"Struggle all you wish; it cannot change your utter powerlessness. Give it up. After all, I have no intention of taking your life… I merely wish to take a little something else."
Orochimaru advanced, step by slow, deliberate step.
Masahiko's hand, gripping the hilt of his sword, trembled visibly.
Of course, the majority of this was acting—part of the performance—but there was a genuine seed of surprise buried beneath the facade.
It was only when facing Orochimaru directly that one could truly understand the suffocating pressure he exuded. The Sannin's killing intent and aura were undeniably terrifying. The sheer weight of his presence as he walked forward was enough to crush the will to resist in anyone with a fragile psyche.
Masahiko took a sharp, deep breath and drew his blade.
"I won't let you pass!"
"Masahiko-kun, you are truly talented. I really do not wish to kill you." Orochimaru licked his lips, his serpentine eyes narrowing. "What a pity."
"I believe… that killing me won't be as simple as you think."
Masahiko appeared to maintain his composure, seemingly unaffected by the Sannin's overwhelming aura.
Orochimaru let out a cold, raspy chuckle. Just as he was about to speak, a powerful burst of chakra erupted nearby, rapidly approaching their location.
He glanced toward the distance and smiled lightly. "It seems your reinforcements have arrived."
Kakashi flashed onto the scene, landing squarely in front of Masahiko. "Masahiko, go support Asuma and the others! I'll handle things here!"
His expression was grave beneath his mask.
"Understood."
Masahiko didn't hesitate or offer polite refusals. "I'll resolve the situation over there as quickly as possible."
"Good."
Kakashi locked eyes with Orochimaru, his gaze filled with resolve. Naruto was cowering protectively beside Kurenai Yuhi.
In the next instant, Masahiko vanished from the spot.
The Outskirts.
Kazuma and Asuma stood in a tense standoff.
"Kazuma… I never thought you would change this much. For the sake of your plan, is there nothing you won't do?" Asuma's face was etched with pain and disappointment.
Kazuma remained silent.
The Twelve Guardian Ninja.
They were once comrades who fought side by side. It was only later that their ideologies began to fracture.
Kazuma looked into the distance and sighed softly. "The 'Two Kings' stand opposed. It is inevitable. As ninja, we can only choose one. I chose the Daimyō, and you chose the Hokage."
He paused for a second, then smiled. "You are the Hokage's son; it is only natural you would choose him."
"This has nothing to do with my lineage! Kazuma, I support the current system because the Ninja World needs stability. With four powerful Great Nations surrounding us…" Asuma tried to reason with him, his voice desperate. "Once internal strife breaks out in the Land of Fire or Konoha, it will almost certainly trigger a new Great Ninja War!"
"Asuma, what's the point of talking to him? Make him pay for Kitane's death!"
Seito, one of the opposing guardians, was radiating murderous intent.
Kazuma frowned. "Kitane's death has nothing to do with us."
"Do you dare claim that you didn't hire Orochimaru?" Nauma demanded.
Kazuma fell silent for a moment before replying, "Orochimaru is indeed unrelated to us."
"We all know what's going on here." Asuma gripped his trench knives, his chakra flaring to life. "Since we cannot be honest with one another, there is nothing left to say."
Kazuma's expression turned cold. "Revolution is always accompanied by sacrifice. It has been this way since ancient times. Our paths are different; indeed, there is nothing more to say."
He equipped his weapon—a clawed gauntlet with four blades.
Before the two leaders had fully committed to starting the battle, Seito and the others could wait no longer. They condensed their chakra in unison, and in an instant, the roar of thunder filled the air.
The four of them had trained in a specific combination technique: Lightning Style: Limelight.
If Kitane were still alive, they could have used this jutsu to annihilate their enemies instantly. However, Kitane was dead. Unable to execute the true Limelight, they had to rely on their mutual synergy to synchronize their chakra frequencies and link their attacks.
Seito formed hand seals with rapid precision.
Immediately, a massive torrent of lightning poured out, spewing forward like a deluge.
Lightning Style: False Darkness!
Asuma took a deep breath, preparing to counter. But suddenly, a look of slight bewilderment crossed his face as his gaze darted to his companions' flank.
In the distance, a figure flickered into view. At the exact moment the lightning erupted, this third party struck from the shadows.
This caused Asuma to hesitate.
Kazuma, however, showed no such hesitation. He swung his clawed gauntlet violently, unleashing a sharp blade of wind.
