Battle of Progress

"How about this move!"

After canceling his Hydrification Technique, Hozuki Mangetsu laughed excitedly. His arm moved in a fluid motion, shifting the Kabutowari he held into the Exploding Blade Shibuki, which he then brought down in a fierce, heavy strike.

As the explosion roared, the surrounding trees were blasted into splinters, but Uchiha Shisui blocked the strike by manifesting the skeletal frame of his Susanoo.

Once the smoke cleared, Hozuki Mangetsu reformed his body from his liquid state; the range of the Exploding Blade Shibuki had been too wide, catching him in the blast as well, forcing him to rely on his Hydrification Technique to negate the damage.

"So tough! What a troublesome guy! I used up too much chakra just now and need a rest. You go, you sickly brat."

Hozuki Mangetsu panted heavily as he spoke to Kawakotsu Kai, who stood silently to the side.

Kawakotsu Kai remained silent, but numerous bone spurs erupted from his body. Two nearby members of the Kaguya Clan also became covered in bone protrusions, ready to support Kawakotsu Kai at a moment's notice.

"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Seedling Fern!"

Kawakotsu Kai slammed both palms into the ground, causing the earth to heave. The next moment, countless bone spurs erupted beneath Uchiha Shisui's feet like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, directly restricting his movement.

"Mere bones are not even half as sturdy as this frame!"

Uchiha Shisui opened the hand of his Susanoo and balled it into a fist, smashing it toward the still-channeling Kawakotsu Kai. Seeing the danger, the two nearby clansmen quickly manifested bone shields to intercept the blow.

As the bone shields held back the Susanoo's arm, Kawakotsu Kai seized the opportunity to close the distance on the immobilized Uchiha Shisui.

"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Camellia!"

With a stoic expression, Kawakotsu Kai thrust his bone blade directly at the Susanoo's skeletal frame, but the blade snapped into two pieces the moment it touched the construct.

Uchiha Shisui was amused by the sight and said slowly:

"You know, you're just as stupid as that guy who tried to stab a Susanoo with a kunai!"

Kawakotsu Kai's expression shifted, and he immediately unleashed his next technique.

"Shikotsumyaku: Dance of the Clematis!"

As his chakra surged violently, countless fine bone fragments poured endlessly from his palms and arms. Guided by an invisible force, they rapidly converged and fused together.

In the blink of an eye, a terrifyingly sharp, drill-like bone tip took shape. A cold, soul-chilling glint flickered off its sharpened edge.

"Hah!" he let out a low shout, his aura skyrocketing as he thrust the bone tip forward with all his might.

The bone tip struck the Susanoo frame like a bolt of black lightning.

Upon contact, the bone tip began to rotate at high speed—so fast it was nearly impossible to track with the naked eye—emitting a teeth-gritting, high-pitched screech.

The Susanoo skeleton, formed from dense, indestructible chakra, was usually impervious to ordinary attacks.

Yet now, under the continuous assault of the rotating bone tip, it began to waver.

The immense drilling force sent ripples through the chakra on the surface of the frame, as if a massive boulder had been dropped into a calm lake.

In mere moments, a hole the size of a human head was bored clean through the thick, sturdy Susanoo frame.

The edges of the hole were jagged, and broken strands of chakra frayed outward like spiderwebs, dissipating into the air.

Uchiha Shisui wore a playful look; he hadn't expected this white-haired brat to have such strength.

"Pfft!" The moment the Susanoo frame was breached, Kawakotsu Kai spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyelids drooping as if he might fall asleep right where he stood.

"The Bloodline Disease is manifesting, I see!"

The playful look vanished from Uchiha Shisui's face as he bared his blade and struck toward the weakened Kawakotsu Kai.

"Don't you dare!"

The two Kaguya clansmen in the distance shouted in an attempt to stop him.

"You flies should just shut up!"

The Sharingan in Uchiha Shisui's eyes spun, and two streaks of Karma Flame quickly latched onto the pair. Their screams lasted only a moment before falling into total silence.

