"Hurry! Surround them! Don't let a single one escape!"
The shout tore through the trees just as Raizen finished testing his new clay bombs. Then came the sound of clashing steel, followed by screams — the kind that turned the forest air cold.
Raizen froze mid-step, frowning. Great. Here comes trouble again.
The trees ahead swayed violently, and within seconds, a dozen ragged-looking shinobi burst out of the undergrowth. Their armor was cracked, faces smeared with mud and panic. Behind them, another squad emerged — better equipped, wearing identical grey armor etched with a single crest.
The Yūi Clan.
They split into two units, circling the battered group like wolves closing in for the kill. Unfortunately, Raizen found himself right in the middle of the circle.
"…You've gotta be kidding me."
One of the fleeing shinobi cursed under his breath. "Damn it! We're surrounded! We're not getting out of this!"
Another, wild-eyed and shaking, spat toward the Yūi soldiers. "You inhuman bastards! We fought beside your clan for months! My brothers died for you, and this is how you repay us?! May your clan burn with the swamps you covet!"
A Yūi officer stepped forward, voice dripping venom. "Help us? Don't make me laugh. If it weren't for your incompetence, we wouldn't have lost the Kubota Marsh! We bled there because of you—because of trash like you!"
"Hah!" The rebel shinobi laughed bitterly. "Your 'great' commander Yuinan screwed the front lines himself! But sure, blame us! Typical Yūi cowardice—when you lose, find someone weaker to bury!"
The Yūi officer's face twisted. "Enough! Kill them all!"
The order cracked through the air. Swords flashed, kunai hissed, and the once-still clearing exploded into chaos.
Raizen blinked once, deadpan."…Why does this crap always happen to me?"
He barely finished the thought before a kunai whistled past his face. A Yūi ninja charged straight at him, screaming, blade raised high.
"Guess I'm in this now."
Raizen's hands flashed through seals."Kawarimi no Jutsu!"
The Yūi ninja's kunai slashed through an exploding clay doll instead — a heartbeat later, the entire clearing shook with a deafening boom. The blast flung soil and blood across the trees.
When the smoke cleared, the attacker was gone — nothing but shredded armor.
Every eye turned toward Raizen.
The wandering ninjas looked stunned, unsure who the hell he was. The Yūi, however, immediately branded him an enemy.
"Kill that bastard too!"
"Of course," Raizen muttered under his breath. "Me, the random bystander—public enemy number one. Peak reincarnator experience."
He flicked a three-pronged kunai into the dirt. Lightning chakra pulsed through his veins."Fine. Let's play, then."
In a blur of motion and thunder, Raizen vanished.
By the time the Yūi realized what was happening, half their squad was down. Each flicker of light was another kill — a clean strike through the ribs, a slash to the throat, a detonating tag underfoot.
One shinobi screamed, "He's a monster!"
Raizen reappeared behind him, voice low. "Wrong. Just efficient."
A wet sound followed — steel sliding through flesh.
In less than five minutes, the Yūi formation collapsed. What had begun as twenty men was now a scattered handful, pale with terror.
"Retreat!" their commander shouted. "Fall back! He's—he's not human!"
Raizen tilted his head, cracking his neck. "Retreat? No, no… you picked this fight."
He vanished again — and the forest bloomed in flashes of light and death.When silence finally fell, only Raizen was left standing, smoke curling off the scorched ground.
He sighed, rubbing his temples."Great. More corpses, more noise. If this keeps up, I'll have every clan in Fire Country gunning for me…"
He looked up through the thinning smoke."…Still, not bad for warm-up practice."