Chapter 44: Death
Pfft!
Hōzuki Ōrō fired a Finger Bullet.
Half of Zē's body was blown apart.
"Ah..."
A faint cry escaped his lips before he collapsed to the ground.
"Hmm. You're pretty impressive to have held me off for this long. Goodbye... Oh, no. I suppose I won't be seeing you again."
Ōrō withdrew his finger and smiled faintly.
He then turned to look at the other battlefields.
Seeing that the others had yet to finish off their opponents, his smile grew even wider.
"As expected of me. I'm the strongest member of this team. I was the first to defeat my opponent."
The fact that he could still think about the other battles while fighting made Ōrō feel as though he had reached a whole new level.
Now, let's deal with that Uchiha guy.
With today's results, I definitely need to celebrate properly when I get back. Maybe I'll embellish the battle report a little. After all, a hero's story always needs a little 'artistic enhancement'!
Whoosh!
Blazing flames erupted from Gōenji's hands.
The tongues of fire licked at the air with a crackling sound.
"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"
A wave of scorching heat swept across the battlefield.
The earth beneath him was charred black, while the surrounding trees were instantly reduced to ash. The flames surged toward his opponent, threatening to devour everything in their path.
Shirō Fubuki smiled faintly.
Facing the attack, he rapidly formed hand seals.
Cold air rose from the ground and condensed around his right leg.
"Ice Release: Eternal Blizzard!"
Boom!
His right leg collided with the flaming fist.
Ice and fire erupted against each other, instantly producing a massive cloud of steam.
The violent collision between heat and cold distorted the surrounding air.
"Heh..."
Gōenji was finally forced back by the impact.
With roughly half of his chakra already depleted, he retreated rapidly.
Then—
"Ah!"
A scream rang out.
Gōenji turned his head.
The sight before him filled him with rage.
His teammate, Zē, was dead.
In the end, I'm not a native of this world.
Although I have emotions, that barrier in my mind prevents them from becoming a source of power. Instead, they can only weigh me down.
Looking at Zē's corpse, Gōenji could only laugh bitterly at his own helplessness.
He couldn't control his emotions.
He couldn't turn them into strength.
His Sharingan had not evolved into the Mangekyō Sharingan.
He had gained no new power from it.
He knew that he was probably destined never to possess the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Perhaps transmigrators simply weren't meant to be given such emotions.
That cognitive barrier was truly a strange thing.
It perfectly prevented his emotions from becoming a source of power.
Of course, there was also the fact that his emotional bond with Zē had never reached that level.
It never could have.
Even after living in this world for so long, the perspective of someone who had once stood outside it remained deeply ingrained in him.
"Run."
Gōenji glanced at Shirō Fubuki, then toward Ryōma, who was still fighting in the distance.
"These people are too strong. I might be able to deal with one of them alone, but if all of them come after me, I might not even be able to escape."
His Sharingan observed the chakra surging through Ryōma's body.
The young swordsman was clearly preparing some powerful secret technique—one so unusual that even Gōenji's Sharingan couldn't simply copy it.
Whoosh!
To Shirō Fubuki's surprise, Gōenji decisively used the Body Flicker Technique and withdrew from the battlefield.
"He's certainly decisive."
Fubuki smiled faintly.
"Does he know he can't win?"
He formed a hand seal.
"Ice Release: Ice Path!"
A thin layer of ice rapidly spread across the ground.
Fubuki slid across the frozen surface, pursuing Gōenji while simultaneously throwing shuriken to interfere with his movements.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!
Countless bones burst from the earth.
They rose toward the sky like a forest of blades, forming an enormous field of bone spikes.
Under such circumstances, Ryōma, a Konoha shinobi wielding chakra blades, moved through the forest of bones as though strolling through a garden.
Whenever he couldn't evade the dense bone spikes, he simply blocked them with his blades and used the force of the impact to alter his position, avoiding the next wave of attacks.
Whoosh!
Kaguya Sei's eyes widened in disbelief.
His ultimate technique was being neutralized like this?
He couldn't believe it.
He continued forcing the Dance of the Young Fern to attack.
But his body was already beginning to change.
His skin gradually withered, and an uncomfortable sensation spread throughout his body.
"Damn it. Not enough chakra."
Frustration filled Sei's heart.
After such a long battle and the continuous expenditure of physical strength and chakra, he had almost nothing left.
Maintaining the Dance of the Young Fern was now equivalent to burning through his own life force.
Less than two minutes later, the technique finally disappeared.
Sei collapsed to his knees, completely exhausted, gasping for breath.
Whoosh!
At that moment, Ryōma, who had been moving within his Selflessness: Perfect Pinnacle state, instantly seized the opportunity.
He appeared directly in front of Sei.
"Die."
Ryōma was panting heavily as well.
His face was pale and exhausted.
He crossed his two chakra blades, preparing to deliver the final blow.
Whoosh!
Bang!
A hole suddenly appeared in Ryōma's forehead.
His body stiffened.
Then he collapsed.
Only white fluid flowed from the wound, mixed with a few sparse drops of blood.
"Sei, you actually allowed a Konoha shinobi to push you this far. You're disgracing the reputation of the Kaguya clan!"
Hōzuki Ōrō appeared beside Sei, sneering.
Sei was already completely exhausted.
All he could do was glare at the man mocking him.
"Look at this guy. Just like you, he exhausted himself completely."
Ōrō examined Ryōma's corpse.
"Even if I hadn't intervened, he wouldn't have lived much longer."
He gave a mocking laugh.
"Of course, when it comes to you Kaguya clan lunatics, I can understand it. But I never expected someone from Konoha to be this crazy too."
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Another figure landed nearby.
Munashi Jinpachi was in a miserable state.
His clothes were torn, and traces of flames still clung to his body.
Looking at the scene, he spoke.
"Konoha's people really are troublesome. The Uchiha are one thing, but this guy actually managed to push Ryōma this far. He's quite the talented brat."
He immediately assumed the role of commander and issued an order.
"Let's go. I don't know whether Fubuki can defeat his opponent. Hōzuki, you stay here with Sei."
Ōrō clicked his tongue but still dragged Sei to a concealed location before following Jinpachi in pursuit.
"Damn it! This is a disgrace to the Kaguya clan!"
Sei was furious.
Yet he could only watch his teammates leave, powerless to stop them.
A caterpillar slowly crawled onto his body.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Uchiha Shisui raced through the forest, pushing his Body Flicker Technique to its absolute limit.
"Gōenji-nii, don't you dare die."
Although Shisui knew Gōenji's strength and didn't believe he would fall so easily, worry still filled his heart.
The combat strength Kirigakure had mobilized this time was completely different from an ordinary battlefield force.
These people were specialists.
The elite among the elite.
A squad followed behind Shisui, but they clearly couldn't keep up with his speed.
The Nara clan shinobi at the front, recognizable by his pineapple-shaped hair, sighed.
"Shisui is moving too fast. He's also being too reckless. Kirigakure's real targets might be Shisui and Gōenji..."
Meanwhile, somewhere completely unrelated to the battlefield—