{From this chapter onwards consider every chapter has a gore warning.}

{Also, comment more, it feels lacking without the comments and I'm giving you many things worthy of commenting on so do it}

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Kitsuchi and Yugito's expressions hardened immediately when they heard the words "He's trying to take control of the formation."

For a few seconds, neither spoke. The weight of that statement alone was enough to make even veteran commanders tense. Kitsuchi turned sharply toward the formation master standing beside them, the man's face was pale, sweat already dripping down his temple as he tried to monitor the barrier's flow.

"Is that even possible?" Kitsuchi demanded, voice low but edged with urgency.

The formation master swallowed hard, shaking his head quickly. "No. No, it's not possible. There are only two known ways to escape from a Level 6 formation. One, kill the controller. Two, break through by sheer force." He adjusted the sealing scrolls in his hands, his chakra flickering erratically as he continued, "Forcefully taking control of a Level 6 grand formation, there are no methods like that. Even a Level 6 master could only hijack a lower tier formation, but seizing control of something on this level, it's impossible."

Before he could finish, Yugito cut in sharply, her voice a cold snarl. "Then explain what the hell he's doing right now!" She stepped forward, her chakra flaring so violently that streaks of blue fire crawled across her body. "If it's impossible, then why can I see that damn barrier reacting to his chakra? Stop talking and do your job, get your ass back there and figure out how to shut him down before he really takes it!"

The formation master flinched at her tone but didn't argue. "Elder Hishiro is already trying his best to hold the core," he said quickly, his voice strained. "But the only way to stop this is to disrupt him. If Ren Senju maintains focus, even Elder Hishiro won't be able to stabilize the formation."

That made both Yugito and Kitsuchi's faces darken further. They didn't fully understand the fuinjutsu mechanics behind it, but one thing was clear, Ren was actually pulling it off. The "impossible" was already happening.

Up on top of the cracked dome, Ren had finally shed the last fragments of his hardened earth armor. The stone fell away from his body piece by piece, hitting the surface below with dull thuds. Beneath it, his usual calm, faintly smiling face emerged once again. His blue hair swayed slightly in the breeze as he rolled his shoulders, the tension in his body fading.

He took a quiet breath, scanning the sea of shinobi surrounding him, there were hundreds of them, stretching across the destroyed battlefield in every direction. For a moment, he stood completely still, eyes half-lidded, as if letting the reality of it all sink in.

'Two hundred plus enemies,' he thought, his lips curving into a subtle grin. 'The last time I fought a group this big was when those Root operatives came for me. That was what, twenty? Maybe twenty-five? This is going to be... a little more interesting.'

His pulse quickened slightly. Despite knowing how dangerous this was, despite the odds stacked absurdly against him, there was a faint, undeniable thrill under his skin. He didn't really wanted to be in the situation, but the challenge of it made something inside him spark and there was another factor too, after all he had to handle fallout after Danzo's death upon his return so he'd have a great leverage if his unexpected plan succeeded.

Back on the ground, Kitsuchi had already pieced together what the formation master meant.

Disruption, that was the key. If Ren couldn't maintain absolute focus, he couldn't override Elder Hishiro's control. Which meant they had one clear solution.

Kitsuchi exhaled slowly, then turned toward Yugito. "We start the assault now," he said in a calm but commanding tone. "If we keep him occupied, he won't be able to concentrate on the formation. Even a few seconds of distraction could be enough for Hishiro to regain full control."

Yugito nodded curtly, her expression sharp and focused once again. She turned slightly, glancing at C, who was still managing the field coordination and medical relay from the rear lines. "I'll handle the offense. You hold the perimeter and stay back to do your job as a medic, you are not a front line soldier." she ordered firmly.

C's face was tense, but he nodded with some hesitation. "Understood."

The air between the commanders grew heavy with anticipation. Yugito and Kitsuchi exchanged one last look, a silent understanding passing between them. Whatever happened next, this would decide whether they lived or died.

Without another word, both of them flickered forward, two blurs cutting across the field, closing in on Ren from opposite directions.

