Naruto: Maelstrom Of The Uzumaki

Seeing Konoha's ninjas being swallowed by his poisonous mist, Ichikawa Zou laughed wildly in excitement, and even some of the Sand Ninjas behind him smiled.

However, there seemed to be a perceptive ninja among the Sand Ninjas. Just as Ichikawa Zou was celebrating, someone doused his excitement with a cold reality.

"Master Pakura, Konoha's ninjas have not lost their fighting power."

"They've hidden in the forest."

Beside Pakura, a young man reported.

Hearing the report from her subordinate, Pakura nodded slightly. Ichikawa Zou, standing next to her, suddenly stopped laughing, looked at the reporting ninja in surprise, and turned his attention toward the forest.

"Master Pakura, be careful!"

The young man seemed to have noticed something and pushed Pakura violently. In the next second, a purple thunder sword descended from the sky, directly piercing the young man's chest. Blood splattered everywhere, and Pakura, who had been pushed a distance away, was stained with her comrade's blood. Ichikawa Zou, standing nearby, was also startled by the sudden change. The giant puppet snake that had rushed forward quickly retreated and stood guard by his side.

None of the Sand Ninjas had expected Konoha's counterattack to come so quickly and with such precision. When they regained their composure, they saw a red-haired young man standing in their midst, holding a black long blade in his right hand. Beside him lay the lifeless body of a Sand Ninja.

"Is it a sensor ninja?"

"He found us!"

Raiden's expression was cold as he pulled the Sakegari no Tachi from the corpse, swung the blade to shake off the blood, and looked at Pakura.

"The counterattack came so fast, and the previous strike was quite stealthy."

"This guy is no ordinary ninja. Does Konoha have such a strong warrior?"

Pakura gripped a kunai in her hand and warily observed Raiden, who had suddenly appeared at the center of their formation. Several fireballs appeared out of thin air and hovered around her, ready to attack. At this time, the other Sand Ninjas had drawn their weapons, and the puppet masters had released their puppets, surrounding Raiden tightly.

"Ten steps to kill!"

Raiden raised his blade and whispered. In the next moment, he vanished. When he reappeared, he was directly in front of Pakura.

The thunder-imbued blade cut through the air with a loud sonic boom, heading straight for Pakura's head.

Raiden had already deduced from the Sand Ninjas' formation that the young woman in front of him was their leader. Despite facing her directly, Raiden held nothing back. Although his earlier attempt to use the poisonous mist for a sneak attack had failed, he was confident in his speed. Even while breaking into the enemy's encirclement, his aim was to eliminate Pakura first.

"Scorch Release!"

Although Pakura couldn't visually track Raiden's movement the moment he disappeared, her years of ninja experience made her alert. She instinctively dodged, and the fireballs orbiting her closed in, attempting to block the sudden attack.

Her judgment was correct. She narrowly avoided Raiden's strike by evading at the last second. However, before she could feel relief, Raiden, undeterred by his missed attack, struck the ground. Spiderweb-like cracks spread from where he stood, and lightning burst through the fractures.

The ground beneath Pakura shattered instantly, and several streaks of lightning surged toward her.

"Damn it!" Pakura, caught off guard by Raiden's relentless assault, suddenly found herself flying backward. It was not from her own evasion but the work of a puppeteer among her allies, who had used chakra strings to forcibly pull her to safety.

"It's dangerous!" Pakura landed in a relatively secure spot, more than ten meters away from Raiden. Out of immediate danger, she wiped the cold sweat from her face.

"Master Pakura, are you alright?" asked the puppeteer, standing nearby. It was his chakra strings that had saved her moments earlier.

"I'm fine. Stay alert—this man is powerful and not easy to deal with."

As Pakura spoke, the fireballs around her flew toward Raiden, instantly raising the air temperature around him. Seeing this, the other Sand Ninjas refrained from attacking and instead encircled Pakura to protect her.

"Scorch Release... is it just a more advanced Fire Release?"

Raiden observed the darkened fireballs coming toward him. He didn't know much about Pakura's strength, but based on her earlier evasion, he judged her to be a formidable jonin. Ignorant of the true power of her Scorch Release, Raiden assumed it was just a stronger fire jutsu. Instead of dodging, he planned to neutralize it with his own superior Lightning Release techniques.

As the fireball closed in, Raiden prepared to unleash his technique. However, a sudden burning pain on his skin jolted him to awareness. Realizing the danger, he swiftly retreated, covering a distance of tens of meters in an instant.

Raiden, now at the riverbank, could still feel his heart pounding. Warning signals flared in his mind, and he wasted no time. He leaped across the river and disappeared into the forest.

Not long after Raiden left, the area where Pakura's fireballs had landed was engulfed in thick white mist. The intense heat evaporated all the moisture from the ground and even affected the nearby river.

"What the hell is this technique?"

"Does Scorch Release have such destructive power?"

"Wasn't this woman defeated easily by Mist Ninja? How strong is she really?"

From his vantage point in the forest, Raiden watched in shock as the air distorted from the intense heat, and the ground cracked from dehydration. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead.

"This woman's Scorch Release is incredibly dangerous. My defensive techniques aren't well-suited to counter it," Raiden reflected. "Fighting her in isolation isn't a wise choice. If I get seriously injured, there'll be no one to save me."

"I need to retreat for now and regroup with Shibi once he recovers."

After weighing his options, Raiden formed several shadow clones and sent them into the forest as decoys. Meanwhile, his main body moved swiftly toward the direction of Hatake Sakumo and the others.

Hatake Sakumo had ordered a retreat earlier, using Sand Ninja's poisonous mist as cover. Raiden had volunteered to stay behind and buy time. Originally, this role was meant for Sakumo, but Raiden had insisted, eager to test his abilities.

Now, after his encounter with Pakura, Raiden's confidence was shaken. Her Scorch Release was a formidable power, and avoiding further confrontation seemed the most prudent course of action for the team's mission.

(End of this chapter)

A/N: Sakegari no Tachi and Totsuka Blade are one in the same