Wind Style: Beast Wave Palm!
The massive volume of chakra and the elemental advantage allowed the wind to slice through the False Darkness lightning in an instant, creating a gap in the center and neutralizing its initial lethality.
However, in that same split second, a startled shout rang out from the rear: "Tsubute, look out!"
Kazuma immediately turned his head.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it.
Behind them, a man was closing in on his five companions with unimaginable speed.
Tsubute was naturally not unprepared. He slammed his hands onto the ground, causing the earth to rise instantly into a defensive barrier.
Earth Style: Mud Wall!
But in the next second, to everyone's shock—
The Mud Wall was breached. A vertical fissure tore open through the stone.
Through the crack, they could see the attacker. His body was wreathed in lightning, and high-density thunder chakra had converged around his hand, forming a deadly blade.
'That looks like a Nintaijutsu from Kumogakure!'
Lightning Style: Horizontal Oppression!
Tsubute didn't dare to be careless and immediately attempted to merge into the ground to escape. But in the blink of an eye, a Shadow Clone had already sprinted right up to his face.
BOOM!
A brutal hand-chop descended.
Thunder exploded, and the ground cracked open!
Tsubute maintained an expression of shock as he fell, seemingly unable to comprehend why someone from Kumogakure would travel all the way to the Fire Capital just to kill people.
The exploding lightning left everyone stunned. Including Seito and his group.
Kazuma immediately sensed something was wrong and shouted, "Wait! Who are you?!"
The attacker merely glanced into the distance, chuckled in a low voice, and vanished from the spot.
'Someone who mastered such powerful Lightning Style… was just a Shadow Clone?!'
Disbelief washed over the group.
However, what happened next was even more shocking.
A second later, not far away, a terrifying, malevolent chakra erupted. The aura was so dense and evil that the shockwaves could be felt clearly even from where they stood.
"That is…!" Chiriku's face filled with horror. "That's the same chakra that appeared at the Fire Temple!"
"It's the Nine-Tails!" Asuma's face darkened as he glared at Kazuma. "Damn it! How dare you people target the Tailed Beast!"
"Nine-Tails chakra?" Chiriku was visibly astonished.
Kazuma frowned, realizing that no amount of explanation would clear this up now. Furthermore, he had to resolve this quickly.
He didn't have time to think. Asuma and Chiriku attacked simultaneously.
Former comrades and friends had finally reached the point where blades were the only language left.
The chaotic melee began. In the scuffle, Kitane's metal staff was thrown by Tōu, splitting into three separate rods that landed around one of their enemies. In the blink of an eye, they formed a triangular barrier constructed of lightning, trapping the target.
Seito, acting with practiced synergy, gathered lightning in his palm.
"Pay for Kitane's life!"
Clang!
A crisp sound rang out as one of the metal rods was knocked flying. The lightning barrier collapsed instantly.
At the same time, a shout came from the rear.
"Asuma-senpai! Orochimaru is attacking Naruto! We need to end this fast!"
"Move!"
Masahiko arrived at top speed.
Kazuma, who had just parried Asuma, retreated to gain distance for a jutsu. But the moment he moved—
A massive fireball came roaring toward them, churning and rolling through the air.
The fireball contained a volatile, chaotic mass of chakra. The strange, unstable nature of it made Kazuma instinctively feel that something was very wrong.
Asuma, reacting on instinct, used a Shadow Clone to tangle with Kazuma, preventing his retreat, while his main body grabbed Chiriku and leaped away to support their allies as per Masahiko's warning.
Kazuma's reaction was fast, but entangled by Asuma's clone, he couldn't completely clear the blast zone. He could only shift slightly to avoid the core of the flames.
The next second—
BOOM!
The chakra inside the flames seemed to lose its binding. It expanded chaotically and detonated, the color of the outer flames shifting rapidly across the spectrum.
'Bad move!'
Kazuma's skin instantly changed color.
Earth Style: Hardening Technique!
Boosting his defense, he risked tanking a hit from Asuma's clone to deliver a backhanded wind blade, decapitating the copy.
But at the same time, the flames expanded ferociously and exploded.
Firelight shot in all directions. A scorching heatwave swept through the clearing, swallowing everything in its path.
Asuma watched the devastation, nervously swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
If Masahiko hadn't warned them—and if they hadn't run so fast—he and Chiriku would likely have been caught in the blast radius.
'That guy…'
'…Is he trying to kill us all?!'