Ren stood still at the top of the cracked dome, watching as Yugito and Kitsuchi charged toward him in perfect sync. The air around them trembled with chakra pressure, Yugito's blue flames roaring brighter and Kitsuchi's earth chakra already warping the ground beneath his steps. Ren's grin didn't fade even for a second. His body was relaxed, yet his eyes tracked every micro-shift in their posture, every twitch of a muscle.

The instant they got within striking range, Ren vanished. A faint crackle of lightning marked his departure, leaving behind nothing but a shallow crater from where he had launched off. Yugito's claws slashed through empty air while Kitsuchi's next step sank into dust.

By the time they registered what happened, Ren had already appeared on the far side of the battlefield, right where the bulk of the Cloud and Stone forces had regrouped after the earlier chaos.

A sword had appeared in his right hand, long and curved, its metal faintly humming. Chakra surged violently through it, glowing in waves of pale blue that distorted the air around the blade.

Before anyone could react, Ren swung.

The sword's edge split the air with a shriek, and a massive chakra blade erupted outward, tearing across the field in a horizontal arc.

The sheer pressure flattened the ground in its path as dozens of shinobi froze mid-motion. The chakra wave reached them before their minds even caught up. In a single, blinding instant there was silence, then screams.

The cutter sliced through the line of soldiers cleanly, severing weapons, jutsu seals, and bodies in half like paper.

A blur of blue flame shot forward and Yugito appeared.

She landed right in the cutter's path, both her arms already transformed, glowing with the dense chakra of her semi-jinchuriki state. Blue fire and faint black streaks pulsed over her skin as she crossed her forearms in front of her, taking the full brunt of Ren's chakra slash.

The impact was brutal.

The ground cracked under her feet as she slid back, claws gouging deep lines through the dirt. Sparks exploded from the point of collision as her muscles strained to hold the cutter back. The surrounding shinobi were blown away by the pressure alone. After several seconds that felt like minutes, the cutter finally began to fade, dispersing in bursts of static. Yugito exhaled sharply, her arms smoking, but she was still standing.

Meanwhile, Kitsuchi had closed the distance. His hands flashed through seals as he slammed his palms into the ground.

[Earth Style: Stone Cones!]

The ground erupted violently around Ren. Massive stone spikes launched upward, dozens at once, angling from every direction to impale him.

Ren didn't even flinch as his blade began to blur as he moved, cutting through each cone mid-flight. Shards of stone scattered like shattered glass, the rhythm of his sword strokes sharp and controlled, almost like a dance.

Kitsuchi didn't stop there. He planted both hands again, sending another wave of chakra underground. The earth beneath Ren's feet twisted, buckled, and tried to swallow him whole. But Ren's chakra control was too precise; his stance didn't shift even an inch. He adjusted his balance effortlessly, feet gliding along the uneven surface as if skating over ice.

In one fluid motion, Ren spun and swung again. Another massive chakra cutter shot out from his blade, this time aimed directly at the Stone shinobi formation.

They had seen what that attack could do so every single one of them moved instantly, slamming their hands to the ground in unison and Earth walls shot upward one after another.

But, it didn't matter.

The chakra blade carved through the first wall like it was paper. The second fell the same way. The third slowed it for only a heartbeat before it too was split apart. The wave kept tearing forward, unstoppable, reaching the cluster of Stone shinobi behind it. Their defensive jutsu shattered on contact, chakra shattering like glass under a hammer.

And then, impact.

The field went silent for a second as dust and smoke exploded outward.

But before the cutter could finish its deadly arc, a thunderous sound cut through the air.

Kitsuchi had jumped in front of the wave, his entire upper body coated in dense, dark earth armor, similar to the one Ren had used earlier. With a roar, he threw a punch straight into the chakra blade.

The collision cracked the ground and sent shockwaves through the air, the cutter splitting apart like a glass pane under pressure. The fragments of chakra scattered and fizzled away, leaving behind a deep trench carved through the battlefield.

For a brief moment, silence once again fell across the battlefield. The smoke had barely cleared, dust still floating lazily in the air, when every surviving shinobi turned their eyes toward Ren. He stood tall amid the wreckage, sword still faintly glowing in his hand. His breathing was calm, expression unreadable, almost relaxed.

