Boom!
Crack!
Thunder rolled as Kurosuki Raiga kept his twin blades crossed, releasing one lightning strike after another. Dazzling currents twisted and climbed through the air like living things, their sheer pressure gripping the soul.
The radiant crimson barrier stood proud.
It endured the storm head-on, taking the relentless bombardment without flinching. Only at the instant of impact did it ripple in waves, then it settled back into stillness as if nothing had happened, like an unscalable mountain.
"It w-won't… it won't even break through…"
Ranmaru's violet hair was soaked with sweat, sticking to his forehead like scattered petals. His face had gone pale, and he mumbled under his breath, barely audible.
The fear gnawed at him harder and harder. His mind felt like it was being driven toward madness, and he could no longer maintain even a semblance of calm. His agitation was visible.
"Calm down, Ranmaru!"
The man who was usually the most unhinged, Kurosuki Raiga, was chillingly composed once the fight began. He kept pushing chakra into Kiba, weaving a wall of lightning that never let up, hammering the strange red polyhedral barrier from afar.
This was the way he fought best.
Kiba charged fast. Seal-less Lightning Release poured out in wide-area saturation. If the enemy took even one hit, they would be paralyzed, frozen in place, and then the endless follow-up strikes would finish the job.
"I'm sorry," Ranmaru whispered.
He knew he was slipping. He forced himself to breathe, to loosen the tight knot in his chest. His crimson eyes clashed violently with Konome Taketori's pale gaze, using chakra mirages to disrupt her targeting and sensory lock.
Bzzz.
Another transparent ripple hid itself inside the glare of lightning and streaked toward Raiga.
Raiga acted as if he hadn't noticed. He simply continued to pour out thunder.
The vacuum ripple skimmed across him, then twisted unnaturally, missing by half an inch. It cut only a single strand of hair before flying onward toward the distant sea.
"Good," Raiga said, baring sharklike teeth in a grin.
Behind him, Ranmaru nodded silently.
Konome's sensory dōjutsu was being interfered with. She couldn't lock their exact position. All that remained was for Raiga to crack her thick turtle shell, and victory would be inevitable.
That would be the normal outcome.
Yet Ranmaru felt the fear growing stronger.
He stared at the trembling crimson barrier, and his heart seemed to tremble with it.
At the same time, most of the Kurosuki gang had already been beaten down by Naruto and Sasuke. Only one towering man, wearing a slashed Hidden Mist forehead protector, continued to hold on.
He had once served under Raiga back in Kirigakure. He'd followed Raiga through battles for years, an important figure within the Kurosuki clan, the strongest of the gang besides Raiga himself.
"Hahaha! Boss Raiga is invincible! Your companions have already been crushed by lightning!"
He twisted his head aside, dodging Sasuke's lightning-wreathed katana. Laughing as if victory was certain, he looked toward the storm of thunder where Raiga fought.
"You don't understand how terrifying that man is," Sasuke said flatly. "And do you really think I'd turn my back, idiot?"
His blade didn't tremble as it aimed at the enemy's forehead. Sasuke's lips curled, and his two-tomoe Sharingan had already locked onto the steel needles hidden between the man's fingers.
The man's manic laughter faded. The Kurosuki thug's face returned to a blank, murderous calm, as if the madness had only ever been a mask.
"Your friends are finished too," he said coldly.
Sasuke's smile only grew more brazen.
"Then look again."
From the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw Naruto, a sea of identical orange-clad bodies, swelling like a tide as they surrounded the remaining Kurosuki men. The last few black silhouettes were swallowed whole.
"Heh."
The Kurosuki thug snorted. His steel needles spread like claws, his posture practically mocking Sasuke for trying the same cheap trick.
Then Sasuke's grin sharpened.
"Konoha Style: Strong Whirlwind!"
A shout bursting with youthful energy exploded behind the thug. Before he could even react, a whirlwind-like whip kick slammed into his lower back from the rear flank.
Boom!
The sheer force launched him with no resistance at all, a human cannonball rocketing straight into the tribunal platform. The half-destroyed structure collapsed completely with a thunderous crash, burying him on the spot.
Sasuke watched the chakra in that wreckage weaken and fade, then calmly sheathed his blade.
