Chapter 427: Green Beast and Blue Beast
Samehada moved like a shark.
It lunged in and clamped down on the Mist jonin's body, greedily sucking his chakra away.
Guy did not understand what they were doing, but he did not need to. There was no universe where he could stand there and watch it happen. He burst forward at once, aiming to interrupt.
A glowing chakra sphere suddenly shot toward him.
Guy was forced to halt.
Boom!
The sphere smashed into the ground and detonated, throwing up a violent blast and a curtain of dust.
In that brief window, Samehada pumped the chakra it had stolen through its hilt and into Fuguki's body, stimulating his cells and forcing regeneration.
With Samehada's help, the bloody hole in Fuguki's abdomen sealed at a visible speed. Flesh closed. Blood stopped. Breath steadied.
Meanwhile, the Mist jonin who had been drained collapsed onto the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut, his face pale and his body limp.
Fuguki, now recovered, surged up in one motion. He swung Samehada to drive Guy back, then grabbed the drained Mist jonin with one hand and retreated quickly, pulling him out of danger.
"He recovered that fast?" Guy's eyes widened.
Even if Rin treated someone with everything she had, there was no way she could restore a wound like that in seconds.
"Damn it. We picked the wrong target."
Kakashi's expression darkened as he caught what had happened on Guy's side.
Their only real hope had been simple. Guy's full burst had to kill one swordsman, or at least cripple one so badly that they would lose combat ability. If they could remove even one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen from the board, the rest of the fight became survivable.
But they did not have enough intelligence.
They did not know Fuguki had a recovery method like this.
Guy had used Golden Skyline, and it still did not take a swordsman out of the fight. All it truly accomplished was stripping an ordinary Mist jonin of combat capability.
One wrong step, and everything that followed went wrong with it.
The battlefield completely slipped beyond Kakashi's control, and the future in front of him turned into a wall with no cracks.
Guy had burned a huge amount of stamina and chakra to force that result. Combined with the constant strain of focused breathing and Transparent World, Kakashi could tell Guy was already under half.
Obito had not made progress either. At most, he could hold for a few more minutes.
They were at the end of their rope.
The enemy showed no fatigue at all.
The balance of victory had fully tipped toward the Mist.
Even so, Kakashi did not give up.
He kept his breathing steady and calmly defended against the pincer pressure of Raiga and Jinin.
This was not the first time they had been pushed into a corner.
Back when Obito and Guy were not even official shinobi, they had been surrounded by Kumogakure jonin. That time, Kakashi truly believed it was unavoidable death. He had stopped thinking about winning and only thought about saving one person if possible.
But Obito and Guy had shown him what never giving up looked like.
Guy forced higher Gates open.
Obito awakened his Sharingan.
And in the end, Kakashi hardened his own resolve, and together they beat the Kumogakure jonin.
During the Chunin Exams, they had fought a brutal battle with Kisame's team. Exhausted to the bone, they were then ambushed by a Mist jonin who had infiltrated the Forest of Death.
Everyone was at their limit.
The enemy was a full strength jonin.
Exhausted genin versus a jonin in peak condition. Any ordinary person could guess the outcome.
Yet it was in that seemingly unbreakable dead end that Kakashi comprehended Transparent World and killed the Mist jonin in a single strike.
Perseverance did not guarantee survival.
But giving up guaranteed death.
Kakashi would protect his comrades until his last breath of strength was gone.
Guy did not chase Fuguki.
Shisui was badly hurt, and Guy wanted to carry him to Rin for treatment.
Kushimaru attacked the moment he saw the attempt.
He did not dare strike alone. Fuguki had nearly died just seconds ago, and Kushimaru did not have Samehada to pull him back from the brink.
Mangetsu moved in as well.
It was only a matter of time before Raiga and Jinin broke Kakashi down, and Mangetsu wanted to help Kushimaru eliminate the most dangerous threat on the field.
Guy was forced to abandon the idea of moving Shisui.
Instead, he fought desperately against two opponents at once, refusing to let them inflict new wounds on Shisui while Shisui was already bleeding out.
Out of the corner of his eye, Guy glanced toward Obito's side.
He could not reach that position directly.
So he began shifting the battlefield toward it, step by step, instinctively dragging the fight closer.
How could Obito not want Rin to treat Shisui?
But the initiative was not theirs.
All they could do was struggle and try to be injured less.
"It looks like I can only become the Green Beast."
Guy inhaled deeply.
Determination sharpened his eyes.
He was going to force open the Sixth Gate.
He had not even mastered using the Fifth Gate normally for a full month. Even if he succeeded in entering the Sixth, the backlash would be terrifying. The higher the Gate, the higher the risk, and this might cause irreversible internal damage.
