The battlefield groaned under the weight of endless screams. Blood ran like rivers between the broken corpses of shinobi. The moon hung pale and silent above the chaos, its light reflecting across blades and eyes filled with terror. The survivors—those still clutching kunai, still forming hand seals—looked upon two figures standing amidst the carnage. Two children, their crimson hair soaked in blood, their eyes alight with inhuman fury.
Kaito and Soka.
Their bodies were still, but the air around them pulsed with pressure so heavy that even seasoned Jōnin felt their knees tremble.
And then, with a glance at each other, they moved.
Kaito's Hunt
Kaito darted into a squad of Iwa shinobi, his tanto flashing. One Chūnin raised a stone wall, desperate to block the crimson demon barreling toward him.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!"
The thick barrier rose—but Kaito smirked, vanishing with speed that blurred the air. In the next heartbeat, he was behind them. The tanto sliced through necks as if through paper, three heads rolling before they even realized he'd bypassed their jutsu.
Blood sprayed his face, warm and metallic. Kaito licked his lips, tasting the iron. His heart pounded with exhilaration.
Another shinobi screamed and lunged, a kunai arcing toward Kaito's chest. Without even turning his head, Kaito activated a seal he had tattooed onto his palm.
"Seal of Suppression."
The kunai wielder froze mid-swing, chakra collapsing within him. His eyes widened in horror. Kaito tilted his head.
"Never show your hand unless you're ready to lose it."
The tanto carved upward. The man split from groin to throat, his guts spilling in a steaming torrent.
Kaito's laughter echoed, manic yet sharp. This power… this freedom…
Soka's Wrath
On the opposite side, Soka tore through her own enemies with precision only a medic-nin could possess. Her chakra scalpel glowed in her hand as she ducked beneath a flurry of shuriken, weaving with dancer's grace.
One enemy Jōnin roared, forming seals. "Lightning Style: Thunder Fang!"
Twin arcs of lightning shot forward, splitting the air with a deafening crack. But Soka slapped her hand against her forearm, activating a seal. Chakra surged into her muscles. She dashed forward, too fast for the lightning to track, and slammed her scalpel through the Jōnin's ribcage.
The electricity died instantly as his lungs collapsed. Soka twisted the blade, enjoying the sound of bone snapping.
"Your jutsu lacked precision," she hissed in his ear before kicking him off her scalpel. His body hit the ground limp.
Two Chūnin tried to ambush her from behind. But Soka spun, her fist glowing green with a strength-enhancement seal. She struck the first in the sternum, his chest collapsing like paper. The second she caught by the throat, fingers glowing as she injected chakra into his trachea, shattering it from the inside.
He suffocated in seconds, clawing at his neck as she let him fall.
Clash of Armies
The survivors regrouped, terrified but desperate. Over one hundred eighty shinobi encircled the two red-haired demons.
"Uzumaki!" someone shouted, voice cracking with fear. "They're Uzumaki monsters!"
But fear gave way to duty. Fireballs illuminated the night sky, lightning bolts carved the ground, water dragons roared.
The battlefield became an orchestra of destruction.
Kaito and Soka smiled. Together, they wove through the storm.
Kaito's tanto intercepted a fireball, cleaving it in two again, flames bursting harmlessly to either side. He retaliated with another Violent Air Palm, the compressed wind shredding through five shinobi at once, their bodies flayed open by invisible blades.
Soka formed seals mid-run. "Water Style: Piercing Serpent!"
A coiling jet of water shot forward, drilling through the chest of a Chūnin before whipping around to impale two more. The water serpentine dissolved, leaving corpses twitching in the mud.
The army screamed and closed in tighter.
Duel of Shadows
Then came the Jōnin commanders. Four of them leapt into the fray, each one radiating killing intent.
Two went for Kaito. Two for Soka.
Kaito's opponents came with speed and fury—one wielding twin swords, the other spitting lava bullets. Kaito ducked the lava projectiles, feeling their heat scorch his cheek. He smiled and slapped a weight seal onto his leg mid-sprint.
His speed faltered. The twin-bladed Jōnin smirked, closing in.
But then Kaito released the seal.
BOOM.
The sudden burst of speed left the Jōnin wide-eyed. Kaito blurred forward, tanto slicing, and the man's body split in half from hip to shoulder. His scream cut short as blood erupted like a fountain.
The lava-user roared in rage. "You brat!" He spewed a torrent of molten rock.
Kaito dove, rolling across the mud, heat burning his back. He grinned, forming his own seals. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
The gust slammed into the lava, scattering it into droplets that cooled instantly. The Jōnin stumbled. Kaito dashed in, sealing tag glowing on his palm.
"Suppression Seal!" He slammed it against the Jōnin's chest.
The man gasped as his chakra vanished. His eyes widened in terror as Kaito's tanto drove through his throat.
"Die without power, shinobi," Kaito whispered.
Soka's Trial
Soka's two opponents came hard and fast. One with a massive battle axe, the other weaving genjutsu.
The axe came down with thunderous force. Soka leapt aside, but the second enemy's genjutsu struck. Her vision blurred—blood dripping from the sky, corpses crawling toward her.
For a heartbeat, she faltered. But Soka was no ordinary fighter. She dug her fingernails into her palm, drawing real pain, and shattered the illusion.
"You'll need more than parlor tricks."
The axe wielder charged again. Soka activated a weight seal on her foot and stomped the ground. The earth cracked, slowing the man's charge. She rushed in, chakra scalpel blazing.
Her blade carved upward into his ribs, slicing through organs. He roared, raising his axe for one last desperate strike.
Soka smiled cruelly. She pressed another seal onto his chest—doubling gravity. His body slammed into the mud, pinned like an insect.
She leaned over him, scalpel raised. "And stay there."
The scalpel plunged into his skull.
The genjutsu-user screamed, weaving more seals in terror. Soka darted forward before he finished, her fist enhanced with medical chakra.
One punch—his face caved in like glass. Brain matter sprayed the mud.
Soka exhaled slowly, blood dripping from her hands.
Kaito's Awakening
In the chaos, Kaito felt it again—the flicker of omniscience. The battlefield expanded in his mind, every chakra spark like a glowing star. He could feel Soka's pulse, the panic of enemies, the weak flickers of dying shinobi.
The Mind's Eye of Reality.
His lips curved. "With this… I am untouchable."
An enemy lunged behind him with a kunai. Without looking, Kaito pivoted, tanto flashing, and slit the man's throat in one smooth motion. The vision faded, but the taste of it lingered.
Kaito's eyes burned with hunger.
Final Slaughter
The remaining shinobi broke ranks. Fear devoured discipline. They fled.
But Kaito and Soka gave no mercy. They hunted them, crimson blurs weaving through the field, cutting down every last straggler. Heads rolled. Blood sprayed. The screams dwindled to silence.
When it was over, the battlefield was quiet save for crackling flames and the drip of blood from their weapons.
Kaito lowered his tanto, breathing steady. Soka stood nearby, wiping blood from her chin.
They turned to each other.
Kaito smirked. "I think I won."
Soka scoffed, hands on her hips. "Not a chance. You missed the one whose head I exploded. That counts for at least ten."
They laughed—dark, genuine laughter that echoed over the corpses.
Kaito raised his bloodied hand. Soka slapped hers against it. Their palms collided in a triumphant high-five.
The crimson demons of Uzumaki had risen.
And with a smile, Kaito whispered to himself, feeling the echo of his newfound power:
"The Mind's Eye of Reality…"
"But... I can't activate it again... It seems like it was just a fleeting moment because of the danger..." Kaito examined.
The night swallowed their laughter. The war had no idea what had just been unleashed.