"So this is all the Uchiha amount to. A simple bit of coordination shattered your defenses. Now—let's take away your ability to fight."
Seeing Uchiha Ran trapped deep within the Swamp of the Underworld, struggling uselessly in the thick mud, Akita showed no intention of holding back.
He stared at Ran for a moment, cold light flashing in his eyes.
The Sharingan still wasn't active.
That means it's time to end this.
Akita's hands flew through seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!"
A massive earthen dragon burst from the ground, roaring as it charged straight toward Ran.
At the same time, the other two Iwagakure special jōnin activated their own Earth Release techniques—two Earth Spears forming in their hands as they attacked in unison, converging on Ran together with the dragon.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Dragon Jutsu!"
Ran hurriedly gathered chakra, unleashing a torrent of flames in an attempt to counter the three simultaneous attacks.
Fire and earth collided violently, sending shockwaves rippling outward.
"Earth Release: Weight Manipulation Technique!"
"Earth Release: Weight Manipulation Technique!"
"Earth Release: Weight Manipulation Technique!"
Three heavy shouts rang out.
Akita and the two remaining Iwa special jōnin reinforced their swords and kunai with the Weight Manipulation Technique, drastically increasing their mass.
Before the smoke from the clash of fire and earth had even cleared—
A sword and two kunai shot through it, appearing directly in front of Ran.
There was no time to dodge.
Ran raised his zanpakutō to block—
Boom!
The sheer force sent him flying. His body rolled violently before crashing into the far edge of the swamp.
"Well?" Akita sneered.
"Feel how heavy Weight Manipulation is, brat? If you weren't still worth something, you'd already be dead."
Ran, still restrained by the swamp, showed no intention of surrendering.
As he struggled and began forming seals—
The Iwa-nin flashed forward.
In an instant, a blade and two kunai were pressed against Ran's throat.
"Too easy. Uchiha," Akita said coldly.
"As long as we watch out for your Sharingan, three-on-one leaves you with zero chance."
It looked like Ran was finished—completely captured, with no way to turn things around.
But sensing that Ran still hadn't given up—
Akita suddenly drove his sword forward.
Straight into Ran's abdomen.
The blade pierced through flesh, blood spilling instantly.
For a shinobi like Ran, the bleeding alone wasn't fatal—but Akita knew exactly what he was doing.
This strike wasn't meant to kill.
It was meant to control—to stop Ran's movement and resistance completely.
"It's over," Akita declared.
"Victory belongs to Iwagakure."
At the same time, not far away—
Akahoshi and Natsuhoshi were locked in battle, their Peacock Mystical Method techniques colliding like mirror images.
Akahoshi, a prodigy of the Star Ninja Village, unleashed Peacock Mystical Method: Beast.
His chakra morphed into a massive, ferocious creature.
A chakra-formed qilin emerged—huge, muscular, its eyes burning with savage intent. Though made entirely of chakra, it looked terrifyingly real.
For a brief moment, the qilin stilled.
Then—
It lunged.
Fast. Brutal. Merciless.
The beast charged Natsuhoshi with overwhelming pressure, radiating fear and killing intent.
But Natsuhoshi—one of the greatest talents the Star Ninja Village had produced in a century—remained calm.
Her mastery of Peacock Mystical Method was absolute.
As the qilin attacked, she closed her eyes.
Pink chakra light bloomed around her, spreading outward like the feathers of a magnificent peacock.
The qilin struck—
And failed.
No matter how fierce its assault, it couldn't break through her defense.
Natsuhoshi moved like a dancing peacock, her footwork fluid and elegant, dissolving each attack with grace.
Elegant.
Almost impossibly so.
The qilin changed forms again and again, but Natsuhoshi never lost her composure.
Peacock and qilin collided repeatedly, chakra crashing together and whipping the air into violent gales. The battlefield became a dazzling storm of color and force.
As the fight dragged on, Akahoshi grew impatient.
With a sudden surge of power, the qilin struck hard—sending Natsuhoshi flying back.
Akahoshi turned his head.
I'll deal with the Uchiha first—then come back for her.
But the moment his eyes landed on the Iwa-nin—
His pupils shrank.
"Akita! Stop!" Akahoshi shouted.
"Do you have any idea what you're doing?!"
In that instant—
Akita's vision changed.
The Uchiha he had just stabbed clean through—
Was gone.
In his place stood one of his own comrades.
A fellow special jōnin.
The man clutched his chest as blood poured from his mouth—unable to speak.
"…A-Le?!"
Akita's mind reeled.
"What—when did I fall into a genjutsu?!"
Shock surged through him, but he didn't cry out.
Instead, he immediately disrupted his chakra.
If that one is the Uchiha… then the one beside him is—
Sensing a disturbance in "A-Le's" chakra, Akita acted without hesitation.
Grief twisting his face, he yanked the sword free—
And slashed at the figure beside him.
Fast.
So fast that even Akita himself was startled by the speed of his own strike.
Yet—
Out of the corner of his eye—
He saw Akahoshi in the distance.
Frozen.
His face filled with sheer terror.
"Why…?"
Akita's mind raced.
"Why does Akahoshi look like that?!"
There was no time to think.
The blade was already falling.
Just a fraction of a second more—
And it would cleave straight through Uchiha Ran.
He can't react in time.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/MythArcStudio