But this was not the time to weigh consequences.
The team needed power now.
Consequences were something you could think about after you survived.
Besides, even the Sixth Gate might not be enough to turn this around, so there was no point drowning in fear.
"Eight Gates, Sixth Gate, Gate of View, open!"
A youthful shout tore through the battlefield.
A green figure flashed in, forcing the enemies in front of Guy back with a violent whirlwind kick.
Guy froze, stunned.
That familiar green figure.
Because of the shock, Guy's attempt to open the Sixth Gate failed.
"We really ran into strong enemies."
The man who had appeared looked over the miserable state of Kakashi, Guy, and the others and let out a sigh.
He had been on a mission nearby. The disturbance here had drawn him in, and he had not expected the team in danger would be his son's team.
"Dad…"
Guy's first reaction, after the shock, was joy.
Then it became worry.
They desperately needed reinforcements, but if the reinforcement was only his father, Guy would rather his father had not found them.
When children are young, they believe their fathers are invincible.
When they grow up, they understand fathers are also human, and there are things they cannot do.
Guy knew his father's strength very well.
If neither used the Eight Gates, Guy could defeat him easily.
Even if both opened the same Gate, Guy could still defeat him.
That meant even if his father opened the Seventh Gate, he would not be much stronger than Guy in the Fifth.
And this battlefield was not something a slightly stronger Fifth Gate could solve.
Shisui was injured.
Obito and Kakashi were severely exhausted.
The battle was about to collapse at any moment, and they were desperately short on combat power.
"It is Guy's father…"
Kakashi felt a bitter heaviness in his chest.
He did not know exactly how strong Guy's father was, but he knew he would not be as strong as Mugetsu. Otherwise, he would not have spent so long stuck as a chunin. Konoha did not normally restrict promotion. If you had enough experience, you could move up.
Still, judging from the kick that had just driven enemies back, Guy's father was stronger than an ordinary Konoha jonin.
Genma and Ebisu lit up when they saw someone arrive to support them.
Then their expressions stiffened when they recognized who it was.
It was not that they looked down on Guy's father.
It was that their enemies today were far beyond normal.
An ordinary shinobi showing up here was just walking into a grave.
Jinpachi and the others tensed when a new figure suddenly entered the fight, but their tension quickly dissolved into relaxed smiles when they saw he was unfamiliar.
Every village had only so many truly strong figures.
With that age, if he were famous, they would have heard his name long ago.
"To fight the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist like this, Guy… you have grown faster than I expected."
Guy's father raised a thumb.
He was on the battlefield where Konoha was fighting the Mist, so of course he knew the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. He understood exactly how dangerous the enemies Kakashi's group was facing were.
"Leave the rest to me. Now is the time to unleash self restraint!"
He clenched his fist and spoke to Guy with solemn conviction.
Guy understood immediately.
His father was planning to open the Eighth Gate, the Gate of Death, to crush the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and save them.
The Gate of Death was the final and strongest Gate.
When the other Gates were opened and the Gate of Death was released, that state was called the Eight Gates Released Formation, and the chakra it unleashed was overwhelmingly violent.
The power gained from opening that last Gate was even greater than the sum of the first seven combined.
But that power was not free.
The Gate of Death burned life itself.
Once opened, it could not be closed. It continued until the user died.
Guy did not doubt his father's ability to open it.
His father had spent twenty years devoted to the Eight Gates alone, abandoning every other taijutsu path and any ninjutsu study for it.
"Self restraint?" Raiga glanced sideways while coordinating Lightning Release with Jinin to press the exhausted Kakashi, a mocking edge in his eyes. "You mean you get strong when you stop restraining yourself?"
The first time Raiga saw him, he had thought the man looked ridiculous.
Green chakra, green clothes, that bowl cut, those thick brows, it all screamed foolish.
Guy's father did not respond.
He did not even care about the words of people inside Konoha. Why would he care about the words of an enemy?
"Dad, do not open the Gate of Death!" Guy shouted. "The Seventh Gate is enough. Please believe in our strength!"
Guy believed his father could kill the Seven Ninja Swordsmen with the Gate of Death.
That was exactly why he could not accept it.
The price was too heavy.
Guy could not stand there and watch his father burn himself into death.
To prove it, Guy forcibly attempted to open the Sixth Gate again.
He looked at Shisui's blood soaked clothes.
He saw Kakashi taking hits as his condition declined.
He imagined what his father would look like after opening the Gate of Death.
Guy's eyes hardened into iron.
He wanted to be stronger.
Strong enough to protect everything he wanted to protect.
"Gate of View, open!"
