Standing alone, Akashi faced the numerous enemies ahead of him.
A familiar scene it was. When it came to one versus many, he could confidently say that no one was as experienced as he was.
"...What now?"
One of the Swordsmen, Jinin, asked the others.
"That sword of Red Blade... there is no doubt. It has to be Ryuma, the sword that that traitor Gin stole."
"Do remember that Kiba is also under his possession."
Jinpachi wrinkled his face.
"We heard of his feats, but never experienced him blade-to-blade. We need information."
Hearing that, Fuguki gazed back, at the Kiri ninjas standing before them.
"You heard that."
Fuguki then ordered,
"You were trained and sharpened for this day. Sacrifice your lives for the Mist."
He lifted Samehada and slammed it on the ground with force.
The Kiri ninjas understood very well, what such an action meant.
Should you not fight, I will be the one to end your lives.
There was no other option for them.
Letting out war cries, they began to charge, all of them, toward Akashi.
'Hundred? No, more than that...'
Estimating their number, Akashi tightened his grip over Ryuma.
'5 jonins, 34 chunins, and 86 genins. Let's see how you fare against that, Red Blade.'
Thought Kushimaru with a bad feeling lingering in him. Suppressing such a feeling, he gazed at Akashi.
'It is a number that even we can't survive against, alone.'
Akashi raised his free hand and formed a hand seal.
"Fire Release: Hiding in Smoke."
From Akashi, a huge amount of smoke flooded out, instantly engulfing the whole battlefield.
"What is this?!"
Shocked, the four Swordsmen quickly backed. Barely escaping from the range of Akashi's technique, they saw that all the ninjas were no longer visible by sight.
"Damn it...!!"
Kushimaru cursed in realization.
"How are we supposed to observe then?!"
They recognized that the technique was the application of the Hiding in Mist technique. They didn't know how Akashi was able to pull off something like this, but one thing was certain.
Unlike the Hiding in Mist technique, there was no way for them to see through the smoke. Such a fact frightened the Swordsmen.
Then, a scream.
"...What is going on in there?"
Fuguki frowned.
Another scream was heard as he spoke.
The number of screams and cries of horror began to increase at an exponential rate.
"Cough, cough!!"
One of the Kiri ninjas in the smoke was filled with nothing but helplessness.
His eyes were burning. He couldn't breathe properly.
Screams were echoing all around. Was it that Red Blade was simply moving incredibly fast? How was he able to breathe and move at his optimal state in this foul smoke?
His vision showed nothing but darkness.
"Nin... ninjutsu."
Ninjutsu was the only thing he could attempt.
Dropping the kunai, he formed hand seals.
"Cough, cough..."
The hand seals didn't connect to a technique, however, as the black sword severed his neck at the next moment, with Akashi, at a superior height than the Kiri ninja, appeared by his side before he could realize.
The head dropped and rolled across the smoky environment. Rolling out of the smoky region, it ended up in front of Jinin's foot.
"Tch..."
The detached head expressed pain and horror. Seeing this, Jinin and the other Swordsmen couldn't help but grimace.
Within the smoke, in truth, there were numerous Akashis moving at the same time.
The principle was simple.
Fire, in essence, is a combustion. Through the combustion of an organic matter that lies around, many byproducts are generated, including smoke and ash.
Smoke, Akashi used to perform this 'Hiding in Smoke' technique.
Ash, Akashi used to perform 'Fire Release: Ash Clone' unseen by the others.
Those unable to protect their bodies with chakra were exposed to the toxic effects of the smoke. Immobilized and weakened, they were susceptible to the silent approaches of Akashi's clones.
This way, the amount of chakra that Akashi is using at the current moment is the bare minimum. Combined with his talent in chakra control, he was using less than a cup of water out of a huge bowl of it.
Akashi, in fact, has backed instead of moving into the smoke.
Standing at the opposite side, the four Swordsmen and he were separated by the huge region clouded by the smoke.
Akashi was waiting for something.
"This won't do!!"
From the other side, Kushimaru growled.
"If we cannot observe, what's the point of losing our ninjas like that?!"
The others nodded in agreement.
Kushimaru, taking in a deep breath and raising his mask slightly to show his lips, went through hand seals.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
His chest puffed out. Then, as said chest contracted back, Kushimaru blew out an intense stream of wind that began to push the smoke back.
'There.'
It was the exact action that Akashi intended them to do.
Smoke, in fact, is the product of what's called incomplete combustion. As such, there are unburned particles within the smoke.
What would happen if such smoke were exposed to fire?
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire."
The answer is: those unburned particles undergo combustion of their own. The smoke gets reignited into a vortex of fire.
