After the attack subsided, the golden light of the barrier slowly faded away—revealing Yoruha within.
Despite the terrifying bombardment of lightning moments ago, Yoruha stood completely unscathed. Not even a speck of dust touched his clothes.
Calmly, he looked toward Kurosuchi Raiga in the distance.
"The Thunderswords… are not so impressive after all."
Yoruha's mocking tone infuriated Raiga.
"You little brat! Don't think that just because you blocked one Lightning Banquet you've seen the true power of the Thunderswords!"
"I'll show you the might of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen! I'll show you the true terror of the Thunderswords!"
As he finished shouting, Raiga charged at Yoruha, the twin blades in his hands crackling with blue lightning.
To an ordinary ninja, his speed would have been astonishing—but to Yoruha, he was far too slow.
Yoruha didn't even flinch. Though he was facing a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—an elite jōnin—his expression remained composed.
In the next instant, their weapons clashed.
Raiga's twin blades crackled with blue lightning, while Yoruha held only a simple kunai infused with golden lightning.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Sparks exploded in all directions as their close-quarters battle raged on. The two forms blurred amid flashes of gold and blue, lightning arcs striking against each other violently.
After several minutes of fierce combat, Raiga's expression twisted in disbelief. Yoruha's taijutsu—his physical combat skill—was not inferior to his own.
Even worse, Yoruha's agility and strength far surpassed his.
He had only managed to last this long due to his greater combat experience.
But to Raiga's horror, Yoruha was improving as they fought—his techniques refining with every clash.
At first, Yoruha had relied solely on brute strength. Now, within just minutes, his movements had become sharper, more fluid—on par with Raiga's own mastery.
It was terrifying.
If this continued, the fight would turn completely against him. But Yoruha's relentless pressure gave him no chance to disengage.
"What kind of monster is this kid? How can someone so young possess such overwhelming power?"
"And his skill—it's improving too fast!"
"If this goes on, I'll lose for sure."
"I have to find a way to create distance and finish this with ninjutsu."
Yoruha's face remained unreadable as their battle continued. But inwardly, he was learning—analyzing Raiga's movements, memorizing his form.
After all, Raiga was one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. His taijutsu was formidable, honed by years of combat. But Yoruha's learning speed was monstrous. In mere minutes, he had already assimilated Raiga's style into his own.
Now, their technique was equal—but Yoruha's superior strength, speed, and reflexes had completely overtaken him.
Raiga's movements began to slow, his breathing ragged.
After a few more exchanges, he gritted his teeth.
"Lightning Release—Lightning Ball!"
At the very moment their weapons met, Raiga unleashed a condensed sphere of lightning straight toward Yoruha's face.
But Yoruha's reflexes were inhuman—he vanished instantly, leaving the lightning ball to smash into a boulder behind him.
BOOM!
The rock, over a meter tall, exploded into rubble. The force was immense.
Raiga used the opening to leap back, widening the distance between them.
When Yoruha looked up, Raiga was already forming another set of seals.
"Lightning Release—Lightning Dragon Tornado!"
Crackle!
ROAR!
A massive dragon of lightning, several meters long, materialized before Raiga, letting out an earth-shaking roar as it charged toward Yoruha.
Yoruha's eyes narrowed slightly. His hands came together.
"Wind Release—Wind Dragon Bullet."
With just a single seal—barely a gesture—Yoruha summoned a roaring wind dragon behind him.
Hummm!
ROAR!
The wind dragon surged forward, crossing over Yoruha's head and slamming into the lightning dragon head-on.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Explosions tore through the battlefield as the two chakra beasts collided repeatedly—until the wind dragon opened its maw and devoured the lightning dragon whole.
The resulting blast shattered the ground for dozens of meters, gouging deep fissures into the earth.
But the wind dragon didn't stop—it kept advancing, like it possessed a will of its own, surging toward Raiga.
Raiga's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Impossible—he can use Wind Release?! And it's this strong?!"
He had been watching Yoruha for days, convinced the boy specialized only in Lightning Release. Never once had he suspected this.
Wind Release and Lightning Release—both notoriously difficult to master. And yet, this genin not only wielded both, but wielded them together.
To call him a genin now felt like an insult to every jōnin alive.
BOOM!
The wind dragon struck before Raiga could react, swallowing him in its storm. The explosion carved out a crater several meters deep, while the shockwave whipped through the forest, snapping trees like twigs.
As the storm cleared, Yoruha's gaze shifted slightly.
"As expected of a jōnin… your ability to survive is impressive."
He smiled faintly.
Raiga, however, was in shambles—his clothes torn to rags, his body covered in bleeding cuts from the razor-sharp wind.
Though still alive, he looked nothing like one of the proud Seven Ninja Swordsmen—his breathing ragged, his hands trembling as he clutched his blades.
"Monster… this kid's a monster," Raiga muttered, eyes wide with dread.
"Is he really just a genin?"
"What kind of demon has Konoha created?"
"If this continues… I'll die."
By now, he knew he wasn't Yoruha's match.
At the start, Yoruha's lack of experience had been his only advantage—but now, even that was gone. Yoruha's speed was too much. His movement was so fast that at times Raiga thought he was watching a space-time technique.
As a Lightning Release specialist, Raiga prided himself on speed—but Yoruha was beyond him, almost impossibly so. His eyes couldn't even track the boy's movement anymore.
It was terrifying.
He realized that if Yoruha wanted to kill him, he could do so easily. The only reason the fight still continued was because Yoruha chose to let it.
Anger burned in his chest, but fear outweighed it.
What Raiga didn't know was that Yoruha hadn't attacked in full yet—not out of arrogance, but because he wasn't certain he could defeat a jōnin outright. He had never killed one before.
Even against Kakashi or Zabuza, he had never faced their full strength.
So he waited—watching for Raiga's ultimate move, conserving his chakra and strength for whatever might come next.
But Raiga had nothing left. All that remained was a single suicidal jutsu.
Yoruha stayed cautious, while Raiga mistook his patience for mockery.
In his eyes, Yoruha wasn't sparing him—he was humiliating him.
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