c40: Minazuki and Kaguya
"Ah..."
The Kirigakure ninja let out a choked scream, but did not die immediately. The Kusanagi blade had skewered his right chest, narrowly missing the heart a precision Uchiha Gen had no doubt calculated using his fully awakened three-tomoe Sharingan.
With a flick, Gen retracted the Kusanagi sword. In a swift motion, he dropped down, landing hard one foot crunching into the Kiri-nin's sword-bearing wrist, the other stomping on his throat. A chilling crack echoed as the windpipe shattered. The enemy gurgled, dead before he hit the ground.
"Suiton: Mizurappa!" (Water Style: Wild Water Wave!)
A jet of high-pressure water surged from the side, slicing through foliage like shuriken. Trailing behind were several genuine shuriken and two kunai strapped with explosive tags a standard Kiri formation used in the Third Shinobi World War.
Gen twisted backward in retreat, flicking his left hand. The Kusanagi sword snapped back to standard length. With eyes glowing crimson, the Sharingan tracked everything.
Two incoming shuriken struck the kunai midair, diverting their arc. With practiced precision and the sword's unparalleled edge, Gen knocked the rest from the air.
Boom! Boom! Twin explosions lit the sky in bursts of orange flame. Four Kirigakure shinobi darted between tree trunks, using Silent Killing Formation tactics to flank Gen hallmarks of their bloody village.
Uchiha Gen remained expressionless. He slid his sword back into its sheath, performed a rapid set of hand seals—Dog → Boar → Ram—and vanished.
"Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu!" (Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!)
"Stay sharp!"
The lead Kiri chūnin barked the warning, a scarred veteran with a Hunter-nin insignia. He hurled a shuriken at the spot where Gen vanished. It clinked uselessly against the earth.
The other three genin ceased attacking and clustered with their leader, forming a back-to-back defensive formation, kunai drawn. It was a textbook response—flawed only by who they were facing.
But Gen had anticipated this.
"Nehan Shōja no Jutsu!" (Temple of Nirvana Technique!)
From behind the trunk of a dying maple, Gen weaved his seals. A cascade of luminous white feathers drifted from above illusory and heavy with chakra. A high-level genjutsu Kurenai had once failed to resist during a joint ANBU exercise.
Despite their alertness, the genin had no hope. Their resistance crumbled. Three dropped, unconscious, before they even realized it.
The chūnin staggered, eyes fluttering but with a grunt of willpower, he bit down on his tongue, dispelling the illusion with a surge of pain. He snapped back to clarity, only to see a kunai tag trailing like a comet hurtling toward him.
Thwip. Boom!
A blossom of flame and blood bloomed in his vision. The kunai pierced his throat. His jutsu hand seals froze mid-motion. Fire engulfed the cluster, limbs and red mist scattering.
One genin, half-conscious and now horribly burned, managed to roll clear. He screamed a raw, animal sound body writhing in agony.
Gen's eyes stayed cold. He raised three kunai chakra-enhanced for stability and hurled them with the flick of a single finger. One pierced the neck, the second the chest, the third the heart. The pain ended.
From the trees, Yūhi Kurenai, Hyūga Tokuma, and Baiyun Asa finally rejoined him, having just finished off their own targets. Leaves fluttered in their wake.
"I counted two chūnin and three genin in less than a minute. You live up to the Uchiha name, Captain."
Baiyun Asa, his blade dripping red, twirled it before resheathing.
Uchiha Gen didn't respond. He reached into his vest and retrieved a thick stack of exploding tags standard issue, but augmented with his chakra signature for enhanced precision.
"The next phase will be harder. I might not be able to cover you. Distribute these among yourselves."
He handed the tags over. Each one bore the Uchiha crest stamped faintly in ink.
"Also, don't split up. Together, you three can handle a jōnin if needed."
Kurenai frowned as she flipped through the stack at least twenty tags. Her voice trembled slightly. "Captain, this is too many. You should keep some for yourself."
"She's right," Tokuma added, eyes narrowed. "You'll need them more than us."
"Yes, Captain," Baiyun echoed.
"I have more chakra than the three of you combined," Gen replied coolly. "Explosives are less useful for me. You'll get more value from them."
He paused, eyes scanning the horizon. "Besides, I always keep a few... close at hand."
As he spoke, Uchiha Gen pulled out another bundle of explosive tags from his tool pouch. Though smaller than the last, it still held no fewer than a dozen talismans enough to obliterate a team if well-placed.
Yūhi Kurenai: "..."
Hyūga Tokuma: "..."
Baiyun Asa: "..."
