Shiki Vs Yagura I

The plan for the decisive battle between the rebel-Mugetsu coalition against the loyalist forces of the 4th Mizukage was relatively simple in nature.

Their forces would mount an assault on the fortress where the 4th's forces were concentrated. The attack would be led by Mei, Ao and Zabuza.

With the rebels and mugetsu concentrating their forces to wipeout such a large portison of the loyalists, the 4th Mizukage would predictably see this as an opportunity to eliminate the majority of the rebels as well and make his way to fortress too.

This sound tactical decision however, would be his undoing. Shiki who would lay in wait, not participating in the battle would meet the 4th and whatever forces he bring with him from his location and eliminate them, thus securing a total victory.

Whatever forces the Mizukage may bring with them were predicted to be quite small so as to not affect his mobility by much. In the end, the 4th's true reliance to win the battle was his personal prowess, not that of his troops.

Thus, the assault started. Rebel forces, bolstered by Mugetsu fringe members, including Kahyo's brother Rahyo and automata led by Zabuza and Haku who had joined in just to be sure, attacked the fortress.

Specialized automata with siege weapons quickly broke the fortresses tough walls with concentrated blasts of chakra based on the Fury Jutsu, also known as Dohatsuten, allowing their other ground forces to pour in and overwhelm the defenders.

With automata serving as meatshields for the flesh and blood troops, casualties were greatly reduced and the course of the battle proved to run in rebel favor.

Still, as a large concentration of loyalist forces, victory was not easily achieved and the battle fell into a stalemate.

The goal was not to destroy the fortress as such a major fortification was a key piece of Kiri and the Land of Water's defence against invaders. As such, the siege automata could not just unload their firepower and bring down the entire thing on top of its defenders.

That was the main reason for the aforementioned stalemate. This however presented the perfect bait to draw out the 4th Mizukage Yagura as per the plan.

Taking the bait, the 4th, accompanied by a squad of his most loyal Anbu elite quickly made his way to the battlefield.

Shiki noticing them long before their arrival due to his extremely advanced sensory abilities set up a barrier trap. An isolated field were both he and the jinchuriki could cut loose without any collateral damage to their surroundings.

It was a spacetime barrier that created a temporary alternate dimension and it was fully developed by Shiki, needing a massive supply of chakra to maintain itself.

This was achieved by several Chakra Batteries filled to the brim with Ryumyaku chakra along with an auxiliary seal based on the one used to gather nature energy for the Fury Jutsu.

This seal that Shiki kept finding use for in countless of his projects served to lessen the burden on the batteries thus allowing the barrier to last considerably longer.

Waiting until the Mizukage's party ran into the barrier's activation range, Shiki sprung the trap, catching the 4th and his Anbu, preventing them from interfering in the battle and leaving them at his mercy.

Before Shiki that was fully dressed as the Reaper, stood Karatachi Yagura, 4th Mizukage and jinchuriki of the Three Tails, also known as Isobu.

Quite short for his age, being only 143 cm tall, Yagura had short, messy, grey hair, which fell over the right side of his face and spiked up on the left. He also had pupiless pink eyes and what seemed to be a stitch-like scar running from under his left eye, all the way down his cheek.

His attire included a grey, sleeveless shirt with the Kiri forehead protector attached to the front, as well as a short-sleeved mesh armour, which he wore a green poncho along with a turquoise sash around his waist, paired with a matching green apron over his pants and a pair of brown boots.

He was also carrying a club with uneven sized hooks, which bared a green flower on the larger end.

After being put under genjutsu by Tobi aka Uchiha Obito, Yagura turned from a respected Mizukage into a cruel tyrant known for extorting the weak and zero tolerance for dissidents, the latter being something Shiki saw no problem with.

Being one of the few perfect jinchuuriki in all of shinobi history, he was a formidable force in the battlefield. Despite this, he also possessed extreme skill in Water Style and advanced skills in Wind Style, making in quite powerful even without the power of the Three Tails.

Standing face to face with a silent Shiki, Yagura opened up the conversation.

