Kill Your Whole Family!

The Third Hokage's son... was far too obscure.

There were only two possibilities.

First, he was truly incapable.

Second, he hid himself deeply, or rather, disdained to show off.

So which one were you, eldest young master of the Sarutobi clan?

With a grin that showed off her fine teeth, Ringo Ameyuri began unfastening the twin blades on her back.

At her movement, Shirakumo Hayama grew even more nervous.

The Seven Ninja Swordsmen's reputation was simply too illustrious. The newly fledged Shirakumo Hayama was not as composed as he would be during Shippuden.

Still just a young man, he could not withstand the killing intent of eight people, especially the oppressive aura of Ringo Ameyuri.

So he shouted and drew the sword at his waist.

"Wind Style...!"

But before Shirakumo Hayama could unleash his technique, Ringo Ameyuri's attack had already arrived.

"Lightning Style... Lightning Blade: Falling Lightning!"

Crackle!

Raiton Chakra coiled around the Lightning Blade, and dazzling electric light shot straight into the clouds above their heads.

In the blink of an eye, thunder boomed as lightning fell from the sky. Before anyone could react, it struck Shirakumo Hayama, who had been about to swing his blade.

Shirakumo Hayama fell at once, black, scorched smoke rising from his body.

He had only just raised his hand and infused the blade with Wind Style.

The opponent's attack had already been completed.

Their attack speeds were not even on the same level.

No... rather, this completely defied common sense...

Chapter 13: Kill Your Whole Family!

Falling Lightning traveled at only one-thousandth of a second.

There were only a handful of people in Naruto who could carry out such an attack.

Such as Sasuke, after learning Kirin, and then the female ninja before them.

Such a frightening attack speed and method, merely displaying it once, was enough to stun everyone present.

Thus, even the clever Ino Yamanaka was thoroughly intimidated.

Faced with an attack speed that defied all reason, it was simply impossible for a human to dodge lightning.

"Hehe..."

Ringo Ameyuri calmly lowered her arms, holding the two Thunder Sword Fangs at her sides.

Shirakumo Hayama lay on the ground, his life or death unknown.

The seven Kirigakure ninja standing by nearby wore even more bloodthirsty, cruel smiles, while growing even more wary of their squad leader... Ringo Ameyuri.

In a single exchange, Ringo Ameyuri had established an invincible image in everyone's minds.

After all, no matter how fast a human was, how could they possibly be faster than falling lightning?

The only option was to maneuver before she raised her blades. Only then might they evade the attack.

However, something happened that piqued Ringo Ameyuri's curiosity.

"You aren't afraid?"

Seeing Akira Sarutobi's expressionless face, she wondered... was this guy truly fearless, or had he been scared senseless?

To the naked eye of the others, Ringo Ameyuri had merely raised her hand and summoned a bolt of lightning.

To ignorant civilians, Ringo Ameyuri would probably seem like some immortal being.

But to Akira Sarutobi, who possessed extensive knowledge and a grasp of basic physics, it was a phenomenon that could be explained.

"Using the Thunder Swords as a guide... Chakra is sent high into the sky through pulses, then refracted toward the ground to create an ionized air channel, forming a plasma pathway. This acts as a guide wire for Raiton Chakra, producing the effect of a lightning attack. In other words... the secret of the Thunder Swords lies in the fact that these two blades can generate pulses."

Akira Sarutobi explained blandly.

What appeared miraculous to ordinary people was merely a conventional method used in many scientific laboratories in his previous life to control lightning.

With a single sentence, he exposed the secret of Ringo Ameyuri's weapon... or rather, Thunder Sword Fang, one of Kirigakure's treasures and one of the Seven Swords.

The Kirigakure girl's expression immediately darkened.

But it lasted only an instant before it vanished.

"Hehe, interesting..."

Ringo Ameyuri withdrew her contemptuous gaze.

This eldest young master was not the useless fool she had assumed him to be.

Rather, his breadth of knowledge... was a little too impressive.

Most ninja were actually terrible at studying. They cultivated Chakra purely by instinct.

Rather than humans capable of using Chakra, they were more like beasts.

Seeing this, Ringo Ameyuri had already developed murderous intent.

Of course, to everyone else, Akira Sarutobi's explanation sounded like a heavenly book. It made their heads hurt, and they could not understand a word of it.

This was a gap in strength, as well as a gap in knowledge and intelligence.

"Attack." At Ringo Ameyuri's calm command, the seven subordinates around her immediately moved.

"Protect Shirakumo Hayama!"

