Tsuchikage: Where Did My Dust Release Go? Did That Brat Reverse-Upgrade Me?

The devastation at Bird Slope Passage, along with the unbelievable intelligence regarding "Dust Release," was placed on the Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki's desk at the fastest possible speed.

Inside Iwagakure's command center, the atmosphere was as heavy as iron.

"You bastards!"

Ōnoki's small body erupted with fury utterly disproportionate to his size. He slammed a fist onto the table, and cracks instantly spread across the hard stone surface.

The commander had fallen, nearly a hundred shinobi had silently dissolved, and the entire supply line had been paralyzed.

What enraged him even more was that the enemy had used Dust Release, a power that shared the same origin as his own!

This was an open provocation and desecration of him, Lord Mū, the Second Tsuchikage, and Iwagakure's most elite power!

"That brat from the Hidden Leaf... how dare he!" Ōnoki ground his teeth until they creaked, his aged cheeks twitching faintly with rage.

He could not tolerate it. He absolutely would not tolerate it!

"Prepare for battle! I'll personally go meet that brat!"

There was no room for discussion in Ōnoki's order. He would make that ignorant boy understand whose exclusive domain true Dust Release was!

Meanwhile, after clearing up the aftermath at Bird Slope Passage, Kamizuki Yu did not immediately return to the Hidden Leaf.

He stood at the edge of the vast blank expanse erased by Atomic Dismantling Jutsu, as though waiting for something.

A powerful chakra fluctuation was rapidly approaching from afar. Its nature... bore some resemblance to the power he had just used, yet it was somewhat mixed and aged.

"Oh? Has the real owner arrived?"

A faint smile curled across Kamizuki Yu's lips, with little surprise in it.

He had destroyed such an important Iwagakure stronghold. It would have been strange if they had not come seeking proper revenge.

He lifted his head and looked toward the source of the chakra.

Rather than wait passively, he might as well take the initiative. He also wanted to see what level this world's native Dust Release had reached.

Before long, a short but immensely imposing figure hovered in the air not far in front of Kamizuki Yu.

It was none other than the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.

Several elite Hidden Rock jonin followed behind him, their expressions grim and their killing intent fierce.

Ōnoki's distinctive red nose was especially conspicuous in the air. He stared fixedly at Kamizuki Yu below, and the boy's absurdly youthful face mingled the Tsuchikage's fury with disdain.

"Brat, was it you who stole my Dust Release?" Ōnoki's voice carried the authority of one long accustomed to power, along with a faint tremor he struggled to conceal.

He could clearly sense that the lingering chakra in this area was indeed Dust Release—and terrifyingly pure at that.

Kamizuki Yu gave a light leap and likewise floated into the air, facing Ōnoki from afar.

"Stole it?" He chuckled and shook his head. "Lord Tsuchikage, you can't put it that way."

He slowly raised both hands, forming hand seals similar to Ōnoki's, yet subtly different.

"The same move is always fresher when it's mine."

His tone was calm, but it carried supreme confidence—or rather, condescension.

Ōnoki's pupils abruptly shrank.

What an arrogant brat!

"You're courting death!"

He stopped wasting words. His hands came together sharply as immense chakra surged from within him.

"Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"

A gigantic translucent cubic barrier formed before Ōnoki at astonishing speed, then descended over Kamizuki Yu's head!

Dangerous light flickered along the cube's edges, while its interior brimmed with the horrifying force to disintegrate everything.

This was the ultimate technique that had made his name for decades, the pride of his position as Tsuchikage! He refused to believe that this wet-behind-the-ears brat could make any waves before it!

Yet in the face of that world-destroying attack, Kamizuki Yu still wore the same placid expression.

He did not even intend to evade.

"Then let me show you."

The same clasped hands, the same Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu.

But the cube born from Kamizuki Yu's hands displayed an entirely different sight.

Its range was wider!

His cube formed almost instantly, enveloping both Ōnoki and the Dust Release cube he had unleashed!

Its edges were more solid!

