A few minutes before Shanks returned to Uzushiogakure, on Konoha's side, the powerful squad leaders of the Hashirama cell-modified ninjas—each comparable to an S-Rank shinobi—had become a massive headache for Hiruzen and Jiraiya.
Although with their strength it was not as if they were unable to fight these opponents, and they had even managed to hold them off while killing two of these S-Rank ninjas each, the biggest problem was that the Konoha forces were suffering heavily.
Around 24 S-Rank ninjas had attacked from the front. Hiruzen and Jiraiya had been able to defend against fourteen of them, those enemies keeping both of them completely occupied. Out of those fourteen, they had already killed four, leaving ten remaining. But the other ten S-Rank ninjas had far more freedom to move and were causing widespread destruction among the Konoha shinobi forces.
Explosions echoed across the battlefield. Dust and smoke rolled through the air while wounded shinobi shouted orders and warnings. Every few seconds, another group was forced to retreat under overwhelming pressure, only for more Konoha shinobi to step forward and fill the gap.
At this moment, Guy—who had received the distress signal from Konoha—arrived through teleportation.
He floated silently in the sky, high above the battlefield, observing everything below. No one had noticed his arrival yet.
His eyes moved across the battlefield and landed on those Hashirama cell-modified ninjas.
Not only did they possess strength comparable to S-Rank shinobi, but because they had been injected with Hashirama cells, their recovery speed was abnormally fast.
One ninja had a deep slash across his chest that was already closing. Another had broken bones snapping back into place with faint cracking sounds. Flesh regenerated before the eyes of the surrounding shinobi.
So even if Jiraiya and Hiruzen were powerful enough to wound multiple enemies, it changed very little.
Within minutes, the injuries would disappear.
Then those same ninjas would stand up again and continue attacking as if nothing had happened.
Guy watched quietly from above, his expression unchanged as the battlefield unfolded beneath him. The situation was already reaching the point where strength alone was no longer enough—it had become a battle of endurance.
Hiruzen and Jiraiya were not like the Uzumaki siblings, whose attacks were all overwhelmingly powerful, comparable to S-Rank ninjutsu, and who were blessed with enormous reserves of chakra.
That did not mean Hiruzen and Jiraiya were weak.
They also possessed extremely powerful ninjutsu and, if they truly went all out without holding anything back, they could definitely kill all of these enemies. But both of them were being slightly reserved.
The reason was simple—they still had doubts about whether they would receive backup from Uzushiogakure.
If they exhausted themselves using their strongest techniques and their chakra reserves dropped too low, and then Uzushiogakure chose not to help, the consequences would be disastrous. If Akatsuki had prepared another strategy beyond this direct assault, Konoha would have even fewer options left to respond.
So neither of them was willing to gamble everything here.
At the very least, in the current situation, they could still interfere with those S-Rank ninjas and protect the Konoha forces from time to time, creating small windows of relief for the exhausted shinobi below.
Otherwise—
by now, the entirety of the Konoha forces might already have been destroyed under the assault of these twenty-four Hashirama cell-modified S-Rank ninjas.
A section of the battlefield erupted again as one of the modified ninjas tore through a defensive formation. Several shinobi were forced back, and one collapsed to the ground while others hurried to drag him away.
Above all of this—
Guy silently watched.
Floating high in the sky, he looked at the battlefield below without saying a single word. His gaze remained calm as he observed the destruction, the movement of every enemy, and the condition of the Konoha forces.
Then—
without any warning—
a large scimitar appeared in his hand.
The blade was broad and imposing, carrying a strange weight simply by existing.
This was the Asura Sword.
One of the most powerful swords in existence.
And currently, because of its abilities, the strongest sword in the world.
Guy's fingers tightened around the hilt.
(A/N: Image in this Para.)
In the next instant—
he disappeared.
No sound.
No visible movement.
One moment he was in the sky.
The next moment—
he appeared directly behind one of the S-Rank modified ninjas.
That ninja had just finished killing a Konoha shinobi and was already turning toward another nearby target, raising his weapon to continue the slaughter.
At that exact moment, he felt it.
Someone behind him.
His instincts screamed danger.
His eyes widened and his body immediately tensed as he tried to react—
but he was too late.
A black aura had already wrapped around Guy's Asura Sword.
It flowed across the blade like living darkness, silent yet suffocating.
Guy did not speak.
He simply swung.
A single slash.
The S-Rank ninja froze in place.
For a brief second, nothing happened.
Then his body cleanly separated in half.
The two pieces fell in opposite directions and crashed onto the blood-soaked ground below.
The battlefield seemed to pause for an instant.
Guy did not bother with the dead ninja.
The moment the body split apart and crashed onto the battlefield, Guy disappeared again.
The air rippled.
In the next instant, he appeared behind another S-Rank ninja who was currently engaged in combat with a Konoha Jonin. The Jonin had already been pushed to the edge and was barely managing to defend.
Before either of them could properly react—
Guy swung once.
