What the Hell Is a Surprise

From the sky, Jingū Kiraku stood atop a white giant bird, looking down at the Konoha ninja below.

After confirming their position, he immediately guided the white bird lower and rapidly closed in on the enemy.

By the time the Hyuga ninja in the Konoha squad noticed something was wrong, it was already too late.

Jingū Kiraku directly activated the Summoning Technique from more than twenty meters in the air.

A burst of thick smoke appeared, and Master Knife's enormous body came crashing down from the sky, giant blade in hand as it slashed viciously toward the ground!

"BOOM!!"

The incomparably massive blade crushed down, slicing through the ground as though it were tofu and leaving behind a terrifying ravine.

In that single exchange, four Konoha ninja were mercilessly crushed because they had been too slow to evade.

The others also suffered injuries of varying severity from the shockwave produced by the slash.

"Damn it, it's Hanzo's Summoning Beast..."

"No, it's a new Ibuse—bigger and stronger than Hanzo's!"

Nishiki watched the battlefield with wary eyes.

Especially the figure slowly emerging from the smoke, standing atop Ibuse's head.

"So that's Hidden Rain Village's new leader, Jingū Kiraku?"

His tone was grave. He now had an even deeper understanding of this new leader who had killed Hanzo and successfully taken his place.

At that moment, Jingū Kiraku stood atop Ibuse's head, looking down over the entire battlefield.

"Only four?"

He seemed somewhat dissatisfied with the destructive power of that move, but he soon perked up again.

"Looks like these Konoha bastards have no intention of surrendering. Go all out, Old Knife!"

"Got it."

Ibuse Master Knife answered in a muffled voice.

Ignoring the Konoha ninja's reactions, it opened its mouth and sprayed out a vast cloud of purple poisonous mist.

In an instant, the billowing poison gas covered more than half the battlefield!

"Run! Don't breathe in that poison!"

Nishiki's eyes widened as he rapidly retreated, quickly warning his teammates at the same time.

Having fought in the previous war in the Land of Rain, he knew exactly how terrifying the poison gas of the Ibuse clan was—

As long as one inhaled even a little, death was inevitable!

The kind that even Lady Tsunade could not save.

But not every ninja possessed the reaction speed and decisiveness of a jonin.

As the poisonous mist spread, another five ninja immediately collapsed.

They had inhaled only trace amounts of the poison, yet the dreadful toxin spread directly from their lungs throughout their bodies.

Within a short time, it destroyed their brains and took their lives.

Only six remained on Konoha's side.

"This can't go on!"

Nishiki rapidly formed hand seals, issuing an order at the same time.

"Hyuga Genma, report the enemy's position!"

Hearing the command, Hyuga Genma, one of the survivors, immediately widened his eyes.

Veins bulged around his pale pupils, and the world before him instantly turned grayish-white.

Very quickly, he found Jingū Kiraku's terrifying Chakra signature through the poisonous mist.

"Over there!"

Hyuga Genma pointed, and jonin Nishiki's ninjutsu erupted forth.

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!!"

The rainwater around him rapidly gathered, forming a ferocious, violent giant dragon that bared its fangs and claws as it smashed toward the enemy within the poisonous mist.

Seeing this, Master Knife swung the massive cleaver in its hand, the enormous blade accurately plunging into the water dragon's mouth.

Terrifying power burst forth, forcibly chopping apart the Water Dragon Bullet Technique that the other side had painstakingly unleashed.

"Nicely done."

Jingū Kiraku smiled faintly at the sight, then said, "You handle the rest. I'll deal with that jonin."

With that, he formed a hand seal with one hand and directly activated the Water Body Flicker Technique!

The next second, his entire body turned into a puddle of water and appeared before the Konoha jonin and the Hyuga Clan ninja at a speed too fast for the naked eye to discern.

"So fast!"

Nishiki's pupils contracted sharply at the sudden figure before him.

Just as he was about to react, he saw the Amegakure Leader's body suddenly split apart, transforming into countless sheets of paper that swirled through the air.

Then they heard him ask an utterly baffling question—

"May I ask, do you know what art is?"

Art? What the hell was art supposed to be?

Nishiki had no interest in discussing hobbies or anything of the sort at a time like this.

He directly drew a kunai, wrapped it in Chakra, and slashed at the enemy.

Yet Jingū Kiraku neither dodged nor defended, allowing the kunai to cut his body in half.

Immediately afterward, his shattered body of paper rose swiftly into the air, leaving behind only countless sheets still circling the two Konoha ninja.

"What kind of ninjutsu is this?"

Nishiki's face was filled with tension. He had never seen a ninjutsu like this before!

Not only that, a powerful sense of unease was rapidly growing inside him.

"Just as I thought. You don't understand art either."

Jingū Kiraku sighed from the sky above, then smiled faintly.

"Art is an explosion."

As soon as he finished speaking, the paper surrounding the two Konoha ninja burst into flames without warning.

As they ignited, the character for "explode" emerged on their surfaces.

"Exploding Tags!"

The Hyuga Clan ninja cried out.

But every possible route of escape had already been sealed off by Jingū Kiraku.

With a shout of "Explode!", the Exploding Tags detonated.

The violent shockwave shattered the curtain of rain, and scorching flames mercilessly swallowed the two Konoha ninja.

With the death of the jonin Nishiki, the battle soon came to an end.

The remaining few Konoha ninja were clearly no match for Master Knife.

In order to keep them alive, it had no choice but to carefully pick them up in its enormous palm before tossing them in front of Jingū Kiraku.

Looking at the four Konoha captives before him, Jingū Kiraku spat out a large amount of clay from his palm.

He used the white clay to bind the captives tightly, wrapping them up completely and even stuffing their mouths shut—

This would effectively prevent them from committing suicide.

"The next part of the plan will depend on you."

Jingū Kiraku narrowed his eyes and turned his gaze toward Sunagakure.

Soon afterward, an even more violent explosion erupted, and blazing flames engulfed the corpses of the remaining Konoha ninja.

Jingū Kiraku took only the captives, along with the bodies of the jonin Nishiki and the Hyuga Clan ninja.

He also took the Konoha Forehead Protectors and ninja uniforms.

Following the plan, a little over an hour later, he successfully found Amemura and the other five Amegakure Ninja who had come to meet him at the edge of Sunagakure's occupied territory.

He landed swiftly, then, amid Amemura and the others' stunned gazes, tossed a large pile of Konoha Forehead Protectors and uniforms onto the ground.

"Change your clothes. We're going to let those Sunagakure ninja learn..."

"What a fucking surprise is."