The Old, the Weak, the Sick, and the Disabled

It was not that Naoki looked down on these Kirigakure ninja, but compared to the formidable black-clad ninja from before and the burly man in black armor wielding the Kabutowari, the other Kirigakure ninja were simply not worth mentioning.

In a single exchange, Naoki struck one of them down.

The remaining two were shocked, but Naoki gave them no chance to react. His long blade struck like a violent storm, and before long, both men revealed openings.

A smile spread across Naoki's blood-stained, handsome face.

He gripped his long blade backhanded and flashed forward, seizing the moment the two Kirigakure ninja faltered to slash his blade across one man's throat.

Blood sprayed as the Kirigakure ninja's eyes widened, clutching his throat as he slowly collapsed.

The last Kirigakure ninja saw that the situation had turned dire and turned to flee, but Naoki's Sharingan saw the opponent's movements with perfect clarity.

"Trying to run?"

Lightning flickered in his palm, and the long blade, wreathed in electricity, left his hand, piercing the man's heart with lethal precision from behind.

Having dealt with the three guards of the burly man in black armor, Naoki turned to look at the battle involving Uchiha Setsuna.

The battle between Uchiha Setsuna and the burly man in black armor had reached a fever pitch.

The Kabutowari in the burly man's hands whistled and spun, hammer and axe alternating in a relentless, storm-like assault.

Uchiha Setsuna's Three-Tomoe Sharingan calmly tracked every subtle movement of his opponent, moving with ease through the dense barrage of attacks.

The two appeared evenly matched, but Naoki noticed that the burly man was struggling more and more, while Uchiha Setsuna remained composed and at ease.

"Bastard! Is all you can do is dodge?" the burly man roared, the chains rattling in his hands. "If you have the guts, take my hammer head-on!"

Uchiha Setsuna did not respond, instead casting a glance at his surroundings.

The fighting elsewhere had largely concluded; Uchiha Zongye, who had suffered lighter injuries, had already begun to treat himself, while Hyuga Ryosuke, who was more severely wounded... was already on the verge of death.

Observing the state of the battlefield, Uchiha Setsuna knew that the "training" for Naoki and the others was complete, and it was time to end the fight.

"That's enough."

He muttered to himself, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan glowing with an eerie red light under the moonlight.

The burly man swung the Kabutowari and lunged again, hammer and axe whistling, chains clattering with a terrifying momentum.

"Go to hell!" the burly man bellowed.

Uchiha Setsuna raised his right hand, catching the massive axe blade with just two fingers.

"What!"

The burly man's pupils constricted, staring at the scene in disbelief.

His full-force strike, capable of splitting mountains and shattering stone, had been effortlessly caught by this elderly man nearing sixty with only two fingers. How could this be?

"Is that all you've got?"

Uchiha Setsuna's voice was as calm as if he were discussing the weather.

The next moment, his chakra erupted violently, blue-white electricity instantly coating his entire body, and his gray-white hair, which had been resting on his shoulders, now danced wildly in the air.

The burly man felt a bone-chilling cold shoot from his spine to the top of his head; the sudden burst of power from his opponent made even a battle-hardened ninja like him instinctively want to flee.

Uchiha Setsuna released his fingers, letting the axe blade slide away.

"Your speed is too slow."

His voice was as flat as water, yet it made the burly man feel as if he had fallen into an icy abyss.

The next moment, the blue-white lightning surged!

Uchiha Setsuna's figure vanished from where he stood, leaving only a blinding arc of electricity in the air.

The burly man instinctively swung his chains, the hammer and axe forming an impenetrable defensive circle around him—this was his proudest technique, one that had once held off the siege of dozens of enemies.

But what he saw was a hand.

That hand passed through the whistling hammer and axe, passed through the gaps in the chains as if passing through empty air, and pressed gently against his chest.

Lightning Style: Lightning Fist

A low hum emanated from the palm.

The burly man looked down to see the armor on his chest beginning to glow red and melt, blue-white light shining from within and illuminating his face, which was twisted in sheer terror.

Boom!

Lightning flashed on his chest, exploding into a dazzling ball of light in the night sky.

The burly man's body stiffened for a moment, blood flowing from his mouth and dripping onto Uchiha Setsuna's hand.

The Kabutowari fell, and the chains clattered to the ground.

Uchiha Setsuna withdrew his hand, his graying hair fluttering slightly in the lingering wake of the lightning.

Looking down at the gaping hole blown through his chest, the burly man reached up to remove his faceplate, revealing a youthful face beneath.

"Who... are you?"

Uchiha Setsuna retrieved his weapon, sheathed it behind his back, and spoke slowly while turning his back to the burly man: "Uchiha... Setsuna!"

"Damn you, you've been playing with me this whole time..."

As the man in black armor spoke, he tried to chase after Uchiha Setsuna, but his injuries were too severe. He didn't even make it two steps before collapsing to his knees with a thud, then falling backward, completely lifeless.

Seeing Uchiha Setsuna approach, Naoki gave a wry smile. "Senior, so you were just dragging that guy along to slack off..."

Although he didn't know the term "slacking off," Uchiha Setsuna roughly understood what Naoki meant. He countered, "I could have stepped in and killed all the enemies myself, but then what would have been the point of you all traveling thousands of miles from Konoha?"

Naoki fell silent.

As the group gathered together, Uchiha Setsuna took the initiative to speak.

"Let's go. The mission is complete, and we can't stay here any longer. It won't be long before Kirigakure tracks us down. If we leave too late and leave any traces behind, it will be troublesome."

Everyone knew the fate of the Third Raikage, so they nodded in succession.

After this great battle, only seven of the original thirteen remained.

Among these seven, besides Naoki and his four companions, there were only Hyuga Hiroshi and the Anbu jonin, Shi.

Although they had wiped out several times their number in enemies with only thirteen men, the casualties were heavy.

Uchiha Zongye had lost his left arm, reducing his combat effectiveness by at least fifty percent.

Although Uchiha Zongxin, Itachi, and Hyuga Hiroshi only had minor injuries, the three were still young, and their chakra and stamina were severely depleted, rendering them essentially combat-ineffective for the time being.

As for Shi, his chakra and stamina were also heavily drained, but he had managed to maintain his combat effectiveness relatively well.

After analyzing the state of his companions, Naoki sighed inwardly, thinking that their group could truly be described as the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled...

After cremating the bodies of their fallen comrades, the seven vanished into the dark forest and began their journey back north.

Inside the Kirigakure army camp, Karatachi Yagura sat backward on his chair, staring blankly at the battlefield map.

Recently, many Konoha experts had appeared on the front lines, putting heavy pressure on the Kirigakure army.

However, for him, the pressure on the battlefield was nothing; what was more distressing was a piece of news from back home.

Rumors had it that the Mizukage, who had been bedridden for a long time and had not appeared in years, relying only on issuing orders to maintain his rule, had suddenly taken a turn for the worse. Perhaps it wouldn't be long before he passed away.