"Lord Third, it's Rei Kaguya's Hiding in Mist Technique!"
"Not good. This technique will separate us from the other friendly forces coming to support us. We have to find a way to regroup with the others…"
"Where is Lord Juzo? If Lord Juzo, who is skilled in the Hiding in Mist Technique, were here, he might be able to break this technique… Where are the sensory team members? Can you sense Lord Juzo and Lord Fuguki's positions?"
"No. Rei Kaguya poured too much chakra into the mist. His chakra is everywhere in my perception. There's no way to properly sense anyone else's location!"
Listening to the nervous and anxious communication of the Anbu around him, the Third Mizukage, who had not participated in actual combat for nearly twenty years, took a deep breath.
He slowly suppressed the weakness caused by suddenly using a large amount of chakra.
It was true that the Anbu he had personally promoted would be loyal to him.
But if he appeared too powerless in his confrontation with Rei Kaguya, the jonin of the village might not continue standing on his side.
In the end, Kirigakure was a village where strength spoke.
Right now, Rei Kaguya had indeed been judged by the Mist shinobi as a traitor because of his overly aggressive seizure of power.
But if he could display the potential to defeat the entire village alone, then the title of rogue ninja would immediately vanish from his head.
The jonin now fighting alongside the Third Mizukage would support Rei's immediate succession as the Fourth Mizukage without hesitation.
What the shinobi of Kirigakure wanted was a Mizukage capable of leading them to victory in war and dominating the entire shinobi world.
As for himself, who had repeatedly made wrong judgments in the war against Konoha and nearly sent all of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen left behind by the Second Mizukage to their deaths at once, he clearly did not meet their expectations.
"Damn it… I had clearly already prepared myself to hand the position to you after the war ended. Why are you unwilling to wait even this little bit of time? Why do you have to fabricate such a clumsy and laughable excuse and step on me, someone destined to fail, a few more times?"
"If you insist on calling me a puppet controlled by genjutsu, then don't blame me for using the move that was supposed to bring me down together with enemies invading the village on you instead."
Madness flashed through the Third Mizukage's eyes.
Relying on the dozen or so Anbu protecting him with their bodies, he took out a summoning scroll from beneath his Mizukage cloak.
He bit his finger open and smeared his blood across it.
This was a technique developed years ago because compatibility experiments for the Six-Tails Jinchuriki had repeatedly failed.
Its effect was to forcibly drive the Six-Tails into a rampaging state, then use the interval before the Six-Tails fell into complete madness to summon it onto the battlefield with the Summoning Technique, making the Six-Tails indiscriminately attack everything within its field of vision.
Although the Third Mizukage had already forgotten exactly how he signed a summoning contract with the rampaging Six-Tails, and how he had determined that summoning the Six-Tails could serve as a trump card for mutual destruction, since he was so certain of it in his heart, there was absolutely no problem.
He was a shinobi who had openly inherited the Mizukage name from the Second Mizukage, Gengetsu Hozuki, and had once accompanied the First Mizukage, Byakuren, to the first Five Kage Summit as a guard.
How could anyone possibly deceive his mind and memories with genjutsu, or manipulate his body at will?
"Come out and destroy everything, Six-Tails!"
After completing the blood contract on the scroll, the Third Mizukage raised his hand, slammed it down, and roared loudly.
The Third Mizukage's sudden roar made the Anbu who had been guarding him reveal stunned expressions.
The area they were currently in was Kirigakure's core district.
It was the most prosperous and most populated area in the entire village.
Precisely because of that, both the shinobi loyal to the Third Mizukage and Rei Kaguya, who had launched the coup, had deliberately restrained themselves from using forbidden techniques that would cause large-scale destruction.
Even the previous Lightning-Water Dragon Bullet with astonishing destructive power had only been fired toward the already-empty Mizukage Building.
When Rei responded, he had also deliberately redirected the aftermath of the collision into the sky.
That was what caused that lightning rain with an enormous range, but very limited destructive power.
But now, the Third Mizukage intended to summon the Six-Tails, which had no Jinchuriki to control it and was filled with hatred toward Kirigakure because of previous capture and Jinchuriki experiments, into Kirigakure's core district?
This time, even the Mist shinobi who had originally felt that Rei had only fabricated the claim that the Third Mizukage was controlled by genjutsu in order to degrade him into nothing and completely deny everything he had done for Kirigakure could not help wavering.
A Kage who actively released an uncontrollable rampaging Tailed Beast into the village before being forced into a hopeless dead end…
Was there truly nothing wrong with his mind?
And just as the Anbu protecting the Third Mizukage with their bodies grew mentally shaken, while the Third Mizukage himself was intoxicated with the imminent appearance of the Six-Tails and the reversal of the battle, a bone spear with a gray tip flashed past the Anbu from an extremely tricky angle.
It accurately struck the black chakra sphere that was rapidly forming and swelling above the scroll.
The still-gathering Tailed Beast Ball was pierced by the Ash-Sulfur Piercing Spear, whose tip was made of All-Killing Ash Bones, forcing it to enter its explosion stage ahead of time.
But just as the Tailed Beast Ball, which was powerful enough to completely destroy the surrounding several hundred meters, was about to explode, Rei Kaguya arrived at the scene in fully activated Sage Mode.
With one kick, he sent the Tailed Beast Ball flying into the sky at high speed.
Then he formed hand seals with both hands and shouted in a low voice.
"Sage Art: Severing Void!"
Boom—!
A phantom sun hundreds of meters in diameter exploded in the sky.
Scorching and violent shockwaves began spreading in every direction.
But when the shockwaves expanded to the air above Kirigakure, they seemed to collide with an invisible transparent wall and rapidly dispersed.
Even the Kirigakure Anbu closest to the center of the explosion only felt a wave of hot wind brush their faces from above.
They did not suffer any real harm.
"T-That was…"
Outside the Mizukage Building, a young Anbu stared at the sun that had yet to vanish in the sky.
He was so shocked he could barely speak properly.
Not far away from him, a jonin with richer life experience looked at the gradually fading flames in the sky and murmured to himself.
"There's no mistake… That was a Tailed Beast Ball…"
"A Tailed Beast Ball!?" another jonin present cried out in shock. "What Lord Third summoned with that scroll was the Six-Tails' Tailed Beast Ball!?"
"Has Lord Third gone mad!? If something like that exploded here, more than half the village would be vaporized!" The shinobi who arrived later revealed expressions of disbelief.
"The Third Mizukage has gone mad. He has definitely gone mad… Wait, where is Rei Kaguya? Didn't he say Lord Third was being controlled by genjutsu!? If we take his words seriously, then the Third Mizukage's actions make sense, don't they?"
"You… You're joking, right…"
While the others were still shocked by that attack that nearly destroyed most of Kirigakure, Rei, who had neutralized the secondary disaster caused by the Tailed Beast Ball's explosion, had already walked before the Third Mizukage, whose face was filled with shock.
He pressed his hand against the Third Mizukage's forehead.
"How could… How could it be… a Tailed Beast Ball?"
Looking at the Third Mizukage's disordered and confused expression, Rei sighed.
While forming the seal used to break genjutsu, he spoke in a voice carrying a trace of pity.
"Open your eyes, Third Mizukage… Sorry for disturbing your beautiful dream, but now is the time to count your mistakes and sins."
"Release!"