Ren's clone kept a close watch on the battlefield, eyes narrowed as he tracked every shift of water and blade. The fight unfolding wasn't anything spectacular by his standards, no world-shaking techniques, no overwhelming displays of bloodline power. It was just a straight, disciplined shinobi fight. The kind most people in the world lived and died by.
And that was the thing. To outsiders, it probably looked impressive, but to him it was simply… normal.
This was the difference between the majority and the minority. Most shinobi trained the same way, hone what you already have, refine it, sharpen the edge until it cuts a little deeper each year. That sort of "normal strong" could carry someone far, but it would never put them on the level of those rare few, the monsters, the names people remembered, the ones who bent the rules of the world with every step they took.
Canon figures.
Top tier combatants.
The minority.
Ren caught himself drifting in thought and shook his head, clearing the distraction. This wasn't the time to philosophize about the nature of strength. He focused back on the fight, forcing his Hyperfocus to sharpen the picture again.
If he had to put numbers to it, Shinden's mastery over his elements sat high. His water style and lightning style both must float around eighty percent mastery, and it showed in the way he could switch between them without hesitation or combine them without a hitch.
The fluidity wasn't something just anyone could pull off, each whip of water carried charge, each mist-born serpent came with static clinging to its body. Shinden had built his whole battlefield on that interplay.
But Ren also knew Shinden wasn't using everything yet. There was one more card, the technique that fused the two styles more directly. It wasn't a true kekkei genkai like Storm Release, but in raw effectiveness it was close enough to make the difference between a dominant hunter-nin and a dead one.
Shinden hadn't pulled it out yet. He was setting the pace, controlling the field, waiting for the right conditions.
Ren's eyes flicked back to Juichi. His father was handling himself well, better than he expected, but if Shinden decided to finish things, that technique would be the knife to the throat. That would be the moment.
And Ren knew that when it came, he couldn't just stand still. That would be the point where Juichi would either break through the wall that had held him back for years and finally step into the rank of true monsters, or he would stall, stumble, and fall short.
Ren's jaw tightened. He'd be ready. If the test crushed Juichi instead of pushing him through, then he'd interfere. Not a second earlier.
~~~
Juichi deflected another water whip with Gryphon, the blade crackling as he cut the current apart before it could coil around his legs. Sparks hissed against the mist, the air carrying that faint stench of ozone. His boots slid back half a step, and still Shinden didn't let up as another whip lashed in, followed by the shadow of a serpent pushing out of the haze.
Juichi's mind raced behind the parries. He needed to close the distance. That was his only real path forward. But every angle he tested kept slamming into the same wall.
He could go for long-range pressure but he only had a few lightning style jutsu for it, but the field was already Shinden's. The whole ground shimmered with a slick sheen, shallow streams curling between cracks like veins. If even one stray bolt landed where it shouldn't, the current would race back and bite him too. That was the trap of it.
If he had both arms he could flash through some Ninjutsu that would help him avoid the water flow in the ground and allow him to close the distance and then deal with him with his Kenjutsu. For the first time in a while Juichi cursed not having both his hands.
He exhaled and shook his head as he flicked his wrist, redirecting another whip outward, letting the discharge burn harmlessly in the trees at the edge of the clearing.
He'd been deflecting every lightning strike wide, out of the water's reach so that he wouldn't get affected by the lightning travelling through the water and Shinden knew it too. He knew Juichi's range options were cut down before he even tried them.
Shinden's silhouette shifted inside the mist, low and deliberate. The hunter wasn't rushing. He didn't have to. Juichi could feel the rhythm of it, every strike, every serpent, it was pressure, not killing intent.
He was being boxed in and worn down. Shinden wasn't about to gamble with a kenjutsu specialist in close quarters. Not when one mistake could cut him open. So he'd chosen the smarter play, deny the close-in fight, run Juichi in circles, and bleed him of stamina.
Juichi pushed forward, lightning sparking at his legs in short bursts, [Lightning Style : Thunder Flash ] carrying him across the slickened ground as he stepped through the few dry patches. His blade whipped around, tearing through the serpentine stream, but another lash was already at his side.
He twisted, barely slipping past, the arc still scraping a thin cut across his shoulder. He gritted his teeth, kept moving.
Shinden's breathing didn't even sound labored. Calm, steady, like this was another hunt. And maybe it was.
Juichi's eyes narrowed. He didn't need it spelled out, Shinden didn't have to hold the advantage for long. A little more time, and Kakuzu would arrive. Then things wouldn't matter. Juichi would either be dead before he had the chance to adapt, or worse, captured alive and be used as a bargaining chip with Ren.
The water stirred again, a whip snapping down. Juichi's blade sparked as he redirected it away from the field. The stalemate held, but only one of them was burning fuel to maintain it.
Juichi's blade scraped against another water lash, sparks flashing as he turned it aside. The hiss of mist closed in tighter, the battlefield feeling smaller with each exchange. His lungs burned, not from exhaustion yet, but from restraint.
Every instinct screamed at him to close the gap, to cut the distance and finish this, but Shinden's control of the field kept snapping the leash tighter. Juichi's options narrowed with every passing second.
He made his decision in the next breath.
Enough of waiting.
If he dragged this on, Kakuzu's shadow would be the one closing in, and then the fight wouldn't matter at all.
He shifted his stance. The next water whip lashed in and instead of cutting it wide, Juichi slammed his foot into the ground. Chakra surged downward, cracking the earth in a clean line that spidered straight toward Shinden's position.
The ground split like a shallow trench tearing forward, disrupting the streams pooled across it. For the first time since the fight began, Shinden's calm silhouette broke, he darted sideways out of the line, boots skimming water as he avoided being boxed in.
