Chapter 18: The Death of Hōzuki Kōgetsu
"It's a Water Clone!"
Seeing that scene, even Chizuki—who had been watching from the sidelines—shrank his pupils in shock and cried out in disbelief.
Forget Chizuki—even Jack looked stunned. Her large eyes blinked, her lovely lashes fluttering up and down, and her little mouth parted slightly as she stared at what was happening as though she had just witnessed something impossible.
It turned out that, just moments ago, when Hōzuki Kōgetsu had been battered into a miserable state by the incoming wave of heat, he had still found time to use the Water Clone Technique. While being scorched and driven into disarray by Pakura's Scorch Release, his real body had slipped underground in an instant, switching places with the Water Clone.
It was just that, at the time, Jack's attention had been on Chizuki, Chizuki's attention had been on Pakura, and Pakura's attention… well, Pakura had been focused on gathering chakra.
As a result, no one noticed this hidden move of Hōzuki Kōgetsu's.
A jōnin-level battle was fought over split-second opportunities and layers of schemes hidden beneath schemes. Opportunities had to be created—whether by yourself or by others. That was where calculation and strategy showed their greatest value.
And most important of all… was seizing the moment.
The exchange between these two had relied on ninjutsu, swordsmanship, and even something as common as the Water Clone Technique—yet they had still managed to turn it into such a brilliant display. It dazzled Chizuki and gave him a great deal of inspiration.
When experts fought, what mattered was being steady, precise, and ruthless. There was no need for flashy techniques—as long as you could hit the enemy, that was enough. Even if victory came through countless calculations and painstaking tricks, as long as you won, then that was the right way.
And no one would ever casually expose a weakness for you to exploit.
If they did, then it was almost certainly intentional—a trap waiting for you to step into. By then, the one with the opening wouldn't be them.
It would be you.
Although Hōzuki Kōgetsu had executed this feint brilliantly, Pakura, as a jōnin of Sunagakure, was hardly some easy prey.
Since entering battle, she had experienced countless conflicts, large and small, and her reactions were terrifyingly fast. Her body turned subtly to the side, her right foot sliding slightly back, shifting her center of gravity rearward. She raised both hands and extended them forward, palms facing ahead as the two delicate hands pressed together before her.
Looking at the charging Hōzuki Kōgetsu, a trace of annoyance flashed through her eyes. Her red lips parted, and she shouted:
"You won't get the chance. Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder!"
The moment her voice fell, three orange-yellow flames shaped like magatama appeared out of nowhere between them.
Seeing the danger, Hōzuki Kōgetsu did not withdraw his blade. Instead, he poured even more chakra into it. Blue, water-like chakra wrapped around the short sword as he slashed downward. The blade-light at its tip looked as if it could tear apart everything before it.
Slash.
With a single cut, one of the fireballs was split cleanly in two. It tore apart as easily as paper, and with the hiss of fire being extinguished by water, it vanished into nothingness.
But Hōzuki Kōgetsu's target was never those few fireballs in front of him.
From the moment he had stood before the graves of his family and friends, there had only ever been one target in his heart—
Pakura's life.
"Die!"
In that instant, Hōzuki Kōgetsu roared in midair. The short blade that had just slashed down flipped in a strange arc and, without losing any of its momentum, continued thrusting toward Pakura with the same terrifying force as before.
Thud—
A muffled sound came from where the two stood.
And with that, this dangerous, brilliant battle finally came to an end.
Pakura stood with her right foot behind her and her body leaning slightly back. Less than ten centimeters in front of her face was the short blade in Hōzuki Kōgetsu's hand, its tip aimed straight at her beautiful features.
Unfortunately, that blade would never reach its target.
Hōzuki Kōgetsu stood firmly before Pakura. Killing her should have been easy.
And yet, Pakura's hands were like an uncrossable abyss, stopping him dead in place. Everywhere touched by those two slender jade-like hands had already shriveled and blackened.
Hōzuki Kōgetsu drew in a dry breath. His throat felt painfully hoarse and scorched, and burning agony spread through every part of his body.
He understood.
The moisture in his body was being evaporated away.
Once struck by this technique, no one could escape death's embrace.
That was right.
His friends had all died to this very move as well.
The hand gripping his short blade trembled faintly. He looked deeply at Pakura one last time, then closed his eyes in pain.
No one knew what he was thinking in those final moments of his life.
Perhaps regret.
Perhaps release.
Who could really say?
As Hōzuki Kōgetsu's life force steadily faded, his body finally lost all strength and collapsed to the ground.
At that moment, the once-clear sky suddenly darkened. The sun was swallowed by clouds, and a single raindrop fell onto Hōzuki Kōgetsu's face, trailing down from the corner of his eye like a tear.
Friends… I'm coming to see you. I'm sorry…
...
Boom—crack!
Lightning tore across the gloomy sky, its sudden flash illuminating the earth. A peal of thunder exploded overhead, and heavy raindrops began to fall in a steady shower.
The dried-up valley, nourished by the rain like a sweet blessing, slowly began to moisten. The land seemed to regain a faint trace of life.
And the atmosphere among the three people present gradually sank into silence.
Looking at Hōzuki Kōgetsu's corpse on the ground, Chizuki opened his mouth as though to say something, but in the end said nothing.
After all, this was just another pitiful man who had lived only for hatred.
Pakura, too, slowly straightened her body, letting the rain fall over her. Her beautiful eyes calmly looked at Hōzuki Kōgetsu—the man who had wanted to kill her, failed, and had instead died by her hand.
No one knew what she was thinking.
In truth, to Pakura, there had been many people like Hōzuki Kōgetsu.
Some wanted revenge for family. Some wanted revenge for friends.
But war was always a matter of either you die or I do.
And so, one after another, those people had failed to fulfill the wishes in their hearts and died beneath Pakura's hands.
But this time, Pakura personally felt a kind of emotion she couldn't quite name.
The betrayal of her village.
The schemes of its higher-ups.
Kirigakure's hatred toward her.
For the first time, she suddenly began to understand Hōzuki Kōgetsu's pain.
After all, he came from Kirigakure—the village known as the "Blood Mist Village." In that place, even friends could turn their blades on one another.
So perhaps, all this time, his hatred toward her had been the very reason he kept living.
The quiet atmosphere lasted for about five minutes.
Then it was broken by Pakura's movement.
After standing in silence for a long while, Pakura slowly turned her head. Her orange-yellow eyes narrowed slightly as she shifted her gaze toward Chizuki in the distance.
Feeling Pakura's eyes on him, Chizuki shivered all over.
After witnessing Pakura's overwhelming strength, he was deeply wary of her now. Swallowing hard, he felt the chakra inside his body begin to flow rapidly, ready for any sudden accident at any moment.