Novel All
151. Kiyomi’s Susanoo Versus the Desert Brigades
151. Kiyomi’s Susanoo Versus the Desert Brigades
On another portion of the battlefield, Kiyomi Uchiha stood as a formidable force, her presence marked by the towering shadow of her large black Susanoo.
This colossal avatar of chakra manifested in a daunting, spectral form that towered over the chaos of battle.
With every movement, Kiyomi's Susanoo unleashed devastating blows, its massive arms swinging with such force that each strike seemed to ripple through the air.
The ground trembled under its power as it pummeled the Sunagakure shinobi, who dared to come close.
Her Susanoo's fists descended like meteorites, crushing anything in their path. They sent shockwaves across the battlefield, throwing enemies off their feet and shattering their formations.
Nearby Uchiha clan members coordinated their attacks with Kiyomi, but it was clear she was the centerpiece of their assault.
Her Susanoo acted as both shield and spear, protecting her allies while decimating the opposition's ranks, illustrating the fearsome capability of a fully awakened Mangekyo Sharingan.
As Kiyomi stood her ground amidst the onslaught, Susanoo's evolved form allowed her mobility, making it difficult for Sunagakure's fighters to initially exploit any weaknesses, at least in the short term.
The sheer size and the more complete form of her Susanoo, which she recently mastered, acted as a formidable barrier, also nullifying potential hypothetical attacks from below that would have been possible against a less developed manifestation of the Susanoo that lacked legs on them, she also initially had before mastering this one after multiple hard battles and longer utilization of it.
Despite being outnumbered, Kiyomi's Susanoo, now fully developed with both newfound flesh and skin and skeletal layers that unlocked during her previous evolution, including its also newly mastered legs manifestation, gave her enhanced mobility and a more formidable presence on the battlefield, not due to its increased size, but the ability to move and even run everywhere in that gigantic form.
However, unlike Fugaku, who could afford sporadic activations of his Susanoo, on another part of the front, thanks to strategic conservations of his strength, his supporting type special Mangekyo ability allowed him, Kiyomi was compelled to maintain hers continuously.
Engaged directly in the thick of battle, without those 'amplified' Uchiha members around her that Fugaku had, she could not risk deactivating her Susanoo like him, even momentarily.
This constant activation significantly drains her chakra and strains her Sharingan, but it is a necessary trade-off to handle the relentless assaults from Sunagakure's numerous fighters and prevent attacks from unexpected angles, especially from below—a vulnerability of earlier Susanoo forms.
Its gigantic legs could still be trapped if she was not careful, and that was one of its biggest weaknesses currently, in her estimation, as well.
Kiyomi grimaced as Sunagakure's distinct brigades relentlessly attacked and formed inside the giant, tangible chakra mass of her menacing Susanoo.
As she parried and countered, the question loomed in her mind, 'Might I also need to unleash one of my special Mangekyo abilities today in front of the entire world?', She obviously didn't want to do that previously,
However, this thought was punctuated by the diverse tactics of Sunagakure's forces now, a reflection of their nomadic roots, which never fully evolved into clan structures like those in other lands.
Instead, these shinobi had mostly honed three specific jutsu styles that now converged in the brigades facing her.
The Binder Brigade, masters of the cloth-binding jutsu, swarmed around her, launching ribbons of cloth that acted like additional limbs.
These cloths were not only flexible but could be hardened to steel-like density, allowing them to bind and restrict even the movements of Kiyomi's formidable Susanoo, especially its limbs, temporarily.
The cloth weaved through the air, attempting to envelop her in sealing formulas that aimed to suppress her chakra and movement drastically. This drained her more and more.
Simultaneously, the Puppet Brigade engaged with their meticulously crafted wooden and metal puppets. These puppets, controlled by fine chakra strings manipulated by the puppeteers' skilled fingers, attacked from a distance.
They were armed with hidden blades, laced with deadly poisons, and traps designed to ensnare or incapacitate their targets.
The puppeteers, leveraging their expertise in fuinjutsu, attempted to outmaneuver Kiyomi's Susanoo with their complex and lethal contraptions.
Meanwhile, the Tempest Brigade wielded their giant war fans, channeling wind chakra to stir massive air currents capable of matching the Susanoo's raw power.
