Chapter 99 – Whose Fate Is Being Rewritten This Time?

"I hope you'll still say that later, hahaha～"

Kushimaru Kuriarare, the wielder of the Long Sword Needle, narrowed his eyes coldly.

The long blade was slung diagonally across his back. With both hands weaving hand seals rapidly, thick mist began to spread!

[Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique]!

"Scream! Wail in agony! Wait desperately for the moment death arrives! Watch your insides spill out onto the ground, watch your comrades fall one after another—see the blood staining everything around you! It's amusing, right? You're all looking forward to it too! Right!"

Kushimaru's twisted, overexcited voice sent chills down the Cloud shinobi's spines.

Toroi's gaze hardened. He had planned to stall for a bit more time.

He wanted to magnetize the ground beneath him first, so during the fight, he could use the magnetized terrain to gain a positional edge.

But the enemy acted far too decisively—they clearly understood his techniques completely and gave him no such opportunity!

Shish～

A sharp sound of kunai slicing through air came from slightly behind and to the right.

Unari Shimagami, wielding the Exploding Blade Spray, bore a cruel grin as he swung his sword toward the last Chunin in Yamanaka Kei's squad!

Without missing a beat, Toroi threw a series of rectangular shuriken behind him.

These special shuriken, imbued with Magnet Release, would magnetize any enemy or weapon they struck.

Then, his subsequent attacks carrying magnetic force would attract the magnetized targets, making evasion impossible!

Boom!

An intense explosion scattered the rectangular shuriken everywhere.

From the storage scroll on Toroi's lips, bursts of chakra mist erupted as his hands blurred through seals.

Countless rectangular shuriken rained outward like falling flower petals, piercing into the surrounding mist.

Clang~ clang~

Two faint metallic clangs made Toroi's eyes gleam.

In an instant, two massive rectangular shuriken appeared in his hands—each almost half his height. Spinning his body, he hurled them toward the enemies recently marked by the magnetic pull.

Whoosh~

The two water clones dissolved under the attack.

But more water clones silently took form within the thick mist.

"Tsk… Mist ninja are slippery bastards. They have numbers on their side yet still use this kind of tactic..."

Yamanaka Kei muttered inwardly.

Keeping a serious expression, he slowly began forming hand seals with both hands.

[Lightning Release: Spiderweb Jutsu]!

With a single palm strike against the ground, lightning chakra shaped into a spiderweb spread outward in all directions, radiating quickly through the mist-covered battlefield.

Crackle～ crackle～

"Hmph!"

Several suppressed groans came from the surroundings.

Numerous water clones shattered under the lightning strike.

Already prepared and waiting were the newly promoted Jonin Niqai and the remaining three Chunin, who immediately unleashed their techniques toward the origin of the lightning flashes and cracks.

But the enemy reacted just as swiftly, skillfully deflecting the incoming attacks and retreating back into the dense fog.

One by one, the water clones dissolved under the electric surge.

Yet none managed to land a hit on the already hidden enemies.

In the next moment, two towering whirlpools surged forth from the left and right.

Above them, a powerful chakra signature erupted in the sky. Several sharks made of Water Release surged downward from above the group!

Faced with the ambush by the Mist shinobi, everyone could do nothing but dodge.

The formation they had formed was shattered and broken apart.

Ding ding ding ding~

A barrage of attacks followed right after.

One after another, the Mist shinobi launched relentless assaults that left no time to catch their breath!

Kei Yamanaka feigned chaos as he rolled forward to dodge, raising his right arm to block the kunai aimed at his throat.

Niqai and another Chunin who had dodged in the same direction swiftly rose and stood back-to-back with him, forming hand seals and unleashing Lightning Release techniques to drive back two attackers closing from behind.

Before the crackling sound of Lightning Release had even faded,

Water blades, water needles, shuriken, and kunai rained down from every direction.

With their vision obscured, they could do little more than frantically dodge the attacks emerging from the thick mist.

Within mere seconds—just a brief moment—the three of them had already accumulated multiple wounds on their bodies.

"Senior, what should we do now?"

At a moment like this, Niqai decisively stopped trying to think for himself and deferred the decision to Kei Yamanaka.

Perhaps because of the earlier reminder,

he now placed complete trust in this slightly weaker yet experienced senior.

"Ready yourselves! Follow my lead—we're breaking through forward!"

Kei shot Niqai a sidelong glance.

Is this guy actually a Jonin?

Do Cloud ninja promote Jonin purely based on strength, ignoring intelligence?

They weren't just passively defending—they were also waiting for the enemy to make a move.

Using Toroi, the Kekkei Genkai Magnet Release ninja, to threaten and pull away the enemy's top fighters, creating conditions for their planned breakout.

"Alright!"

Niqai had more or less stopped thinking.

Like when he was still a Chunin—he obeyed the team leader without question.

BOOM~

A powerful explosion, accompanied by the whistling of rectangular shuriken, rang out from the direction Toroi and others had moved moments before.

