NoviceAuthor
patreon
[NSSSG] [ARC-08] Chapter : 278 - Sword of the Thunder God
🕑 Added 2025-10-27 14:32:31 +0000 UTCSomewhere along a quiet riverbank in the Land of Rivers
Aoi Rokusho sat cross-legged, calmly eating his breakfast. The early mist still clung to the water’s surface, rippling faintly with every breeze.
Just as he bit into a rice ball, his expression hardened.
He set it down slowly, fingers closing around the ninja umbrella resting beside him.
“Come out,” he said coldly, his voice cutting through the still air. “I already found you.”
A blazing fireball roared toward him from the trees ahead.
Aoi sprang backward, his umbrella spinning in his hand. A storm of senbon shot out like steel rain.
From the canopy above, Sasuke dropped lightly to the ground.
The senbon struck the tree behind him—its trunk instantly turning withered and black, as if life itself had been drained away.
Aoi frowned.
A kid—barely six or seven—had just ambushed him? A Jonin?
Was this some kind of joke?
His gaze flicked over Sasuke, taking in the familiar fan-shaped crest on his clothes.
“So… a child of the Uchiha Clan?” he muttered. “Interesting.”
Though the boy didn’t wear a Konoha forehead protector, no ninja in their right mind would dare impersonate an Uchiha. The Sharingan couldn’t be faked.
Which meant—he wasn’t alone. A squad leader had to be nearby. Aoi didn’t move in for the kill just yet. Traps were common; patience kept you alive.
But Sasuke offered no response.
Instead, he lunged forward, drawing his ninja blade in one swift motion.
"You're getting too cocky, brat!” Aoi barked.
He parried the slash with his umbrella, twisting sharply and driving a kick into Sasuke’s chest.
The boy flew back—
—and vanished in a puff of smoke.
“A Shadow Clone?” Aoi’s pupils shrank.
So young… and already using that technique? Was this some kind of prodigy?
He didn’t get long to think. Rage burned through him. Being toyed with by a child was beyond insulting.
He darted into the nearby grove—only for his instincts to scream danger.
His eyes widened.
He retreated in an instant.
BOOM!
Explosive tags detonated, swallowing the grove in roaring flames.
Aoi barely escaped, the heat licking at his cloak as fire painted the air orange.
A sudden gale howled from across the river.
A twisting storm barreled toward him, tearing through the trees.
Such powerful Wind Release… it had to be the squad leader’s doing.
Aoi planted his feet and unfurled his umbrella again. Chakra flared along its frame, hardening it like steel.
The storm struck. Branches cracked, earth tore apart—but Aoi stood firm.
“Tch. Looks impressive, but the force is mediocre,” he muttered. “So the squad leader’s just an elite Chunin, huh?”
He exhaled, relief flickering across his face.
But before he could move—
The sound of slicing air.
Sasuke appeared behind him like a flash of lightning, both hands gripping his blade, cutting upward in one fierce arc.
“Hmph!”
Now that Aoi had gauged their strength, he stopped holding back.
Lightning surged across his arm. He drew a hilt from his waist—its empty frame igniting with pale yellow chakra.
The Sword of the Thunder God.
Unlike any normal blade, its edge was made entirely of lightning—a weapon whose sharpness depended solely on its wielder’s chakra.
“Get lost!” Aoi roared, swinging down.
Sasuke barely raised his weapon before the impact sent him stumbling backward, his arms shaking from the sheer force.
“No matter how talented you are,” Aoi sneered, stepping forward, “you’re still just a brat. Die screaming!”
He raised the Sword of the Thunder God high, chakra crackling around him—
Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!
An invisible blast of air shot through the forest, slamming into Aoi’s chest.
His eyes flashed. He twisted his arm, lightning flaring wildly, and the thunder sword cleaved straight through the incoming chakra wave.
“You think hiding in the shadows makes you—what the—?”
Aoi’s words froze mid-sentence as his pupils constricted sharply.
“Leaf Great Whirlwind!”
“Dynamic Entry!”
“Konoha Double Whirlwind!”
Dozens—no, hundreds—of Naruto clones erupted across the riverside, charging toward him like an unstoppable green tide.
For a moment, Aoi’s worldview shattered.
It was his first time witnessing so many Shadow Clones.
What made it worse—the sheer absurdity—was that every one of them looked no older than six or seven.
This day was growing more surreal by the second.
But he didn’t have time to dwell on it. In one swift motion, he snapped open his Ninja Umbrella.
A torrential hail of senbon shot out like a steel storm.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Within moments, smoke clouds burst everywhere as the clones vanished one after another.
Aoi exhaled slowly, feeling a flicker of relief.
So they only looked terrifying. Their strength, in reality, was lacking.
He turned, scanning the area—only to realize that Sasuke had vanished.
His brow furrowed.
There were three opponents here, no doubt about it.
First, the Chunin capable of Wind Release—likely their squad leader.
Then the Uchiha brat who’d used Fire Release and Leaf-style swordsmanship.
And finally, that blond kid with absurd Chakra reserves and Shadow Clones everywhere.
As for the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm earlier, Aoi mistakenly assumed it was the blond boy’s doing.