What kind of clan treasury was this? With thirty to forty explosive tags on him alone, did the Uchiha clan print money with chakra ink?
Each of them, even as Leaf shinobi with jonin support, carried no more than five at a time...
Of course, an average Uchiha wouldn't be this extravagant. But Gen wasn't average. He was the personal disciple of Orochimaru, a former ANBU prodigy, and clearly favored by the clan's elders.
So, his arsenal made sense.
Seeing how generous their captain was with high-value gear, the trio dropped their modesty and split the tags efficiently. Kurenai took seven, Tokuma four, and Baiyun five.
A single explosive tag, when used properly, could match the destructive force of a C-rank Fire Style jutsu, yet cost only a fraction of the chakra. A perfect tool for both lethal traps and emergency defense.
"The enemy's approaching. Strong signatures one jonin, three chūnin!"
Hyūga Tokuma, Byakugan activated, voice tight and alert.
A moment later, four figures emerged from the tree line three men and one woman. Two were particularly distinct: one bore the crest of the Minazuki clan, the other of the Kaguya clan.
The Minazuki, sometimes called the Snowblood Clan, were a battle-hardened line of shinobi from Kirigakure, known for their advanced water nature transformations and aggressive tactics.
"Oh? Uchiha and Hyūga... always fated to meet."
A pale, striking young man stepped forward, his snow-white combat uniform fitted tightly against his lean frame. His Kirigakure headband gleamed. His voice was cold, deliberate an officer's tone.
"I especially enjoy slaughtering Hyūga," said another this one dressed in moon-white armor, his hair styled in jagged spikes, twin red dots tattooed on his brow. The Kaguya grin on his rugged face was unmistakable.
The Kaguya and Hyūga two titanic Taijutsu bloodline clans had been locked in philosophical and physical rivalry for decades. The Hyūga had discipline and insight; the Kaguya had raw carnage and instinct.
"Hmph. You'll find me a difficult meal," Tokuma said with icy focus, his Byakugan flaring.
"Oh? Hahaha!"
"Then we'll settle this in blood."
The Kaguya ninja lunged—no seals, no hesitation, just pure bloodlust and momentum.
Uchiha Gen had already formed his seals before the lunge completed.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" (Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!)
A massive golden-orange fireball launched from his mouth, the air warping under the extreme heat. The Kaguya's smirk faltered; he twisted midair and evaded sideways.
Their enhanced reflexes sharpened by years of using the Shikotsumyaku (Dead Bone Pulse) allowed them to survive even high-speed jutsu.
"Vacuum Blade!"
Baiyun Asa's sword shimmered with wind chakra as he swung. A sharp crescent of compressed air—a Fūton-enhanced slash shot forward.
The Kaguya raised his arms, muscle and bone protruding from his forearms. The blade struck, cleaving flesh and bruising hardened bone. But with chakra reinforcement, the wound barely dented his resolve.
"Still watching, are you, cowards?!"
The Kaguya shinobi landed on a high branch and snarled toward his comrades three other Kirigakure nin who hadn't lifted a finger.
From the moment the battle began, they had stood idle. Not one shuriken. Not even a stance.
The reasons were obvious. First, Kirigakure's harsh elite training fostered a brutal individualism—collaboration was seen as weakness. Second, bloodline clans like the Kaguya were mistrusted and marginalized in their own village. Third, even fellow bloodline families like the Minazuki avoided them.
"Let's move," came the cold order from the Minazuki jonin.
At his signal, the remaining Kiri shinobi reluctantly sprang into action. In Kirigakure, defying a superior even one you hated was a shortcut to a watery grave.
As the Kiri forces joined the fight, Yūhi Kurenai, Baiyun Asa, and Tokuma Hyūga each took their respective opponents.
The Kaguya and Hyūga naturally clashed in hand-to-hand, taijutsu-heavy combat, trading chakra-enhanced blows and evasion with brutal grace. The other duos, unfamiliar with each other's styles, started cautiously testing taijutsu before revealing their jutsu arsenals.
The battlefield split. Six figures scattered, separating the genin and chūnin from the duel of the elite.
"This is my first time facing a Minazuki," Uchiha Gen said calmly, eyes on his new opponent. "Tell me your name. I'll make your death quick."
The other man smiled faintly. "Minazuki Kiyoshi. And if you return the favor, I'll show you the same mercy."
He tilted his chin slightly downward, carefully avoiding eye contact with Gen's active Sharingan, and began to weave seals with remarkable speed Snake → Tiger → Rat → Boar.
"Uchiha Gen."
Gen replied with his own hand seals, matching the rhythm.
The storm was about to begin.
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