Juichi was already moving. He slid into the fresh crack, legs pushing him through the line like a drawn path. Gryphon hummed with sharp lightning as he thrust it forward.
[Lightning Style : Plundering Flash]
A bright arc of lightning leapt from the blade, racing across the mist. Shinden barely had time to twist his body before it caught him square across the chest.
The strike wasn't fatal, but it was clean. Shinden stumbled, cloak smoking, body twitching as the current ran through him. His head turned, eyes narrowing, expression hardening in a way it hadn't before.
The hunter's demeanor shifted. Calm precision gave way to sharper movements. He wasn't content to toy with Juichi anymore. His hands blurred, mist coiling tighter, water streams snapping in with faster, sharper rhythm.
Juichi's chest heaved, but his lips pulled tight into a thin grin. Finally, some real fight. He surged forward again, the ground cracking under another [Earth Style: Split] to break apart the water pooling at his feet.
The fissure bought him a second's safety, then his sword snapped up, lightning bursting out in a sharp arc toward Shinden.
Shinden moved quicker now. His hands flashed as he released an Earth Serpent, cutting through the incoming arc before it struck him full force. Still, the ground shuddered as currents spread across the mist, small shocks biting at both fighters. Juichi gritted his teeth at the sting but pressed forward.
It became a rhythm. Whenever Shinden's water gathered thick enough to swallow the ground, Juichi slammed it apart with earth chakra, tearing open cracks and ridges that disrupted the flow. And whenever he saw even the smallest angle, he followed with a lightning strike from his sword, pushing arcs of raw current through the mist.
Sometimes he hit true, striking Shinden's legs or torso, a hiss leaving his throat as a jolt bit deep. Other times, the current rebounded, carried back into Juichi's own boots, sparking through his body with a bite that nearly knocked him off balance but he didn't care. The tradeoff was worth it.
The fight shifted in tone.
Shinden no longer dictated every beat. His whips still lashed out, serpents still coiled, but more and more of his focus turned to defense. Each lightning arc that cut across the mist had to be countered or redirected. Each crack of earth split his battlefield thinner, breaking the clean veins of water he relied on.
Juichi felt the weight of it too. His left arm ached from constant parries, his grip on Gryphon tighter than he liked. The burns from feedback jolts stung up his legs and shoulder. His breaths grew sharper, shorter. He couldn't keep this pace forever.
But he saw the same calculation flash across Shinden's eyes. The hunter's calm mask hadn't broken, but his movements had lost that lazy confidence. He was measuring too now, choosing when to press, when to retreat. The field no longer belonged to him completely.
A whip of water-lightning lashed across Juichi's flank, grazing his ribs. Pain shot through his side, but he turned the cut into momentum, spinning the blade outward and slicing through the current.
Lightning spat off Gryphon's edge, snapping across the water like broken glass. Shinden jerked back, forced onto the defensive again.
"Why bother," Shinden muttered, voice low, carried faintly through the mist. His tone wasn't mocking. It was sharper, more serious. "We both know you can't hold much longer."
Juichi didn't waste breath answering. He stepped through another crack, Gryphon thrusting forward.
[Lightning Style : Thunderous Welcome]
The lightning-forged thrust screamed toward Shinden, only to be split by the hunter's blade which Shinden had taken out, his own [Lightning Style: Arc Cutter] cleaving the current apart. The collision lit the mist in a white-blue flash, both men recoiling from the shockwave.
Juichi's boots slid across wet stone, balance barely caught. His chest heaved harder now. He knew his reserves were bleeding out fast. Too much lightning, too much chakra funneled into blade and foot, too much strain from forcing earth chakra into the ground on top of it. His stamina wasn't bottomless. If he burned it all here, he wouldn't last another few minutes.
But if he didn't keep pressing, he'd lose anyway.
Shinden steadied himself across the field, the burns across his chest faintly steaming, water dripping from his blade. His stance had shifted lower, tighter. The hunter wasn't careless now, every movement was braced, sharp, meant to kill.
Juichi rolled his shoulder, lightning dancing across Gryphon's edge, thin arcs hissing against the mist. His one arm trembled faintly from the weight, but his grip didn't falter.
Every clash from here mattered. Every strike would carry risk.
He stepped forward again, forcing his body to move faster, harder. Another crack split the ground, another arc of lightning roared outward. Shinden's counter met it head-on, sparks raining around them. The battlefield shook with the constant clash of water, stone, and lightning, the mist no longer calm but churning with raw energy.
Juichi's breaths tore out ragged now. His body screamed at him to stop, to pull back, but he forced himself to keep driving forward. He didn't have time. He couldn't wait for Kakuzu's shadow to arrive.
He had to end this.
~~~~~
{To be honest I first wanted to showcase some cool sword moves from Juichi's side, however as I kept making that kind of fight, it just didn't sit well with me.
If I had done that I wouldn't have stayed true to the OG Naruto verse (ironic ik) as the show didn't have many such Kenjutsu moves, however I couldn't just change Juichi from a Kenjutsu specialist to something else, so, I figured it would be great to have a special sword move as a final attack which you'd see in the next chapter.}
{Anyway, tell me what you think about the fight till now, I kept it way simpler than any other fight scenes till now as I wanted you all to see what Juichi's current level is, so I didn't bother with much high level stuff, though if you do want the high level stuff, just wait a little more, after all, isn't Ren going to Kakuzu?}
{If you want, you can support me on pat-reon}
{ h t t p s : / / w w w . p a t r e o n . c o m / Z e e n o n }
{You know what else}
{STONES!!!!}