Might Guy, Genma Shiranui, and Ebisu found themselves cornered by Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen. A desperate situation.
Then—Might Duy arrived.
He stepped between his son and the seven elite killers.
"Dad?!" Guy stared, uncomprehending. "Dad, you're just a genin. What are you doing here?"
Duy didn't take his eyes off the seven. He could feel their killing intent—sharp, cold, professional. "No time. Run. I'll buy you what I can."
Guy blinked. Then panic flooded him. "Run? Dad, they're all jonin! The Seven Swordsmen! You can't fight them alone!"
Duy's voice was steel. "I have it. The Gate of Death. The Eight Gates Formation."
Guy's pupils contracted. "But that technique…"
"It's self-imposed!" Duy thrust a thumbs-up toward his son. A familiar, ridiculous gesture. Now, it was a vow. "This is the moment! To protect what's most precious—even if it costs my life!"
He took a breath that seemed to draw in the very air of the forest.
"This is my way of life—laid on the line! Open! EIGHT GATES FORMATION!"
Crimson steam erupted from his body. Not chakra—something purer, hotter. Raw life, forced through a broken dam.
The pressure hit the Seven Swordsmen like a physical blow. They flinched. Instinct screamed: Danger.
Far away, Qianyu's head snapped up.
A surge of power. Immense. Unmistakable.
He activated his Kenbunshoku Haki instantly. His expression tightened. What was that? That level of power… Had Kiri sent some monster?
He shot toward the source.
Guy stared at his father's back. Tears streaked his face, hot and unbidden. "Dad…"
Duy's body screamed in agony. Every cell burned. He forced a grin anyway. "Guy! True victory… isn't about defeating a powerful enemy." His voice strained, but the words were clear. "It's about protecting what's precious to you."
He looked over his shoulder. His eyes were bright. Proud.
"As the Hidden Leaf's Green Beast… grow strong. Until then… let me be the flame that lights your way! Let the new leaves sprout!"
Guy bit his lip until he tasted blood. The tears didn't stop. But his gaze hardened. He scrubbed his face with a sleeve.
"You'll always be my pride, Dad." He turned. "Genma! Ebisu! We're leaving!"
"But—" Genma started.
Ebisu looked on, his face pale. "We can't just—"
"My father has made his choice!" Guy's voice cracked with finality. "We won't waste it!"
The three young ninja fled, leaving the clearing, the crimson figure, the seven killers.
Duy watched them go. His own vision blurred for a second.
"You're my pride, too."
Then he turned. All warmth gone. Only the burn remained.
The Seven Swordsmen felt it. A primal chill. No fight had even started, yet death already hung in the air.
Duy moved.
He was just there, in front of Momota Bō, wielder of the Twin Swords Hiramekarei.
Momota's eyes widened. Too fast—! He tried to unleash his blades.
Too late.
"Evening ELEPHANT!"
Duy's fist didn't touch him. It didn't need to.
The air compressed. Then detonated.
An invisible cannonball of pure force slammed into Momota's gut. The sound was a sickening, wet CRUNCH. Blood erupted from his mouth. He flew backward like a discarded rag, smashing through a dozen trees before cratering the earth fifty meters away.
Momota Bō did not get up.
Silence.
Then terror.
Kushimaru Kuriarare (Longsword Nuibari) and Jinin Akebino (Blastsword Kibakugiri) reacted. Instinct. Teamwork.
"Longsword Ninja Art: Earth Spider Stitch!" Kushimaru's chakra threads, sharp as monomolecular wire, burrowed under Duy's feet.
"Blade Explosion Technique!" Akebino hurled a scroll from his sword. Dozens of explosive tags fluttered around Duy.
"Stitch!"
"Explode!"
The wires shot upward, aiming to bisect Duy's legs. The tags ignited.
Duy stomped.
The ground shattered. A shockwave tore outward. The wires snapped. The blast tags were hurled aside like leaves in a typhoon, detonating harmlessly in the distance.
Pain lanced up Duy's arms. His bones groaned. Just one Evening Elephant had cracked them.
He didn't stop.
Two more punches. Two more air cannons.
Kushimaru and Akebino had no time to dodge. The force hit them center-mass.
The sound was like a bag of gravel being dropped. Every bone in their bodies pulverized instantly. Two more craters bloomed in the forest floor.
Three.
Three of the legendary Seven Swordsmen, dead in seconds.
The remaining four—Jūzō Biwa (Kubikiribōchō), Fuguki Suikazan (Samehada), Raiga Kurosuki (Kiba), and Jinpachi Munashi (Kabutowari)—froze.
Then the terror broke them.
Can't win. Impossible.
One thought, unified: RUN.
They turned. Scattered.
Duy's body was failing. His arms hung useless, bones fractured. His flesh burned, blackened at the edges. He was strong enough to open the Gate of Death. Not strong enough to hold it for long.
He watched them flee. A soft, peaceful smile touched his lips.
"Guy… the rest is up to you."
He settled into a stance. The crimson steam around him flared, burning brighter, hotter. A column of furious energy.
"So this is the Gate of Death…"
Qianyu arrived, perching silently on a high branch. His eyes widened at the sight of the man engulfed in scarlet vapor. Might Duy.
His gaze swept the battlefield. Three massive craters. Three corpses. "And those four running… the rest of the Seven Swordsmen. He took out three already."
He hadn't expected to be here for this. To witness this. But fate—or the battlefield—had a way of delivering opportunities.
He settled in to watch. To bear witness.
Duy pressed his broken hands against the ravaged earth. A sprinter's crouch.
"ACCUMULATE!"
The red steam exploded. The ground beneath him fractured into a spiderweb of cracks. The energy coalesced, twisted, shaped itself.
It formed the silhouette of a roaring dragon.
Qianyu's breath hitched. That chakra… The density, the sheer violent will of it. And that form… He knew this technique. From whispers. From legends.
Duy launched forward.
He wasn't running. He was tearing through reality itself.
He caught up to Jinpachi Munashi in a blink. Appeared behind him.
"NIGHT… GUY!"
The dragon of crimson chakra followed his kick.
Jinpachi's back folded. The impact wasn't a strike—it was an annihilation. Duy's foot, wreathed in the dragon's maw, drove the man forward like a meteor.
They carved a trench through the forest. Earth and rock vaporized into a plume of dust. Fuguki Suikazan, only grazed by the trailing edge of the dragon's tail, was blasted into the canopy like a piece of trash.
Duy didn't stop until he'd slammed Jinpachi into the base of a mountain. The impact shook the cliff face. A cloud of dust settled, revealing a new, smoldering scar on the world.
Silence returned.
The crimson dragon faded.
Qianyu watched from his perch, his expression unreadable.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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