Witnessing History!

"How ridiculous..."

A hoarse voice echoed in Mito's heart, filled with unimaginable hatred and resentment.

"Ha ha ha ha!! How many more people have to die before it's enough?"

"In just a few short decades, how many living members of the Senju of the Forest are left? Now it's the Uzumaki Clan's turn!"

"Hashirama Senju! Mito Uzumaki!! You never managed to protect the people you wanted to protect!! How laughable! How tragic!!!"

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!"

Within Mito, the Nine-Tails, bound beneath layer upon layer of seals with only its head able to move, laughed wildly.

"Embrace your hatred..."

Dense darkness seeped from its scarlet eyes, and the Nine-Tails' voice was full of temptation.

"Release your anger!"

"Take revenge on the Shinobi World and make everyone pay! With my power, you can do it!"

"No one can stop you!!"

"There is someone..."

Mito spoke slowly and raised her head toward the Hashirama Face Rock outside the window.

"Releasing you would only bring about more hatred and destroy everything he built."

"I can endure it... with the strength he gave me..."

Only love could overcome hatred.

Mito tried hard to calm herself, but...

But...

It still hurt so much...

Drip—

A crystalline tear slid down.

—

Drip—

The tear fell onto the Uzumaki crest on her shoulder.

The ninja racing through the dense forest with the girl on his back turned his head and said gently, "Don't be afraid. Konoha is just ahead. Once we get there, you'll be safe!"

"Konoha..."

The red-haired girl's eyes welled with tears. She bit her lip to stop herself from crying, her voice like the whimper of a young beast.

"Uzushio... Is Uzushio Village gone?"

The Konoha ninja did not know how to answer. He could only lower his head and keep running.

Behind him, a large group of ninja gave chase, their forehead protectors marking them as ninja from Kumogakure and Kirigakure.

"Stop! Hand over the Uzumaki Clan member!!"

A bolt of lightning suddenly flashed. The Kumogakure ninja flickered through the trees, rapidly closing the distance by dozens of meters.

Konoha was not far away. It seemed he would not be able to take this pure-blooded Uzumaki brat with him after all...

Then kill her!

If we can't have her, neither can the Konoha ninja!

The Kumogakure ninja closed in even faster, raising his long blade high with both hands.

Sensing the killing intent, the Konoha ninja immediately turned and fired several kunai, then threw Uzumaki Kushina off his back.

"Run forward! Don't stop, no matter what!!"

Kushina had experienced things like this, heard words like these, far too many times along the way.

Dozens of Konoha ninja had already died to protect her.

This was the last one...

I...

Kushina pushed herself upright with her hands on her knees. Even when she pressed against her bleeding wound, she endured it. She endured all the grief and pain.

I have to live!

I absolutely can't die!!

The girl stumbled forward, her once fair face covered in dirt and blood.

Her blurred vision and exhausted mind kept her from noticing the fierce gust that swept past her.

Slash!!

The Kumogakure blade pierced the Konoha ninja's shoulder, drawing a pained grunt from him.

"It's over."

A voice came from behind him. At some point, a Kirigakure ninja had circled around behind him, a dripping short blade stabbing straight for his heart.

Silent Killing Technique!

The next moment—

Brilliant.

Beneath tonight's bright moon, a rich crimson flower bloomed.

Drip... drip...

The falling rain of blood splattered across the pursuing ninja's faces, freezing their movements for a moment.

All eyes focused on the boy who had suddenly appeared.

Kamizuki stood in the middle of the forest path, his fist still held in the position of a punch, a trace of blood clinging to his knuckles.

"Ha... Sorry, I didn't control my strength very well."

The boy smiled faintly and tilted his head. His eyes glowed scarlet beneath the moonlight, a single tomoe slowly revolving within each pupil.

"Uchiha..."

One man's voice trembled slightly.

"It's only one tomoe. What's there to panic about!"

The leading Kumogakure ninja sneered and drew another ninja blade from his waist, gripping a blade in each hand.

"You only killed a weak Kirigakure ninja. Don't look so pleased with yourself, brat!"

"Move!"

"Kill him and that girl, then retreat immediately!"

