The red energy arrows shot toward the Sun Disc at blistering speed, slicing through the air like streaks of fire.
Ryushi stood atop the fortress wall, gripping his transformed bow, Zanpakuto Arashi no Namida. A smirk curled on his lips. "This shot will destroy that damn Sun Disc."
The crimson arrow wasn't just a simple projectile. As it streaked forward, it exuded an ominous pressure—a technique known as Shocking Rain. Its ability was both simple and terrifying: every impact caused the arrow to split, multiplying its numbers exponentially. A single hit would become two, then four, then eight, until the attack rained down upon its target in an unstoppable storm.
Gaara, perched on the battlefield, spotted the incoming attack first. His expression remained calm, but he knew he couldn't afford to let it hit. He lifted his gourd, the sand inside shifting at his command.
"Sandstorm Gatling!"
The gourd's mouth flared open, and bullets of compressed sand erupted from within, forming a dense air-defense barrage.
Da-da-da-da!
The sand bullets struck the incoming red arrows, but then something unexpected happened. Instead of being blocked, the arrows began to multiply. Every impact split them further, expanding their reach until what was once a single arrow became a full-blown rainstorm of death.
Gaara's eyes narrowed as the red rain bore down on him. "Tch... it's splitting every time it hits something."
Ryushi chuckled from his vantage point. "Heh, you can't stop my Shocking Rain. No matter how much you try to block it, it only spreads further!"
Gaara prepared another barrage, but a voice cut through the battlefield.
"Gaara, let me handle this."
Mufasa, still lounging lazily on the Sun Disc, finally stirred. He stretched, rolling his shoulders as he observed the incoming storm of arrows.
"Unlimited splitting and target locking? Not bad. Combining that with the Byakugan's precision makes for a troublesome ability."
As the CEO of Faraday Industries, Mufasa knew about every major warrior wielding enhanced abilities, and Ryushi had once been one of his company's so-called "lucky customers." His face had even appeared in a promotional campaign. That was before he defected from Konoha.
Now, that same man was standing against him.
"Hah. Poetic."
Mufasa simply raised a hand. The red arrows raced forward, closing the gap until they were only two meters away from the Sun Disc. Ryushi, along with Obito and Kurozumi, felt a surge of excitement.
"It's over!" Ryushi declared. "That golden plate is done for!"
But then—
The red arrows stopped midair, frozen in place, unable to move an inch closer to the Sun Disc.
Ryushi's eyes widened in shock. "What the hell?! That's impossible!"
The battlefield fell silent as the realization sank in. The Arashi no Namida arrows, which were supposed to split endlessly, had met an invisible force they couldn't overcome.
Mufasa yawned as he finally sat up, rolling his wrists. "You really don't understand, do you? Your arrows split when they hit obstacles. But what if there's no obstacle? Just air. Just a magnetic field."
The air around him shimmered as the faint golden glow of his magnetic shield became visible. The arrows, caught in its invisible force, struggled in vain.
Then, with a lazy flick of his hand—
Zzzzt!
The entire storm of red arrows disintegrated, their energy swallowed by the spinning field.
Ryushi clenched his fists. "No way...!"
Obito, Kurozumi, and the others exchanged uneasy glances. If they couldn't destroy the Sun Disc, then they had to defeat Mufasa himself. But if they could beat him, why would they even need to destroy the Sun Disc in the first place?
Meanwhile, Gaara's Yellow Sand Legion continued to grow. More sand puppets rose from the ground, their numbers swelling as they overtook the battlefield. The once-endless tide of undead puppets was shrinking, their territory rapidly eroding.
Obito suddenly realized something horrifying. "Wait… if the Sun Disc keeps absorbing the Breath of Death and strengthening Gaara's forces, then… aren't we the ones feeding it?"
Kazuma's eyes darkened as he grasped the implications. "That means every undead puppet we summon is only making them stronger. We're literally helping the enemy."
