The whole force of Kirigakure had surrounded the Land of Uzumaki completely. They were slowly advancing toward the Uzumaki Village, which lay roughly at the centre of the island. Wherever the Kirigakure forces passed, the land was swallowed in thick white mist. Most of their ninjas were proficient in the Silent Killing technique, and creating the perfect environment for it was crucial. Under tight coordination, their ranks continuously formed dense layers of mist using the Hiding in Mist Technique.
From a top view, a broad ring of fog was steadily closing in toward the Uzumaki Village, tightening like a noose with every passing moment. The air itself felt colder, heavier — as if even the island was holding its breath.
Every Uzumaki sibling had already taken their designated positions based on the locations they sensed. They stood spaced out in a perfect circular formation, each maintaining the same distance from the next. And it seemed Kirigakure had intentionally mirrored this setup — dividing their forces into ten separate groups, each one aligning with the position of an Uzumaki sibling.
Clearly, they were coming for the Uzumaki siblings first. Kirigakure understood that now that they had launched their attack on the Uzumaki Village, eliminating these ten was their top priority… because the siblings were undeniably the greatest threat on this battlefield.
The Uzumaki Village itself was now practically useless to Kirigakure. It was merely a settlement formed by scattered civilians from different nations who had arrived after their homelands were ravaged by wars. This village held no strategic value in Kirigakure's eyes. Their real targets were the Uzumaki siblings.
With sensory-type shinobi among their ranks, they had already pinpointed the exact locations of all ten siblings through careful scouting. And without hesitation, they directed their divisions toward those ten points.
The first to see the enemy forces approaching was Renji.
Renji's expression hardened. He knew he couldn't afford to take this battle lightly. Immediately, he unsheathed his sword. As he ran his hand along the blade once, he muttered, "Roar, Zabimaru."
In an instant, the sword transformed. The blade broke into multiple segmented pieces, each connected by thin, cord-like threads. A violent snap echoed through the air as the weapon extended with tremendous force. The leading Kirigakure ninja didn't even have time to react — the stretching blade cleaved him cleanly in half.
Renji swung Zabimaru again, and the extended segments whipped through the ranks, cutting down several Kirigakure ninjas and sending bodies flying. Without wasting a breath, Renji used Shunpo and vanished from his spot, reappearing in the middle of the advancing group. There, he lashed out with Zabimaru like a massive whip, each strike carving through the mist and flinging more Kirigakure soldiers backward. The ground trembled lightly under the force of his attacks, the battle around him erupting into chaos.
Just as Renji was swinging his segmented Zanpakuto like a whip and sending wave after wave of Kirigakure ninjas flying and injured, a sudden chomp echoed through the mist. His eyes widened as Zabimaru's extended segment was abruptly stopped… bitten by a massive, pepper-fish–like creature.
A fat, hulking man emerged behind it.
Renji instantly recognized him. This was none other than Fuguki — one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist — and the creature biting into Zabimaru was his infamous sword, Samehada.
Seeing his Zabimaru caught between Samehada's jagged "teeth," Renji's irritation spiked. He shouted, "Return, Zabimaru!"
In that moment, Zabimaru snapped back with explosive force, ripping itself free from Samehada's grip. The segmented length drew inward in a violent recoil and reformed into its original broad, spiked-bladed shape. Small sparks flickered as the pieces locked back together.
Fuguki stared at Renji with a grin. "You're quite strong… to cause this much destruction among Kirigakure's forces. But this ends here and now. I'll be the one you're fighting."
Without waiting for Renji's reply, he glanced at a nearby Kirigakure Jonin and ordered, "Take the rest of the forces to the Uzumaki Village and create carnage there."
The Jonin nodded sharply and immediately signalled the others. Many of the Kirigakure shinobi who had been clashing with Renji began to pull back, their silhouettes slipping into the mist as they moved toward the village, leaving Renji and Fuguki facing each other in the clearing tension.
Of course, this was a deliberate move — an attempt to create pressure and chaos around the Uzumaki siblings so that, when facing their opponents, they would be more likely to make mistakes.
