Compared to nurturing an unknown individual, Shimizu Uchiha would much rather see Obito take the role of the villain.
Obito's weaknesses were glaringly obvious, and Shimizu knew every flaw of his Kamui inside and out.
"Take her away," ordered Kurozume Raiga.
A female ninja of unremarkable build, her face concealed by a mask, swiftly seized Nohara Rin and retreated with haste.
Dozens of ninjas followed her, leaving only the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Terumi Mei, and a handful of Kirigakure shinobi behind.
"Kakashi, go after Rin," Shimizu said, clapping a hand on Kakashi's shoulder.
Kakashi froze at his words.
Shimizu's statement meant he would stay behind to hold the line.
Torn between his promise to Obito and his cherished comrades, Kakashi's face contorted with anguish, caught in a painful dilemma.
"Go, now," Shimizu urged, giving Kakashi's back a firm push, propelling him a few steps forward.
The conflict in Kakashi's eyes gradually hardened into resolve. He nodded solemnly. "Shimizu, once I bring Rin back, I'll come help you."
With that, Kakashi dashed off at full speed.
The remaining Kirigakure shinobi weren't about to sit idly by. They charged forward in unison.
"Shōton: Hachiman Hachiho Jin!" "Shōton: Kesshō Meikyū no Jutsu!"
Crimson crystals erupted from the ground, enveloping an area nearly five hundred meters wide, trapping everyone within a scarlet cage.
"Trying to leave? Have you asked me yet?" Shimizu said, halting his hand seals.
The beauty of kekkei genkai techniques was that many could be mastered instinctively, without the long training required for ordinary ninjutsu.
"Shōton?" Kurozume Raiga eyed the crimson crystals surrounding them. He unleashed a bolt of lightning, but it only left a small dent in the structure. Breaking through completely would take time.
"He has two kekkei genkai? Did his branch of the Uchiha marry into a clan with Shōton?" Biwa Jūzō muttered, feeling the situation grow thornier.
Shimizu was already a formidable opponent, and now, with a second kekkei genkai, he was even more troublesome. Worse still, they had little intelligence on Shōton. This was the first time in the war they'd encountered a Konohagakure ninja wielding such a bloodline limit.
Ninja battles were as much about information as they were about strength. The side with less intel was inevitably at a disadvantage.
"Damn it, this Uchiha never revealed he could use Shōton back in the Land of Demons," Biwa Jūzō growled, gripping his blade and charging at Shimizu once more.
At the same moment, a White Zetsu emerged from a nearby wall.
"Madara, the plan's gone awry. That Uchiha Shimizu has trapped the remaining ninja in a massive jutsu. Only Kakashi went after Rin. This deviates from Obito's path, and it might lead to unforeseen consequences."
Uchiha Madara slowly opened his eyes, his three-tomoe Sharingan fixing on White Zetsu.
"Shimizu…" Madara's brow furrowed.
For the first time, he felt something slipping beyond his control.
They were one step away from drawing out the darkness in Obito's heart. Any misstep now could ruin everything.
Hiss.
The tubes embedded in Madara's back swelled slightly, as if channeling something into his body.
"Mokuton: Moku Bunshin no Jutsu."
A figure split off from Madara's body, younger in appearance, roughly in his sixties.
"Take my wood clone to assess the situation. Infused with the chakra of the Gedō Mazō, this clone possesses a fraction of my power—less than half, but sufficient for the current circumstances."
"Yes, Madara," White Zetsu replied, vanishing into the earth with the wood clone.
During their movement, the wood clone transformed into the guise of a Kirigakure shinobi, slowly donning a mask.
"Mokuton: Moku Henge no Jutsu!"
"Time to end this," Shimizu declared, opting for a swift resolution.
He shed the upper half of his form-fitting Uchiha robe, letting it hang at his waist. The black chainmail underneath accentuated his chiseled physique, as if sculpted to golden proportions.
"Katon: Chakra Mōdo," Shimizu intoned softly.
Boom!
Crimson flames enveloped his body, reminiscent of Naruto's Nine-Tails mode, his form shimmering with radiant light.
Crackle!
Beyond the flames, faint arcs of electricity sparked, bathed in the fiery glow, resembling apocalyptic red thunder.
This was Shimizu's serious mode.
He had no intention of lingering here.
Obito was already on his way.
To push Obito toward darkness, Shimizu needed him to witness a heart-wrenching scene. And Shimizu had devised a method to shatter Obito's heart—one that didn't require Nohara Rin's death but would drive him to escape reality and embrace the Infinite Dream.
"This chakra…"
The gusts unleashed by Shimizu's power forced Terumi Mei to squint.
Biwa Jūzō and Kurozume Raiga braced themselves, as if facing a formidable foe.
Outsiders knew them as the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen, but few knew how thoroughly they'd been humiliated by Might Dai, beaten like stray dogs. That same dread was creeping back now.
They couldn't afford to underestimate Shimizu, lest they repeat past mistakes.
Most of the Kirigakure shinobi had already left to escort Nohara Rin to Konohagakure for their destructive mission. Those who remained included some who had barely earned the rank of Jōnin through seniority. Now, trembling before Shimizu's overwhelming presence, they were already faltering before the fight began.
