After the arrival of Toyama and the other Uchiha—
The situation changed.
Tomiko felt it immediately.
What was already bad had now gone completely out of control.
for a brief moment—
her thoughts scattered.
But she forced herself to stay calm.
They still had a chance.
They had to.
beside her—
Shinnosuke stood silent.
But his body betrayed him.
A thin layer of sweat formed on his back.
His eyes stayed on Toyama—
watchful.
uneasy.
Tomiko stepped forward.
Her expression steadied.
Her voice followed.
"It's good that you Uchiha are here," she said.
"Tell us—how far is your base?"
"We need to send information about this sudden ambush"
she paused briefly—
Then looked at Raizen.
"You should take over from here"
"The situation has escalated"
"The mist has deployed the seven ninja swordsmen…"
Her voice grew heavier.
"…this is no longer a small conflict"
"We need to inform Hokage-sama immediately"
Raizen frowned.
at first—
He thought she was avoiding the real issue.
but then—
Those words stayed with him.
seven swordsmen… full scale…
He looked at her again.
"What do you mean by that?"
He asked.
"Are they here alone… or has the mist sent more forces?"
before Tomiko could respond—
Suki stepped forward.
Her eyes were sharp.
"Don't change the topic," she said.
"Do you think we are blind?"
her gaze shifted—
to the blood on the ground.
To the fallen anbu.
"…you ran from the battlefield"
"…and killed your own"
Her voice didn't rise.
But it cut deeper.
Tomiko's expression hardened.
anger surfaced.
"You are mistaken," she said.
"That man was a spy"
"he leaked our information"
"We had no choice but to eliminate him"
Her tone didn't waver.
"We retreated because this information must reach the Hokage."
"That is anbu duty"
a brief pause.
then—
more quietly—
"Do you even know…"
"…how many of our squad died so we could bring this back?"
for a moment—
silence.
behind her—
Shinnosuke exhaled slowly.
relief.
a justification.
something to stand on.
He stepped forward.
His posture straightened.
Authority returned to his voice.
"as an anbu captain…"
"I am ordering you"
His eyes moved across the Uchiha.
"Send someone of you to your camp and inform them"
"Request reinforcements"
"The rest will stay here…"
"…and cover our retreat"
The forest grew still.
Raizen and Suuki looked at him.
Suki turned her head slightly.
"Toyama…"
She said quietly.
"What should we do?"
Toyama didn't answer immediately.
He looked at them.
Then at the anbu.
then—
He smiled.
"What should we do?"
He repeated softly.
then—
"of course…"
"…we detain them"
The words landed.
Tomiko's face darkened.
Shinnosuke's expression tightened.
Toyama wasn't letting this end quietly.
far away—
on the battlefield—
might duy still stood.
His body remained upright.
But his breathing had changed.
heavier.
His skin glistened with sweat.
He had held them back—
for too long.
but when his eyes moved—
He saw it.
the anbu who fought beside him—
were gone.
the captain—
gone.
He stood alone now.
against seven.
and this time—
There was no one behind him.
"I don't know about your 'youth'… but Konoha clearly knows the meaning of betrayal, doesn't it?"
Jūzō biwa words hung in the air, but Might Duy didn't answer. For a moment, his face went still, the usual brightness in his expression fading into something quieter… heavier. He drew in a deep breath, steadying himself, as if pulling everything back into place. Then he exhaled.
The air around him changed.
The pressure returned—stronger than before.
The Seventh Gate had fully opened.
The ground beneath his feet cracked as he moved.
There was no warning.
One moment, he stood there—Next, he was already in front of Zabuza.
His kick tore through the air with a sharp, violent force. Jūzō biwa instincts screamed at him; he raised Kubikiribōchō just in time. The impact struck like a collapsing wall.
The sound echoed through the forest.
Jūzō biwa body was pushed back, his feet carving into the earth as he struggled to hold his ground. The sheer force behind the strike travelled through his arms, rattling his bones.
He gritted his teeth.
"…Is there any end to this jutsu of yours?"
There was frustration in his voice now—real this time.
Duy didn't stop.
Before Jūzō biwa could regain his footing, Duy stepped in again, closing the distance completely. There was no hesitation in his movements anymore—no wasted motion. Every strike carried weight—every step pushed forward, not back.
Another swordsman moved from the side, blade cutting toward Duy's exposed flank.
Too late.
Duy shifted his body just enough—the blade scraped across him, drawing blood, but his momentum didn't break. His elbow drove into the attacker's chest, the impact sending him stumbling backwards, breath knocked out in a single instant.
The others reacted immediately.
This time, they didn't attack one by one.
They moved together.
Blades came from multiple angles—fast, precise, deadly.
Duy's body twisted through them, not perfectly, not cleanly. Steel found him again—another cut, deeper this time. Blood followed. His muscles strained, his breathing grew heavier, but he didn't slow down.
If anything—
He moved faster.
