The Final Stand

Duy exhaled, a shockwave spreading out from him, blowing the trees leaning this way and that.

He stepped forward, the coating of chakra on his foot spreading his weight over a large area, preventing him from sinking into the marshy ground.

Something eminently simple for someone trained to walk on water.

The muscles like corded steel in his thigh flexed, propelling him explosively forwards, leaving a slowly recovering bowl shaped depression in his wake.

Gate of Opening… OPEN!!

An electric current originating at a point in his brain spread all over his nervous system, unlocking his natural limiters, making the full power of his honed body available for use.

His other foot fell on the ground, pushing him off even harder, the marshy ground rippling from the impact.

Gate of Healing… OPEN!!

Another point in his brain was flushed by his chakra, flooding his body with a cocktail of adrenaline and other stimulating hormones, rejuvenating his body and forcibly making him perform at the peak of his capabilities.

The air wave and ripples from the impact of his foot on the ground shattered the undergrowth around him as he sped up even further.

Gate of Life… OPEN!!

His chakra flushed a point on the tip of his spinal cord, causing his heart to beat with greater vigour, the increased blood flow turning his skin red.

His form blurred as the air, compressed to the extreme by the speed of his tread, solidified enough for him to walk on it. The shockwave from his passing uprooted several thin saplings.

Gate of Pain… OPEN!!

The chakra flushed a point further down the spinal cord, shutting down his body's sensation of pain, allowing to use strength beyond his limits, causing his muscles to tear.

Gate of Limit… OPEN!!

A node in his abdomen lit up as his chakra dashed it. Massive amounts of chakra upwelled from it as it tapped into his life force to fuel his inhuman strength.

Each step left shattered wood and uprooted trees behind as chakra overflowed from him, covering him like a protective hood, shielding him from the strong winds. Moments after his passing, an explosive pop sounded, indicative of his exceeding the speed of sound.

Gate of View… OPEN!!

His field of view expanded as he emerged in an area where the forest was relatively sparse. Seven eclectic figures mapped into his view.

He backfisted the foremost swordsman, a lanky man with a needle-thin sword – Nuibari, with his left hand as he passed by.

The friction between the air and the fist lit sparks as it crashed into his skull shattering it on contact.

With another sonic boom, he advanced into their midst, the air wave blowing the headless corpse away.

A heavyset man with a bandaged double-handed sword – Hiramekarei, stood in his way. The man lived up to his fame, reacting promptly to the threat by brandishing the sword at him, releasing its chakra reserves and activating the barrier of chakra.

Gate of Wonder… OPEN!!

All of his muscle fibres began to tear as the load on them exceeded their capacity. The heat from his body vaporized his sweat mixed with the detritus from rapidly decomposing cells, lending him a green aura.

His right fist smashed into the chakra barrier and it popped like a soap bubble from the impact. The fist expanded in the fearful vision of the swordsman, smashing into his face and vaporizing his head into a mist of blood. A fitting end to one from the village hidden in the mist.

A web of lightning deadlocked him the moment he stagnated after dispatching his opponent. A giant of a man carrying a scroll full of explosive tags lined up behind a blade- the blast-sword Shibuki, moved with a speed belying his stature as he chopped down on the trapped Duy.

Duy's right hand continued the arc from his lethal fist and jabbed his thumb into his heart, activating the eighth gate.

Gate of Death… OPEN!!

All his lifeforce immediately turned into energy that caused his blood to boil within his veins, turning into a steam of blood that surrounded him.

The very space around him twisted as the extreme concentrations of physical energy warped the fabric of reality.

The lightning skittered harmlessly off the warped space while the chained explosions of the Shibuki fizzled out within the turbulence.

Duy squatted in the horse stance, gathered his fists together and punched out in two directions at once.

The space around his fists fissured, offering glimpses of the Void as two columns of pure Void Force beamed out in two directions, distorting the trim space in their wake.

The lower body of the swordsman wielding Shibuki turned into a bloody mist as the one responsible for the net of lightning, the wielder of the twin swords – Kiba, had a gaping hole in his chest.

Unable to bear the load, the bones in his hands shattered, leaving them limp by his sides.

With a stomp that caused the land for nearly a mile to subside and a shockwave that turned the surrounding forest into woodchips, he sacrificed his left leg to shatter the Void and emerge right in front of the leader of the swordsmen, the wielder of Samehada, who kept it off before himself.

His right leg smashed into the living sword, shattering both the bones of his limbs and his opponent's ribs as the transmitted impact sent him flying, unsure of life and death.

The bloody steam stopped proliferating from the shattered body of Duy, leaving behind a charred figure slowly moving towards the end of his life.

The two other swordsmen, the wielders of the Helmet Splitter and the Executioner's Blade had been severely damaged internally from the prior shockwave and were escaping from the approaching Konoha pursuit while bleeding from their ears, noses and eyes.

Duy's vision went dark as the last strands of his vitality left him. In his final moment, tendrils of sand reached out of the bottom of the ground, wrapping his charred corpse, eroding it away into decency.

In the profound darkness, the memories of his entire life played out as if projected from a revolving lantern.

The endless training, the tender moments with his wife, the birth of his son and his final battle.

His last thought as the darkness took him was: 'Wife, son… it seems in the end… I wasn't such an embarrassment after all.'

…

On top of the sand platform, Lin Feng opened his eyes, having experienced his last moments alongside him.

He saluted towards the crater respectfully, sending off the warrior and thanking him for his techniques… unknowingly taken.