Pakura

"Scorch Release: Extremely Steaming Murder."

Pakura let out a soft, delicate cry. Though her voice was quiet, the terrifying power of her ninjutsu instantly evaporated all the moisture from the bodies of two ordinary Kirigakure Chunin, turning them into horrifying, corpse-like husks that looked like demons.

They were dead beyond any doubt.

"Those lunatics from Kirigakure."

Watching Sunagakure gradually fall into a disadvantage on the battlefield, Pakura gained a deeper understanding of Kirigakure's madness.

Sunagakure's forces outnumbered Kirigakure's, yet they were being firmly suppressed.

That was because nearly every Kirigakure ninja fought by trading wounds for wounds, with no regard for their own lives.

Combined with Kirigakure's refined skill at exchanging injuries, they could suffer minor wounds while inflicting far greater losses upon Sunagakure.

"Those lunatics." Cursing Kirigakure once more, Pakura saw that Jonin from the Kaguya Clan charge into the Chunin battlefield and hurried forward to stop him.

"Kaguya lunatic, I'm your opponent."

Based on her earlier technique, Kaguya Daiki had guessed the identity of the woman before him. She was Pakura, Sunagakure's wielder of the Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai.

But the battle-mad genes in his body had already flooded his mind, and he spoke with manic arrogance.

"Haha, Pakura of the Scorch Release. Looks like you're my prey today."

It was as though he had already decided that today would be Pakura's day of death.

"Damn it." Seeing Kaguya Daiki charging toward her, Pakura swiftly retreated and shot off into the distance.

It was not because she feared him. If the two of them fought amid the crowd, setting aside the fact that most of Pakura's ninjutsu had immense destructive ranges—

Kaguya Daiki alone was a problem. Ninjas of the Kaguya Clan excelled at close combat, so creating distance and attacking from afar was also a reflection of Pakura's combat wisdom.

In Pakura's eyes, Kaguya Daiki posed a far greater threat to her squad than Ran Shotaro, wielder of Hiramekarei among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

With his extraordinary Taijutsu, coupled with Bone Blades that could grow anywhere throughout his body without warning, he was a nightmare for his enemies. As long as he got close, Bone Blades could instantly erupt from within his body, impossible to guard against. The damage he could inflict on ninja was self-evident.

Ran Shotaro's attacks, on the other hand, were more conventionally ninja-like compared to Kaguya Daiki's. Therefore, having her teammates hold off Ran Shotaro while she drew Kaguya Daiki away and waited for reinforcements was the best choice.

"Why are you running, little bitch? Let your Uncle Kaguya see how hard your bones are." Driven mad by battle, Kaguya Daiki snarled viciously.

Ran Shotaro, who was handling two Sunagakure Jonin by himself, saw Kaguya Daiki being lured straight out of the battlefield by some little woman and heading into the distance. He cursed inwardly.

"Damn it. I thought Kaguya Daiki had a brain at first, but it turns out he really is an idiot. I never should have expected the words 'rationality' to apply to anyone from the Kaguya Clan."

"Still, it would be best if there's an ambush over there. Better if he dies."

When the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had first been formed, their purpose had not merely been to better carry out the Mizukage's assignments. There had always been a deeper meaning behind it: dealing with those in the village who refused to obey.

And when it came to those who would not obey the village, naturally, it was the powerful ninja clans.

For that very reason, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and all of Kirigakure's great clans had always been at odds in secret.

So even when he saw Kaguya Daiki being lured away, Ran Shotaro did not call out to stop him.

Even if Ran Shotaro had tried to stop Kaguya Daiki, Kaguya Daiki might not have listened.

Expecting a Kaguya Clan ninja to think that much in the middle of battle?

If they could, would Kirigakure even have room for any other ninja clans? Kirigakure would have long since been renamed Kaguya Village.

"With only these three ordinary Jonin, I could deal with them easily. But now..."

"I wonder whether Pakura, that Scorch Release ninja, can kill Kaguya Daiki. If she kills him and I kill her afterward, my reputation will rise greatly."

"And perhaps I can use avenging Kaguya Daiki as a reason to win over some Kaguya Clan ninja."

Though they were secretly at odds with the Kaguya Clan, every clan was bound to have a few fools!!!

At the level of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, there was no further room to rise through combat positions. They could only transition into administrative posts, becoming heads of various departments—going from hired hands to Bosses.

But that required prestige and support. Ran Shotaro had both, but not enough.

Ran Shotaro was an ambitious man. He did not want to remain a mere enforcer forever; he wanted to become the one in charge. Moving into an administrative position was merely the first step. From beginning to end, he had only one goal: the Mizukage.

"A ninja who doesn't want to become Kage isn't a good ninja." He did not know who had said it, but it had always been Ran Shotaro's motto, and he had constantly worked toward it.

Casually raising his great blade to block the attack of one Sunagakure Jonin, Ran Shotaro caught sight of Kaguya Daiki gradually disappearing into the depths of the forest from the corner of his eye. A cold smile appeared on his lips.

Then the cold smile twisted into madness. His eyes filled with savage bloodlust, and his face distorted.

"Die, Sunagakure trash."

"Hiramekarei: Release."

Gas erupted from Hiramekarei's two circular holes, and the entire blade radiated a faint blue glow, forming a violently concentrated mass of chakra. Then the chakra sphere burst forth with an aura of destruction.

It was too fast and too sudden.

It instantly struck one Sunagakure Jonin. Before he had any chance to evade, the immense energy annihilated him where he stood.

"What?" The Jonin from the same village stared in disbelief, unable to accept that one of them had died in an instant when they had just been evenly matched and even held a slight advantage.

"Kid, weren't you having fun fighting just now?"

"Now I'll let you have some fun."

Hiramekarei was originally a blade, but Ran Shotaro's terrifying chakra control directly transformed it into a massive round club formed from chakra.

He swung it in a full arc, its howling wind and immense force smashing down on the Sunagakure ninja blow after blow.

At first, the ninja could still take a few strikes head-on. But as time passed and the number of attacks he endured increased, the Sunagakure ninja realized that he would certainly die if this continued and tried to dodge.

But Ran Shotaro was even faster, leaving the Sunagakure ninja no way to evade as he was struck by the club once again.

Pfft!

The Sunagakure Jonin spat out a mouthful of blood. With unwillingness and hatred in his eyes, he fixed his gaze on Ran Shotaro, seemingly wanting to carve the man's face into his mind before he died.

"You still dared to fight me at close range? Who gave you that confidence? The moment you chose to engage me up close, your deaths were already decided."

The Sunagakure Jonin, who had been beaten into the dirt strike by strike, had clearly heard those words. But at this point, he could no longer make any movement and could only await death.

For the final blow, Ran Shotaro no longer held back his strength or deliberately controlled where he struck. The club smashed directly into the Sunagakure Jonin's head, and his skull burst apart like a watermelon, spraying bloody pulp and fragments everywhere.

Licking the blood that had splashed onto his hand, Ran Shotaro turned a savage smile toward the last remaining Sunagakure Jonin.