Showdown with "Fourth Mizukage" Yagura! Tailed Beast Power? Before Kamizuki Yu, It Was Nothing!

"Find somewhere safe to recover your chakra first." Kamizuki Yu waved at Mei Terumi and her surviving subordinates.

The Hidden Mist ninjas who had just been pulled back from death still looked at Kamizuki Yu with dazed disbelief.

Mei Terumi seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she gave a deep bow. "Sir... please be careful." She knew that what came next was far beyond their ability to intervene in.

Kamizuki Yu's figure flickered several times through the hazy mist before vanishing, as though he had never appeared at all.

The central square of the Hidden Mist Village had already become a place of grim slaughter.

Dozens of Hidden Mist ninjas bound in ropes knelt on the cold stone pavement. Most were raggedly dressed, their faces filled with despair. On the platform before them stood a figure with his hands behind his back—the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi.

He was not tall, yet the savage aura surrounding him seemed to lower the temperature of the entire square. His scarlet eyes, as though soaked in blood, coldly swept across every "rebel" below.

"For those who betray the village, only death is their final destination!" Yagura's voice was hoarse and shrill, devoid of the slightest emotion.

He slowly raised his right hand, and icy killing intent spread through the air. He was about to give the order for execution.

At that moment, a somewhat lazy voice shattered the deathly silence.

"Wait."

The voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached every person in the square, including the prisoners who had already closed their eyes and awaited death.

Everyone's movements froze involuntarily.

A figure slowly emerged from the mist at the edge of the square. His posture was unhurried, as though he were merely taking a stroll after dinner, completely ignoring the tense atmosphere around him.

"Who are you?!" one of Yagura's trusted ninjas shouted sharply, his hand already gripping the hilt of his sword.

Yagura's scarlet pupils suddenly contracted as he stared fixedly at the newcomer. There was the irritation of having his mood interrupted, along with a trace of barely perceptible vigilance.

"A helpful villager passing by." Kamizuki Yu spread his hands, his tone relaxed. "Things looked pretty lively here, so I came over to take a look. But with so many people gathered together, are you holding some grand festival? It doesn't look very auspicious."

"How dare you!" The trusted ninja was furious. Chakra surged through him as he prepared to pounce.

"Stand down." Yagura's deep voice rang out, stopping his subordinate. From Kamizuki Yu, he sensed an indescribable pressure—a strange aura that made even the sleeping beast within him grow restless.

Kamizuki Yu ignored the Hidden Mist ANBU, who were facing him as though confronting a great enemy, and looked directly at Yagura on the platform. "I heard the Hidden Mist Village's genjutsu stands unrivaled in the ninja world. Seeing it today, the reputation is well deserved. But using genjutsu to control the Mizukage of your own village and manipulate the entire village in the palm of your hand—that's a bit too grand a move."

The moment those words were spoken, the square erupted into an uproar.

A flicker of shock and hope appeared in the captured ninjas' eyes, while Yagura's trusted subordinates angrily accused Kamizuki Yu of spreading lies to confuse the people.

The muscles on Yagura's face twitched, and the savagery in his scarlet eyes deepened. "What nonsense are you spouting?!"

Within him, that external will was frantically stimulating his nerves. Any form of doubt was interpreted as the most direct provocation.

To him, Kamizuki Yu's calm and unconcerned manner was the greatest possible contempt.

"Another rebel leader trying to overthrow the Hidden Mist!" Yagura's voice twisted with extreme fury as he suddenly waved his hand. "Seize him! Tear him to pieces!"

The surrounding Hidden Mist ANBU received the order and instantly drew their weapons, surrounding Kamizuki Yu with chilling killing intent. The air was thick with tension, ready to erupt at any moment.

Kamizuki Yu gently shook his head, a helpless expression appearing on his face.

"As expected, reasoning with someone whose mind isn't quite clear is the most unwise choice." He murmured softly, as though lamenting something.

The next moment, Yagura threw back his head and let out an earth-shaking roar. It no longer sounded human in the slightest!

"Roar—!"

Massive and evil chakra erupted from his body like a volcanic explosion, instantly dispersing the thick mist above the square.

