The Kirigakure Battlefields (4)

(A/N: Since some of you complained about Anko recently, I can tell you right now, that she will get a really big and interesting power-up in the future. I will also flesh out and make her character grow even further, so don't worry. Just keep on reading!)

(A/N: Some of you also seriously misunderstood something! My fanfic doesn't rank ahead because it isn't good enough, but simply because it isn't harem fanfic with 24 heroines or overpowered MC killing everyone at 8, instead!)

(A/N: I can make that too, giving people what they really want, but I simply won't, because I ultimately believe that such stories won't get far into the future and will start getting boring after a while...)

(A/N: And, since some of you already asked me, I made a PATREO-N page now, you can check more details at the bottom of this chapter!)

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The darkness of the night gradually covered the whole of Kirigakure's misty obscure territory.

Inside the most important building of this whole village, on the dim balcony roof.

The light from the lamps was just right so that the silhouettes of two people could be seen standing there alone.

This was just one of the many sleepless nights they both shared for this village before.

"They'll come back soon, you need to relax a little Mei, you didn't sleep well for days already..."

The green-haired man named Ryoto said concerningly to the pretty girl beside him who was just staring into the distance at the moment.

"No, I'll sleep only when this war is finally over!"

Mei replied resolutely and continued somewhat warmly.

"Not to mention, you also train day and night, tirelessly..."

"So, I can't manage to not do the same thing myself..."

"Mei, did you forget this was also my birth village?"

"It's simply my duty to try and help it as much as I can!"

"You should really go back to sleep now, I'll wait for those guys here."

"Just let me share a little of your Kage's burdens, please..." Ryoto glanced at her softly and replied lightly.

"Then, you should've become the Mizukage yourself, hmh!" Mei replied feeling a little annoyed.

Ryoto's parents were originally from the Kirigakure too, but they escaped from the Third Mizukage's maniacal rule towards an unknown location before.

But that unknown location was only known to her because Ryoto already explained her about it, unexpectedly, it was the famous samurais' Land of Iron!

Ryoto originally grew up there, and after experienced many fortuitous encounters and adventures there, he finally infiltrated back into his own birth village once he heard that the Third Mizukage notably perished in the battle.

He formed a secret organization of young people and progressives covertly, with overthrowing the old traditionalist and their bloody rules, that drove his parents out of that village, in mind.

"You know that I'm not suited for that position well, haha..." He replied embarrassingly while scratching his hair.

"Then shut up and listen to me!"

"I'll remain here to wait for those guys, the end!"

Ryoto sighed after seeing her resolute face and hearing her words.

The Seven Swordsmen of the Mist performed a really important mission this time around. It was the first time they were sent against an entire enemy's shinobi squad.

They were testing a new tactic in this way.

- - -

The scent of fresh blood permeated the air, the feeling of death was rising all throughout this mushy peculiar terrain.

Seven people were walking ahead ruthlessly, living a sea of butchered corpses behind them.

They were the notorious Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, decimating an entire Konoha's squadron efficiently just a moment ago.

Fuguki Suikazan, their captain, and the wielder of the renowned Samehada blade, the most terrifying of the seven blades. It has the appearance of a giant knife covered in shark scales. It is a sentient, living weapon and has the ability to "eat" chakra.

By far the tallest and largest member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, Fuguki's most distinctive trait was his fish-like appearance.

He had small round eyes and like most of the other members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, sharp jagged teeth. He had long, orange hair that reached into his back with some pinned up at the top. He also had six green stripes on his face.

Attire-wise he wore the standard striped jumpsuit of Kirigakure, a black outfit over it as well as a white cloak/robe over it and Samehada strapped over his shoulder via a large belt decorated by a tassel.

He also wore the Kirigakure forehead protector and standard shinobi sandals, and as with all the swordsmen of the previous generation, he had bandages wrapped loosely around his neck.

Jinin Akebino, another of the older members, he has a brown beard and hair which he ties into a topknot. The remainder of his face appears to be rather angular and features a very protuberant nose.

