The battlefield was a swirling storm of mist, metal, and chakra, but through it all, Renjiro stood untouched—an unwavering force of precision and control. Across from him, Kase Seiji gritted his teeth, his knuckles whitening as he tightened his grip on Samehada, the monstrous sword of living scales.
Its jagged, fleshy spikes rippled, extending with each failed attempt to land a hit on Renjiro. It devoured chakra, feasted upon it, and yet no matter how much Seiji funnelled into it or stretched it, he couldn't even graze the Konoha Jonin.
Again, he lunged forward, twisting his body mid-step, slashing with the full momentum of his charge. Samehada's blade stretched unnaturally, the spiked tendrils reaching for Renjiro like the gaping maw of a beast.
But Renjiro wasn't there.
A sharp pivot, a half-step to the side, and the attack swept through empty air. The mist curled around Renjiro's figure as if reluctant to let him slip away, or at least it tried to as Renjiro moved as if the battle itself bent to his will.
Seiji snarled in frustration. "Tch!"
He swung again, this time feinting left before snapping his blade forward in a spiralling slash. Samehada screeched, its spiked flesh elongating in an unpredictable, whip-like arc.
Renjiro merely leaned back, avoiding the attack by the width of a hair.
The Mist swordsman ground his teeth together.
This wasn't normal. This wasn't a fluke. It was almost as if Renjiro knew exactly how Samehada worked—as if he had studied every aspect of its reach and hunger, ensuring that the living weapon never had the chance to latch onto him.
Seiji's patience snapped. "Damn it! Are you just going to dodge all night like a rat?!"
Renjiro tilted his head slightly, an amused smirk tugging at his lips. His crimson Sharingan eyes gleamed as they bore into Seiji's frustrated scowl.
"Why are you blaming me for your lack of ability?" Renjiro replied smoothly. "A famed swordsman of the Mist can't even complete a full attack against a newly promoted Jonin?"
Seiji's jaw clenched, his grip tightening around Samehada's hilt.
"Did you really want to fight for your honour with such a disappointing display?" Renjiro added, his voice edged with disdain.
Before Seiji could formulate a response, a thin, metallic wire zipped through the air toward him. His instincts screamed, and he twisted his body to the side just in time, barely avoiding the wire as it whistled past his torso.
'What the—?'
His sharp eyes flickered toward the source, and his blood ran cold.
Another Renjiro stood a short distance away, calmly planting a long, needle-like sword into the ground—Nuibari.
Seiji's mind reeled.
'How? How did Renjiro have that sword?'
His thoughts raced, piecing together the impossible. The answer struck him like a hammer to the gut.
'He defeated Jurou.'
His heart pounded in his chest. Jurou wasn't just another swordsman—he was one of their strongest, a warrior whose sheer physical strength was considered monstrous. And yet, Renjiro had taken Nuibari from him, just like that.
Renjiro exhaled, shaking his head as if disappointed. "What was the technique again? Ah, right..." He placed a hand on the sword's hilt, chakra surging through the blade.
"Longsword Ninja Art—Earth Spider Sewing."
The ground trembled.
Dozens of metallic wires erupted from the earth, spiralling upward like a blooming flower of steel.
Seiji's eyes widened. There were too many.
Too many.
He reacted on instinct, whipping Samehada in an arc, trying to cleave through the wires before they could entangle him. The sword's jagged scales flexed, hungrily absorbing the chakra-infused threads, attempting to devour their energy.
But Renjiro saw it immediately. He adjusted.
More chakra.
More wires.
The ground cracked as another surge of steel threads burst forth. Seiji cursed under his breath as the sharpened wires slashed against his skin, thin lines of blood appearing on his arms and torso. Before he could fully react, the wires twisted around him, pulling him into the air.
Held aloft. Helpless. Exposed.
He struggled, but the bindings were relentless, each movement tightening their grip. Blood dripped onto the ground below.
Then he saw it.
The fourth tomoe.
A single tear-like marking spiralled into existence within Renjiro's Sharingan, the deep red of his irises darkening ever so slightly. Seiji's breath caught in his throat.
Fear.
It clawed at his gut, a primal, uncontrollable terror that froze his body before his mind could even process it. The grip around Samehada slackened. His fingers refused to obey.
The sword fell from his grasp, landing with a dull thud against the earth.
Renjiro moved without hesitation, stepping forward and placing a firm hand on Samehada's hilt.
=====
Ayame's eyes narrowed as she focused on the battlefield. Something was happening again.
'His chakra spiked again...'
It was a pattern now, a steady increase, not just in output but in density. It reminded her of something.
'Is he using some method similar to taking the Soldier Pills?'
Her grip on the railing tightened. If that were the case, it would explain the surges. But those pills came with heavy drawbacks. Renjiro, however, showed no signs of fatigue.
