A figure rushed in from afar, his blade gleaming fiercely. Electricity spilled over its chakra-infused edge, tracing lines like the strokes of a master painter.
Silver light crisscrossed.
The blade sliced cleanly through the flames and dust, sweeping them aside one after another.
The swordsman was Hagoromo Nobuyuki, the young heir of the Hagoromo Clan. With a light leap, he darted forward like a swallow.
Thousands of leaves tore free from the surrounding trees in the wind of Hagoromo Nobuyuki's blade, shooting ahead.
The severed leaves did not fall straight to the ground. Instead, they caught the lightning from his blade, instantly multiplying their destructive power.
Like countless electrified kunai, the charged leaves shot indiscriminately in every direction.
In the darkness, Madara Uchiha formed hand seals again.
"Fire Release: Dust Concealment Technique!"
Scorching dust and smoke spread once more, instantly igniting the heat-sensitive leaves on contact and burning them to ash.
There were countless leaves, and as further explosions followed, the flames lit up the night sky.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki sprang upward, pursuing the figure who had cast the ninjutsu, and brought his sword down at Madara Uchiha's head.
The barrage of leaves had merely been a prelude meant to disrupt his opponent.
No sooner had Madara Uchiha countered with fire release than Hagoromo Nobuyuki rushed in and delivered a crushing overhead slash. Close combat was his true killing move.
The two attacks flowed together seamlessly, their timing calculated to perfection.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki's strike was too powerful. Madara Uchiha was not foolish enough to block it head-on and retreated out of its path.
Yet even though Madara Uchiha evaded the blade, the chakra coating its edge extended its reach.
Madara Uchiha escaped the cutting edge itself, but his sleeve was still sliced open, leaving another wound on his right arm.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki's sword split the spot where Madara Uchiha had been standing.
Madara Uchiha seized the moment to leap into the air, bringing his long sword down toward the back of Hagoromo Nobuyuki's head and neck.
Too eager to win, Hagoromo Nobuyuki was caught off guard. He spun around quickly, only for Madara Uchiha's vicious slash to cut through his abdominal armor.
It was not just his abdominal armor. Hagoromo Nobuyuki failed to dodge in time, and the blade sliced into his leg as well, sending blood bursting out.
Pain awakened Hagoromo Nobuyuki's savagery. Furious beyond restraint, he pursued Madara Uchiha like a whirlwind, shattering and crushing every rock and tree in his path.
Through the Sharingan, Madara Uchiha saw Hagoromo Nobuyuki's movements slow to a crawl.
Almost on reflex, Madara Uchiha drew his scabbard and thrust it out to catch Hagoromo Nobuyuki's descending sword. The moment the blade entered the sheath, it was locked in place.
Having never encountered anything like this, Hagoromo Nobuyuki stared in astonishment.
With Hagoromo Nobuyuki's sword trapped, Madara Uchiha aimed his own blade precisely at his opponent's eyes.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki hastily abandoned his sword, crossed his arms in front of his head, and retreated.
What Hagoromo Nobuyuki had not anticipated was that, while his crossed arms blocked the blade aimed at his eyes, another attack was coming.
Madara Uchiha suddenly raised his foot and kicked Hagoromo Nobuyuki squarely in the crotch.
"Aaaaaaah-!"
His agonized scream testified to the vicious force of Madara Uchiha's kick. The pain of crushed testicles was like torment from beyond the grave, shattering Hagoromo Nobuyuki's mind.
His lower armor had just been cut apart, leaving only his tight-fitting ninja clothes beneath and exposing the outline of his groin.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki retreated sharply through the pain. Only then did he notice a deliberately sharpened wooden spike beneath the toe of Madara Uchiha's shoe, its point now dripping with his blood.
"Bastard-!"
Hagoromo Nobuyuki's eyes bulged with rage. With a furious roar, he hurled a kunai with an explosive tag attached at Madara Uchiha.