A demonic red tailed beast cloak rapidly covered his body. One, two, then a third thick tail whipped violently behind him, stirring up gusts of fetid wind.

The power of [Three-Tails Isobu], catalyzed by genjutsu, was released without reservation, carrying the will to destroy everything.

The ground beneath the entire square shook violently under that terrifying force, and the hard stone slabs cracked inch by inch.

The captured ninjas who had still harbored a trace of hope now wore nothing but pure despair. The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, a perfect jinchuriki, had transformed into a tailed beast—his power was enough to easily destroy half of the Hidden Mist Village.

Facing this tailed beast power that could make any Kage-level expert turn pale, Kamizuki Yu remained where he was, calm and composed. He even had the leisure to straighten the corner of his clothes, which had been slightly tousled by the gusts.

The Sage Body within him activated on its own, offsetting the violent chakra impact. The golden Nine-Tails chakra dormant in his blood also began to awaken, but he did not rush to use it.

The tailed beast transformation of a jinchuriki really was visually striking every time he saw it.

That leisurely attitude completely ignited Yagura's already uncontrolled fury.

"Die! You damned insect!"

Yagura, now fully transformed into the Three-Tails beast, let out a thunderous roar. His claws, covered in hard shell like massive coral reefs, came crashing down at Kamizuki Yu's head with a shriek that tore through the air! It was the Three-Tails' signature ninjutsu—[Coral Palm]!

"Boom—!"

With a deafening crash, the spot where Kamizuki Yu had been standing was smashed into a massive pit several meters deep. Broken stones and dust shot into the sky.

However, Yagura's attack had missed.

Kamizuki Yu appeared as though teleporting to the side of Yagura's massive body, barely a dozen meters away.

"The power's not bad. Too bad your aim is a little off, and you're far too slow." His calm evaluation rang out again.

Yagura roared repeatedly as his three enormous tails swept over like steel whips, sealing off every possible route of escape. At the same time, he opened his fang-filled mouth and fired several highly compressed water bullets—[Water Iron Cannon]!

Each water bullet contained terrifying power capable of piercing through mountains.

Kamizuki Yu lightly tapped his toes against the shattered stone slabs, and his entire body became like a weightless willow leaf, nimbly weaving through the gaps in the storm of attacks.

Whenever there was a water bullet he truly could not avoid, he merely extended a finger and casually tapped the air. The high-pressure water bullets, which could easily penetrate several layers of steel plating, instantly burst apart upon touching an invisible barrier before his fingertip, turning into mist that failed to harm him in the slightest.

"Your attack patterns are far too repetitive. Is it just the same few moves over and over?" Kamizuki Yu's voice carried a hint of amusement as it clearly reached everyone's ears. "The power of Three-Tails Isobu is more than just this."

"The tailed beast chakra is rampaging through your body, yet you can't properly guide or use it." As Kamizuki Yu dodged Yagura's frenzied attacks as though dancing on a blade's edge, he continued his "on-site lesson."

"Look at yourself now. Where is even a trace of the composure and dignity a Mizukage should possess? You're nothing more than a beast controlled by rage and bloodlust. How pathetic."

"Shut up! Shut up!" Tailed-beast-transformed Yagura roared in fury. His attacks became even more violent, his enormous body charging recklessly and leaving the square in ruins.

Yet no matter how fierce his attacks became, Kamizuki Yu always dissolved them at the smallest cost. Not even the corner of his clothes had been touched.

"Your chakra flow is extremely sluggish, especially at several crucial meridian nodes. They have clearly been forcibly twisted and disrupted by an external force.

"This is irrefutable proof that you are under deep genjutsu control and not in your right mind." Kamizuki Yu's voice was not loud, but it struck the hearts of every Hidden Mist ninja like a heavy hammer.

"And can you hear it? Isobu seems to be crying." Kamizuki Yu tilted his head slightly, as though listening to something. "It must really hate being treated so crudely and without any method, wasting its immense power for nothing."

Every word Kamizuki Yu spoke was like a sharp scalpel, precisely dissecting Yagura's current condition while mercilessly exposing the existence of the mastermind behind it.

