Boom!
The heavy rain poured down relentlessly, accompanied by crashing thunder.
Troy and the others stared at the flames being parted in the distance and the figure emerging from within them. Cold sweat began to form on their foreheads.
What kind of ninjutsu was that?
Some unknown kekkei genkai?
At the same time, Hyūga Kumokawa raised his hand in the distance. Blue chakra surged forth, wrapping around his body like a flowing robe fluttering in the wind.
A gentle force lifted him, slowly raising his entire body into the air.
Soon after, two black chakra orbs gradually took shape, floating and orbiting around his wrists.
The "orbs" formed by the Tenseigan were not Truth-Seeking Balls, which could only be used after becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki. Their function was closer to the black rods of the Rinnegan.
However, when Hyūga Kumokawa tried to condense a third chakra orb, the already extremely weak connection was suddenly severed.
He lost his link to the Tenseigan on the moon and could no longer draw ocular power from it.
"They reacted that quickly?"
Hyūga Kumokawa's blue eyes remained calm. 'It seems the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon hasn't gone extinct yet.'
The current Ōtsutsuki Toneri should only be three or four years old, just like Naruto. If it was only Toneri, there was no way he could have cut off the connection with the Tenseigan so quickly.
That meant he only had one chance to borrow power from that Tenseigan.
Understanding this, Hyūga Kumokawa suppressed the greed and excitement in his heart and lifted his gaze toward the dozens of unfamiliar presences in the distance.
'They're finally here,' he thought. 'The ocular power I have now should be enough to deliver a grand finale to this performance.'
Buzz! Buzz!
The sharp whine of massive shuriken slicing through rain and wind filled the air as eight giant shuriken spun toward Hyūga Kumokawa with lethal force.
"Magnet Release: Sparrow Bee Twin Blades!"
Dazzling sparks exploded in front of him, bursting and scattering in the dark, gloomy rainy night. In mere seconds, dozens of slashing attacks were executed.
A cornered beast's final struggle.
Troy had truly gone mad. Ignoring the massive drain on his chakra, he attacked with everything he had in an attempt to kill his target.
He even advanced toward Hyūga Kumokawa, his mangled face twisted with extreme ferocity.
But Shinra Tensei was not absolute. The user would also suffer some backlash.
If faced with something that couldn't be repelled—like when Deva Path had confronted Six-Tails Naruto in his rampaging form—the user would be blasted away by their own power. Hyūga Kumokawa was currently feeling a heavy counterforce.
"Magnet Release user… Troy, is it?"
Hyūga Kumokawa thrust his hand forward. Several dull thuds rang out as the orbiting shuriken were repelled by the repulsive force.
Bang! Bang!
When Troy tried to control the shuriken for another assault, Hyūga Kumokawa's figure suddenly vanished from the sky.
He had lost sight of his target.
"Above!"
Akimichi Dōtō's roar came from behind. Troy's pupils contracted as he looked up instinctively.
Before he could turn and react, a massive force slammed down on him from the front.
Boom!
Troy felt as if an iron wall had crushed him. He was forced to his knees, his kneecaps letting out a sickening crack.
"That symbol on your forehead…"
Rainwater slid off the hood as Hyūga Kumokawa looked down at Troy's headband, his brilliant eyes shining even brighter than the moon in the night sky.
"Tell me," his voice was hoarse and low, "does Ninshū still exist?"
Kneeling in a pathetic state, Troy felt the overwhelming gaze from above and was flooded with humiliation, rage, and fear.
"Still not talking?"
Hyūga Kumokawa's tone remained cold and indifferent, as calm as still water.
Crack! Crack!
"AAAAHH!!"
A series of gruesome bone-cracking sounds rang out. Troy collapsed onto all fours and screamed, frantically shouting, "It doesn't! It's gone! Ninshū is just a legend!!"
"A legend?" Hyūga Kumokawa murmured to himself. "Shinobi still exist, yet the Ninshū founded by Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo has disappeared?"
Wait… Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo? Ninshū? What does that mean?
