Chapter 4: Seven Swords
At that moment, Uchiha Akira deeply wished he possessed a wider sensory ability.
Those fireworks were Konoha's standard distress signal, fired only in a life-or-death crisis.
Before he could decide on a course of action, he heard the frantic sound of rushing footsteps. He turned to see three boys, no older than twelve or thirteen, crashing through the undergrowth toward him.
One wore skintight green spandex with a bowl-cut hairstyle, resembling a green turtle. Another had a senbon needle clenched in his teeth and a blue hat. The third sported dark sunglasses and a blue bandana.
Seeing them, Akira knew he was in serious trouble. These were Might Guy, Genma Shiranui, and Ebisu. Given the timeline of the Third Great Shinobi War, their presence here meant something major was about to unfold.
Sure enough, with a series of soft shunshin sounds, seven men of varying appearances materialized from the deeper forest, landing behind the fleeing trio.
There was Jūzō Biwa, with short black hair, sharp fangs, a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek, bandages around his neck, red markings on half his face, and the massive Kubikiribōchō, the Executioner's Blade, slung over his shoulder.
The burly Fuguki Suikazan, with his wild orange hair, green facial tattoos, and the bandaged, living sword Samehada.
Kushimaru Kuriarare, tall with long, fluffy yellow spiky hair, wearing an Anbu mask and black attire, carrying the long sword Nuibari, the Sewing Needle.
A wild-looking man with a ninja hat, sharp teeth, loose bandages, and the blunt sword Kabutowari.
Jinpachi Munashi, with black hair and a long beard, thick lips, sharp teeth, his left eye covered by a black cloth, carrying the explosive sword Shibuki.
Jinpachi's companion, a man with green hair and thick eyebrows named Raiga Kurosuki (though his exact identity among the Seven was flexible), was wrapped in bandages under black clothes, with the twin blades of the Kiba swords on his back.
Lastly, a man in a blue pointed hat and suit, carrying the bandaged form of the twin-bladed sword Hiramekarei. (For the purpose of this narrative, we will call him Momotaro Hayato, a placeholder name as his early history is unclear.)
The seven figures took up different positions, their smiles a mix of amusement and cruelty, loosely encircling the panicked Might Guy, Genma, and Ebisu below.
"Guy, what do we do? These are Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen! We're no match for them!" Ebisu whispered frantically to Might Guy, his voice trembling.
Genma Shiranui, the senbon in his mouth twitching slightly, also looked toward Guy with clear anxiety. Despite Guy's exclusive focus on taijutsu, both he and Ebisu had come to recognize him as the strongest of their three-man cell.
Might Guy's face was set in a rare, grave expression. He opened his mouth to speak, but then he noticed the Swordsmen's collective gaze shifting to a point behind them.
Guy, Genma, and Ebisu whirled around. Standing on a tree branch about twenty meters back was a young man, maybe fifteen or sixteen. He had black hair and dark eyes, wore a black turtleneck short-sleeve, carried a ninja sword on his back, and a Konoha forehead protector was tied around his head. Most striking were the pair of scarlet eyes with three spinning tomoe, locked unblinkingly on the seven Kiri ninja.
"The Sharingan. An unexpected surprise," Jūzō Biwa grinned, baring his fangs. "How convenient. My blade has a few new nicks. Let's see if Uchiha blood makes for good polish."
"He didn't run the moment he saw the Seven," Fuguki Suikazan rumbled, his voice cold and laced with killing intent. "It seems our reputation isn't what it used to be."
"Enough talk," came the muffled voice from behind the mask of Kushimaru Kuriarare. "Don't forget our primary objective."
The words were barely out before Kushimaru vanished, using the Body Flicker to appear directly in front of Might Guy. The long blade Nuibari, gleaming and sharp, thrust down toward Guy's head from mere decimeters away.
BOOM!
A streak of blue-white lightning seemed to fall from the sky, crashing directly onto Kushimaru's position. The ground fractured with a thunderous crack, splitting into a web of fissures.
Kushimaru was driven a solid half-meter into the earth by a foot sheathed in crackling lightning chakra. He lay motionless, embedded in the ground.
The force of the impact sent Might Guy and his two friends stumbling backward seven or eight meters, shielding their faces from the debris.
As the dust settled, they could see who stood with his foot planted on Kushimaru's back.
It was the young Uchiha from the tree.
"Get farther back. Now," Uchiha Akira commanded, not even looking down at the unmoving form under his foot. Kushimaru's chest neither rose nor fell.
That was the consequence of underestimation. Akira's speed, augmented by Lightning Release chakra enhancement and his own heightened reflexes, had been too fast for even the other Swordsmen to intercept.
Hearing the order, Might Guy and the others snapped out of their shock, nodding vigorously and scrambling to put more distance between themselves and the deadly circle.
As he retreated, Might Guy called out, his voice thick with concern, "Senior Uchiha! Be careful! They're the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist! They're all jonin!"
Akira didn't respond verbally, only giving a slight, silent nod in acknowledgement.
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen were not ordinary opponents. They were, each one, elite among jonin. He had managed to eliminate Kushimaru only through the element of complete surprise. The remaining six would be a different matter entirely. Even with the power of the Mangekyō Sharingan, Akira held little confidence he could emerge unscathed from a direct confrontation with all of them at once.
'I can't let them surround me. I need to split them up, create openings,' he thought rapidly.
"Tch. Didn't expect this Uchiha brat to be so quick," Jinpachi Munashi grunted, shifting the explosive sword Shibuki on his shoulder. "Kushimaru had rotten luck. Didn't even get to show off."
"A waste. Good riddance," Fuguki Suikazan sneered.
"Enough," said Momotaro Hayato, the twin-blade wielder. "Finish this quickly. This is Konoha's territory. If their main force arrives, extraction becomes problematic."
"Hah! Let them come," Jinpachi retorted, patting his sword. "My Shibuki is thirsty. I'd welcome the company."
Seeing that Guy's team had reached what he hoped was a safer distance, Uchiha Akira's hands flew into a series of seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball!"
He didn't stop at the standard technique. He expelled a torrent of flame far vaster than usual, a roaring tide of fire that swelled and surged forward, aiming to engulf the remaining six Swordsmen in a wave of searing heat.
Without pause, his hands shifted again, forming another sequence in the blink of an eye. "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
He thrust his palms forward. A violent, compressed storm erupted from his position, howling through the forest. The wind tore into the fire, fueling it, transforming the tidal wave into a veritable ocean of flame. It roared with overwhelming intensity, threatening to consume the entire section of the woodland.
The Uchiha clan was naturally gifted with substantial chakra reserves, and Akira was no exception. His unique circumstances—the fusion of his traveler's spirit with the original owner's—had resulted in an exceptionally powerful life force, which translated into a chakra pool far exceeding that of a typical jonin. While not on the monstrous level of a Kage or a tailed beast, it was more than enough to sustain large-scale ninjutsu like this, even back-to-back.
That was why he dared to open with such a overwhelming, area-denial attack.
"So… incredible…" Might Guy breathed out, staring in awe from a hundred meters away. The sheer scale of the devastation was beyond anything he'd seen from someone so young.
(End of Chapter)
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