"Hateful bastard…"
Ueshi Tokusho spat through gritted teeth as his latest jutsu failed to bring Amamiya Raizen down from the sky.
The man glared upward, frustration twisting across his scarred face.
He was strong—every Jōnin of the Warring States had to be—but strength came in shapes. His was Earth.
Lightning Style? He could use it, sure, but barely. Enough to fry a bird, not enough to win an air battle.
And Raizen had wings.
"Let's see how you handle air combat, Tokusho," Raizen muttered from above, smirking.
He pressed his palms together. The mouth on his hand opened with a wet hiss, biting into a lump of clay.
Moments later, a swarm of clay spiders rained down from his owl's wings.
BOOM!
The earth below erupted in a chain of violent explosions, smoke and fire licking the air like a monster's tongue.
Tokusho stumbled, dodging left and right as shards of rock peppered his armor.
He countered when he could, spitting through hand seals — "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" — but even the dragons of mud barely reached that high.
Raizen stayed just out of range, grinning as he watched the Earth Style blasts shatter harmlessly below.
"Yeah, no. This isn't getting us anywhere," he muttered. "If I drag this out, he'll adapt. If I don't, I'm screwed. Love that binary choice."
He checked his pouch — the detonating clay was half gone. Time was running thin.
"Fine then," Raizen said with a deep breath. "One last show."
He grabbed a huge lump of clay, molding it quickly into a long, twisting shape. Wings unfolded. A clay dragon, jagged and menacing, took flight beside him.
The two soared higher into the clouds, where the mist swallowed everything from view.
And in that darkness, Raizen made his move.
He bit his thumb, formed seals, and whispered, "Shadow Clone. Transformation."
Two shapes flickered in the storm of smoke.
Then, without warning, his owl dropped.
Below, Ueshi Tokusho's gut twisted. "He's coming down," he muttered, gripping his blade tighter.
Logic said he should retreat. Pride said he couldn't. He was the head of the Ueshi Clan—if he ran, his name would rot in shame.
"Come then, boy," Tokusho hissed. "Let's finish this."
The sky split open. The clay dragon dove, its maw spewing missiles of compressed chakra.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Each blast was closer than the last. Tokusho dodged and countered desperately, his armor scorched, his chakra fraying.
Then—
"Now!"
Raizen's voice rang through the chaos. His figure flashed midair, vanishing in a blur of gold light.
Flying Thunder God — Teleportation!
He reappeared in front of Tokusho, kunai aimed straight at the man's throat.
"Die—"
"Not yet!" Tokusho roared.
He swung his blade up in raw defiance, meeting Raizen head-on. The steel clashed with a burst of chakra. Sparks screamed through the night.
The kunai was flung aside—then Raizen's body was split cleanly in two.
But before Tokusho could breathe…
Poof!
Smoke.
His pupils shrank.
"Shadow Clone?!"
Something moved behind him. A whisper of chakra—too close, too fast.
Raizen emerged from the smoke, arm thrust forward. His kunai pierced through Tokusho's chest, right through the heart.
Blood splattered across Raizen's face.
"Ghk—" Tokusho coughed, lips curling into a bitter smile. "You… bastard…"
He raised a trembling hand, forming one final seal. "Earth Style… Buried… Collapse!"
BOOM!
His body exploded. Not chakra—flesh and blood.
The blast drenched Raizen in gore. But then the blood hardened, darkening into thick, heavy soil. The ground he stood on turned to sludge, dragging him down.
"What—!?"
The swamp churned violently, sucking him deeper. Heat surged through the mud; his skin seared red.
"Damn you, Tokusho!" Raizen roared.
His vision blurred—then a flash.
He teleported again, using the last of his Flying Thunder God marks.
When Raizen appeared next, he landed in a hell of his own.
Flames. Endless flames.
The sky glowed red, the air burned. Smoke filled his lungs as his heart dropped into his gut.
He recognized the valley — the direction of the clan's mining outpost. Or rather, what used to be.
Now it was a sea of fire.
"...No."
Raizen's voice cracked. He crushed the embers at his feet, his mind racing.
Something had happened — something massive.
His clan. His home.
Gone up in flames.
"Amamiya Clan…" he whispered, eyes hardening as he vanished once more into the inferno.