In Leaf Village: Starting Out by Slapping White Fang — Chapter 20

He was not surprised that Leaf Village had launched a surprise attack.

Last time, Konoha's White Fang had led a squad into Sunagakure to carry out an assassination, and had nearly taken his life.

This time, it was Jiraiya instead. That was nothing unusual.

But if Jiraiya was the only one, then Saimon had to be suspicious.

"Lord Kazekage, most of the shinobi remaining in the village have already gone to stop Jiraiya. What should we do next...?"

The Sunagakure Anbu kneeling on one knee before Saimon asked for instructions.

Saimon fell silent in thought. About half a minute later, he ordered,

"Do not act rashly. Report to me if anything changes."

"Yes!"

The Sunagakure Anbu lowered his head in acknowledgment, then vanished with the Body Flicker Technique.

Having become a Kage, Saimon would not be as naive as Rasa and truly believe that the enemy had sent only Jiraiya.

Unless one had reached the Super Kage level, it was absolutely impossible for a single person to fight an entire village.

That remained true even though Sunagakure had deployed over half its combat strength to the front lines.

Saimon had no need to act personally. The village shinobi alone would be enough to deal with Jiraiya.

Cough! Cough!

Suddenly, Saimon broke into two violent coughs.

A streak of blood trickled uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth.

He had another reason he could not fight.

His body was already nearing its limit.

Boom!!

A flash of white light suddenly swept through, slicing off the top of the Administrative Building where Rasa was, as easily as cutting tofu.

It was as though a sedan had been turned into a convertible.

Still unable to recover from his illness, Saimon looked in disbelief toward the sky now exposed to sunlight.

A strand of flowing silver-white hair entered his vision before the sunlight did.

"Your condition doesn't seem very good, Lord Kazekage."

Genetsu stood atop the smooth cut in the wall, revealing a blade that glinted beneath the sun. "To avenge Lord Hokage's son, I need to take your life."

So there really were others!

When Genetsu appeared, Saimon did not show much surprise.

From the very beginning, he had never believed Leaf Village had sent only Jiraiya.

What troubled Saimon was Genetsu's earlier statement.

Avenge the Hokage's son?

The Hokage's son... he must mean that worthless fool who had acted alongside White Fang, intending to assassinate him.

But Saimon had defeated him, and White Fang had ultimately abandoned the mission to rescue him.

Hadn't White Fang already saved that man?

Why was this person in front of him saying he wanted to avenge that fool?

"What are you talking about?"

Saimon could not help asking.

"You don't need to know much, Lord Kazekage. You only need to know one thing."

The moment his words fell, Genetsu flashed before him and brought down his blade, saying at the same time,

"I need to borrow your head."

Splat—boom!

The shockwave produced by their collision was so powerful that it shattered the walls around the office.

Genetsu narrowed his eyes at the sand blocking his blade from Saimon's body, then curled his lips. "It feels like every opponent I've met lately uses sand. How boring..."

"Hmph!"

Saimon snorted and controlled the flowing sand, forming a massive shell that enveloped Genetsu.

Sand Burial!

The instant Genetsu was surrounded, Saimon clenched his fist hard.

However, Genetsu was faster than him!

Splat—

The tip of his blade pierced through the flowing sand, then swept sideways.

A massive opening was instantly carved through the sand.

"Your control over sand is even weaker than Bunpuku's. Looks like taking this head will be easier than I thought."

Genetsu chuckled, then flashed before Rasa once more.

His second strike came down without mercy.

Sparks burst forth.

This time, a half-human, half-beast puppet swung its blade and forcibly blocked Genetsu's slash.

Only then did Genetsu remember.

The Second Kazekage before him was not only the founder of Magnet Release, but also quite skilled in puppetry.

However, Saimon's puppets were nowhere near as exquisitely constructed as Chiyo's Chikamatsu Ten Puppets.

Nor could they, like the puppets Sasori of the Red Sands made from living humans, produce a lesser version of the Impure World Reincarnation effect.

His Magnet Release was inferior to Bunpuku's and Gaara's.

His puppetry was also inferior to Chiyo's and Sasori of the Red Sands'.

He knew a little of everything, yet had mastered none of it.

Genetsu grinned faintly. The tachi in his hand turned pure black with a reflective sheen, then suddenly pressed forward.

A cracking sound rang from the puppet's raised arm.

Immediately afterward, Saimon, who controlled the puppet, felt the force suppressing it grow increasingly outrageous.

Bang—

Two seconds later, a figure crashed through the Kazekage's Office window and smashed deep into the wall of another building behind it.

Hearing the commotion, the many Sunagakure Shinobi rushing over looked up at the figure embedded in the wall and cried out in shock,

"Lord Kazekage!?"

"So they've come after all. If you get in my way, things will become troublesome."

Genetsu, having pursued him, turned to look at the growing number of Sunagakure Shinobi approaching from all directions.

Whoosh—

Flames roared to life along Genetsu's blade, yet unlike ordinary fire, they carried no scorching heat.

Amaterasu: Amaterasu!

Genetsu flicked his sword, erecting a ten-meter-high wall of Amaterasu flames across the passage leading here.

"Urgh—aaah! W-what is this!?"

Some of the rapidly approaching Sunagakure Shinobi were caught off guard and slammed into the wall.

In the blink of an eye, Amaterasu devoured their entire bodies.

They kept rolling across the ground, trying to extinguish the flames, but the sinister Black Flame did not weaken in the slightest.

Unless it burned its target to ashes, it would never stop.

Wind Release: Sand Bullet Barrage!

At that moment, Saimon suddenly attacked.

Endless sand compressed into bullets and came flying continuously like machine-gun fire.

A combination of Wind Release and Magnet Release?

Genetsu's gaze sharpened as he held the Black Blade horizontally before himself.

Under those black eyes, the dense barrage of sand bullets seemed to freeze in place.

The next instant, Genetsu charged forward.

With only the slightest movements of the Black Blade in his hand,

every sand bullet that touched its edge seemed to strike a spring, ricocheting and flying off in other directions.

Not a single one struck Genetsu.

"H-how is this possible!? H-he deflected them with a sword!?"

Saimon could hardly believe his eyes. Was that a sword or cotton?

It had actually deflected Sand Bullet Barrage, which could pierce through rock with ease—

If Genetsu had cut them apart, that would have been understandable. White Fang had done the same last time.

But deflecting them? That was utterly inconceivable!

"A sword without flexibility cannot grow stronger."

Genetsu spoke Hawk-Eye Dracule Mihawk's understanding of the Sword Way.

Not just the Sword Way—the way of life was the same.

What was overly rigid would easily break.

"Don't think you can defeat me so easily!"

His Kage-level experience allowed Saimon to swiftly recover from his shock. With a raised hand,

the sand beneath Genetsu's feet seemed to come alive, climbing upward.

The next moment, it crashed down like a tsunami.

The advantage of the terrain.

That was also one of the main reasons why, despite Sunagakure's weak military strength, few shinobi villages dared to invade it.

These sand users could use the terrain to bring down a sea of sand in one strike.

It could directly wipe out over half the enemy forces.

Facing the sand sea rapidly collapsing around him, Genetsu showed no panic. Instead, he lowered the Black Blade's tip and placed his left hand along the blade's edge.

"Want to see who's faster?"

Saimon had no leisure to answer Genetsu. He fiercely swung his hand.

A flowing-sand tsunami large enough to swallow half the village crashed down with the roar of a hunting whale.

In that fleeting instant, Genetsu vanished from where he stood.