The twenty Jōnin coordinated their efforts to crush Yoichi. They abandoned individual tactics for a synchronized, lethal rotation. Even with the Gate of Life active, the sheer volume of their elemental attacks began to overwhelm his defenses.
Water Release: Syrup Field!
A Mist shinobi slammed his palms into the mud. A thick, lavender liquid flooded the clearing instantly. The chakra-infused syrup acted like industrial glue, binding Yoichi's feet to the earth. His unweighted speed vanished. He was anchored to a single spot while the stone walls of an Earth Dome began to rise around him.
Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!
Three trackers inhaled deeply and exhaled a concentrated blast of wind. The gale did not just push, it acted like a giant invisible blade. Yoichi crossed his arms to guard his face. The pressure was so intense that it began to peel the green aura from his skin, forcing him to dig his heels into the sticky syrup to avoid being blown away.
Phantom Steps!
Yoichi forced his muscles to move against the glue and the wind. He used the technique to vibrate his body at high frequencies, creating multiple afterimages within the narrow confines of the dome. The trackers fired needles at the shadows, but the real Yoichi was already behind the first wall. He shattered the stone with a shoulder charge, his red skin steaming from the effort.
Lightning Spear Thrust!
Two Kumo shinobi intercepted his exit with electrified blades. Yoichi's Sharingan tracked the hum of their chakra. He slid under their guard, his fingers stiffening into a lethal point.
He delivered a fast and lethal penetration to their solar plexus. The piercing force bypassed their armor and stopped their hearts before the lightning could jump from their swords to his skin.
Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Missile!
The Kumo leader finished a long string of signs. A massive dragon made of white-hot fire spiraled toward the trapped boy. The heat was so extreme that it evaporated the syrup field into a blinding mist. Yoichi stood in the center of the inferno, his clothes charring and his vision swimming.
A low, guttural curse escaped parched lips. He knew he was at his limit, but the rage in his gut burned hotter than the flames.
"Bastards," he spat, his voice a jagged rasp. "I will tear every one of you apart."
Fingers reached into a bottle to retrieve the entire stock of Qi Blood Pills. Without hesitation, Yoichi threw them into his mouth and crushed the medicinal shells with a savage snap of teeth. A massive wave of raw energy exploded from the stomach, flooding depleted veins with fresh vitality.
The green steam of the Gate of Life transformed into a deep, violent emerald.
Muscles bulged and wounds stopped bleeding as the body forced itself into a terrifying state of overdrive. A hand swiped a Prismatic Ticket through the air, and the system interface flashed:
[Drawing...]
[Congratulations! You've obtained Wind Becomes Lightning!]
[Wind Becomes Lightning] (Prismatic)
—Gain 100% movement speed for successful utilization of Martial Arts movement techniques.
Phantom Steps!
"Do not engage him!" the Kumo leader roared, signaling his men to retreat into the trees. "He is burning his life force. Let the kid burn himself out. Kite him! Keep your distance and wait for his heart to burst!"
The shinobi immediately scattered, refusing to meet the boy's charge. Two Mist ninja slammed their hands onto the saturated ground, chanting Water Release: Wild Bubble Wave. Instead of attacking, the foam coated the ground to make it slippery and difficult to traverse. From the shadows, a Suna Jōnin unleashed Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, creating a constant, buffeting gale designed to slow Yoichi's advance.
The movement speed surge from the new passive was instantaneous. Static discharges trailed behind the boy as he forced his way through the wind. Footsteps left scorched glass where there was once mud as the dragons crashed into empty air behind him. Yoichi was a bolt of jagged light, but every time he neared an opponent, they used Body Flicker to move further away, lobbing explosive tags and long-range needles to keep him running.
Mountain Crushing Fist!
Yoichi reappeared in front of a Suna veteran who had been caught in the mud. With speed doubled and Qi Blood surging, energy funneled into a tensed arm. A Kumo shinobi attempted to distract him with a Lightning Release: False Darkness, sending jagged bolts from the flank. The boy ignored the stinging shocks, his fist already making contact with the Suna ninja's chest.
The strike landed with a doubled force that combined blunt pressure with an electrical explosion.
"His strength... it is growing!" the man gasped before the punch vaporized the moisture in his chest. A resulting steam explosion blew the ninja apart, sending gore over the nearby trees. Despite the kill, the other shinobi did not close in. They stayed in the high branches, firing Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire to keep the area around Yoichi a burning maze of small, irritating explosions.
Lightning Spear Thrust!
"Maintain the gap!" the Kumo leader yelled, watching the emerald steam pour off Yoichi's skin. "He is a candle burning at both ends! Just stay alive!"
Momentum carried the boy forward. He shattered a rising Earth Release: Mud Wall with a simple shoulder charge. A sharp spin toward a retreating Kiri tracker brought an extended hand into play. Fingers transformed into a blade of pure energy.
A fast and lethal penetration drove through the Kiri ninja's chest. The piercing force cooked the man from the inside out and sent a chain of lightning into three Jōnin standing nearby. They collapsed, but the remaining survivors only moved deeper into the woods, watching with cold eyes. They were treating him like a dying animal, waiting for the inevitable collapse that comes with overusing the Gates and the pills.
Yoichi stood in the center of the clearing, his chest heaving with a rhythmic, mechanical sound.
Perception and soul power sharpened with every life snuffed out. A heavy and suffocating pressure radiated from his blood-stained form, but he could feel the heat in his veins becoming a burden.
The remaining shinobi kept their distance, circling him like vultures. They used the Hidden Mist Technique to obscure his path, firing elemental jutsu from the fog whenever he tried to focus on a single target. They were betting everything on his body failing before they ran out of men.
Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet!
Water Release: Water Bullet!
Lightning Release: False Darkness!
Yoichi refused to stay down. Even with vision blurring, he lunged at every shadow, but the remaining Jōnin were like rats scurrying into the dark. They refused to trade blows.
Every time he flickered forward, they retreated, lobbing kunai and distant elemental sparks just to keep his heart racing.
This cowardly kiting was more effective than any blade; they were simply waiting for the emerald steam to consume him from the inside out.
"Cowards," Yoichi wheezed, his voice breaking as he stumbled through the churned mud.
Finally, his legs buckled. He collapsed into the muck, the green mist of the Gate of Life evaporating into thin air. Every breath was a jagged struggle against the fire in his lungs. Dark blood leaked from his nose, staining the earth.
The rational part of his mind knew it was over, but the animal instinct remained.
Mountain Crushing Fist!
A Kiri Jōnin, sensing the end, broke rank and lunged forward with a serrated blade. Yoichi did not move until the man was inches away. With a final, desperate burst of adrenaline, he drove his fist upward from the dirt.
The strike was sloppy and lacked the grace of his earlier forms, but the impact was absolute.
The energy from his failing Qi Blood exploded into the ninja's solar plexus. The force crushed the man's ribcage and sent a surge of electricity through his heart. The Kiri ninja collapsed instantly, his body twitching once before going still next to the boy.
The remaining Suna and Kiri shinobi snarled, moving to bypass Yoichi to chase down his fleeing teammates. Yoichi's trembling hand fumbled into his pouch, pulling out a small, glass vial filled with a murky, black liquid.
"Step... any closer," Yoichi rasped, his thumb popping the cork.
The Kumo leader signaled a halt. Yoichi looked up at them, his face a mask of blood and sweat, pulling his lips back into a wide, malicious smile that sent a chill through the survivors.
"Slow-acting poison," he whispered, the vial hovering at his parched lips. "The moment you move past me... I drink. You want a prize for your Raikage? You'll take back a rotting, useless corpse. Try me."
The Suna ninja hesitated, their feet rooted to the mud. They looked at the boy's crazed, bloodshot eyes and realized he wasn't bluffing. He was rational enough to know his value, and spiteful enough to destroy it just to spite them.
"Hold your fire!" the Kumo leader barked, his voice cutting through the heavy silence of the clearing.
The leader stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the vial. He raised a hand to stop the others from advancing toward the forest path where Yoichi's group had disappeared.
"The mission is to capture him alive," the leader reminded them, his own voice shaky from the carnage. "Look at him. He is done. The Gates have closed and the pills have burnt him out. If he drinks that, we return home with nothing. Let the others go. This one is the only one that matters."
The surviving Jōnin circled Yoichi at a distance, their weapons lowered. They watched the last of the green steam vanish, leaving the boy pale and motionless, the vial still gripped tightly in his hand like a detonator.
Yoichi's vision narrowed. The Soul Eater passive gave him a final, faint hum of energy from the Kiri ninja he just killed, but it wasn't enough to move a finger. He felt the heavy footsteps of the Kumo leader stopping beside his head.
"Drop the vial, kid," the leader ordered, reaching for a set of heavy chakra-suppressing seals. "You won today. Your friends are safe. Now, the Uchiha comes with us."
Yoichi stood like a statue in the center of the devastation, his fingers still white-knuckled around the vial. The Suna and Kiri shinobi remained frozen, their greed warring with the fear that the boy would actually swallow the poison. The emerald steam had vanished, replaced by the gray ash of burnt leaves and the copper tang of blood.
In the silence, Yoichi's body finally reached its limit.
A violent, wet cough racked his frame, spraying dark red across the mud. As the world tilted and the shadows of the trees stretched toward him, a single, bitter thought echoed in his fading mind: Even with all this... I am still too weak.
His knees hit the earth first, then his chest. The vial rolled away into the muck as his eyes rolled back, leaving him a motionless heap in the dirt.
The moment Yoichi's pulse slowed to a flicker, the truce shattered.
"He's out! Grab him!" the Suna veteran screamed, snapping his fan open to unleash a wall of wind.
"Back off, sand-rat!" a Kiri tracker roared, lunging through the dust with his blade aimed at the Kumo leader's throat.
The clearing became a frantic battlefield of three-way desperation. The Suna and Kiri ninja were no longer a squad; they were scavengers fighting over a prize. They traded lethal blows inches above Yoichi's unconscious form, their steel clashing with sparks that singed the boy's shredded clothing. They didn't care about his survival anymore. Only about who would claim the trophy.
"Formation Delta! Now!" the Kumo leader commanded, parrying a kunai with his forearm guard.
He didn't hesitate. He scooped Yoichi's limp, dangling body onto his shoulder. The boy's head hung back, bobbing lifelessly as the leader prepared to move. His two remaining subordinates stepped inward, slamming their palms into the mud to trigger Lightning Release: Flash Pillar.
A blinding eruption of white light consumed the clearing, searing the retinas of the Suna and Kiri attackers. Under the cover of the roar and the smoke, the Kumo leader used a high-speed Body Flicker, vanishing into the deep forest canopy.
When the light faded, the Suna and Kiri shinobi were left swinging at shadows in the thickening mist. The prize was gone. High above in the branches, the Kumo team moved like ghosts toward the northern border, the weight of the unconscious Uchiha heavy on the leader's back.
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Thanks to doomslayer24, Snowwwww, Belloni, and Daemonic_Dragon for the Power Stones! Thanks!