Kaen stepped out from behind a tree, his Sharingan gleaming red. The filtered light above gave the scene a cold, eerie tone. His movents were calm, precise. He spun a kunai lazily around his finger, like none of this was urgent.
His gaze locked onto , then flicked briefly to the two transford shadow clones behind Sena and the courier. I waited for hesitation, for doubt, but saw none. He had bought the act completely.
“Found you,” Kaen said, voice steady and confident. He raised a flare launcher and pointed it skyward. With a sharp pop, bright orange sparks lit up the treetops. “Misaki will join soon, but I think I can handle you on my own.”
I didn’t reply. I shifted my stance slightly, standing protectively in front of the clones, just as he expected to.
He moved without warning.
Kaen shot forward, hands already forming signs. “Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!”
A spread of small fireballs erupted from his mouth, arcing through the air in sharp patterns. They moved fast, each one subtly guided by chakra. I rushed ahead, weaving through the barrage while signaling my clones to fall back. Heat flashed against my skin. One fireball grazed my arm, burning a line across my sleeve. Another exploded against a nearby trunk, charring bark and sending sparks flying.
Kaen didn’t stop. He darted in with his kunai, aiming for a clean strike. Our blades collided, grinding against each other with a screech of steel. I deflected the blow and launched a swift kick toward his gut.
He vanished from the kick’s path without effort.
His Sharingan spun, reading my body before I even moved. He slipped into my defenses with terrifying smoothness, each step calculated. His counters ca sharp and clean, pushing into every small gap I left behind. I had to stay mobile, stepping back again and again just to keep from being overwheld.
Behind , the clones kept to the script. The courier clone tripped and fell backward with a clumsy thud. The Sena clone stepped forward protectively, arms half-raised in a perfect escort guard posture.
Kaen didn’t even look at them. His attention stayed locked on . He had already decided they weren’t a threat.
Exactly what I needed.
I sprang back a few ters and flung two shuriken. He batted them aside and responded imdiately, hands flashing through seals. “Fire Release: Fla Bullet!”
A cluster of narrow fire projectiles tore through the air toward , much faster than the last technique. I twisted hard to avoid them, but one clipped my shoulder. Pain flared as the burn cut through my shirt. Several more shot past and scorched the foliage behind .
Kaen advanced, confident and unyielding. His Sharingan never stopped tracking, adjusting constantly to my rhythm. He gave no ti to recover or strike back, which was exactly what I wanted.
I played along, retreating further. Each mont pulled him deeper into the web I had spun, each step further ensuring my victory.
I retreated baiting him closer to the trap I had prepared. My foot caught on a root, and I stumbled just enough to sell the illusion. As I reached out to steady myself, my hand brushed the bark of a nearby tree. Chakra surged from my palm, silently activating the hidden fuinjutsu tag embedded on the ground.
Kaen moved in quickly, eyes fixed entirely on , unaware that he had just stepped into the seal’s radius.
The mont his foot crossed the boundary, the tag lit up.
Lightning exploded upward, bright and imdiate. The surge caught him mid-step. Kaen jolted violently, a flash of pain crossing his face as electricity tore through his limbs. His montum broke. His body locked up, even if only for a heartbeat.
That was all I needed.
My shadow clone sprang into action. Blades drawn, it rushed forward and slashed at Kaen’s side. He recovered faster than expected, arms rising to parry the blow with a short clang of steel.
The courier clone moved at the sa ti. It stumbled forward like a panicked civilian, arms flailing, its footwork ssy and erratic but with every step, it drifted into position directly behind Kaen.
I pushed forward as well, sending a tight volley of kunai low toward Kaen’s legs. He twisted to avoid them, turning sideways as the blades bit into the ground. In doing so, he shifted his focus entirely away from the courier clone.
He didn’t see the threat standing behind him.
A critical mistake.
The courier lunged without hesitation. Kaen’s eyes narrowed, his instincts flaring just in ti to realize sothing was off. But it was too late. He had expected dead weight, not a disguised clone throwing a sharp elbow straight into his ribs.
The blow landed with a solid crack.
Kaen grunted, stumbling sideways, boots skidding across the mossy forest floor. He tried to regain his balance, but the courier clone pressed in again. A sweeping leg kick cut low toward his ankle, forcing him to hop back off one foot.
The clone charged at full speed and crashed into him, shoulder slamming into his chest and throwing him backward, his footing completely broken.
