The next morning, Kumogakure launched an offensive with a full-force assault.
Konoha had no choice but to meet it. Conventional shinobi-warfare tactics could not block so many Kumo shinobi.
The battle unfolded on a scrubby highland between the two camps, gentle slopes around a small central plain, snow lying in uneven depths.
Large-scale shinobi battles lack the many stratagems of regular war. Usually the genin—cannon fodder—trade volleys of kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags.
Because both sides charge rather than fight from fixed lines, few can use ninjutsu while advancing.
The simple, blunt tactic becomes a meat grinder. One exchange leaves casualties equal to days of fighting.
Screams and wails rose and fell. Explosions boomed one after another, blooming fireballs across broken formations, snow leaping skyward to melt into spray.
After the first volley, the front ranks of genin crashed together. Blades tore skin and muscle, blood spattered, falling to the ground like crimson snowflakes.
Which village fields the most capable genin overall?
Konoha and Kumogakure are easily top two, so their clash was brutal, and genin on both sides struggled to kill without being wounded.
At the outset of a brawl, with no separation, shinobi had to use ninjutsu and tools with extreme care lest they harm their own.
On a field this chaotic, you not only guard against the enemy's strikes—you sometimes guard against your allies'.
When the first confusion passed and chūnin and jōnin each found their tiers of combat, things improved a little.
As a front-line senior, Kageyama Kokugetsu was among the last wave to join the fray.
Few commanders send jōnin to lead a charge—the risk is too high.
In a mass melee, a dense storm of tools or a kunai from some blind angle can kill a jōnin.
Shinobi are hardy, but against blades their defenses are ordinary.
Even Uchiha Madara, ascendant and nearing peak Sage of Six Paths power, was still cleaved in two by Sasuke's Chidori katana.
Stepping into the chaos, Kageyama Kokugetsu became a remorseless machine of slaughter.
A ribbon of silver-white blade light wove through the crowd, curling and crossing, blood bursting, screams trailing, foes dying or maimed.
The mid- and low-tier fighters had no time to react. By the time they did, fate had already shifted.
Konoha shinobi pressed the advantage to finish wounded Kumo; few of the injured escaped.
The rampant carnage quickly drew a Kumo jōnin's eye—one skilled in taijutsu closed fast.
He had trained the B-rank taijutsu-ninjutsu Lightning Release: Armor. Though far from mastery, he knew well how lightning chakra vitalizes the body.
Lightning Armor is not limited to the Yotsuki clan. Talented taijutsu specialists among Kumo's elite can apply for it.
But like the Eight Gates, Lightning Armor is easy to start and hard to master. None outside the Yotsuki can reach their level.
There are many reasons, the greatest being bloodline. The Yotsuki lineage is unusual.
"Die, Kageyama Kokugetsu!"
The jōnin lunged at Kageyama Kokugetsu from behind, rage in his heart, a rictus on his face, both hands on his blade for a cleaving back strike meant to cut him in two.
Kageyama Kokugetsu used a Su Qin back-sword block—clang—the scream of steel, sparks leaping.
"Impossible?" The Kumo jōnin's mind reeled, eyes wide with disbelief.
"My full-power strike, blocked one-handed—and behind his back?
"Isn't he supposed to excel at stealth and assassination?
"How does he have this kind of strength?"
In the next instant, Kageyama Kokugetsu's left hand formed a sword-finger and stabbed back from his left hip. Blue-white lightning flared.
A wet crack.
Lightning like a blade punched through the Kumo jōnin's abdomen, charring the organs near the wound.
"You…"
The jōnin's facial muscles jolted. He glanced down at his belly and could not finish the word, pain numbing his body.
Kageyama Kokugetsu flicked his right wrist to knock the enemy blade aside, turned, and thrust, piercing the man's heart.
"Why try a backstab on me?
"Face me and you might live a little longer."
He drew the ninjatō with a cold face and moved on.
A body crashed into the snow. The white sky was swallowed by endless dark, and that icy silver blade light returned to reap lives across the field.
Kumo could not endure such arrogance. If one could not do it, then three.
A tokubetsu jōnin of taijutsu, a tokubetsu jōnin illusionist, and a jōnin ninjutsu specialist charged together at Kageyama Kokugetsu.
Because he was too fast, they dared not try to surround him, lest he defeat them one by one.
One drove straight in while another wove signs for genjutsu.
Lightning Illusion: Pillar of Light.
Blinding radiance burst from the illusionist. The taijutsu fighter, with his back turned, was unaffected. The ninjutsu user in the rear was also fine.
Outwardly it masked vision, but the light was a feint; the genjutsu behind it was the killing move. Those who didn't know its nature paid dearly.
Kageyama Kokugetsu knew it well, and his Black Eye was nearly immune to genjutsu, but he still closed his eyes.
Lightning Release: Ground Surge.
The ninjutsu user slammed a palm to the ground and a chain of blue-white bolts raced in from the flank.
He chose a restraining technique over a lethal one to avoid friendly fire.
In their plan, the taijutsu fighter only seemed to screen; in truth the other two were screening him.
"Die, bastard!"
The taijutsu shinobi's face twisted, his blade lunging for Kageyama Kokugetsu's left chest.
From the southern slope, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, commanding, blanched—bad sign.
On the northern slope, Dodai smiled in grim delight.
At the split-second of impact, eyes closed, Kageyama Kokugetsu slipped aside and rolled his wrist, reversing his grip in a passing cut.
As they crossed, a long gash opened just above the Kumo taijutsu user's left hip. Blood jetted, spattering the pure white earth with red.
"How… is this… possible?"
He turned his head slowly, horror in his face, voice sinking into despair. Mid-turn, his body sagged and fell, a greater bloom of red spreading across the snow.
The other two, shocked and enraged, had no time for words as Kageyama Kokugetsu rushed them. They drew their weapons and braced.
During his charge, he formed a one-handed seal. Two identical figures flashed out to either side.
"Careful—that's Konoha-ryū: Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
The ninjutsu user rushed to support, but Kageyama Kokugetsu's speed surged. Silver light curved around the illusionist and skimmed past the ninjutsu user.
"Ungh…"
The ninjutsu shinobi jerked rigid. A crimson line bloomed across his throat. As he slowly raised a hand to touch it, a mist of blood fountained—gruesomely brilliant.
The other two figures struck the illusionist and passed straight through.
"Clones?"
"Damn it, I was fooled by such a low-level technique!" the illusionist cried, face burning with shame.
"Techniques aren't low or high—only useful or not. Used right, even the Sexy Technique can be devastating."
At those words he whipped around and, seeing his fallen comrade, flinched in terror. Fear surged and his will to fight wavered.
"You like taking away others' sight?
"Then try this."
Genjutsu: Bringer-of-Darkness.
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