Guy's body crackled with verdant power; the air itself warped. Itachi covered his face against the back-blow of chakra. 'Nii-san called the Eight Gates the apex of taijutsu,' he thought, Mangekyō spinning. 'I can't match it, but I can keep up.'
"Gate of Wonder—OPEN!"
Pressure rolled off Guy in waves. Vaporised sweat haloed him in blue light. A sonic boom split the wasteland, and he was suddenly behind the Kuroganebi. Both fists—wreathed in azure Gate-energy—hammer-smashed the monster's skull. Concussive shock-waves rippled across the cracked plain.
The beast staggered. Guy seized its throat, muscles cording, and hurled it skyward.
"Dynamic Entry!" He blurred after it, heel slamming into its spine. The Kuroganebi crashed back down, carving a fresh crater.
Rikuto dragged himself upright, ribs screaming. "Using the Gates is suicide," he rasped, "and I can't lift a finger to help."
A shadow fell. Yui Uzumaki's hand twisted in his hair; Ay loomed behind her.
"So Ōnoki failed," Yui sighed, almost amused. "No matter. Watch everything your brother built burn."
Rikuto spat blood. "You…won't…win."
She flung him aside. Kunai hissed in—Ay threw himself in front of her, clanging steel from mid-air.
"Such a loyal guard dog," Yui purred, looking up.
High above, Shisui Uchiha hovered, one arm cradling Rikuto's battered form. Dozens of identical Shisui silhouettes shimmered around him, each carrying an exact copy of Rikuto.
"Shunshin no Shisui," she whispered, smiling. "Faster—and cuter—than the rumours."
"It doesn't matter how many of you there are," Ay thundered. "I'll crush every last clone!"
He flickered in a bolt of black lightning, materialising behind one Shisui—only for his fist to slice through empty air. The image shimmered and burst like smoke.
Ay skidded back, eyes narrowing. "After-images… Clever."
Yui's lips curved. "Classic Shisui. Never fight the real one until he wants you to."
Sand hissed across the ruined plain as a dead hush settled.
A cobalt blur tore through that silence—Guy, still gate-charged, rocketing overhead. A darker shape streaked after him, caught up, and spiked him into the ground rattling the valley.
Yui flicked through seals. "Wind Style: Spiralling Wind Ball!" Mini-cyclones shredded the ridge—but the last Shisui mirage winked out before they hit, retreating to a safe distance.
She met Ay's gaze. No words; the trap was set, and in one silent blink, Ay witnessed a surge of dark and red lightning emerging from his torn-through abdomen! His eyes widened as the visage of a silver-haired shadow crossed, vanishing in a blur of scarlet.
A hush. A single, soundless slash ripped the air.
Yui's breath hitched. She had raised her hands to weave a final seal behind Ay, but the blade that pierced him had found her too. Blood welled; both her severed hands thumped to the dust. Ay collapsed beside her, half his torso carved open, black lightning sputtering.
Above, Kakashi Hatake stood over them, Sharingan ablaze, three blood-wet blades reflecting the same crimson light. 'Pushing me to the extent of using such brutal tactics is commendable if anything. I usually leave this to Ryuu.'
"That chakra… what is it—?" Yui's whisper bled away with her strength. Her vision dimmed as her blood poured onto the ground; Before she could say anything, the ground trembled as Kakashi blurred again, streaking toward Guy and Itachi still locked with the Kuroganebi.
Earlier…
He remembered waking on a stretcher, bones powder-cracked, yet feeling no pain—only a quiet red aura knitting him whole. 'Perfect Strike,' Ryuu had called it the threshold.
"Your body's healing by itself," Ichika had murmured, wide-eyed.
"No pills either," he'd answered, flexing a hand that drew gentle energy from the very air. "Which means I'm needed back out there."
That same quiet power now hummed through him—harmonising with the battlefield's scattered chakra, not devouring it. Kakashi tightened his grip on the blades and sprinted into the fray.
'I'm continuously growing stronger but… It's starting to hurt.' Kakashi thought as he landed in front of the battered Itachi and Guy. 'After that Perfect Strike connected... everything became so clear.'
His eyes tracked the whirlwind of motion as Guy, fueled by the Seventh Gate, exchanged blows with the Kuroganebi. But even with his enhanced speed and power, Guy was overwhelmed. A savage swipe from the beast's claws sent Itachi sprawling, blood blossoming on his chest.
