The battlefield was a place where people fought and killed each other.
Rain diluted the blood and soaked through clothing, making it impossible to tell sweat from tears. Everything merged into a single, heavy mixture—murky, yet painfully clear.
Much like how, in the eyes of innocent children, rain was nothing more than the sweat of clouds…or the tears of the sky.
"That person is amazing!"
A little girl with twin pigtails pointed excitedly at Neiki, who was darting across the battlefield like a ghost.
"Is he a good person?" another boy asked, holding an umbrella over Hashirama.
In the children's simple world, once someone was labeled a bad person, anyone opposing them naturally became a good person.
Kirigakure had slaughtered hundreds of ordinary villagers in the Land of Waves. To the children, the Kirigakure ninja were unquestionably villains. When Konoha's forces arrived, the children cheered—believing that anyone fighting Kirigakure must be on the side of justice.
Neiki's appearance, however, shattered that neat division.
At first, Neiki fought against Konoha, leading the children to assume he was allied with Kirigakure. Then, without warning, he began killing Kirigakure ninja in droves.
They no longer knew where to place him.
"He is a bad person," Hashirama said calmly, smiling.
"Then… who are the good people?" Hiwara Fuyuka asked, biting her finger anxiously.
"There probably aren't any good people here," Inari said, frowning.
Hashirama glanced at Inari in surprise, then chuckled softly and shook his head.
"There are."
Seeing the puzzled faces around him, Hashirama explained gently:
"Here, both Kirigakure and Konoha are fighting for their own interests. Konoha cannot truly be called good. Kirigakure, because of their indiscriminate slaughter of innocents, are certainly villains in your eyes."
"As for that swordsman," he continued, gesturing toward Neiki,"although he hasn't harmed you or the Land of Waves, many people would still see him as a classic villain."
He paused, then pointed his thumb at himself with mock pride.
"The only good person here—if one truly exists—would be me."
The students' eyes lit up in sudden understanding. They nodded fervently, expressions sincere and faintly fanatical.
"Yes!""That's right!""Only Sensei is a good person!"
Hashirama laughed softly.
"Keep watching. That swordsman is extremely skilled. My only hope is that one day, you can become as strong as him—strong enough to protect yourselves and the people around you."
"That would make me very happy."
Down in the valley, the battle grew increasingly complex.
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Neiki flickered back and forth between the Konoha and Kirigakure forces. His black sword cut cleanly, his movements eerily silent. Every teleportation brought fresh casualties to both sides.
Forced to avoid being annihilated, both Konoha and Kirigakure instinctively slowed their advance.
The battlefield had effectively become:
Neiki versus Kirigakure.And Neiki versus Konoha.
Alone, Neiki stood against more than four hundred ninja from two great villages—becoming the absolute focal point of the war.
After cutting down more than ten Konoha ninja, Neiki sensed something amiss. He grinned faintly and vanished, reappearing deep within the Kirigakure ranks.
"He's using us to hone his swordsmanship," Hayate Shirakumo said, gasping for breath.
By now, he had finally grasped Neiki's combat pattern.
Neiki couldn't possibly fight two hundred elite Konoha ninja head-on.But there was no need to.
Whenever he sensed danger, he simply teleported away—bouncing between Konoha and Kirigakure like a tennis ball, forcing both sides to exhaust themselves.
So far, no one had even brushed the edge of his clothing.
"I've noticed something," Nara Suzaku said grimly, equally exhausted."His chakra and stamina aren't dropping at all."
From the moment Neiki appeared, his consumption should have far exceeded theirs. Yet he remained frighteningly energetic.
Suzaku couldn't understand it.
Their strategy of wearing him down was collapsing.
"I've marked several Flying Thunder God seals," Suzaku said."Next time, we'll try to trap him."
Shirakumo didn't answer.
Not because he wanted to discourage Suzaku—but because Neiki had already teleported more than ten times. Each seal was hidden in unpredictable places and scattered across the battlefield.
Unless luck favored them, catching him was nearly impossible.
Dark clouds rolled overhead.
"Lightning Sword Technique: Judgment Sword!"
Neiki's voice rang out.
Suzaku and Shirakumo both looked up, their pupils shrinking.
Suspended within the storm clouds was a gigantic sword formed entirely of lightning—its presence overwhelming, its shape terrifying.
They turned toward Neiki within the Kirigakure ranks.
He stood with his black sword raised, lightning crackling violently along its edge.
Around him, Kirigakure ninja stared upward in pure terror and despair.
What kind of jutsu is this?
Does a god who commands lightning truly exist?
If such a god exists—why would it answer Neiki?
"This technique uses Lightning Release to guide natural lightning!" Ao shouted, his Byakugan piercing through the jutsu."Everyone, scatter! Don't cluster together!"
Lightning overcame water. Against such a colossal lightning construct, many Kirigakure ninja were already doomed.
Ao had just finished shouting—
When he realized Neiki was staring directly at him.
His heart skipped violently.
"Wait… wait a second—"
Neiki smiled faintly.
And swung his sword.
BOOM!
The colossal lightning sword crashed down from the heavens.
"No—!!"
Ao refused to die here.
He had nowhere to run, but he still had options. He could not die.
"Water Release: Water Formation Wall!""Earth Release: Earth Formation Wall!"
Water on the outside.Earth on the inside.
Before he could form a third jutsu, the water was vaporized and the earth shattered like glass.
The lightning sword pierced through everything.
Ao was obliterated.
The Byakugan embedded in his body shattered into countless fragments of essence, flowing like mist and merging directly into Neiki's eyes.
Silence fell.
Kirigakure ninja stared at Ao's charred remains, their expressions finally breaking.
Fear appeared.
"Such power…""This is impossible…""How can we fight something like this…?"
Kirigakure's morale collapsed.
Konoha's wasn't much better.
Shirakumo and Suzaku exchanged grim looks.
"I think…" Shirakumo said slowly,"…we should retreat."
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