The purple clouds twisted madly, water mist rose into the sky, and even the miasma seemed to darken.
Sharp vacuum slashes tore through the air. Ripple-like waves surged upward like tides.
From the ground, the Kusanagi Sword shot forth like a dragon, extending endlessly as if it meant to pierce a hole through the sun.
Yet the moment all of it struck that bright red barrier, everything vanished into nothing.
Konome held both hands slightly outward. Behind her, the twelve water shuttles were rapidly filling with chakra, building pressure.
A viscous purple sea churned within her heart and flowed through her meridians like liquid mercury. Purple chakra currents raced madly along the complex muscle patterns beneath her skin, like electricity running through a circuit board.
A vivid polygonal barrier unfolded and shifted from the void. Layer upon layer of thickening defense formed a neat red diamond, rejecting everything that was harmful to its master.
Bang, bang, bang!
The sickle-like blasts arrived first, slashing wildly against the translucent red diamond.
Long scars immediately appeared across the red shell, like someone hacking at bulletproof glass with a blade. Yet they only left shallow marks on the surface. Konome inside remained completely unharmed.
Ping!
A crisp sound like shattering glass rang out in front of her.
The incomparably sharp and flexible Kusanagi Sword arrived after the wind attacks. After piercing through the outer barrier, it slid through the opening like a steel-white snake, drilling inward inch by inch.
Buzz!
The barrier, attacked from both front and back, flickered continuously. Konome remained calm and composed as curse marks flowed between the lines of her muscles.
The scratches caused by Danzo's assault instantly vanished. Yet the Kusanagi Sword in front, almost alive, remained firmly wedged in the crack, preventing the barrier from repairing itself.
Hiss, hiss, hiss.
Orochimaru's ninja sandals dragged two lines across the shattered ground. Her whole body was taut, neck stretched, as she gripped the Kusanagi Sword in her mouth and forced it against the barrier.
Danzo behind her saw this and pushed harder. His hand seals changed rapidly before his chest, which suddenly swelled.
Wind Release: Vacuum Great Sphere!
Terrifying Wind Release chakra compressed to the limit. The translucent vacuum turned pure white, forming a giant vacuum shell.
Buzz!
The vacuum shell smashed fiercely into the back of the red barrier, erupting with astonishing force.
Konome, who had been allowing them to attack, frowned slightly. The diamond-shaped barrier behind her flashed violently. Cracks of all sizes appeared on the back where the Vacuum Sphere struck, and faint purple chakra could even be seen flowing inside like sap within a plant.
They finally broke through that shell!
Danzo's Mangekyo Sharingan sharply caught the cracks on the barrier, and a sinister smile appeared on his face.
A ninja battle was about gathering information, then countering move by move. The most dangerous moment was often the first encounter, when neither side knew the other's abilities. A single careless mistake could easily result in death by an unknown secret technique.
Ninety percent of deaths in the ninja world happened because of missing information and first-contact kills.
Although Danzo did not know how Konome had turned the Mimicry Concealment Gate Formation into a protective ninjutsu usable in battle, once the information was known, there had to be a way to break it.
The defensive power of the Mimicry Concealment Gate Technique was not especially outstanding. At the very least, it could not compare to the Four Violet Flames Formation.
After sharing information with Orochimaru, Danzo had successfully found a countermeasure.
The key to barrier techniques lay in structural integrity. Or rather, any structure, when bearing external force such as pulling, pressure, or bending, distributed internal stress evenly.
Once a crack or opening appeared, external force could no longer be distributed evenly. It would all be "squeezed" into the sharpest point of that crack.
The local stress at that point would far exceed the rest of the object.
The opening was equivalent to a traitor, a weak link.
When stress concentrated at the crack tip and exceeded the material's strength limit, the crack would rapidly expand, producing a chain reaction that ultimately caused the whole structure to collapse.
For example, when tearing tape, one first made a small opening, then the entire strip could be torn apart easily. That opening guided the path of the tear.
Based on this physical principle, their battle plan was set.
The Kusanagi Sword possessed both sharpness and flexibility. It was the perfect key to open Konome's barrier.
First, its tip would pierce the outer layer. Then, the indestructible sword body would be wedged into the barrier, blocking its automatic repair function.
In this way, they successfully created an opening.
The rigid polyhedral structure became fragile. Next, Danzo would strike from behind with the immensely destructive Vacuum Great Sphere and shatter the weakened barrier in one blow.
