'Did Might Duy encounter the Seven Ninja Swordsmen here?' Kiyohara thought to himself as the earth trembled beneath his feet.
Regardless of the timeline specifics, this was about to be one of the highest-caliber battles of the entire Third Great Ninja War. The final Gate of Death amplified a user's physical abilities dozens of times over. It was a suicide move that temporarily granted the power of a god.
"What is happening over there?" Kakashi's visible eye was wide with shock.
Even with his mask on, his grave expression was obvious. Such a massive, oppressive chakra signature... could it be a war weapon? Kakashi thought of the Tailed Beasts; the Cloud Village's Jinchūriki had been highly active during this war.
"It seems someone has engaged a massive threat," Kiyohara shook his head, looking at Kakashi with a slightly strange expression.
If he remembered correctly, Might Guy regarded Kakashi as his lifelong rival. There was a running joke in his past life that Guy's ultimate kick was originally prepared for Kakashi.
"What's wrong?" Kakashi touched his mask in confusion, thinking something was on his face. Kiyohara's gaze made him feel very odd.
"Nothing," Kiyohara shook his head, returning his focus to the retreating convoy. "But whatever that is... it's not a battle we can participate in."
BOOM!
Just then, a surging current of hyper-compressed air swept in from afar.
Wherever the shockwave passed, whether it was giant, ancient trees or jagged boulders, everything was pulverized in an instant, leaving behind a massive, several-meter-deep trench in the forest floor.
The violent blast of air, mixed with shattered rock and wood chips, slammed into the convoy. Their cloaks flapped wildly, and the sheer atmospheric pressure made it almost impossible to open their eyes.
Kiyohara's eyelids twitched. 'This is bad. The shockwaves are coming this way.'
Sure enough, the next moment, Kiyohara saw a blur of blue flying toward them.
"Incoming! The battle is spreading! Disperse! Find cover!"
The Hyūga ninja screamed, quickly scattering the convoy. Through their Byakugan, they had detected the combatants long before the shockwave hit.
Unfortunately, their warning was too late.
Or rather, in the face of absolute speed, any early warning was meaningless.
A figure enveloped in a roaring aura of blue steam was launched from the epicenter of the battlefield like a meteor, hurtling toward their retreating group at a terrifying velocity.
The figure adjusted its posture in mid-air. The blue steam surrounding him was rubbing against the atmosphere so violently that it emitted a piercing, high-frequency whistle.
It was Might Duy.
He was chasing the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist alone, and the chase had brought him directly into Kiyohara's sector.
"Why is this damn Konoha rat still chasing us?!" Jūzō Biwa cursed, sprinting through the trees with the massive Executioner's Blade strapped to his back.
They had just ambushed a squad of three Genin brats, planning to torture them for the Hyūga convoy's location. Who knew that before they could even begin, a scruffy, middle-aged man in a green jumpsuit would suddenly appear?
He had spouted some nonsense about "self-imposed rules" and "burning his youth to protect what is important." Then, green steam erupted from his body.
As the fight progressed, the green steam turned blue.
His speed and strength became increasingly, impossibly monstrous.
"Morning Peacock!"
Duy's fists moved in a blur, striking the air so fast that the friction ignited the oxygen. A massive barrage of fireballs bloomed in front of him, fanning out like the tail feathers of a flaming peacock.
The attack was entirely silent—until the fireballs struck a figure in the distance. Only then did the deafening roar of the explosions catch up.
The punches had broken the sound barrier.
"That's Guy's father... Might Duy," Kakashi realized, staring in awe.
On the ground a hundred meters away, a Mist ninja holding a needle-like weapon suddenly collapsed. His chest was caved in, a deep, smoking crater melted into his torso. His internal organs were cooked.
Kushimaru Kuriarare, wielder of the Longsword: Nuibari, died before they could even blink.
"Is that Kiyohara and Kakashi?"
