"The battle has begun!"
The scream of killing reached Raizen as he arrived in the valley, and he immediately understood—the fight was in full swing. Amamiya ninjas rushed forward, forming lines of coordinated strikes.
Ueshi Masahiro was screaming too, hatred boiling over. Ever since the Amamiya had decimated his clan, Masahiro's heart had become a furnace of revenge. He'd been hunting for an opportunity to retaliate, waiting for the Amamiya to make a misstep.
But there were no missteps today. The Amamiya had cornered what remained of the Ueshi forces. Once over forty, the Ueshi clan's ninja numbers had been whittled down to ten. Masahiro had snuck into Beiman Valley, planning a calculated strike against the Amamiya, but before he could close the distance, he found himself surrounded.
He knew running could save only himself. If he fled, the other remaining Ueshi ninja would have no hope—they would die without question. So, to protect them, Masahiro had no choice but to resist fiercely until Amamiya reinforcements arrived.
"Everyone, fight with me! Wipe out all the Amamiya's forces!" he roared, rallying his remaining strength.
Raizen scanned the battlefield. The small Jōnin unit of the Amamiya clan had been struggling against Masahiro's desperate attack. If he had arrived even minutes later, the three clan Jōnin could have fallen.
With Raizen's arrival and the reinforcements he brought, the tide of battle shifted. The remaining seven Ueshi Chūnin fell, one by one, under the coordinated strikes of the Amamiya. Two Jōnin fell as well, leaving only Masahiro and one other elite Jōnin standing.
"Has the world truly decided to destroy my Ueshi clan?" Masahiro muttered, despair flickering in his eyes. But the memory of the Amamiya's relentless vengeance hardened him.
"Even if I die, I will drag you down with me!" Masahiro bellowed, surging forward at the Amamiya line. The elite Jōnin of the family hesitated for a brief moment—fear flashing in their eyes at his desperate charge.
Raizen waved a hand, shouting, "Family ninjas, fall back! Leave this to me!"
The clan ninjas immediately stepped aside. Raizen activated Flying Thunder God, sending his marked kunai spinning through the air toward Masahiro. The Ueshi leader recognized the technique immediately—he'd heard whispers of Raizen's ability to teleport between kunai at will.
The moment the kunai flew, Masahiro froze. He realized too late that trying to engage would play directly into Raizen's trap.
"The more you dodge, the deeper you fall into the Flying Thunder God!" Raizen whispered, disappearing in a flash.
Masahiro barely evaded a strike, only to find himself bombarded from all sides by the other Amamiya Jōnin. Every evasion forced him into yet another, until he stumbled toward a kunai marked with Raizen's teleportation seal.
"Dead!" Raizen's voice cut through the chaos as he materialized above Masahiro, kunai in hand. Masahiro tried to use the Body Replacement Technique, narrowly avoiding the first blow.
But the Amamiya attack came again and again. Every escape led him into another teleport trap. Finally, a sharp kunai pierced Masahiro's chest. The light in his eyes dimmed as he crumpled to the ground, silence falling over the valley.
The last Ueshi Jōnin fell moments later, struck down by Raizen and the remaining Amamiya forces.
In the span of hours, the Ueshi clan—the Amamiya's rival for nearly three years—was utterly annihilated. Not a single soldier remained to carry the banner of their once-proud family.
The valley was quiet again, filled only with the aftermath of ruthless, calculated war.