Then, the chakra flickering along the blade dimmed and vanished, the sword itself dissolving from his grasp as if it had never existed. Ren rolled his wrist once, flexing his fingers, then turned his sharp gaze toward the Stone-Cloud alliance still positioned warily across from him.

His eyes moved slowly, counting.

Fifteen Cloud shinobi had been cut down in his first strike, split apart before they even understood what hit them. From the Stone side, six more had fallen to his second swing. The only reason their numbers weren't higher was because they'd been ready, and Kitsuchi had intervened in time. Even then, the fear on their faces said it all.

Ren tilted his head slightly, voice casual, almost conversational.

"You know," he said, tone light, "I have a question for you guys."

No one answered.

The silence stretched long enough that the tension in the air turned suffocating. The only sound was the faint crackle of distant lightning and the shuffle of nervous feet.

Ren didn't seem to care. He continued, voice carrying across the broken field.

"Even if you somehow knew I was injured and resting here," he said slowly, his words measured but mocking, "what made you think you could deal with me… with this?"

He gestured lazily toward the scattered troops, the frightened faces, the bodies already cooling in the dirt.

"These few cannon fodders?"

The words hit harder than any jutsu. Every Chunin and jonin in sight flinched instinctively. Not one dared to look him directly in the eyes now. Anger didn't rise this time, only fear. Because they all knew he wasn't wrong. Just one attack had wiped out more than twenty of their comrades.

If this was him injured, what would he be like at full strength?

Ren's voice dropped lower, the grin fading as his tone sharpened.

"Hmm… I might've understood if you'd brought only jonin cannon fodder," he said, each word carrying an edge. "But you even brought Chunin? Are you guys…"

His gaze hardened, a faint crackle of lightning flickering in his eyes. "...fucking kidding me?"

The sudden chill in his tone made every shinobi tense. Kitsuchi's instincts screamed, and before Ren could move, he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Everyone disperse! No more than two per group! Keep your distance and don't engage him head-on!"

But it was already too late.

Ren was gone.

A flicker of movement, barely visible, and the next instant, he was among them.

He appeared in the midst of a cluster of Stone shinobi, his movements almost too fast to follow.

He was a blur of fists, elbows, knees, each strike precise, brutal, and final. One shinobi's head snapped back with a crunch. Another's ribs caved in before he could weave a hand seal. The third didn't even realize he was dead until his vision went dark.

Ren moved like lightning, fluid and unrelenting. There was no difference between jonin or Chunin, male or female; all of them were just targets. His movements were too efficient, too controlled. Each strike ended a life, nothing wasted.

By the time Kitsuchi managed to close the distance, five shinobi were already lying lifeless on the ground.

Kitsuchi roared and launched forward, his fist slamming toward Ren's chest but Ren vanished again, disappearing in a flash of light and reappearing across the battlefield, this time amidst the Cloud shinobi.

The Cloud side had dispersed just as Kitsuchi ordered, forming smaller units across the terrain but it didn't help.

Yugito reacted first. Blue flames surged around her as she leapt toward Ren, claws extended, but before she could even get close, he disappeared from her sight.

A half-second later, he reappeared behind C who was way at the back of the field.

C barely had time to turn his head before Ren was already on him. Ren's legs coiled around his waist like a snake to it's prey, sticking to his back as if magnetized. One hand grabbed C's head, the other his neck. C's kunai flashed upward, ready to strike but his body froze mid-motion.

Black sealing marks spread across his body like wildfire, crawling from Ren's hands down to his limbs. The symbols pulsed once, glowing faintly, then stabilized.

C's body went rigid. His chakra flow was cut off completely and his body was paralyzed.

Yugito halted mid-step, eyes wide, dread washing over her face as she saw the seals take hold. Her claws trembled, her breathing sharp.

Ren turned his head slightly, meeting her gaze. His grin returned, slow and sharp, like a blade being drawn.

"Well then," he said quietly, his voice cutting through the air, "shall we start the game?"

CRACK~

~~~~~

{A sword swinging and villainous Ren, who would've thought this day would come.}

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{ 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!!!!}