Troy's pupils shook violently as an unbelievable guess formed in his mind. He struggled to look up at the figure above him.
In the midst of the raging storm, that figure stood as solid as a jagged black cliff. Any massive wave crashing against it would be shattered to pieces.
His pride as a kekkei genkai user seemed laughably insignificant before this monster—like a fish baring its fangs and claws against a reef, only to meet despair.
Sensing something, Hyūga Kumokawa looked up into the distance.
While he had been focused on Troy, the Konoha shinobi had seized the chance to flee.
A very sensible decision.
Floating in mid-air, Hyūga Kumokawa chose not to pursue them. Instead, he turned his attention to the rustling woods on the other side.
Dense footsteps echoed through the chaotic night as dozens of muscular, burly men burst out from the trees.
"That's…"
"Lord Troy!"
The Hidden Cloud shinobi stationed at the border between the Land of Hot Springs and the Land of Lightning had arrived, never expecting to witness such a horrifying and bizarre scene.
They reacted quickly. Flare signals were launched into the sky, their blinding light illuminating the entire dark, rainy night and casting long shadows of the Cloud shinobi across the ground.
Within moments, the area was completely surrounded. There were no gaps for escape—it seemed impossible for anything to break through.
The Cloud shinobi were highly disciplined. They had sealed off the area in an instant.
From every direction, they locked down Hyūga Kumokawa's every move, waiting for their superior to give the order.
"Run!!"
Troy's desperate, pain-filled roar reached their ears, leaving the confused Cloud ninjas stunned.
There was only one opponent. Who exactly was supposed to run?
"This guy is a monster! A monster that was sealed here! His ability is…"
Before Troy could finish sharing the information, Hyūga Kumokawa slightly lowered his eyelids.
Boom!
Troy's limbs twisted as he was slammed into the ground. Blood vessels in his eyes looked ready to burst. His face, pressed against the dirt, contorted in unbearable agony.
Seeing this, the Cloud shinobi's expressions changed. Several hot-headed ones charged forward.
"Release Lord Troy!"
Hyūga Kumokawa let out a sigh. "So noisy."
Bang!!
It was like bursting a human-shaped bag filled with red blood. The stored liquid and solid matter exploded outward, scarlet fluid losing all shape and spreading across the ground!
"Damn bastard!" Enraged by the sight, the Cloud shinobi gave the order. "Attack! Kill him!"
Hyūga Kumokawa finally raised his head and looked at the charging Cloud ninjas.
He slowly lifted his arm. The two chakra orbs circled in front of him, gradually spinning faster.
A silver ring appeared before him—a perfect silver ring with no flaws whatsoever.
Facing the incoming ninjutsu from the Cloud shinobi, Hyūga Kumokawa softly uttered a few words:
"Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion."
As the indifferent command was issued, a terrifying hurricane surged forth.
BOOM!!
A deafening roar swept away the curtain of rain before him. The horrifying shockwave cracked the ground beneath their feet and caused his hood to flutter, revealing those deep, abyssal blue pupils.
Several kilometers away, on a large tree, a black-and-white figure emerged halfway from the trunk.
"No… No way! Who the hell is that?!"
Black Zetsu, with all his millennia of experience, stared at the figure in the sky. His hoarse voice was filled with pure terror as a chill rose from the depths of his soul.
Who was that guy? How could such power exist in the shinobi world?!
"What are you waiting for?! Run!" White Zetsu was even more frightened. He immediately pulled his body into the ground and fled without hesitation.
At the same time, in another direction, among the desperately fleeing Konoha shinobi, the one at the rear—"Hyūga Kumokawa"—suddenly stopped. He looked toward the unnoticed shadows beside him.
"Hehehe, so you're Hyūga Kumokawa. I've heard a lot about you."
A figure wrapped entirely in bandages stepped out from the darkness. His eyes greedily fixed on Hyūga Kumokawa's Byakugan as he smiled. "I was originally tracking that Magnet Release user, but those Byakugan look pretty good too."
***
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