CLANG! CLASH! SCREEECH!
Seven blades. Seven angles. Each one screaming with lightning.
Killer B's body was a whirlwind of steel. Every limb held a sword, each crackling with Lightning Release chakra. The technique—a torrent of unpredictable slashes, thrusts, and sweeps—was called Acrobat. It pressed forward, a storm seeking to shred flesh.
Qianyu didn't call upon Thunder Breathing yet. He moved with pure, lightning-enhanced reflexes, his own blade a silvery blur. His Sharingan tracked everything—the impossible angles, the feints within feints. Parry. Deflect. Redirect.
A watched. He waited.
The opening came in the microsecond between B's strikes. A's body vanished in a crackle of blue lightning.
He reappeared behind Qianyu.
Thunderous silence—then, a CRACK!
Liger Bomb! Lightning chakra condensed into A's raised heel. It fell like a god's hammer.
Qianyu tried to dodge. He couldn't.
Two massive, red chakra tentacles—Killer B's partial Tailed Beast transformation—slammed into the earth, forming a tight, circular cage around the three of them. No room for the Body Flicker Technique. No space for substitution.
B's attack became a frenzy, pinning Qianyu in place.
A's heel connected.
BOOM!
The ground shattered. Rock and dust erupted. Qianyu was driven into the crater, his form a crumpled, twisted mess.
The tentacle walls blocked the view. The seven Leaf shinobi and the sensor-nin from the Cloud held their breath. Was it over?
The tentacles withdrew.
Gasps. Qianyu lay broken in the crater. A and B stood over him, unharmed.
"So this is the Blood-Eyed Asura of the Leaf?" B rapped, a smirk in his voice. "Not so tough, fool! Ya fool!"
A's brow stayed furrowed. Something was off. Too clean. Too… easy.
A twitch.
A and B leaped back as one.
Qianyu's "body" convulsed. A hand erupted from its own mouth, peeling the skin back like a wet, glistening cocoon. Out stepped Qianyu—whole, unharmed, and dripping with viscous fluid.
A and B stared. What kind of jutsu was this?
It was one of Orochimaru's secret techniques, the Orochimaru-Style Body Replacement Technique. Shed your outer shell, slip free from the mouth.
Qianyu began to clap, slow and mocking. "Bravo. Really. Your teamwork is exceptional. You had me on pure defense. Even forced me to use that little trick." He wiped the fluid from his chin, his eyes hardening. "My turn to get serious."
The three tomoe in his eyes dissolved, swirling into a new, terrifying pattern.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
"Dōjutsu: Ten Thousand Rejections!" his left eye blazed. "Dōjutsu: Unseen Summit!" his right eye echoed.
Two trails of blood-tears streaked down his cheeks.
"Be careful, B!" A barked, his voice tight. "His presence… it's changed!"
A primal dread prickled their skin. The air grew heavy, charged with a different kind of electricity.
A moved first. A Lightning Flicker. He was a blue bolt, materializing before Qianyu in an instant.
Lariat! His elbow, a condensed bolt of lightning, aimed to crush Qianyu's skull.
It never connected.
The crackling aura around A… snuffed out. His speed dropped like a stone.
What—?!
Qianyu's blade was already arcing for his throat. A threw himself backward, reigniting his Lightning Release Chakra Mode just in time. The sword-tip whispered past his Adam's apple.
He landed, an arm shooting out to halt B's charge. "Wait!" he growled, eyes never leaving Qianyu. "He's… strange! My technique was nullified when I got close to him!"
"Nullified?" B's frown deepened. "I thought you canceled it on purpose, bro!"
"Why the hell would I do that, you idiot?!"
"Getting chatty while ignoring your host?" Qianyu's voice cut through their confusion. He dropped into a low stance, hand hovering over his sheathed blade. "Rude."
"B, focus!" A snapped, lightning coiling around him again.
"Thunder Breathing—First Form: Thunderclap and Flash: God Speed!" The air screamed. Lightning detonated from Qianyu's form, a deafening roar that made their ears ache.
A saw it. Felt it. A line of pure annihilation aimed not at him, but at B. No time to warn. Only to react.
His Lightning Release Armor flared to its absolute limit. Muscles screamed. He took a single, impossible step—placing himself between the line of death and his brother.
SHIIING!
A spray of crimson painted B's stunned face.
A stood rigid. A deep, bone-glancing slash had opened across his chest.
"Bro!"
B's mind blanked. One moment, his brother was beside him. The next, he was in front, bleeding.
And Qianyu… B's head whipped around. Qianyu stood behind them, casually flicking blood from his blade.
"Heh." Qianyu's voice was ice. "The Blue Flash indeed. To react to God Speed… impressive." His cold gaze locked onto B. "Well? Still holding back? You think this half-assed state is enough to fight me?"
B's face twisted into a snarl. Red, viscous chakra bubbled from his pores, cloaking him in a furious, flickering Tailed Beast shroud.
"B! Stay calm!"
"I AM calm, bro!" B snapped, veins bulging on his neck as the cloak churned violently. "This time… I go first!"
He launched himself, a red comet.
Acrobat! The seven blades became a hurricane again, now amplified by bestial strength and speed. Where before there was precision, now there was pure, unbridled savagery.
And it met the same wall.
Each swing, each thrust—the corrosive Tailed Beast chakra coating the blades simply… unraveled before touching Qianyu. The attacks looked devastating but hit with only the force of plain steel.
Qianyu saw the gap. His blade shot forward like a viper, aimed for B's gut.
Thwip! A slick octopus tentacle shot from B's side, wrapping around the sword. It stopped the full penetration, but the tip still dug into his flesh.
A vicious grin split Qianyu's face. "They say Tailed Beast chakra heals its jinchuriki. Let's test that theory, shall we?"
"B—!"
"Thunder Breathing—Fifth Form: Heat Lightning!"
A searing, white-hot bolt of lightning erupted from the steel point, blasting through B's abdomen.
FZZZ-CRACK!
The smell of burnt flesh filled the air. A charred, gaping hole was scorched into B's side.
"You bastard! Lightning Straight!" A was a bolt of vengeful blue. His fist, a hammer of concentrated rage, smashed toward Qianyu's head.
Qianyu simply took a step back. The fist passed through empty air.
A didn't press. He grabbed B's arm and yanked, putting distance between them and the smiling demon.
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