"Time to have some fun."
Raizen's grin stretched across his face as he stared down the two Ueshi clan Jōnin before him—grins like that didn't make most men feel friendly. To the two Jōnin, it was a death sentence.
He struck immediately. One Jōnin had been battered by the clay dragon's explosive missiles and was barely able to move, while the other had been cut by Raizen's kunai but still clung stubbornly to life. Raizen's mind calculated swiftly: finish the incapacitated one first, then deal with the other.
Flying Thunder God Kunai in hand, he disappeared, reappearing instantly above the downed Jōnin.
A third Ueshi Jōnin, watching Raizen descend toward his ally, realized Raizen's plan and charged with a furious roar to intercept him.
"You won't stop me," Raizen called mockingly. "Better to run now and save yourself than try to play hero!"
The charging Jōnin's eyes blazed. "Don't underestimate me!" he spat.
The blade in his hand cut through the air—but Raizen didn't flinch. He vanished under the swing and reappeared above the injured Jōnin.
"Die."
Raizen's Flying Thunder God Kunai stabbed down. The Jōnin had already been scorched and battered by the detonating clay; without sheer force of will, he would have passed out long ago. A flicker of despair crossed his eyes, but he refused to yield, waving his bloody arms in defiance.
"Even if I die, I won't make it easy for you!"
"Earth Style: Burial!"
Boom!
The ground around him erupted violently, throwing thick, scalding mud in every direction. Raizen felt the tremor beneath him, recalling how Ueshi Tokusei had once used this trick. But he wasn't about to be trapped. With a swift activation of Flying Thunder God, he vanished just as the explosion hit.
"What?!" the surviving Jōnin shouted, watching his companion's self-detonation in horror.
Burial was a B-rank Ueshi clan jutsu—deadly not because of raw power, but because of precision. It turned the caster's body into burning mud, weighing down anyone caught in it while scalding and maiming them. The trick had been a grim tradition: when a Ueshi ninja fell in battle, they brought disaster to the enemy with their dying breath.
"Even if I die, I'll take your head with me!" the remaining Jōnin roared, hatred blazing in his eyes.
Raizen's gaze met his, and for a moment, he felt the raw, human grief behind the rage. War was never clean: death bred sorrow, sorrow bred hatred, and hatred fueled endless cycles of violence. That was the Warring States—the chaos, the blood, the pain.
Raizen clenched his fists. Controlling the Amamiya clan was his first step toward ending this endless cycle of war.
He surged forward. The two met in a blur of chakra and steel. Raizen's Flying Thunder God Kunai vanished, only for him to reappear behind the charging Jōnin. A spray of hot blood followed. The Ueshi Jōnin's hatred died silently as Raizen moved on, unshaken, the battlefield a brutal testament to his resolve.