CHAPTER 261: THE SIN OF POTENTIAL (PART-6) [C’S RETIREMENT CAME SOONER THAN EXPECTED]

THUD!

C’s body hit the ground with a heavy, final sound that echoed across the clearing. The impact wasn’t loud by itself but in that silence, it might as well have been a thunderclap. Every eye turned toward the fallen figure, disbelief and horror spreading like a wave through the crowd.

For a moment, no one breathed. No one moved.

This wasn’t just another casualty, C wasn’t some random jonin or faceless soldier. He was one of the commanders of the mission, a man directly under the Raikage, trusted to lead entire squads of Cloud shinobi into battle. His loss wasn’t simply numerical, it was psychological. The kind of blow that sent ripples through an army’s morale.

Ren stood motionless, his shadow stretching over C’s lifeless form. There was no emotion on his face, no trace of guilt or triumph, only calm detachment.

That calmness, more than anything, shattered the remaining composure of the Cloud troops.

One of them had his face twisted with rage and grief, he broke the silence first.

"REVENGE FOR C-SAMA! KILL HIM!"

The words exploded like a spark in dry grass.

Instantly, the rest of the Cloud forces roared in unison and charged. Their collective battle cry drowned out reason and fear. Dozens of shinobi surged forward, lightning chakra erupting across the field as they sprinted toward Ren with everything they had.

Ren didn’t move. He simply raised his eyes, expression unreadable, watching them come like a tide of thunder.

On the other side, Kitsuchi’s face hardened as he watched the chaos unfold. His tactical instincts screamed in warning, what the Cloud shinobi were doing wasn’t bravery; it was suicide. He clenched his jaw, hands tightening into fists before he barked a quiet order to the shinobi by his side.

"Stone forces, none of you are to get within a hundred meters of that boy," he commanded in a low but firm voice. "If his attention isn’t on you, pull back slowly. We’ve already lost too many."

There was a collective nod among his men as they began to retreat, step by step, widening the gap between themselves and Ren.

Kitsuchi continued coldly, voice steady but grim, "After this wave of Cloud shinobi falls, we’ll assess Yugito’s reaction and decide the next move. But for now, keep your distance and stay alive."

The Stone shinobi obeyed without question, slipping back through the terrain like disciplined veterans.

The difference between the two sides was clear, where the Cloud shinobi were driven by emotion, the Stone shinobi moved with cold calculation.

Kitsuchi’s eyes drifted toward Yugito. She was still frozen in place, her expression pale and distant, eyes locked on C’s lifeless body. The blue flames that had surrounded her earlier flickered weakly, unstable, her chakra surging in grief and rage but not yet directed anywhere.

Kitsuchi exhaled through his nose, his gaze heavy. ’So the reports were true,’ he thought. ’They were close. Closer than just comrades.’

He watched as she knelt slightly, trembling, not from fear, but fury. Her nails dug into the dirt, eyes narrowing with barely contained rage but they still looked lost enough to ignore the deaths of other cloud forces.

Kitsuchi’s face remained impassive, though a faint edge of disapproval crept into his thoughts.

’If you lose focus over one man’s death while commanding an entire force,’ he thought grimly, ’then you were never fit to lead in the first place.’

His eyes flickered back to Ren, who still hadn’t moved from his spot near C’s body but just watched the cloud shinobi rushing at him.

The moment the Cloud forces charged, the clearing turned into chaos, hundreds of feet pounding against the cracked earth, the air thick with chakra, sparks, and killing intent.

Ren stood at the center of it all, silent and still, his expression unreadable as lightning crackled across the field and roars filled the air.

Then, without a word, he opened the original version of Second Gate : Gate of Healing, not the modified one using the seals.

The effect was immediate. The chakra inside his body surged like an unleashed storm. Veins flared across his skin, muscles tightening as the surge of vitality rushed through every nerve, every tendon, every joint. The faint wind pressure around him thickened, and even the grass at his feet began to bend outward from the sheer force of his release.

Then, he moved.

In a single instant, Ren vanished. The ground cracked where he’d been standing, a low boom echoing through the clearing as his foot launched him forward.