To Madara Uchiha, Hagoromo Nobuyuki's movement was as slow as a snail.
Madara Uchiha reached out, easily caught the incoming kunai, and instantly hurled it back.
Once again, he aimed at Hagoromo Nobuyuki's crotch.
Guided by the Sharingan's precise aim, the tagged kunai flew toward Hagoromo Nobuyuki with the intent of ending his bloodline.
Eyes wide with fury, Hagoromo Nobuyuki endured the agony and dodged again. A violent explosion thundered nearby.
Madara Uchiha's kick seemed to have flipped some strange switch.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki was like a man possessed, consumed by rage. He concentrated chakra over his wounds and moved even faster than before, pursuing Madara Uchiha with complete disregard for his own life.
Although Madara Uchiha had already taken his sword,
Hagoromo Nobuyuki could still attack bare-handed.
Madara Uchiha was already wounded. Although his eyes could clearly follow Hagoromo Nobuyuki's movements, his injuries severely limited his body's ability to respond.
Madara Uchiha thought, I can't... let him keep chasing me at close range. I have to put some distance between us!
Driven mad by the kick to his testicles, Hagoromo Nobuyuki gathered all the chakra in his body, preparing to unleash his signature move.
Lightning burst from Hagoromo Nobuyuki's fists.
Whatever lightning release technique it was, his lightning-wreathed punches rained down on Madara Uchiha from every direction.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki moved so fast that afterimages of his fists filled the entire area, threatening to engulf and devour the young Madara Uchiha!
Faced with such peril, Madara Uchiha's mind remained perfectly still. Resolutely, he formed hand seals and unleashed fire release.
A dense sea of flames opposed the oncoming force of the punches, combining offense and defense.
In the forest's darkness,
lightning and a sea of fire devoured and pressed against each other in a fierce, deadly struggle, sending every animal fleeing.
With a bang, Hagoromo Nobuyuki drove a fist into Madara Uchiha's left arm, accompanied by the crack of breaking bone.
With injury piled upon injury, Madara Uchiha's expression turned terrifying. His blade traced a strange line through the air. Accepting the grievous damage from Hagoromo Nobuyuki's punch, he slashed diagonally from the base of his opponent's neck into his chest.
The raging wind was instantly stained crimson.
Madara Uchiha's expression was savage. He changed the angle of his blade and, with lightning speed, sliced halfway through Hagoromo Nobuyuki's body from the side.
As the wind scattered blood across the dark ground, the decisive exchange passed in an instant.
His eyes dark and vicious, Madara Uchiha clutched his wound and swiftly retreated several meters from Hagoromo Nobuyuki.
A moment later, a sound like a watermelon splitting came from Hagoromo Nobuyuki's body. It was the sound of his heart rupturing.
Madara Uchiha's blade had raced along half of Hagoromo Nobuyuki's body as though following the lines of a dissection, leaving a horrifying wound. Blood gushed as flesh split open.
Uchiha Izuna, who had been lurking nearby all along, moved later but arrived first. He suddenly emerged from the darkness behind Hagoromo Nobuyuki and mercilessly drove his long sword through his back, the blade protruding from the front of his chest.
Uchiha Izuna swiftly withdrew his sword and moved away from Hagoromo Nobuyuki.
Hagoromo Nobuyuki went limp. First, he dropped to his knees with a thud, then collapsed to the ground.
Madara Uchiha held his dangling left arm, breathing heavily. As his younger brother approached to support him, he managed to say, "Quick, get out of here..."
While he had been fighting Hagoromo Nobuyuki, the Hagoromo Clan's pursuers had also been rapidly closing in.
That was why the fight had to be ended quickly.
But now Madara Uchiha's injuries were even worse, and their enemies had numbers on their side. Madara Uchiha and Uchiha Izuna understood each other without a word. Supporting Madara, Uchiha Izuna could only keep racing deeper into the forest.
Before you continue