"I've played enough. Storm Release: Lightning Laser Blade!"

Uchiha Shisui held his long blade, and within seconds, the edge was coated in a laser beam. He swung it swiftly toward Kawakotsu Kai, who was slumped on the ground coughing up blood.

As a line of blood sprayed into the air, a severed head tumbled to his feet.

"One got away?"

Uchiha Shisui scanned the area and realized that Hozuki Mangetsu had actually fled.

After finishing off the remaining Kirigakure ninja still trapped in his genjutsu, he helplessly turned back toward the central battlefield.

Inside the Kirigakure camp, Hozuki Mangetsu looked furious, cursing the two clansmen who had dragged him away from the fight.

The two men looked aggrieved, thinking to themselves that if they hadn't slipped away quickly, they would have ended up like those idiots from the Kaguya Clan who knew nothing but how to fight.

This was precisely why the once-numerous Kaguya Clan within Kirigakure was now suffering from a lack of talent.

"Young Master Mangetsu, we were only following the clan leader's orders."

"Exactly! To prevent any unforeseen circumstances, we had no choice but to take such drastic measures."

Hozuki Mangetsu rolled his eyes. He hated it when people used his elders to pressure him, but since he had already been dragged back, he had no choice but to accept his current situation.

"Mangetsu, I heard you acted without authorization?"

Just then, the voice of Karatachi Yagura drifted from outside the tent.

A moment later, Karatachi Yagura walked in, clutching his staff.

Facing Karatachi Yagura's questioning, Hozuki Mangetsu spread his hands and said, "The camp was too boring, I just went out for a stroll."

"Went out for a stroll, and managed to lose the young master of the Kaguya Clan from the village?"

Karatachi Yagura's voice was gloomy and his expression unkind, but he could only resort to verbal intimidation; he could not yet move against Hozuki Mangetsu.

"Uh... that was just an accident."

Hozuki Mangetsu scratched his head, lowering his head in embarrassment.

"Return to the village now! The front lines are still too dangerous for you."

Karatachi Yagura said helplessly. Although he had sent these geniuses who had only recently graduated to the battlefield to hone their skills, he did not intend for them to die here, otherwise the village would have no fresh blood. Furthermore, the Third Mizukage had been acting erratically lately, having inexplicably intervened in the war before, and now he was intensifying the Bloody Mist Village policy.

These various reasons caused Karatachi Yagura a great deal of headaches.

At the central battlefield, lightning and thunder seemed to play a manic movement of war, and rolling dark clouds like surging black waves pressed the entire sky extremely low.

On the edge of a cliff, Uchiha Shisui was bathed in the gale, his long hair whipped wildly by the strong wind, his robes fluttering loudly behind him.

Those Sharingan were cold and striking, quietly overlooking the chaotic and disorderly battle scene below.

Roars, the clashing of weapons, and the explosions of ninjutsu intertwined; blood and mud mixed together, as if the earth had been draped in an eerie dark red cloak.

Watching this scene, the corners of Uchiha Shisui's mouth slowly curled up, revealing a meaningful smile. Against the backdrop of wind and rain, that smile revealed a touch of coldness and determination.

"Let it begin! The Battle of Progress!"

As the words fell, Uchiha Shisui did not hesitate in the slightest, leaping from the cliff and diving toward the chaotic battlefield below.

His form stretched out in the gale, just like a fearless black hawk swooping swiftly toward its prey.

Charging into the melee single-handedly, he instantly became the focus of the battlefield. The cold light of the long blade in his hand flickered, and every swing brought a fierce gust of wind, as if the scythe of death were sweeping through the dark night.

Between the flashes of the blade, an enemy was bound to fall, blood splashing and scattering onto the muddy ground, blooming like miserable flowers of gore.

His figure darted rapidly through the enemy ranks, his movements agile and fluid. The Sharingan precisely captured every enemy's movement, predicting their next attack, while the long blade in his hand moved as if it were an extension of his own arm, parrying the enemies' offensives one by one and launching swift counterattacks with the force of a thunderbolt.