He wore a dark-colored poncho cloth over a standard Swordsman attire, consisting of a sleeveless dark shirt and matching pants along with a waist-guard, pin-striped arm and leg-warmers typical of his village and Kirigakure's forehead protector.

He wields a renowned blade called Kabutowari, a sword consisting of a single-sided ax and a hammer joined by a length of chain. Said to be capable of crushing any and all defenses.

Raiga Kurosuki, one of the younger members, the wilder of the famous Kiba twin swords that are imbued with lightning which increases their cutting power. They are said to be the sharpest swords ever forged.

Raiga had blue eyes with a darker ripple around the pupil, waist-length green hair with the top two bangs falling down on his cheeks on each side, and having dark, full lips.

He also wore the traditional Kiri Anbu uniform with a white mask with thin, short curved eye-holes, a mischievous smile, and two red wave design on the top and bottom on the right side, as well as the Kirigakure symbol on the forehead.

Kushimaru Kuriarare, the wilder of the strange blade called Nuibari, a blade in the shape of a needle with a long thin wire that resembles thread attached to it, which can be used to pierce enemies and "sew" them together in human bundles.

Kushimaru was very thin and tall in stature, which gave him an overall gangling appearance. He had long, shaggy, straw-colored blond hair, and his face was concealed by a white, porcelain Anbu mask, with a green-colored triangle on its lower half, slits for eye-holes and Kirigakure's symbol etched into the top.

His attire consisted of a sleeveless black shirt, matching pants, complete with a waist-guard, and Kirigakure's striped wrist and leg-guards. He also wore bandages around his neck like the other members of his generation of the swordsmen.

Juzo Biwa, a slender and tall shinobi, about the same height as the sword he wielded. He had no eyebrows, creases under his eyes, and a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek. His hair and eyes are dark grays in color and his hair is short and spiky. He has light tan skin.

He also had a red grid-shaped marking covering his jaw.

He wore a black tight-fitting sleeveless shirt with two light, thin stripes on his chest, a striped cloth belt, and light pants along with black arm cover extending from his hands to his biceps.

Jūzō also wore bandages around his neck and face which also covered his ears and, like most of the members of the Seven Swordsmen, also had pointed teeth.

He was the wielder of the bloodthirsty Kubikiribochco blade, a giant sword with a butcher-knife-like appearance, the wielder can use the semi-circle on the blade to decapitate an opponent's head, hence the name.

The sword has an ability to regenerate using the iron absorbed from the blood of those it cuts down.

Jinpachi Munashi, the wielder of the explosive Shibuki, a sword that has a scroll full of explosive tags incorporated into it, lined up behind the blade, combining swordsmanship and explosions.

Jinpachi had long, brown hair, a long beard which he wore in strands adorned with beads and his lips were also noticeably dark in color.

The top of his head was wrapped in bandages, and he had an eye-patch covering his left eye, sprouting from under his Kirigakure forehead protector.

And finally, Mangetsu Hozuki was the youngest member of the current generation of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, only thirteen years old at this time.

Not only was he pretty skilled in the art of kenjutsu, but he was also a member of the memorable

Kiri's Hozuki Clan. The members of this clan possess the ability to turn their bodies into a liquid state using the Hydrification Technique.

Mangetsu had purple eyes, shoulder-length, white-colored hair, and pointed and shark-like teeth.

He wore an outfit that consisted of a black, sleeveless shirt, light-purple-colored pants, and striped leg-warmers typical of his village.

His blade of choice was Hiramekare, a bandaged double-handled sword that is capable of storing and emitting the user's chakra which can then take on various forms.

"Haha, this mission was pretty easy!"

"These guys didn't even make me break a sweat!" The tall and fierce-looking young man called Juzo Biwa said all of sudden mockingly, looking at all the corpses behind them after turning his head a little.

"Don't get too cocky now, Juzo, didn't Ryoto tell you about that guy?"

"Who knows if Konoha has even more characters like him..."

A stern-looking older guy called Jinin Akebino replied pretty level-headedly.

"Well, I'm not afraid of him, haha..."

"After learning that technique, I don't believe anyone in this world can take on all of us together!"

A little handsome man called Raiga Kurosaki replied confidently all of a sudden.

