Sword Come

Kinoto raised his ninja blade high, aimed at Rinto's heart, and stabbed down again.

"Pfft!"

His heart was pierced through. Rinto could no longer hold it in and spat out another mouthful of blood.

Watching Tsunade's pupils shrink endlessly, Rinto's expression softened, and the corners of his lips slowly curled up.

"D-Don't swallow my blood. It's highly toxic!"

Rinto still remembered it.

Those Jashin Cult test subjects who had been injected with his blood—how weeds had continuously sprouted from their bodies until they finally turned into clumps of shrubbery.

Tsunade stared blankly at Rinto's face, feeling as though time had stopped. Torrents of tears silently slid from the corners of her eyes.

"R-Rinto!" Calling his name for the first time, Tsunade struggled to raise a hand, wanting to touch Rinto's stiff face.

At that moment, Kinoto looked down at the pitiful pair of lovebirds. With a disgusted expression, he kicked Rinto's corpse aside.

"Still being lovey-dovey even after death. Disgusting! Then I'll grant your wish and let you die together."

With that, Kinoto raised his ninja blade again and stabbed it toward Tsunade, whose eyes had gone vacant.

Just then, Kinoe strode forward with Hinoe's corpse on his back and stopped Kinoto.

"Second Brother, the obstacle is dead. Take the hostage and finish the mission!"

"We're still two hours from the Land of Fire's border. Don't waste time. If Konoha's pursuers catch up, in our condition, neither of us will escape death!"

Hearing that, the utterly exhausted Kinoto sighed and slowly nodded.

Just as the two were about to shoulder Tsunade, who had become as lifeless as a puppet, Rinto—who had stopped breathing and appeared dead—suddenly bared his teeth in a corpse-like grin.

In the distance, where Rinto had previously landed, two hands had somehow crawled together. They even formed a hand seal in an eerily strange manner.

"Sword Come!" A frenzied roar rang out!

The Door Panel Greatsword clutched tightly in Kinoto's hand began to shake violently, then instantly slammed into the Kinoto who had no time to dodge.

The reason Rinto had endured without acting and kept his Magnet Release hidden was because he had been waiting for this very moment.

After all, once his trump card was exposed, these two would certainly be on guard.

And Kinoe's Earth Style was far too practiced. Exposing Magnet Release would mean losing his final chance to turn things around.

That was why, even when he had been treated as a living target and beaten up in midair, Rinto had not controlled his sword to fly.

And the two arms had not been left behind by the Flying Thunder God Technique. Rinto had deliberately left them there himself, so he could secretly form hand seals without anyone noticing.

"Splat!" A crisp sound rang out.

Kinoto's head instantly burst into countless peach blossoms scattered across the ground.

The Door Panel Greatsword did not stop, continuing toward Kinoe's head.

Kinoe was older, after all, and far more experienced.

Ignoring his shock, he instantly formed hand seals with his hand covered in brain matter and vanished from the spot with the Body Flicker Technique.

But how could Rinto possibly let him escape so easily?

The lonely pair of hands in the distance formed another seal.

"Damn your grandma, Sword Twenty-Three!"

In an instant, the Door Panel Greatsword in the air broke apart. Iron Sand filled the air, transforming into ten slender longswords that shot explosively toward where Kinoe reappeared.

Having changed from a massive door-like blade into longswords, their speed increased dramatically.

Kinoe had only just recovered from the dizziness caused by forcibly using the Body Flicker Technique when he saw countless flying swords hurtling toward him.

"Damn it!"

"Earth Style: Earth Return!"

At that instant, Kinoe chose the ninjutsu he knew best.

The flying swords immediately crashed into the incomparably hard earthen wall, sending clods of dirt flying.

Unfortunately, Earth Return could only block one side, while Rinto's flying swords came from every direction.

Squeezing out his last bit of Chakra, Kinoe unleashed an enhanced Earth Return again.

Earthen walls instantly rose in every direction, forming a semicircular mound that completely protected him.

The flying swords continued shooting forth. In the distance, Rinto changed his hand seal to the Monkey seal.

The next moment, the ten flying swords split apart again. Short swords filled the sky and ground, constantly battering Kinoe's earthen mound. Dirt fragments flew everywhere, only to gather again under the reinforcement of Kinoe's Chakra.

For a time, the two fell into a stalemate.

"You call yourself 'Kinoe'? Today, I'll beat you into a 'Red Dragon'!"

The Chakra in his body kept draining away, only to be instantly replenished. Rinto licked his blood-covered lips, determined to shave off Kinoe's scalp.

