---
The battlefield was silent for only a breath. The silence after a storm.
Ash drifted like black snow across the ruins of the Konoha forward camp. Tents shredded, fires still burning, the earth scarred into jagged canyons where lightning had torn through. The smell of ozone and blood choked the air.
And at the center of it all, Ryuzen stood — swaying, his body cracked with faint, glowing lines of blue light. His eyes burned, not with power, but with exhaustion. Every step felt like walking on shattered bones.
"Ryuzen…" Minato's voice was low, almost reverent. The other shinobi around him didn't know whether to step closer or retreat. Even Sakumo, White Fang of Konoha, kept his distance for a moment, his gaze unreadable.
Duy limped forward, battered but alive, placing a steadying hand on Ryuzen's shoulder. "You… you did it, Ryuzen. You saved them all."
But Ryuzen didn't answer. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, sweat and blood mixing across his face.
That was when the shout came from beyond the smoke.
"THERE! He's weakened! Strike now!"
The survivors of Iwa and Kumo had not retreated far. Desperation gleamed in their commanders' eyes. This was their chance — their only chance — to kill the monster who had leveled the battlefield.
Dozens of elite jonin surged from the haze, their chakra flaring like torches in the dark.
Ryuzen's body jolted upright, instinct dragging him forward. His storm flared, but only for a heartbeat — then sputtered, the arcs of lightning crawling weakly along his cracked skin.
---
[⚠ WARNING: VITAL FUNCTIONS CRITICAL]
[⚠ SYSTEM OVERLOAD: 92%]
[⚠ HOST LIMIT NEARING ABSOLUTE BREAK]
[⚠ CONTINUED EXERTION WILL RESULT IN TERMINAL FAILURE]
The red text burned across his vision, each flash a knife to his mind.
"Shut up," Ryuzen hissed through gritted teeth, forcing his legs to move.
---
"Form ranks!" Sakumo's blade flashed white as he charged, intercepting the first wave. Minato blurred beside him, yellow afterimages weaving between enemy kunai. Duy roared, opening another gate as his body trembled on the edge of destruction.
But the enemy wasn't aiming for them. Their eyes were locked on Ryuzen.
"Bring him down before he recovers!"
Kunai, jutsu, earth walls rising, lightning spears slicing through the air — a coordinated, desperate strike.
Ryuzen raised his sword. His grip trembled, his knees nearly gave out, but the storm responded. Lightning crawled along the blade, sputtering, flickering… but still alive.
He slashed.
A streak of blue carved through the first wave, detonating the earth in an explosion of dirt and screams.
But even as the enemies fell, more pressed forward.
---
[⚠ HOST STABILITY: 14%]
[⚠ MUSCULAR TISSUE TEARING]
[⚠ WARNING: HEART RHYTHM IRREGULAR]
[⚠ ACTIVATION OF ABILITY ZERO DAWN… PROHIBITED]
The system screamed at him. Red. Always red. It blinded his vision until he could barely see the battlefield.
But he kept moving.
---
A kunai grazed his cheek. Another stabbed into his shoulder — he didn't feel it. His sword swept again, the storm flaring bright, each movement a defiance of the System's verdict.
"RYUZEN!" Duy shouted, punching through an enemy line, his body a furnace of burning life force. "Don't push yourself—!"
"I can't stop!" Ryuzen snarled back, voice breaking. "If I fall… they'll all die!"
He was right.
The enemy jonin weren't here to fight a battle. They were here to kill him. Every strike angled toward his heart, his throat, his legs. Even with Sakumo and Minato cutting through their ranks, they circled, pressed, swarmed.
---
A flash of steel — an enemy blade buried into his side.
The world froze.
Pain exploded, white-hot, but instead of falling, Ryuzen's storm lashed outward violently. Arcs of lightning tore the attacker apart, leaving only a charred silhouette collapsing into ash.
He staggered forward, sword dragging a glowing line through the dirt.
---
[⚠ DAMAGE CRITICAL]
[⚠ LIFE FORCE DRAIN EXCEEDING SAFE LIMIT]
[⚠ HOST WILL NOT SURVIVE 3 MORE MINUTES AT CURRENT OUTPUT]
The System screamed, but Ryuzen's lips curled into a bloody grin. "Then three minutes… will be enough."
---
He surged.
Every step was agony, every breath fire, but the storm came alive once more. Not the endless maelstrom of before, but a flickering ghost of it. Enough. Just enough.
Lightning surged from his blade, cleaving through enemy earth walls. Thunder boomed as he collided with a squad of jonin, scattering them like leaves in a gale. His eyes glowed, feral, unyielding.
Even as blood poured down his chest, his will alone kept him upright.
And the enemy faltered. They had expected a broken corpse, not a demon who refused to fall.
---
"Monster," one Iwa commander whispered, voice shaking. "He should already be dead…"
Ryuzen's sword answered, carving a storm-laced arc that split the ground beneath their feet.
---
Minato blurred to his side, cutting down an enemy who tried to strike Ryuzen's back. "Ryuzen—your body, you'll—"
"I'll stand… until it's done!" Ryuzen roared.
For a moment, Minato saw it — the weight of a man carrying the war on his shoulders. The storm wasn't just chakra. It was defiance made flesh.
---
The battle raged. Minutes dragged like hours.
Finally, the last of the enemy strike force crumbled, their bodies strewn across the charred earth. Silence returned.
Ryuzen stood at the center, drenched in blood, his sword buried in the dirt to keep him upright. His storm flickered weakly, then began to fade.
His vision blurred. The System's red warnings filled everything.
[⚠ SHUTDOWN IMMINENT]
[⚠ HOST WILL…]
He didn't hear the rest.
Because in the distance, through the smoke, a new wave of chakra signatures ignited. Dozens. Hundreds. Reinforcements.
The ground shook as enemy banners rose from the ridge.
The next army had arrived.
And Ryuzen's knees finally gave out.
---
Author's Note
This chapter was meant to be relentless — no pause, no safety, just a storm flickering against impossible odds. Ryuzen's refusal to fall, even when his own System is screaming red death warnings at him, is what makes him terrifying… and human. ⚡
The reinforcements arriving now? That's where Chapter 45 will escalate things even further. The storm is only beginning.
---