"Reaper, former member of Konohagakure's Anbu . . . What's your stake in this insurgence?" He demanded.

"You must be with Mugetsu." He proceeded to point out.

"I'm the leader actually." Shiki finally spoke.

"Hmph! So I have you to thank for all the help these insurgents have been getting." Yagura said in a sinister tone, anger seeping into his voice.

"You're welcome." Shiki replied with utter calm and obvious mocking intent.

"DIE!" Was Yagura's only response as he immediately shifted to his Version 2 jinchuuriki form.

The Anbu squad he brought with him scattered around hoping to box in Shiki and force him into a direct confrontation with their powerful Kage which, in their mind, would certainly lead to Shiki's defeat.

Theirs hopes were pleasant but reality proved to be disappointing.

As the jinchuuriki charged at him, Shiki activated Sage Mode at full power with markings running across his entire body but hidden beneath his clothing.

"Coral Palm!" Yagura shouted, attempting to use one of his signature jutsu. Shiki however, relying on his superior speed and the kinetic vision of his sharingan, easily dodged and countered with a Chakra Burst enhanced strike.

Normally, this would be enough to shred his opponents chakra network and pulverise his body but, in the version two state, Yagura's dense chakra cloak protected his chakra network from damage and lessened the raw physical damage.

He was still sent flying with serious injuries however. These though were fully within the range he could quickly recover from due to his tailed beast form.

"You're far more powerful than expected . . ." Yagura calmly said, his anger giving in to reason.

Shiki however, didn't respond and, using the powerful teleporting abilities of his mangekyo flashed across the battlefield and, before Yagura could even react, all of his Anbu were already dead.

"You!" Yagura's anger returned but was instantly chilled by the display of immeasurable prowess he had just witnessed.

"There is no escape or victory for you Yagura. I came here personally to ensure that." SHiki chillingly said.

"It's not over yet." Yagura countered.

Shiki just shook his head.

Yagura instantly created a Tailed Beast Bomb and fired it towards Shiki.

'I could dodge . . . But let us take this opportunity to test some stuff out against someone with real firepower.' Shiki decided.

'Kujaku Myoho: Cocoon'

Shiki formed massive plumes of star chakra on his back. As soon as they appeared, the plumes wrapped around his body creating a think cover just before the impact reached him.

Just as Yagura was thinking himself fortunate that Shiki chose not to use that impressive movement jutsu of his to dodge, the cover from the explosion faded and let him see an unharmed Shiki.

The plumes of star chakra protecting him had lost much of their shape but they proved more than adequate, fully blocking the Mizukage's attack.

'Kujaku Myoho: Star Dragon Song'

Using his favourite jutsu but a version powered by star chakra, the plumes covering Shiki morphed into serpentine eastern dragons, rushing towards Yagura who immediately dodged in a burst of incredible speed.

As he frantically moved around, the jinchuuriki fired smaller chakra shots towards Shiki but the star dragons always moved to intercept, blocking the shots.

Despite being damaged by this, they were instantly repaired since, unlike the other version of the Dragon Song Jutsu, the star dragons were always connected to Shiki just like all other Kujaku Myoho constructs.

"ENOUGH!"

Getting more and more tired and seeing no way out of the situation, Yagura gave up strategizing and took up his full Tailed Beast Form.

"Now you die!" The three tails shouted.

"No . . . Now it gets fun." Shiki replied with a smirk behind his mask.

'Susanoo'

Shiki manifested his Shinigami like black Susanoo, immediately skipping all intermediary forms and taking the shape of a Perfect Susanoo. The jinchuuriki could only look in shock at the massive construct before him.

The Susanoo made by Shiki was bigger than Madara's and Sasuke's, with only Hagoromo's perfect Susanoo surpassing it by still quite a large margin, a proof of the Sage of Six Paths's unrivalled power, even when compared to the current Shiki.

"It's my first time using this in an actual battle." Shiki started.

"Try to make it interesting." He said.

It was time for a battle of the titans.

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