Drip.
Drip.
Blood slid down Uchiha Gen's arm, seeping from several cracked wounds that had split his skin.
At the last moment, he had crossed his arm in front of his chest, barely managing to block the brunt of the Lightning Release technique—Heavy Stream Eruption.
What monstrous power…
Gen reached up and pressed a chakra point near the wound, forcibly sealing the ruptured blood vessels. The bleeding slowed to a halt.
Lifting his gaze, he quickly assessed the battlefield.
With the arrival of Konoha's support units, the situation had stabilized—for now. Even so, the Cloud ninja continued to fight ferociously. It often took several Konoha shinobi working together to suppress a single Kumogakure combatant, a disparity that was especially brutal in clashes involving Chūnin and Genin.
Then—
Boom!
A colossal explosion shook the heavens and the earth.
Gen snapped his head toward the source just in time to see a towering pillar of blinding light erupt dozens of kilometers away. A violent shockwave followed, the gale-force wind ripping across the battlefield.
His pupils shrank.
That light… that destructive force—
A Tailed Beast Ball.
Since the Two-Tails was already present on this battlefield, the only one capable of launching such an attack from afar could be—
The Eight-Tails.
That meant the distant battlefield was already spiraling into all-out devastation.
Gen exhaled slowly, then shifted his focus back to the immediate threat.
The Cloud ninja were fighting while retreating, rapidly regrouping around the Two-Tails' Jinchūriki. At the same time, Konoha reinforcements continued to pour in, tightening the encirclement.
Whoosh!
A spray of blood burst into the air as Gen's kunai slashed cleanly across a Cloud ninja's throat.
In the next instant, he vanished.
The Body Flicker Technique carried him behind another enemy, who was locked in combat with several Konoha shinobi. Before the man could react, Gen drove his kunai deep into his back.
The Cloud ninja roared, twisting around in rage and swinging his blade—
—but Gen was already gone.
The missed strike left a fatal opening. Several Konoha ninja surged forward, embedding kunai into the man's vital points and ending him on the spot.
Gen's figure flickered relentlessly across the battlefield, appearing and disappearing like a specter. Wherever he passed, Cloud ninja fell.
Eventually, the enemy formation tightened completely, retreating to higher ground.
Gen's brow furrowed.
This didn't feel like defeat.
It felt like preparation.
Sure enough, moments later, a terrifying chakra fluctuation surged into his perception—violent, unstable, and rapidly escalating.
He looked up.
Multiple streams of chakra—red, blue, black—were converging into a dense sphere before the fully transformed Two-Tails Jinchūriki.
"Damn it…!"
A Tailed Beast Ball!
The moment the sphere took shape, an overwhelming pressure crushed down upon the battlefield. Even breathing became difficult.
Konoha ninja paled.
"Disperse!" someone shouted desperately. "Everyone, disperse—now!"
Gen locked his gaze onto the Jinchūriki. A kunai slid soundlessly into his left hand as scorching chakra poured into the blade, causing its surface to glow faintly.
He raised his arm—
Then several figures descended from the sky, landing in front of the forming blast.
"Form the Four Violet Flames Formation!"
A pale-purple barrier snapped into existence just as the Two-Tails unleashed the attack.
BOOM!
Blinding light swallowed the battlefield.
The Four Violet Flames barrier enveloped the Tailed Beast Ball's explosion, then ballooned outward under the immense pressure. The four shinobi maintaining it trembled violently, veins bulging, faces flushed deep red as they poured chakra into the formation with everything they had.
Then—
Several kunai whistled in from afar, aimed straight at the four pillars of the formation.
Most Konoha ninja had already retreated beyond the danger zone. Even if someone noticed the attack, no one was close enough to intervene.
At the critical moment, a shadow flashed through the air.
Metal clashed.
A volley of shuriken exploded outward, knocking every incoming kunai aside before they could reach their targets.
The four shinobi below felt their hearts seize—but then relief washed over them as they sensed the interference.
They dared not drop the formation. If the barrier collapsed now, the released shockwave would obliterate not only them, but every Konoha ninja nearby.
Looking up, they caught sight of the fan crest emblazoned on the man's back.
An Uchiha.
Gen landed heavily, his feet slamming into the ground with explosive force. The earth cratered beneath him.
Then he launched forward—like a fired cannonball—straight toward the Cloud ninja lines.
Behind him, the Two-Tails' chakra cloak began to retract.
After firing a Tailed Beast Ball, even a perfect Jinchūriki suffered immense strain.
"Stop him!" Cloud ninja roared, surging to intercept.
Gen met them head-on.
His kunai collided with a longsword—
Crack!
The blade shattered in a single strike.
Before the Cloud ninja could even comprehend what happened, the kunai flashed once more, slicing cleanly across his throat.
Gen twisted mid-stride, narrowly evading two simultaneous attacks, then countered in the same motion—another clean cut, another spray of blood.
The stench of iron filled the air.
Moving like a phantom, Gen carved a winding path through the blockade in mere seconds, emerging directly before the Two-Tails Jinchūriki.
He raised his kunai—
"Heavy Stream Eruption!"
A massive figure wreathed in crackling lightning appeared in front of him, hurling a devastating punch.
Gen recognized him instantly.
The same Cloud ninja who had sent him flying earlier.
Their attacks collided.
Gen twisted sharply, redirecting the incoming force and unleashing a brutal counter-kick.
BOOM!
The sonic blast ripped through the air. Both figures were hurled backward by the recoil.
Gen flipped midair, stabilizing himself as he landed.
Then, without hesitation, he threw.
A flash of cold light streaked forward like lightning itself.
The kunai tore through the air in a perfect straight line—
Straight toward the Two-Tails Jinchūriki.
---
Visit patreon.com/MexxyWave to get access to 30+ chapters