Earlier, those small rectangular shuriken fired by Toroi—some scattered into the sea, some buried into the ground—were pulled back by magnetism, transforming into a spiraling tempest of flying shuriken.

Forcing several attacking Mist shinobi to retreat immediately!

Reluctant to clash their ninja blades against these rectangular shuriken, Kushimaru Kuriarare and Unari Shimagami also fell back a few steps.

"Move!" Kei hissed while forming hand seals, activating [Lightning Mirage - Thunder Pillar Technique].

A brilliant surge of lightning erupted around him, piercing through the thick fog.

Clearly marking their position to guide Toroi, who was preparing for the counter-breakthrough.

As soon as Kei finished speaking, Niqai clenched his fists and charged forward, [Lightning Release: Thunderbolt] crackling within his fists, surging straight ahead.

The other Chunin followed close behind.

Receiving the signal, Toroi immediately unleashed his full Magnet Release power, rushing toward Kei's location.

Kushimaru and Unari, having just retreated slightly, both sprang into action at once.

Kushimaru Kuriarare swung his Long Sword Needle straight at Kei—who blazed like a beacon!

Clang~

Kei raised his arm to block and staggered back under the force of the unexpected strike.

Seeing this, Toroi charged forward and kicked at Long Sword Needle, trying to magnetize the enemy's weapon.

A sharp blade of light slashed directly toward him mid-air, leaving him unable to dodge.

Just as Toroi attempted to deflect the attack with a shuriken, his eyes locked onto the sword's form. His pupils shrank slightly in realization.

[Exploding Blade Spray]!

That guy Unari Shimagami hadn't managed to launch an attack himself, yet he had thrown the Exploding Blade ahead!

"Move!"

In that split-second moment, Kei Yamanaka grabbed Toroi's belt, spun around, and forcibly flung him toward Niqai.

The Exploding Blade Spray missed its mark completely.

Boom!

Amidst the intense explosion impact, Kei Yamanaka did his best to curl his body inward and endure the hit directly.

As his form was forced backward, he rolled clear and immediately sprang back up without hesitation, deflecting incoming kunai from behind, then ducking low, sidestepping, and pressing forward rather than retreating, narrowly evading a silent Water Edge slicing in from behind.

The two Cloud Chunin who had been chasing Toroi only moments before were caught in the blast radius of the Exploding Blade Spray due to only a slight delay in reaction.

Ambushed next by the Mist ninja,

one was pierced through the temple by kunai, killed instantly beyond saving.

The other barely avoided one strike but still caught a slash across the abdomen from another Mist ninja, his intestines spilling as he tried to dodge.

The explosive shockwave briefly cleared the thick mist around the Exploding Blade Spray.

Toroi saw his comrade's critical condition and wanted to rush back and help—but then, suddenly, the old teammate shouted urgently into his ear.

"Fall back now!"

Watching the resolute figure standing before him, back turned, hands forming hand seals once again as he released Lightning Release: Spiderweb Jutsu to intercept the pursuing enemies.

Toroi could feel that unshakable resolve radiating from his ally!

Forming hand seals, Toroi unleashed a barrage of Magnet Release shuriken, further halting the enemy's pursuit as he gritted his teeth and dashed toward the escape route taken by Niqai.

"Perfect! Fucking perfect! I can finally die!"

Watching the dense fog gather again, Kei Yamanaka grinned so wide not even AK-level restraint could suppress it.

After releasing another wide-range Lightning Release, he deliberately feigned exhaustion.

Staggering evasively among attacks launched by surrounding Mist ninja,

his form intentionally approached where Unari Shimagami stood—the user of the Exploding Blade Spray.

Unari, originally intent on chasing down Toroi, saw an opponent willingly coming his way and didn't hesitate to swing horizontally in a sweeping blow.

[Demonic Illusion: False Surroundings Technique]!

At the precise moment Kei Yamanaka's eyes met Unari Shimagami's gaze, he used a C-rank genjutsu to momentarily blur his vision.

His left hand activated a storage scroll erupted into chakra mist.

The corpse of his original self, Saiei, plummeted straight into the Exploding Blade Spray.

Meanwhile, he himself vanished into the mist using the Flying Thunder God Technique.

Boom~

A massive spray of shredded flesh erupted outward!

Born from Kiri's Bloody Mist policies and innately cruel, Unari Shimagami wore a savage, bloodthirsty grin across his face.

He didn't even bother glancing at those scattered remains strewn haphazardly across the ground.

Turning together with Kushimaru Kuriarare, they pursued Toroi and the others as they fled!

[Notification: Major alteration to a supporting character's destiny path; minor interference in world line progression confirmed. Rewards: Keyword Draw Opportunity x1, Keyword Gift Opportunity x1.]

[Silent Walker] activated, concealing his presence.

Kei Yamanaka had transformed his body into water using the Hydrification Technique and merged with the sea. Now standing atop a piece of wreckage inscribed with the Thunder God Mark, he watched as the Cloud ninja and Mist shinobi vanished into the distance.

Hearing the system's notification voice in his mind, he blinked, confused.

Whose destiny had been altered?

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