He stepped inside their formation again, forcing them closer, not giving them space to use their weapons properly. A punch landed—solid, direct—sending one of them crashing into the ground hard enough to shake the nearby trees.
Dust rose.
For a brief second, everything blurred.
Duy stood at the centre of it, surrounded, his chest rising and falling rapidly. Sweat mixed with blood, running down his face, his body already beginning to reach its limit.
But his eyes—
They hadn't changed.
Not even a little.
Across from him, the swordsmen had stopped taking him lightly.
Their stance shifted.
Their focus sharpened.
This was no longer a fight against a "shinobi."
This was survival.
Far from the battlefield, hidden behind broken trees and uneven ground, a small group of genin watched in silence.
Might Guy stood there, unmoving.
At first, he didn't understand what he was seeing.
Then it sank in.
His father… alone.
Surrounded.
Fighting without stepping back even once.
Guy's hands clenched at his sides. His body leaned forward, ready to move, to rush in—but something held him back. Not fear. No hesitation.
Understanding.
This wasn't a fight he could enter.
In front of him, his father.
Still fighting.
Alone.
Back on Shinnosuke's side, the tension in the air tightened until it felt difficult to breathe.
Shinnosuke's fingers closed firmly around his kunai, his stance lowering as instinct took over. Beside him, Flame and Tomiko adjusted almost at the same time, their bodies shifting into readiness without needing a word. Whatever this had turned into, it was no longer something that could be talked through.
Tomiko stepped forward first.
Her composure had returned, but it was not calm—it was forced, held together by will alone.
"You Uchiha…" she said, her voice sharp, cutting through the silence. "Don't think you can act willfully here. This is war. You're stopping ANBU from delivering intel."
Her eyes locked onto Toyama, steady and unyielding.
"Let's see how you explain that to the village."
For a brief moment, it sounded convincing—even to herself.
Then Shinnosuke laughed.
It wasn't loud. But it carried.
"Explain?" he said, the word dripping with mockery. "Why would they need to explain anything?"
His gaze turned toward the Uchiha, cold and unrestrained now.
"They're already the disease of Konoha. Hypocrites. Every one of them." His lips curled faintly. "Born traitors."
The words didn't echo.
They settled.
Suki, Raizen, and Genzo didn't respond—not immediately. Their silence said more than anything they could have spoken.
Slowly, their eyes changed. The Sharingan emerged, red patterns sharpening in the dim light, locking onto Shinnosuke with a focus that felt almost suffocating.
It was rage that showed first.
Toyama didn't react to the insult. Not outwardly. He only glanced once at his team, his voice dropping just enough that only they could hear.
"I'll send him to you. Handle it."
Then he moved.
blink
It didn't feel like motion—just absence.
One instant he was standing there, the next he wasn't.
Shinnosuke didn't even realise what had happened until the world shifted around him. The ground beneath his feet was no longer where he expected it to be. The Uchiha were suddenly in front of him—too close.
Behind him, a sharp impact sounded.
Toyama had already appeared in his place, his kick connecting cleanly with Flame's face.
The force twisted the ANBU's body mid-air before sending him crashing hard into the ground.
It happened so quickly that even Tomiko froze for a fraction of a second, her thoughts struggling to catch up.
By the time she turned—
Toyama was already behind her.
"Konoha secret technique…" he said, almost lightly.
There was a pause so brief it barely existed.
"…thousand years of death."
What followed wasn't something Tomiko had time to understand.
Her body reacted before her mind could, jolting forward violently as heat rushed to her face.
The next second, she was airborne—then slammed down onto the ground with a heavy impact.
bang
Shinnosuke appeared directly in front of Suki, Raizen, and Genzo.
They didn't hesitate.
There was no warning, no exchange—just movement.
The first strike landed before he could fully orient himself.
A second followed immediately, then a third.
Their attacks overlapped, fast and precise, each one cutting off his attempt to respond.
Shinnosuke tried to raise his guard, but it came too late; his body jerking under the force of each hit.
He couldn't find space.
Fighting one Uchiha would have been difficult.
Facing three like this—
He was completely overwhelmed.
Pain spread quickly, his vision shaking with each impact as his footing slipped further from him.
He tried to counter, to regain control, but there was no opening. Every movement he made was intercepted before it could form.
And then—
just for a second—
The pressure eased.
Not because they stopped.
But because their attention shifted.
Their eyes flicked toward Toyama.
Toward Tomiko.
And what they saw—
broke the flow of the fight in the strangest way.
Tomiko lay on the ground, stunned, Toyama standing behind her as if nothing unusual had just happened.
The contrast between the intensity of the battle and what they had just witnessed created a moment that felt… wrong.
Out of place.
Even in the middle of violence.
That single second was enough.
Shinnosuke saw it too.
His focus cracked.
"…Tomiko—"
The word slipped out before he could stop it.
Then his voice rose, sharper, louder, breaking through the moment entirely.
"TOMIKO!"
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