Uchiha Iori woke in the Hall of Heroes and saw Emiya Shirou looking at him anxiously.
"Is it over? How did it go? Was Sakura saved?" Emiya Shirou asked urgently.
"I did not disappoint." Iori smiled.
"If you need my help with anything in the future, just say so." Emiya Shirou let out a sigh of relief, the worry in his eyes gradually fading as he spoke to Iori.
Unlike the Holy Grail War, there was no wish to be granted as a prize. If Iori summoned a Heroic Spirit on his own, they might not answer his call—and even if they did, they might not obey him.
Emiya Shirou's promise meant that if Iori summoned him, he would do his best to help.
"Haha, I'll remember that. I won't hesitate to ask." Iori said happily. This was a valuable card to have up his sleeve.
"Then I'll leave it to you. You must have come away with quite a haul." After saying that, Emiya Shirou left.
Iori watched Emiya Shirou go, thoughts of Sakura rising in his heart.
He closed his eyes and began taking stock of what he had gained.
[There were hundreds of unreleaseable A- and B-rank Noble Phantasms, but only their durability and sharpness were worth mentioning.] [Gate of Babylon: A key-shaped sword connected to the "Golden City"—Bab-ilu.] [Enuma Elish: Ea, the Sword of Rupture, possessed the power to create the world.] [Excalibur: A Divine Construct, the holy sword of the planet. A single swing could level a city.] [Avalon: The sheath's abilities included immortality, healing its wielder's injuries, and halting aging. When activated through True Name Release, it protected its wielder from all interference with "absolute protection."]
Unreleaseable Noble Phantasms could only serve as the foundation for his Sword Creation, providing templates for projectiles to fire.
In Iori's hands, Gate of Babylon could connect to an unclaimed space, letting him freely retrieve and shoot its contents. It was like having a powerful spatial tool.
Ea and Avalon were too high-ranked for him to use properly at the moment. Using them would cost him his life force.
Excalibur, meanwhile, was a new trump card. A single strike was enough to kill a Tailed Beast.
"As expected, every major battle comes with a resupply." Iori said, thoroughly satisfied.
"I still need to consider how many of my abilities to reveal from now on. The existence of Shimura Danzō and Root is downright disgusting."
"Hiruzen Sarutobi is a threat, too. If my strength becomes too conspicuous, like Hatake Sakumo's did back then..."
"Perhaps I'll get to enjoy the same treatment he did." Iori rubbed his chin, pondering the matter at length.
He could only hope they knew what was good for them and didn't go looking for trouble.
Having decided to hold back from now on, Uchiha Iori returned to the Ninja World.
"Hang in there! The reinforcements will be here soon!" a Konoha Ninja shouted, a trace of tension in his voice.
Their squad had been surrounded by Sunagakure Ninja, and their situation was dire.
With Orochimaru and Tsunade gone, Konoha had lost its high-level fighters holding the line. The front had gradually fallen back, and the enemy was already nearing the border of the Land of Fire.
"Stop struggling. No reinforcements are coming. We've surrounded this entire area."
A Sunagakure Ninja sneered as he tried to intimidate the Konoha Ninja. Although the Sunagakure forces had gained the upper hand, under Orochimaru's decisive command, Konoha had split into small squads and hidden in the shadows.
The Sunagakure Ninja had no choice but to sweep the area cautiously, eliminating every potential threat one step at a time.
To prevent the situation from dragging on, they were searching everywhere for Orochimaru and Tsunade, determined to capture or kill them and eliminate the threat.
Otherwise, once the two recovered from their injuries, the Sunagakure forces would struggle to maintain their advantage.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!" "Lightning Release: Earth Flow!"
Two Konoha Ninja joined forces, trying to drive back the enemy with a combined attack.
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Three Sunagakure Ninja joined forces. Their Wind Release pushed the Wild Water Wave back, while the Lightning Release struck them all at once.
After a brief period of paralysis, the Sunagakure Ninja recovered first. "It's over. Don't be afraid. I'll let you live."
As he spoke, the Sunagakure Ninja formed Hand Seals. "Wind Release: Kamaitachi!"
A tornado whipped up beneath the Konoha Ninja, lifting them into the air. The chakra within the wind was like countless blades, slicing into their bodies again and again until they were covered in wounds.
When the tornado died down, the Konoha Ninja fell to the ground like scraps of cloth, kicking up a cloud of dust.
The wind blades had left them battered and unable to fight, and they crashed to the ground.
The Sunagakure Ninja were about to stop their bleeding and take them back to camp for interrogation.
A flurry of weapons came flying at them. Several Chunin were caught off guard and pierced through, dying on the spot.
Only two Jonin managed to react in time and avoid being struck in vital spots, though they still suffered some injuries.
"Not bad. You actually dodged the shots from Gate of Babylon." A cold voice rang out across the battlefield.
Uchiha Iori appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the battlefield.
He leisurely toyed with Bab-ilu in his hand, surveying the unconscious Konoha Ninja.
After confirming that none of them were familiar faces and none were awake, he didn't rush to act. Instead, he decided to test out his new toys.
"You're... Uchiha? Is this the famed Uchiha-Style Shurikenjutsu?" One of the Sunagakure Ninja stared at Iori in disbelief.
For one thing, no powerful members of the Uchiha Clan had been seen on the Land of Wind front, so he was probably Konoha's reinforcements.
For another, the weapons' trajectory was bizarre. In the Ninja World, throwing techniques still mainly relied on shuriken and kunai.
Iori didn't answer. He snapped his fingers. "The next round will be twice as big as the last."
In an instant, sixteen golden ripples appeared above Iori's head, and weapon after weapon emerged from them.
Cold light glinted along the sharp blades, made even more dazzling by the sunlight.
Whoosh!
"Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!" Two Sunagakure Ninja worked together to raise a thick earthen wall from the ground.
The power of their chakra made the wall seem indestructible, and they felt a little more at ease.
Swords and blades rained down. Iori's expression remained calm. That mere earthen wall was as fragile as tofu before the Noble Phantasms.
Just as Iori had expected, the wall did almost nothing. The weapons pierced straight through it, catching the Sunagakure Ninja behind it off guard and pinning them to the ground.
"How is this possible? It didn't work at all," one of the Sunagakure Ninja murmured in horror.
They had prepared for the Earth Flow Rampart to be pierced, but they hadn't expected it to be almost completely useless. They were caught utterly unprepared.
"Stop struggling. You know, it takes a delicate touch to step over an ant without crushing it." Iori said calmly, then turned and walked toward the Konoha Ninja.
He bent down and checked their injuries. Just as he had thought, none of them were life-threatening. Pain Breaker could heal them with ease.
"May there be a world where no one harms others, and no one is harmed..." "Pain Breaker!"
A gentle glow spilled from the top of his staff and fell upon them. Their wounds steadily healed, and their breathing grew even.
"Um... sir, are you... are you a Jonin sent from the village to reinforce us?" The first to wake was the veteran Chunin leading the squad. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the Sharingan, the signature feature of the Uchiha Clan.
Somewhat reassured, he looked around and saw that the enemy were either dead or pinned to the ground, unable to move.
None of his comrades nearby had died, and their wounds were healing. At last, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you very much for your rescue. Where are your companions? I'll take you to Lord Orochimaru."