Drip... drip... drip...
The sound of rain falling from heavy clouds echoed across the battlefield with deceptive gentleness. The sun had vanished completely behind a thick blanket of dark nimbus, and what had begun as a light drizzle was steadily intensifying into something approaching a proper storm. Yet despite nature's intervention, the Fourth Great Ninja War continued without pause—rain could not wash away the blood that had been spilled, nor could it cool the burning determination that drove both sides toward their ultimate confrontation.
If anything, the weather seemed to reflect the war's darkening tone as events spiraled toward their inevitable climax.
In the dense forests where the Fourth Division was engaged...
The once-pristine woodland had been transformed into an aquatic wasteland. Massive floods unleashed by high-level water release techniques had scoured away entire groves, leaving behind twisted remnants of what had once been a thriving ecosystem. The continuing rainfall was like a gift from heaven to the two powerful water-style specialists locked in combat—each drop that fell became another weapon in their arsenal, another tool to be shaped and directed with lethal intent.
"BOOM!"
The thunderous collision of jutsu echoed through the devastated forest as the battle between titans continued to rage. Ancient trees, some centuries old, toppled like matchsticks under the impacts of techniques that treated the landscape itself as collateral damage.
Above the destruction, white origami danced through the rain-filled air with supernatural grace. The paper constructs seemed utterly unaffected by the moisture that should have destroyed them, defying natural law as they swirled in complex formations that spoke to their creator's incredible chakra control and artistic vision.
Swish!
Through the chaos came the sound of rapid movement as several figures bounded through the forest canopy and landed beside Might Guy. The legendary Green Beast of Konoha was breathing heavily, his normally inexhaustible energy clearly depleted by the incredible strain of maintaining the Seventh Gate of Opening.
Even for someone whose physical conditioning bordered on the superhuman, the toll of such power was becoming apparent. Sweat mixed with rainwater as it ran down his face, and his normally perfect stance showed slight tremors of exhaustion.
"Sorry to have kept you waiting," a familiar voice called out.
Guy looked up to see Karin approaching, her distinctive red hair darkened by the rain but her expression carrying the determined competence he had come to associate with the Uzumaki clan. Without ceremony, she rolled up her sleeves and extended her arm toward him.
Guy blinked in confusion, his exhaustion making it difficult to process what she was offering.
One of the ninja accompanying Karin stepped forward to explain: "It's her bloodline ability. If you bite her arm, you can rapidly recover your strength and chakra reserves. The Uzumaki clan's life force is... extraordinary."
"Oh." Guy's understanding was immediate, though his knowledge of Karin's specific origins remained limited. While most Konoha ninja knew she was connected to the Uzumaki clan through Naruto, the full details of her background were classified information available only to senior personnel.
Without hesitation, Guy bit down on Karin's extended arm. She winced slightly—the sensation was never pleasant—but maintained her composure with the professionalism of someone accustomed to providing this type of support.
The effect was immediate and dramatic. Guy's eyes, which had been dulled by exhaustion, suddenly blazed with renewed focus and intensity. The incredible life force flowing through Karin's chakra system began flooding into his depleted reserves, restoring not just his energy but repairing the cellular damage caused by his use of the Eight Gates technique.
"He's consuming an enormous amount of chakra," Karin thought to herself, her analytical mind noting the rate of energy transfer with some surprise. Guy's reserves were truly massive, and the strain he had placed on his body required more healing than she had initially estimated.
It spoke to just how devastating the Seventh Gate's power truly was—and how much courage it took to use such techniques repeatedly in battle.
"Alright!" Guy suddenly leaped to his feet, his movement explosive and filled with the vibrant energy that had made him legendary throughout the shinobi world. His recovery was so complete that he seemed to radiate vitality, as if the previous exhaustion had been nothing more than a bad dream.
"Thank you," he said to Karin with genuine gratitude, then immediately shifted into a familiar preparatory stance. His arms crossed before his chest as chakra began to build within his body, the familiar sensation of the Eight Gates technique beginning to activate.
"Sixth Gate of Joy: Open!"
Brilliant green light erupted around Guy's form like emerald flames, the raw energy creating visible distortions in the air around him. The power radiating from his body was so intense that nearby raindrops actually evaporated before they could reach him, creating a strange dry zone in the midst of the continuing downpour.
"So powerful! What kind of technique is this?" Karin's eyes widened as her sensory abilities analyzed the transformation occurring before her. Guy's chakra levels had increased more than tenfold in an instant, but strangely, the green energy surrounding him wasn't chakra at all.