Boom.
The gray smoke suddenly transformed into a huge torrent of fire upon Akashi's technique struck it.
Then, Kushimaru's wind reached said fire.
The result was staggering.
Kushimaru's wind, pushing oxygen into the fire, enlarged it, and by following the trail of condensed oxygen, the fire began to shift toward their direction.
"W-What..."
Kushimaru stood petrified as the tsunami of fire approached the four of them.
"Get yourself together, moron!!"
Pulled by Jinpachi, Kushimaru and the others hurriedly dashed out of the site.
The tsunami of fire exploded magnificently. Contacting the humid, misty air, the fire and water mixed, forming a hot steam that would be lethal upon contact.
"Huff... huff..."
Fuguki wiped the sweat on his forehead as he witnessed the scene ahead.
From jonin to genin, everyone who was in the smoke has been burned to a crisp. All of them whom the Swordsmen threw to Akashi were now found as corpses.
From afar, they sighted Akashi.
He stood unscathed. There wasn't an ounce of exhaustion in his face.
He leisurely walked toward them as if all this was normal.
Jinpachi gritted his teeth.
Dropping down from tree branches that they were standing on top of, the four Swordsmen raised their weapons as well, readying themselves for the upcoming clash.
Akashi disappeared from their sight.
CLANG.
The clash began with a clear, metallic noise as Akashi's Ryuma met Jinin's Kabutowari—specifically, the axe portion of the weapon that consisted of axe and hammer.
Compared to the gigantic Kabutowari, Ryuma was nothing but a normal-sized sword that was colored black from hilt to blade.
However, it was Jinin and his Kabutowari who lost the clash. With his eyes widened, he was knocked back, making him susceptible to Akashi's second slash, aimed straight at Jinin's neck.
"HAA!!"
It was Kushimaru who intercepted with his noteworthy speed.
Stabbing his Nuibari forward, Akashi was forced to pause his advance and tilt his head to the side to evade the blade.
Just then, Jinpachi acted. Shibuki, the blastsword that was comprised of the huge scroll in place of where a metallic blade was supposed to exist, was getting unrolled as Jinpachi swung it.
With its inside, consisted of numerous explosive tags, exposed, Jinpachi aimed to attach those tags to Akashi's back.
Seeing this, Akashi swung Ryuma against Nuibari to push the blade against him, before advancing forward to evade Shibuki's reach.
Subsequently, Akashi raised Ryuma and directed the upcoming blow of Fuguki and his Samehada to his left. With a boom, the huge, shark-like sword smashed into the ground, missing Akashi.
Jinin, having recovered from the clash earlier on, seized the opening Akashi showed by swinging the hammer portion of Kabutowari.
Seeing this, Akashi raised his free hand. From his palm, a blue, spiralling sphere suddenly manifested.
"Huh?!!"
Rasengan.
Rasengan clashed against the hammer.
Caught off guard, Jinin was knocked back for the second time. He seemed shocked by the fact that his strength-imbued blow was negated by a ninjutsu technique that Akashi generated in an instant.
To some extent, Akashi too found himself surprised.
He had to admit that Minato was something else, to develop a technique as fine as this.
CLANG.
The blade dance resumed.
Jinpachi covered Akashi's vision with the unveiled scroll of Shibuki.
Fuguki, lifting the heavy-looking Samehada, swung the blade at Akashi with the intent to shred him.
Dashing once more, Jinin appeared atop the two, aiming to slam Kabutowari right on top of Akashi. The axe was positioned between Akashi's Ryuma and his hammer, and the scene looked as if Jinin was going to utilize the axe as something akin to a nail.
"Interesting."
Akashi commented,
"You fight more like a swordsman than a ninja... living up to your name, I see."
Their attacks didn't reach Akashi as he used the Replacement technique to swap his position with a log nearby.
He then raised Ryuma and tapped it on top of a wire that appeared invisible if not looked at closely.
Upon a closer glance, one would find that in a short amount of time, the forest has been filled with the complex, spider-web-like network of wires. It was set up by Kushimaru as the other three faced Akashi, hoping to catch him off guard.
"?!"
Kushimaru hurriedly turned upon seeing that Akashi appeared behind all of them, having evaded the trap in one go.
Now, Ryuma was in contact with the wire.
Upon Akashi's will, the lightning chakra enveloped Ryuma.
Crackling dangerously, the electricity was transmitted from the blade onto the wires, and from the wires onto Nuibari.
Kushimaru screamed as the intense electricity reached his body.
The electricity running down his body forcibly retracted his muscles. His grip over Nuibari unintentionally tightened, and his body froze; there was nothing that Kushimaru could do as his body was getting fried.
