"Oh my, oh my. It seems we are becoming more famous by the day."
Juzo Biwa's face contorted, his left eye narrowing while his right bulged with a predatory intensity.
"Tsk, there's a chip in my blade. I'll need to let it drink some blood so the iron can regenerate."
He swung the [Executioner's Blade] with a heavy whistle. To him, these kids looked as fragile as dry twigs.
"We're surrounded. There's no way out," Ebisu muttered, his sunglasses coated in dust from their desperate flight.
"Shinobi of the Leaf, surrender. We might consider leaving you with your lives," Fuguki Suikozan barked. He carried the bandage-wrapped [Greatsword: Samehada] on his back, his orange hair flowing down to his waist. His shark-like teeth were even more unsettling than Ameyuri Ringo's.
"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist...!" Cold sweat rolled down Might Guy's face.
"With just the three of us, it's impossible to beat these guys," Genma Shiranui added, biting down hard on the senbon needle in his mouth. Were they really going to die here?
"Hey, where's your resolve?" Ebisu pushed up his glasses, his legs shaking uncontrollably. "Elites like us can't run away at the first sign of trouble!"
"If you won't surrender, I'll just have to kill you." Fuguki laughed, the green markings on his cheeks twitching.
"Enough talk," Juzo interrupted from behind. The priority was sealing the Three-Tails into Minato Namikaze's student, Rin Nohara, and sending her back to Hidden Leaf to run amok. This was a top-secret mission ordered by the Mist high command to cripple the Leaf's home territory.
"Fine." Fuguki began unwrapping the bandages from Samehada, intending to use the sword's scales to shred the flesh from the three boys.
In the background, Rin Nohara woke up from her stupor, gasping as she saw her friends surrounded.
"Stay still!" a Mist Anbu hissed, placing a sealing formula on her to paralyze her movements.
"Start the ritual!"
the Three-Tails Jinchuriki commanded the sealing team. They had to be careful; a mistake here could cause the Tailed Beast to rampage before it even reached Hidden Leaf.
***
Meanwhile, nearby.
"That's Guy over there." Kakashi's left eye, usually covered by his forehead protector, was exposed. The scarlet Sharingan vastly enhanced his vision.
"It's them," Kiyoshi said, his brow arching. He noticed someone had already arrived.
Just as the Swordsmen closed in on Guy's team, a figure glowing with green energy blurred into position in front of them, wearing a green jumpsuit identical to Guy's.
"Made it just in time," Might Duy exhaled.
"Dad?" Guy gasped. "You're a Genin, why are you here?"
"Don't talk. Run. I'll buy you time," Duy said, his eyes fixed on the legendary swordsmen. He sensed the Mist Anbu and the Jinchuriki further back in the woods. His heart sank.
'If I open the Gate of Death, can I stop all of them?'
"You're telling us to run? Dad! These guys are all Jonin—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen! You can't stop them alone!" Guy screamed.
"Don't worry. I can finally open the last gate," Duy said quietly.
"The last... gate?" Guy froze. He couldn't even manage the sixth or seventh gate yet. But the price of the last one was... "No! If you use that, you'll—"
Duy turned slightly, flashed a brilliant grin, and gave a thumbs-up.
"Self-rule... right now is the time to protect what is most precious to me, even if it costs my life." He placed his hand over his heart.
Three hundred meters away, Kiyoshi watched the chakra flow with perfect clarity.
'The [Eight Inner Gates Formation]... it really does force open all eight points.' He saw Duy's chakra ignite like a wildfire, surging from the first gate to the seventh.
'I need to get my hands on that technique,' Kiyoshi thought. It was arguably the strongest taijutsu in existence.
"Kakashi," Kiyoshi spoke suddenly. "The speed of sound is 340 meters per second. That means I can cross this distance in less than a second."
Kakashi looked up, confused. "Sound?"
"However, lightning in nature moves at nearly the speed of light—eight hundred thousand times faster than sound!"
Kiyoshi couldn't hit the actual speed of light—his physical body would disintegrate—but breaking the sound barrier? That was easy.
*Crackle!*
Pale blue arcs of electricity exploded around Kiyoshi. He lunged forward, and as he did, the sparks turned into a jet-black current. To Kakashi, it looked as if Kiyoshi had literally turned into a bolt of lightning.
Where the lightning struck, Kiyoshi appeared.
*!*
Warning bells screamed in Fuguki Suikozan's mind. He instinctively tried to swing Samehada to cover his vitals, but the speed was faster than instinct.
*CLANG!*
A black arc of lightning slammed into Samehada's scales, sending sparks flying. The flash drew everyone's eyes. Duy's progress toward the Eighth Gate halted as the lightning illuminated the clearing.
Fuguki, who took the brunt of the strike, felt a sudden hollow weight in his hands. His pupils dilated. Someone was snatching his sword.
*BOOM!*
Kiyoshi buried a kick into Fuguki's stomach, sending the massive man tumbling through several trees in a cloud of dust. Kiyoshi stood in the center of the clearing, the [Greatsword: Samehada] held firmly in his hand.
"So this is Samehada..." Kiyoshi ignored the shocked stares, inspecting the sentient blade. Unlike the other six swords, this was practically a living organism that ate chakra.
Samehada opened its maw, filled with rows of jagged teeth, and tried to bite Kiyoshi's wrist. Kiyoshi tightened his grip, and a massive surge of black electricity flowed from his palm into the sword, charring its exterior instantly.
"A weapon that bites its master isn't a good weapon," Kiyoshi said, looking at the assembled Swordsmen. Juzo Biwa, Fuguki Suikozan, Kushimaru Kuriarare, Jinin Akebino, Jinpachi Munashi... even Ameyuri Ringo. All seven were here.
"You... Kiyoshi Uchiha," Fuguki wheezed, clutching his stomach as he stood up, his eyes burning with rage at his stolen sword.
"Careful, a monster has arrived!" Juzo Biwa shouted. He remembered Kiyoshi's fight with the Six-Tails Jinchuriki all too well.
"Kiyoshi!" Guy shouted.
"Kiyoshi is here... with him and Guy's dad, can we win?" Genma wondered.
"Guy's dad is just a Genin, what can he do? But Kiyoshi... he's a Jonin. People have started calling him the 'Black Flash' lately. That unique black lightning... it's like the first spark that tears through the night." Ebisu wiped the dust from his glasses.
'The Black Flash...' Might Duy heard the lack of faith from his son's friends but felt no bitterness. He was used to being looked down upon. But Kiyoshi's title struck him. This boy, barely older than his son, already had a title known to the world?
In the shinobi world, every village has Jonin—but not every Jonin has a name that makes the enemy tremble before the fight even begins.