Fugaku's Battle

"Blue flames?"

Kazama Sousuke watched as the terrifying pillar of fire vaporized five of his elite puppets in an instant. The contempt vanished from his eyes, replaced by a venomous, icy intensity.

As a renowned Elite Jonin of Sunagakure and Grandma Chiyo's prized pupil, he had seen countless masters of Fire Release.

But there were very few Fire Release techniques hot enough to melt specially made Chakra Conductive Metal in an instant.

"The Uchiha Clan really is trouble."

Kazama Sousuke gave a sharp flick of his hand, and the massive scroll on his back unfurled once more.

"Secret Technique: Machine Light Shield Seal!"

Just as the blue pillar of fire was about to engulf him, a pale-blue shield of condensed Chakra burst from the mouth of a humanoid puppet in front of him.

"Bzzzzzt—!!!"

The scorching flames and Chakra shield clashed violently. The blue fire had tremendous penetrating power, but under the Elite Jonin's full-force Chakra output, its course was finally diverted. It grazed Kazama Sousuke's left ear and shot past him, melting a boulder into lava.

"That was close."

Kazama Sousuke touched the sideburns scorched by the heat. His expression instantly turned savage.

"To enhance a C-rank jutsu to this extent—you have every right to be proud, Uchiha brat."

"But a little Fire Release won't make up for the gap between us!"

"Puppet Technique: Thousand-Armed Manipulation!"

As his fingers danced furiously, the remaining twenty-odd puppets seemed to come alive.

They were no longer stiff puppets. They had become an army working together with perfect coordination.

Some puppets opened their mouths and spewed purple poison gas. Others launched a rain of poisoned senbon from their arms. Most insidious of all, several short puppets burrowed underground, attempting to attack from below.

"Hyuga Hiroshi!" Uchiha Fugaku shouted.

The Jonin Hyuga Hiroshi displayed strength befitting his rank.

He thrust both palms outward, and the veins around his Byakugan bulged as if they were about to burst.

"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"

Several invisible Chakra shock waves struck the ground with pinpoint accuracy, smashing the Earth-style puppets attempting to attack from below.

"The underground is clear! But there's a high concentration of neurotoxin in the air. The poison gas is spreading!" Hyuga Hiroshi called a warning. At the same time, he darted forward, using Gentle Fist to swiftly take down two Sunagakure Chunin who had tried to circle around and ambush Kazama Sousuke's guards.

The Hyuga Clan and Uchiha Clan were indeed at odds, and Hyuga Hiroshi hadn't been especially pleased about Uchiha Fugaku becoming their captain.

But this was a battlefield. They could do whatever they wanted once they returned to the village, but scheming against each other on the battlefield was a grave taboo.

"Poison?"

Uchiha Fugaku held his breath and weaved swiftly through the dense rain of senbon.

He pushed his Sharingan's dynamic vision to its limits. The poisoned needles, almost impossible to see with the naked eye, seemed to move in slow motion to him.

Clang, clang, clang!

His short blade blurred as he deflected every attack that came within reach.

But Kazama Sousuke was an Elite Jonin, after all. His relentless attacks gave Fugaku no chance to form Hand Seals.

"What's the matter, Uchiha brat? Is dodging all you can do?"

Kazama Sousuke sneered and twitched his fingers.

A faint hiss cut through the air.

It wasn't an ordinary Chakra Thread, but a cutting wire woven with special metal. It was almost invisible in the rainy night.

Alarm bells rang in Uchiha Fugaku's mind, and he instinctively leaned backward.

Thwip!

A bloody gash appeared on his cheek, deep enough to expose bone. If he had been 0.1 seconds slower, half his head would have been sliced off.

"Tch, you dodged?" Kazama Sousuke licked his lips in disappointment. "The next strike will take your neck."

"Captain Fugaku!"

Namikaze Minato had just finished off several insignificant enemies in the distance. When he saw what was happening, he tried to come to the rescue, but two defensive puppets summoned by Kazama Sousuke held him fast.

"Don't come over!"

Uchiha Fugaku wiped the blood from his face. It streamed down his cheek, making his Three-Tomoe Sharingan look even more sinister and ferocious.

His Uchiha pride wouldn't let him be overpowered in front of his subordinates.

"You're just a puppet user."

The Chakra in Uchiha Fugaku suddenly surged. Its cold, violent quality even caused the rain around him to shift direction.

"Nishikawa Tetsu said that even an invisible thread is still real."

Uchiha Fugaku abruptly closed one eye, fixing his gaze on Kazama Sousuke with the other. He didn't form Hand Seals. Instead, he held his short blade horizontally in front of himself.

"Are you giving up?" Kazama Sousuke sneered, manipulating all the puppet strings into a web of death that descended upon Fugaku.

"Then die!"

