Escaping the Mist Ninja starts with backstabbing your teacher.

Chapter 85 The Deal at the Valley of the End!

This thing is as hard as iron.

No, it's harder than iron.

He leaped backward to create distance, plunging his twin blades into the ground beneath his feet.

Thunder Burial & Thunder Banquet!

Chakra spread along the ground, instantly covering the entire earth, and lightning shot up from the ground.

Countless arcs of electricity coiled around the puppet Shukaku's body, drilling into its sand-like form.

The behemoth paused for a moment.

The hardened yellow sand began to loosen, and several pieces of the outermost layer peeled off.

Raiya's eyes lit up.

it works.

He increased his chakra output, and the lightning intensified, illuminating the entire valley as if it were daytime.

The puppet Shukaku's body began to disintegrate, and large chunks of sand peeled off its body.

But what peeled off was only the outer layer.

It's still sand inside.

New sand surged up from the ground, replenishing the puppet Shukaku's body even faster than it peeled away.

Lei Ya gritted his teeth.

He freed one hand, raised the thunder blade in his right hand, and summoned lightning from the sky. He maintained the Thunder Prison with a single sword in his left hand, and then swung his right hand down.

Lightning Release: Lightning Strike!

Arcs of electricity crackled on the raised thunder blade, guiding the lightning bolts from the sky to fall.

A dazzling bolt of lightning pierced through, leaving a charred hole in the giant beast's body, with arcs of electricity still flickering at the edge of the hole.

The puppet Shukaku lowered its head and glanced at the hole.

Then the sand surged in and filled in, its powerful resilience was despair-inducing.

Raiga's chakra was almost depleted, and he was panting heavily. Out of the corner of his eye, he could still see that the figure was not making any move.

He looked up at the still-standing behemoth and suddenly laughed, never expecting to be defeated here.

The puppet Shukaku opened its mouth, and air currents continuously gathered in its mouth, which was Shukaku's signature move, Wind Release: Sky Bullet.

Raiya tried to dodge, but at that moment, he couldn't escape.

The hurricane coalesced and, unsurprisingly, came crashing down.

Lei Ya gripped the thunder blade tightly in his hand, arcs of electricity crackling and swirling around his entire body, emitting a dazzling light.

Lightning Release: Lightning Armor!

The lightning transformed into an armor of electric light, blocking the attack, but the enormous impact blasted him away.

As he practiced his aerial maneuvers, he crashed through several trees, creating a path before finally stopping under a tree.

The knife was still in his hand.

He stood up, leaning on the knife, swaying unsteadily. At least two of his ribs were broken, his left arm was weak, and blood was trickling from the corner of his mouth.

The puppet Shukaku stood in the center of the valley, with a figure not far away watching him.

All the wounds on the giant beast's body—those scorched by lightning and fire, pierced by lightning dragons, and torn open by lightning prisons—disappeared.

It is perfectly intact.

Faced with such a thing, he was in despair, wondering how to deal with it.

He straightened up.

He raised his twin swords again. Although his arms were trembling and his chakra was depleted, a few strands of electricity still struggled to rise from the blades.

He took a deep breath, made a final struggle, looked up at the sky, and tried to draw upon the power to launch a final attack.

Lightning crackled across the Thunder Blade, each crackle drawing forth a corresponding bolt of thunder from the sky, accompanied by deafening roars.

"Taketori Izumi River!"

He muttered to himself, his gaze fixed on the figure beside the giant beast.

Gasping for breath, he planned to take his opponent down with him.

Lift your feet!

Raiga used the last of his chakra, his entire body enveloped in lightning, and he shot out like a bolt of lightning.

The figure remained motionless, its calm gaze showing no fluctuation.

A beast's claw appeared.

It blocked his view; the lightning passed through, but then stopped abruptly.

Lei Ya gripped the Thunder Blade, his body crackling with faint arcs of electricity, trying to pull the weapon out of the beast's claw.

Swish!

Sand pierced through his body, lifting him up.

The Thunder Blade was drawn, but—it was all for naught.

Rain kept pelting Raiya's face as he looked at the dark clouds in the sky and the occasional flashes of lightning.

He gripped the thunder blade tightly in both hands, and it slowly slipped from his grasp.

Do not!

Like a final burst of light before death, Lei Ya's gradually dimming eyes lit up with a last glimmer of light as he gripped the thunder blade in his hand and slowly raised it.

Lightning Release: Lightning Burial!

Countless bolts of lightning struck, engulfing and enveloping Leiya; if he were to die, he would execute himself.

The lightning crackled beneath the dark, rainy sky. As the lightning gradually dissipated, two lightning blades fell from mid-air and embedded themselves in the ground.

The charred sand tentacles disintegrated, and the corpse turned to ashes and scattered.

"As expected of one of the surviving members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, his strength is already quite impressive."

Izumi, who had been silent all along, stepped forward and pulled two thunder blades from the ground.

Infuse it with chakra to make it recognize its master and prevent it from being channeled back.

The seven ninja swords contributed by the Hozuki clan all have summoning contracts, allowing them to be summoned back.

However, a ninja sword that has been bound to its master cannot be summoned back by a scroll, which is why the Mist Ninja are hunting them down to retrieve the sword.

Bang!

