The Third Mizukage was clearly blind, yet wherever he turned his face, silence followed.
The Uzumaki shinobi stayed on alert, wary of how the Mizukage might enter the battlefield.
The Mist ninja grew increasingly cautious, deliberately widening their distance from the Uzumaki.
The Cloud ninja also began to slowly retreat.
Whenever a Kage-level shinobi appeared, both sides of the battlefield—ally or enemy—grew tense.
If anyone got caught in a Kage's jutsu, they might die without even knowing how.
The great river running through the Hidden Eddy Village suddenly began to churn violently.
A massive lobster burst from the water, spewing foamy bubbles toward the Third Mizukage.
The Uzumaki had hidden a giant summoning beast in the river!
The Mizukage turned his head slightly, raising one hand as if sensing the disturbance.
The entire river nearly split in half—a section of it lifted from the surface, transforming into a colossal sphere of water that enveloped the lobster.
Water Prison Jutsu?
The scale of the Third Mizukage's Water Prison was enormous, trapping even that giant summoning beast.
Unfortunately, the foamy bubbles hadn't even reached him before they were swallowed by the water prison.
The massive sphere, dozens of meters across, filled every Uzumaki ninja with despair.
The Mizukage weaved a new set of hand signs, and dark clouds began to gather above his head.
They swelled and spread rapidly, forming a heavy layer of storm clouds that blanketed the entire Hidden Eddy Village.
Raindrops started to fall, one after another.
Yagami nearly crushed his telescope from the sight within it—his entire body ran cold.
If he were there... he'd already be dead.
The falling rain wasn't ordinary. Every droplet that touched a living being transformed into a Water Prison!
With such a vast area of effect, not even the fastest Body Flicker could evade it.
Every Uzumaki shinobi, every summoning beast—each was trapped inside a sphere of water.
Even villagers lying wounded on the ground, whose faint breathing revealed they were still alive, were detected and captured by the jutsu.
In an instant, all fighting ceased.
The entire village was filled only with countless spheres of water.
One by one, Uzumaki ninjas struggled helplessly inside their prisons.
They kicked and punched to no avail, unable to even touch the boundaries of the water walls.
Some tried forming hand seals, but it was useless—the Mizukage's technique could not be broken.
Inside the prisons, the trapped Uzumaki spat bubbles, inhaled mouthfuls of water, their bodies convulsing as their faces turned bright red.
Yagami shuddered inwardly. The Mizukage's range was terrifying—he could engulf an entire village in a single jutsu.
This was what it meant for a Kage to be able to destroy a village alone.
And not only that—he was controlling it all with surgical precision.
The Water Prison trapped only Uzumaki shinobi, not a single Mist or Cloud ninja.
Yagami thought grimly, No wonder Danzō hasn't moved yet. Maybe he doesn't dare.
Just as Yagami thought the Third Mizukage had shown the full extent of his power, the old Kage slowly opened his eyes.
Those eyes had been sealed shut for decades—yet now, they opened.
Empty sockets filled with dark, crimson liquid that churned with an ominous flow.
A fan-shaped beam of red light burst from his eyes.
Every water sphere touched by that light glowed blood-red—and the Uzumaki trapped within them instantly exploded, dissolving into pools of blood.
Damn... being a shinobi really is just asking to die... Yagami thought.
With a single glance, half the Uzumaki were gone.
One more, and the men of the clan would be completely wiped out.
Without Leaf's support, this once top-three clan in the shinobi world was nothing before the Great Villages.
In this era of one-village-one-country, even the strongest clans could not stand against a Hidden Village.
A clan that defied its village could only meet extinction.
The Senju and Uchiha clans had both perished in turn—but neither ever tried leaving Leaf.
Leaving would only mean dying faster.
The Mizukage turned his head—toward the remaining half of the Uzumaki.
It was over. The clan was finished.
Yagami looked toward Danzō, still motionless.
Was he really so terrified by the Mizukage's presence that he wouldn't move?
It was possible. Danzō feared death above all else. Without becoming Hokage yet, he would never take such a risk.
Just as the Mizukage's eyes flickered again, a faint trace of red appearing—
A massive lizard suddenly appeared beside the river!
It was one of the same summoning beasts Nagato would one day use—the Chameleon.
The lizard opened its mouth toward the Mizukage.
Inside its jaws stood an elderly man with white hair that had once been red—
The former patriarch of the Uzumaki Clan, and Mito's older brother.
He had already completed his hand seals before appearing.
A translucent god of death loomed above the river.
Reaper Death Seal!
The Mizukage didn't even form a seal—he simply raised a Water Wall behind him.
But the Shinigami ignored all physical barriers.
Its ghostly arm, covered in curse marks, passed straight through the wall and seized the Mizukage's head.
No—his soul.
His very spirit was being dragged out!
The Third Mizukage struggled for an instant—then his body collapsed like a corpse long dead.
The Reaper Death Seal was no ordinary ninjutsu—it attacked the soul directly, far beyond human understanding.
At the same time, the Uzumaki patriarch fell from the chameleon's mouth.
The seal was complete.
The Mizukage's soul was sealed away—and the patriarch's soul became the Shinigami's offering.
A peaceful smile rested on his face.
He had given everything for the Uzumaki Clan.
An innocent man becomes guilty for his treasures.
The Uzumaki's sealing arts had been coveted by every Hidden Village—
Even Danzō demanded access to them.
Too bad Senju Hashirama, in his naïve pursuit of peace, ignored the Uzumaki's need for a tailed beast.
Had the Senju not insisted otherwise, perhaps the Uzumaki could have had their own.
In the end, letting them host the Nine-Tails in Hidden Leaf had been a disastrous compromise.
The Third Mizukage and the Uzumaki patriarch perished together.
"Patriarch!"
Inside the Four Violet Flames Formation, the women of the Uzumaki Clan screamed and wept.
Uzumaki Yuka turned toward Konoha's direction—why hadn't anyone come yet?
The Mist shinobi stared in disbelief, some dropping their swords to the ground.
Their Mizukage... dead?
A man who had once attended the first Five Kage Summit alongside the First Mizukage—gone?
He might have been old, but he was still terrifyingly strong.
How could he just die like that?
The Cloud ninja glanced at each other, uncertain.
They'd joined the Mist in attacking Leaf's ally to draw its forces away from the Land of Steam's front line—
But now, Konoha hadn't appeared... and the Mizukage was dead?
The Cloud's captains exchanged looks, then all turned their eyes toward the Uzumaki shrine.
They couldn't let all these deaths be for nothing.
If Leaf wasn't coming, then they would seize the Uzumaki's sealing techniques!
The sealing arts were too powerful—able to destroy even a Kage-level opponent like the Mizukage.
With that power, perfect Jinchūriki would no longer be impossible.
The Mist shinobi, meanwhile, went mad—charging at every Uzumaki in sight with bloodshot eyes.
To them, every redhead deserved death.
Those who had just escaped the water prisons coughed violently, choking on the air.
One after another, the Uzumaki were cut down by the raging Mist.
Yagami lowered his telescope.
Surely now, Danzō would make his move.
The Mizukage was dead. The Uzumaki patriarch was dead.
The Hidden Eddy Village lay in ruins.
Danzō finally stood up.
Three unit captains hurried over to await orders.
Commands were passed swiftly down the chain—captains to squad leaders, squad leaders to their teams.
Black Ape's unit regrouped with its three sub-teams.
"Move at full speed toward the Four Violet Flames Formation! Fox and I take the center—other two squads, flank and form a wedge! Don't stop for anything!"
***
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