A thunderous boom ripped across the battlefield.
Every shinobi froze. Dust and golden light filled the sky like the wrath of a god gone berserk.
Three Quasi-Kage — Hyūga Shibuya, Sarutobi Yamakita, and Hibiscus Takuma — barely held their footing under the storm of a thousand golden fists raining down. The shockwave alone tore trenches into the mud.
"Revolving Heaven! (Hakkeshō Kaiten!)"
Shibuya spun in a blur, chakra bursting from every tenketsu in his body. The dome of energy howled, crushing several of the golden arms before they reached him.
Then his Byakugan caught the flow — the weak point.
"His attack power is monstrous… but the defense is thin! Hit him hard, together!"
He lunged first. Twin palms flared with chakra storms, slamming into the massive golden construct. The air screamed. Even the colossal Buddha of Raizen's Sage Art staggered.
Raizen felt the impact in his bones. His jaw tightened.
"Fine. You want to dance up close?"
The Buddha's eyes flared crimson.
"Then die up close."
A golden arm swung down, the size of a house, smashing into Shibuya's chest. Bone cracked, blood sprayed. The Hyūga elite was flung back like a broken arrow.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall! (Doton: Doryūheki!)"
Sarutobi Yamakita slammed his hands to the ground, raising a massive wall to block the next strike. The golden fist hit it like a meteor — cracks spidered instantly, but the wall held.
"Wind Style: Cyclone Burst! (Fūton: Senpū Dan!)"
Hibiscus Takuma, refusing to be overshadowed, formed a rapid string of seals.
A thin whirlwind spiraled from his mouth… and grew. It expanded until it was a full-blown hurricane, screaming toward Raizen's construct.
Raizen's eyes widened slightly. That's not A-rank… that's flirting with S-rank territory.
The storm struck.
"Screee!"
Blades of wind ripped through the golden Buddha's body, shredding its chakra armor. Cracks spread across its radiant surface — then it shattered, dissolving into motes of gold.
Raizen dropped to the ground, cloak torn and bleeding.
His breath hissed through clenched teeth.
"So that's how it is, huh…"
A red aura flared from within him, violent and alive. Chakra surged, forming a colossal spectral warrior — an armored giant with wings of energy and a sword taller than a tree.
"Susanoo!"
The battlefield went silent for a heartbeat.
Then Raizen roared, "Get lost!"
Susanoo's blade swung, cleaving the hurricane in half. The sky split open, scattering the storm like torn cloth.
He rose into the air, wings of chakra beating once. The sword twisted and reshaped into a longbow. A black flame gathered on the arrow nocked to the string.
"Flame Control: Amaterasu Arrow! (Enton: Yajirushi no Kagutsuchi!)"
The arrow flew. A streak of black light cut through the world.
When it struck the earth, the ground erupted in black fire — flames that devoured everything they touched.
"What… what kind of flame is that?" Takuma whispered, horror freezing his breath.
Raizen didn't answer. He just drew again, loosing arrow after arrow. Each one split the air, raining death upon the Hyūga ranks below.
"Wait— he's not aiming at us!" Yamakita shouted.
Indeed. The arrows were falling among the Hyūga coalition troops. Every impact birthed another bloom of Amaterasu fire.
Screams tore through the battlefield.
The black flames clung to flesh, spreading like disease. Anyone who tried to help found the fire leaping to their own skin.
"Don't touch the burning ones!" the Hyūga commander yelled desperately.
But the chaos had already begun.
Within a single minute, three hundred shinobi were reduced to ash.
The air reeked of char and despair.
Raizen's voice thundered from above, amplified by chakra.
"Konoha Alliance! Push forward! Cut down every last one of them!"
The allied troops didn't hesitate.
They surged through the chaos, blades flashing, striking down enemies too busy screaming or running from the black fire.
Shibuya's fury broke through the noise. "Damn it! Someone drag him down!"
But Raizen floated far above, untouchable, raining black death.
"Forget him!" Yamakita barked, regaining control. "Support the main force before they collapse!"
The three regrouped and began sprinting toward their troops — but Raizen's cold grin stopped them.
"Running somewhere?"
Susanoo's massive hand reached to its waist and hurled something downward — a gigantic shuriken spinning with distorted space.
"Kamui Shuriken!"
Shibuya's Byakugan saw it instantly, and terror froze his heart.
He barely had time to activate Revolving Heaven. The dome spun — and then ruptured.
Blood exploded from his arm. It wasn't just cut — it was gone.
The shuriken's space distortion dragged at him, tearing his body apart cell by cell.
"Wh— what is— this…"
His words vanished in a wet scream.
The Kamui shuriken consumed him entirely — body, chakra, and all — until nothing was left but dust.
A Quasi-Kage of the Hyūga, annihilated without even leaving a corpse.
The battlefield stopped.
Every shinobi stared at the sky, where Amamiya Raizen floated in his crimson Susanoo, eyes glowing with exhausted fury.
The message was simple.
Even gods bleed when they face a man with nothing left to lose.