"Raiton: Doton Shōgeki!" (Lightning Release: Ground Walk!)
The Kumogakure rebel's palms slammed the soil. Lightning chakra surged from his hands, racing into the ground in crackling rivers. The earth flashed and split, arcs erupting upwards in jagged bursts like snakes.
"Scatter!" Hizashi barked, Byakugan eyes narrowing as he leapt back in an instant.
The electric tide rolled violently between them, cutting the formation apart. Hizashi was forced aside by the lightning's path, his team left separated. The Cloud rebel seized that moment, lunging after the jonin, fists glowing with lightning.
Shigure, Kusuo, and Akane were abruptly hemmed in—the forest alive with footsteps. More than a dozen rebel shinobi emerged from the mist, their grins red with thirst.
"A dozen at once?!" Kusuo's voice trembled, but he raised Gray Fang to guard, eyes darting.
Akane's pale irises quivered, her hands tightening around her kunai. "Too many… Shigure, what should we do?!"
Shigure's gaze didn't waver. His hands were already lacing through the seals. "We break them first."
The bandits gave a unified roar of "Kill!" and surged forward, steel glinting.
Shigure's seals snapped into place. His chakra flared violently.
"Katon-Fūton: Ryūdan Gōka!"
(Compound Ninjutsu: Wind and Fire Dragon Bullet!)
The clearing erupted in blazing annihilation. Wind twisted into roaring dragon-shapes, merging with incendiary fire that doubled their fury. A pair of ember-wolves screamed forward as infernal dragons, sweeping half the front line into their fangs. Bandits shrieked, collapsing under the storm, their bodies swallowed by fire and slicing winds alike.
The survivors froze instantly, fear detonating in their hearts. For a moment, no one dared to breathe.
"W-what kind of Genin… is he!?" one gasped, eyes wide.
"Ei—don't falter! He's just one kid!" their commander barked, regaining a brittle mask of courage.
Shigure's fingers flashed seals again, his eyes glowing red-white tomoe.
"Suiton: Kirigakure no Jutsu!"
At once, the fog poured thick and dense, heavier than night, drowning the clearing in near blindness.
"W-we've lost him!" one of the stragglers shouted, panic loud.
Shigure moved silently, the Shunshin carrying him in flickers through the fog. To him, the mist was his home turf—the Sharingan pierced chakra outlines faintly, while Byakugan's interfering trait completed his sight.
He was a wolf in sheep slaughter.
"Khh!" A rebel flinched as Shigure appeared beside him in silence, palm slamming straight into his chest. The Soft Fist's chakra discharge ruptured his lungs instantly. He fell before even knowing what struck him.
Shigure vanished again.
"D-don't let him get near! Where is he?!" Two swung wildly in the haze, their blades hitting only mist. A whisper of chakra—then Shigure's palm pressed one neck, another stomach. Both crumpled like paper in a storm.
By minutes, half the rebels were dead, pierced invisibly by merciless Gentle Fist strikes.
"He's… he's not human!" one sobbed, his kunai slipping.
"Shut up!" the commander roared, though his own voice cracked. "He's just a boy!"
But fear choked them all. They struck wildly into empty fog, each praying the next strike wouldn't be their own death.
Eighteen became fifteen. Fifteen became ten. Eight, then five.
Sweat drenched every survivor left standing. They turned in jerks, waiting for the silent phantom.
And then—an illusion more cruel.
Shadow clones emerged in the mist, two transformed into Kusuo and Akane's likenesses. Desperate rebels slashed their "allies" down before realizing too late it was Shigure's genjutsu ploy.
By the time the mist thinned, three rebels knelt dead against each other's hands. The rest sprawled lifeless across the blood-wet soil.
Shigure's clones dispelled and their knowledge returned like lightning, dark satisfaction flickering beneath his calm mask. "And thus, fifteen became nothing."
In the distance, thunder cracked. Hizashi clashed still, encircled in shockwaves, fists hammering against the Cloud rebel's crackling armor. Lightning chakra resounded with every thrust, clashing against the Hyūga's spinning defense. But Hizashi's footwork was pressured, his strikes met barrier after barrier.
Shigure's team reassembled, breath shallow, yet eyes hardened.
"Teacher needs aid," Shigure said curtly.
They sprinted into the fray.
The Cloud rogue bared his teeth, chakra armor blazing violet. "You… survived them all? Fifteen shinobi wiped out by a child…?"
His gaze locked onto Shigure with newfound dread. "Don't tell me you… you're Uchiha?"
Shigure's lips curved faintly. "Feel it for yourself."
Two rapid seals—
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!"
The fireball erupted massive and fast. The rebel flickered, instant body's blur slipping him aside.
But Shigure's hands blurred again, another Fireball chasing mid-stride. Then another. Then another. Each blast roared across the trees, forcing constant flickers.
"Annoying brat!" The rebel hissed, chakra draining from the forced dodges.
Before he could breathe, Shigure's lips spat another seal—
"Fūton: Kazeryūdan no Jutsu!"
The wind-dragon howled.
"Che—!" The Cloud-nin cursed, lightning sparking on his arms as he crashed to counter.
But before collision, flame erupted again. Fire dragon merged mid-air with wind dragon, amplifying to tornado blaze.
"Compound Style: Fūton-Katon Ryūdan Gōka!"
The inferno hurricane engulfed him. Lightning armor crackled painfully, but it wasn't enough. Burns scattered along his shoulder and thigh, blood misting the air as he barreled back, staggering under the devastation.
Still he sneered, biting through pain. "Powerful… but you lack close-range mastery!"
Chakra surged. His body blurred. "Raiton Kenpō: Raigeki!"
Suddenly he was behind Shigure, blade-hand sizzling with lightning, stabbing for the spine.
But this was what Shigure anticipated.
"Now!" Hizashi's voice cut through—the Jonin striking synchronously from the enemy's blind spot, Byakugan veins blazing.
"Jūkenhō: Hakke Kūshō!"
The Hyūga's Eight Trigrams Empty Palm exploded outward, chakra shockwave colliding into the man's back.
The Cloud rogue snarled, countering with a protective flare of lightning armor. But simultaneous strike from Shigure crashed forward, his palm blasting Gentle Fist into the missing-nin's chest.
"Gh—urk!!" Blood sprayed—the force of both strikes ripping through his defenses. His knees buckled.
The rebel staggered, panting ragged. His grin remained—but weaker, laced with blood. "A brat… wielding fire, wind, lightning… and taijutsu? Heh. Truly… Konoha breeds monsters…"
With a desperate burst of Shunshin, he fled the clearing, body flickering beyond tracking range.
"Do not chase," Hizashi warned again, his Byakugan scanning. He exhaled, chest heaving slightly.
Akane sagged in relief. Kusuo lowered Gray Fang with a tired grunt.
Shigure wiped his hand, pale eyes narrowing. His mind spun calmly: Lightning armor… instant body flow… compound resistances. I'll remember them all. When we meet again, he won't escape alive.
When silence fell, Hizashi's tone deepened. "Team 7… what we face now is greater than any mission rank assigned. Bandits, missing-nin… and now Jōnin-level threats—the line between escort and war is gone."
He looked at his team gravely. "From here, even withdrawing won't make you cowards. Decide. Do you continue?"
One by one, their faces answered:
Kusuo's prideful glare.
Akane's resolute Byakugan veins trembling.
Shigure's calm smirk, tomoe spinning.
And together they said—
"We continue."
But shadows deeper than missing-nin were moving in the Craftsmens' Village. What awaited them past its gates was not safety… but war.
--
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