It was something else entirely—pure life force given visible form, the manifestation of human potential pushed beyond all reasonable limits.
Swish!
The next moment, Guy vanished from sight completely, his speed transcending normal perception as he raced toward the ongoing battle between the two titans of taijutsu.
In the heart of the devastated forest, a surreal battle was unfolding. Broken trees lay scattered in all directions like the toys of some cosmic child, while thousands of white origami sheets swirled through the air in mesmerizing patterns. The paper constructs formed geometric shapes that defied easy description—circles, spirals, and angular configurations that seemed to shift and flow with artistic purpose.
Suspended above this chaos on wings of folded paper, Konan hovered like an avenging angel. Her expression was serene despite the violence surrounding her, her violet eyes tracking her opponent's movements with the calm precision of someone completely in control of the battlefield.
Below her, Might Duy continued his relentless assault, his fists moving so quickly that they generated friction with the air itself. Balls of flame bloomed around his knuckles with each punch, the superheated air evaporating raindrops and incinerating any paper constructs that came too close.
This was the legendary fighter who had once opened all Eight Gates simultaneously, defeating seven of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist in a battle that had become the stuff of legend. Though his Edo Tensei body limited him to only six gates, the power he displayed was still terrifying to witness.
Yet despite his incredible abilities, Duy was clearly at a disadvantage. Konan's aerial superiority and the versatility of her paper techniques allowed her to maintain distance while launching coordinated attacks from multiple angles. Her chakra control was so refined that she could manipulate thousands of individual paper sheets simultaneously, creating attack patterns that would have overwhelmed most opponents instantly.
The only thing preventing her from ending the battle quickly was the inherent durability of the Edo Tensei resurrection. Duy could ignore the physical strain that would normally accompany Six Gates usage, allowing him to fight at peak capacity indefinitely.
At that moment, a new presence burst into the battle zone with explosive force.
Guy's arrival was marked by a shockwave that sent debris flying in all directions as he skidded to a halt between the two combatants. His green-tinged aura blazed like a beacon as he took in the scene, his gaze moving from Konan to the reanimated form of his father.
"Please," Guy said to Konan, his voice carrying a mixture of determination and pain, "allow me to handle this."
Konan studied the newcomer for a moment, her analytical mind processing the obvious familial resemblance between Guy and his opponent. Understanding dawned in her violet eyes, and she nodded slowly.
"Very well." Without further hesitation, she began withdrawing her paper constructs, allowing the two men the space they needed for what was clearly going to be a deeply personal confrontation.
Might Duy didn't pursue Konan as she retreated. Instead, he turned to face Guy directly, his expression shifting from the mechanical focus of the controlled dead to something approaching cruel amusement.
"How touching," Duy's voice carried Black Zetsu's mocking tone as the puppet spoke through the reanimated hero. "A son preparing to kill his own father with his bare hands. The ninja of Konoha truly are ruthless creatures, aren't they?"
Guy's expression darkened at the words, but not with anger—with a deep, abiding sadness that spoke to the weight of what he was about to do. When he responded, his voice carried the gravity of absolute conviction.
"My father paid the ultimate price to protect the village's hope and future," Guy said, his words cutting through the rain with crystal clarity. "I will not allow anyone to manipulate his sacrifice or pervert the choice he made."
Without further words, Guy launched himself forward with devastating speed. His fist, wreathed in the green energy of the Sixth Gate, met Duy's own attack in a collision that sent shockwaves rippling across the battlefield.
"BOOM!"
The sound of their impact was like thunder made physical, a deep, resonant note that seemed to shake the very foundations of the earth. For a moment, the two combatants were frozen in tableau—father and son, locked in mortal combat across the barrier of death itself.
Then the physics of the situation asserted themselves.
"BANG!"
Might Duy's body went rigid as the superior force behind Guy's attack overwhelmed his defenses. The reanimated hero was launched backward through the air, his form tumbling through the rain like a broken doll before crashing into the trunk of one of the few trees still standing.
"Impossible!" Black Zetsu's voice cracked with disbelief through Duy's throat. "They both possess the power of Six Gates! How can this boy's strength be so much greater?!"
The answer lay in the fundamental difference between the living and the dead. While Edo Tensei granted near-unlimited stamina and resilience, it could only approximate the original's power level. Guy, fighting with the full force of living muscle and bone enhanced by years of continued training, possessed capabilities that surpassed even his father's legendary strength.