She exhaled sharply. This was dangerous.
Absolutely! I'll expand on Yuji's struggle, diving deeper into his emotions, his thought process, and the desperation of his battle against Renjiro. Give me a moment to enhance the scene.
=====
Yuji's breath came in short, ragged gasps, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tightened his grip on the Kiba blades. His fingers ached, his arms burned, and yet, despite everything, despite pushing his body past its limits, he couldn't land a decisive hit on Renjiro.
This wasn't how the fight was supposed to go.
He and his comrades had entered this battle with the goal of humbling the young Konoha Jonin—to remind him, and by extension, the world, that the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were not to be taken lightly.
Yet here he was, barely holding on.
Yuji growled under his breath, forcing chakra into his muscles, pushing through the fatigue. His opponents in the past had always crumbled under the relentless speed and power of the Kiba blades. But Renjiro—Renjiro wasn't just dodging. He was predicting, countering, dismantling his every move before it could even manifest into a real threat.
'It's that damn Sharingan.'
The blood-red eyes reflected every movement he made, tracking his slightest shifts in stance, reading his attacks before he even executed them.
It was infuriating.
Yuji pushed off the ground in a burst of speed, twisting his body mid-air as he slashed the Kiba blades in a crisscross pattern. Twin arcs of lightning crackled forward, cutting through the mist, surging toward Renjiro.
Renjiro barely reacted. A slight shift of his weight, a subtle tilt of his body—and the lightning bolts missed their mark, crackling harmlessly against the ground behind him.
Yuji didn't let up.
Before Renjiro could fully regain his stance, Yuji flickered behind him in a blur of movement, slashing horizontally with both blades.
The attack connected—
Or so he thought.
Renjiro twisted at the last possible second, stepping inside his guard, allowing the Kiba blades to scrape against the edge of his flak jacket instead of cutting deep into his flesh. Then, with a lightning-fast motion, he delivered a brutal elbow to Yuji's ribs.
"Ugh!"
Yuji stumbled back, gritting his teeth as pain flared through his side. He barely had time to recover before Renjiro was on him again.
A blur of movement—then a leg snapped forward.
Yuji barely managed to cross his blades in front of him in time, blocking the kick. But the sheer force behind the strike sent him skidding backwards, his boots digging deep furrows into the ground.
Yuji scowled.
'Enough of this.'
Lightning surged through his body as he blurred forward, closing the distance in the blink of an eye. He feinted left, then twisted to the right, aiming for Renjiro's blind spot.
For a moment, Yuji thought he had him.
Then—a flicker of movement.
Renjiro's Sharingan spun, and before Yuji could react, he felt something coil around his wrist.
A thin, metallic wire.
His breath hitched.
The wire tightened, yanking him off balance.
'What the-'
Yuji tried to backstep, tried to break free, but before he could do anything, a second wire shot forward, wrapping around his other arm. Then another, and another.
In the blink of an eye, he was ensnared.
His heartbeat pounded in his ears as he struggled against the binding wires. The more he moved, the tighter they became, slicing thin lines of crimson into his skin.
His breathing quickened.
Renjiro stood before him, impassive, unreadable, now gripping Nuibari.
Yuji's gaze flickered downward—toward Renjiro's other hand.
His stomach twisted.
There, resting in Renjiro's firm grasp, was Samehada.
His mind blanked.
Seiji and Jurou had lost.
And now, here he was, bound and helpless, staring at the man who had crushed them all without even breaking a sweat.
Renjiro sighed.
"You were the most disappointing one of all," he murmured.
Yuji felt his breath catch in his throat.
His entire body tensed—but not because of the wires.
It was Renjiro's gaze.
The fourth tomoe in his Sharingan spun, and in an instant, Yuji felt a crushing, paralyzing force invade his mind.
It was unlike anything he had ever experienced before.
His vision blurred, his body frozen in place. The battlefield around him warped, twisted, and faded.
Renjiro stood amidst the fallen, his crimson gaze flickering between the three swords laid out before him—Nuibari, Samehada, and Kiba.
He rolled his shoulders slightly, exhaling through his nose before crouching down.
But there was still one issue.
Samehada refused to let go.
The living blade twitched in his grasp, its fleshy spikes gripping onto his arm, trying to latch onto his chakra, to drain him.
Renjiro's gaze darkened.
With a sharp pulse of chakra, he wrenched himself free, forcibly severing the sword's grip. Samehada twitched once more—then stilled, as if in reluctant submission.
Renjiro exhaled, shaking his head.
Finally, he lowered himself into a lotus position, hands resting against his knees.
His Sharingan gleamed as he muttered,
"Now... to the most important bit."
=====
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