Their fans, conduits of their wind nature, allowed them to launch powerful gusts over great distances, transforming the battlefield into a storm of relentless wind assaults.
Members of this brigade, including those with the right to summon weasels wielding sickles, enhanced their wind techniques to grind the surrounding earth to dust, creating blinding sandstorms that sought to obscure Kiyomi's vision and weaken her defensive positioning.
These brigades coordinated their attacks together, and their combined efforts were orchestrated to exploit any weakness in Susanoo's defense.
Kiyomi, surrounded by a maelstrom of cloth, puppet strings, and swirling winds, found herself at the center of a concerted effort to break her defenses and suppress her overwhelming power.
All of this forced her to regenerate and rebuild her Susanoo many times over, which already made her eyes quite painful and drained her body and chakras.
And that was not even all, as Chiyo and Ebizo, the revered elder puppeteers of Sunagakure, took command of the forefront in the clash against Kiyomi. They not only directed the assault but played an important part in it.
They often even attempted to pierce through and approach Kiyomi's position within her giant Susanoo directly, around its head, high in the air, on a considerable altitude for that terrain, once she got temporarily immobilized by all the other Suna shinobi or regenerated her black avatar.
Known across the shinobi world for their prowess and strategic genius in puppet warfare, these siblings had honed their skills over decades, becoming legends during the previous shinobi world wars.
They maneuvered their complex array of puppets with seamless coordination, each puppet a masterpiece of warfare engineering equipped with a variety of hidden weapons and traps.
Chiyo, with her ten puppets, created a barrier of lethal weapons and chakra threads around Kiyomi, attempting to pin her Susanoo down with coordinated strikes from multiple angles. Each puppet was an extension of her will, moving with eerie precision and grace, connected to one of her ten fingers.
Ebizo, complementing his sister's offensive tactics, employed his defensive strategies, setting traps and barriers that hindered Kiyomi's movements.
His expertise in fuinjutsu was evident as he layered sealing jutsus within the battlefield, creating a complex maze of energy that sought to drain Kiyomi's chakra and immobilize her Susanoo all the more.
Together, the Honoured Siblings aimed to exploit every gap in Kiyomi's defense, their combined experience making them formidable opponents even against the overwhelming might of a fully developed Susanoo.
Their presence on the battlefield not only boosted the morale of the Sunagakure forces but also intensified the pressure on Kiyomi.
Additionally, to make it even more difficult for Kiyomi and her Uchiha entourage, the chaos on the battlefield around her made the current Jinchuriki of the One-Tails Shukaku, Jurota, stand as a towering figure among the Sunagakure forces.
A seasoned warrior, older than most Jinchuriki and marked by the scars of many battles, Jurota had never connected with Shukaku on a more meaningful level to be the perfect Jinchuriki, but he still harnessed the beast's power to enhance his physical abilities and chakra reserves significantly as he was still a legit Jinchuriki.
And despite the volatile nature of his relationship with Shukaku, Jurota had adapted well over the years, learning to blend his own innate talents with the tailed beast's abilities.
A notable feat was his mastery of Magnet Release, a kekkei genkai he developed by mingling Shukaku's Magnetic Release with the metallic elements found in the earth.
This unique combination allowed him to manipulate vast swathes of terrain, turning the battlefield into a weapon itself.
As Kiyomi's black Susanoo rampaged through the ranks of Sunagakure's shinobi, Jurota positioned himself strategically, using his Magnet Release to control the metallic dust he created.
With precise movements, he manipulated this mixture to swarm around the Susanoo, aiming to restrict its movements and slowly penetrate its defenses.
The metal-infused sand, driven by his chakra, attempted to clog the joints and gears of Kiyomi's formidable avatar, seeking to immobilize it and make it vulnerable to further attacks.
As the battle raged fiercely, Jurota's output of Magnet Release personal techniques reached its peak in terms of potency and utility.
By manipulating the magnetic dirt around Susanoo's legs to the greatest extent so far in the battle, Jurota effectively immobilized Kiyomi's Susanoo.
This strategic move allowed the Binder Brigade to tighten their cloth bindings, further restricting the Susanoo's movements, while the Puppet Brigade engaged the nearby Uchiha fighters, keeping them at bay.
Meanwhile, the Tempest Brigade exploited the openings created by their comrades, launching ferocious wind attacks that temporarily disrupted the integrity of the Susanoo's structure.