"Alright, let's hurry back..." The tallest man in their group, called Fuguki Suikazan, started speaking about something, but suddenly motioned them with one of his hands to stop, his other hand already holding the hilt of his famous blade dangerously.

His expression becoming really fierce, the same as his companions'.

'Was the squadron we slaughtered just now, a decoy or a bait?'

"Hidden Mist Jutsu!"

They all suddenly launched the same illustrious jutsu of their own home village, at the same time, in perfect sync and coordination together.

The user of this jutsu fill the air with mist and control its thickness with their chakra.

Once the mists are thick enough that opponents cannot see, that in turn means they cannot manage much defense against the user.

They all held their breaths hidden, ready to anticipate and counter any movements they sense in the distance, showing their voluminous experience in dealing with tense situations like this.

On the other side of this distinctive area, on the nearby lonely jungle browny hillock coated in dark green,

Stood a small group of elite shinobi, effectively forming a small squad.

The captain of this group was seemingly a silver-haired, serious-looking, younger shinobi wearing a black mask.

"Remember to act according to the plan now!"

He said all of a sudden stealthily, looking at the two weirdly-dressed dark-haired shinobi beside him especially serious.

"Don't worry Kakashi, I know when's the time to be serious!"

Might Guy nodded firmly and seriously to his old childhood friend and a rival, his father following his somber expression as well.

"Alright, gentlemen, you can start!"

Kakashi nodded satisfied, turned around, and said to the other group of ordinary-looking Konoha shinobi.

They were all standing behind him respectfully in their usual war uniforms.

"3, 2, 1..."

"Wind Release: Breakthrough!"

"The Sixth Gate: The Gate of View - Open!"

Many surprising things suddenly happened in a second.

The twenty different Konoha shinobi who were currently standing behind Kakashi on the hillock, all performed the same particular Wind Release jutsu simultaneously.

After gathering chakra in their stomachs, they expelled a twenty different large gusts of wind from their mouths in the direction of the Hidden Mist in front of them, blowing it nearly all away instantaneously.

Might Guy, and Duy, who were presently standing beside him, started growing fiery green in color, with veins protruding all over their bodies all of a sudden.

They suddenly disappeared from their original positions at unimaginable speeds.

And, If you looked closely enough, each one of them carried another person on their backs at the moment.

Those people were, of course, Kakashi, and Kosuke Uchiha, who remained silent until now, his mind fully focused on executing his cousin's and Yoshi's next part of the plan successfully.

Might Guy, and Duy, suddenly looked up at the strange and fierce-looking seven people, they reappeared in front of, in a moment.

All four of them held some kind of strange and peculiar seal scrolls in their hands firmly.

And, before the seven infamous people from the Kirigakure managed to react, the four of them were already slapped with some kind of weird seal formulae unexpectedly.

The seal was called 'Uzumaki Light Flare Seal', and it was made by Yoshi for this situation especially, attempting to counter their famous Hidden Mist Jutsu, completely catching them off guard.

Once this seal gets slapped onto the target, the target won't stop glowing bright, completely revealing his position in that way, before twenty-four hours pass, no matter what happens.

Kakashi, Kosuke, Guy, and Duy, each managed to stick that seal on one of their targets successfully.

All seven people suddenly looked in shock at the weird situation in front of them.

'What!?'

'Who are these two strange-looking green people!?'

Only Kushimaru, Mangetsu, and Raiga weren't slapped with a seal on top of them at the moment.

Jinpachi suddenly regained his composure and attacked Kakashi fiercely with his explosive uniquely built blade in the next second.

"Kakashi Hatake!? White Demon!?"

"You're mine!"

Disregarding the weird glow of light now being present on his abdomen, he attacked Kakashi mightily.

'Explosive blade? Bring it on!'

Kakashi pulled his own famous white blade out decisively and parried the upcoming attack.

The loud sounds of thunder and explosions suddenly resounded in the marshy field.

Juzo also ignored his own afterglow, licked his lips excitedly, and attacked the black-haired, stern-looking young man in front of him ferociously.

