Ryoma Aburame leapt onto the treetops, his movements as light and silent as a ghost. Dressed in a black hooded coat, he seemed almost weightless, which wasn't far from the truth. As a member of the Aburame clan, renowned as the top insect users in the ninja world, he hosted parasitic insects within his body, feeding them with his chakra. This left no room for excess fat, unlike the Akimichi clan.
After observing the encircled Matsutake Pavilion for about seven or eight seconds, the insects he'd sent out brought back very little feedback. Most of the insects that infiltrated had perished—after all, even the Aburame clan's well-trained bugs could not overcome the natural fear of fire. Original content can be found at novel·fire.net
It just so happened that the Uchiha clan was the ninja world's foremost experts in fire jutsu.
Nevertheless, today's mission had no room for retreat.
Ryoma Aburame was a typical member of his clan: quiet, reserved, and preferring to work alone. His hobby was collecting insects, but as a true ninja, he dutifully followed orders. Commands from above were absolute. Even if the task seemed suicidal, he'd carry it out without hesitation.
"Squad Three, Squad Six, Squad Seven—take the lead."
The orders were given.
Three elite squads moved instantly, vaulting over the walls without any attempt at stealth or disguise. They charged directly into the Matsutake Pavilion, heading straight for the target's location in the 'Stone Courtyard.'
There was no other choice. Their targets were the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.
Against the all-seeing Byakugan and the powerful Sharingan, any stealth techniques they prided themselves on were rendered useless. Assassination tactics would only waste chakra and leave them vulnerable to being picked off one by one.
As the vanguard, their mission was not to kill but to locate the targets and exhaust as much of their chakra as possible.
*Swish! Swish! Swish!*
The sharp sound of shuriken cutting through the air echoed across the courtyard.
Shuriken sliced through the paper walls, hurtling toward the Root ninjas.
Four muffled cries of pain followed immediately.
Four Root members fell to the ground, dead, eyes wide open. Each shuriken had struck a fatal point—whether in the chest, throat, or liver. What horrified the survivors even more was that the dead had been holding broken kunai or katanas, cleaved clean through.
Every member of Root was an elite.
Not all were jonin, but their extensive combat experience meant they wouldn't typically be killed so easily, even by a jonin. They had reacted to the sudden attack, raising their weapons to block the incoming shuriken.
Yet this seemingly perfect defense failed.
The shuriken sliced through their weapons, taking their lives. Six shuriken had been thrown, killing four. Of the remaining two survivors, one was a jonin who used a substitution jutsu to evade the attack. The other had a named blade that withstood the shuriken's power, sparing his life.
This was no ordinary attack.
The shuriken had been imbued with the "Knights Never Die Barehanded" effect, giving them the attributes of a D-rank noble phantasm, easily cutting through ordinary weapons.
Out of twelve, a third of the vanguard was eliminated in an instant.
The remaining five realized how dangerous this mission truly was. But Root's resolve was unshakable. Danzo's methods might be controversial, but Root's personnel were committed to completing their tasks at any cost, even death.
Their fallen comrades only made the survivors more vigilant, but their march forward didn't falter.
"Uchiha Style: Gale Sword!"
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
The first to break through the paper walls was Shisui. Known as "Shisui of the Body Flicker," his reputation wasn't for nothing. Wielding a short blade as swift as a gust of wind, he appeared like a flash of lightning, slashing at a Root ninja.
In one fluid motion, the blade rose and fell.
A flash of dazzling steel cut a clean arc through the air.
A head thudded to the ground and rolled far across the floor, while the headless body gushed blood before collapsing.
The second swiftest was not Sougen.
The Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist wasn't limited to close combat. They could strike from a distance as well, albeit with a limited repertoire. The primary technique, *Eight Trigrams Air Palm*, along with its variations, was more than sufficient. With the Byakugan's aid, these mid-range attacks were devastatingly accurate.
"Eight Trigrams Air Palm!"
Hiashi Hyuga's positioning and strike were only a fraction of a second slower than Shisui's decapitation. A near-invisible chakra blast shattered the walls in its path, directly hitting another Root ninja.
The impact sent the ninja flying like a severed kite, blood spraying from his mouth, along with fragments of internal organs. By the time he hit the ground, he was dead.
"Are they trying to take out the weakest first?"
With just one glance, Sougen took in the entire situation. In his hand wasn't the *Samehada* but his regular longsword. He had strapped *Samehada* to his back for good reason—being a living weapon, it had its own fears of fire and heat. Sougen's fire-style techniques couldn't be channeled through *Samehada*.
For now, he carried *Samehada* on his back, using it to replenish his chakra while its broad blade offered some protection.
In his hands, he gripped his longsword tightly. A faint glow of fire danced along its edge.
"Uchiha Style: Blazing Sword!"
Sougen closed in on the Root ninja who had survived the earlier shuriken by wielding a named blade.
The searing sword, guided by Sougen's will, cut through the air.
The masked Root ninja couldn't escape in time. All he could do was raise his named sword to block the incoming strike. And he succeeded, briefly—the two blades clashed, sparks flying from the friction!
In an instant, a torrent of explosive flames surged from Sougen's blade like a tsunami.
The scream was so short that it seemed almost like an auditory illusion.
The Root ninja standing opposite Sougen vanished, leaving behind no remains. Even the ground was scorched, with the ninja's half-melted sword sinking into the earth below.
Everything—walls, floors, buildings—was reduced to ash in the wake of the Blazing Sword.
This was the power of the *Blazing Sword*.
One of Sougen's signature techniques, it sealed immense fire energy within the blade. With a single swing, everything it touched was incinerated.
There was no upper limit to the technique's power.
The stronger the fire sealed within, the greater the destructive force. The only issue was the limit of the sword itself. Even with the "Knights Never Die Barehanded" ability, it could only possess the attributes of a D-rank phantasm, unable to reach higher levels.