His mind raced.
Without hesitation, he charged forward, swinging the Lightning sword and cutting through clones in a blur.
Within moments, half of the Shadow Clones had vanished.
“Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
Naruto’s voice thundered—and suddenly, another hundred clones appeared out of thin air.
“So you’re the original!”
Though startled by the boy’s monstrous Chakra reserves, Aoi didn’t hesitate. Chakra surged through his body as he lunged, the lightning blade gleaming dangerously.
But before he could strike, a clone to his left attacked. Aoi didn’t even glance that way—he simply unfurled his umbrella to block.
As long as he killed the original, the rest would vanish.
Yet this clone wasn’t Naruto.
“Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!”
Neji, disguised among the clones, ducked low and slipped beneath the umbrella’s rim. His palms shot out in rapid succession, striking Aoi’s thigh with precision.
Instantly, Aoi felt his leg seize up—his Chakra flow disrupted.
His speed faltered.
He abandoned his assault on Naruto, twisting the Sword of the Thunder God toward Neji instead.
Neji barely managed to dodge backward.
“Violent Leaf Hurricane Strong Whirlwind!”
Naruto dove in, spinning mid-air, and delivered a fierce kick.
Aoi steadied himself, opening his umbrella wide to block the blow, then countered with a lightning-charged thrust.
“Samehada!”
Naruto shouted.
The massive, scaly blade erupted from the ground beneath Aoi’s feet, its jagged mouth snapping toward his arm.
“What the—?!”
Aoi recoiled, leaping back in alarm.
But before he could regain his footing, he was surrounded once more—hundreds of Narutos closing in.
He spun the umbrella wildly, launching another barrage of senbon and carving open a temporary escape path.
Panting, he glared at the three children—Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji—his pride burning hotter than his anger.
A Jonin, pushed to this point by a pack of brats… intolerable!
“Very good…” he snarled, a dark grin curling his lips. “You’re really trying to die!”
He raised the Sword of the Thunder God high, lightning flickering up its length.
“Leaf Whirlwind!”
The clones rushed him recklessly.
Aoi’s eyes flashed coldly as the blade erupted with crackling energy, unleashing a wave of blinding lightning.
Screams rang out as Naruto’s clones disintegrated into smoke.
But before the lightning could reach the real Naruto and Neji, Samehada once again blocked the way—its scales shimmering as it absorbed the electricity.
“What… what is that?”
Aoi’s heart jolted. The sight of that sword… it stirred something familiar—yet he dismissed the thought. There was no way a mere child could possess that blade.
“Use the final plan!” Neji shouted.
“Hyuga brat!”
At once, Aoi’s gaze locked on him.
Neji dropped his transformation, revealing his true form. Aoi immediately understood—the two earlier strikes to his leg had been Gentle Fist attacks.
“Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!”
Naruto’s cry rang out again, and the field filled with countless clones.
Kunai and shuriken rained from every direction.
Aoi narrowed his eyes and spun his umbrella in a furious whirl, deflecting every projectile.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!”
A massive fireball surged toward him.
Aoi pivoted, slicing through it with his lightning blade, splitting the fire in two.
But before he could recover, Sasuke darted through the smoke, his sword flashing.
“You dare show off swordsmanship in front of me?” Aoi barked.
Their blades clashed—steel against lightning. Aoi twisted and thrust, aiming straight for Sasuke’s heart.
A cruel smirk crossed his lips.
Now!
Sasuke met his gaze.
His eyes spun—Twin Tomoe Sharingan flaring to life.
“Sharingan?!”
Aoi froze, just for an instant.
He hadn’t expected that. Sasuke was too young—it shouldn’t have been possible.
He’d assumed the boy hadn’t awakened his Sharingan yet.
That single moment of shock was all it took.
A genjutsu gripped him.
But Aoi was no fool—he broke free in an instant, veins pulsing with fury.
“You dare to toy with me!”
He roared, swinging the Sword of the Thunder God down upon Sasuke—
“Rasengan!!”
Naruto’s voice thundered behind him.
Aoi turned on instinct—only to see a swirling, blinding sphere of compressed Chakra rushing straight toward him.
His eyes widened.
For the first time that day, he felt true fear.
Even before it struck, the power of the Rasengan was undeniable.
Aoi instinctively tried to open his Ninja Umbrella—
Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!
Neji’s palm strike hit the umbrella dead-on, making it tremble violently.
That brief delay was all Naruto needed.
The Rasengan slammed into Aoi’s waist with a thunderous impact.
“Ahhh!”
Blood sprayed as his midsection was torn open. The searing pain ripped a scream from his throat.
In reflex, Aoi swung the Sword of the Thunder God toward Naruto—
—but before the blade could connect, his arm was severed clean off mid-swing.
Sasuke’s keen reflexes and lightning-fast swordsmanship had already decided the outcome.
Naruto grabbed the Samehada, hefting the massive blade awkwardly before hurling it like a club.
He wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship, but brute force was his specialty—and luckily, Samehada liked him.
The living sword snarled, its barbs digging deep into Aoi’s flesh.
“Ahhh!”