Akira Sarutobi rapidly formed hand seals. Facing the various attacks rushing toward him, he directly slammed both hands onto the ground.

"Huh? He's not dead yet?" Ino Yamanaka feigned surprise, though with her abilities as a sensory ninja, she certainly understood Shirakumo Hayama's condition better than anyone.

Ringo Ameyuri's attack was indeed swift, but that technique had the fatal weakness of lacking sufficient killing power.

The excessively exaggerated attack speed came with tremendous Chakra transmission loss.

By the time the Chakra was sent into the sky and fell back down, little energy remained.

Therefore, she could not launch that attack repeatedly.

Against an overly powerful enemy, that technique could not decide the outcome.

"Earth Style: Doton: Earth Return!"

The ground rumbled as a stone slab rose from the earth, blocking the thrown shuriken, kunai, and other ninja tools.

Akira Sarutobi leaped backward as the stone slab exploded, turning into countless fragments.

The enemy had clearly used Explosive Tags.

Ino Yamanaka had wanted to pretend the matter did not exist and naturally abandon Shirakumo Hayama, but she could only pick up her teammate and leap back.

"Young master, he's become dead weight. Let's leave him behind."

There was a pleading look in Ino Yamanaka's expression, though there was even more coquettishness.

But how could Akira Sarutobi abandon a teammate?

Before Akira Sarutobi could refuse, Ruri had already engaged the enemy.

The girl charged into the enemy formation, her figure blooming as she unleashed the Gentle Fist. Amid the web of blades, danger lurked at every turn.

To Ringo Ameyuri, this looked like ordering a subordinate to die.

So she sneered and said, "A second-generation brat like you wouldn't understand..."

Her words dripped with mockery.

"You pampered young masters treat ninja as tools. What could you possibly know of the people's suffering? Ordinary people are sent to die, while you lords enjoy yourselves..."

Kirigakure.

It was a place with even more rigid class divisions than Konoha.

The official Naruto novels explained it as such... the upper class, middle class, lower class, and the lowest class were clearly divided.

Ideas of rank and class had seeped deeply into the people's hearts.

"..."

Akira Sarutobi frowned slightly and rushed over to help Ruri.

This truly was a world where people compared who was worse.

Akira Sarutobi also knew he was no good person.

Even so, there were things in his heart that he wanted to uphold!

A chaotic melee began, blades flashing and swords clashing as the two sides faced off distinctly.

Before long, Ringo Ameyuri shouted, "Stop!"

"Young master..."

Having retreated to Akira Sarutobi's side, Ino Yamanaka clutched her arm as blood flowed out. Ringo Ameyuri had clearly stabbed her.

When Akira Sarutobi looked toward Ringo Ameyuri, his brow furrowed even tighter.

The genius girl of Kirigakure was holding Thunder Sword Fang against Shirakumo Hayama's neck.

Shirakumo Hayama had only just regained consciousness and could barely catch his breath, so naturally he could not resist.

"Drop your weapons, or I'll kill him!"

Taking hostages was something other Ninja Villages often did to Konoha, Amegakure, and similar villages.

Because those Ninja Villages valued morality and had bottom lines.

What was the Will of Fire? The answer was protecting the people or things one cherished.

Konoha, which valued the spirit of comradeship, was completely different from Kirigakure... where people could trample over their comrades' corpses and even slaughter one another.

Thus, taking hostages was often highly effective against Ninja Villages such as Konoha and Amegakure.

In the original story, Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo, faced the choice of carrying out the mission or saving his comrades.

The young Obito was the same.

They both chose to save their comrades and uphold the Will of Fire.

However, the Will of Fire was not self-indulgent sentimentality, but a matter of facing reality.

A comrade's life was the most important thing.

Therefore...

"Even if we surrender, you won't let him go, will you?"

Akira Sarutobi's tone was neither humble nor overbearing. Ringo Ameyuri had never seen anxiety on his face.

That only made her increasingly curious about Akira Sarutobi.

He was as calm as a machine.

How exactly would he deal with the current crisis?

"You can kill him."

The moment Akira Sarutobi said those words, Ringo Ameyuri's expression turned stunned.

"Never negotiate with terrorists... that's international common sense!"

A soul from the twenty-first century was ultimately different from the people of this world.

"But...! I'll kill your entire family! I'll wipe out your Kirigakure! I'll leave not a blade of grass in your village! Every last one of you will die! You'll vanish completely from the map of the ninja world!"

Akira Sarutobi's resolute words sent a chill through Ringo Ameyuri's heart. The aura he exuded seemed to make the air drop several degrees.