The first Cloud shinobi didn’t even see him move, he just saw a blur, then his chest caved in completely as Ren’s palm strike hit. His ribs shattered, heart crushed, blood bursting from his mouth before his body was flung back into his comrades like a thrown boulder.

Ren was already among them.

A second shinobi swung a lightning-infused blade down toward his head, but Ren tilted his neck just enough for the sword to graze his hair and then twisted. His knee drove into the man’s stomach, lifting him off the ground, and before gravity could pull him down, Ren’s elbow came down on his spine.

The man hit the earth in two separate pieces.

"Spread out! Don’t let him close!" someone yelled, but the order came too late.

Ren spun midair, heel cutting through a jonin’s throat, blood spraying in a clean arc as the man collapsed without a sound. Before the corpse hit the dirt, Ren caught another shinobi by the collar and smashed his head into the ground so hard it left a crater.

Three lightning spears flew toward him but Ren didn’t dodge, he simply hardened his left arm with a quick pulse of chakra, deflecting all three with a sound like metal striking metal.

He used the same momentum to pivot, closing the distance with the one who had thrown them. His fist met the shinobi’s face and kept going. The skull shattered instantly, spraying crimson mist into the air.

Every motion Ren made was lethal and deliberate with no wasted effort or hesitation. Every step he took was followed by a scream or the dull thud of a collapsing body.

The Cloud shinobi switched tactics as ninjutsu exploded everywhere.

[Lightning Style: Thunder Dragon!]

[Lightning Style: Wave Lance!]

[Lightning Style: Lightning Clone Assault!]

The air turned into a field of lightning, streaks of blue and white flashing across the battlefield. The explosions merged into a single blinding wall of light that swallowed Ren whole.

For a moment, no one could see anything, just the thunder and smoke.

Then, through the haze, a shape burst out and Ren came out, unscathed, his entire body wrapped in a thin layer of Earth-Yang hardening. The chakra-infused stone armor around him was cracked and scorched, but he was still completely fine.

Before the Cloud shinobi could react, he was already among them again.

He grabbed one by the face and slammed him backward into another, crushing both skulls in one motion. A kunoichi leapt from behind, kunai aimed at his throat but Ren turned sharply, caught her wrist, and snapped it backward before driving a punch through her sternum that tore clean through her back.

He didn’t stop moving. He couldn’t stop moving. His movements were fluid, efficient, and brutal, like the fight had turned into a rhythmic dance of death, one that only he knew the steps to.

A squad of five tried to flank him from behind, but Ren ducked low, sweeping one off his feet with a kick before flipping over the rest and driving both fists into the ground. The impact split the terrain like a spiderweb, the shockwave sending all five flying in different directions, bones breaking midair.

Two tried to grab him with lightning-charged chains but Ren caught one chain midair, yanked it, and pulled the man forward before driving a knee into his chest and his ribs imploded. The second chain wielder tried to retreat, but Ren spun the dead man’s body like a weapon, slamming it into him so hard the crack of spine echoed louder than the thunder.

Within seconds, there was nothing but bodies and smoke.

Blood covered Ren’s arm up to the elbows, his breath calm despite the carnage. The earth around him was dark and wet, littered with shattered weapons and motionless figures.

Of the hundred who had charged, maybe twenty still twitched weakly on the ground, too broken to rise. About a fifty... weren’t moving at all and the others were standing with a look of despair in their eyes.

Ren exhaled slowly, rolling his neck once, his eyes flickering toward the few survivors still backing away in horror.

He wiped the blood off his face with the back of his hand, then muttered under his breath, voice steady and low.

"Next."

"There is no next. You die now."

As soon as the words left his mouth, a blur of blue chakra flared above him and Yugito’s silhouette descended like a comet.

Her fist burned with the raw, ghostly blue of the Two-Tails’ chakra. She slammed it down with enough force to crater the ground, but Ren’s arm snapped up to meet it, muscles tightening as lightning chakra surged through his frame.

Their fists collided, lightning against flame, sending a shockwave that split the dirt beneath them like an open wound.

For a single breath, both stilled, locked eye to eye. Then, both vanished.

