Uchiha Sen Unleashes the Gate of Pain to Slaughter a Jonin; Reinforcements Arrive at Last in the Dire Crisis

Once he had made up his mind, Sen crossed his arms over his chest. His body trembled uncontrollably from the excruciating pain, and he could barely make a sound.

With the last of his strength, he signaled to his clansmen behind him with his eyes:

Run!

Then he slowly raised his head. Through the gap between his arms, he fixed his gaze on the Mist Ninja before him, his eyes burning with the fire of life. From deep in his throat, he forced out a few words:

"Eight Inner Gates: Gate of Pain... Open!"

"BOOM—!"

An even more massive surge of chakra than before erupted from Sen's body, sweeping outward like a volcanic explosion!

The veins all over his body bulged, and the cords beneath his flushed skin writhed like twisted earthworms. It was as if he had been filled with endless strength. The sheer destructive aura made everyone's blood run cold!

"Watch out! He used this Forbidden Jutsu last time and blasted my arm clean off!" Kushimaru Kuriarare let out a terrified scream at the sight.

Before the words had even left his mouth, the ground beneath Sen's feet exploded!

As the clouds of dust dispersed, he was already nowhere to be seen!

Everyone's heart tightened as they tried to find him. But it was Kushimaru's horrified pupils that first reflected the figure, appearing as if he had teleported right before them.

"Gulp." He swallowed instinctively.

That speed... it was even faster than last time!

"Die!"

Sen's eyes held nothing but icy killing intent. Samehada in his hands tore through the air with a thunderous sonic boom, aiming straight for Kushimaru's head!

"Splurt—!"

He was moving so fast that even the sound of bones breaking was drowned out by the wind.

Under Kushimaru's disbelieving gaze, his entire head was smashed apart like a watermelon.

His headless body sank helplessly to its knees, blood gushing out like a fountain.

Sen had no time to pay attention to the system notification. He watched Jūzō Biwa and the others take involuntary steps backward, their faces stricken with fear, and sneered inwardly.

That one moment had already left an indelible impression on the Mist Ninja.

Kushimaru Kuriarare, a sixteen-year-old Jonin, had been killed in a single blow without being able to fight back!

These people were no stronger than Kushimaru.

Who would dare step forward and throw their life away?

They all knew a Forbidden Jutsu like this couldn't last. But who would dare gamble that they wouldn't be the next to die in one hit?

For a moment, the battlefield fell into an eerie stalemate. Sen was trying to buy his clansmen time to escape, while the Mist Ninja waited for him to run out of strength and die.

"Crunch... crunch..."

In the silence, the only sound was Samehada gnawing on Kushimaru's corpse. It was especially chilling.

Sen noticed the Mist Ninja still glancing toward the direction his clansmen had fled, and knew something was wrong.

Those bastards still weren't giving up!

If that was the case... then he'd kill until there was no one left!

Sen struck again. Gripping Samehada, now plump from eating, he leaped into the air and brought it down with all his strength on a distracted Mist Ninja!

By the time the Mist Ninja sensed danger, Sen was already right in front of him!

"BOOM—!"

Another strike, so fast that only a blur remained!

The Mist Ninja felt a savage, beastlike pain tear through him. The next moment, all sensation abruptly vanished.

His consciousness slowly faded, but the sight of his own body, reduced to a heap of mangled flesh, remained etched in his vision.

"I can last... one more minute."

Panting heavily, Sen silently counted down the final moments of his life.

"Fall back!" Jūzō finally came to his senses and shouted the order.

But just as they began to pull away, reinforcements arrived in the distance: more than fifty Mist Ninja!

Jūzō's eyes darted about. He immediately jumped into the midst of the reinforcements, snatched a gas mask from one of them, and put it on. Then he pointed at Sen and ordered the bewildered Chunin, "Get him! Keep him occupied!"

The reinforcements had no idea what was going on, but on the battlefield, disobeying orders meant certain death!

They could only steel themselves, let out frightened cries to bolster their courage, and charge at the "monster" wreathed in green steam!

