Chapter 23: The First One Falls
Just as Kurosuki Kushimaru, wielder of the Long Blade: Nuibari, shouted for everyone to join forces against Uchiha Dali, his entire body suddenly stiffened.
Cold sweat dripped down his cheek as his eyes instinctively darted toward his back.
"You were talking about dealing with me?"
Uchiha Dali's playful voice came from directly behind him, sending an icy chill up Kushimaru's spine.
His entire body erupted in goosebumps.
But Kushimaru, a battle-hardened and bloodthirsty warrior, wasn't easily shaken. After the brief shock, he reacted swiftly. Without hesitation, he controlled the steel wire attached to Nuibari's blade with chakra, launching a counterattack at the enemy behind him.
With a sharp "whoosh," Nuibari pierced straight through Uchiha Dali's body.
"Looks like you got careless."
Seeing his attack land, Kushimaru was both surprised and delighted. His tone instantly relaxed.
However, in the next second, his pupils shrank slightly.
"What?"
The Uchiha Dali he had struck slowly faded away.
"A mere afterimage...?"
It finally dawned on him that he was in deep trouble.
Frozen in place, his mind blanked out as he stared at the empty ground ahead, as if he had already lost the will to fight.
And just as expected, Uchiha Dali appeared behind him once more—silent as a ghost.
At the moment Dali was about to strike, Kushimaru suddenly leaped forward.
As he spun in midair to face Dali, he sneered. "Gotcha!"
At the same time, he quickly formed a hand seal.
"Longsword Ninja Art: Earth Spider Sewing!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath Uchiha Dali cracked open, revealing thin steel wires that shot up at lightning speed, instantly entangling his feet.
"You're finished, Uchiha brat!"
Kushimaru sneered again, his face twisted with triumphant malice.
With a slight pull of his hands, the wires tightened, not only locking Dali's feet to the ground but also continuing to constrict further.
If nothing unexpected happened, Uchiha Dali's legs would soon be shredded into pieces.
But Kushimaru wasn't done yet.
He controlled Nuibari and lunged at Uchiha Dali's heart—
A double-pronged assault, intending to end his life.
"Not good!"
From a distance, Might Duy's heart clenched as he watched, preparing to intervene.
But when he glanced around, he saw the remaining members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen eyeing him like predators.
If he rushed off to help that young Uchiha, the three kids behind him would be in grave danger.
For a moment, Might Duy hesitated.
He opened his mouth, wanting to tell Might Guy, Ebisu, and Genma Shiranui to retreat while he stayed behind to assist the Uchiha.
But at that moment—
Blood sprayed into the air.
The steel wires buried in the ground twisted together, severing Uchiha Dali's legs into multiple pieces.
The gruesome sight sent another jolt of tension through Might Duy's heart.
Might Guy and the other two trembled, filled with both anger and terror.
But just as they thought Uchiha Dali had truly been taken down—
Something happened.
Kushimaru's body suddenly shuddered violently.
His head tilted slightly upward, his face frozen in shock as if he had seen a ghost.
His arms and legs stiffened, his whole body seemingly restrained by an invisible force.
Witnessing this eerie scene, Might Duy and the others looked puzzled.
It had all happened so fast.
In the blink of an eye, everything changed.
Before they could process what had occurred, the remaining members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen charged forward.
But their target wasn't Kushimaru.
It was Uchiha Dali, who had stabbed Kushimaru's heart from behind with a kunai.
"The one who got careless… was you."
Uchiha Dali's voice was calm, with a hint of amusement.
Ignoring the approaching swordsmen, he twisted the kunai in his hand, driving it deeper.
With a sickening "squelch," the blade, over twenty centimeters long, pierced entirely through Kushimaru's body, its tip protruding from his chest.
"Ugh…!"
Kushimaru's mouth gaped open as he coughed up a mouthful of blood.
His eyes still held disbelief and unwillingness.
"You… used the Body Flicker Technique? That speed…"
His body trembled, his breath turning ragged.
Even now, he couldn't understand how Uchiha Dali had escaped his wire trap—
Or how he had appeared behind him so quickly and silently.
"You can ask the King of Hell," Dali said casually, before kicking Kushimaru away.
As his body flew backward, the kunai slid out from his chest.
Without pausing, Uchiha Dali turned to face Biwa Jūzō, who had just reached him.
Juzo didn't hesitate—his massive Executioner's Blade swung horizontally toward Dali's neck with tremendous force.
The sheer weight and momentum behind the strike could cleave through rock and sever steel.
Yet—
Dali deflected it effortlessly with just his kunai.
However, the sheer force of the impact sent him flying sideways—straight toward another attacker.
"Lightning Release: Thunder Fangs!"
Kurosuki Raiga had been closely watching Dali's movements.
As Dali was forced in his direction, Raiga's eyes gleamed with a bloodthirsty grin.
In that instant, his pupils turned a sinister crimson, his irises morphing into an ominous pattern.
Without hesitation, he unleashed his jutsu.
The Lightning Release chakra, already prepared, erupted from his twin blades, Raijin.
A surge of crackling electricity burst forth, expanding like a thunderstorm.
A portion of the lightning arc struck Uchiha Dali—
Or so it seemed.
The expected sight of his body being torn apart by electricity never happened.
Instead, at that very moment, Raiga realized—
He had fallen into a genjutsu.