"All units get ready for a synchronized attack!" Suzumebachi ordered. "We'll alternate our offensives to force constant regeneration."
Despite their fear, the remaining shinobi moved into their positions.
"Earth Style: Rock Pillar Spears!"
Six shinobi conjured stone spears that shot up from various directions.
The extra blades extending from Kokushibo's body acted autonomously and shattered the spears. His primary sword remained poised.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow Rocks!"
Four additional shinobi hurled boulders in quick succession.
Kokushibo's blades sliced through the incoming projectiles.
"Bee Style: Bedrock Reinforcement Trap!"
Jibachi's bees secreted a resin across the ground under Kokushibo's feet, hardening to restrict his movement.
Kokushibo glanced down at the resin, then executed a precise downward cut that severed the binds.
"Moon Breathing. Ninth Form. Waning Moonswaths."
His sword unleashed several downward-curving slashes that carved parallel trenches in the earth and killed five shinobi repositioning nearby.
"Bee Style: Violet Poison Corridor!"
Hachimitsu released poison-producing bees that formed toxic clouds from three directions, attempting to mimic Dokubachi's technique.
Kokushibo's additional blades spun in a coordinated fashion to generate wind currents that dispersed the poison. One blade targeted Hachimitsu, who attempted to dodge, but the crescent severed his legs at the knees. He fell, screaming, blood gushing from the stumps.
"Earth Style: Mud Wave!"
Three earth users conjured colliding waves of liquefied earth.
"Moon Breathing. Tenth Form. Drilling Slashes, Moon Through Bamboo Leaves."
Kokushibo's blades whirred like circular saws, slicing through the mud waves and heading straight for the shinobi who created them. Two were killed as the rotating crescents cut through them.
Hachimitsu crawled towards cover, but another crescent sliced through his torso, halting his movements.
Suzumebachi felt a tightening in his throat as he witnessed the third commander fall. They were on the brink of complete annihilation.
"Moon Breathing. Third Form. Loathsome Moon, Chains."
Kokushibo unleashed two sweeping horizontal slashes that created a chaotic storm of crescents. The attack tore through the remaining shinobi positions, killing eight fighters who couldn't escape.
The survivors abandoned their formation, trying to flee into the forest. Kokushibo's blades took down those who tried to escape without mercy.
Suzumebachi counted the remaining opponents: nineteen, then sixteen, then twelve, as crescents continued to find their marks.
In mere minutes, only seven shinobi stood, including himself, Jibachi, and Kurobachi.
"Earth Style: Rock Pillar Shield!"
One of the remaining earth users raised a defensive wall, but a crescent sliced clean through it and him. He died with his hands still on the ground.
Another shinobi attempted a substitution technique, but Kokushibo's foremost pair of eyes tracked the replacement, and a blade sliced through both the log and the shinobi hiding behind it.
The last two regular shinobi rushed in with kunai drawn for a desperate final attack. Kokushibo's sword moved twice, and both men fell apart.
Suzumebachi, Jibachi, and Kurobachi stood amidst the remains of their hundred sixty-five slain comrades.
Kokushibo withdrew his additional blades, dissolving them back into his body. He approached them with his main sword held nonchalantly.
"Three of you left," he remarked. "I'm almost impressed you lasted this long."
Suzumebachi's mind raced. Victory seemed impossible, but at least someone needed to survive and return to the village with intelligence about this threat.
He locked eyes with Jibachi, who understood immediately. They had worked in tandem for six years where words often weren't necessary.
Suzumebachi then turned to Kurobachi, noticing the fear in her gaze.
"Kurobachi," he said softly, "when I give the signal, you must run. Don't stop, don't look back. Get to the clan."
"Commander, I can't leave you—"
"That's an order," he replied, his tone gentle yet firm. "The clan must know about this. You're the fastest, the only one who has a chance."
Tears streamed down Kurobachi's cheeks, but she nodded.
Jibachi stepped forward, positioning himself protectively between Kurobachi and Kokushibo.
"I'll create the distraction," Jibachi said. "Just ensure she escapes, Commander."
Suzumebachi wanted to protest, to tell Jibachi that he didn't need to sacrifice himself, but they both understood the reality of the situation.
"Moon Breathing. Sixteenth Form. Moonbow, Half Moon."
Six curved slashes appeared in the air and descended toward them with enough force to crack the earth.
"Earth Style: Bedrock Fortress Expansion!"
Jibachi conjured the largest earthen structure he'd ever attempted. Walls shot up from the ground in overlapping layers, reinforced with every drop of chakra-hardened resin his bees could muster. The fortress was massive, spanning nearly thirty meters in diameter.
The crescents struck the fortress, carving deep into its walls. The structure shook violently, cracks spreading across it, but it held firm.
"Go!" Suzumebachi commanded.
Kurobachi sprinted, her movement technique engaging as she dashed towards the edge of the forest, her black bees forming a dispersed shield around her.
Kokushibo's six eyes tracked her movement, and he began closing in.
"You're not getting away, bastard!"
Jibachi unleashed his remaining bees in a concentrated swarm aimed at Kokushibo's face. The insects weren't intended to harm him but to obscure his vision, buying Kurobachi precious seconds.
