Kabutowari

"Isn't that Kabutowari!"

Naoki reacted quickly; the weapon in the hands of the burly man in black armor was none other than one of the seven blades of Kirigakure, the Kabutowari.

"Jinin Akebino died back in the previous war in the Shinobi World. It seems this guy must be a member of the new generation of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. But how have I never heard of this fellow?"

Naoki thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Forget it. I need to end this fight as quickly as possible."

He scanned the battlefield; the other four skirmishes were all in a desperate state.

Of the twelve companions who started the fight, only nine remained, all of them wounded. The most perilous situation was the battle involving Uchiha Zongye, his brother, and Hyuga Hiroshi.

The three of them were struggling to hold their ground against more than a dozen Kirigakure ninja, and Hyuga Ryosuke, who had been protecting Hyuga Hiroshi, had already lost half his body and clearly wouldn't last much longer...

After a quick assessment, Naoki decided to help Uchiha Zongye and the others break out of their encirclement.

Uchiha Zongye's left arm hung limply at his side, clearly suffering from a severe injury, yet he still used his right hand to wield a kunai and deflect attacks.

Uchiha Zongxin guarded his brother, his short blade flashing as he fought. His single-tomoe Sharingan spun wildly, and his face was covered in blood—it was impossible to tell if it was his own or the enemy's.

Hyuga Hiroshi's goggles were cracked, and he knelt on the ground, gasping for air; his chakra was nearly bottomed out.

The situation was dire. Naoki sprinted over and shouted.

"Zongxin! Move!"

"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"

A massive fireball slammed into the enemy ranks from the flank. Three Kirigakure ninja were caught off guard, screaming as they fell to the ground, engulfed in flames.

"Naoki!" Uchiha Zongxin shouted in surprise. "You're still alive!"

"Stop wasting time!" Naoki rushed to the front, his long blade sweeping out to force back two enemies trying to take advantage of the chaos. "Can you still fight?"

"Yes!" Uchiha Zongxin gritted his teeth and nodded. Despite being covered in wounds, the fighting spirit in his eyes remained undiminished.

Hyuga Hiroshi struggled to his feet and said, "I can still fight too!"

"Then let's go!"

Naoki took the lead, charging into the enemy ranks.

His Sharingan rapidly captured every movement of his foes, allowing him to weave through the crowd like a dragon.

Having survived the battle against the ninja in black, his combat experience had improved significantly, allowing him to use his Sharingan to precisely locate enemy weaknesses and strike them down.

With a flash of his blade, a Kirigakure ninja clutched his throat and collapsed.

Naoki spun around, driving his kunai into the heart of another enemy.

Uchiha Zongxin followed closely behind him. The two worked in perfect sync, quickly tearing through the enemy's encirclement and even beginning to counter-slaughter them.

With the immediate danger eased, Uchiha Zongxin looked back and shouted, "Big brother, are you okay?"

Uchiha Zongye gritted his teeth, stood up, and picked up a kunai with his functional hand.

"I'm not dead yet!"

Although Hyuga Hiroshi's chakra was nearly exhausted, his foundation in taijutsu was solid, and with his Byakugan, he could barely manage to protect himself.

The four stood back-to-back, facing the remaining seven or eight Kirigakure ninja.

Naoki had killed several men the moment he joined the fray, and the remaining Kirigakure ninja were beginning to lose their nerve.

Seeing an opening, Naoki surged forward to kill two more, causing the remaining enemies to panic.

As the first Kirigakure ninja turned to flee, the others followed suit. However, Naoki would not let these guys go; he and Uchiha Zongxin joined forces to finish off the remaining enemies.

"You guys go help the others. I'm going to help Uchiha Setsuna!"

With that, Naoki flicked the blood off his blade and sprinted toward Uchiha Setsuna's battle.

With the crisis averted, Hyuga Hiroshi didn't go to help the others like the rest; instead, he went to the side of the dying Hyuga Ryosuke.

Hyuga Hiroshi said apologetically, "I'm sorry. It's my fault. If I hadn't insisted on coming here, you wouldn't have ended up like this trying to protect me..."

"Don't... don't say that." Hyuga Ryosuke leaned against a large rock and shook his head slightly. "It was our failure for not protecting you well enough."

Hyuga Hiroshi held Hyuga Ryosuke's only remaining hand and said, "No, you did very well."

Hyuga Ryosuke shook his head, his hand trembling as he reached toward Hyuga Hiroshi's right eye.

"It was our failure to protect you, allowing you to suffer such humiliation. I hope you won't blame the other branch family members..."

His strength fading rapidly, Hyuga Ryosuke's hand went limp before he could even touch Hyuga Hiroshi.

"Ryosuke!" Hyuga Hiroshi gripped Hyuga Ryosuke's hand with both of his own.

"If... if you can make it back, you must be careful..."

Hyuga Ryosuke's voice grew fainter until he finally stopped breathing altogether.

Watching the man who had died to protect him perish before his eyes, Hyuga Hiroshi finally couldn't hold back, covering his face and sobbing uncontrollably.

The burly man in black armor was no weakling, and with his Kabutowari being wielded with such ferocity, Uchiha Setsuna found himself unable to gain the upper hand. Seeing this, Naoki hurried forward, preparing to assist in the fight.

"Don't move forward!"

Uchiha Setsuna's voice rang out in his ears like a thunderclap.

Just as Naoki rushed to the front, he saw the man in black armor swing the "Kabutowari." The hammer head and axe blade, guided by their connecting chain, whistled through the air as they swept toward him with a piercing shriek.

He instinctively leaned back, sliding almost flush against the ground as the hammer head grazed the tip of his nose and slammed into the reef behind him.

BOOM!

The reef shattered on impact, sending stone fragments flying like rain.

That was close...

Naoki broke into a cold sweat; if he had taken a hit of that magnitude, he could go straight to meet the Sage of Six Paths.

I was careless.

He leaped a few times to reach Uchiha Setsuna's side, finally letting out a sigh of relief.

The man in black armor flicked his wrist to reel in the "Kabutowari," gripped it firmly, and stared intensely at the two of them.

"Senior Setsuna, what should we do?"

Uchiha Setsuna did not answer, instead asking about the situation on other parts of the battlefield.

"I broke the siege on Muneo and the others and told them to assist the rest. I expect the fighting elsewhere will be over soon."

"Oh?" Uchiha Setsuna's Three-Tomoe Sharingan fixed on Naoki, looking him up and down. "It seems you have grown quite quickly."

"You flatter me, Senior. Let's focus on how to deal with that guy instead."

"No need to think about it." Uchiha Setsuna waved his hand. "In that case, you go intercept the other Kirigakure ninja, and I will handle him."

Before Naoki could figure out why they shouldn't just attack together, Uchiha Setsuna tapped his toes and charged forward.

As Uchiha Setsuna moved, the three Kirigakure ninja who had just gathered around the man in black armor stepped forward immediately to intercept him.

Coming to his senses, Naoki brandished his blade and met these three Kirigakure ninja.

The strength of these three was not weak, and under normal circumstances, he might have found them a bit troublesome. However, having just experienced a life-or-death struggle, his combat instincts were fully ignited; killing these Kirigakure ninja, who likely weren't even Jonin, was no different from slaughtering chickens.