When he turned, he saw Naruto lowering his leg and flashing a thumbs-up.
That smug face made it obvious. It was the real one.
"Nosy," Sasuke muttered.
"Tch."
They both clicked their tongues in mutual disgust, then headed toward Dazuna's rescued family.
"Waaah! Dad!"
"I'm okay…"
Inari's face was a mess of tears and snot. His blue-striped cap sat crooked as he clung to Kaiza's left arm with all his strength. Tsunami, crying with relief as well, held onto Kaiza's right arm.
Kaiza didn't struggle this time. He smiled, letting his family bind him tighter than any rope the Kurosuki gang could ever manage.
Dazuna stood there in a daze. When he saw Naruto and Sasuke approach, his expression turned complicated.
When everything had fallen into despair, the ones who saved his family and the Land of Waves were the very Team 7 he had once looked down on, then dismissed by canceling the mission and sending away.
Gratitude, regret, shame.
A tangled knot of emotions twisted inside him.
If Konome were here reading emotions the way she read chakra, even she might have found that mess overwhelming.
"Naruto…"
"Dazuna-san, are you alright?"
Naruto didn't argue about right or wrong. He didn't even seem to notice the storm in Dazuna's face. He spoke the same way he always had, with that bright, sunny grin, and the awkwardness melted away.
"Thank you. I… I'm fine."
Dazuna sniffed and managed a smile back. Kaiza's family and the rescued militia hurried over as well, bowing and thanking them again and again.
But the crisis wasn't over.
After a few quick words, Kaiza rallied the militia and the townsfolk. "That hero is still fighting over there. First, we lock these Kurosuki men up!"
"Yes!"
With their restraints cut free, the militia and the people of the Land of Waves worked together. They tied the fallen enemies into tight bundles like silkworm cocoons and shoved them into the ready-made coffins.
Another trial would await them.
But any judgment meant nothing unless the most important battlefield, far away, produced a victor.
Boom!
Tree-branch thick bolts smashed craters into the plaza. The pale crimson barrier endured the onslaught, trembling as if it could collapse at any moment.
Dazuna blended into the crowd, staring at the disaster-like scene with worry written across his face.
"They won't…"
"Relax," Naruto said, completely unconcerned. "Konome is unbeatable. She can't lose."
Naruto had already become a hopeless fanboy. Five years ago, he and Konome had killed an elite jōnin together. After all these years, Konome's strength had grown into something terrifying. What she showed now was only the tip of the iceberg.
Sasuke didn't speak, but he nodded again and again, gaze burning as he stared at Raiga.
More precisely, he stared at the twin blades wrapped in lightning.
He could see it clearly now. The thunderstorm was Kiba's work. That was a rare Lightning Release ninja tool, perfect for him.
They couldn't step into that battlefield yet. All Sasuke could do was hope Konome didn't damage the blade.
"Still…" Dazuna couldn't settle.
But seeing Naruto and Sasuke's confidence, and remembering everything that had happened these past days, he let out a slow breath and said solemnly:
"You're the best shinobi of Konoha. I trust your judgment."
"Hehe," Naruto laughed, stupidly pleased.
Hearing that stubborn old man finally admit it felt even better than beating the Kurosuki men.
Sasuke's mouth lifted too, his frustration at being unable to join the fight easing slightly.
After that, nobody spoke.
The people of the Land of Waves stared at the distant, brilliant battlefield. Worry, hope, fear, awe, all mixed together. Some closed their eyes, lips moving, praying to whatever gods they believed in.
They knew this victory was temporary.
Only that fight would decide the Land of Waves' fate.
Crack!
Another bolt struck, precise, hammering the barrier's upper right corner.
The pale red barrier flickered wildly. The spot that had taken countless hits now looked like bulletproof glass after repeated shots, dense cracks spiderwebbing outward.
Inside the crimson barrier, Konome watched calmly, studying how the jutsu responded under assault. Whenever the lightning showed signs of slowing, she released a wind blade toward Raiga's feet. Each time, the lightning would surge even fiercer in response.
"This thing really is the Pseudo Concealment Gate Technique?"
Kakashi, lurking behind her like a shameless thief hoping to steal a glimpse, looked as if he'd seen a ghost.
