A thousand people could blot out the sky.
Ten thousand stretched beyond sight.
Right now, Kyosuke's strongest impression was that red spread everywhere he looked.
On the Southern Border battlefield, the Three Clans had never fought a large-scale, head-on battle. The biggest engagement he had personally experienced was a chase through a canyon involving only a few hundred people.
"They really do live up to being a clan that founded a country. There are so many of them," Kyosuke marveled.
"Hmph. Just a bunch of fools." Madara Uchiha stood with his arms folded, his gaze brimming with imposing confidence.
The two stood side by side at the front, fearlessly facing the surging enemy tide. Their casual banter was enough to make the others envious.
Even Army Commander Hiroki knew he could not have shrugged off the pressure in their place.
Who was Uzumaki Ashina? A man who could speak to Butsuma Senju as an equal, whose strength stood at the very pinnacle of clan leader level.
One step beyond that lay a legendary realm, the specifics of which no one currently understood.
In other words, Uzumaki Ashina represented the greatest strength of the Warring States Period.
Elder Hiroki was also a clan leader-level powerhouse, but he knew an insurmountable gulf separated their strength.
That was the main reason he had requested reinforcements.
If they could not match quality, they at least needed equal numbers. Otherwise, how the hell were they supposed to fight?
A gap suddenly opened in the surging red tide. Uzumaki Ashina strolled forward, his presence locking firmly onto the two most conspicuous figures in the enemy ranks.
Kyosuke, dressed in black combat gear, with a long sword slung diagonally at his waist.
Madara, clad in red armor, with the Uchiha Gunbai on his back.
He had thought Mito was already the finest successor imaginable. He had never expected the Uchiha to raise two brilliant young talents at once.
"How fortunate." Uzumaki Ashina narrowed his eyes, and a terrifying aura crashed toward the pair like an avalanche.
If they could not withstand it, neither would be able to take the field in the coming battle.
The terrible pressure of the battlefield would gradually eat away at their hearts, reducing these once-proud prodigies to mere ordinary men.
Yet Uzumaki Ashina had miscalculated.
Aside from making the two Uchiha activate their Sharingan, his actions seemed to have accomplished nothing.
To the onlookers, it looked more like an elder bullying children. A founding father of the Land of Whirlpools had lost his daughter to kidnappers, yet all he could do was pressure two boys.
Word getting out would be downright humiliating.
Glancing at the unruffled pair, Hiroki Uchiha stepped forward and mocked him loudly. "Uzumaki Ashina, you really have gone downhill with age."
"Indeed." The Uzumaki clan leader gave a self-deprecating smile, then channeled his chakra and said in a deep voice, "Release Mito, or we will crush your Uchiha today."
With that, he raised one hand, and the shinobi formation behind him instantly readied itself.
At a single command from their clan leader, terrifying army-scale ninjutsu would bombard the enemy ranks.
Against large-scale attacks covering such a wide area, even the Ten-Tails, short of his complete form, could not break free in a short time.
That alone showed the power of army-scale ninjutsu.
"Those damned Uzumaki really think they can stand alongside us!" The army commander raised his arm and shouted, his ringing voice carrying in every direction. "Show the enemy which clan is truly the strongest in the Land of Fire!"
"Fire!"
The moment he spoke, thirty shinobi in the formation made hand seals simultaneously, their chakra merging with extraordinary smoothness.
Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu ×30!
Like a meteor falling from the heavens, the enormous fireball crossed a hundred meters in an instant, about to swallow the entire enemy formation.
At the critical moment, the Uzumaki successfully formed their army-scale ninjutsu.
Water Release: Water Formation Wall ×30!
The sea of flames collided with the surging waves, erupting into a vast cloud of steam that blanketed the battlefield.
Seeing this, Hiroki Uchiha immediately ordered, "Front ranks, charge!"
With their Sharingan, the Uchiha held a clear advantage in the thick mist. If they did not charge now, when would they?
"Follow me!" Kyosuke was the first to rush out.
Behind him, the eighty-odd shinobi who had learned Chidori instinctively spaced themselves far enough apart to dodge.
They had barely formed up when a barrage of kunai and shuriken flew straight at them.
One or two powerful ninjutsu were mixed in, an attempt to hit them with a ranged barrage first.
"Scatter!" Kyosuke waved his hand, and the formation immediately spread wide, evading the attack with ease.
By now, the two sides were extremely close. His powerful motion vision let him make out figures racing through the thick mist ahead.
"Hand seals!"
As he spoke, melodious birdsong rang out in an instant.
One... two... three...
At last, the synchronized roar of lightning drowned out every other sound on the battlefield.
So this is his trump card. Behind them, Madara watched with admiration. Such a spectacular sight was truly rare.
Any opponent facing an army-scale assault of this magnitude would be at a loss.
As he pondered, the torrent of lightning slammed into the enemy formation, driving straight in from the front and carving its way out diagonally through the rear, punching clean through their ranks.
"Again!" Kyosuke gave the order, ready to repeat their maneuver.
A few more rounds like that would probably shatter the enemy's morale completely.
Then the balance of victory would tip sharply in their favor. Without their numerical advantage, the Uzumaki did not seem so frightening after all.
His plan was sound. Unfortunately, someone had no intention of letting it happen.
"Uchiha brat, don't get too arrogant." An enemy charged straight toward him, a red-haired man he did not recognize.
The man gave him no chance to assemble the formation. Before he even arrived, a terrifying gale swept over everything ahead.
Left with no choice, Kyosuke broke away from the formation to meet him alone. "Maya, pull back from the battlefield and prepare for a second mass charge."
"My lord!"
"Relax. If I want to leave, no one can stop me."
With that, Kyosuke charged straight back toward the enemy.
His hands rapidly formed seals, and in an instant, he became a streak of light plunging into their ranks.
"Arrogant?" Reaching the Uzumaki man, Kyosuke drew his long sword, and fierce flames instantly spread over its blade.
"Today, I'll show you what arrogance really means."
Uchiha Style: Sword Leap Flame!
With an excellent chakra-conducting weapon in hand, he could finally unleash Uchiha-style Swordsmanship in its fully realized form.
Combined with the Body Flicker Technique, it made him practically another Shisui Uchiha.
The scorching flames drew a spray of blood from the enemy's chest. In three seconds, Kyosuke pushed his hand speed to the limit, unleashing seven consecutive slashes.
Yet even such a ferocious assault failed to finish his enemy immediately.
People said the Uzumaki Clan had powerful physiques. Today, he had finally experienced that firsthand.
"Bastard, you won't escape." The Uzumaki jonin spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes filled with the ruthless resolve to take his enemy down with him.
The brat was so arrogant that he had dared enter their formation to fight him.
Now that his attempt at a swift kill had failed, the only outcome was death.
Trading severe wounds for the life of an Uchiha genius was well worth it, in his view.
Two kunai and three long swords left the enemy no room to dodge.
"Die!"
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