The Hidden Mist ninjas, who had originally resigned themselves to death, now stared wide-eyed in disbelief at the scene before them.

What kind of terrifying strength was required to remain so leisurely while a Three-Tails jinchuriki was fully transformed, with enough energy left to make such humiliating "comments"?

If Mei Terumi had been there at that moment, her expression would likely have been even more spectacular than those prisoners'.

"Alright, the warm-up is over." Kamizuki Yu sighed softly, seeming somewhat bored by this one-sided "toying." "I've played with you long enough. It's time for you to see what true power is."

The instant his words fell, he no longer deliberately suppressed the power within his body.

Golden chakra, vaster and purer than that of Three-Tails Isobu, carrying an indescribable blend of sacredness and destruction, slowly rose from Kamizuki Yu's body like an awakening dragon!

This chakra perfectly fused with the natural energy around it, forming a terrifying pressure far beyond what Three-Tails Isobu had released before!

The aura of Perfect Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, mixed with pure sage chakra, swept across the entire central square in an instant like an invisible golden tsunami!

The tailed-beast-transformed Yagura, who had been attacking madly, suddenly froze mid-motion.

The violent Three-Tails Isobu within him, upon sensing the absolute suppression of a higher existence, actually let out a low, mournful cry filled with fear and submission. It instinctively wanted to curl up and tremble.

For the first time, emotions other than madness and savagery appeared in Yagura's scarlet beast eyes—terror and disbelief born from the depths of his soul.

"Th-this... what... kind of... power... is this..." His voice, roughened by his tailed beast transformation, trembled in broken fragments.

Kamizuki Yu moved.

There was not the slightest flashy technique, only speed refined to its absolute limit.

So fast that Yagura's enormous tailed beast body had no time to make any effective response. Even his thoughts could not keep up with Kamizuki Yu's movements.

Everyone in the square saw only a brilliant golden flash suddenly tear through the sky like lightning splitting the night.

The next instant, Kamizuki Yu had appeared like a ghost before Yagura's enormous head.

He slowly raised his right hand. Highly compressed golden chakra gathered in his palm, faintly carrying the profound properties of [Adamantine Sealing Chains], as well as the ultimate expression of his understanding of sealing techniques.

"Now, it's time for you to wake up."

His palm, seemingly light and effortless, struck Yagura's lower abdomen—the very core of Three-Tails Isobu's sealing formula.

[Bang—!]

A dull boom containing unstoppable force resounded.

An overwhelming power, accompanied by exquisitely precise chakra impact like a scalpel, instantly pierced through Yagura's hard tailed beast cloak and surged into his body.

This force was not merely brutal destruction. As though it possessed a will of its own, it precisely severed the chakra connection between Yagura and Three-Tails Isobu, while crashing like a flood against the source of the genjutsu controlling his mind.

"Pfft—!"

The red tailed beast cloak around Yagura rapidly faded. He violently coughed up a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, and his massive body fell backward like a puppet with its strings cut.

Just as he was about to crash into the ground, Kamizuki Yu casually swept a hand through the air. A gentle force supported him, allowing him to lie flat safely on the cracked stone slabs.

Yagura returned to human form. His face was pale as paper, blood continuously spilling from the corners of his mouth. His breath was weak to the extreme, as though the flame of his life could go out at any moment.

The Three-Tails Isobu within him had also suffered severe damage from that earth-shattering strike and completely fell silent. For a long while, it would be impossible to draw upon even a fraction of its power again.

Yagura struggled to open his bloodshot eyes. In his blurred vision was reflected the young man with a calm expression, the golden light around him not yet fully faded.

A bone-deep terror drowned him completely like an icy tide, making his entire body shake violently beyond his control.

What kind of power was that? With only one palm strike, the tailed beast transformation he had been so proud of, which he relied upon to rule the Hidden Mist, had utterly collapsed?

"Y-you... who... are... you..." Yagura used all his strength to force those words from his throat.

Kamizuki Yu slowly walked before him and looked down at him from above, his face devoid of expression.

He did not answer Yagura's question. He merely spoke calmly.

"Now, can we have a proper talk? About that disgusting bug that crawled into your head?"