Kaen hit the dirt hard, one knee slamming into the ground. His hand shot out to steady himself, fingers digging into the wet soil for support. The courier clone didn’t hesitate. It stepped in and struck again, the blow glancing off the side of Kaen’s head and forcing him to raise his arms in defense.
He slid back a step, Sharingan spinning fast, tracking everything around him. He wasn’t finished, but his rhythm had been broken. That last hit had rattled him more than he expected, and the narrow forest clearing gave him little room to maneuver. He spat to the side, wiped a thin line of blood from his lip, and glared at the clone standing in front of him.
Still calculating. Still analyzing. That damn eye didn’t miss a thing now.
I didn’t charge.
Neither did the Sena clone beside . We kept our movents loose and mobile, staying just outside his clean line of attack. Kaen’s Sharingan swept back and forth, searching for an opening, trying to predict where the next strike would co from. A head-on clash would be suicide unless we could disrupt his read.
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So, we circled instead.
Three points of pressure. Each step closed the space around him a little more. His eyes shifted rapidly from one target to the next, but he couldn’t track everything at once. And I only needed one mistake. One slip.
He had underestimated the situation when he arrived. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.
“You... tricked ,” Kaen growled, his voice low and bitter. Chakra flared around him in a sudden, angry surge. I flicked a few shuriken at him on instinct, but he was too fast. His hands were already forming signs as he spat, “Fire Release: Great Fireball Jutsu!”
A massive fireball roared to life, hurtling toward and the clone at my back. The sheer force of the jutsu blew straight through the shuriken I had thrown, scattering them like scraps of tal in a storm. The flas tore across the clearing, consuming everything in their path. The clone and I jumped, the blast rushing beneath us. Heat clawed at my skin, and even with the leap, the pressure knocked off course. I hit the ground hard, the impact jarring through my shoulder and spine.
I rolled and ca up to one knee, panting hard. My limbs felt heavy. The heat had soaked into my muscles. Sweat poured down my face.
Kaen wasn’t done.
His chakra flared again, even stronger than before. His Sharingan spun furiously, wild but focused. “I won’t fall for your tricks again!” he shouted, forming another rapid series of seals. “Fire Release: Dragon Fla Jutsu!”
A concentrated jet of fire burst from his mouth, narrow and razor-sharp. It tore through the space in a straight line of pure destruction.
The courier clone didn’t have a chance to react. The flas slamd into it head-on, and the clone vanished in a burst of smoke and heat.
I ducked under the trailing edge of the jutsu. The blaze passed just overhead, searing the air. My skin still burned from the residual heat. My arms trembled slightly. Chakra reserves were getting low. The clones, the fuinjutsu seals, the movents. It was catching up to fast.
Kaen advanced, faster now, each step tighter and more refined than the last. He wasn’t just attacking anymore. He was locking down my options. His Sharingan tracked everything I did, every twitch of my fingers, every shift in my stance. It was like he saw the fight half a second before it happened.
I stepped in, hoping to catch him off guard with a sudden feint and a fast jab, but he dipped low and slipped to the side. His shoulder rolled forward, and he launched an upward punch straight toward my ribs. I twisted, but not fast enough. His knuckles grazed my side, knocking the wind out of for half a second.
Behind him, my last clone swept in low, aiming for a leg sweep. Kaen’s Sharingan caught the motion imdiately. He shifted his stance, stepping just out of range, and turned sharply. His elbow struck clean into the clone’s chest.
No wasted motion.
The clone burst into smoke and vanished.
Now I was alone.
Kaen didn’t stop. He closed the distance in two quick steps, hands already coming up to strike again. His attacks were faster now, sharper. Every ti I blocked, he was already adjusting. Every ti I tried to counter, he was already one move ahead. His Sharingan read my movents in real ti, dissecting piece by piece.
I threw a palm strike toward his shoulder, trying to create space. He ducked under it, twisted smoothly, and slamd a blow into my forearm. Numbness shot down my fingers. I tried to pivot out, but he stayed close, eyes locked on .
Without my clones and with chakra running thin, I felt it. The pressure. The montum shifting.
Kaen wasn’t just fighting harder. He was dismantling , one step at a ti.
Then the mories hit.
My clone’s last transmission surged in, every mont, every detail. Sena was safe. The courier had made it. The real objective was complete.
I grinned.
Kaen caught it instantly. His eye twitched. His Sharingan narrowed.
That grin told him he’d just missed sothing important.
He struck without hesitation. His fist flew in a tight uppercut aid for my jaw, fast and brutal, the kind of hit that could end the fight right then and there.
I whispered, “Stormdrive.”