"Kushimaru!!"
As the electricity died, Kushimaru fell down, retired from the strike. He didn't speak, and his facial features were hidden behind his tattered mask, but it was clear that he had gone unconscious.
'That needle-like sword is able to generate sharp wires. The scroll-containing sword is filled with explosive tags. The hammer and axe are meant to break weapons, I can tell.'
Akashi summarized the information meanwhile.
'However, what of that shark-like sword? The way it moves...'
His eye focused on Samehada, the sword wielded by Suikazan Fuguki.
'...It's as if it's alive.'
The remaining three Swordsmen kept their calm.
They got themselves in a formation; Akashi could tell that this wasn't the first time they had fought in collaboration.
Fuguki stood front-most, with Samehaded held in a defensive manner.
Jinin and Jinpachi stood behind Fuguki.
The three of them were collecting their breath. The momentary pause in the battle, they welcomed; they were trying to rejuvenate as much as they could, especially since Kushimaru was no longer able to fight alongside.
Meantime, Akashi concluded that there was no need for him to fight the way that they wanted.
He raised Ryuma.
Abruptly, its blade exploded in a brilliant, red fire. It burned with vigor, and the three who watched this scene had their faces darken.
"So this is his signature technique... one that earned him the title of Red Blade."
Again, there was no need for Akashi to engage them in a way that they preferred.
Their strongest suit was kenjutsu. In other words, he didn't need to fight them in the aspect of kenjutsu.
'Ninjutsu, it is.'
A fine chakra control Akashi performed.
Atop the blazing fire on Ryuma's blade, Akashi did something that almost no ninja in the world is capable of—adding the chakra of wind nature on top of that.
The fire grew. It revealed a blue color at the core, which indicated just how hot the fire was.
"...Samehada,"
Fuguki mumbled in disbelief,
"Why are you screaming? Is it... that hot?"
The misty environment did nothing to reduce the intensity of the vigorous fire around Ryuma.
Blaze Rend.
Then, under the watch of Swordsmen, Akashi swung Ryuma.
An arc of enormous fire was launched at the three.
Doom.
That was the only word that appeared in their mind.
It was simply too huge.
"FUGUKI!!"
Jinpachi shouted.
Fuguki, gritting his teeth, held Samehada forth.
Samehada had the ability to absorb and cut through ninjutsu; although Fuguki didn't know if Samehada could handle the ninjutsu of this extent with the amount of chakra it was fed with, he nonetheless had to try.
Their environment turned red.
Fire, steam, smoke—everything mixed and swirled chaotically.
As the fire was right ahead of them, Fuguki's eyes widened. His eyes reflected the fire that was blazing mystically, like a flower that has bloomed—
Then, an explosion of steam.
Everything turned blurry.
...
"...Huh?"
Slowly opening his eyes, Fuguki realized that he wasn't harmed. Though his skin was charred here and there from the intensity of Akashi's technique, he was fine to go.
Then, he, along with Jinin and Jinpachi, learned that someone was standing in front of them.
"Mi..."
Fuguki stuttered,
"Mizukage-sama...!"
In front of them stood Karatachi Yagura, whose hand was outstretched to form a huge wall of water.
With a sizzling noise, the water boiled and evaporated. However, the new supply of water replaced the space rendered empty by the evaporation; slowly but steadily, the fire released by Akashi was dying.
Eventually, the fire was subdued. As Yagura released his technique, the environment was now filled with mist and steam.
"Take care of the other ongoing matters."
Yagura didn't bother to turn around. With his pink eyes locked on Akashi, he ordered, emotionlessly.
"You cannot win against this man."
"..."
Akashi's eye narrowed as he read the newfound opponent in front of him.
Yagura, the fourth Mizukage, and Akashi's final destination. The man himself has come to him.
Bowing, the three Swordsmen, ignoring the unconscious Kushimaru, turned around as if about to leave.
Then, from beneath the ground, three clones of Akashi abruptly popped out.
Before they could do anything, however, what appeared to be the corals suddenly grew out of their bodies, covered them entirely, and contracted—squeezing them.
Without being able to do anything, the clones dispelled with a puff.
The three Swordsmen froze at the sight.
"Go."
Yagura then ordered, with an underlying irritation in his tone.
Flinching, the three Swordsmen dashed out, leaving Akashi and Yagura, who were facing each other.
"..."
"..."
Silence. Not even a bug creaking was heard. Not even the slightest rustling around. The thick and heavy killing intent filled the area as the two Kage-level ninjas, the pinnacle of all ninjas, faced each other.
Tonight, one of the two would die.