The area was still covered in mist, but not thick enough to block Renji's vision. Through the shifting white veil, he clearly saw many of the Kirigakure ninjas who had been attacking him moments ago now ignoring him completely and sprinting toward the Uzumaki Village.
Renji exhaled sharply and shook his head. "I'm being underestimated, it seems."
His tone carried a faint edge of irritation.
Raising his palm toward the fleeing Jonin at the front of the group, he said, "Hado #31: Shakkaho."
The moment his words fell, a red, glowing orb materialized in front of his palm. It crackled faintly, expanding as searing heat radiated off it. Then, with a sudden burst, it shot forward at incredible speed.
The targeted Jonin sensed the danger and instinctively raised his sword to block. But the instant the orb touched the blade, it detonated — erupting into a wide, horizontal beam of crimson light. The blast swallowed the Jonin entirely, the beam roaring through the mist like a burning tide.
When the glow finally faded and the beam dissipated, the Jonin's figure reappeared. His body was charred pitch-black, smoke rising off him as he collapsed onto the ground. Whether he was alive or dead was impossible to tell.
Immediately, Renji used Shunpo, disappearing from his spot and reappearing right in front of the remaining Kirigakure ninjas still rushing toward the Uzumaki Village under Fuguki's command. Zabimaru stretched out once more with a sharp, metallic snap, its segmented form whipping through the air. Renji swung it in wide, vicious arcs, the blade cracking through the mist like a living serpent.
Each strike carved into the fleeing shinobi — multiple cuts opening across their bodies as they were sent flying. Some injuries were shallow, but many were deep enough to be fatal. If those ninjas didn't receive immediate treatment, they would certainly die. A few dropped instantly, collapsing where they fell when Zabimaru sliced too deeply across necks or abdomens.
Despite Fuguki's bulky, heavy appearance, his speed was far beyond that of an ordinary shinobi — though still not enough to match Renji's Shunpo. Even so, he managed to close the distance and appeared beside Renji. But by the time he did, the entire area had already been swallowed in a suddenly thickened mist. Vision dropped to almost zero; Renji could barely see his own hand in front of him.
Fuguki took advantage of this instant. He swung Samehada toward Renji in a perfect Silent Killing technique, the movement completely soundless, lethal, and nearly impossible to perceive for any ordinary ninja.
But Renji was not ordinary.
He didn't need to see through the mist — he could sense the intent, the direction, the shift in killing aura. There you are.
With a swift motion, he brought Zabimaru up, intercepting the attack. The two weapons clashed, spikes grinding against Samehada's jagged scales as the mist swirled around them in violent ripples.
Like this, Renji continued clashing with Fuguki, their battle weaving in and out of the dense mist. Meanwhile, the other Kirigakure ninjas who tried to slip past toward the Uzumaki Village were handled by Renji whenever they broke formation. Sometimes he struck them down with precise Kido spells; other times he cut them off with swift, whip-like swings of Zabimaru. With Shunpo accelerating his movements to near-blurring speed, his figure appeared and vanished unpredictably across the battlefield.
To Fuguki, Renji was almost elusive — a flicker of motion, there one moment and gone the next. More than once, Fuguki swung Samehada only to cleave empty air as Renji slipped behind him or reappeared several meters away. This inability to lock Renji down was a disaster for Kirigakure's advance. Fuguki had one job: keep Renji occupied and contained. Yet despite his power, he simply couldn't fully track Renji's movements, let alone harm him.
At the same time, Renji couldn't land a decisive blow on Fuguki either. Their raw strength was roughly matched — if anything, Fuguki held the advantage in sheer physical power. But Renji's speed compensated for the gap, letting him offset brute strength with swift footwork, well-timed counters, and relentless pressure.
And so, the frontline facing Renji remained completely blocked. Kirigakure's forces found no path forward past him; every attempt to move toward the village was intercepted, cut down, or repelled. Renji held the line alone, his presence forcing the entire advance to a standstill.
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