Lightning exploded around .
My body moved before thought could catch up. A crackling blue streak tore through the ground, leaving a sharp hum in its wake. I reappeared ten steps back, crouched low beneath the thick canopy. The trees above were packed tight, their leaves dense enough to block out most of the sunlight. Shadows pressed in from every direction. But the lightning wrapped around my body lit up the dark. Pale blue arcs flickered along my legs, the static shell covering glowing faintly as it pulsed through the air. Each spark lit the forest in brief, flashing bursts of blue, pushing back the darkness one second at a ti.
Kaen stood in the spot I had just vacated, cloaked in the sa shadow cast by the thick canopy. Darkness swallowed most of him, but his eyes glowed bright in the gloom. The red gleam of his Sharingan cut through the black like twin sparks. One eye burned with fury. The other held only cold resolve.
“I won’t…”
He never finished.
I was already in front of him.
My foot slamd down as I launched forward. Kaen exploded forward to et , arms snapping up into a tight guard. His movents were sharper now, more desperate, but it didn’t matter.
Stormdrive didn’t wait.
My first strike landed clean on his shoulder. He blocked it, barely, gritting his teeth. The force pushed him back four full steps before he could stop his montum. His feet carved a shallow groove in the mossy earth.
He reached for a kunai from his hip, but I was already inside his range. I ducked under the draw, drove my elbow into his wrist, and knocked the blade loose. It spun away into the grass.
He turned with the motion and launched a kick at my side. I vanished again in a flash of blue.
Reappeared behind him.
I drove a heavy palm into his upper back. The blow staggered him forward. He rolled once, landed on one knee, and inhaled sharply. I saw the heat building in his throat.
“Fire Release: Great…”
I didn’t let him finish.
I closed the gap and slamd a charged palm into his ribs. His body twisted mid-air from the force. Before he could land, I flickered again and appeared in front of him, driving a kick straight at his side. He threw up his arm, elbow tucked in to shield his ribs, but the impact still sent him flying.
His body hit the ground and slid several feet. His leg bent awkwardly. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. His Sharingan shimred, unfocused for a mont.
Still, he pushed himself up.
He refused to quit.
He ca at again, left hand flaring with chakra, one last gamble.
I let him think he had a chance.
Then I stepped in.
His left hand flared with chakra as he swung, aiming a powered blow at my chest. But my palm caught his elbow mid-swing. I twisted sharply, breaking his balance, then drove a lightning-charged fist into his gut. The impact lifted him off the ground, a plu of dust shooting up as he crashed down, coughing violently.
He tried to rise.
I didn’t give him the chance.
One last burst. I raised my hand, lightning blooming across my arm.
“Pulse Chain.”
I slamd my palm against his chest.
The jutsu erupted with a snapping arc as a lightning-forged chain shot outward, coiling tightly around his body. The links wrapped his limbs, torso, and neck in a single crushing bind, each segnt pulsing with lightning chakra. The current surged through him, lighting up every nerve. His body seized, frozen under the force. The Sharingan flared one final ti, then went dark.
Kaen dropped, unconscious.
I stood over him, chest rising and falling in heavy breaths. The blue light around flickered once, then vanished as Stormdrive faded. My knees buckled slightly, but I stayed upright.
Every muscle felt like it had been stretched thin and set on fire. The lightning still humd faintly under my skin, but the strength behind it was already gone. I had pushed too far.
And my legs were done.
Too many Flickers in too little ti. Too much chakra forced through nerves that weren’t built to handle that kind of load. The tendons in my thighs throbbed with deep, stabbing pain. This wasn’t just soreness. It was real damage. Moving for a few days would be hell.
“You’re going to feel that for a few days,” I said quietly to the unconscious Kaen. I wasn’t sure why I bothered speaking out loud. Maybe because I knew he couldn’t hear it. Or maybe because part of needed to say it anyway. “With luck, the dics can fix everything. But next ti... stay away from my friends.”
He didn’t answer.
Unconscious. Face twisted in pain. Breathing ragged.
I turned away, finally letting out a quiet laugh. The fight was over. And the mission?
Complete.
I winced as the pain hit in waves, radiating through my arms, my back, and especially my legs, which barely moved when I told them to. Every step felt like dragging dead weight.
But it was worth it.
A/N: Biggest chapter I’ve ever written! I could’ve easily split it into two, but I like you all too much. Anyways, do a favor and let know what you thought of the two fights as we approach the final chapters of the Academy arc. Thank you all for sticking with this far!
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