Uchiha Madara withdrew his gaze and slowly closed his eyes again, continuing to listen to the intel flowing in from White Zetsu.
In his old age, he had to remain constantly linked to the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path just to stay alive.
On the battlefield, the fight had entered a fever pitch.
Rin held position in a relatively safe corner, ready to provide support at any time.
The two Hyūga were locked in combat with the Mist shinobi who had pushed up to the front.
Genma kept pulling senbon from his pouch, augmenting them with ninjutsu to create wide-area attacks.
But his stock of tools was visibly dwindling.
Kurenai, after barely holding one enemy long enough for Rin to finish them with a clean strike, was down more than half her chakra.
There were quite a few Mist shinobi this time.
At least a dozen.
The most eye-catching clash, without question, was Kiyohara versus Ao.
Mei, some distance away, stared at Kiyohara's figure through the fog, green eyes wide, lips parted.
"How… how is that possible? He's clearly just a chūnin—how can his swordsmanship keep up with Ao like that?"
She'd assumed Kiyohara was just a good-looking Konoha ninja with a few tricks.
Only now did she realize he was a genuine prodigy.
That little copper-wire cage he'd thrown over her earlier wasn't just luck.
Meanwhile, Ginka and Nobuhiko had their hands full with the remaining Mist shinobi.
Without their Byakugan, they were like eagles with blindfolds on.
They could only rely on muscle memory, executing basic Gentle Fist forms that didn't absolutely require Byakugan.
Ginka's hands moved in a blur, forming a dense wall of palm strikes in front of her.
The power was far from full strength, but it still amounted to a functional barrier, blocking some of the attackers.
"No. I can't let that white-haired brat find Ranmaru…"
Ao thought, realizing Kakashi was gone.
If Ranmaru died, the red eye's interference would vanish.
The Hyūga would be able to use their Byakugan again.
And then he'd face three of them at once. Losing would be only a matter of time.
He pulled a pitch-black pill from his clothes—a special kind of soldier drug—and swallowed it.
A violent flood of chakra burst through his body, his skin flushing an unhealthy red, blood vessels standing out like cords.
"Out of my way!"
He let out a low roar, channeling the wild chakra into his right leg and launching a brutal side kick at Nobuhiko, who was stepping in to rejoin the fight.
Bang!
Caught off guard, Nobuhiko took the full force to the chest.
It was like being hit by a boulder; the crack of bones echoed as he crashed heavily to the ground.
"Nobuhiko!"
Ginka shouted.
Ao pressed his advantage, his one-handed seals now even faster.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
It wasn't a high-damage technique, but the surging wave crashed toward Ginka like a tide.
She barely dodged, but the edge of the blast still caught her.
Cold water soaked through her white fighting clothes, leaving her drenched and off balance.
"Now!"
Swordsman Kiyohara made his move the instant Ao opened himself up.
He drove Kiyohara's right arm forward, the sword tearing through the fog in a straight line—driving for Ao's exposed flank as the man paused after casting.
Ao yanked his blade up to block, but Kiyohara's tip still carved a line across his waist.
Schk!
Pain flared; Ao grunted.
He glared at Kiyohara, then flicked a glance toward Mei, and toward Ginka, who was struggling to get up again.
His decision was made in an instant.
The mission… had failed.
He hadn't predicted Kiyohara would be this troublesome. Dragging it out any further was pointless.
Without Kiyohara in the equation, he could have neutralized the Hyūga with the red eye and let his squad clean up the rest.
But there are no "what ifs" on the battlefield.
He had to protect Kiri's future assets now.
"Mei—retreat with Ranmaru! Everyone else, cover them!" Ao barked.
A complicated flicker crossed Mei's green eyes—something like pain.
But she knew this was the right call.
She bit her lip, hard enough to nearly draw blood.
"…We're leaving!"
She gave Kiyohara a long, deep look, wanting to remember the face of the one who'd ruined their plan, and then turned and sprinted toward Ranmaru's hiding place.
The surrounding Mist shinobi looked bitter and frustrated, but obeyed.
Shinobi are tools. Orders are absolute.
Open defiance meant treason—and a short life.
Ginka looked up just in time to see Kiyohara and Ao clashing and moving, their figures streaking deeper into the dense fog of the forest.
It was obvious Kiyohara was deliberately drawing the strongest enemy away.
"He…"
She stared after his retreating back, an odd mix of emotions in her chest.
Was he doing this to give them a chance to deal with the rest?
"Kiyohara!" Rin had also noticed him pulling Ao away by himself, worry twisting her gut.
She didn't want to see him end up like Obito.
...
Deep in the forest, in a relatively open ravine.
The sound of rushing water masked much of the fighting noise.
Ao hopped back a few steps to open distance, his single eye locked on Kiyohara, a twisted but exhilarated grin on his face.
"Kid, you're strong. Strong enough to force me to use forbidden medicine… but this is where you die. We're by water. This is my home turf."
The thick moisture in the air seemed to answer him; the fog felt wetter, heavier.
Kiyohara stood, sword in hand, breathing hard.
Back-to-back high-intensity fights were taking their toll on both his body and mind.
He watched Ao's confidence and smiled faintly.
"No. You're wrong."
"This is my home turf."
Because he couldn't explain Konoha-ryū: Willow's origin, he'd never had Swordsman Kiyohara use it.
But his body now had enough chakra to support it.
And at this point… there was no need to keep faking it. No need to worry about what his allies saw.
"Such arrogance," Ao snarled.
He refined the artificially boosted chakra into pure Water nature. In his right palm, a compact, violently spinning mass of water formed, hissing.
It quickly stretched into a blade-like torrent sharp enough to carve through steel.
Water Release: Water Fang Blade!
He lunged, water blade in hand, driving it toward Kiyohara with the intention of cutting him in half.
"Your turn," Kiyohara said, drawing in a breath.
He could feel his body approaching its limit.
"Alright," Swordsman Kiyohara replied.
He took control of the rest of the body.
Full possession.
He tightened Kiyohara's grip on the sword and stared at Ao.
"You may not be in your prime yet… but killing you is still enough to soothe me," he said with a small smile.
He knew he couldn't fully unleash his old power. This younger body simply didn't have the physical specs.
Being able to fight like this was already the limit; he'd probably need days of rest afterward.
Ao's gut twisted with unease.
Something felt different.
"Prime"? What did that mean?
Had Kiyohara seen his prime?
In the next heartbeat, Swordsman Kiyohara pushed chakra into the blade.
If he'd had this in life, he might never have lost.
In the end, it wasn't Ao who beat him—it was his own arrogance.
The sword flashed.
He met Ao's charging Water Fang Blade head-on.
Leaf-Style Kenjutsu: Willow.
The water blade passed through Kiyohara's "body," yet somehow didn't hit him at all.
Ao's heart lurched.
Body Flicker?
No. Wrong.
He discarded that answer as soon as it arose.
He spun around—and saw Kiyohara's silhouette flickering like smoke, countless shimmering afterimages of the blade filling the air.
The whole figure was like drifting willow fluff in a gale—impossible to pin down.
Then his forward momentum stopped.
Replaced by bottomless terror and confusion.
A thin, clean line of red appeared on his neck.
When?
He never saw it.
Not once.
His mouth opened, but only a ragged wheeze came out.
~~~
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