Thunder Descends

The houses created by the Four-Pillar House Technique extended all the way beyond the courtyard, and Ruri finally let out a sigh of relief.

"Everyone, get inside the houses!" Ruri shouted. This method was a little ugly, far inferior to Gaara simply using sand to block every ninjutsu, but it was the strongest defense he could manage at the moment.

Hagane Maomori had recovered some of his strength and took over command. Everyone entered the houses in an orderly fashion, one after another. Only at the very end did Hagane Maomori enter, supported by Hagane Masamasa.

"Damn Wood Style! Since when did that guy know this kind of ninjutsu? But a technique on this scale must consume a tremendous amount of chakra! Retreat first!" Seeing his subordinates' techniques fail to affect the houses, Kubi Ichiro withdrew. His goal of draining Ruri's chakra had already been achieved anyway.

Simply resisting their ninjutsu had already consumed so much chakra. Once Rihei used his forbidden technique, what would these people have left to defend themselves with?

"As the connected houses move farther away, this place will become extremely dangerous soon. Anyone who can use defensive ninjutsu, don't stop!" Ruri continued constructing houses. The Wood Style houses were sturdy, but he was not certain whether they could withstand a forbidden technique on Dofuten's level. He could only keep building houses and move away from the center of the technique.

After witnessing Ruri doing everything he could to protect them, the others had already acknowledged him as their Takikage. They obeyed his orders without the slightest hesitation.

"Faster!" Ruri helped up a middle-aged ninja who had fallen. Through his senses, he could tell that natural energy was gathering at a terrifying rate. It was not far from erupting!

The next instant, a surging force erupted from Rihei, covering nearly half of Takigakure and the area where Ruri and the others stood. Everything yielded beneath that oppressive power; even the air was twisted into a hurricane.

The nearby waterfall bore the brunt of it. A waterfall dozens of meters high was flattened into a lake!

Ruri's heart sank as he felt that power. Its range had probably engulfed many homes and houses in the village. Even if they quelled the coup, it would take quite some time for the village to recover.

The ninjas inside the wooden houses with Ruri had survived war and possessed abundant experience. Though they knew they might not escape this disaster, they reacted immediately, adjusting their postures to minimize the force they endured. With the wooden houses and the prepared defensive ninjutsu buffering the impact, most of it was reduced. Even so, many were left with broken bones and displaced internal organs under the forbidden technique.

It was time to settle this. Once the impact weakened, Ruri used Wind Style to clear away the ruins. He had not suffered any serious injuries, only expended too much chakra. Even so, his remaining chakra was enough.

Through his senses, Kubi Ichiro and the Kubisaki Clan's elite ninjas were all together with Rihei, hiding from the energy fluctuations at the center of Dofuten. That gave Ruri a chance to deal with all of them at once.

The changing winds and clouds caused by the massive flow of natural energy were perfectly suited for Ruri's use. He formed seals in rapid succession, chakra circulating through him as he controlled the dark clouds overhead. Bolts of lightning began to form within them!

"Lightning Style: Kirin!" In an instant, lightning sprang from the void, and thunder exploded, bright as day!

How could Ruri, who possessed the lightning attribute, not devote himself to developing a Lightning Style ultimate technique like Kirin? This was the first time he had used it since successfully creating it, and he struck in fury. Its power was no weaker than Sasuke's in the original work!

Without the Sharingan, Ruri could not guarantee the lightning's trajectory. He could only hold the Truth-Seeking Orb upright before him for protection. Yet the scattered bolts that struck toward him made him appear as though he held lightning in his hand, like the Thunder God descending into the world!

Guided by Ruri, the earth-shattering lightning strike crashed down from the heavens. Kirin's lightning blasted the natural energy into nothingness, melting it away like snow beneath the blazing sun and making it vanish in an instant. Then it struck Rihei and the Kubisaki ninjas at the center of Dofuten. There was no need to look at the outcome. Unless they used an even more powerful ninjutsu to defend themselves, there was no chance they had survived that attack!

"What kind of ninjutsu was that? The lightning of heavenly punishment?" The Takigakure Ninja around Ruri looked at one another in shock, unable to stop their cries. Some of the more timid ones even began trembling, forgetting the pain of their displaced organs! This strike from nature was simply unbelievable. Its power did not lose to Dofuten's just now, while its sheer awe-inspiring force surpassed it!

After a brief rest, Ruri led everyone back to the village. Along the way, unable to suppress their curiosity and wanting to check for survivors, Hagane Maomori and Hagane Masamasa went to inspect the place where Kirin had struck.

"Is this enormous charred thing that lizard?" Hagane Maomori sucked in a cold breath. No large summoned beast had ever died in the Shinobi World, because once they suffered fatal injuries, they would automatically be returned to their camp by the Summoning Jutsu. This showed just how fast that lightning strike had been—the Summoning Jutsu had not even had time to react!

The indistinct humanoid shape atop the huge charred corpse was probably Kubi Ichiro. Thinking of how he had been aggressively attacking them only minutes earlier, yet had now become this, Hagane Masamasa could not help but sigh. This Takikage's power had surpassed theirs by several levels!

"Kubi Jiro... Kubi Saburo... Kubi Shiro... Kubi..." Hagane Maomori counted them. Every elite ninja of the Kubisaki Clan lay here, their entire bodies charred black and nearly unrecognizable. It seemed that the Kubisaki Clan, which had once dominated an area with its giant lizards and commanded even small nations' respect, had been wiped out this time.

"No, Tsuchigumo Rihei isn't here!" Hagane Masamasa noticed something was wrong. Everyone from the Kubisaki Clan was here, but the Tsuchigumo Clan head who had forced them to cower so miserably inside the wooden houses was nowhere to be seen!

"He survived?" Ruri was slightly surprised, but it did not matter. This was his first time using Kirin, and he was not yet skilled enough with the final step of drawing down the lightning, so its power had not reached its maximum. As the head of the Tsuchigumo Clan, capable of using natural energy, it was no surprise that Rihei could withstand it. But after taking that strike, even if he was not dead, he would be crippled.

"Hurry back to the village. Seeing the commotion here, the Fuma Clan in the village should be making their move against Kakuzu as well." Ruri had left Kakuzu in the village for precisely this reason. It could draw away some of the ninjas while preventing certain survivors from attacking the villagers after realizing the situation was hopeless.

"Yes, sir!" everyone answered in unison. Though most of them were still injured, their anger had not diminished. They had to repay the humiliation they had suffered during their imprisonment. With such a powerful Takikage here, what did they have to fear? The Fuma ninjas in the village would make the perfect outlet for their rage!

What followed went smoothly. Ruri led his people back to the village, and the Fuma ninjas moving about everywhere were stunned. They had thought the Takikage and these people would all die beneath the Tsuchigumo Clan's forbidden technique. The crowd immediately scattered and overwhelmed the Fuma ninjas with their numbers, while Ruri easily defeated the Fuma Clan head. Realizing the gap in strength, the Fuma ninjas decisively surrendered.

The only thing that had not gone smoothly was that Kakuzu was injured—and badly so.