Kokushibo's sword slashed through the swarm, but that brief moment of obscured visibility allowed Kurobachi to gain crucial ground.
"Earth Style: Burrowing Collapse Technique!"
Jibachi destabilized the ground beneath Kokushibo, creating a deep pit. Kokushibo fell in, and Jibachi swiftly sealed the top with reinforced earth.
It wouldn't keep him contained forever, but that didn't matter.
Kokushibo's blade sliced upward through the earth, causing the entire structure to burst apart. He emerged from the wreckage, annoyance evident in his six glaring eyes.
"Moon Breathing. First Form. Dark Moon, Evening Palace."
A horizontal slash generated a chaotic vortex of crescents that filled the air around Jibachi's position, attacking from multiple angles simultaneously.
Jibachi attempted to establish another earth barrier, but the crescents sliced through his defenses and into his body. He was cut in numerous places, blood spraying onto the scorched ground. He fell to his knees, his vision starting to fade.
Amid the dimming light, he saw Kurobachi vanish into the trees.
Good, he thought. At least she got away.
The last thing he perceived was the ground rushing toward him.
Kokushibo turned toward the forest where Kurobachi had escaped and moved in that direction with measured strides that swiftly closed the distance.
Suzumebachi remained alone among the fallen bodies of his command and realized what he must do.
He began forming the hand seals for a forbidden technique, a complex series that demanded precision. His hands flowed through the patterns, feeling his chakra surge as the technique activated.
Kokushibo paused, turning back to examine him. His six eyes focused intently on the hand seals.
"A forbidden technique," Kokushibo acknowledged. "You're willing to sacrifice your life to slow me down."
"Not just slow you down," Suzumebachi retorted, his voice steady despite his rising fear. "I aim to stop you."
Hornets began to pour from his body. They sprang forth from his sleeves, collar, and beneath his skin. Thousands of crimson flame hornets filled the air, their collective presence producing a heat haze that distorted vision.
The technique consumed him from within, draining his life force with each hornet that manifested. His skin paled, breathing becoming labored, yet he pressed on with the activation sequence.
"Forbidden Art: Descent of the Crimson Flame Endswarm!"
The hornets spread across the sky like a living meteor shower, creating a three-dimensional grid that enveloped the battlefield. They formed a dome with Kokushibo at the center and Suzumebachi at the edge.
Kokushibo regarded him with newfound respect.
"You've chosen to die to ensure your comrade's escape," he remarked. "That's commendable, even for a shinobi."
"I don't understand your hatred for us," Suzumebachi replied, his voice now weak and unsteady. "But we are nothing like you, you heartless wretch!!"
Kokushibo raised his sword.
"Then I'll make your death quick. You've earned that much."
"Moon Breathing. Second Form. Pearl Flower Moongazing."
Three crescent slashes erupted from Kokushibo's sword, each generating multiple smaller crescents that filled the air. The attack covered every angle of approach.
Suzumebachi no longer attempted to evade; he was too weak to move.
"Detonate."
The hornets exploded in a cascading sequence, forming an expanding fireball that enveloped them both. The explosions were timed to avoid any gaps, and the heat was intense enough to turn the earth into glass. The atmospheric oxygen ignited, creating a firestorm that ravaged everything within a two-hundred-meter radius.
Suzumebachi felt himself burning but willed the technique to continue.
With each hornet that detonated, he lost a bit more of his life, yet he maintained the activation, keeping the inferno alive.
Through the flames, he saw Kokushibo, his form severely burned, flesh charred in places, bones exposed and cracking from the heat. The crescents Kokushibo had launched were incinerated before they could reach him.
Yet, he remained alive, and the regeneration process was beginning.
"Remarkable," Kokushibo said, his voice strained but audible over the roaring flames. "You've inflicted greater damage than I anticipated."
His body began to heal, but the process had slowed. It took almost fifteen seconds for his flesh to fully regrow.
As Suzumebachi collapsed, the last of his life force fading, the technique consumed him wholeheartedly. His skin grew gray and shriveled, eyes sinking into his head. He felt as though he had aged fifty years in mere moments.
His vision dimmed, and he thought of Kurobachi rushing through the forest, bringing their warning to the clan. He remembered his fallen comrades—Dokubachi, Hachimitsu, and Jibachi—who had all sacrificed themselves for this single chance at survival.
We bought her enough time, he thought. That has to be enough.
Everything faded to black, and Suzumebachi felt no more pain.
Kokushibo stood amidst the devastation, his regeneration finally complete. He felt his chakra reserves drained, movements growing noticeably slower from the prolonged combat and multiple regenerations.
He glanced toward the forest where the young shinobi had escaped and calculated how long it would take to pursue her.
Then he hesitated, his top pair of eyes tracking the eastern horizon. The sky began to brighten with the forthcoming dawn. He had become so absorbed in the battle that he lost sense of time.
Sunrise was only twenty minutes away, and he was too exposed to risk remaining.
Kokushibo studied Suzumebachi's lifeless form for a moment.
"You fought valiantly," he said quietly. "For a shinobi, you demonstrated significant honor in your final moments."
He turned away, stepping into the forest with smooth, efficient strides, moving away from the route Kurobachi had taken. The rising sun was a more immediate concern than a single escaping shinobi.
His figure vanished among the trees as the sky continued to brighten.