Kamizuki Yu's cubic barrier seemed to be made of frozen glass, radiating an utterly pure aura of destruction. It was impossibly stable.

Its power was even more violent!

[Unexpected Surprise]

There was no anticipated violent collision, no mutual cancellation of energy.

The instant Kamizuki Yu's Dust Release cube took shape, Ōnoki discovered in horror that his own proud Dust Release, the disintegration barrier he had personally unleashed, was actually... trembling!

No, it was not trembling. It was collapsing!

Like a living beast, Kamizuki Yu's Dust Release cube compressed, dismantled, and devoured Ōnoki's Dust Release in reverse with an unstoppable force!

"Puh—!"

The instant Ōnoki's Dust Release was broken, a violent backlash slammed into him.

His chest tightened, sweetness rose in his throat, and a mouthful of old blood sprayed out uncontrollably.

His aged body fell swiftly from the sky like a kite with its string cut.

"Boom!"

The ground was smashed into a shallow crater, dust billowing everywhere.

The Hidden Rock jonin were horrified and rushed over to support him.

"Lord Tsuchikage!"

"Are you all right?!"

Ōnoki was helped to his feet, blood hanging from the corner of his mouth and his face pale as paper. Yet he paid no attention to his injuries.

He stared fixedly at Kamizuki Yu as he slowly descended from the air. His clouded old eyes were filled with incredulous shock and fear.

"Impossible... This is absolutely impossible!"

He muttered in disbelief, his voice hoarse with agitation.

"Your Dust Release... why... why is it stronger than mine?!"**

This was not merely a little stronger. It was a crushing difference in quality, power from an entirely different dimension!

He had devoted decades to Dust Release and believed he had developed it to its utmost limit. Yet before this young man, the Kekkei Tōta he had taken such pride in was as fragile as a sheet of thin paper!

Kamizuki Yu slowly walked up to the severely wounded Ōnoki and looked down at him, his tone calm and unruffled.

"There's nothing impossible about it."

His voice was not loud, yet every Hidden Rock shinobi heard it clearly.

"Perhaps you're simply too old, Lord Tsuchikage."

Those words were like the sharpest blade, stabbing mercilessly into Ōnoki's heart.

Kamizuki Yu paused, as though considering his wording—or perhaps merely stating a fact.

"Or perhaps the Kekkei Tōta you take such pride in is, in my eyes..."

He tilted his head slightly, revealing a smile that sent chills through every Iwagakure shinobi.

"Nothing special."

Nothing special!

Those four words humiliated and crushed Ōnoki more than any venomous curse ever could.

The Dust Release he had researched throughout his life, the glory of his title as Tsuchikage, was worthy of nothing more than "nothing special" in this young man's eyes!

Ōnoki's mind shook violently, and he coughed up another mouthful of blood.

He understood.

The Hidden Leaf had produced an utterly unreasonable monster beyond all convention!

Not only did this man possess Dust Release, its power surpassed Ōnoki's. He could even suppress and devour Ōnoki's Dust Release in turn!

If they kept fighting... he would likely leave his old life here for good!

The battle at Kikyo Mountain and the threat posed by the Hidden Leaf... all of it was cast from his mind at that moment.

Nothing was more important than Iwagakure's future—than his own life!

Ōnoki struggled to breathe, then used every ounce of his strength to issue a hoarse command.

"Retreat... Retreat!"

"Full retreat... Immediately end the standoff with the Hidden Leaf at Kikyo Mountain!"

He had to return. He had to reassess the threat level of this suddenly risen Hidden Leaf monster.

Iwagakure had provoked someone it absolutely should not have provoked!

Though the Hidden Rock jonin were unwilling, seeing their Tsuchikage's miserable defeat and Kamizuki Yu's unfathomable strength, they did not dare disobey in the slightest.

They supported Ōnoki and prepared to withdraw in disgrace.

Kamizuki Yu merely watched them silently and did not stop them.

As his subordinates carried him away, Ōnoki gave the young man one final, lingering look.

That youthful face would become a nightmare he could never shake for the rest of his life.

He painfully looked away.