Chapter 6: The Man Who Needs No Hand Seals
They reached the base of the back mountain cliff, moving with the silence of ghosts. Every experienced Uchiha had their Sharingan active, the crimson eyes scanning the shadows for any hint of movement. Uchiha Raizen, his eyes still plain black, followed closely, his heart a frantic drum against his ribs.
At the front, Uchiha Tamura's hand shot up, then flashed through a rapid series of hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" A massive orb of flame roared from his lips, illuminating the hidden crevices of the pass and revealing the terrifying truth.
There were over eight hundred Senju clansmen lying in ambush.
If they had charged the left flank as originally planned, they would have been surrounded and annihilated. A cold dread, colder than any fear Uchiha Raizen had felt for himself, washed over him.
As Uchiha Tamura initiated the assault, the rest of the Uchiha unit unleashed their fury. The air grew thick with heat and the roar of flames as Fire Release techniques of all kinds filled the narrow pass. The Senju, though caught off-guard, recovered with terrifying speed, and the battle descended into a brutal, close-quarters melee.
This was the first time Uchiha Raizen witnessed the true, unvarnished horror of a ninja battlefield. It wasn't the clean, decisive kills of a single jutsu. It was a chaotic, visceral slaughter. Steel flashed, blood sprayed in dark arcs, and the air became saturated with the coppery smell of it. The sight of dismembered limbs and the choked-off cries of the dying were too much.
"Bleh!" The contents of his stomach rushed up his throat, and he doubled over, vomiting onto the blood-soaked ground.
Last time, the two Senju had been vaporized by his one-time-use jutsu. It was clean, almost clinical. This was a butcher's yard.
"Uchiha Raizen! Uchiha Raizen!! Get up! Enemy on your right!" Uchiha Natsume's voice was a desperate shout in his ear, barely audible over the din of combat as he hauled Uchiha Raizen to his feet.
"I... I can't..." Uchiha Raizen gagged again, his body trembling uncontrollably.
"Uchiha Natsume, cover him! I'll hold them off!" Uchiha Ryoken yelled, placing himself between his retching friend and an advancing trio of Senju. "Fire Release: Great Flame Bomb!" he roared, his hands a blur as he formed the seals, forcing the enemies to scatter.
"Uchiha Raizen, snap out of it!" Uchiha Natsume shook him, his face a mask of fear and urgency. "If we don't help him, Uchiha Ryoken is going to die!"
Die? Big brother is going to die? The words cut through the nausea and panic like a knife. A flash of red—not from a Sharingan, but from pure, primal adrenaline—colored his vision. His mind, moments ago a swirling mess, suddenly crystallized into a cold, hard point of focus.
"I'm okay," Uchiha Raizen gasped, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Go, help him!"
Uchiha Natsume gave a sharp nod and released his grip, darting forward to join Uchiha Ryoken.
Pushing himself upright, Uchiha Raizen charged toward the fray. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" he screamed, pointing a finger at the nearest Senju.
The Senju ninja sneered, his hands already completing a sequence. "Water Release: Waterfall Basin Technique!" A torrent of water erupted to meet the fireball, instantly extinguishing the flames and continuing its deadly path toward Uchiha Raizen.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" Uchiha Natsume interceded, unleashing a volley of smaller fireballs that disrupted the water jet, saving Uchiha Raizen from a watery grave.
"Well, well. A team of rookies," the lead Senju, a man with a cruel scar across his cheek, taunted. "Senju Chiki, Senju Chibayashi, you two assist the others. I can handle these children myself."
"As you command, Brother Chisen!" the two other Senju acknowledged before leaping away to join other skirmishes.
"You arrogant bastard! That overconfidence will be your death!" Uchiha Natsume spat, already weaving signs for another jutsu.
Hearing Uchiha Natsume's defiance, a final piece of Uchiha Raizen's resolve clicked into place. He knew the words were meant for him as much as for the enemy.
"Uchiha Ryoken! Uchiha Natsume!" Uchiha Raizen called out, his voice steady now, cutting through the chaos. "Fall back behind me! I'm going to use something big, and I can't control it well!"
Uchiha Ryoken, though confused, didn't hesitate. "I don't know what you're planning, but I trust you!" He disengaged and leaped back to stand beside Uchiha Natsume, both of them positioning themselves at Uchiha Raizen's back.
Uchiha Raizen raised his hand. In his system warehouse, eight powerful ninjutsu waited. He focused on three of them.
"Fire Release..." he began.
Senju Chisen laughed aloud. "What is this? A recital? You didn't even form a single seal! Are you here to die comically?"
He never finished his taunt.
"Grand Fireball Technique!" Uchiha Raizen roared. A fireball as large as Uchiha Tamura's blasted forth.
"Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!" A shower of incendiary projectiles followed instantly.
"Fire Release: Extinguishing Fire!" A wave of concentrated, annihilating flames, a high-level technique Uchiha Natsume could barely manage, completed the triad.
Three devastating Fire Release techniques erupted from Uchiha Raizen's position simultaneously, none preceded by a single hand sign. They converged on Senju Chisen's location, a cataclysm of heat and destruction that swallowed his shocked expression whole. The air itself seemed to ignite, leaving behind a scorched patch of earth and no trace of the arrogant Senju.
Uchiha Ryoken and Uchiha Natsume stood frozen, their shared shock a palpable force between them. They had seen him do it before, but to witness him unleash three different, high-level ninjutsu in rapid succession, all without any preparatory hand seals, defied every law of shinobi combat they had ever been taught.
He just... spoke them into existence, Uchiha Ryoken thought, his mind reeling.
Uchiha Natsume stared at the smoldering crater, then at Uchiha Raizen's back. The implications were staggering. If Uchiha Raizen could truly learn and replicate any jutsu he saw, without the constraints of chakra molding or hand seals, then the boy they had sworn to protect was potentially the most terrifying weapon on the entire battlefield.