CHAPTER 63

"But Lord Madara, before I become a Jinchūriki, I have another idea," Mizuki Ryosuke said with a composed smile, his expression seemingly harmless.

"Oh?" Madara's Sharingan flickered with intrigue.

"Let me explain."

Uchiha Madara chuckled, his aged face showing an air of amusement, though his Rinnegan gleamed with an unreadable depth.

"Go on."

After Ryosuke elaborated on his plan, Madara's reaction shifted—first a glint of surprise in his eyes, then an approving nod as a deep, knowing smile crossed his face.

"Ha ha ha ha!!"

"Ryosuke, just as I expected from you!"

"Very well, I accept."

Madara's initial skepticism faded into the certainty of someone who had long foreseen this development.

"Well then, Lord Madara, a pleasure to work with you."

Mizuki Ryosuke extended his hand.

"Indeed. A pleasure."

Madara clasped it firmly, the contrast between his gnarled, battle-worn fingers and Ryosuke's youthful grip symbolic of their vastly different yet aligned ambitions. Their seemingly amicable expressions belied the deep undercurrents of deception between them.

Meanwhile, at the Lake of Mist, the battle had reached its climax.

With the emergence of the Third Mizukage, Mizuki Taki, the tides of war shifted significantly in favor of the Mizukage faction. Morale surged, and with his Kage-level presence, the battlefield balance tilted.

On one side, Hōzuki Mangetsu, the prodigy of the Ghost Lantern Clan, used the Hydrification Technique to mend his wounds. His gaze flickered toward Mizuki Taki and Yagura, locked in a brutal clash.

Despite his famed talent and mastery of all seven blades of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Mangetsu was in bad shape. His body bore numerous lacerations, and more alarmingly, coral-like growths covered parts of his skin—a clear mark of Yagura's signature Coral Palm technique.

Even as Kirigakure's brightest young swordsman, Mangetsu had not yet reached the true heights of a Kage-level shinobi. Against a powerhouse like Yagura, a fully realized Kage, he was simply outmatched.

As he gritted his teeth, frustration flashing in his violet eyes, his attention shifted to the intense battle between the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. The factional war had pushed both sides to their limits—nearly half of the forces from both camps were either slain or critically wounded.

Mizuki Taki, taking in the battlefield at a glance, knew it was time to end this.

"Yagura."

"You colluded with Iwagakure to betray the village's interests. Do you feel no shame for the years of training and trust Kirigakure invested in you?"

Taki's voice was razor-sharp, his cold blue eyes reflecting the battlefield's carnage.

"Hah… still spouting nonsense, old man?" Yagura sneered, his three-tomoe Sharingan—a mark of foreign influence—spinning ominously.

"If not for your stubborn grip on the Mizukage seat, would we have reached this point?"

He knew the battle had turned against him. Even if he killed Mizuki Taki here, the war itself had already slipped from his control.

"Still unwilling to repent?"

"Fine then, Yagura."

"I'll send you to the afterlife to apologize to the Mizukages before me!"

Mizuki Taki's grip tightened on his weapon—a gleaming blade of pure ice, formed by his unique Bloodline Limit.

Yagura raised his own weapon: a club-like staff, its tip adorned with a blood-red lotus—a symbol of the Genjutsu influence that had taken root in his mind.

"Die!"

With rapid hand seals, Mizuki Taki released a surge of chakra, his breath forming mist in the sudden drop of temperature.

"Ice Release: Frostbite Domain!"

A wave of intense cold radiated outward, the lake itself beginning to freeze under his feet.

Yagura's face hardened. He knew this technique.

"Damn it…!"

With speed rivaling the blink of an eye, he wove hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Mirror Jutsu!"

A thick wall of water rose between them, a mirror-like surface forming in an instant.

Taki's ice blade struck down. The moment it touched the water, the entire defense froze solid before shattering violently under the weight of the ice blade's impact.

Just as Yagura braced himself for the next attack, an enormous shadow stirred beneath them.

The lake's surface rippled violently, sending waves outward.

Then—

BOOM!

The water exploded upward as a monstrous form surged from the depths.

"ROOOOAAAAARRR!!!"

A thunderous bellow shook the battlefield.

The massive, spiked shell of Three Tails—Isobu—broke through the surface, sending shockwaves across the lake.

The battlefield momentarily fell silent, every shinobi pausing at the sudden, terrifying presence.

The Three Tails had returned.

Coincidentally—or perhaps by design—it had emerged between Mizuki Taki and Yagura.

As the towering beast surfaced, Taki's ice blade crashed against its armored shell. A deafening crack rang out as the ice shattered against the monstrous carapace.

"Damn it!"

Despite the force behind the strike, Three Tails barely flinched. Shards of ice scattered, but the beast's natural defenses proved too formidable.

With a deafening roar, Isobu thrashed, sending massive waves across the battlefield.

Yagura, staring up at the creature in momentary shock, suddenly broke into laughter.

"Hahahaha! Divine intervention!"

The tide had turned once more, and this time, in his favor.

Meanwhile, Isobu wasn't just rampaging—its three blood-red tomoe spun ominously in its massive eye.

The Tailed Beast was under Genjutsu.

A dark, swirling sphere began to condense in its maw.

"The Tailed Beast Bomb…"

Mizuki Taki's face turned grim.

Having just unleashed a high-level jutsu, his chakra was momentarily drained—his defenses down.

Ghost Lantern Mangetsu clenched his fists from afar.

"Damn it… If the Third Mizukage falls now, we lose everything!"

But his own injuries were too severe. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were occupied.

No one was close enough to stop the attack.

The pitch-black sphere pulsed ominously as it fired toward Mizuki Taki, the power of a mountain-shattering explosion imminent.

At that moment, a lone figure moved.

A blur of motion—a shinobi stepping forward between the Mizukage and certain destruction.

"Mizuki Ryosuke?!"

Taki's eyes widened.

Ryosuke, standing fearlessly in the path of the attack, raised both hands.

"Ice Release: Absolute Zero."

The lake trembled as moisture condensed into a colossal ice barrier, its crystalline structure glistening.

A massive dragon's head, carved from the frozen wall, opened its mouth in a silent roar.

Then—impact.

The Tailed Beast Bomb struck.

A blinding explosion of energy engulfed the battlefield.

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