He screamed again as the blade greedily absorbed his Chakra, draining him dry in seconds.
Sasuke’s blade blurred in motion.
Aoi froze, surrounded by flickering shadows of steel. He couldn’t even tell where the real sword was.
Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!
Neji appeared before him. In an instant, thirty-two strikes landed with surgical accuracy.
Aoi’s Chakra flow shattered.
Half of his Chakra points were sealed before he could even react. Between the Chakra drain from Samehada and the Gentle Fist’s precision, his body felt weightless, his vision spinning.
And then—
Sasuke’s sword pierced straight through his chest.
Aoi looked down in disbelief. The cold steel glistened with his own blood.
He coughed, crimson spilling from his lips.
Killed… by three little brats?
His body crumpled to the ground, his face frozen in disbelief.
Sasuke stared at his fallen opponent, his hand trembling slightly. Then he turned away and ran to the side, nausea twisting his stomach.
Naruto and Neji, though pale, held their ground. They hadn’t delivered the killing blow—it was Sasuke’s sword that ended the fight.
“As shinobi, killing is sometimes necessary.”
Kitazawa’s calm voice broke the silence. He stepped out from the shadows, draping a white cloth over Aoi’s body.
“You three did very well.”
His tone carried genuine praise, not politeness.
Even Kitazawa hadn’t expected such flawless teamwork from them.
The first strike had drawn Aoi into a trap of explosive tags.
The second used Naruto’s Shadow Clones as cover while Neji, disguised as one, launched a surprise Gentle Fist attack.
And the third—a perfectly timed combination: Sasuke’s Sharingan illusion, Naruto’s Rasengan, and their coordinated finish.
It was a textbook example of strategy, deception, and timing.
Aoi’s death was far from unjust.
For one, he was an ordinary Jonin—by Konoha’s standards, closer to a Special Jonin at best.
And he’d had no intel on his opponents.
How could he have anticipated that children barely out of the Academy could use Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu, Rasengan, Samehada, Gentle Fist: Thirty-Two Palms and the Sharingan?
Even a seasoned Jonin would crumble under such an onslaught.
More importantly, Neji and the others had gathered intel beforehand and laid their trap with precision.
As the saying went—a shinobi’s greatest weapon is information.
This battle had gone smoother than even the original encounter where Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura had faced Aoi.
“Your students are geniuses beyond imagination,” Kurenai said softly, awe flickering in her crimson eyes.
At their age, she hadn’t even mastered the basic Clone Technique—yet these three had just defeated a Jonin.
The difference was staggering.
“Sasuke, are you alright?”
Kitazawa approached, picking up the Sword of the Thunder God. Now drained of Chakra, it had reverted to a simple hilt.
“I… I’m fine,” Sasuke murmured, shaking his head.
In truth, the sight of the blood had unsettled him. Despite being an Uchiha, he’d grown up sheltered. His mental endurance lagged behind Naruto’s and Neji’s—one hardened by loneliness, the other by the Hyuga clan’s oppressive traditions.
“Here,” Kitazawa said, handing him the hilt. “Your reward.”
“For me?” Sasuke blinked, startled.
This was no ordinary weapon—it had once belonged to the Second Hokage, Senju Tobirama.
“You’re a Lightning Release type. It suits you perfectly,” Kitazawa said with a faint smile. “And in a sense, it’s your spoil of war.”
“Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei.”
Sasuke accepted it with reverence. Aoi had already shown how to wield it, and Sasuke could feel how naturally the sword resonated with his chakra.
Before, he’d envied Naruto’s Samehada. But now—with the Sword of the Thunder God in hand—the gap between them felt smaller.
“We actually defeated a Jonin…” Naruto said, disbelief widening his eyes.
“There are levels to Jonin,” Neji replied, keeping his composure despite the flicker of excitement in his chest. “He’s nowhere near Kitazawa-sensei’s level.”
He remembered the suffocating pressure of sparring with Kitazawa—something Aoi could never replicate.
Still, victory was victory. He couldn’t help the faint curl of pride tugging at his lips.
“You’ve all done well,” Kitazawa said. “Rest for half an hour, then we’ll return to Konoha.”
He gathered Aoi’s body. Even in death, the man still had value—the bounty on his head would complete their mission and bring in a reward.
Sasuke sat down, studying the Sword of the Thunder God.
“Kitazawa-sensei gave you that?” Neji asked, a trace of envy in his tone. But it faded quickly—he had no use for such a weapon.
Sasuke nodded, channeling Chakra into the hilt.
Hum!
A blade of pure lightning flared to life.
“Whoa! That’s awesome!” Naruto exclaimed, eyes sparkling.
Samehada growled and rubbed against his leg, clearly jealous.
Kurenai smiled at the three of them. “Once the Genius Class graduates, I’d like to take a team of my own.”
“You should,” Kitazawa replied easily. “I’ll even recommend three students for you.”
In the original timeline, Kurenai’s team had been Hinata, Shino, and Kiba—but Kitazawa already planned to make some changes.
After all, three sensory-type ninjas on one team? That was far too redundant.
Comments
IEU097
I know he said that there would be no killing. Specifically because they were too young.
