Chapter 263: Decisive Battle for Uzu V

‘I fucked up!’ Shiki immediately realized in his hidey hole underground.

He did not even attempt to escape, he could not use his spacetime shadow ninjutsu while melded into the ground with Kukyoshin.

‘Earth Release: Earth Spear’

The boy’s body turned dark, earthy brown as it hardened.

And then, Hozuki Shingetsu forced his massive, watery monster body into the ground.

He and the Mizukage had already deduced Shiki was hiding underground but they did not know exactly where.

So they elected to devastate the entire area and hope they would catch him.

And catch him they did.

Shingetsu’s Tate Eboshi water monster burst from the earth like a violent geyser, dragging a small humanoid figure with it.

“We got him!” The Mizukage could barely contain his excitement at having caught the menace.

Shiki was not very threatening to shinobi of his caliber but he was extremely dangerous against his forces and, worse than a slippery loach, he always seemed impossible to catch.

That was the thing, the boy’s mobility along with his ability to wipe out masses of weaker shinobi in a way that even those vastly stronger than him, like the Third Raikage, could not, made him an enormous problem in a war.

‘But I’ve caught him.’ Hozuki Shingetsu thought with malicious glee.

Before the Mizukage could even talk about restraining and capturing Shiki, the boy, still trapped in the Tate Eboshi jutsu’s water monster, became the target of a barrage of deadly attacks.

Water slashes, cutting jets, compressed blasts and tearing currents continuously battered Shiki with lethal intent.

Witnessing this, the Third Mizukage nearly attacked his overly bloodthirsty subordinate with rage, however . . .

The boy was technically within Shingetsu’s watery body and so, he was utterly at the Kiri shinobi’s mercy . . .

Or so said Kiri shinobi, and even his Kage, had thought.

Once the barrage stopped however.

A wounded, battered Shiki with nearly completely shredded clothes became clearly perceivable.

He certainly looked awful but none of his wounds were critical and, without any delay, even those mild injuries started vanishing at breakneck speed.

Seeing that, Shingetsu once again did not wait for his Mizukage’s command and started barraging the boy once more.

As for Shiki himself . . . Needless to say, he was not having a good time.

By pouring most of his chakra output into Earth Spear to harden his body, with Nirvana Art: Elemental as a booster and the natural advantage of Earth Release against Water Release, the boy reduced the damage from a body scattering instant kill to multiple mortal wounds.

It was a combined jutsu from two Kage level water Release users, even with every advantage, Shiki who was not an Earth Release specialist by any measure, was unable to avoid the fate of being killed.

However, the Nirvana Seal and its functionally unlimited stock of life energy meant that so long as he was not instantly killed, the boy would regenerate from just about anything.

By focusing on the critical injuries only, Shiki healing could outpace the damage from Shingetsu’s attacks even if it left him utterly battered and wretched looking.

Unfortunately, he was also trapped.

The continuous barrage of attacks while being held inside the enemy’s jutsu and watery body, made him unable to fight back without opening himself up to an instantly deadly amount of damage.

‘Shiki-sama . . .’ Beni bit her lip, struggling to hold herself from jumping into the fight.

Shingetsu’s massive Tate Eboshi water monster body was not something Benihime could deal significant damage to, making her unable to intervene without making things even worse for little to no benefit.

‘Tch! It’s too early and might induce too much caution in the coalition but I can’t get pinned down any longer.’ Shiki judged.

With his chakra and life energy being constantly replenished, he would eventually win the battle of attrition since the Mizukage and Shingetsu lacked the means to kill him in one blow once he turtled up.

But the approaching Raikage would make short work of the boy if he did not escape with due haste.

Gathering his resolve, Shiki unleashed one of his trump cards.

‘Howling Wolf Possession’

A cocoon of bluish black chakra immediately enveloped the boy’s body, so dense it briefly blocked all the oncoming attacks.

Shingetsu and the Mizukage were not ignorant of the similarities.

‘Jinchuriki Transformation!?’ X2

It was slightly different and the chakra, while certainly ominous, did not feel quite as powerful as a Tailed Beast but it was close.

They did not have to wonder for long.

The cocoon burst as a massive bipedal werewolf looking creature with bluish black fur and a silvery mane that split into countless appendages that reached out to the monster's surroundings.

The Tate Eboshi’s massive water body could barely fit the giant creature Shiki had transformed into.

Before the two Kiri shinobi could formulate a proper response, the boy activated Roen’s chakra absorption as each silvery appendage jutting out from his mane, began frantically draining Shingetsu’s chakra.

Still, as a veteran shinobi, the Hozuki clansman immediately reacted by cancelling his Water Release: Tate Eboshi.

No longer in contact with him, Shiki could no longer drain the man’s chakra but freedom was his.

‘Time to leave.’ He thought.

While using his powerful transformation to devastate the Kiri forces did cross the boy’s mind, he believed it was not yet time for such a showdown and his current position also put him at a disadvantage.

‘WHA_!’

At the last second, his Ryugan: Zenchi caught the traces.

Swirling torrents of chakra akin to the ones produced by the Taikyoku Rasengan wrapped around the massive werewolf’s left claw as it turned with blinding, physics defying speed in spite of his size.

This chakra heavy nintaijutsu was Shiki’s Raging Dragon Kata, adapted to Rowen’s hybrid form, the Raging Wolf Kata.

The claw tore through the air, bringing a churning storm of chakra with it.

But . . .

*TEAR*

A black flash ripped the chakra, the claw beneath it and ran through the werewolf’s entire arm, violently destroying it.

Flaring with arcs of black lightning, the flash hit the ground with earthshaking force, revealing the form of the Third Raikage, clad in the signature Lightning Cloak enhanced by his special black elemental release.

Shiki used Ryugan: Zenchi’s retrocognition to observe at the last few seconds and the truth became clear.

‘This bastard instantly left his forces and Lightning Flickered here at top speed the moment I transformed.’ The boy realized.

Ay Senior was simply so fast that by the time Shiki’s subconscious evaluated that the man was close enough to be a threat, it was already too late to formulate a proper response.

As powerful as the boy’s sensory abilities were, it was not feasible to maintain full focus on the entire battlefield at once, his mind still lacked the capacity for that kind of burden.

Usually, his subconscious awareness of everything would ping his conscious mind as soon as something required his attention, it was enough in every situation he had previously encountered.

Alas! Shiki’s subconscious underestimated the Third Raikage far too much.

Speaking of the man, he was currently leering at the transformed boy in his  massive werewolf form like a pervert would leer if the world’s number one beauty started a striptease show in front of him . . .

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