— Whoosh!
The sharp water spiral tore through the fog and air, letting out a high-pitched screech.
Just as the water line was about to hit Yagura, his eyes suddenly shifted—he snapped out of Shisui's genjutsu and quickly ducked his head.
Shisui's fierce aura was right in front of him, and Yagura knew he couldn't back off without exposing a weakness.
Gritting his teeth, Yagura quickly drew out the Tailed Beast's chakra.
*Glug glug~*
A thick stream of orange-red chakra started swirling visibly around Yagura, quickly wrapping around his whole body.
The Tailed Beast Cloak!
Very few jutsu could break through this kind of defense.
After all, both sides relied on chakra, but a Tailed Beast's chakra was several times greater than a human's.
Normal jutsu didn't even come close to breaking through it.
But before Yagura could even feel smug for a second, the moment the water line touched the Tailed Beast cloak—
It pierced right through the rolling orange-red chakra with incredible pressure and precision.
What?!
Yagura's pupils shrank sharply.
It actually broke through the Tailed Beast's chakra defense?!
There was no time to dodge!
"No way to avoid it…!"
Yagura's purple eyes narrowed as he desperately twisted his body to the side.
The water line sliced right past his chest!
*Thud!*
"Ugh…!"
Yagura let out a muffled grunt as a burst of blood sprayed from his chest.
Yagura squinted and quickly backed away. His huge, spiked tail moved in front of his chest to block, but it was too late.
Karatachi Yagura clutched his chest with both hands — a high-speed stream of water had pierced straight through him.
The attack hit too fast and too hard!
Normally, a jutsu like this wouldn't be a problem for Yagura at all.
But right now, he was under Obito's genjutsu, and the forced use of the Tailed Beast's power had thrown his chakra into chaos.
On top of that, Shisui's eye technique had just delivered a strong mental blow.
The sounds of fighting and shouting around them suddenly stopped. The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
Everyone stared in disbelief at the tree branch where the water stream had come from.
Then, a shaky, hesitant voice broke the silence.
"No way… that attack pierced through the Mizukage's Tailed Beast chakra shield?!"
As soon as the words came out, the silence exploded into a wave of shocked voices.
"What was that attack?!"
"Didn't the voice just now sound like a kid?!"
"That can't be right! A kid breaking through a Tailed Beast's chakra? That's impossible!"
Voices full of shock and disbelief spread across the battlefield. Everyone looked stunned and confused.
In the middle of this chaotic battle, no one had even noticed someone hiding up there?
That shouldn't even be possible!
The shadow of the tree completely covered the figure above.
Only Hatake Satoru's legs swinging from the branch could barely be seen.
Soon, his face peeked out from the leaves.
He was grinning brightly, like someone meeting fans at an event, and he even waved at the Anbu below.
He let out a playful laugh in the middle of all the commotion.
"Woah~! I've been found~"
With one hand holding Hozuki Mangetsu, Hatake Satoru jumped lightly down from the tree. All eyes locked onto the two of them.
From the sound of the voice to the power of the attack, everyone's attention shifted to Hozuki Mangetsu.
Hatake Satoru casually ruffled Mangetsu's hair, then rubbed his chin as he looked at Yagura, who had fallen to the ground.
"Not bad. Missed a bit, but the power was pretty good!"
Mangetsu clearly enjoyed the praise, smiling just like a kid getting a compliment from a parent.
"Hehe! Of course! My teacher taught me, after all!"
Mangetsu had a pretty bad reputation in the ninja academy, and many of the Anbu had heard stories about the stuff he used to do.
Now, seeing this same kid act all shy and proper for once… some of them couldn't believe their eyes.
"Wait, that guy's the teacher of that 'prodigy' Hozuki Mangetsu?!"
"But I can't even sense any chakra from him…!"
"What's with this guy?!"
The crowd looked at each other, all with confused, unsure faces.
Hatake Satoru casually threw his arm around Mangetsu's shoulders and pointed with a grin at Yagura, who was behind the Anbu.
"Aren't you gonna check on your Mizukage? He looks pretty badly hurt~"
The Anbu seemed to snap back to reality and gave Satoru a complicated look before rushing toward Yagura.
"Mizukage-sama!"
Several Anbu ignored the enemies around them and ran straight to Yagura.
A few of them quickly dropped to their knees beside him, clearly panicked.
They had been given strict orders before: never get closer than one meter to Karatachi Yagura.
This ban was something Obito came up with to stop people from noticing that Yagura was under a Genjutsu.
But clearly, things had already gotten to the point where following orders wasn't really an option anymore.
Shisui had seen Hozuki Mangetsu train before, but he didn't expect that in just two days, the kid would improve so much—not to mention how much stronger his attack had become.
When he broke through the chakra shield just now, even Shisui was surprised for a second.
He didn't think the kid was actually that good.
Still, he had almost gotten hit in the face by a Jinchuriki just now. Shisui gave a slightly awkward glance at Hatake Satoru beside him.
"You two could at least help out instead of just hanging back and slacking off."
"I'm an opportunist—I stepped in at just the right time."
"We weren't slacking off!"
Hozuki Mangetsu immediately jumped to his feet by Hatake Satoru's side and shouted back.
Hatake Satoru squinted his eyes and playfully stuck his tongue out at Shisui.
Come on, man. Take off those rose-colored glasses and look closer—this guy's basically got 'I want to slack off' written across his face.
Shisui wasn't great at arguing with kids, and Mangetsu's comment left him speechless.
Back when he and Itachi were still in the clan, it felt like Sasuke always took his brother's side and argued with Shisui.
Guess he really was missing a little brother of his own.
Shisui let out a sigh and turned his eyes toward Karatachi Yagura, who was half-kneeling nearby.
Those two goofballs had totally changed the vibe, but Yagura still had a tailed beast sealed inside him.
Worst-case scenario? That one hit just now might make him lose control of the beast and go berserk.
"I remember the Fourth Mizukage was supposed to be able to fully control his tailed beast. He doesn't look right at all right now."
Shisui put on his sunglasses to hide his Sharingan a bit.
Even though the old advisor's group already knew who he really was, it was still better to keep a low profile.
Under the gaze of the Sharingan, he could see that Yagura's chakra was already starting to go wild.
This didn't look like someone who had perfect control over a tailed beast.
Shisui stared seriously at Yagura, a deep frown forming on his face.
"He's losing control. If the beast breaks out now, everyone here is going to die!"
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