Kosuke just smiled and also unexpectedly pulled his own sword from its sheath.

And before colliding with the enemy's famous sword, Kosuke's own sword suddenly got enveloped in some kind of orange chakra flames.

"Uchiha Style: Dance of the Sun Halo!"

Juzo looked in surprise at the flaming sword in his enemy's hands, now nearly melting his own blade.

But, in the next second, he started laughing maniacally and exclaimed all of a sudden.

"Haha, don't get cocky now!

"I can do that too!"

"Water Release: Water Forge Technique!"

By gathering water around the user's sword, it generates a rapidly swirling stream. Once striking with it, it unleashes a strong surge of water towards the target.

Same to Kosuke's flame version, this technique also works by gathering chakra around the user's blade, but instead of flames, it generates a rapidly swirling water stream instead.

Enforcing its cutting power and hardness of the sword effectively.

Only real masters of chakra's nature and shape transformations can perform incredible techniques like these.

The famous Kubikiribocho, along with his water chakra nature mastery, it's no wonder that this man, Juzo Biwa, later managed to successfully join the Akatsuki in the original.

On the other side of the field, another situation was unfolding there simultaneously.

"The Seventh Gate: The Gate of Wonder - Open!"

Seeing that some of the people still got away without receiving their special-made revealing seal, Duy and Guy looked at one another and nodded, deciding to enter the next step of their unique technique, opening the seventh hidden gate.

Located below the person's stomach, opening this hidden gate causes the user's body to secrete a blue sweat. The sweat immediately evaporates, creating a blue aura around the user that can be easily mistaken for chakra.

They managed to quickly appear in front of a little faster Raiga and Kushimaru, who both looked them in shock right now.

'Isn't this exactly like Ryoto's technique?'

'What's going on!?'

'How can these two people use it too!?'

Raiga thought in shock noticing the familiar blue aura, before getting branded with the glowing light seal himself quickly.

Mangetsu managed to escape somehow unscathed by activating his Hidden Mist technique in time.

The whole terrain was suddenly enveloped in thick mist once again.

But now, the six of the seven enemy swordsmen could be easily located thanks to the seals branded onto them earlier.

Fuguki turned a little solemn and serious realizing the peculiar situation they were in.

'It seems like they were really prepared this time...'

He decided to act, and swiftly perform some kind of weird biomechanic move internally, his body moving forward really fast, totally ignoring its whole weight.

He suddenly swung his Samehada shark-like blue sword down brutally at Might Duy.

'Pretty fast for a man of his size...'

Duy thought seriously, while quickly moving away a little.

But from his back, awaited him another fierce attack.

Twin swords embedded in raging lightning attempted to sneakily stab him from behind.

It was Raiga who holding his famous Kiba blades, the sharpest blades in the existence, dangerously!

The coordination between the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist still remained perfect inside the Hidden Mist Jutsu, they could successfully sense each other's positions from all the water infused chakra in the air.

Near their position, another similar battle started taking place.

Kushimaru, who successfully escaped before, didn't manage to avoid getting the seal branded onto himself this time around.

After slapping him with the seal, Might Guy and he proceeded into the battle.

The serious-looking and level-headed Jinin also started assisting him from the side using his peculiar weapon and weird battle tactics.

Both of them showed unexpected levels of speed, Guy noted seriously.

Back to the first engaging battle between Kosuke Uchiha and Juzo Biwa.

"What's up now? Show me some more spirit..."

Juzo said mockingly before swinging his fierce sword at him again.

Utilizing the movement technique Ryoto taught him before, up to the third level, and his water infused chakra sword countering the Kosuke's fire one, he had a clear advantage in this battle.

Both in the speed and in the attack potential.

The more desperate the opponent in front of him got, the more excited Juzo was.

He didn't allow him any time to breathe properly, not to mention, perform any ninjutsu.

Looking at his hopeless face, Juzo grew frantic and yelled maniacally.

"I've had enough of my fun with you!"

"Let's end this already!"

'Fourth Level - Release!'

Juzo mentally explained, weird changes appearing in his body.

His speed suddenly got really faster, and he yelled fiercely.