Crack. Crack.
The sound of an eggshell splitting continued without end. Tiny red chakra crystals drifted down from the sky. The barrier of the Mimicry Concealment Gate Technique finally shattered.
Fragments of red crystal fell like rain, revealing Konome inside, faintly surprised.
"Path dependence is a common human weakness. The stronger a defensive ninjutsu is, the more it causes people to lose their vigilance. This trap was prepared especially for you, Konome Taketori!"
Orochimaru's golden beast-like pupils reflected faint red light. She controlled the Kusanagi Sword, now free of obstruction, and launched the final killing strike.
Kusanagi Sword: Longsword of the Sky!
A clear sword light swept out like a white silk ribbon, thrusting directly toward the petite body that had lost its defense. In the next instant, it would pierce straight through her heart.
Clang!
A piercing metallic collision echoed through the air.
The Kusanagi Sword, said to cut through anything, struck Konome's palm under Danzo and Orochimaru's expectant gazes, then could not advance another inch.
"What?"
Orochimaru's pupils suddenly contracted. She bit down on the Kusanagi Sword and thrust upward, yet felt as if she was not stabbing at a creature floating in the sky with no foothold, but at an immovable mountain.
It would not move.
Even that outer barrier had been easily destroyed by the Kusanagi Sword. Why could it not pierce her palm?
Could her physical defense be even stronger than that barrier technique?
Orochimaru suddenly realized a terrifying fact.
The defensive barrier they had spent so much effort breaking might not have been Konome's core defense at all.
"Looks like the Mimicry Concealment Gate Technique still needs improvement. Too many weaknesses."
Creak.
Gray bones grew from Konome's fingertips and palm, grinding violently against the sharp Kusanagi Sword and sending sparks flying.
Konome gripped the famous ninja tool, looked at Orochimaru's drastically changed expression, and let a playful glint enter her eyes.
Her physical defense was not especially powerful. At most, it was only a bit stronger than the Third Raikage's. Only with the Wind-Thunder Battle Armor and a Tailed Beast Cloak layered on top could she possibly withstand the Kusanagi Sword's monstrous sharpness.
But the fully evolved gray bones were different. Their defensive ability was far stronger.
At least, she had not yet found anything that could break her bones.
Of course, she had also not found anything that could withstand an attack from her gray bones.
Crack. Crack.
The sword edge, clear as white silk, began to dim. From the point of contact with the gray bone, layers of gray filled with the aura of death spread across it.
All-Killing Ash Bones!
The power of a Kekkei Mora originating from Kaguya Otsutsuki, a killing technique so powerful that even the Sage of Six Paths had not inherited it, finally bloomed once more in the ninja world after a thousand years.
The Kusanagi Sword, which had just relied on its indestructibility to wedge itself into the barrier, began turning gray-white inch by inch from its tip under Orochimaru's shocked gaze.
"Ugh!"
Seeing that rotten dead gray spreading along the blade toward her, Orochimaru no longer dared to keep it in her mouth. She directly vomited the Kusanagi Sword out.
As the hilt fell, the spreading gray covered it at incredible speed. Before the several-hundred-meter-long sword even hit the ground, it had already turned into ash in midair.
"The Kusanagi Sword shattered?"
Orochimaru had no time to grieve. She carefully shifted aside, avoiding the ash drifting through the air. After seeing the Kusanagi Sword's end, she did not dare let that strange power touch her in the slightest.
This Kusanagi Sword was completely different from ordinary ninja tools.
It had not been forged artificially with chakra metal and curse mark power. It had been made from a naturally special metal.
Legend said that metal came from the mythical Mount Huaguo. Its ability to extend and retract freely, and its indestructible nature, were inherent traits of the metal itself.
Yet now, a ninjutsu she did not recognize had reduced it to a handful of ash.
Orochimaru looked at the girl standing in the sky. That tyrannical, domineering power had already surpassed her understanding.
It felt exactly the same as the first time she had seen Itachi Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan.
This was an extremely high-level Kekkei Genkai.
Thinking of Konome's bloodline, Orochimaru suddenly realized that Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku might have an even higher level of evolution, and Konome Taketori was the one who had awakened it.
All of this happened in a flash.
From Orochimaru and Danzo's joint assault, to Danzo shattering the barrier with Wind Release, to the Kusanagi Sword turning into ash, only an instant had passed.
Buzz!
The twelve terrifying water shuttles had finished charging. They spun rapidly, opening thin slits like the vertical pupils of beasts, each pointing toward Orochimaru and Danzo.
