Chapter 49 — Sound Shinobi, Have You No Shame?!
I'm tired… just let destruction take me.
No matter how many methods he tried,
no matter how desperately he zig-zagged across the battlefield—
those explosive tags that seemed to have grown eyes refused to let him escape.
Exhausted in body and spirit, Yuki—
who had miraculously survived the hellscape of daylight
only to plunge back into hell again—
finally felt the urge to give up.
He wiped at his face with a trembling hand—
blood, sweat, soot, and something else smeared together into a sticky mess.
But anyone who found themself standing
in this mountain of mangled corpses and flowing blood,
this purgatory built from severed limbs and shattered bodies—
would lose their will to fight
just as he had.
Squelch.
His empty, unfocused eyes drifted aimlessly as he staggered forward,
stepping on soft flesh that squirmed underfoot,
blood seeping between broken bones like muddy water.
He had already accepted his death.
He was simply waiting for it to come.
And yet—
his legs continued moving on their own,
carrying him toward the glow of Dokutō Mountain Fortress.
---
"…I'm not dead?"
He didn't know how long he had wandered.
Eventually, his vision sharpened, blinking into clarity.
His hands pat himself down in disbelief.
He—
a man who had resigned himself to die—
was still alive?
Stunned, he turned to look back.
Behind him, his comrades were still trapped in the inferno of explosive tags,
struggling, screaming, being shredded in the night.
He was a jōnin—
one who had climbed out of the crucible of countless battles.
And slowly, a new fire sparked in his eyes—
the fire of revenge.
"Just wait. Wait for me, damn you—
Sound Village of the Land of Rice…
and that bastard Oda Nobunaga!"
If fate refused to kill him,
then he refused to crawl back and face hell a second time.
Looking ahead, he noticed he wasn't the only one.
Scattered at various distances were other Cloud shinobi
who had also survived by sheer misfortune or luck.
And they too had realized it:
As long as they didn't move in large clusters,
the enemy's kunai launchers and explosive tags
would not target them with precision.
Meaning—
There was still a path forward.
Yuki exchanged a wordless nod
with the other survivors who had come to the same conclusion.
Those who had walked through the sea of fire and corpses,
those who had broken through death itself—
now scattered and dashed toward the next defensive line
of Dokutō Mountain Fortress.
"DIE—
Sound shinobi of the Land of Rice!
Oda Nobunaga!"
Their rage poured out as a thunderous roar,
and the surviving Cloud ninja swore to cleanse their humiliation
with the blood of their enemy.
The Cloud shinobi weren't charging forward only for survival—
they were fighting to blast open a path to victory
for those who would follow after them.
---
"So… you're finally here."
A soft sigh escaped someone's lips.
For a moment, they feared the night battle would be just as dull as the daytime massacre.
Clatter—!
With the Cloud forces launching their assault,
the Sound shinobi deployed along the defensive line moved as one,
surging forward to meet them without a hint of fear.
---
"Wind Release: Wind Cutter!"
Using their chakra armor to amplify their strength,
the Sound shinobi—rested, restored, and confident—
were the first to complete their hand seals.
They unleashed wind blades that could slice stone.
To the Cloud shinobi, however, these deadly attacks…
were almost enough to bring tears to their eyes.
Some actually cried—
from emotion.
Because this—
this was the ninja battle they understood!
Ninjutsu versus ninjutsu.
Taijutsu against taijutsu.
A real fight, with real blades and real chakra—
not mountains of gold and silver exploding in their faces!
Their spirits soared.
Cloud shinobi howled as they rapidly formed seals.
They would show these overfunded Sound upstarts
what true shinobi looked like.
---
"Lightning Release: Lightning Sphere!"
The distance was still too great for close combat,
so the majority simultaneously launched this mid-range technique.
Crackling spheres of lightning arced forward like shooting stars,
hurling toward the Sound defenders.
When it came to ninjutsu—
Cloud had never feared anyone.
But not all of them chose Lightning Sphere.
Some, eager to prove themselves and to vent their rage,
formed a larger cluster and unleashed a combination jutsu.
---
"Lightning Release: Link Technique — Scattered Thunder Net!"
More powerful and with far wider reach than Lightning Sphere,
the technique expanded into a glittering, deadly mesh of electric light.
Seeing the lightning web spread across the battlefield,
many Cloud shinobi felt a surge of hope—
"Die!!"
In a normal clash of ninjutsu,
no one in Cloud believed they could lose!
But things rarely go the way one expects.
They knew that, on a per-person basis,
the Sound shinobi couldn't match Cloud elites in ninjutsu.
Which was exactly why Oda Nobunaga
had given his shinobi chakra armor to bolster their fighting power.
And if he would go that far,
why would he not prepare additional traps on his own turf?
Suddenly—
in full view of the anticipating Cloud shinobi—
their lightning techniques veered downward uncontrollably.
And not just downward—
they were dragged toward the earth.
Before the confused Cloud forces could understand what was happening,
they saw the lightning touch strange metal rods
that had somehow sprouted from the ground like metallic trees.
The moment the lightning struck:
Szzzzt—
The brilliant electric jutsu
was swallowed into the earth
as if it had never existed.
Gone.
Completely.
---
"…"
Silence.
Sometimes silence conveys more emotions
than screams ever could.
Cloud shinobi stared at those metal rods—
and the branching metallic "leaves" fanning out at the top.
Then—
"Shameless! Absolutely shameless!"
"You Sound shinobi aren't worthy of the title ninja!"
Cloud shinobi erupted with fury.
What was this world coming to?!
How could there be ninjas so utterly devoid of honor?!
But while they fumed,
Oda Nobunaga saw only correct tactical decisions.
Lightning always seeks a conductor.
Why wouldn't he exploit that?
Cloud's greatest strength was Lightning Release.
If he already knew this,
why wouldn't he counter it thoroughly?
---
As Cloud's lightning jutsu was nullified,
Sound's Wind Release swept in unimpeded.
The Sound Village was young, yes—
but that youth came with advantages.
Their ranks were full of wanderers and oddball ninjas
drawn from all corners of the Land of Rice—
each with completely different jutsu styles.
No unified specialty, true—
but incredible variety.
And any ninjutsu that could kill?
Was a good ninjutsu.
---
Wind blades shrieked as they cut through the metallic forest,
slicing into Cloud shinobi caught completely off guard.
"Aaaaagh!"
Cries of agony tore through the night.
Many Cloud shinobi had barely survived the explosive-tag inferno earlier.
Their bodies were exhausted; their chakra drained.
They were running on fumes—
and now, after their lightning had been casually negated,
they finally relaxed the tension holding them together.
Thus, shinobi who hadn't died beneath the firestorm of explosive tags
now fell beneath spinning blades of wind.
---
"Don't panic! It's only Wind Release!"
A huge, battle-hardened Cloud shinobi roared,
his voice cutting through the chaos.
At a critical moment, he stood tall like a battle standard,
rallying the shaken Cloud forces.
"We still have other ninjutsu—
and more importantly, we have Lightning-Enhanced Taijutsu!"
Relying on his brute strength, insane speed, and iron will,
he launched forward alone.
Metal rods?
He ignored them, weaving through them like a ghost.
Enemy techniques?
If he couldn't dodge them—
he punched them apart.
"My fist—
SHALL BREAK THE HEAVENS!"
In mere seconds,
the last hope of Cloud Village
burst through the metallic forest and sprinted straight toward the Sound shinobi.