The vast Konoha camp was completely silent. Most of the weaker Genin and Chūnin had been knocked unconscious by the overwhelming pressure Ryo released earlier, their bodies scattered across the mud.
The only ones still standing were the elite Jōnin of Konoha, the remaining elites of Suna, and Danzō, barely maintaining his footing outside the command tent.
Everyone's eyes, including those of Chiyo, who was surrounded by her puppets and visibly pale were fixed in one direction.
At the center of the camp, a bloody clearing carved out by Ryo stood in absolute silence. Severed limbs and shattered puppet parts lay scattered, soaking in dark red water. In the middle of the hellish scene stood a lone figure.
Kamiyama Ryo.
His dark red hair dripped with rain. His soaked black clothes clung to his body. The Kusanagi Sword was held in a reverse grip in his right hand, its tip resting against the ground, blood running down the blade into the mud.
Ryo's icy silver eyes pierced through the rain, locking onto Chiyo's pale face.
He turned and walked toward the nearest conscious ally, Nara Shikashin, who had only minor injuries. His gaze briefly swept to Nawaki's unconscious form in the distance.
"Now," Ryo ordered, his tone absolute. "Clear out a dry space and get Mikoto and Nawaki treated. Use the best medical-nin. Prioritize the poison removal."
Shikashin stiffened under that gaze and quickly bowed. "Understood. I'll handle it now." He immediately directed two conscious medical-nin to bring stretchers and lay clean cloth in a dry area of the nearest tent.
Ryo carefully helped the medics lay the unconscious Mikoto on a stretcher. Her pale face was completely drained of blood, her eyes tightly shut, and the wound on her side continued to seep black-purple poison, staining the rain-soaked cloth. Ryo bent over and gently brushed the wet hair from her forehead, his fingertips briefly pausing on her cold cheek. As he stood, a drop of blood slipped from the Kusanagi Sword.
He turned back to Chiyo. His silver eyes had lost all warmth, leaving only the cold gleam of a predator locking onto its prey.
"Now," he stepped forward, boots splashing in blood and mud. "I'll send you all to the Pure Land."
The air around Chiyo grew heavier with each step he took.
"Stop him! Protect Lady Chiyo!" a Suna elite Jōnin shouted in desperation.
"For our comrades!" another yelled, forming hand seals. "Wind Style: Vacuum Wave!"
"Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spear!"
Instantly, seven or eight Suna elite Jōnin erupted with attacks. Wind blades, stone spears, fireballs, and poisonous senbon formed a deadly net aimed at Ryo.
Ryo didn't stop.
He casually raised his right arm. His movement was minimal, almost lazy.
A crimson slash, thin as a strand of hair, tore through the air. It moved faster than the eye could follow.
Shhk. Shhk. Shhk. Shhk. Shhk.
The incoming wind blades, rock spears, fireballs, and poisonous needles vanished silently.
The residual force of the slash fanned outward.
"Uagh!"
"No!"
Screams were cut short. The three Suna Jōnin at the front were sliced cleanly through, even their earthen wall defenses cut without resistance. Two more fell backward, blood gushing from holes in their chests.
One swing. Effortless.
The fan-shaped area ahead of Ryo was once again cleared, leaving only twisted wreckage and overwhelming bloodlust. The ground had been gouged into a deep, terrifying trench.
The surviving Suna shinobi froze. Horror and confusion overtook them. Watching their comrades' mutilated bodies and the calm figure continuing forward, they could no longer see this as a battle. It was a massacre.
"M-monster..." someone muttered in a daze, their kunai falling into the mud.
Ryo stepped over the trench filled with flesh and blood. Rain ran down his face, washing clean the fresh blood on his blade. His eyes never left Chiyo, as if everything else was just background noise.
Twenty meters.
"Move!" Chiyo's eyes burned with madness. Her hands blurred as she manipulated her chakra threads through the rain.
"White Secret Technique: The Chikamatsu Collection of Ten Puppets!"
Ten puppets of varied shapes appeared in front of her: Ox-Head, Horse-Face, Monkey, Spider, Monk, Songstress, Terracotta Warrior... each exuding a chilling aura.
The puppets instantly formed an intricate battle formation. Ox-Head and Horse-Face charged straight ahead. Monkey circled with twin blades aimed at the ribs. Spider released a paralyzing mist. Others laid traps or launched ranged interference.
An overwhelming puppet assault, strong enough to siege a fortress.
Ryo's expression didn't change. His eyes remained fixed on Chiyo. He ignored the incoming attacks.
An axe came down from above. Twin blades aimed at his ribs. Poison fog spread around him.
Ryo moved.
He simply shifted his left foot.
The ground beneath exploded. Mud and stone blasted out. The space around him was instantly vacuumed.
His figure vanished.
A crimson trail cut through the puppet formation, ignoring their layout entirely. The puppets were nothing more than dolls. Every attack missed.
His target was clear. Ten meters ahead, at the core of the formation, stood Chiyo.
So fast. Chiyo's pupils shrank. She had never seen such speed.
