"He's dead?" Akahane Yui stepped forward, her expression complex as she looked at the severed upper half of Kimei Takuya in the distance. One of her enemies was dead, but at the hands of another enemy. For a moment, a myriad of mixed emotions surged in her heart, leaving an indescribable taste in her mouth.
"I've avenged you, yet you're still pulling a long face?" Xuan chuckled lightly. Suddenly, he reached out and pulled her into his embrace. He didn't go too far—after all, they were still on a battlefield with many eyes watching. After a slight tease, he let her go.
Yui glared at him bitterly. She had wanted to resist just now, but her body simply wouldn't obey her.
"What kind of look is that? I am your Master now. Where have you ever seen a maid glaring so fiercely all the time?" Xuan laughed. The constant roar of explosions and Ninjutsu echoed around them. He shrugged. "Forget it. I'll teach you how to be a proper maid after we finish off the enemy. You should join the battle too. With your current strength, handling a few of their Jōnin shouldn't be a problem."
With that, he waved his hand, scattering a massive handful of kunai. Under his masterful shuriken throwing technique, they dispersed in all directions, covering every blind spot on the battlefield.
Immediately after, he picked up the Ama-no-Murakumo Sword by his feet. His silhouette transformed into a streak of light and vanished instantly. A flash of light erupted in the distance, and a Chūnin of the Three-Clan Alliance let out a scream, his body sliced cleanly in half. In almost the exact same instant, the light flashed again, and another scream echoed from a completely different direction.
The entire battlefield suddenly seemed enveloped by flashes of profound golden light. The shinobi of the Three-Clan Alliance fell row after row, cut down as easily as harvesting wheat.
"My god... what is that?!" After their opponents fell, the Akahane shinobi even forgot to move, staring dumbfounded at the spectacle on the battlefield. They were veterans with plenty of combat experience who had seen their fair share of battlefields and even witnessed clashes between Peak Jōnin. But one person dominating an entire massive battlefield single-handedly? This was their first time ever witnessing such a thing. They hadn't even imagined such an existence was possible. Many of them felt a surreal sensation, as if they were trapped in a dream.
"Is that... Lord Xuan?" Uchiha Ran forced back an Elite Jōnin of the Ghost Fire Alliance with a heavy slash, staring at the scene in absolute shock. Calling Xuan "Lord" had already become incredibly natural to him.
In the exact microsecond he was distracted, the opposing Elite Jōnin lunged forward again, thrusting his sword straight at Ran's throat.
"Oh no!" Ran's Sharingan spun rapidly, but it was too late to react. The shock of Xuan's performance had distracted him for a single, fatal second.
Right at that moment, a profound golden light flashed. With a crisp clang, a longsword suddenly appeared and blocked the lethal strike. Ran was, after all, a battle-hardened Elite Jōnin; he wouldn't make the same mistake twice. Seizing this perfect opening, he pushed his Body Flicker Jutsu to the max and slashed out in an instant. A chilling light flashed, and the Ghost Fire Elite Jōnin's head was instantly separated from his shoulders.
The moment his feet touched the ground, Ran hurriedly turned his head. "Lord Xuan—!" But he froze, completely bewildered by the expression on Xuan's face.
Xuan was glaring at him with a face full of fury, anger burning in his eyes. He looked down at the decapitated Elite Jōnin's corpse with an expression of profound pity.
Ran's heart skipped a beat. He desperately racked his brain, trying to figure out how he had offended Lord Xuan, but he couldn't come up with a single reason.
Meanwhile, the truest thought running through Xuan's mind at that moment was: My points! That was an Elite Jōnin! Ten thousand points! Just flown right out of my hands!
Of course, he knew he couldn't blame Uchiha Ran. Under those circumstances, Ran's reaction was completely correct and incredibly timely; openings in combat are fleeting, after all. But even knowing Ran meant no harm, Xuan still couldn't give him a pleasant look.
Giving a cold nod, he reprimanded, "On the battlefield, do not lose focus." With that, he transformed back into a streak of golden light and zipped across the battlefield.
Ran looked at the light weaving through the battlefield with deep awe. He sighed inwardly, For Lord Xuan to possess such strength at his age, he is destined to become an absolute titan of the Uchiha clan! No, I need to build a good relationship with him now. In the future, I might just be able to follow Lord Xuan right into the absolute core leadership of the Uchiha!
With that thought in mind, he let out a loud roar. "Lord Xuan, let me assist you!" Gripping his sword, he charged toward the nearest enemy Jōnin.
"He... he's actually this strong?" A drop of cold sweat rolled down Yui's forehead. She knew Xuan was powerful—he had just solo-killed Kimei Takuya in under two minutes, after all. But the level of dominance he was displaying right now still left her thoroughly terrified. This kind of strength... I fear only legendary Patriarch-level powerhouses could possibly match him.
A bitter taste flooded her mouth. The stronger Xuan was, the more hopeless her revenge became, even ignoring the fact that she no longer had full control over her own body.
In reality, everyone was vastly overestimating Xuan's current combat strength, thoroughly shocked by the bizarre and unfathomable abilities he displayed. His actual foundational strength was nowhere near as terrifying as they imagined.
The reason Xuan could display such overwhelming dominance was entirely due to his arsenal of unpredictable, incomprehensible Ninjutsu. The Flying Raijin, Intangibility, and Kamui formed his absolute core. As for the Rasenshuriken, since it was still technically a close-range melee skill, it was, in a way, an incomplete, half-finished Jutsu.
None of these Ninjutsu existed in the current Warring States Era, and their effects were progressively more bizarre and tyrannical. Caught completely off guard, it was incredibly easy for enemies to suffer massive losses. Information—intel—is an integral component of a shinobi's true combat strength. Kimei Takuya was the perfect example: if he had known the exact mechanics of Xuan's Jutsu beforehand, he absolutely would not have been killed so easily.
To put it another way, if Takuya had managed to escape today, thoroughly analyzed those techniques, and fought Xuan again, even if he couldn't completely counter them, he would have been far more cautious, and Xuan would have had a much harder time winning.
This was the absolute importance of unknown Ninjutsu, and the absolute power of intelligence.
As for his performance of single-handedly dominating the entire battlefield, that was entirely to the credit of the Flying Raijin Jutsu. If you swapped him out for future legends like Senju Tobirama or Namikaze Minato, they would have performed just as well, if not better.
In summary, Xuan's current strength was sufficient to assassinate Peak Jōnin. But as for clashing with true Kage-level powerhouses? Personally, he preferred to wait until he unlocked the Mangekyō Sharingan before fighting them head-on.
With Xuan's entry, the tide of the battlefield became instantly clear. The Three-Clan Alliance and the Ghost Fire Alliance suffered catastrophic casualties. As the first ray of dawn peeked over the horizon, the battle drew to a close, leaving only a few straggling remnants to be mopped up.
Hoshino Ren, noticing the situation turning disastrous, had been the first to flee. Uchiha Shinji was currently in pursuit. The outcome of that chase was still unknown, but it likely wouldn't be a problem.
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