The Duel That Shook the World

Chapter 25: The Duel That Shook the World

While Konoha and Sunagakure clashed at Kikyō Castle, another war had raged in the frozen plains of the Land of Iron.

A war between two titans.

The Second Tsuchikage, Mū, and the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu.

Their battle had begun with betrayal.

Iwagakure, already stretched thin from fighting Konoha and Kumogakure, had expected neutrality—or at least, non-interference—from the smaller nations near its borders.

But the Mizukage had other plans.

Through diplomacy, bribes, and sheer cunning, Gengetsu had convinced Iwagakure's neighbors to turn against them, promising great fortune and power in exchange for their loyalty.

By the time Mū realized what had happened, it was too late.

Outraged, the Tsuchikage had led his shadow guard, an elite force of the strongest Iwa shinobi, to confront Kirigakure's forces on the frozen battlefield of the Land of Iron.

There, Mū and Gengetsu clashed for five days.

A battle of brutal assassination tactics, large-scale ninjutsu, and strategic warfare.

Mū's Dust Release annihilated entire battalions in an instant, reducing hundreds to mere specks of dust.

Gengetsu's Water and Genjutsu techniques drowned Iwa shinobi in illusions so terrifying that some of them turned their blades upon themselves.

Their shadow guards fought fiercely, refusing to let their Kages battle alone.

By the end of the third day, the battlefield was a wasteland of corpses and shattered steel.

By the fifth day, both Kages stood, bloodied and broken, surrounded by the corpses of their loyal men.

And then—

They struck each other down.

Both died at the same time.

Their shadows perished with them.

The world had never seen such a battle between Kages before.

An entire generation of elites had been wiped out.

And the power vacuum left behind would change the course of the war.