"Is this the Lightning Release Body Flicker Technique?"
Of course, Taiyi didn't know any advanced moves. He hadn't trained for long, and simply being able to use this technique smoothly was already proof of solid talent. There was no way he could have mastered high-level Lightning Release Ninjutsu yet.
What Taiyi was using wasn't some secret technique either—it was a basic Lightning Release body-enhancement method. By stimulating his muscles and nervous system with Lightning Chakra, he could temporarily boost his speed and reflexes. It was essentially charging his body with chakra to enhance physical abilities.
This was a very common application of Lightning Release. Different villages and shinobi had their own variations, but the principle was the same.
Shirō was surprised to see Taiyi's fighting style. Still, in the back of his mind, he thought of a Ninjutsu that would suit Taiyi perfectly—though he would need a convincing origin story before introducing it. That encounter hadn't come yet, but Shirō believed it was only a matter of time.
After Taiyi launched his attack, Uchiha Tsuki didn't hesitate either. He advanced with the Uchiha-ryū: Hi no Ikazuchi (Uchiha Style: Flame Lightning Sword), a kenjutsu style infused with Fire Release chakra. Compared to Taiyi's body-enhancement strikes, Tsuki's blazing blade carried far more destructive power, its explosive flames burning hotter and cutting deeper.
Fire Release, after all, was inherently destructive and volatile—its explosive properties put it leagues above Taiyi's simple cutting attacks.
Even so, Shirō carefully observed the enemy's strengths and weaknesses. The brute's power, defense, and stamina were extraordinary, but his speed was painfully slow. Yet despite his sluggish movements, he hadn't been tagged by a single decisive blow. His resilience was unnatural—though his body was battered and bloodied, he remained standing and fighting.
The sight immediately reminded Shirō of someone from the future: Hidan of Akatsuki.
But this enemy was a far cry from Hidan. Unlike this near-mindless berserker, Hidan retained his sanity, could perform jutsu, and carried out battle strategies with a twisted devotion to Jashin. That cultist's brand of immortality was far more advanced.
This brute, by comparison, looked like a defective experiment—strong and durable, but clumsy and thoughtless. Unlike a Tailed Beast, who possessed its own will and mastery over chakra, this monster was simply a blunt weapon. Against Taiyi and Tsuki's coordinated assault, he was nothing more than a target.
Of course, that was them. For Shirō himself, the situation was more complicated. His fighting relied on refined technique, not raw destructive force. His Noble Phantasms, projected through Tracing, couldn't launch large-scale energy blasts. Against a pseudo-immortal enemy like this, his current arsenal was ill-suited.
Sure, he had a handful of Noble Phantasms with "instant kill" potential, but their effects were unreliable—depending too much on luck. And with his own fortune ranked no higher than C, Shirōhad no faith in depending on chance.
Even Thousand-Faced Wind King (Kanshō & Bakuya's area-cleaving technique) was ill-suited here; its sweeping effect was too wide to precisely dismantle a single durable target.
That highlighted a glaring flaw in his arsenal: Shirō lacked a truly powerful single-target attack.
He considered the possibility of learning the Rasengan. After all, Minato's technique was destructive, compact, and chakra-efficient. But Shirō's schedule was already crammed, and his chakra control was stretched thin. He wasn't Konohamaru—his talent wasn't monstrous enough to pick up Rasengan overnight.
After careful thought, Shirō resolved that once he returned, he would train to use Broken Phantasm.
Broken Phantasm was a last-resort technique: deliberately overloading a Noble Phantasm and detonating it like a magical bomb. Normally, no Heroic Spirit would dare sacrifice a treasured Noble Phantasm this way—once destroyed, it was nearly impossible to restore. But Shirō's case was different. Like Archer EMIYA, his Noble Phantasms were only projections, created and modified through his tracing. He could afford to detonate them.
Though the explosions would leave him drained while the Reality Marble reconstructed its internal armory, it was a cost he could bear. After all, he had countless swords. Losing one or two was nothing.
While Shirō weighed this decision, Taiyi and Tsuki had already finished cutting down the lesser enemies. By the time he snapped back to the present, they were cleaning up the battlefield.
The intelligence on the Gakin-kyō cult had been buried well thanks to Shirō's preparations, buying them precious time. Still, the battlefield cleanup was enormous. Even with reinforcements from Shikamaru's group, it took until evening to finish.
They deliberately avoided relying on Hidden Hot Water Village shinobi. Trusting locals meant risking compromised intelligence—those "allies" might water down or alter the truth.
Throughout the long work, Shirō felt awkward. No one blamed him, but he carried the weight of guilt. By his old-world standards, he was just being sentimental.
Realistically, his efforts had been crucial to the mission's success. Without him, the risk of outright failure would've been high. Even Nakamura, with his assassination skills, couldn't have guaranteed a better outcome. As their captain and half-teacher, Nakamura understood this well.
If anyone dared to criticize such results, it would be absurd enough for Nakamura to cut them down himself.
At last, Shirō and the team returned to Hidden Hot Water Village, dragging three captured enemies with them. They weren't concerned about exposure—the cult could relocate in one night, and that would only make them easier to track. Their mission was clear: annihilate the enemy's stronghold.
The remnants didn't matter. This was still a country with its own politics, and provoking too much tension would only backfire. Shinobi weren't here to save nations—they were weapons hired to complete missions.
Back at their quarters, Shikamaru, Nakamura, and Toyota immediately set to work, organizing the intelligence gathered. Meanwhile, Shirō and Isshin helped Taiyi and Tsuki interrogate the captives.
At first, the prisoners were stubborn, unmoved even by threats. Not even Shirō's harshest methods cracked them. Finally, gritting his teeth, Shirō had Taiyi activated his Sharingan and cast Genjutsu.
Sure enough—against fanatical cultists, Genjutsu was the most reliable weapon.