The shockwave from Saiki's Wind Style slash was too massive to go unnoticed.
"Captain Kukai!"
The Cloud ninja who had been pressing the assault on the main camp felt their hearts skip a beat.
Kukai was one of their strongest frontline commanders, a man of immense prestige within the village. Seeing him fall was a catastrophic blow to their morale.
"KEEP ATTACKING! DON'T LET UP!" another Cloud giant roared, desperately trying to stabilize the wavering line.
He unleashed a burst of chakra to repel his Leaf opponent and led a small group of specialists toward Saiki.
Konoha was severely outnumbered. Despite Saiki's display, the Cloud still had the manpower to spare a unit to surround him, while the Leaf defenders were too pinned down to provide support.
"Saiki!" Shinku Yuhi screamed from across the field. He was trapped in a three-on-one duel and could only watch in horror as the Cloud closed in on the boy.
Saiki didn't answer. He was busy centering his breath after his fight with Kukai.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Blade!"
He didn't even look. He pivoted and sent a three-pronged arc of wind energy toward Shinku's position, aimed perfectly at the ninja surrounding Kurenai's father.
"SHIT!"
Sensing the lethality of the incoming blades, the three Cloud ninja scrambled back, abandoning their prey. It gave Shinku and his team the second they needed to counter-attack.
It was a casual strike for Saiki, but his mastery over Wind Style was already elite.
Unlike his Lightning Style, which he used for utility and speed, Saiki focused his Wind Style entirely on precision and cutting power, integrating it seamlessly into his Kenjutsu.
He lacked Danzo's "fancy" wind tricks, but in a duel, Saiki was confident his refined Wind Style could shred the old man in seconds.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Clap!"
"Lightning Style: Fang of the Beast!"
"Water Style: Water Dragon Spear!"
The Cloud unit surrounding Saiki didn't care about honor. They launched a synchronized elemental barrage.
It was the classic Water and Lightning combo. A water dragon wreathed in crackling electricity roared toward Saiki.
The logic was sound: Earth counters Water, but Lightning counters Earth. The combination of the two could pierce almost any Earthen defense, and the water would conduct the electricity to ensure no one escaped.
Faced with the "unblockable" combo, Saiki simply circulated his Qi. He manifested his Auspicious Cloud once more. The rain-curtain descended.
BOOM!
The A-rank combo slammed into the mist. The shockwave was so violent it peeled the top layer of soil from the earth, leaving a scarred path in its wake.
But the "Laser" of water and lightning failed to budge Saiki. It hit the rain-curtain and dissipated into ripples, like a pebble hitting a pond.
Saiki was a peaceful man, but he wasn't a punching bag. These bastards had tried to gank him while he was helping his captain. He was done being polite.
He dropped into a low crouch, ignoring the ongoing impact of the water dragon. He leaped into the air, the ground beneath him cratering from the force of his jump.
"Die, you pieces of trash!"
He poured his chakra into his blade and swung a wide, horizontal arc. This time, he didn't just use Wind Style; he condensed the blades, increasing their velocity and cutting power to an absurd degree.
"Impossible! LOOK OUT!"
The Cloud ninja were terrified to see the boy leaping through their attack.
Saiki's blade sent out a three-fold wind net. It moved too fast for most to react. A few veterans used Body Flicker to escape, but the two who had been casting the combo and several others were caught in the web. They were shredded into fragments before they could even finish their hand signs.
The disparity in power was staggering. This wasn't a battle of Genin; it was a scene from the era of the Sages.
The Third Raikage once fought thirty thousand Stone ninja for three days and nights to save his comrades, remaining unharmed until he finally collapsed from exhaustion.
In his current state, Saiki was easily an Elite Jonin. If he pushed himself, he was a pseudo-Kage. If he burned his Senjutsu Chakra, he could execute a Kage-level opponent without blinking.
He had effectively reached his physical peak for his current age. Further growth would require dual cultivation or the slow passage of time.
But with his Auspicious Cloud, he was effectively invincible against anything below the highest tier of power.
The Uchiha were feared for their Susanoo—a defense that very few jutsu could hope to crack.
Saiki's cloud was his Susanoo. And his offense was equally lethal. Unless the Cloud or Stone sent ten thousand men to drown him in bodies, he was the king of this battlefield.
"DAMN YOU! YOU LEAF MONSTER!"
A Cloud Jonin with chakra reserves comparable to Kukai's used a Body Flicker to escape the wind net. Seeing his brothers turned into a red slurry, his mind snapped. He stared at Saiki with eyes that were ready to pop from his head with rage.
He had hidden his presence after his retreat, but Saiki was now standing on top of his cloud, looking down at him from the sky.
Saiki's "cheat-code" was a cultivation system, and while he lacked offensive spells, the Auspicious Cloud granted him the ability to fly.
It was common sense: Sages walk on clouds.
Saiki gave a small hop, drawing the cloud back into his body. He transformed into a bolt of lightning and plummeted toward the Jonin.
Ninja are the ultimate glass cannons. Battles are usually decided in a single exchange.
Chakra flooded Saiki's blade. Bolstered by Lightning Style, he materialized in front of the man before the giant could even finish a sentence.
The man's rage turned to absolute terminal terror. He lacked Kukai's experience and didn't even have a sword to block with.
He raised a kunai in a pathetic, reflexive gesture. A flash of white light cut through the night. His body fell apart in two perfect halves.
To Saiki, this man was a step down from the first commander he'd killed. He didn't even look back at the corpse as he plunged back into the fleeing survivors.
"AAAHHH!"
"HELP!"
The sector became a slaughterhouse. Everywhere the lightning child passed, Cloud ninja fell. It didn't matter if they were Ninjutsu specialists or Taijutsu masters; Saiki's blade found them all.
The only way to stop him would have been the commander Dodai or the A-B combo. Without them, there was no one on this front who could stand before him.
Habit is a terrifying thing. Saiki had started the night wondering why he was even here, but after twenty kills, he had lost himself in the rhythm of the blade. He had gone "berserk."
His inhuman constitution granted him near-infinite stamina. Even if his chakra was "only" Elite Jonin level, he was like a sponge—no matter how much he used, his core squeezed out more.
Saiki was a whirlwind of blood and steel. He had no idea how many he had killed before a hand finally caught his shoulder.
"Saiki! Stop! That's enough!" Shinku Yuhi's voice was a thunderclap in his ear, snapping him back to reality.
Saiki blinked, his bloodshot eyes clearing. "Huh? What happened?"
"It's over. Look around you. They've retreated," Shinku said, his voice laced with concern and a hint of fear.
Saiki scanned the field. The Cloud were gone. The last one had died beneath his blade seconds ago. He looked at the Leaf ninja nearby; they were staring at him with expressions of pure, unadulterated terror. To them, he wasn't a comrade anymore. He was a monster.