Obito turned to Kazuma urgently. "Cancel the Earth Jutsu!"
Kazuma hesitated. "What? Why? The Yellow Sand Puppets will just kill us faster!"
Kurozumi and Momonosuke immediately opposed the idea.
"We can't cancel it!"
"Yeah! If we do, we'll have nothing left to fight with!"
Kazuma gritted his teeth. He wanted to believe that stopping the flow of undead would help, but… "It's useless. Even if we stop now, the Breath of Death already in the soil won't just disappear. If anything, maintaining the undead at least lets us control where the energy is going."
Obito exhaled sharply. "Fine. Then I'll boost your chakra. Keep those undead coming. We'll outlast them!"
While they scrambled to strategize, Ryushi stood rigid, his mind clouded with frustration. He had been so confident in his attack, so sure it would work…
Momonosuke sneered. "Hah! All that talk about the Byakugan's precision and unparalleled archery… and you couldn't even scratch him. Pathetic."
"Yeah! You should be ashamed!" Kurozumi added mockingly.
Ryushi's face twisted in anger. His grip on his bow tightened. "Tch…!" He wasn't about to take this humiliation lying down.
He drew another arrow, channeling every ounce of power he had into it. The energy concentrated, growing denser, thicker, brighter—
With a loud whoosh, he let it loose, this time aiming directly at Mufasa himself.
Mufasa saw the arrow coming and smiled. "Now that's more like it."
He raised a hand. "Sasori, lend me your beam cannon."
A massive, futuristic weapon materialized beside him, its barrel nearly twenty meters long, crackling with raw energy. Mufasa casually picked it up, leveling the muzzle at the incoming attack.
"Let's see whose shot is stronger."
With a smirk, he pulled the trigger.
A brilliant beam of energy erupted forward—
The beam gun hovered in front of Mufasa, its sleek barrel humming with energy. With a flick of his wrist, Mufasa channeled electricity into the weapon, its muzzle glowing brighter by the second.
Zi…
A concentrated laser beam erupted from the gun, streaking toward the incoming arrows and the figure standing behind them—Hyuga Ryushi.
The red energy arrows, a part of the legendary Shocking Rain technique, should have multiplied upon impact. But they never got the chance. The beam consumed them instantly, annihilating them before they could even split. Against the speed of light, there was no time for division—no time for resistance.
The devastating beam didn't stop there.
It tore through the air, racing toward Ryushi.
On the fortress tower, panic erupted.
"Run!"
"Get off the tower!"
The once-proud warriors of the town scattered in terror.
Momonosuke tripped over himself, rolling onto the stone floor as Kazuma grabbed his collar, yanking him upright before sprinting away. Kurozumi followed closely, desperation in his eyes.
"My lord, don't leave me!"
Amidst the chaos, only one person remained rooted in place—Hyuga Ryushi.
'No… this isn't right.'
His mind raced. How could his Zanpakuto be so weak? This shouldn't be possible. His arrows were crafted with the most precise chakra manipulation. His archery was flawless.
Did he tamper with my ninja tools?
Doubt clawed at Ryushi's mind. Could Mufasa have sabotaged his weapons? It had to be something else. He was the greatest archer of his generation. The "Arrow God." There was no way his technique was at fault.
But there was no time for answers.
The beam struck him head-on.
For a brief moment, his silhouette was visible inside the light, his expression frozen in disbelief. Then—
His body disintegrated into molecules.
Hyuga Ryushi ceased to exist.
The beam didn't stop there. It carved through the fortress wall, melting stone and steel, leaving behind a smooth, oval-shaped hole. Several unfortunate warriors caught in its path vanished just as Ryushi had—without a trace.
Mufasa lowered his gun, exhaling as he blew imaginary smoke from the barrel.
"That Hyuga," he mused, shaking his head. "A sniper should always bring a proper weapon. Your bow… is too outdated."
