, perfectly intact.
Moments earlier, he had simply shifted into an elementalized state, avoiding the Dust Release entirely.
He spread his hand outward.
"ROOM."
A strange spatial field expanded instantly around him.
Shigure glanced at the surrounding buildings.
"It's too cramped here. We can't really fight."
His gaze sharpened.
"Let's take this outside."
In the blink of an eye—
Shigure, Hinata, and Fugaku vanished.
Gaara was the first to react. Sand surged beneath his feet as he shot forward.
He spoke only one word.
"Chase."
(End of Chapter)
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