Chapter 6: Bonds Forged Between Life and Death
The three of them were locked in a bizarre, frantic chase through the forest. Despite having been treated with medical ninjutsu, Uchiha Izuna was far from fully recovered, and his pursuer closed the distance with terrifying speed. It didn't take long for him to be cornered.
Senju Tobirama's blade was a blur of silver, but Stelle was faster, throwing herself directly between the two shinobi.
"Tobirama, let him go."
"Do you have any idea what you're saying?" Tobirama's voice was dangerously low, laced with a cold fury that made the air crackle. "Our parents were killed by the Uchiha. Itama was killed by the Uchiha. And now you want me to let one of them walk free?"
The sheer disappointment radiating from his gaze made Stelle's practiced words falter.
"But... but..." she stammered, grasping for the right argument. "Aren't we trying to achieve peace? Just like Hashirama-niisan always says."
"Before we talk about peace, let me kill him," Tobirama retorted, his grip tightening on his sword. "We can discuss everything else after he's dead. Now, move aside."
'I ask you,'Stelle thought with a rising sense of panic,'what am I supposed to do when one-fourth of my life and another one-fourth of my life are trying to kill each other?'
If either of them died here, it would be a catastrophic loss for her system.
Seeing that she remained rooted to the spot, refusing to budge, Tobirama's lip curled. He pointed the tip of his sword at Izuna. "Well, Uchiha? Are you just going to hide behind my sister and beg for your life like a dog?"
The words were as sharp as any blade, and Tobirama truly knew how to twist them. As expected, Izuna's pride flared, and he stepped out from behind Stelle's protection, his jaw set.
Stelle, seeing her chance, retreated to the edge of the clearing. The wisdom of the ancestors was clear: when internal conflicts become irreconcilable, the best solution is to introduce an external one. A common enemy had a wonderful way of diverting attention. She secretly began the process of summoning a certain troublesome foe.
A moment later, a piercing sound tore through the air—the shriek of something moving at incredible speed, carrying with it a crushing pressure that bent the trees. Stelle's pupils constricted in alarm. "Tobirama, watch out!"
There was no time for hand signs. She lunged, tackling Senju Tobirama with all her might. The two of them tumbled across the forest floor, rolling a good distance before scrambling back to their feet.
A deafening "BOOM" echoed behind them as a shockwave blasted through the clearing. Tobirama whipped his head around, his eyes wide.
Another figure now stood in the exact spot he had occupied just a second ago. The man was completely shrouded in a black robe, his face hidden behind a stark white mask, leaving not a single inch of skin exposed. The ground beneath his feet was a spiderweb of deep cracks, radiating outward from the point of impact. It was clear this man had been the source of the attack.
"Quick reflexes, kid," a grating voice rasped from behind the mask, as unpleasant as the sound of glass being scraped across stone.
"Reinforcements?" Tobirama's first thought was that this was an Uchiha, an ally of Izuna's.
But he dismissed the idea just as quickly. While the Uchiha clan's chakra was often cold and sharp, it lacked this violent, untamed quality. Nor did they employ a fighting style that relied on such inhuman brute force.
No, this was him. The madman from the intelligence reports his clansmen had sent back. The Battle Maniac who lived only to challenge the strong. Why would he target them?
Judging by the man's sheer power, he was not someone they could handle in their current state. Tobirama's hand immediately went to the signal flare in his pouch. His clansmen weren't far; if he could just get the signal off, help would come.
"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
He wove the signs, unleashing a swirling dragon of water to obscure the man's vision while his other hand fumbled with the flare's cap.
The black-robed man blurred, vanishing from his spot in an instant. A dark, crackling energy coalesced around his hand as he brought it down in a vicious smash toward Tobirama.
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
Stelle clapped her hands together, and a thick, interlocking wall of wood erupted from the ground, shielding Tobirama. With a flick of her wrist, a kunai appeared between her fingers. She leaped high, aiming to drive the blade down into the man's head from above and halt his assault.
But he was too fast. His fist shattered the wooden shield into splinters. Without even looking up, he took a single step forward, effortlessly evading Stelle's descending strike. Her kunai stabbed into empty air.
By now, the red firework had shot out from the signal flare, but a sinister black flame ignited in the man's palm. With a casual puff, the cold fire extinguished the flare before it could ascend. In the next motion, he landed a devastating punch on Senju Tobirama.
Tobirama was sent flying, tumbling across the ground before skidding to a halt and spitting a mouthful of blood.
The man gave him no time to recover. He opened his hand, and a kunai wreathed in the same black flame materialized. With a gentle push, the weapon shot toward Tobirama's heart.
It was too fast. This wasn't a fight; it was an execution. An absolute suppression of strength. From the moment the man charged to the moment Tobirama fell, only a single, brutal instant had passed.
"Tobirama!"
Stelle surged forward, moving so quickly she was little more than a blur, almost leaving afterimages in her wake. The kunai in her hand slammed into the one cloaked in black fire, desperately trying to parry the blow.
The force of the impact was immense, knocking her own weapon from her grasp. The black-flamed kunai continued its trajectory, burying itself deep in her shoulder. A wave of searing pain washed over her, forcing her to double over with a choked gasp.
"Stelle!"
Panting, Tobirama forced himself up with a kip-up, planting himself in front of her protectively.
Across the clearing, Uchiha Izuna snatched the sword Tobirama had dropped and threw it to him. He then drew a kunai from his own tool pouch. As much as he despised the white-haired Senju, this was no time for petty rivalries.
According to the reports, when this Battle Maniac went on a rampage, he didn't care about his victim's clan. If he continued to hold a grudge against Tobirama now, all three of them would die here today. Whatever grievances they had could wait. Survival came first.
For Senju Stelle's sake.
Their eyes met. In that single, shared glance, the two prodigies—both careful and sharp-witted—devised a strategy born of desperation.
Izuna moved first, vanishing with a soft swoosh. He reappeared in the trees, launching a volley of shuriken. As the steel stars neared the black-robed man, they suddenly collided with one another in mid-air, their trajectories deflecting sharply to attack their target's back from an impossible angle.
The man turned with bored indifference and unleashed a wave of black flame, batting the shuriken out of the air.
Izuna's hands flew through a series of signs. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" A massive sphere of roaring flame erupted from his lips, hurtling toward the man's head.
The black-robed man seemed utterly disdainful of such parlor tricks. He formed a single hand sign, clapped his palms together, and a towering wall of earth rose from the ground, intercepting the fireball with ease.
In that moment, Tobirama saw his opening. His hands blurred through the seals for the Water Dragon Bullet Technique. A colossal dragon of pressurized water slammed into the black-robed man, sending him flying.
A direct hit from such a powerful ninjutsu would have heavily injured any ordinary shinobi.
However, the man somehow stabilized himself in mid-air, landing gracefully on the branch of a large tree. A closer look revealed his entire body was now shrouded in a flickering aura of black flame, like a suit of dark, ethereal armor.
The expressions on both Izuna and Tobirama's faces fell. The gap in their power was simply too vast. This was a fight they could not win.
The black-robed man sneered, his grating voice dripping with contempt. "Nice coordination. A shame you're both so weak."
In the next second, he charged again, moving even faster than before, a streak of pure black light. With nothing more than simple taijutsu, he brutally dispatched both Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Izuna, leaving them crumpled on the ground.
Stelle rushed forward, kunai held defensively in one hand while her other was hidden behind her back, poised to weave hand signs at a moment's notice.
"Sir," she said, her voice steady despite the pain in her shoulder. "A powerhouse of your caliber should be seeking out other experts. Why trouble yourself with weaklings like us? How about you let us go? You can name your conditions."
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