"Ah—!" Two shrill screams rang out.
Kaede held a sword in one hand and drove it into the Puppet Master's body. With the other, he caught the katana swinging at him, his hand wrapped in Lightning Release. He'd suffered only a minor scrape.
The Sand Shinobi who had attacked him with the katana had a small hole in his chest. Through it, a bright red heart was visible, still beating faintly.
"Un... unsealed... Ninjutsu... Cough, cough... Urgh..." Blood kept pouring from his mouth. He lowered his head and looked at the fatal wound where his opponent's razor-sharp Lightning Release had pierced his chest. He felt no pain. Was his life ebbing away, leaving his sense of touch dull? His body grew heavier and heavier. So cold...
Kaede's speed had caught the two Sand Shinobi off guard. They hadn't even had time to use Ninjutsu before he killed them in an instant. They'd thought he was just a rookie on the battlefield. They hadn't expected him to be so strong.
One moment, they'd been laughing at someone else's ignorance. The next, their own arrogance had gotten them killed. Scenes like this played out again and again whenever the Sand Shinobi and Konoha clashed.
Hunter and hunted could switch places in the blink of an eye. The weaker fighter wasn't always the one who died. Arrogance, conceit, and cowardice were all fatal weaknesses. Only the brave, who faced death without fear, could somehow survive.
After a perilous battle, Kaede looked around at the bodies strewn across the ground, Sand Shinobi and Konoha ninja alike. He saw twisted souls fighting to devour one another, all bent on killing their opponents. Blood and rain mingled, staining the ground red. The world spun before his eyes, and he felt strangely lost.
Cold rain trickled down