Kai Uchiha's voice remained calm, almost serene, a faint smirk curling at the corner of his lips.
Hōntō no Iwa no Jutsu—Loess's Earth Release technique—ground to a halt as the Iwa-nin's expression stiffened. Without hesitation, he canceled the technique mid-flow, ignoring the backlash from his disrupted chakra. His right arm hardened into jagged, stone-like armor once again, and with a roar, he launched a powerful punch at the kunai that had been hurled behind him.
Boom!
The impact shattered a massive section of the battlefield, sending tremors through the surrounding terrain. But even before the shockwave could settle, a figure emerged—graceful and swift like a dancer, weaving through the air with balletic finesse.
A gleam of steel flashed midair.
The blade descended toward Loess in a sharp arc.
"Ah, you noticed it," Kai Uchiha said mid-leap, his tone easy and nonchalant. "I guess your battlefield instincts are the real deal. If I hadn't given myself that cue…"
"You… you're wrong—!"
Loess's retort cut off as his eyes widened in horror.
Kai had already closed the distance. His blade slashed down, but Loess narrowly evaded. Forming hand seals with practiced speed, the Iwa-nin countered—until the "Kai" before him began to bloat grotesquely.
Kage Bunshin Daibakuha—Shadow Clone Explosion.
The clone detonated violently, and Loess was blasted backward, his feet dragging deep ruts through the ground.
He barely regained his footing when he heard it—a whisper of steel slicing air. His instincts screamed.
He remembered the earlier encounter. Kai's blade carried Raiton—Lightning Release.
Gritting his teeth, Loess funneled chakra into his back, creating an earthen shield of hardened Doton. His limbs were sluggish now. Forcibly canceling his previous jutsu had destabilized his chakra network, and the earlier explosion had rattled his internal equilibrium.
But he refused to retreat. He would endure the slash—he had to.
It was a mistake.
The moment Kai's blade, now glowing with vibrant blue chakra, touched Loess's stone-armored body, raw lightning erupted outward.
"Ran'ei."
(Azure Lightning Cut.)
A Raiton-enhanced kenjutsu technique—a variant of the Chidori Nagashi, infused directly into a blade. Under the intense voltage, even Loess's rock-hard defense crumbled like brittle clay.
The blade cut through him like a hot knife through tofu.
Pain wracked Loess's body. He tried to leap away, but his limbs no longer responded properly. The lightning chakra had overwhelmed his nervous system—his muscles locked in spasm, his arms twitching uncontrollably.
Paralysis…!
"Despicable… Shameless…!" Loess hissed, voice trembling from shock and static.
"Thanks," Kai said with a relaxed smile. "You forgot to add ruthless, but I'll take the compliment."
Loess seethed. This Uchiha wasn't just a threat—he was a tactician, a deceiver. Kai had used the Transformation Technique (Henge no Jutsu) to disguise himself as a kunai, hiding in plain sight while his clone maintained a barrage of defensive ninjutsu.
It was classic Uchiha misdirection, sharpened by experience.
By the time Loess struck the transformed kunai, Kai was already preparing the trap. The real kunai—thrown simultaneously—had drawn Loess's attention upward, just long enough for kai's clone to close in, detonate, and cloud the battlefield with smoke and debris.
The final strike had come through that mist, riding the lightning.
Loess's eyes flicked toward kai's shoulder. The shallow gash there—it was the cost of transforming into a kunai mid-air. Even injuries were used as camouflage.
kai had turned misdirection into an art.
Loess tried to move. His chakra flared briefly—but it was no use. His body collapsed, paralyzed. And then—
Slash!
Kai's blade cleaved through Loess's left arm, severing it cleanly.
"Ahhhh!"
Blood erupted in an arc, spraying across the torn-up ground. Loess could only glare upward, silent rage and pride burning in his eyes.
Kai had already deactivated his Mangekyō Sharingan, reverting to the more sustainable three-tomoe state. Without relying on his ocular abilities' advanced techniques, the chakra consumption was minimal. He recalled how even Madara Uchiha rarely used his full ocular powers before gaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan—likely conserving chakra and avoiding overuse-induced blindness.
Perhaps it wasn't just chakra management. Could it be… the latent power of Indra's chakra flowing within them?
"I told you," Kai said, slowly approaching, blade tip now resting against Loess's throat. "Why did you think you were going to win?"
"You… You bastard…"
"Thank you," kai said cheerfully. "Next time, add shameless to the list. And maybe thank me properly for the chakra advice earlier, hm?"
Loess almost choked on his own blood from fury. This man wasn't just despicable—he reveled in it. Worse, he won with it.
And in the world of shinobi, the winner writes the rules.
He finally understood Kai's method. It had all been a carefully timed assault—shadow clones, chakra feints, fake weapons, real blades, sensory misdirection. The Sharingan's predictive ability had read his reactions like a book.
He clenched his jaw, watching Ka raise his sword again.
"Any last words?" Kai asked, tone mockingly gentle.
"I'll… wait for you…" Loess rasped, pain warping his speech. "In the Pure Land… I'll always wait…"
Kai blinked once. "Mm. Good night."
He gripped the hilt, ready to finish it.
But before the blade could fall—a flash of golden light pierced the smoke.
A hand—strong, firm, and unmistakably fast—grasped Kai's wrist.
Yellow hair. Flak jacket. Blue eyes sharp as a kunai.
Minato Namikaze had arrived.