Chapter 20: The Swordsmen's Dance
"Teacher, these Rain shinobi are bold. Aren't they afraid of Konoha's wrath?" Akatsurugi asked.
Uchiha Kagami shook his head with a faint, knowing smile. "Dead men tell no tales. Even if they're captured, Hanzo can claim they were rogue defectors. As long as he doesn't show his face personally, he can deny the Rain Village's direct involvement."
Such tactics were commonplace for minor nations caught between the great powers. Even Konoha had been forced into similar compromises. There was no moral high ground here.
Akatsurugi nodded silently. Perhaps this is the inherent sorrow of a small nation.
"Hm? No!" Uchiha Kagami's Sharingan flared to life as they walked. "Go!" he commanded sharply.
Akatsurugi turned and ran without a second thought. This was the drill his teacher had ingrained in him: when told to leave, you leave immediately and never look back. Hesitation could doom them both.
The moment the order was given, Akatsurugi was already in motion.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
The sound of kunai cutting through the air confirmed pursuers. A thick, familiar fog began to coalesce around them—the Hidden Mist Technique. The Kiri assault had begun.
Akatsurugi burst out of the encroaching mist. He glanced back only once, his pace never faltering as he sprinted into the distance.
Soon, he sensed a powerful chakra presence closing in from behind.
Swish!
He sidestepped instinctively. A kunai embedded itself in the ground ahead, an explosive tag already sizzling on its hilt. Akatsurugi was forced to halt as the tag detonated, the blast wave making a full-speed escape risky.
Two Kiri shinobi materialized in front of him, blocking his path. Three more dropped down behind him. Five in total, surrounding him.
"Konoha scum, prepare to die!" one of them snarled, his hands flying through seals. He opened his mouth, and a torrential wave of water erupted forth—the Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique.
Any shinobi capable of this was likely Jōnin-level, given its immense chakra cost.
Seeing the deluge, Akatsurugi leaped high to avoid the initial impact, landing nimbly on the churning water's surface. But a hand shot from the depths below, aiming for his ankle.
Akatsurugi kicked off the water, propelling himself upward again. In the same motion, he drew Ryūjin Jakka, sheathing it in the roaring flames of the Flame-Flame Fruit, and slashed downward.
His flaming blade met its target, but the figure dissolved into a splash of water—a Water Clone.
From all sides, dragons of water formed and charged him. In the brief moment he'd dealt with the clone, the other four had completed their seals. "Water Style: Water Dragon Projectile!"
Facing four simultaneous dragons, Akatsurugi's mind remained crystal clear. His sword arm became a blur, one water dragon disintegrating under the flaming edge. A swirling, blue sphere of chakra—the Rasengan—materialized in his other hand, meeting a second dragon and grinding it to nothing.
The remaining two closed in. Akatsurugi twisted his body, evading one with a fluid dodge and letting the other crash harmlessly into the water where he'd just been. The watery blockade was broken.
"Lightning Style: Earth-Spreading Jutsu!"
A Kiri shinobi channeled lightning into the water, attempting to combine elements and electrocute him.
Akatsurugi had anticipated this. His hands were already moving. "Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" He exhaled a massive fireball directly at his feet.
Though a C-rank technique, the Flame-Flame Fruit's power supercharged it. The water beneath him boiled away in an instant into a cloud of steam, severing the lightning's conductive path far from his body.
Using the steam as cover, Akatsurugi leaped backward, putting distance between them. His hands flashed to his pouch, emerging with a volley of kunai—each trailing a precious explosive tag.
The Kiri shinobi initially scoffed at the wild throws, but their sneers died as the kunai ricocheted off one another in mid-air, changing trajectory to home in on them from unexpected angles. "Uchiha-style?!" one gasped in alarm. A shinobi slammed his palms onto the water, erecting walls to block the projectiles.
The ensuing explosions shattered the water walls.
Through the spray, they saw Akatsurugi charging, his sword a banner of fire, his form splitting into three in the air—Crescent Moon Dance.
"Hah! A cheap trick!" a Kiri ninja spat, his hands a blur. A massive water dragon head erupted from the surface, its maw wide enough to swallow all three Akatsurugis whole.
The jaws snapped shut. But the figures dissolved into puffs of white smoke. Shadow Clones.
The real Akatsurugi was already fleeing. Fighting five suspected Jōnin to a standstill was impressive enough; staying to die would be idiotic.
"Damn it! After him!" a Kiri ninja roared, giving chase.
Meanwhile, within the heart of the Hidden Mist, Uchiha Kagami's Sharingan spun wildly, tracing every minute disturbance. A faint whoosh of air was his only warning. He leaned back, a massive blade—the Executioner's Blade—scything through the space his neck had occupied. The attacker vanished back into the mist, but Kagami now knew. The Swordsmen were here.
Swish! A nearly imperceptible sound. Kagami's body moved before his mind fully registered it. A silver needle-thin blade—the Longsword Needle—grazed past him. His heart sank. His guess was right. And this mist was a severe hindrance.
His hands formed a single seal. He took a deep, measured breath, chakra gathering in his lungs, and exhaled. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" A hurricane-force gust erupted from him, shredding the mist and sweeping it away.
Uchiha Kagami possessed three chakra natures: Fire, Wind, and Lightning. It was a versatility Akatsurugi envied, his own path narrowed by the Flame-Flame Fruit's pure fire affinity. If only I had wind, Akatsurugi often thought, the combination would be devastating.
With the mist cleared, the Kiri Swordsmen were revealed. All five of them stood in a loose semicircle, their legendary blades gleaming. The real battle was about to begin.