Chapter 90: Crimson Eyes in the Rain
Two minutes before the clash, Ragnar had arrived at the edge of the clearing, a silent observer woven into the tapestry of rain and shadow.
Konoha ANBU, Tengu. He remembered the operative who had guided him through his induction, the one who'd handed him his Rakshasa mask. Their interactions had been brief, professional. He'd filed the person away as another faceless cog in the machine and moved on.
To find Tengu here, fighting for their life against a Suna hunter, was an unexpected twist. He'd held back, curious. In the ANBU quarters, he'd sensed a deliberate restraint in Tengu's movements, a hidden depth. His Observation Haki had confirmed it—the chakra control, the reflexes. Elite chunin level, at minimum. A backbone operative.
Then came the true surprise. The Sharingan.
Crimson eyes, spinning with two tomoe, piercing through a genjutsu-kenjutsu hybrid. An Uchiha.
The revelation landed like a stone in his gut. An Uchiha. The clan he was effectively at war with. The clan whose members he'd killed. Was this fate's cruel joke?
He hadn't sensed malice from Tengu before. His Observation Haki was finely tuned to hostility, and it had never pinged for this masked guide. Not all Uchiha were consumed by the clan's collective pride and grievance, then. But did that matter? Saving an Uchiha could mean saving a future enemy. Letting nature take its course would be the pragmatic, survivalist choice.
Yet… Tengu had helped him. Had shown him the ropes without prejudice. That counted for something in Ragnar's harsh calculus. A debt, however small.
His decision crystallized just as the Kusanagi Sword descended for the kill.
The air hung heavy, thick with the smell of wet earth and ozone. The only sound was the endless percussion of rain.
Then Ragnar was there. His palm, sheathed in the pitch-black, vein-streaked shell of Level 4 Armament Haki, snapped shut around the descending Kusanagi blade.
CLANG!
The sound was a shockwave of metal on will. The legendary sword shivered in his grip, its innate sharpness sending a jarring, stinging vibration up his arm even through the Haki. He tightened his fingers. Dark red energy crackled at the point of contact between his blackened skin and the glowing seals on the blade.
Zzt-La!
A jolt of tremendous, concussive force traveled up the blade. Jiro of the Kunomiya Clan felt it in his wrists, his elbows. His eyes widened behind his mask. With a practiced, desperate twist, he disengaged, pulling the Kusanagi Sword free and leaping back several meters, his stance wary and shaken.
"Rakshasa!" The exclamation was pure shock from Tengu. The recognition was instantaneous.
Click… Cra-crack.
The sound was faint. The damaged Tengu mask, stressed by the near-miss and the sudden movement, finally gave way. A hairline fracture became a split, and the two halves of the long-nosed goblin mask fell away, clattering on the wet stone.
Ragnar turned his head.
For the second time in as many minutes, surprise stalled his thoughts. The face revealed was not what he'd unconsciously pictured.
It was a woman.
Black hair, straight and rain-drenched, framed a face of striking, classical beauty. Skin pale as moonlight, eyes a deep, intelligent obsidian that now held a flicker of panic. The Konoha forehead protector was tied across her brow, adding a touch of martial severity to her delicate features. There was a faint, nagging familiarity to her.
"You're a woman?!" The words left his mouth before he could filter them.
Tengu—no, the woman—flinched. She scrambled for the broken mask halves, a futile attempt to regain anonymity. "This—now isn't the time for that!" she stammered, her voice higher without the mask's modulator, laced with urgency. "Rakshasa, thank you, but this Suna-nin is strong. Be careful!"
"Hn." Ragnar filed his questions away, turning his full attention back to Jiro.
"Reinforcements?" Jiro rasped, recovering his swagger. He raised the Kusanagi Sword, its seals pulsing. "Just another soul for this blade to claim."
"He wields a Kusanagi Sword. Its edge is… unnatural," the Uchiha woman warned from behind Ragnar.