"Ahh!!"

Giving his all into this single strike that could be performed only once per day by him.

Kosuke suddenly opened his eyes wide in fear, his expression desperate and hopeless.

He felt just a fleeting moment of sharp pain in his chest area, before collapsing lonely on the ground.

Juzo just looked at his corpse proudly for a few moments, savoring its taste completely, before turning around while thinking about what do to next, once he realized his previous opponent breathed his dying breath.

He took a few plain steps forward,

When all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it was his turn to suddenly feel pain through his heart!

'H-How is this possible?'

He turned around meekly and painfully in his last few moments.

His usually fierce-looking and scary eyes stared at the man he truly killed just a few moments ago, in a shock and astonishment.

His opponent's whole body was now enveloped in some kind of thin weird red lines, beginning from his strange patterned left eye.

"Sigh..."

"Unfortunately you fought against a real Uchiha today!"

Kosuke sighed and replied seriously, not ashamed in the slightest for using this disingenuous way to win this battle.

After all, this was an illustrious hidden power of his glorious Uchiha clan, he was even proud of using it so successfully today.

'Did it really feel this good to get pierced in the heart...'

Those were his last words, as short-lived but notorious Juzo Biwa finally closed his eyes for all eternity.

Kosuke looked at all of this expressionlessly, just reaching to pick up his famous sword from the ground up and seal it inside a scroll, as he was instructed before this whole operation started.

But, before he could do so, out of is expectations, a white shadow suddenly flashed in the mist, picking up the sword faster than him and disappearing again in an unknown direction.

Kosuke opened his eyes wide, but looking at only six light flares in the distance, he immediately understood something.

'So one of them still got away?'

'No matter what, it's not like their accursed village will still continue to exist after my cousin and Yoshi are done with them later...'

On the other side of the swampy area in the middle of a jungle, Kakashi and Jinpachi were still fighting fiercely, exchanging their blows.

However, unlike the other time, Konoha's side clearly had an advantage this time.

Kakashi was evidently both really faster and stronger than Jinpachi at the moment.

His blade was also surprisingly superior to his.

Jinpachi grew more and more enraged after seeing this, his movements started gradually slipping up a little.

"Don't get too cocky now, Konoha's dog!"

"I'll kill you!!"

He shouted angrily while accumulating some kind of energy inside his body internally, all of a sudden, 'Fourth Level - Release!'

Kakashi realized that a strong attack is coming his way soon now, so he immediately performed his own strongest attack too, "White Light Slash: Thunder Outburst!"

Jinpachi looked in shock as his large flaming explosive blade collided with the white lightning chakra slash coming towards him from the distance.

The attack passed through his large blade, hitting him right in the body, burning him apart.

Before he could even yell in pain, all his thoughts and feelings instantly stopped.

His head was cut off suddenly in a flash of a small and precise white chakra light.

Kakashi nodded and didn't waste any more of his time, just pulling a large object-sealing scroll from his shinobi backpack swiftly.

But, this time as well, before he managed to seal the enemy's sword successfully, it suddenly disappeared from the ground up surprisingly, lost in the mist.

And, he noticed someone specifically doing it, so he thought seriously, 'That last guy is impossible to track in this mist...'

'It's almost as if he becomes one with the mist itself...'

'As if his whole body can suddenly turn into the water element whenever he desires so...'

'I'm afraid, only Yoshi could maybe sense him here successfully out of all of us...'

He thought in an instant and hurried ahead to help with the other battles.

Might Duy was still occupied with Raiga and Fuguki back there.

He was faster than both of them, but their excellent coordination and weird attack patterns made this battle really close one.

'Alright!'

'These guys should be good targets for that attack...'

"Youth!"

"You guys will become the first ones to see this magnificent and youthful attack, so brace yourselves now!"

They looked at him stunned as he did some strange moves with his hands and fingers seriously all of a sudden.

"You fish guy will be the first one!"

"Hirudora!"

The Hirudora is an incredibly fast punch and, contrary to its appearance, purely taijutsu in nature.

After opening the seventh of the Eight Gates, the user places a palm facing forward in front of their face with one hand and then taps it with his other hand, formed into a fist, which creates a massive amount of air pressure.