A clean sword strike.
The modified ninja's body was cut in half.
Guy vanished again.
Appeared.
Swung.
Disappeared.
Again.
And again.
His movements became impossible to track.
One moment he was on one side of the battlefield, and the next he appeared somewhere entirely different. No one could predict where he would emerge.
To the Konoha shinobi below, it looked less like teleportation and more like judgment descending across the battlefield.
The modified ninjas attempted to defend.
Some turned and raised their swords.
Some used weapons reinforced with chakra.
Some tried to retreat.
But none of it mattered.
Any defense against Guy's sword was meaningless.
When their swords collided with the Asura Sword, those weapons broke instantly—cleanly sliced apart like paper meeting a razor-sharp blade.
No resistance.
No stalemate.
Only a single strike.
Then death.
The black aura covering the Asura Sword quietly swallowed every clash.
Within less than a minute—
all ten S-Rank ninjas who had been freely causing havoc among the Konoha forces were dead.
Bodies fell across the battlefield.
For a brief moment, the surviving Konoha shinobi stared in disbelief.
The overwhelming pressure that had been crushing them suddenly disappeared.
But Guy did not stop.
His expression remained unchanged.
Without hesitation, he continued teleporting across the battlefield.
One location.
Then another.
Then another.
Every time he appeared, another modified ninja died.
The battlefield that had been full of chaos suddenly began changing its pace.
Groups of Konoha shinobi who had been on the verge of collapse found themselves suddenly free.
Defensive lines stabilized.
Medical teams rushed forward.
Retreating shinobi regained ground.
Meanwhile, Guy continued thinning the numbers of the Hashirama cell-modified forces as quickly as possible.
He killed them with frightening efficiency.
A slash.
A disappearance.
Another slash.
No wasted motion.
Within the next few minutes, he had completely relieved the Konoha forces from the assault of these powerful Hashirama cell-modified ninjas.
Only then did Guy stop.
Floating in the air again, he looked toward the area where Hiruzen and Jiraiya were still engaged with the remaining S-Rank modified ninjas.
Then Guy spoke telepathically directly into Jiraiya's mind.
"You will immediately move away from where you are standing. Escape from there. I am going to use my attack."
As soon as Jiraiya heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly before he gave a small nod.
Both he and Hiruzen had already noticed Guy's arrival after the distress signal had been sent to Uzushiogakure.
So—
Uzushiogakure had decided to honor their promise and send help.
Jiraiya did not doubt Guy's words.
If Guy was giving a warning beforehand, then he was definitely preparing to use a powerful attack.
And if Jiraiya remained there fighting these S-Rank ninjas—
he would only end up getting in the way.
Jiraiya immediately used the Substitution Technique.
For an experienced ninja like him, using such a technique was second nature—it happened almost instantly.
The remaining S-Rank ninjas had attacked him simultaneously.
One swung his sword downward.
The other launched a chained sickle toward him from the side.
Their timing was precise, attacking from different angles to leave no room for escape.
But the moment both attacks struck—
Boom.
A burst of white smoke exploded outward.
The modified ninjas paused.
As the smoke slowly cleared, their expressions changed.
Their attacks had not hit Jiraiya.
Instead, the sword and chained sickle were embedded into a wooden log.
Jiraiya had already disappeared.
For a brief second, confusion flashed across their faces.
Then—
they heard a voice.
"Death Streak."
The voice came from very close.
Too close.
The squad leaders immediately turned toward the source at the same time.
There—
standing calmly among the battlefield chaos—
was Guy.
His expression remained unchanged.
In his hand was a black flame.
The flame burned quietly.
No heat spread from it.
No violent explosion.
But the moment their eyes landed on it, an indescribable sense of danger filled them.
Guy looked at them without saying another word.
Then—
he closed his hand.
The black flame shattered in his palm.
Instantly—
a burst of black light erupted outward.
The release was silent.
No explosion.
No roar.
Only a black flash that crossed the distance almost instantly and struck the squad leaders directly.
None of them managed to react.
None of them dodged.
They only saw the black light.
That was the last thing they saw.
And after that—
nothing.
All of them died instantly.
The black light passed through their bodies and remained for a brief moment.
Then the effect began.
Their bodies started losing shape.
At first, it was subtle.
Their skin sagged.
Their muscles collapsed.
Then their entire bodies began dissolving.
The modified cells inside them started breaking apart at a genetic level.
Guy had altered and destroyed the structure of their bodies directly.
Without that structure, their bodies could no longer maintain form.
The melting accelerated.
Arms collapsed.
Faces distorted.
Torso after torso lost shape.
Within moments—
there were no bodies left.
Only small puddles remained on the battlefield.
Viscous liquid spread across the ground where those squad leaders had once stood.
Literal puddles.
The battlefield became strangely quiet around that area.
Even the nearby Konoha shinobi stared for a moment.
There were no corpses.
No blood.
Only the silent aftermath of Guy's attack.
----
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