A Kusanagi Sword. In Suna's hands. Ragnar's mind raced through timelines from his old-world knowledge. Orochimaru's Sword of Kusanagi: Longsword of the Sky… Itachi's Sword of Kusanagi: Sword of the Divine Serpent… Sasuke's Chidori Katana… The one before him, with its straight blade and sealing arrays, matched the description of Orochimaru's future blade. So, this is where he gets it. Or will get it, if I don't change things.
"Secret Technique: Shadow-Killing Dance!" Jiro shouted again, not giving them time to strategize.
The air fractured. A thousand glittering afterimages of the Kusanagi Sword materialized, a dazzling, omnidirectional cage of lethal light descending upon them.
"Well, come on then."
Bang! A scroll appeared in Ragnar's hand in a puff of smoke. From it, he drew Yama, the demon blade thirsting for battle. In his other hand, lightning chakra coalesced and stretched, forming a crackling sword of pure white thunder.
Facing the sky-filling rain of swords, Ragnar's expression behind his mask settled into cold focus.
"Nitoryu: Seventy-Two Pound Phoenix!"
He didn't dodge. He attacked. Both swords—Yama in his right, the lightning blade in his left—swept outward in a simultaneous, devastating cross-slash.
VWOOM-BOOM!
Twin spirals of compressed, hurricane-force sword energy, one dark and edged with Haki, one brilliant white and crackling with lightning, erupted from his position. They weren't slashes aimed at the illusions; they were area-of-effect annihilation. The spirals whirled upward, meeting the descending sword-rain head-on.
The collision was cataclysmic. The air itself seemed to shred. The thousand false blades shattered like glass under a hammer, disintegrating into harmless chakra sparks against the overwhelming power of the double Pound Phoenix. The shockwave flattened the grass in a wide circle and sent sheets of water flying off the trees.
"Incredible…" the Uchiha woman breathed, her Sharingan absorbing every impossible detail.
Jiro's confidence visibly wavered. His eyes narrowed behind his mask. A dual-wielding master… He adjusted his grip, the Kusanagi Sword humming. "Secret Technique: Phantom Kill!"
In a blur of motion, he vanished. Not with the Body Flicker, but with a technique that split his presence. Multiple afterimages of Jiro flickered into existence, encircling Ragnar completely—nine phantoms in a perfect ring. As one, they lunged, their Kusanagi Swords multiplying into dozens of piercing points from every angle, a sphere of certain death.
Clones. Illusions. Misdirection. Ragnar's mind was calm. What he hated least were flashy, scattered attacks. They sacrificed concentrated power for spectacle.
See through the fluff. Break it with force.
With a smooth motion, he drove Yama point-first into the earth before him, anchoring it. The lightning sword in his left hand dissipated. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, a fortress unto himself.
The nine phantoms closed in, their sword points converging.
Buzz…
"Armament Haki: Full-Body Hardening."
A whisper. The black shell encased his arms, his torso, crawling up his neck.
"Strength of a Hundred Secret Art: Army-Shattering Iron Fist."
He uncrossed his arms and drove his right fist, now a weapon of condensed will and monstrous physical power, straight down into the ground at his feet.
BOOOOOOM!
The earth didn't just crack. It erupted. A shockwave of pure, concussive force radiated outward in a visible ring, traveling through the soil faster than any phantom could move. The ground heaved, shattered, became a treacherous, instant earthquake. All nine afterimages, their footing annihilated, flickered and dissolved into nothingness as the technique's foundation was ripped out from under them.
No matter how fast you are, you can't run on air.
From the settling dust and rain, only one figure stood unmoved at the epicenter: Ragnar, his fist still embedded in the shattered earth, his Rakshasa mask gazing coolly at where Jiro's true body was forced to rematerialize, off-balance and wide-eyed.
(End of Chapter)
✨If you're enjoying this story, consider supporting me on Patreon —
Patreon.com/TofuChan
💕Patreon members get early access to chapters, bonus content, and voting power on future ideas.💕
Every bit of support helps me write more and faster. Thank you so much for reading! 🥰
Bonus Chapter For Every 100 Power Stones
Lets hit the goal of 200 Patreon Members now for 5 Extra Chapters 💕
We are at 156 members 🎉
There is a limited discount going on Patreon now 3 days left 😊