Chapter 25 – The Battlefield's Edge
The air was heavy with smoke and ash.
A dull red sky stretched above the forest, broken by the distant thunder of explosions.
Rows of medical tents lined the clearing, filled with groaning, half-conscious shinobi.
Everywhere Yuva looked, there was movement — medics running, messengers shouting, soldiers limping.
This wasn't a forward base.
It was a temporary emergency post, meant to stabilize the wounded before sending them back to the main camp.
And now, Yuva and his brothers were stationed here — filling in where others had fallen.
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⚔️ The State of the Camp
"Listen up!" a tired chūnin commander barked near the central tent.
"We've got limited forces — one jōnin, one special jōnin, ten active chūnin, and twenty genin. That's all that's left in this sector. Iwa's been probing our line for days — they'll hit again soon."
Yuva, Tenzo, and Daichi stood among the chūnin squad.
Tenzo carried a medic's pouch now — full of gauze, antidotes, and chakra scalpels.
Daichi had earth dust on his arms from rebuilding fortifications.
Yuva's sword rested across his back, his eyes calm but distant.
Without the beast's chakra, he felt smaller — slower — fragile.
But he didn't complain.
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⚡ The Hollow Weight
That night, when things grew quiet, Yuva stood alone behind the barrier wall.
He formed a seal and tried to summon a lightning clone.
Nothing.
His chakra scattered before stabilizing.
His control, once flawless, felt clumsy.
"Even four clones… that's my limit now," he muttered.
He stared at his hand, flexing his fingers.
"The beast's power is gone… guess this is what being normal feels like."
The thought should've scared him.
It didn't.
It just made him think deeper.
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💡 Finding His Own Path
Instead of training brute force, Yuva opened an old sealing scroll and began working.
He practiced chakra nets — sealing formulas that could bind enemy chakra flow for seconds.
He rewrote explosive seals with silent activation triggers.
He trained his blade to flow with natural movement, focusing on timing, not raw chakra.
Every movement was slower. Every result smaller.
But it was his.
> "If I can't rely on power," Yuva murmured, "I'll rely on skill."
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🩹 Brothers on the Line
Morning came harsh and bright.
Tenzo was already in the medic tent, his hands glowing faint green as he closed wounds faster than most med-nin his age.
Daichi reinforced the perimeter with thick slabs of stone, moving from tent to tent, securing escape routes.
Yuva watched them both and smiled faintly.
> "They've found their path," he thought. "Now it's my turn to walk mine."
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🔥 The Night Raid
The first sign came at dusk — a distant tremor.
Then another.
And another.
"Enemy approaching!" a scout shouted, sprinting into camp. "At least thirty Iwa shinobi — mostly genin and chūnin!"
The camp's only jōnin cursed under his breath.
"Everyone to positions! Medics, guard the wounded! Chūnin, hold the perimeter — don't let them breach the tents!"
Daichi slammed his hands to the ground. "Earth Release: Stone Rampart!"
Walls rose from the dirt around the camp.
Tenzo ran to the wounded, forming hand seals, ready to heal whoever fell first.
Yuva drew his sword.
Lightning flickered weakly along its edge — not the deep purple of before, just faint blue.
He didn't care.
> "No power left to hide behind. No beast. No god. Just me."
As the first enemy broke through the trees, the night exploded in fire and dust.
And Yuva — the boy who had once carried a beast — charged into battle as nothing more, and nothing less, than a shinobi.
Sometimes losing power is the only way to find balance.
Yuva no longer walks with a beast — he walks with himself.
His blade, his will, and his brothers will decide his fate now — not the gods within.