Laser fire!
The same terrifying lasers erupted again.
Orochimaru once more twisted her body into a bizarre shape to evade the attack. Danzo simply stood in place and allowed the lasers to tear him apart.
There was no helping it.
The difference in speed was too great.
Even if he could see the laser attacks clearly and barely dodge them, he had no Earth Release defense. The sand and stone blasted up by the splash damage would still turn him into a sieve.
Since he had already activated Izanagi, he might as well take advantage of the remaining duration. Dying a few more times did not matter.
But the instant Danzo revived and opened his eyes, a petite figure was already standing before him. Proud dead-gray eyes looked down at him coldly, as if looking at a corpse.
"You… ngh…"
His eyes widened in terror. Before he could speak, slender fingers had already locked around his throat and lifted him into the air. Terrifying dead gray climbed along his neck.
"I really did not expect you to dare come back, Teacher Danzo."
Cold gray eyes met Danzo's narrow gaze. Konome could see the fear he could no longer suppress deep in his eyes, along with a hint of relaxation, as if he still had something to rely on.
"There is no invincible ninjutsu in this world. My barrier is like that, and so is your Izanagi."
Konome lifted the corner of her lips. The decaying power of the gray bones continued spreading through Danzo's body.
"By the way, Ryoma asked me to bring you a message."
"Cough…"
Danzo could no longer make a sound. As the power of death spread, his entire body began turning an eerie gray-white.
"The mission you left him has been completed."
"Farewell."
The rotten dead gray spread along the bridge of his nose. The corner of Danzo's eye, covered in curse marks, turned gray-white inch by inch. The crimson Kotoamatsukami slowly rotated, only to be instantly contaminated by the power of death, turning into a strange gray pinwheel.
A breeze passed.
Strands of dust flowed from Konome's fingertips and vanished into the sky with the wind. Vanishing with them was Shimura Danzo, whose eyes had remained calm until the very end.
Until the moment of death, he had still believed he could use Izanagi to rewrite reality and revive himself.
Perhaps that was what it meant to be fearless through ignorance.
Konome watched the ash scatter through the sky, breaking down into particles invisible to the naked eye. Even Danzo's unconscious soul had begun to drift apart. After summoning black lightning to blast it away, she could only sigh.
The ability of the All-Killing Ash Bones was simple.
As the final form of the Shikotsumyaku evolved to its limit, it had not obtained any other flashy power. Instead, it had pushed its offensive and defensive properties to the extreme.
The fully evolved gray bones possessed astonishing hardness. Even the Kusanagi Sword, which could injure the Adamantine Staff, could not leave the slightest scratch on them.
Konome had once tried to break them by mobilizing Takamagahara's power. But even when her own cells began to collapse under the tremendous force, the gray bones only showed the faintest deformation.
This abnormal hardness was completely different from ordinary physical materials. It was more like a "rule." Unless Konome deliberately controlled them to shatter and disintegrate, they could be regarded as the ultimate material that was absolutely indestructible.
At the same time, their offensive power also seemed to be a kind of rule.
They could pierce almost anything in the world. Under those gray death markings, even the hardest substance became as brittle as a biscuit.
Any physical body pierced by the gray bones would inevitably turn to ash and be completely broken down from the molecular level. The process was absolutely irreversible. Not even Izanagi could reverse that rule-based power.
In other words, although the All-Killing Ash Bones were not as dazzling as the Rinnegan, their practical ability had already reached the extreme.
And that was still not all.
As mentioned before, Takamagahara's power had countless variations. Konome had developed at most one percent of its uses.
Through testing, she discovered that the special power of her left eye's Takamagahara, which controlled the body, could link with the gray bones.
Normally, the gray bones had to pierce a person's body before taking effect. And condensing gray bones consumed an enormous amount of chakra. Even Kaguya Otsutsuki had only used them as a killing move.
But with Takamagahara's control, Konome could directly extract the death and decay power contained within the gray bones and transmit it into external objects through physical contact.
This contamination was not as instantly fatal as being stabbed by the gray bones. Or rather, it was not as fast. If the contaminated part was cut away the moment it was infected, survival was still possible.
In other words, as long as she touched someone, one foot was already in the grave. Whether the other foot followed depended on how quickly the victim reacted.
Unfortunately, Danzo had trusted the Sharingan's ocular powers too much and completely ignored her warning.
So he died.