As Kiyomi struggled to regenerate her Susanoo quickly, expending significant chakra to restore its defenses, Chiyo seized the moment.
Leveraging a nearby hill for elevation, Chiyo propelled herself high into the air, directly above the battlefield. With Kiyomi's Susanoo still partially exposed due to incomplete regeneration, Chiyo spotted her opportunity.
"Finally caught you head-on, Uchiha brat! Your cursed dojutsu and demonic technique won't help you right now anymore!", She hissed, a fierce gleam in her eyes as she directed her formidable arsenal of puppets toward the vulnerable Susanoo.
Chiyo was a master puppeteer and a direct successor to the legendary Monzaemon Chikamatsu, who revolutionized puppetry in the ninja world.
She wielded the White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets, a set of highly advanced combat puppets that Monzaemon himself had crafted.
Each puppet was capable of extraordinary feats in taijutsu, ninjutsu, and bukijutsu, and their ability to combine and transform added layers of unpredictability and power to their attacks.
As Chiyo controlled her ten puppets seamlessly, they descended upon Kiyomi's Susanoo.
Their combined assault was a spectacle of coordinated strikes and defenses, their movements synchronized to exploit every weakness exposed by the earlier assaults from Jurota and the brigades.
Kiyomi, caught off-guard by the sudden and intense onslaught, found herself on the defensive, her chakra reserves dwindling as she attempted to fend off the relentless puppet attack.
On the battlefield below, Ebizo watched the aerial assault with a calculated gaze, his expression unreadable yet tinged with a cold intensity.
As the architect of this elaborate strategy, he took pride in the precision with which the Sunagakure forces executed their plan, cornering one of Konoha's formidable combatants, the young Uchiha prodigy, Kiyomi.
From his vantage point, he observed the unfolding chaos, noting each move and countermove.
His mind raced with possibilities and contingencies, anticipating Kiyomi's potential responses now that her Susanoo had been temporarily compromised.
Ebizo knew that a ninja of Kiyomi's caliber would not be easily defeated, and she likely had more techniques at her disposal.
After all, thanks to his position and age, he knew a little bit about the legendary Mangekyo Sharingan.
Meanwhile, up in the air, Kiyomi, peering through the crack in her Susanoo, spotted the approaching swarm of advanced puppets. Anger flashed across her face as she gritted her teeth,
"Damn, granny, you've pushed me too far. Now you're going to pay—I'll decimate you directly in one blow then!",
Blood dripped from beneath one of her Mangekyo Sharingan, signaling her readiness to deploy one of her two advanced abilities.
Kiyomi knew that this attack could perhaps annihilate the elderly puppeteer from existence instantly, even behind her ten advanced puppets.
However, it would severely drain her energy and further damage her eyesight—a secret she guarded closely, understanding the steep costs of her own advanced Sharingan's powers.
However, just as she prepared to leave her Susanoo slightly and deliver the potentially pulverizing strike, her eyes widened in shock.
Before her, a massive vortex of churning wind and raw chakra energy erupted into existence.
The vortex's radius spanned dozens of meters, engulfing the airborne battlefield with its ferocious power.
Chiyo's meticulously crafted puppets were obliterated in an instant. Their wooden bodies shattered against the vortex's unrelenting force.
From within the giant swirling chaos, Chiyo herself was thrown backward, her body slamming against the battlefield below as Ebizo also barely caught her with his puppet.
Blood escaped her lips—a stark contrast to her usual poised demeanor—as she tried to regain her bearings in shock.
Amidst the destruction, Kiyomi spotted the figure responsible for this sudden turn of events. It was Hikari, his presence marked by the formidable Hyuga clan's Rotation.Nôv(el)B\\jnn
His timely arrival shifted the tide dramatically. His rotation technique neutralized Chiyo's attack and her precious arsenal and safeguarded Kiyomi in a critical moment.
Kiyomi's heart pounded with a mixture of relief and renewed vigor as she watched Hikari's figure stabilize amidst the dissipating winds and propel itself toward the crack of her Susanoo. Therefore, with Hikari by her side literally, she felt a big surge of confidence.
"You finally appeared again, Hikari! What took you so long!?", However, her mouth was still 'hard'. Yet, Hikari still managed to notice relief and happiness for him in her red almond eyes.