Rōshi's head snapped up, his eyes wide with a mixture of horror and disbelief as he stared at Seiran hovering in the air above him.
The longswords behind the Hyuga prodigy hung suspended like the blades of Damocles—dozens of them, gleaming with deadly intent. Without the lava armor, sweat would be pouring down Rōshi's forehead.
Flight.
That single word carried weight. Flying meant mobility that few shinobi possessed. Rōshi could count the number of legendary powerhouses with that ability on one hand. Ōnoki himself—despite their long rivalry—was undeniably one of the strongest shinobi alive, and much of that came from the freedom that flight granted him.
The dense pack of flying swords behind Seiran magnified the threat. They could shred an ordinary shinobi to ribbons.
Seiran looked down from above, his expression cold and measured. He raised his hand.
The longswords responded as if connected by invisible threads, streaking downward in a metallic cascade.
Rōshi's jaw clenched. Chakra erupted through his body as he drew on the Four-Tails' power. His lava armor thickened, a second tail sprouting behind him. He crossed his arms defensively, bracing for impact.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Metal struck armor in a deafening chorus. Rōshi skidded backward through the magma, his feet grinding against stone as the swords fell. Each one that connected melted in the intense heat, dripping harmlessly away.
When the last blade fell, Rōshi gasped for breath, his chest heaving.
"That was..." He trailed off, staring up at Seiran with newfound dread. The Hyuga prodigy hadn't even scratched the surface of his abilities. Every time they clashed, Seiran revealed something new—first defeating Han with techniques Rōshi hadn't witnessed, now this flight and blade control. And there were rumors of a metal giant, something even more terrifying.
Rōshi's heart sank. Ōnoki had severely miscalculated this one's potential.
If he doesn't fall here, Rōshi thought grimly, Iwagakure's future is finished.
The only reason Rōshi had survived this long was because his Lava Release negated metal. Without that advantage, he'd already be dead.
At least the true battle was happening elsewhere. He just needed to hold.
He took a deep breath and shouted up at Seiran, forcing confidence into his voice. "Is that all? My melting defense handles this easily!"
"Arrogant."
Seiran's sneer deepened. So Rōshi wanted to drag this out. Fine. He'd simply overwhelm that turtle shell defense.
Seiran inhaled slowly, his eyes blazing with determination.
"Sword Come!"
The command wasn't loud, but it rippled across the entire battlefield like a shockwave.
Every Leaf Village shinobi fighting nearby felt it—a sudden, irresistible pull. Their kunai and ninja knives trembled violently in their hands, then ripped free from their grasps. The weapons stretched and transformed mid-flight, elongating into gleaming longswords as they rocketed skyward.
One blade. Two. Ten. A hundred.
Thousands.
Within moments, the sky behind Seiran transformed into an ocean of swords, a dizzying sea of metal that made the previous assault look like a child's tantrum.
"So handsome," Minato murmured, his eyes wide with genuine admiration as he watched Seiran silhouette against the blade-filled sky. "That move... I'd like to call it the Magnetic Spiral Flying Sword Super Wheel Dance Roar Style!"
Below, shinobi froze mid-combat, slack-jawed at the impossible display overhead.
"What is that?"
"Is that even human power...?"
Only Rin shook her head, rolling her eyes. She knew Seiran well enough to recognize this for what it was—a show of force mixed with pure vanity. He could've ended this a dozen different ways. He just wanted it to look spectacular.
Rōshi's throat went dry. Under that infinite sea of blades, he felt utterly insignificant.
His Lava Release. His Four-Tails power. It meant nothing.
That flying sword ocean could turn the tide of an entire war.
Terror gripped him fully. Rōshi stopped holding back, letting chakra surge through every fiber of his being. Three new lava tails manifested alongside the original, coiling around him as his armor reached its absolute peak. This was the limit of what he could channel while maintaining Lava Chakra Armor Mode.
Seiran's fingers moved slightly.
The ocean of swords responded, twisting together into two massive serpents of metal that dove downward with terrifying speed.
"Drink!"
Rōshi roared, channeling every ounce of power the Four-Tails would grant him. His four lava tails surged forward, wrapping around his body defensively.
The sword dragons struck like meteors.
The impact sent Rōshi careening backward, his armor peeling away in chunks only to regenerate just as fast. Each strike felt like being pierced by a thousand needles, the pain sharp and relentless. He gritted his teeth, refusing to break stance.
Seiran's frown deepened. He raised his right hand.
The remaining swords condensed above his palm, fusing into a single massive greatsword that hung suspended in the air, radiating pure destructive potential.
"Distributed power is easy to defend," Seiran said coldly. "So what will you do against this?"
He swung.
The greatsword fell like the judgment of heaven itself.
Rōshi's pupils dilated. Panic flooded through him as he screamed internally, calling out to his partner.
"Son Goku! Give me everything!"
The Four-Tails roared, pouring every scrap of chakra into Rōshi's body. Two massive lava hands erupted from his armor, rising up to catch the falling blade.
The earth beneath him cracked under the strain. His legs drove deeper into solid ground as the massive weight pressed down.
For just a moment, the sword halted.
Then it descended again.
BOOM.
The world split open. A ravine tore through the battlefield, swallowing dust and debris. Where Rōshi had stood, only magma remained, flowing slowly into the sudden chasm below.
"Rōshi!" Koseki's voice cracked with alarm.
The dust cleared. The ravine deepened like a scar across the earth.
Seiran stood breathing heavily, his body trembling slightly from the chakra expenditure. He was already preparing to reshape the remaining metal into a new barrage—
Then his white Byakugan eyes widened.
His expression froze as he stared into the distance, genuine shock flickering across his features.
"Ah," he whispered. "So that's it. That was your true plan all along."
He finally understood why Rōshi had fought so desperately to keep him here.
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