"Old man, you'd better be careful!" Along with that anxious shout, one could see that the speaker was Kitsuchi, Ōnoki's burly son.
Smoke filled the battlefield, while shouts of battle and explosions rose and fell without pause. Yet Kitsuchi did not seem overly tense.
He kept a vigilant eye on the battle around him while taking moments to look at his father, Ōnoki, in the thick of the fighting.
At that moment, Ōnoki was also looking toward his son.
Though war raged all around them, his eyes held a trace of relief and concern, as though asking Kitsuchi whether he was all right.
Seeing that his son was safe and sound, warmth rose in Ōnoki's heart. At least this brat has a bit of conscience.
Just as Ōnoki was immersed in that father-son tenderness, he suddenly heard another remark from his son that left him torn between laughter and tears.
Kitsuchi shouted at the top of his lungs, "Dad, you really need to watch yourself! You're using so much chakra on such a dangerous battlefield—what if you throw out your back? What then?"
Ōnoki froze for a moment before rage flared up within him.
He whipped around and glared viciously at Kitsuchi, already deciding that once this battle was over, he would give that arrogant little brat a proper lesson and make up for the childhood discipline he had clearly missed.
However, the instant Ōnoki turned his head, perhaps Kitsuchi's jinx had come true.
Or perhaps Ōnoki had simply been careless for a moment. With a sharp crack, a stabbing pain suddenly shot through his lower back.
In an instant, amid the battlefield's deafening roars and cries of slaughter, an especially piercing scream joined the chaos—it came from Ōnoki himself.
Everyone looked over to see Ōnoki clutching his lower back