Smoke rose, and the giant puppet Shukaku disappeared from Izumigawa's side, being sent back.

The test results were very satisfactory. It possessed the sand control ability of Magnet Release, the power of Wind Release, and finally, the powerful defensive capabilities of Shukaku.

Although the sealing technique was not displayed, the presence of Magnet Release sand control was sufficient to make use of it.

Izumi reviewed the situation and made a mental assessment of the puppet Shukaku. He then put away his pair of thunder swords and summoned the skeletal bird.

Standing once again on the back of the skeletal bird, they had spent more than a day searching for Black Hoshinogi Raiga.

There's still plenty of time to get to the agreed-upon location from here, let's go see if anyone has shown up!

The Land of Fire, late at night, the Valley of the End.

This is the site of the decisive battle between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha.

Over the past few decades, this place has been restored from the ruins of a former battlefield to a place of green hills and clear waters.

Two stone statues erected by later generations to commemorate them stand facing each other, with a waterfall dividing them in the middle.

The cascading waterfall plunges down, its waters crashing down, while rising mists fill the air.

On the stone statue representing Uchiha Madara, Izumi Kawa, dressed in a black cloak, sat cross-legged, fishing in the stream below with a white bone fishing rod in his hand.

"Your Excellency, you certainly seem quite relaxed!"

Orochimaru, who had arrived long ago, now stood atop the statue of Hashirama Senju, gazing at the figure opposite him from afar.

His gaze was fixed on the fishing rod made of bones, seemingly confirming some of his conjectures, and a slow smile appeared on his lips.

"It really is you, Orochimaru! At least you didn't make my trip for nothing."

The slight vibration of the fishing rod prompted Izumi to slowly begin to pull it up. With each vibration and reel in the line, a large fish was caught.

However, he removed the fishhook from the fish's mouth without hesitation and threw the plump fish into the waterfall.

"If I'm not mistaken, you must be Izumi Taketori, the one who stole the Byakugan and defected to Kirigakure!"

Orochimaru withdrew his gaze from the released fish and looked at it with great interest.

After studying the other party's movements and actions, it wasn't hard to guess that his ambitions were quite great.

Not only does he possess the Shikotsumyaku bloodline limit, but he has also seized the Byakugan, set his sights on the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan, and even the kidnapped Tsunade.

It can be said that the other party coveted the bloodlines of the only three major clans in Konoha, and had already obtained two of them.

Oh no, to be precise, it's hard to count Tsunade either, since she hasn't awakened the power of Wood Release.

"As expected of Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, he guessed my identity at a glance."

The skeletal fishing rod in his hand turned into bone dust and dissipated. Izumi Kawa reached out and pulled down his hood, revealing his true face.

Now, he no longer needs to hide the white of his right eye, because his strength has reached a level where only a few people can deal with him.

Now that he had the initiative, Izumi stopped flattering Orochimaru and spoke frankly.

"Tsunade and her disciple Shizune are safe with me now, but if I want her to return safely, I need to exchange something."

A necklace was revealed under the moonlight; it was the very necklace that Tsunade gave to anyone who died, the one jokingly called the "death necklace."

Similarly, this item also serves as strong evidence that Tsunade is in his possession.

Orochimaru's gaze fell on the necklace, which belonged to Tsunade's grandfather, the First Hokage, and was also Tsunade's most precious possession.

Now that she's in the enemy's hands, Tsunade's situation is quite obvious.

What do you want?

In response to Orochimaru's question, Izumigawa replied in a deep voice.

"Primary cells, and your research data on primary cells."

Orochimaru frowned immediately, a hint of gloom in his eyes. How did the other party know about this?

The research on the first generation of cells was known only to Danzo and himself. Even the people Danzo arranged to assist them were all marked with the seal of the tongue-cursing ancestor.

Given Danzo's methods and the tight security of his intelligence network, there should have been no way it could have been leaked.

Izumi was not in a hurry to deal with Orochimaru's silence, but instead played with the Tsunade necklace in his hand.

Let Orochimaru worry about the other party's doubts!

As for whether the other party can provide it, and how much research data they can provide, that depends on how mysteriously they act as a riddle-maker at this moment.

Although Orochimaru had many questions in his mind, Tsunade's importance to Konoha was very important, as it concerned the attitude of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

Since Orochimaru knew that the opponent had been defeated and taken away by Tsunade, he wouldn't try it lightly.

Otherwise, angering the other party and putting Tsunade in danger would not be a good choice.

"Then how can I be sure you'll let Tsunade go?"

Izumi smirked inwardly at this, thinking that as long as she agreed, that was fine. He then explained, "Don't worry, even if you gave me a thousand lives, I wouldn't dare to do anything to Tsunade of Konoha."

"After all, if Konoha recovers from the damage caused by the Nine-Tails, they will definitely come after me."

"I'm not arrogant enough to be an enemy of the strongest ninja village. I'm also confident that I can prevent you from finding Tsunade."

Appropriately showing weakness can reassure the other party, give them peace of mind, and let them know that he will not harm Tsunade.

However, it is also necessary to demonstrate some threat. Whether or not Konoha can do so is a question that Konoha needs to consider.

The pressure from the Daimyo of the Land of Fire is considerable. If Konoha were to lose some of its funding, like the Daimyo of the Land of Wind, it would be in serious trouble.