Chapter 172 – The Silver Anomaly

It was clear now that Kuro's attempt at intimidation had failed.

From the sea rose a colossal serpent, her sleek black body marked by old battles—deep scars etched into her scaled hide, each one a testament to countless fights. Alongside her emerged a broad, chestnut-colored toad with corded muscle across his arms and back, a massive war club strapped tightly across his shoulders. These were not beasts summoned for spectacle—they were warriors born of generations of spiritual combat, and they matched Kuro's own massive form in size and presence.

With no words spoken, only instinct guiding her, Kuro launched herself into the air with a thunderous roar. The serpent struck first, mouth wide in a venomous lunge. Kuro's shadow tendrils lashed out, writhing like living spears from her back, meeting fangs with force enough to split the air. Lightning cracked through the sky as shadows clashed with poison.

The toad didn't hesitate. From deep within his throat he released a geyser of boiling oil, aiming to drown Kuro mid-flight. She twisted, channeling thunder through her body, and fired a bolt wrapped in shadow into the geyser. The impact detonated the stream midair in a towering plume of black smoke.

Through the spiritual thread that linked her to Hinata, a silent command came, clear and absolute: "Draw them toward the island."

Kuro understood.

From the smoke surged the toad, gripping his massive club. He swung down, and Kuro met the blow with claws wreathed in hardened shadow, diverting the strike just enough to redirect the momentum toward the serpent, who was lunging from below.

The impact shook the sea. Waves surged. The battlefield itself shifted as the titanic combatants moved their war slowly but surely toward the island where a dark ritual was underway.

Kuro was outnumbered. But Kuro was not outmatched. She had fought worse odds and emerged victorious. She could do it again.

<<<< o >>>>

From the moment Kaorumi and I summoned our allies, the battle had truly begun. Though Kaorumi's naïve poise suggested he thought it started then, I knew better. It began the instant I noticed something off—something unnatural about the woman before us. She had no scent.

When she dismounted from her beast of shadows, the ground beneath her did not shift—not even the slightest ripple disturbed the soil where she stood. It was as if she wasn't physically present. And yet, the pull of natural energy from her form was overwhelming. The strongest I've felt in... longer than I dare admit.

If not for the fact that one of my bitterest enemies stood beside me, I might have thought twice about fighting a sage of such caliber. At this level, one mistake is enough to seal your fate.

I struck first, launching myself with my full strength. My tail propelled me forward like a whip, my fangs bared, venom surrounding me in waves of senjutsu-laced aura. The air itself twisted around me.

She moved like a ghost—faster than anything I had seen. My strike cut through nothing but deceptive air. But her trajectory had been predicted… by my rival.

Kaorumi moved with deceptive grace, his staff cleaving spirals through the air, each swing distorting gravity itself. I knew it well—anyone struck by that staff would find their weight doubled by his strange Earth-aligned chakra. He was the Dancer of Stone.

The woman looked as if she were about to counter—then vanished. Two forms took her place, both exuding distinct scents.

"Her steps make no ripples on the earth," Kaorumi muttered in the frog tongue, one I understood well.

"Her scent is false as well," I replied in the language of serpents. "She moves like a ghost trying to deceive us."

I began to gather more senchakra, hidden from sight. Eight heads sprouted from behind me, woven of pure chakra and venom—an unmistakable declaration to any true sage. She could certainly see it. Whether she feared it... that remained to be seen.

Kaorumi summoned three specialized earth clones in response.

The woman responded by multiplying again. Two became four. Four became eight.

From then on, the battle became a storm of misdirection. We struck at illusions—illusions that struck back with terrible strength. She exceeded either of us in raw power, but not in coordination. We knew each other's timing, each other's intentions.

Whenever Kaorumi faltered, I moved in to strike. When I left an opening, he was already there to cover it. And still... she held back. Her killing intent was muted, suppressed. Was it mercy, or was it a mask?

Only once did she make a true mistake—she redirected one of Kaorumi's attacks with her blade, and while the blow struck me, the gravitational backlash of his technique rebounded onto her. The doubling of her weight was immediate and visibly strained her movement. Kaorumi, sensing the unintended harm to me, dissolved the weight effect from my body—but she bore it for the remainder of the battle. She adapted quickly, never trying the same maneuver again, and from that point onward Kaorumi was never able to land another clean hit.

Her clones began to shift. Each one's scent changed. When we coordinated to corner her, it turned out to be another phantom. Over and over.

She began to drift toward the water. A foolish move. My element. But Kaorumi resisted, trying to anchor her to land—his domain.

Meanwhile, the black wolf had drawn the titanic summons toward the islands. Perhaps her weakness lay there. That mortal she seeks to save.

Her Sage Mode was beginning to fade.

"I believe we can end this here," I announced, withdrawing my eight venomous heads back into my body. "Go save the one you seek. We will wait."

For the first time, I saw foolishness in her expression. She smiled. Sheathed her sword. A fatal mistake.

Kaorumi knew me too well. His clones shifted into position while the real one stepped back toward the water.

Then she made a hand sign.

Natural energy flooded back into her—from a place beyond understanding. The sensation was alien, the origin obscure even to us sages. In that instant, I remembered why we wanted her captured from the beginning. She was not merely a mortal channeling the world's energy—she was drawing from something else entirely. This act only confirmed what we had feared: her existence is an anomaly, a threat. Our justification was no longer in doubt. She was our enemy.

And she had never believed me.

Kaorumi's clones detonated all at once—fire and stone in violent and devastating harmony, targeting each of the eight versions of her.

In that instant, she was already there—silver blur, blade in hand. Her strike shattered Kaorumi's staff, launching him backward into the sea.

Perfect.

I had finished my preparations by activating my technique: Senpō: Nine-Headed Severance. 

All my senchakra focused on one of my most deadly Jutsus.

From the water, eight heads erupted, each mirroring my own. We unleashed pressurized jets of water—sharp enough to cut entire mountains—converging on her from impossible angles.

She twisted her body with fluid, impossible contortions. Human bodies should not move like that. And yet, she dodged them all. Not without repercussions.

Then she vanished—only to reappear right in front of me.

Her blade struck my back. I was hurled toward the coast. Only by shedding my skin did I survive.

Kaorumi and I reactivated the forbidden arts that extended Sage Mode. We weren't done yet.

She was bleeding now—silver blood. And in it, my venom was flowing. All techniques always come with my poison.

Behind her, the three titans were tearing apart the archipelago. Only one island still stood. The Shadow Wolf used it as a trap, luring his prey into ambushes.

The battle was won. It was only a matter of time.

She paused.

Tears streamed from her eyes.

"I... I failed. It's already done..."

From the surviving island, a massive explosion tore upward—like a hatching egg. A clay bird burst skyward, two figures on its back, one carried in its claws. From the crumbling ruin, a massive figure sat—a being of spiritual gravity so intense that even I trembled. Eight of its nine eyes closed… then it vanished.

She raised her hand.

Not at us.

At a distant island, untouched by battle.

For the first time, I felt it.

Killing intent.

A thread of silver light cut across the world.

The island vanished.

In its place, a hole.

Reality snapped inward like a child trying to hide his mistake. The shockwave tore sound from my ears, light from the sky.

Waves rose—walls of water that screamed ruin.

The Silver Lady stood at the center, eyes wide, horrified at her own hand. Her gaze turned toward a distant village.

And she ran.

Her steps left cracks.

The air screamed.

Blood trailed behind her like threads.

The massive Shadow Wolf vanished first

The great frog vanished second—banished by Kaorumi.

My rival sank into the ground.

I ended my summon… and let myself fall into the sea, cradled by the embrace of my old friend.