"Don't be afraid! He's just one man—a ninja who's good at running away!" Kurozume Raiga barked, trying to rally the flagging morale.
"Tenrō Kajin."
Shimizu's form vanished, leaving only the afterimage of a flaming lotus.
"Ninpō: Rai no Yoroi!"
Kurozume Raiga merged his twin blades, his body enveloped in raging lightning. Sparks flew the moment he activated the technique. Had he been a second slower, Shimizu's strike would have landed.
"Raiton: Raiga."
Thunderbolts rained from the sky.
"Suiton: Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu."
Biwa Jūzō created over a dozen water clones, joining Kurozume Raiga in their assault on Shimizu.
Wings of crystal sprouted from Shimizu's back, and he took to the skies. With a flap of his wings, he hovered using the Blade of the Sky.
With a forward swing, countless small crystal swords materialized, each igniting with flames. In an instant, thousands of fiery blades filled the sky, raining down with lethal precision.
The swords cut through the Kirigakure shinobi like a hot knife through tofu, felling many in mere moments.
Kurozume Raiga's lightning armor shielded him, but Biwa Jūzō wasn't as fortunate. Each time he shattered a flaming sword with his Kubikiribōchō, more blades pierced his body before he could recover. He was soon bloodied and battered.
Terumi Mei, ever clever, surrounded herself with a mist of Futton, corroding any flaming swords that drew near.
The battle raged on, punctuated by the shouts of Kirigakure shinobi.
Biwa Jūzō and Kurozume Raiga seethed with frustration. This bastard just stayed in the sky, bombarding them with long-range ninjutsu.
Biwa Jūzō couldn't fly, and his Suiton techniques lacked the range to reach Shimizu. Kurozume Raiga could summon lightning from the clouds, but that required preparation time—time he didn't have while dodging the relentless barrage of flaming swords.
Neither dared to test what it felt like to be struck by one.
Huff…
High above, Shimizu felt his chakra draining rapidly. He swallowed a soldier pill and waved his hand, unleashing another wave of countless flaming swords.
"An interesting technique," remarked Madara's wood clone, observing from outside the crystal cage with intrigue.
Ninjutsu in the shinobi world evolved rapidly. During the thousand years of the Warring States period, clans clashed endlessly, and a ninja living to their twenties or thirties was considered long-lived. Survival under such constant pressure left little room for ninjutsu development. Back then, shinobi wore armor, wielded samurai blades, and used ninjutsu merely as support.
But in the era of peace, the accumulated knowledge of centuries exploded into rapid advancements, with new techniques sprouting like bamboo after rain. Even Uchiha Madara couldn't help but marvel at the vitality of the shinobi world—it was no stagnant pool.
"Madara, that's Uchiha Shimizu," White Zetsu said, appearing beside the wood clone.
"Have you corrected Obito's deviated path?"
"I've used telepathy to inform the other artificial beings. Obito is heading toward Rin and Kakashi as we speak."
The wood clone nodded, continuing to observe Shimizu's display of ninjutsu.
The Uchiha clan had betrayed him, but a talented descendant like Shimizu could still be recruited. His striking appearance reminded the clone of Madara's younger brother, Uchiha Izuna—once as dashing and brilliant as Shimizu.
But Izuna had been killed by Senju Tobirama…
Madara shook off the memories. These thoughts only strengthened his resolve to enact the Eye of the Moon Plan. The shinobi world needed him, its savior, to bring salvation. The Sage of the Six Paths had inscribed the method to save the world on the Uchiha Stone Tablet. Madara would follow its guidance and become the second Sage of the Six Paths.
Splurt!
Biwa Jūzō coughed up blood, exhausted from being kited relentlessly.
Kurozume Raiga's earlier confidence had faded; he'd long since deactivated his Ninpō: Rai no Yoroi. Sustaining it drained his chakra heavily, and he needed to conserve some to guard against Shimizu's sudden attacks.
"Time's up," Shimizu declared, raising his Tenrō Kajin high and swinging it down.
The blade severed Biwa Jūzō's hand and shattered Kurozume Raiga's foot.
"Damn it, retreat!" Biwa Jūzō roared, swinging his Kubikiribōchō to carve a pit in the crystal wall.
Kurozume Raiga merged his twin blades, unleashing an arc of electricity that blasted the pit into a half-man-sized hole.
Kurozume Raiga sheathed his blades and scrambled through the opening in a desperate escape. Biwa Jūzō, slowed by the size of his Kubikiribōchō, took a fiery slash from Shimizu as he passed through, coughing up another mouthful of blood. Abandoning his blade, he fled.
A life was worth more than a sword.
Their mission was to ensure the ritual's success, and with Nohara Rin now the Three-Tails' jinchūriki, retreating didn't count as failure.
Before fleeing, Biwa Jūzō spared a glance at Terumi Mei, guilt flickering in his eyes. He felt he'd failed his subordinate. But Biwa Jūzō was a man of ambition—he wouldn't let his journey end here.
The Kubikiribōchō? He'd reclaim it one day.
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