The western front had become a slaughterhouse. Every breath reeked of blood and smoke, and the clash of metal rang louder than the thunder rolling in the distant mountains.
Amamiya shinobi fought like cornered beasts. Their chakra reserves were running dry, yet they forced more out—burning life itself into jutsu. Across the mud-streaked plain, the Kaguya warriors advanced, laughing as they swung their blades and bone spurs, eager to tear through the Amamiya line.
Armor didn't matter anymore. One lapse in focus, one blink too slow, and a kunai, flame, or sharpened femur would end you.
No one knew how long they'd been fighting. Minutes? Hours? Time had lost meaning. The ground was slick with corpses—Amamiya and Kaguya alike. Every time an Amamiya shinobi fell, another took their place. It wasn't strategy anymore. It was instinct. Survival through defiance.
But even defiance had limits. Their strength, inferior weapons, and thinning chakra made their resistance look more and more like suicide. Still, no one broke ranks. They fought on because to retreat meant extinction.
"Keh—Amamiya! Your clan can't hold much longer! You'll crumble soon enough!"
Kaguya Heihachi's laughter grated like steel on bone as his sword locked with that of Amamiya Ten. Sparks scattered between them. Both men, bloodied and panting, broke apart after another vicious exchange.
"Shut up and die already!" Ten snarled.
He flashed through hand seals. The ground trembled as a massive earthen dragon burst upward, jaws gaping for Heihachi. The Kaguya commander smirked and flickered out of range with a mocking chuckle.
"Coward!" Ten roared, his voice drowned by the chaos around him. He scanned the battlefield—his men were falling faster now. The line was collapsing. His heart sank. Then his jaw tightened.
"All Amamiya shinobi, listen up!" he bellowed, voice cracking with fury. "Abandon defense! Throw everything at them—NOW!"
A heavy silence followed. Then the clan answered.
"Yes, sir!"
Tears streaked through the grime on their faces, but not one hesitated. They knew what this order meant. There would be no survivors—but maybe, just maybe, their deaths would buy the clan an hour more.
The Amamiya unleashed everything. Detonation tags soared through the air like burning leaves. Defensive jutsu vanished; every last hand seal was forged for destruction. Fire, water, and earth erupted at once, consuming the Kaguya ranks in a storm of mud and flame.
The Kaguya stumbled, forced back by sheer suicidal fury.
"Pathetic fools!" Heihachi bellowed at his own panicking men. "They're nearly spent—charge! Push forward! Don't you dare retreat!"
His soldiers obeyed, throwing themselves into the inferno. The ground quaked from explosions. Both sides were dying in droves.
Amamiya Ten's breath came ragged now. His armor hung in tatters; blood soaked through the cloth beneath. He met Heihachi's gaze once more.
"Still standing?" the Kaguya sneered, bones cracking through his forearms like spears. "Then die where you are!"
The bone spurs slammed against Ten's sword. Metal shattered.
"Guess… this is it," Ten muttered, strangely calm. For an instant, his life flashed before him—the clan, the children, the small laughter shared in peace between battles.
"Young Patriarch… the rest is yours."
He closed his eyes, waiting for the end.
Then something yanked him backward. A dark silhouette moved faster than sight—catching him just before the killing blow.
"Young Patriarch!" Ten gasped.
Amamiya Raizen stood before him, his expression unreadable. His voice, low and cutting through the chaos, carried the weight of command.
"Live, Ten-san. The clan still needs you."
Heihachi's snarl tore through the battlefield as his kill was stolen. "You little brat!"
He lunged, bone spurs slicing through the air. Raizen's eyes narrowed, his hand flickering with the seal of the Flying Thunder God Kunai. Steel clashed in rapid bursts—ringing again and again, too fast to follow.
"He's matching me?!" Heihachi gritted his teeth, disbelief twisting his face.
Raizen moved with an eerie calm. His chakra pulsed—steady, deliberate. Then his hands flashed through another seal. A faint white glow erupted around him, spreading outward like a ripple through still water.
"What the—?!" Heihachi froze as the light solidified into a barrier, swallowing him whole.
Raizen's gaze was cold as the moonlight. "Be erased."
The barrier shimmered once—and then, Kaguya Heihachi was gone. No sound. No trace. Just silence.
Ten stared in stunned disbelief. Even the Kaguya soldiers faltered, unsure what they'd just witnessed. Then his awe turned to joy. He raised his voice until it cracked.
"All Amamiya shinobi—listen well! The Young Patriarch has arrived! The Young Patriarch has come to reinforce us!"
The weary clan erupted into renewed cries, their morale reigniting like wildfire.
The western front trembled once more—not with despair, but with hope.