Benimaru looked at his opponent, and in his hand a small sphere of flame—sky-blue and burning intensely—formed. With a casual flick of his fingers, he sent it flying toward Shigure Kozuki.
"Hell Flare!"
The moment Shigure saw that tiny ball of fire streaking toward him, he didn't dare underestimate it. He immediately channelled chakra into Hiramekarei, and the blade responded at once. A sky-blue light pulsed along its surface, then spread outward until it wrapped around his entire body like a shimmering shell. He had already seen too many Kirigakure ninjas fall victim to this exact technique of Benimaru's. Even a small one can melt through flesh and bone…
The fireball collided head-on with the chakra sphere generated through his sword. The impact created a semi-spherical barrier, its interior instantly flooded with swirling blue-white flames.
Shigure stood inside that barrier, fully covered by his chakra shield. He didn't feel the worst of the heat, but a faint, biting warmth still seeped through—an unmistakable warning. And as the seconds passed, he sensed his protective chakra shell thinning. It was being chipped away, slowly burned, corroded from the top down as Benimaru's flames licked at it with relentless intensity.
Shigure knew that if these flames stayed for even two or three more minutes, the shield created through Hiramekarei would definitely fail. So he poured more chakra into the blade—enough to not only stabilise the cracking structure around him but also thicken its defence. The chakra shell hummed faintly, tightening like a cocoon as he braced himself.
Benimaru's hell-flare continued to roar around the semi-sphere, the sky-blue fire swirling like a storm trapped in a dome. Nearly three full minutes passed before the flames finally flickered out, leaving behind only a scorched, blackened patch of earth. Around Shigure stood the remnants of his chakra barrier, a cracked sphere-like shell that had protected his full 360 degrees.
The instant the fiery dome vanished, Shigure dismissed the shield without hesitation. He didn't stay rooted for even a heartbeat—he leapt away, shifting position and preparing to launch an attack on Benimaru.
But before he could even complete that thought, Benimaru appeared right in front of him, his sword already swinging in a blazing arc.
Benimaru's speed was overwhelming—utterly incomparable to Shigure's. His movement technique blurred through the air, far superior in every sense. The moment Shigure brought up Hiramekarei, Benimaru's katana was already there to meet it.
Steel clashed with steel, a sharp clang echoing across the battlefield. The force behind Benimaru's strike pushed Shigure back several steps. Gritting his teeth, Shigure immediately channelled more chakra into his sword. Hiramekarei shifted at once, transforming into its hammer form as a massive chakra-constructed hammer materialised around the blade as its core.
With a swift leap, Shigure rose high into the air and brought the enormous hammer crashing down toward Benimaru.
Benimaru raised his katana, meeting the descending mass head-on.
The impact landed with a thunderous boom.
The ground around Benimaru shattered completely; dirt and stone blasted outward as a crater formed beneath him, with Benimaru standing at its center like an unmoving pillar.
Shigure poured more force into the hammer, trying to crush Benimaru with sheer pressure. But it barely made a difference. Benimaru's physical strength was monstrous—utterly beyond Shigure Kozuki's level. Slowly, deliberately, Benimaru began pushing back.
In an instant, he shoved upward, sending Shigure sliding violently across the ground.
Shigure dug his heels in, regained balance—and the very next heartbeat, Benimaru surged forward.
Their blades collided again, and then again, as the two launched into a rapid, explosive series of clashes.
…
On the other side of the battlefield, Todoroki was engaged with the head of the Yuki Clan. For the Yuki leader, this was an extremely difficult matchup—because Todoroki didn't just command ice. He wielded flames as well.
The Yuki Clan head quickly formed the hand seals for the Demonic Mirroring Ice Crystals, and a ring of ice mirrors materialised around Todoroki, stacked in a towering circular formation. Dozens of reflections of the clan head stared down at him from every angle, each one poised to strike.
Todoroki answered with his left side.
He swept his left hand outward, and flames burst forth—roaring to life before expanding into a massive, circular, horizontal wall of fire. It spun outward like a fiery shield, its heat so intense that the air itself shimmered.
The wall of flame engulfed every mirror within reach. The images of the Yuki Clan head wavered as the ice began to hiss and melt.
Inside one of those mirrors, the real clan head was preparing to launch a series of powerful, simultaneous attacks on Todoroki. But the moment the blazing heat hit the structures, the ice started collapsing. He had no choice but to abandon his mirror and flee immediately—or be incinerated along with it.
As soon as Todoroki broke free from the Yuki Clan head's technique, he shifted his focus to the remaining Kirigakure ninjas. Without wasting a second, he slammed his right foot forward and unleashed his technique—"Heaven Piercing Wall."
A massive wall of ice spikes erupted from the ground, spreading across a vast portion of the battlefield. The rising formation shot upward like jagged spears, hurling Kirigakure ninjas into the air. Several were even impaled outright, caught on the deadly points as the wall grew. And those who weren't pierced at first met an equally grim fate—after being flung skyward, they came crashing back down onto the waiting ice spikes. Their end was brutal and swift.
Todoroki didn't stop there.
A single wave of his right hand sent freezing winds sweeping across dozens of Kirigakure shinobi, encasing them in thick layers of ice. And with a sweeping motion of his left hand, flames roared out, consuming the frozen forms and shattering them into burning fragments.
In this way, Todoroki held his ground firmly, refusing to let the Kirigakure forces advance even a single step toward the Uzumaki village.
…
Erza, on another stretch of the battlefield, tore through the Kirigakure forces in her Black Wing Armor. Bat-like wings spread behind her, she moved with blistering speed, the armour enhancing her offensive power to terrifying levels. She cut through the enemy ranks like a streak of black lightning—one ninja fell with a diagonal slash, another with a clean horizontal cut, others with vertical strikes or clean slices across the neck.
She didn't slow down, didn't hesitate, didn't even glance at their ranks or status. None of it mattered. None of them were her match. Her strength was top-class even among low-Kage-level powerhouses, and the battlefield reflected it.
Erza soared upward again, wings beating once as she aimed for the next cluster of Kirigakure shinobi—
—when the sky above her cracked with thunder.
A bolt of lightning speared downward, striking her mid-flight and slamming her onto the ground. The impact kicked up dust and carved a small crater beneath her. Burn marks sizzled on her armour, faint trails of smoke curling off the black metal. The damage was minor, but the sudden jolt had left her muscles trembling for a moment.
Erza clenched her teeth, steadied herself, and immediately scanned the sky.
She spotted the source.
Raiga Kurosuki.
He stood atop a rocky outcrop, twin blades Kiba in hand—one of the seven mystical swords of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Lightning danced along the paired blades, crackling around him like a living storm. He was widely regarded as the strongest among the Seven Swordsmen.
And now, he was Erza's opponent. He was the one who had called the thunder down upon her.
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