Guy roared.
A terrifying aura burst from him, green energy surging like leaf shaped flames across his body.
The Sixth Gate opening sent his chakra skyrocketing.
He could feel chakra pouring out endlessly, strength rising to a peak he had never touched before.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
The sudden burst of pressure stirred the leaves around him without any wind at all.
Mangetsu and Kushimaru, closest to Guy, both showed shock.
They could not imagine a ten year old boy releasing an aura like this.
Juzo batted Rin away with Kubikiribocho and turned, his face grim as he stared at Guy.
Even though Guy had been listed as a priority assassination target, Juzo still felt the Mist had underestimated him.
This was not just a priority target.
This was the kind of shinobi who should be erased at all costs.
If someone this strong at ten was allowed to grow, he might one day surpass even the Sannin.
"Hahaha! As expected of my son!"
Guy's father laughed loudly.
Then he activated the Seventh Gate.
Blue steam erupted around his body, and a powerful aura surged outward.
The Seventh Gate was the last Gate before the Gate of Death.
It did not carry the absolute finality of Death, but its side effects were still terrifying. Once it ended, even a light touch could feel like agony.
Guy's father chose to trust his son.
If he had a choice, he did not want to die. He wanted to live and watch Guy become the strongest taijutsu shinobi step by step.
The combined chakra of father and son swept across the battlefield.
In that moment, no Mist shinobi dared underestimate the two green clad taijutsu fighters.
Their strength was undeniable.
Whoosh!
With blue steam burning around him, Guy's father burst straight toward Kakashi.
Right now, Kakashi was the most fragile point on the battlefield. Injured, exhausted, isolated, and being attacked by two opponents.
Jinin swung his hammer down with brutal force, smashing toward the incoming man.
Guy's father raised his right hand and caught the hammerhead with a firm grip.
Jinin's eyes widened.
Bang!
Guy's father flung Jinin away, sending him crashing into a nearby tree.
"Lightning Release: Lightning Ball!"
Raiga poured chakra into his lightning blade and launched a blinding sphere of lightning at him.
With the Seventh Gate active, Guy's father moved with terrifying speed. He leaped up, touched several points along a tree in quick succession, and dodged the lightning ball cleanly, arriving beside Kakashi.
"Uncle Dai, thank you," Kakashi said, breathing hard.
His condition was truly bad. If Guy's father had not appeared, Kakashi knew he would have collapsed soon.
It was already difficult for a chunin like him to fend off two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen at the same time. If Transparent World did not provide such defense, Kakashi would not have lasted this long.
Before Guy's father could speak, Raiga and Jinin surged back in, forcing him to re enter combat immediately.
Kakashi did not hide behind him to recover.
He turned Transparent World off and began assisting in the fight.
If he was going to fall, he would fall with his teammates still alive.
A thought flashed in Kakashi's mind.
If only he had arrived earlier.
If Kakashi were at full strength, working with a Seventh Gate Dai could have created a chance to kill one of them quickly.
The thought vanished almost as soon as it appeared.
It was already hard enough that Dai had shown up at all.
Expecting him to arrive at the perfect moment was too much.
After assisting for two exchanges, Kakashi noticed a problem.
Seventh Gate Dai's body was immensely powerful, but his taijutsu was surprisingly not as refined as Guy's.
That created a painful issue.
They had advantage, yet they could not turn it into real damage.
Raiga and Jinin were teammates who had run missions together many times. Their coordination was far better than Kakashi and Dai's.
Kakashi forced himself to think, searching for a way to break the deadlock, while also watching the others.
Even with the Sixth Gate open, Guy's situation had not improved much.
Because Guy was effectively fighting one on three.
After dealing with the Mist jonin, Fuguki chose to target Obito, and Juzo joined the fight against Guy.
Guy had not used a single ninjutsu from start to finish. Fuguki judged Samehada would not be as useful there, so he swapped opponents with Juzo.
As the side with advantage, the Mist could do that freely.
Kubikiribocho looked like a slab of steel, but in Juzo's hands it was not clumsy at all. He kept aiming precisely for Guy's vulnerable points. Combined with Mangetsu and Kushimaru pressing from both sides, Guy was under crushing pressure.
Shisui's situation was even worse.
His wounds had not been treated, and he was losing chakra with every movement. His body grew heavier, his reactions slower.
At this point, Shisui was no longer a help to Guy.
Guy had to spend attention protecting him.
"Obito!" Shisui shouted, forcing the words out. "That barbed sword can absorb chakra, and it does not like fire!"
Obito immediately surged chakra.
Flames wrapped around his body.
Every punch and kick carried scorching heat, and Samehada, already injured, tapped Fuguki's arm with its hilt in reluctant protest.