The Kumogakure ninja shot forward like a streak of blue lightning, spreading his arms wide as his two blades became a massive pair of shears aimed at severing Kamizuki's head.

Lightning Style: Thunder Severing Twin Blade Slash!!

Kamizuki did not move until the lightning was upon him.

Clang—!!

Clang—!!

The Kumogakure ninja's eyes went wide, unable to believe what he was seeing.

His specially made ninja blades had actually been snapped apart with bare hands!!

With his stance wide open like that, one punch to the chest would have ended the fight.

However...

He had just wasted an experimental subject. He needed to be more frugal.

Kamizuki pressed a finger against the Kumogakure ninja's chest and softly said, "Fire."

Whoosh!!

A blaze erupted on the man's chest, and the shock in his eyes deepened.

What was going on?!

He hadn't seen this guy form any hand seals at all. How had he used Fire Style?!

Could he really cast it without seals because he was that proficient?!

Without time to think, the Kumogakure ninja immediately pulled away and tore off his burning shirt.

Heh heh, Fire Style of this level was...

He wanted to add a mocking remark, but he saw that brat standing there in thought, completely ignoring the enemies around him...

Too arrogant... Uchiha had always been like this. Damn Uchiha!!

The feud between Kumogakure and the Uchiha could be traced all the way back to the Warring States Period.

—

Chakra within the human body was inherently chaotic and unstructured energy.

The key to hand seals in ninjutsu was guiding the flow of Chakra through the seals and shaping it into the desired form.

It was a process, essentially the operating procedure of a ninjutsu.

Hand seals mobilized one's own Chakra, but Kamizuki could not use that procedure.

The technique he had used on Kakuzu had merely released all the Chakra within Earth Grudge Fear through Sharingan Pupil Power, then used the blade to guide its direction.

Yet back then, when he unconsciously spoke the technique's name, he had vaguely felt the Chakra flow stabilize somewhat after the words left his mouth.

When he had used the Hizuki Style taijutsu series before, calling out the names also seemed to provide a slight boost.

It always felt as though something was missing if he did not shout them out. Perhaps that was why Might Guy called out his techniques too. It was genuinely useful.

Then,

The key was...

A command!

In ancient times, ninjutsu did not exist at all. The Sage of Six Paths and the others could use Chakra however they wished with nothing more than a thought.

But after he dispersed Chakra among humanity, people simply could not do that.

It was precisely so ordinary people could use Chakra that the exceptionally gifted Indra created hand seals, something he himself had little need for.

So... theoretically speaking, hand seals were not an essential step in using Chakra.

What mattered was having a clear will to guide Chakra's flow. Hand seals were merely a step that strengthened that will.

That was why the stronger the ninja, the more hand seals they could omit.

Will alone was not enough to precisely control Chakra, but humans possessed an innate ability to solidify intangible, invisible will.

Language.

The power of language was immeasurable. Encouragement from others and encouragement from oneself could both push a person toward a better direction.

Likewise, vicious words were weapons that could wound people, even destroy their will and condemn them to death.

The Shinobi World could accomplish even more...

The Sage of Six Paths must have considered this possibility. He created the Six Paths Tools capable of harvesting the Spirit of Words.

The Sword of Nunoboko that Obito manifested after becoming the Ten-Tails' jinchuriki further confirmed the possibility of conviction taking physical form...

Kamizuki thought as he fought, facing the combined assault of everyone around him.

None of them were weak. At the very least, they were Chunin-level, and there were even two who were jonin-level.

Blades cut open his tough body, and the accumulated wounds grew ever more numerous, soaking him in blood.

Yet his eyes grew brighter and brighter. He murmured something under his breath as flames danced around his body like lively spirits.

"Father! Aren't we going to help Kamizuki?!"

Not far away, Fugaku asked urgently.

Kamizuki naturally could not have left the Police Force far behind. They had arrived long ago.

Kamizuki had been the one to signal for them not to intervene.

The clan head held back Fugaku, who could barely resist rushing out, three tomoe spinning in his eyes.

"Don't interfere with him. Perhaps we..."

"Are witnessing history!!"