Moreover, he was fighting for something that Duy's controlled form could never understand—the memory of a hero and the protection of everything that hero had died to preserve.
Guy didn't pause to explain. He pressed his advantage immediately, launching a series of devastating physical attacks that pushed Duy further and further back. Each blow carried the weight of years of training, the accumulated power of someone who had dedicated his entire life to perfecting the art of taijutsu.
Duy attempted to fight back, his own considerable skills allowing him to block and counter some of the incoming strikes. But he was clearly outmatched, his defenses gradually cracking under the relentless assault.
"Konoha Great Whirlwind!"
Guy's voice rang out across the battlefield as he launched into one of his signature techniques. His leg swept around in a devastating arc, the movement generating enough force to create visible air currents despite the continuing rain.
"BANG!"
The kick connected with Duy's chest with bone-crushing force. The impact was so severe that the reanimated body's torso actually caved inward, ribs cracking and paper-like fragments of the Edo Tensei technique beginning to peel away from the damaged area.
Blood—or what passed for blood in a reanimated form—splattered across Guy's leg as the devastating blow found its mark.
Without hesitation, Guy followed up with a devastating straight punch that carried all the power he could muster.
"BANG!"
The final impact created a crater several meters in diameter, the force of the blow actually displacing the waterlogged earth and sending a geyser of mud skyward. At the center of the destruction, Might Duy's broken form lay embedded in the ground, his body too damaged to continue fighting.
"Incredible taijutsu," Konan murmured from her vantage point above the battle. She had witnessed Duy's considerable skills firsthand, but Guy's abilities clearly surpassed even those impressive capabilities.
It was a reminder that the new generation didn't merely inherit the strength of their predecessors—they built upon it, creating capabilities that exceeded what had come before.
Swish!
As Guy finished dealing with his father's reanimated form, Karin and the other support personnel arrived at the battle site. Their timing was perfect—the fight was over, but the sealing still needed to be completed.
"Which one of you handles sealing techniques?" Konan called down to the newcomers, her question carrying the matter-of-fact tone of someone coordinating military operations.
When Karin and the others noticed Konan's presence, they immediately shifted into defensive positions. Most of them recognized the woman who had recently attempted to destroy Konoha, and the Fourth Division's area of operations was so vast that news of her defection hadn't reached all personnel yet.
"She just saved me," Guy called out from the crater, his voice carrying clearly despite his position below ground level. Looking directly at Karin, he continued, "You're the sealing specialist, aren't you?"
Karin nodded, though her expression remained wary as she approached the crater's edge. What she saw when she looked down made her freeze in shock.
The broken man lying at the bottom of the crater bore an unmistakable resemblance to Guy—the same facial structure, the same distinctive eyebrows, even the same general build despite the damage his body had sustained.
"This person..." she whispered, realization dawning as the pieces clicked into place.
Despite her surprise, Karin's professionalism took over. She leaped into the crater and quickly began the sealing process, unfurling a specialized scroll designed specifically for containing Edo Tensei resurrections.
The scroll wrapped around Duy's damaged form, its surface beginning to glow with chakra as the sealing formulas activated. As the technique took hold, the artificial will that had been controlling the reanimated hero began to fade, replaced by something infinitely more precious.
Might Duy's eyes cleared, the mechanical blankness of manipulation giving way to the warm intelligence that had defined him in life. He looked up at Guy, who stood at the crater's edge staring down with an expression of profound complexity.
Despite the damage to his body—paper-like fragments of the resurrection technique still clinging to his broken form—Duy managed a gentle smile.
"Guy," he said softly, his voice carrying all the pride and love that death had temporarily stolen away, "you've grown up to be everything I hoped you would become."
"Dad," Guy replied, his voice barely above a whisper as decades of grief and longing colored that single word.
"DAD?!"
The exclamation came from Karin and the other support personnel, their voices cracking with shock as the full significance of what they had witnessed finally hit home.
"He's actually the hero," one of them breathed, his words carrying reverent awe. "The one who sacrificed everything in the last war to save thousands of our ninja."
Even among Konoha's newer generation, the name Might Duy was spoken with respect and admiration. Minato had made his story a required part of the academy curriculum, ensuring that every young ninja understood the price their peaceful lives had demanded.
The lesson was clear and vital: their current safety had been purchased with the blood and sacrifice of heroes like Duy. No matter how much time passed, the traditions and values of the ninja way were passed down from one generation to the next.
Heroes might die, but their names—and the inspiration they provided—would live forever.