Duy saw the Konoha headbands and temporarily halted his assault on the remaining six Swordsmen. He recognized the boys; they were Guy's classmates, and rare among the villagers for never mocking his son.
"Guy... I entrust him to you from now on," Duy called out to them. He was currently in the Seventh Gate of Wonder, his muscles tearing under the strain. "Do not come near here! Retreat quickly!"
Duy knew he couldn't drag this out. He planned to wipe out these elite assassins right here, right now. If he let them live, they would hunt down Konoha's youth—including his son.
"I'll help you, Senior Duy!" Kakashi drew his White Light Chakra Sabre, wanting to rush forward.
"Stop." Kiyohara grabbed Kakashi's shoulder, pulling him back hard. "What are you thinking? That is not a battle we can survive."
Kiyohara saw the reality clearly. Although Duy was fighting the Seven Swordsmen alone, he was the absolute apex predator on this field. If Kakashi intervened, he would instantly become a hostage, forcing Duy to hold back to protect him.
"Senior Duy," Kiyohara shouted, nodding respectfully. "We will take good care of Guy."
He had scanned the area and didn't see Guy, Ebisu, or Guy's other teammate. They must have taken a different evacuation route.
Having received the promise, Duy finally turned around, completely entrusting his back to the retreating youth.
Kiyohara dragged Kakashi and Kurenai backward. The Hyūga convoy had already scattered hundreds of meters away. The Main Branch VIPs were cowering behind giant rocks, while several Branch Family youths trembled, observing the battle with their Byakugan, their faces pale with pure terror.
'How did a Genin... a man who has been a Genin for twenty years... become this ferocious?' a Hyūga guard thought, his mind breaking.
But before anyone could process the 7th Gate, Duy's aura intensified once more.
"Konoha's Lotus... blooms twice!" Duy roared, his voice tearing his throat. "The Eighth Gate..."
His chakra completely erupted.
The blue vapor instantly vaporized, replaced by a vivid, boiling aura of blood-red steam. It was his literal lifeblood, evaporating through his pores as his heart pumped at an impossible, suicidal rate.
"GATE OF DEATH—OPEN!"
BOOM!
A chakra storm a hundred times more terrifying than before swept the forest.
His chakra had completely exceeded the physical limits of his meridian system. The sheer energy began to rapidly carbonize his skin, turning his flesh to ash. He looked as if he would be blown away by the wind in the next second.
"Daytime Tiger!"
Without hesitation, facing the terrified Swordsmen, Duy formed a peculiar hand seal.
In an instant, the blood-red steam compressed with the atmospheric pressure. The sheer kinetic force warped the air, gradually forming the massive, roaring phantom of a white tiger, tinted with red vapor.
With a momentum that crushed everything in its path, the tiger burst forward!
"What is that?!"
"Run! DODGE!"
The six remaining Swordsmen screamed in horror, breaking formation and frantically trying to escape.
But the Daytime Tiger was absolute. It caught them instantly.
Unlike a standard 7th Gate Daytime Tiger, the version unleashed by a user burning the 8th Gate was several times larger, fueled by literal life energy.
BOOM!
Three of the Swordsmen were hit head-on by the shockwave. It was like being struck by a high-speed locomotive. They spat out mouthfuls of blood and shattered organs, flying backward like broken kites. They slammed heavily into a distant cliff face, their flesh and bones completely pulverized. Their legendary swords were left embedded deep in the rock.
The other three survived only because they were further back and used their massive swords as impromptu shields, mitigating the brunt of the shockwave.
Jūzō Biwa spat a mouthful of blood. The legendary Executioner's Blade in his hands now had a massive chip in its edge from the sheer kinetic impact, and his hands were completely mangled.
Without looking back, Jūzō and the two remaining survivors fled into the mist, their minds shattered by sheer terror.
'Damn it! What the hell is wrong with Konoha's Genin?!' Jūzō thought frantically, tears of pain and fear streaming down his face. 'Why could one punch shatter the Seven Swordsmen?!'
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