Next, the user forms a unique hand seal resembling a tiger. This launches the air pressure at the opponent in the shape of one by leaving a gigantic tiger-shaped impression into the initially built-up air pressure with the hand seal.

The air pressure will condense as it's moving and be focused on a single point. The technique then explodes on command, releasing the built-up air pressure in an instant.

Fuguki Suikazan opened his eyes so wide that they could almost fall off his eye sockets.

He looked this shocked for the first time in his life, he was seriously wondering if he was actually only dreaming just now.

Looking at the giant white tiger now coming towards him expeditiously, he pulled his hungry sword Samehada quickly in an attempt to block it, hoping in his heart that this was only a chakra attack in nature.

But, outside of his deepest hopes, the fierce giant tiger just ignored his weapon, going straight for his stomach instead as if just wanting to devour him directly.

"Ah, ah, help!!"

His expression was full of fear and panic as the fierce tiger started pushing him from his current position towards the distance at an unprecedented speed, making him completely perish on his way directly.

Looking at this scene, Duy sweatdropped a little, not realizing the danger that was forming behind him, at the moment.

Raiga who looked at all of this gravely got ready to give it his all just now.

He started concentrating a large amount of lightning chakra at the edge of his Kiba blades, effectively forming a large and round thunderbolts.

"Die, you freak!!" He yelled furiously while throwing them at Duy mercilessly.

Duy suddenly turned around, looking at this scene stunned and panicked a little.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

But, Kosuke, who already came close to this battle's place, yelled from the distance suddenly while firing his own ninjutsu attack in an attempt to save Might Duy.

After awakening the Mangekyo, his whole body and chakra reserves noticeably changed, this somewhat ordinary jutsu was surely way stronger now than it was ever before.

And as expected, the giant scorching fireball managed to completely subdue the two large thunderbolts in the distance.

Duy nodded gratefully towards his direction and then swiftly disappeared from his previous position.

Appearing right behind Raiga, punching him in the head mercilessly, catapulting him right into the ground.

Nevertheless, deep in the ground, another Kiri's famous sword was unexpectedly being sealed away by the same guy.

On the other side of the Hidden Mist, where another battle between Might Guy and Kushimaru and Jinin was taking place.

The exact same situation occurred there. After realizing that there'll be no way out otherwise, Might Guy performed his newly learned technique from his father, the Hirudora!

Killing the older Jinin instantly in that way,

The younger Kushimaru was a little trickier, at the moment when he turned away to perform the Hirudora successfully,

Kushimaru already laid him various senbon traps there, by hiding his wire strings underground to form a complex structure that cuts off the opponent's feet.

One step ahead and his legs would be unknowingly cut off completely in a tragic way.

And, just before he would take the next step ahead, a voice suddenly yelled from the distance.

"Guy, stop, don't move!"

"I guess this is the dangerous guy who uses traps out of them!"

"I'll kill him from the distance!"

Guy nodded seriously while looking at his direction gratefully.

Kushimaru looked a little scared and panicked.

'Damn, I'm the only one alive here now!'

'That stupid little traitor Mangetsu!'

'He didn't do anything from the beginning!'

And, those were his last thoughts before perishing to the upcoming decimating attack...

"White Light Slash: Thunder Outburst!"

Kakashi used another chakra slash of similar potency as before from the half of his remaining chakra. His sword strangely disappeared as well!

Kosuke, Kakashi, Guy, and Duy suddenly noticed the Hidden Mist slowly moving away from them, in another direction gradually.

They grouped together again and Kosuke said seriously all of a sudden, "Should we go after that guy? We didn't get any of their swords..."

"No, it's pretty impossible to capture that guy in this swampy area, he can completely merge into the surrounding water!"

"W-What!?" All three of them exclaimed at the same time surprised.

"Yes, that is the special ability of that Hozuki clan, If I'm not mistaking..."

"Anyways, let him run..."

"When he gets back to his village, he'll have something to see..."

Kakashi thought dangerously while looking towards the Kirigakure's direction.

- - - - -

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