Ch.180 Nothing?

On a battlefield within the dense fog.

"You..."

For some reason, merely being looked at by Kokushibo, the Mist shinobi who had his long blade piercing through Kokushibo's heart felt an immense sense of fear.

It was as if he were an animal confronted by its natural predator!

Swish!

Instantly, a flash of the blade cut through the air at an unbelievable speed!

Kokushibo had drawn his blade.

He unsheathed, turned, and slashed—all in one fluid motion without any flair. It gave off an aura of absolute inevitability.

In a split second, he had cut the Mist shinobi in half.

With a splash, the shinobi's bisected body turned into water, falling to the ground.

Kokushibo wasn't surprised; his eyes moved, looking towards a specific direction.

In the thick mist, the Mist shinobi who had attacked Kokushibo earlier gripped his blade, his hands trembling.

Knowing his opponent was powerful, he did not launch that attack in person; instead, he had used a water clone as a probe.

"This guy..."

He gritted his teeth, the chill spreading through his heart.

From the feedback of the water clone being destroyed, he knew it had stabbed through the opponent's heart. Such an injury, even for a Kage, should have been impossible to shrug off without consequence!

But the opponent was unfazed, as if having his heart pierced was a mere flesh wound.

"Is it some kind of secret jutsu? Or perhaps his heart is located somewhere unusual in his body?"

One guess after another surged in the Mist shinobi's mind, and he realized he needed to pass this information to his comrades as soon as possible. But they were in the middle of a silent assassination mission, and the mist obscuring vision made it difficult to convey anything clearly.

Suddenly, he sensed an unusual airflow right in front of him.

Being a member of the Hidden Mist's elite assassination unit skilled in Silent Killing, he immediately realized something was off. Just as he attempted to use Body Flicker Technique to dodge, a blade flashed in front of his eyes.

He opened his mouth, choking out blood, his face full of shock.

Then, his body split evenly down the middle, falling in two pieces with a pair of dull thuds.

In the quiet mist, the sounds of the falling body echoed.

Hearing this muffled echo in the mist, Zabuza's expression was cold and stern.

There was no doubt that if it were an ally succeeding, there would have been a signal by now. This sudden, overwhelming scent of blood and the reverberating sounds only meant one thing—someone had been heavily wounded or killed, and that person was likely his comrade.

"Hmph!"

With a cold snort, Zabuza stirred the mist before him with the sharp tip of his sword.

Swish.

Like before, there was a faint shift in the air, followed immediately by the bloom of a blade's glint.

Zabuza grinned savagely, "I've been waiting for you!"

Instantly, he sidestepped to dodge the blade, countering with his own weapon, his movements precise, showcasing the finesse of his swordsmanship.

However, the grin on his face froze before it even fully spread.

In front of him, there was no enemy at all!

"Not good!"

He instinctively turned around, but what greeted him were multiple flashes of a blade!

Despite his best efforts to parry and evade, by the time they parted, he was left with several gashes, one of which cut deeply, exposing bone.

"How could this be?!"

Supporting himself with his sword, Zabuza glared fiercely, looking around like a raging demon, his heart full of disbelief!

He wasn't unwilling to accept defeat; he just couldn't accept being outdone in Silent Killing, in swordplay, in what he excelled at—and losing so miserably!

He was a master of the Mist's swordsmanship, capable of reclaiming a place among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist if he could recover the lost blades!

Just then, another Mist shinobi arrived beside Zabuza.

Seeing Zabuza so gravely injured, he was shocked, "Zabuza-sama, you..."

Zabuza shook his head slightly, signaling for him to be quiet.

The Mist shinobi understood and was about to nod.

Swish!

A flash of the blade sliced through, and his head separated from his neck, his headless body collapsing to the ground with a thud.

Zabuza felt his soul shudder, and immediately began forming seals, "Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"

Shortly afterward, a massive wave surged forward!

Taking advantage of the chaos caused by the wave, Zabuza wasted no time, using the chance to flee the area without hesitation.

As he ran, his heart pounded, "What kind of monsters are in the Akatsuki?! How could there be such a person, and I've never heard of him before?!"

He was now utterly convinced that he wasn't a match for his opponent.

To defeat such an enemy, he would have to regroup with the others. Otherwise, not only was eliminating the target out of the question, but even his own survival was uncertain.

On the drenched street, Kokushibo slowly sheathed his blade, his face cold and indifferent.

The slaughter just now was routine for him. Apart from Zabuza, who could at least add a minor inconvenience, none of the others even elicited the slightest reaction from him.

Boom!

Suddenly, in the distance, a series of explosions echoed, catching Kokushibo's attention. He saw a figure cloaked in blue chakra, barreling in his direction through the street.

Walls, houses—everything along the way—

In front of this blue figure, they were as fragile as paper, incapable of offering any resistance.

It was unmistakably the Fourth Raikage, in his Lightning Release Chakra Mode, charging in like a cannonball.

Yet just as the Raikage was about to collide with Kokushibo, a sharp sound of a biwa resonated through the street.

Then, Kokushibo vanished into thin air.

Boom!

The Raikage crashed into where Kokushibo had been, looking around at the now-empty street, roaring furiously, "Damn it! Damn it all!"

He quickly understood that someone was manipulating everything in this bizarre city, seemingly unwilling to let him engage Kokushibo so soon.

This meant the enemy intended to use the city to separate the Allied Forces and eliminate them one by one. The scattered corpses of Iwagakure and Mist shinobi along the streets also testified to this strategy!

Elsewhere.

Kakashi was exploring the unfamiliar city alone.

Through his exploration, he had confirmed that this was not an illusion but that his opponent had used some form of Space-Time Ninjutsu, scattering the Allied Forces throughout this strange city.

"This is Space-Time Ninjutsu beyond even Sensei's Flying Thunder God Technique!"

He couldn't help but be amazed.

Suddenly, he heard the sounds of battle coming from ahead and rushed over.

Before long, he reached the backyard of a large house, where he saw broken puppet parts scattered all over, along with two Sand puppet masters collapsed nearby.

Noticing that one still seemed to be breathing, Kakashi quickly approached him, asking, "What happened? Who were you fighting?"

The severely injured puppet master pointed in a direction, "Quick... help Lady Chiyo! That guy... is a monster... there's nothing..."

Kakashi's face grew more anxious, "Nothing??? What?!"