"Jonin, get ready to ambush him!" As the Chunin approached Sen, Jūzō gave the Jonin a treacherous order.

Looking at the mass of people charging toward him, Sen's face showed a trace of despair.

It seemed that even if the backlash from the Eight Inner Gates didn't kill him today, this mob of Chunin would wear him down until he died right here.

Just then, a panting yet powerful voice rang out from the distance:

"Uchiha Sen! Sneaking off on such a dangerous mission without telling your teacher? That's not very nice!"

In the distance, Jiraiya came rushing across the waves!

Behind him were Orochimaru, countless Jonin and Chunin, and... Kushina and Minato!

Konoha's reinforcements had arrived!

"Medical team! Go check on Sen! Don't let him die!" Orochimaru licked his lips excitedly. "Everyone else, swallow these Mist Ninja whole!"

"Charge!"

More than a hundred Konoha Ninja roared in unison, their voices shaking the heavens!

"Forget the swordsman! They've brought out their entire force this time. We have to break through before they can surround us!" an experienced-looking ninja beside Jūzō hurriedly advised.

Jūzō gritted his teeth and glanced back at Sen. Then he grabbed his greatsword and shouted, "Break through! Head to the front right!"

When Sen saw the reinforcements arrive, he knew his clansmen were finally safe.

The taut string inside him suddenly slackened.

The next moment, the backlash from the Eight Inner Gates swept through his body like a landslide and a raging tide!

"Ugh—!"

He tried to shout, but no sound came out.

It felt as if every cell in his body were burning. The agony made him lose control of his body in an instant, and he toppled backward, stiff as a board.

He wanted to raise his head and take one last look at Kushina and Minato, but his eyelids weighed a thousand pounds.

His final conscious thought lingered on... Samehada's enormous mouth as it kept gnawing on the corpse...

Just as he was about to lose consciousness, a cool, gentle touch suddenly covered half his body.

Then a refreshing energy, brimming with vitality, slowly flowed from the point of contact into his body, which was on the verge of collapse.

It was like a cool breeze on a sweltering summer day, soothing and refreshing.

Sen struggled to open his eyes.

Samehada had actually pressed itself against him. The spikes on its body trembled as it continuously fed him the chakra and life force it had just devoured from the two Jonin!

As Samehada gradually shrank, Sen's wounds began healing at a visible rate.

This thing... was saving him?

Sen was stunned. Samehada was actually saving him, even though he hadn't really done anything for it besides feed it two Jonin.

What he didn't know was that, across the entire Shinobi World, he might be the only person extravagant enough to feed two Jonin to a sword.

Samehada's healing ability could restore flesh to bare bones. Before long, Sen's body had mostly recovered.

He managed to stand and saw Kushina and the medical team making their way around the crowd toward him.

"Sen, how are you? These two are medical ninja. Are you all right?" Kushina asked with concern, not even sparing a thought for the wound a Kunai had cut into her.

Sen looked at Samehada, which had returned to its original size, and nodded, still shaken. "I'm fine. I'm still a little sore, but it's nothing serious now."

After examining him, the two medical ninja breathed a sigh of relief. "You've got severe muscle strains and cell necrosis, but it isn't life-threatening. Lord Orochimaru ordered us to protect you here."

Seeing that the battle was still raging ahead, the medical ninja promptly carried Sen to the rear, away from the fighting, and began treating him with Medical Ninjutsu.

From the rear, Sen surveyed the battlefield. The Mist Ninja had come unprepared and were almost completely surrounded by Konoha's forces.

Only a few dozen minutes had passed, yet many Mist Ninja had already been killed.

With the tide of victory turning in their favor, Sen asked Kushina, "Kushina, can you lend me some chakra?"

When Kushina nodded, Sen continued, "Do you remember how, before we came here, we said we'd make Shimura Saburo famous throughout the world?"

"Huh?" Kushina held her Kunai at the ready, looking bewildered. "We're in the middle of a battle, and I'm about to go help out. Why are you suddenly bringing up that idiot?"