At that very instant,

Uchiha Fugaku suddenly opened both eyes. His Three Tomoe spun wildly, as if they were about to merge into the red of his irises.

"Genjutsu: Binding Stake Technique!"

It wasn't Tsukuyomi on the level of the Mangekyo, but it was a Genjutsu of the Uchiha Clan powerful enough to immobilize a Tailed Beast for a moment.

Kazama Sousuke's dancing fingers abruptly froze.

In his mind, enormous stakes appeared out of nowhere and drove themselves into his limbs, leaving him unable to move.

"Genjutsu? You're using Genjutsu on me, a puppeteer?"

Kazama Sousuke was an Elite Jonin, after all, and his mental fortitude was formidable.

He was immobilized for less than a second. Then, through sheer force of will and by biting the tip of his tongue, he forcibly broke free of the Genjutsu.

"Too naive! You can't possibly—"

But the moment his consciousness returned to the real world, the sight before him made his blood run cold.

That brief second of paralysis might have been useless against an ordinary ninja.

But for Uchiha Fugaku, it was enough.

He didn't choose to form Hand Seals and use a jutsu. They were too close; his opponent would have time to react.

Instead, he made the most reckless move imaginable—

Uchiha Fugaku took a mouthful of the Fire Oil Nishikawa Tetsu had given him, which was infused with a high concentration of Chakra, and spat it onto the dense web of Kazama Sousuke's Chakra Threads.

Then he scraped his short blade against a puppet's metal shell, sending a shower of sparks flying.

"Fire Style: Dragon Fire Technique!"

The flames raced along the Chakra Threads and the oil, surging upstream at an unbelievable speed!

"What?!"

Kazama Sousuke watched the blue flames race along the puppet strings connected to his fingers. He tried to cut the Chakra Threads in terror.

But the oil Nishikawa Tetsu had prepared clung fiercely to anything it touched. Once it stuck, it didn't let go.

Boom!

The blue flames raced down the strings and engulfed Kazama Sousuke's ten fingers.

"Aaaah! My hands!"

The searing pain of his fingers burning made the Elite Jonin let out a bloodcurdling scream.

But he wasn't dead yet. As a veteran of countless battles, Kazama Sousuke maintained his final ounce of ruthlessness through the pain.

He jerked his head, shooting a poisoned senbon from his mouth straight at Fugaku's throat at point-blank range.

"Die! We'll perish together!"

This was his final counterattack.

The old Fugaku might really have been caught off guard.

But now, Nishikawa Tetsu's seemingly joking words surfaced in Fugaku's mind:

"Senpai, your left side is a blind spot in your defense. But precisely because it's a blind spot, sometimes it can be used as bait."

Uchiha Fugaku made no attempt to dodge. Instead, he stepped forward, letting the poisoned senbon miss his throat and bury itself in his left shoulder.

Thud!

The senbon sank into his flesh.

At the same time, Uchiha Fugaku's right hand was already pressed against Kazama Sousuke's chest.

An Explosive Tag was stuck there.

A cruel smile curled Uchiha Fugaku's lips. His scarlet eyes were full of mockery.

"You're the one who's going to die."

"Explode."

Boom!!!

A dull, muffled blast rang out.

Kazama Sousuke's chest caved in. His heart and lungs were blown to pieces in an instant.

His eyes widened. He didn't even have time to utter his last words before his body crumpled like a boneless heap of mud.

Elite Jonin Kazama Sousuke, killed in action.

"Haah... haah..."

Uchiha Fugaku staggered back two steps. Numbness spread from his left shoulder, rendering half his body senseless. It was Sunagakure poison.

"Captain!"

Namikaze Minato and Hyuga Hiroshi, having finished off the surrounding stragglers, rushed over at once.

"Don't move."

Nishikawa Tetsu leaped over from behind, holding a syringe of antidote. Without a word, he jabbed it into Fugaku's neck.

"This is Antidote Serum. It can suppress most neurotoxins. Fugaku-senpai, you're ruthless—taking a poisoned senbon with your own body."

Nishikawa Tetsu glanced at the blackened puncture wound on Fugaku's shoulder. His tone was reproachful, but his eyes were full of admiration.

Uchiha Fugaku was pale, and his Chakra was nearly depleted, yet he still forced himself to stay upright. He merely glanced coldly at the corpse at his feet.

"An Elite Jonin is nothing special."

He turned and surveyed the area.

The river channel had been blocked by falling rocks, the supply boat had sunk, the escort unit had been wiped out, and even the enemy commander had been killed.

"The mission."

Uchiha Fugaku's voice was weak, but his resolve remained firm:

"Complete."

The rain kept falling, washing the blood from the ground.

Hyuga Hiroshi looked at Uchiha Fugaku with complicated feelings. He thought he understood what Uchiha pride meant now, but he still couldn't understand it.