His words carried across the battlefield like a funeral bell.
With Ryushi dead, the morale among the defenders shattered. Momonosuke, still shaking, turned and bolted back into the inner fortress. Kurozumi reached for him, trying to steady his trembling hands.
"My lord, there's no point going to the castle tower! The samurai and the ninjas are our best chance. It's safer to stay with them."
He coaxed Momonosuke back, Kazuma helping to calm him down.
Meanwhile, the battle between the undead puppets and the Yellow Sand Legion intensified.
The tide had turned.
The undead, once an overwhelming force, were dwindling. The Yellow Sand warriors only grew stronger, their numbers swelling toward ten thousand.
The undead had relied on sheer numbers to overwhelm their enemies. But now, their resurrection point had become a death trap.
Before they could rise again, they were crushed beneath the sand warriors' relentless march.
Kazuma clenched his fists.
"My earth-style reanimation technique… it's become a complete joke."
Kurozumi, losing patience. "So much for all that talk about your genius. In the end, it was all just empty boasts."
But he wasn't a fool. He had never placed all his hopes on undead puppets. He still had an army waiting.
He turned to his troops. "Prepare for battle! Move out according to the plan!"
As a cunning warlord, Kurozumi never bet everything on one strategy. His forces were well-organized—a proper army consisting of spear-wielders, iron cannon squads, archers, cavalry, elite ninja squads, and artillery teams.
If the undead failed, then he'd unleash his real forces.
'Let's see you deal with this.'
The town gates groaned open. Two thousand warriors marched out, dragging behind them strange, iron-clad boxes—massive siege weapons that looked like monstrous bulls.
Kurozumi smirked.
"Your sand warriors may be strong, but can they withstand this?" He chuckled.
Yet, despite Kurozumi's confidence, Kazuma hesitated. He turned to Obito, his voice uncertain. "Tobi-senpai… what do we do now?"
Obito had no interest in drawn-out battles. His goal had never been to mindlessly slaughter. He wasn't some rabid villain obsessed with destruction.
He simply wanted to create a world where Rin existed again.
"We've done what we came here to do," Obito said calmly. "We're leaving."
Kazuma hesitated, but he knew better than to argue. With a sigh, he nodded. "Understood."
As the Land of River's forces charged, the undead faded from the battlefield. Their creators had abandoned them.
With nothing left to stop them, the Yellow Sand Army advanced toward Kawasaki Town. The desert beneath their feet spread further, swallowing the land. On the fortress walls, the River Army Corps stood frozen, watching the sand warriors approach like an unstoppable tidal wave.
Each one was as tall as a mountain.
The soldiers tightened their grips on their weapons. The air was thick with tension.
And then—
The Yellow Sand Army stopped.
Three hundred meters from the city, they came to a halt.
Momonosuke and his men exchanged confused glances.
Then, the sand warriors moved again—this time forming precise, disciplined ranks. The pikemen arranged themselves into a massive, hollow square formation. And within that formation, a rectangular platform of earth rose from the desert, towering more than thirty meters into the air—level with the fortress tower.
Atop that platform, Mufasa clapped his hands together.
A throne of gold and silver, its design crackling with chakra-infused energy, materialized before him.
Then came the guardians—
The Cannon Bodhisattva.
The Gatling Buddha.
The Vajra Warriors.
They knelt before him, forming a living staircase with their bodies.
With slow, deliberate steps, Mufasa descended from the sky, walking upon their backs like a god treading upon the world itself. At last, he reached the throne, settling into its seat with effortless grace.
And then, he smiled.
His gaze locked onto Momonosuke's.
"Momonosuke."
His voice was calm. Unshaken.
"I'm here."
A smirk curled on his lips.
"I see you."
_______________________________
Word count: 1985
Comment below on what you think so far.
Also, if you're interested in reading some advanced chapters, you can support me on my patreon.
patreon.com/Rai_jin
Thanks for reading guys.