Fuguki's face darkened.
He retreated to create distance, formed hand signs, and used Water Release to attack Obito.
Samehada was the only one of the Seven Swords with its own consciousness.
Fuguki could force it to block flames once or twice, but if he did it too much, Samehada would throw a tantrum and refuse to cooperate.
In the worst case, it might even reject him in the future.
It was a picky blade.
Boom!
Jinpachi swung Shibuki.
A dozen exploding tags shot out from within the blade like a spray of death, targeting Rin.
Rin reacted instantly, trying to dodge with Water Instant Body Jutsu.
But she could not escape the blast radius in time.
The explosion swallowed her.
When the smoke cleared, blackened burn wounds marked her body.
Even with Genma and Ebisu assisting, fighting a swordsman like Jinpachi with Rin's strength was too much.
Obito's eyes widened.
Fury surged up his spine, and the crimson of his Sharingan deepened.
He tried to rush over.
Fuguki stopped him.
Jinpachi seized the opening and swung his massive sword down toward Rin, who had fallen to the ground.
Clang!
Genma rushed in, kunai raised, and blocked the strike for Rin.
Bang!
Jinpachi kicked Genma hard, sending him flying five meters away.
Then Jinpachi did not even look at Rin again.
He shifted direction and slashed to his left, forcing Ebisu, who was stabbing toward Jinpachi's waist, to retreat.
"Is this really the strength of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?" Genma trembled as he forced himself up. "If I make it back alive, I am matching Guy's training time no matter what!"
Only now, facing them directly, did Genma truly understand the gap.
Rin could hold on for a while.
They could not.
In front of Jinpachi, Genma and Ebisu were like toddlers who had just learned to walk.
Genma and Ebisu charged again.
Bang, bang!
Both were kicked back and sent flying, slamming heavily onto the ground.
Jinpachi raised his sword toward Rin again.
His blade was almost as tall as Rin. One swing would cut her in half.
Even Tsunade would not be able to save her.
Sizzle, sizzle!
Just as the blade was about to drop, a short sword wrapped in crackling lightning appeared horizontally in front of it.
Kakashi's White Fang short blade.
After Kakashi realized that even with his help, Dai could not quickly deal meaningful damage, Kakashi shifted roles.
He became a fireman.
He would go wherever someone was about to die.
He was the fastest burst mover on their side.
But Kakashi knew he only had one more rescue left.
His chakra was running out.
If he had enough chakra, he would not need to rescue. He would coordinate with Dai and kill.
Obito's chest loosened slightly when he saw Rin saved.
But because he had been too focused on her, Fuguki caught an opening and injured him.
Guy saw Obito falter, anxiety twisting in his gut.
But he could not move.
Juzo, Mangetsu, and Kushimaru were not ordinary jonin. Mangetsu's Hiramekarei carried terrifying destructive power, and Guy, without Armament Haki, could not tank it with his body.
Kushimaru's Nuibari was even worse. The steel wires were tricky and difficult to defend. One mistake and flesh would be carved away.
As for Juzo, even without flashy tricks, his foundation was solid enough to make him the most oppressive of the three.
Surrounded by them, Guy could not support anyone else.
Protecting Shisui was the most he could do.
"Guy, do you remember what I once told you?" Dai said, voice earnest. "Youth is boundless. Death does not extinguish youth. Dying to protect something important is the climax of youth!"
Even though he did not want to be separated from his son, Dai knew it was time to open the Gate of Death.
If he did not, once Kakashi and Obito fell, Guy would be next.
Only the Gate of Death could give him the power to overwhelm the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and end this nightmare.
"I remember," Guy roared back, "but you also said that truly important things, no matter the pain or sorrow, must be fought for to the very end. Even if it costs your life, you protect them with your own hands!"
His voice shook with raw force.
"For me, Dad, you are also someone truly important!"
Guy understood Dai's feelings.
If anyone had to open the final Gate, Guy would rather it be himself.
He wanted to protect his father.
He wanted to protect his teammates.
No matter the cost.
As that resolve hardened, Guy's breathing began to change.
Dai's face softened with relief.
Guy had grown, not just in strength, but in everything else that mattered.
"I am glad you have that resolve," Dai said, eyes steady, "but right now, only I can change the situation by opening the final Gate of the Eight Gates."
He prepared to open the Gate of Death.
They could exchange words because one had opened the Seventh Gate and the other the Sixth.
Kakashi and Obito had no such luxury.
The battle had reached its most critical point.
"No," Guy said sharply, a sudden clarity striking him like lightning. "I still have a Rock Breathing technique."
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +50 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]