Everyone knew this barrier technique could recognize chakra patterns. Only chakra that matched the "signature" could pass through freely. And after Konome's modifications, the recognition speed was clearly faster.
Her wind blade didn't hesitate for even a heartbeat. It slipped through the barrier and flew out cleanly.
Absolute defense.
Yet she could cast outward without restriction.
If this barrier could be mass-produced, every ninjutsu specialist would become a walking artillery platform.
"It's about enough."
Seeing the damage spreading across one corner, Konome was satisfied.
B-rank and below were essentially useless against it. Even an elite jōnin, using a high-penetration Lightning Release and hammering one weak point nonstop, would only barely have a chance of breaking it.
In terms of defense alone, it slightly surpassed Lightning Armor, with broader adaptability. Pure chakra had no yin-yang or five-element nature transformation. It was weaker in raw destructive power, yes, but it also couldn't be countered by elemental affinity.
That had never been her primary goal anyway.
She hadn't built this as a bunker.
She'd wanted it as a multifunction support jutsu: suppress her fear aura and heat leakage so she wouldn't indiscriminately harm allies, block prying eyes from Byakugan, Sharingan, sensory jutsu, and the like, and keep out dust, grime, and poison gas so her clothes stayed intact during combat.
The defense had been a side benefit.
But perhaps because the technique's foundation was simply superior, even that "side benefit" now showed frightening performance.
Bzzzzt.
In the distance, without her wind interference, Raiga finally finished charging something new.
A horrifying, spherical lightning orb.
Just looking at the liquid-like plasma swirling at its core, Konome knew at once.
That strike would break her barrier.
The test was over.
And so was this fight.
Her silver-white hair lifted without wind. Within her Byakugan, chakra flared like a blazing star. Konome's chakra surged like an incoming tide, and the curse inscriptions covering her body lit up inch by inch, glowing like circuitry coming alive.
The Perfect Combat Body she'd been building for five years was finally about to show what it could really do.
Behind her, Kakashi, still studying the barrier, suddenly felt something brighten.
He snapped his head up.
Raiga was grinning, lifting his twin blades as he hurled the lightning orb.
The thunder was brighter than anything before. Stray Lightning Release tore the air open along its path, scorching black seams across the sky.
Kiba's speed, high-pressure lightning, explosive thunder sphere.
No new tricks, only more and more violent chakra packed inside.
That orb looked like a high-yield bomb. Kakashi had no doubt that if it detonated unchecked, the entire plaza would be leveled.
His Sharingan locked onto it.
His hands flew through seals. Left hand gripped his right wrist. Lightning gathered in his palm.
The S-rank Lightning Release ultimate.
Chidori. Raikiri.
The technique that had earned its name by cutting lightning itself.
Perfect for this moment.
Kakashi's blood ignited. With lightning in his hand, he was about to charge forward.
But Konome moved first.
Silent.
No glow, no shadow, no seals, no visible charge.
Three spindle-shaped objects, the color of pale sea-blue, appeared calmly at her side. Twisting wind clung to them, and the nature transformation was so quiet, so perfectly controlled, it made Kakashi's temples throb.
The higher the level of nature transformation, the more violent and unstable chakra became.
His own A-rank Chidori screamed like birds because he couldn't fully suppress that extreme transformation. And when he pushed complex shape change into it, it became Raikiri.
Those silent water-wind composite techniques in front of him carried that same feeling.
Only far worse.
The lightning orb thundered closer.
Konome lightly shook her head at Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei. Don't go."
"I… I know."
Kakashi swallowed and took a step back.
He couldn't see the chakra inside the barrier, but he didn't need to. Even by sight alone, he understood how dangerous those three spindles were.
Konome withdrew her gaze and raised a finger, pointing into the air at the incoming lightning orb.
The tips of the three water spindles split open, each forming a narrow slit, like a vertical eye snapping open and locking onto her target.
Her expression went cold.
"Floating Water Cannons. Fire."
Peeeeee!
There was no earth-shaking roar.
No dazzling flash.
Just three beams of water, fired together like lasers.
There was no time to react.
No way to even understand what the attack was.
The raging plasma lightning orb.
Kurosuki Raiga's twisted grin.
Ranmaru's crimson eyes.
And even the endless sea behind them.
All of it was pierced through without mercy by those laser-like water cannons.
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