Inside the earthen mound, veins bulged across Kinoe's face as he desperately squeezed out the last scraps of Chakra in his body.

He refused to believe it. He refused to believe that this brat, who had fought for so long, still had Chakra left. He refused to believe that this severely wounded brat could keep holding on.

Rinto split his attention in two, controlling the flying swords to give Kinoe a haircut while thinking about Sword Twenty-Three's shortcomings.

As a variant application of Magnet Release, this move had not fully displayed its power.

After all, Rinto had not created this ninjutsu just to look cool, but for more advanced future applications of Magnet Release.

Now, it seemed that this move was not very powerful and also required mental focus to control.

The reason for its lack of power was obvious: he had too little Chakra.

At present, there were not many ways to increase his total Chakra reserves.

Either get himself a Great Sword Samehada, steal the Yin Seal from Tsunade, or go big and find a Tailed Beast to seal inside himself.

Compared to the first two methods, Rinto was more inclined to become a Jinchuriki.

He had a feeling that after becoming a Jinchuriki, he could casually let the Tailed Beast enter and leave his body for a stroll without dying.

So here was the problem. If something could go in and out of his body, a deep-voiced uncle type like the Nine-Tails was definitely out.

The One-Tail was also out, with its loose mouth and love for running around talking nonsense.

The Three-Tails had a shell, and the shell had spikes. That sounded a little scratchy.

The Four-Tails, Son Goku... Heh. It wasn't like I'm some sister-in-law!

The Six-Tails, Saiken... Heh. That thing looked like a lump of white poop. Where exactly would be appropriate to seal it inside my body?

The Seven-Tails Chōmei, an insect...

The Eight-Tails Gyuki, uh...

Thinking it through carefully, Rinto was dumbfounded. There really was not much left to choose from.

Could it be that I really need to learn the Yin Seal from Tsunade and become a rechargeable battery?

Just as Rinto frowned in thought, Kinoe's semicircular tomb finally stopped repairing itself. With a tremendous boom, the mound collapsed, revealing Kinoe inside, dead after having all his Chakra drained away.

Without another word, Rinto gathered the flying swords back together. The Door Panel Greatsword reappeared and slammed Kinoe into a "middle."

After taking care of everything, Rinto proudly raised his brows and let out a frivolous whistle.

"I'm fucking handsome!"

Then he suddenly remembered something. Tilting his head, he saw Tsunade lying beside him.

The girl was staring at him as though she had seen a ghost.

Oh no!

Rinto's heart skipped a beat, and he involuntarily forced out an awkward smile.

"Um... could you help pick up my hands and bring them back?" Rinto asked weakly.

Hearing Rinto's feeble request, Tsunade froze briefly before nodding wildly like a pecking chicken.

Ignoring the numbness in her legs, she staggered to her feet and walked toward Rinto's lonely wandering arms.

Watching Tsunade's trembling back, Rinto wiggled his toes and could not help saying, "This is so embarrassing!"

However, an even more hair-pulling problem now lay before him.

His immortal body had been exposed!

What should he do? Kill her?

No, no. This girl was already unlucky enough! Besides, the battle had made too much noise. If nothing unexpected happened, Konoha's people would arrive soon.

Although this place was quite far from Konoha, it was still within the Land of Fire.

What else could he do? Beat her until she got amnesia?

Good heavens, how would I know how to pull off something that magical?

Seduce her?

Uh... that was actually a pretty good idea!

But when this woman grew up, she would be a complete spendthrift. That went against the strategic policy of making me the richest man in the Shinobi World!

Forget it. I'll take it one step at a time!

In just that short moment, Tsunade returned carrying Rinto's arm.

She was pinching her fingers like an orchid hand, holding Rinto's pinky finger and keeping it as far away as possible, as though she were carrying a lump of shit.

Rinto's face immediately darkened.

You bastard, I risked my life to save you, and this is how you treat my two girlfriends and lifesavers?

"Hey, you, Washboard Princess. Help me sew my girlfr—cough, cough—arm back on."

As he spoke, Rinto struggled to turn over, exposing the Ninja Pouch on his backside.

Hearing Rinto's words, Tsunade did not get angry as usual. Instead, she nodded seriously and reached for the Ninja Pouch on his butt.

A Senbon and a length of thread.

Holding the needle and thread, Tsunade shakily approached Rinto.

What she did not know was that Rinto could have handled it himself. But because she had carried his arm so disgustedly, he deliberately wanted to mess with her.

Simply put, this petty-minded guy liked using himself to disgust other people.