Death loomed.
Chiyo reacted instinctively. Her left hand yanked the chakra threads.
The "Mother" puppet moved to shield her. "Light Shield Seal!"
Buzz. A blue chakra shield with intricate patterns unfolded in front of her.
At the same time, her right hand launched the "Father" puppet's poisoned spiral drills.
Ryo burst through the formation, now only three meters from the shield. His silver eyes reflected the spinning drills and Chiyo's horrified face behind the barrier.
He didn't slow down or defend.
The drills were about to pierce his body. The blue glow of the shield lit up his wet hair.
Ryo flipped his wrist outward.
The Kusanagi Sword shifted from a downward point to a sweeping slash. As fluid as brushing away a leaf.
A crimson slash reappeared. Space split silently. The rain veered away.
Like a hot knife through butter.
The blue chakra shield, said to block even Iron Sand, shattered instantly on contact.
The slash didn't stop.
The "Mother" puppet, crafted with unbreakable durability, was sliced cleanly in half from head to waist. Its internal mechanics warped and shattered.
The blade passed through and was now inches from Chiyo's neck.
The chill of death froze her blood.
"No!" she screamed, voice warping.
At the edge of death, Chiyo's survival instinct erupted. She threw herself into a backbend with explosive chakra, launching herself away.
Slice.
The tip of the blade grazed her nose. Barely.
A few strands of gray-white hair floated down.
Chiyo fell hard into the mud, water splashing around her. Her mask cracked. She gasped violently.
Ryo stood where she had just been. Slowly lowering his sword, its tip angled toward the ground. A single drop of rain mixed with oil dripped from the blade.
He turned slightly. His silver eyes looked down at Chiyo lying in the mud with detached coldness, as if she were livestock.
"Let's see how many rounds you can last." His deep voice reached her ears clearly.
As the words fell, Ryo vanished again.
Through the mud, puppet fragments, and corpses, he moved like a phantom. Each step precisely placed, each red afterimage defying logic. His pure physical speed combined with preemptive reads covered the entire field.
Clang. Slash. Tear.
Chiyo's soul trembled. Her hands flew faster.
The Monk puppet smashed toward Ryo's foot. The Songstress puppet released disrupting soundwaves. The Terracotta Warrior raised its massive shield. Ox-Head, Horse-Face, and Monkey closed in.
No attempt to defend. Only a desperate, coordinated assault.
Pointless.
Faced with the charging Terracotta Warrior's shield, Ryo crashed straight into it. At the moment of contact, his body shifted sideways unnaturally, brushing past the shield's edge. His right hand flicked the Kusanagi Sword.
Slice.
A black slash precisely struck the joint connecting shield and arm.
Crack. The alloy joint shattered. The shield flew off with the puppet's arm. The Terracotta Warrior staggered back.
Ox-Head's axe came crashing down. Ryo didn't look. His wrist casually lifted.
Clang. Sparks exploded.
The Kusanagi Sword struck the axe's blade. There was no struggle. Ryo's arm trembled lightly, sending overwhelming force through the blade.
Crack... Boom!
Chiyo's eyes filled with disbelief. The massive alloy axe shattered into shards. The backlash twisted Ox-Head's joints. It was sent flying.
"Wind Style: Great Vacuum Sphere!"
A Suna elite hiding behind a tent launched a compressed air cannon at Ryo's exposed back.
The attack ripped through the rain toward Ryo.
He didn't turn around. As if he had eyes on his back, he stepped forward naturally.
Boom.
The air cannon missed, blasting a distant tent.
That single step also dodged Horse-Face's poisoned tail strike from the side.
It was as if he could see the future.
"Damn it! How?!" The attacking Suna shinobi was stunned.
"Now!" Chiyo saw the tiny pause in Ryo's movement. Her bloodshot eyes flashed, and her hands yanked hard.
"Dual Puppet Synchronization!"
Buzz. Chakra threads tightened. The seemingly unrelated "Father" and damaged "Mother" puppets joined hands. Dozens of sharp chakra wires shot out like a net, screaming through the air, trapping Ryo from all directions.
The web was closing in.
"Hmph." Ryo snorted softly.
He twisted his wrist, drawing a perfect crimson circle in front of him with the Kusanagi Sword.
Snap. Snap. Snap.
Like snapped strings on a koto, the chakra wires broke all at once.
Ryo burst through the net. The Kusanagi Sword thrust forward like a bolt of lightning.
Shhk. Shhk.
Two muffled impacts. One pierced the "Father" puppet's chest, the other destroyed the "Mother" puppet's core. Their drive systems shattered. The core puppets were scrapped instantly.
"Urgh!" Chiyo convulsed, her face turning pale as blood surged in her throat. Losing the puppets sent a wave of mental backlash. Despair took hold as Ryo closed the distance. His silver eyes locked onto her like a god of death.
"It's over." Ryo declared coldly.
He raised the Kusanagi Sword. Its tip aimed straight at Chiyo's heart. Armament Haki, pitch-black and flowing like liquid, coated the blade.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)