The next instant, the air itself screamed.

Yugito landed first, feet carving trenches into the earth as her body blurred forward. Ren met her head-on, his right arm surging with focused chakra as he countered her first strike with a straight punch. The impact rippled through the air, displacing dust and light. She flipped backward mid-air, landing lightly, her tail of blue chakra lashing behind her like a whip of molten fire.

Ren exhaled as his veins bulged.

Gate of Life, open.

Gate of Pain, open.

A thunderous pulse erupted from him as the Fourth Gate’s aura exploded, turning the field into a distorted blur of wind and pressure. His skin flushed red; his hair lifted in the surge. The ground beneath his feet cracked just from the weight of his presence.

Yugito’s chakra flared in answer, bubbling violently around her, her eyes slit like a cat’s. Blue fire consumed her form as her nails lengthened, fangs forming. The single tail behind her flicked sharply, scattering embers that hissed against the ruined ground.

Then, chaos began.

Yugito lunged first with a flicker of motion, then her claws tore through the air where Ren’s head had been a heartbeat ago. He ducked low, twisting to the side, and drove an open palm into her ribs. The impact thundered through her cloak, sending her flying through a half-shattered stone pillar. She landed on all fours, smoke and dust rolling off her as she snarled, chakra burning hotter.

Ren didn’t wait. He blitzed forward, shattering the ground in his wake. She saw only a blur before his knee connected with her abdomen hard enough to fold her body in half and send her spinning. But before he could follow through, her tail whipped across his flank. The blow felt like molten iron as Ren skidded back, blood spraying from a shallow cut across his ribs.

She came again. Faster this time.

Ren’s mind entered Hyperfocus and the world slowed. He saw the distortion in her movements, the faint lag before her tail swung, the twitch in her shoulders before a claw strike. Every motion unfolded to him like a prewritten sequence.

He countered ruthlessly.

A claw strike was parried. A tail sweep was sidestepped. A burst of chakra flame was deflected with an Earth-Yang reinforced forearm.

Then his counter came. A left hook to her jaw followed by a front kick to her midsection then a spinning backfist that cracked the air itself. Each hit left sonic bursts, blood, and blue fire scattering the battlefield like rain.

Still, Yugito refused to fall. Every time he sent her flying, she came back, her movements getting wilder, her aura boiling hotter. She roared an inhuman, beastlike scream that tore through the air as her cloak thickened, the tail splitting into two. Her power spiked, and in an instant, she was upon him again.

Her claws sliced at his chest as Ren crossed his arms to block, but the impact sent him flying backward, his feet digging trenches as he skidded.

She followed immediately, but before she could close the gap, Ren slammed his foot into the earth. The shockwave of raw chakra blasted outward, halting her advance for half a second which was just enough for him to reappear behind her.

His punch connected squarely with her back and the ground cratered.

But even then, she twisted mid-fall, her tail lashing out to drag him down with her. The two collided again, rolling through debris and shattered rock, trading blow after blow at point-blank range. Every collision sent sparks, chakra, and blood into the air.

Finally, both landed, breathing hard but steady, staring at each other through the haze of dust.

Yugito’s face was streaked with blood, her cloak flickering. Ren’s arms were bruised and torn, faint burns tracing across his skin from her chakra flames, but his expression didn’t waver. His breath came sharp and even, his muscles still coiled tight with killing intent.

For a brief moment, silence returned. Only the crackling of residual lightning and blue fire filled the battlefield.

Then Yugito snarled, blood dripping from her lip. "I’ll fucking kill you."

Ren wiped a streak of blood from his jaw as he gave a bloodied grin and spoke, "You saw the head of the last person who spoke that same sentence just minutes ago."

Yugito just gave a snarling roar and rushed ahead once again.

~~~~~

{Been a while since I wrote a huge group fight, and it was so fun.}

{Also, I said no more foot notes but I can’t control it.}

{Also, comment how many and what kind of rewards you think Ren might get this time, if yours is better than mine then I’ll change it and also give you credit so comment your rewards but keep them consistent with the previous rewards.}

{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!!!!}