Guy pressed the attack, a flurry of kicks aimed at the Kuroganebi's head. But as his foot connected, a strange rune flared on the creature's forehead, its glow intensifying with every blow.
With a bone-jarring crack, the Kuroganebi's fist intercepted Guy's kick, sending him flying back. The momentum of the counterattack was terrifying, a testament to the beast's rapidly evolving strength.
Suddenly, a mental intrusion pricked his mind. "Kakashi, do you copy? Switching to Shikazo for immediate tactical relay." Inoichi's voice was strained but clear within his mind.
"Listen close," Shikazo's rasp echoed in his skull instantly after. "Been looking through Ryuu-sama's notes, to keep this short, I could have an answer to this specific problem. A summon of that magnitude can't sustain itself on ambient chakra alone. It always has a centralized anchor where the energy is focused. You've already ruled out the possibility of there being another one once you took Yui out; now you're at the finish line. Find the heaviest concentration of chakra—that's its heart."
Kakashi's eyes narrowed, scanning the beast as the intel settled. He noticed the air ripple violently around a glowing sigil on the kaiju's chest.
'There,' Kakashi thought, the pieces clicking into place. 'That seal must be its core.'
The Kuroganebi vanished, reappearing behind Kakashi in a flicker of movement. But Kakashi was ready. He blurred out of the way, leaving an afterimage in his place. The beast's strike met only air.
Kakashi countered instantly, his hand crackling with lightning. "Raikiri!"
A thunderous explosion shook the battlefield as the Chidori pierced through the Kuroganebi's thick hide. But the creature wasn't so easily defeated. It grabbed Kakashi's arm, twisting with unnatural force. A sickening crack echoed through the air as Kakashi's bones shattered.
"Aagh!" Kakashi cried out, his body wracked with pain. He backflipped away, narrowly dodging a series of brutal follow-up attacks.
The battle intensified, a blur of motion too fast for the human eye to follow. Rikuto, watching from where Shisui had left him, alongside the wounded Ay and dying Yui, could only stare in stunned silence as Kakashi matched the Kuroganebi's speed and ferocity, his movements a symphony of controlled chaos.
"He's... keeping up," Rikuto muttered in disbelief. "Kakashi... is actually holding his own against that monster." His eyes narrowed to focus as they always would. 'It's not just strength. Kakashi knows something I don't. He hesitated when he got to the battlefield, but why? What did he notice? I looked for a core the entire time and found nothing. Unless... somehow, these new abilities have evolved his vision, allowing him to see what was invisible even to me.'
The clash of lightning and dark energy illuminated the battlefield, each impact sending tremors through the earth. Kakashi, guarding his broken limb, fought with an almost feral intensity, using his good arm and legs to drive the assault, his Sharingan blazing as he pushed his newfound abilities to their limits.
Yet, even with his enhanced power, victory seemed elusive. The Kuroganebi continued to adapt, its attacks growing more potent, its defenses more resilient. Kakashi's movements, once precise and effortless, began to show signs of strain.
The ground shuddered violently, as if the earth itself was recoiling in fear. Two hulking figures erupted from the dust cloud, their monstrous forms casting long, ominous shadows across the battlefield.
Rikuto's breath hitched in his throat. "No... It can't be!" He tried to scramble away, his body screaming in protest. 'I thought I killed them!'
Kakashi's Sharingan, honed by his awakening, detected the incoming threats in a split second. He parried the Kuroganebi's vicious punch with a kunai in his good hand, then, in a fluid movement, spun behind the beast, using its momentum to propel it directly into the path of the twin attacks.
The collision was cataclysmic. A shockwave of raw power tore through the landscape, leaving a swathe of devastation in its wake. Dust and debris swirled as the echoes of the impact faded.
Kakashi raised his head, his gaze hardening as he surveyed the scene. Three Kuroganebi now stood before him, their eyes glowing with predatory intent. 'More of these monsters?'
Just as all hope seemed lost, a familiar surge of chakra washed all over the battlefield. Kakashi's heart leaped, a flicker of hope rekindling in his weary eyes.
'This chakra... Ryuu.'
The King of all Jutsu returns…