"Is this the waterfall?"
Mu stood beside a waterfall near Takigakure with the Iwagakure diplomatic delegation.
"That's right. I'll leave it to you." Ruri stood off to one side with Hagane Masamasa. In order to gather iron ore, he had sent a ninja skilled in Earth Style to search for mineral deposits a few days ago. When that ninja returned to the village yesterday, he had accidentally discovered signs of iron ore behind this waterfall.
Since the Land of Waterfalls had lacked mineral deposits for years, there was basically no one skilled at mining. Ruri had considered using ninja power to mine, but Takigakure lacked any large-scale destructive ninjutsu. The only one truly proficient in Earth Style was Kakuzu, and he was still unconscious.
Left with no choice, Ruri had kept Mu and the delegation behind. Mu's Dust Release was simply too convenient for blasting open mountains and digging mine shafts, while the other Earth Style ninja could handle the follow-up work of stabilizing the mountain.
"Just use Atomic Dismantling Jutsu—the cylindrical one. Don't make it too powerful. Punch through a passage to serve as an entrance, but don't shatter it," Ruri added.
Mu: "????" Why did he know Dust Release so well? This was my exclusive Kekkei Tōta, damn it?!
However, Ruri was the Takikage, holding the same status as his own Tsuchikage, so Mu did not ask about his source of intelligence. He spread his hands and shouted, "Dust Release: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!"
A white cylindrical beam tore through the air and shot straight at the cliff behind the waterfall. After a moment, a hollow appeared in the cliff face.
This was the power of Dust Release. It had effortlessly pierced the cliff, and Mu could not help feeling a little proud. There were only a handful of ninjutsu in the Shinobi World capable of such an attack.
"You use Earth Style to reinforce the cliff. I'll go take a look." With that, Mu used the Light-Weight Rock Technique to fly up. There were not many ninja in the Shinobi World who could fly, and showing off in front of the Takikage felt quite satisfying.
"Light-Weight Rock Technique... That's absurd. I have to memorize it!" Ruri secretly noted Mu's hand seals. But memorizing the seals without understanding the principles or undergoing training made it impossible to use. Otherwise, ninjutsu would have become commonplace long ago—why would every clan need to make their techniques public?
Before long, Mu flew into the mine shaft. He stepped forward and touched the rock wall. "So it really is iron ore! This way of opening mountains isn't bad. Iwagakure needs ore too. Maybe when I return, I can try using Dust Release to open some mine shafts..."
But at that moment, Mu seemed to hear a distant rumbling. His expression abruptly changed, and after silently cursing, he swiftly retreated from the mine shaft.
"Increase your chakra output! This side of the cliff is about to collapse—reinforce it now!" Mu roared. At his shout, every Iwagakure Ninja sprang into action. They did not want the Takigakure Ninja blaming them for incompetence. If they failed to open the mountain and instead caused it to collapse, it would be the greatest mockery possible for Iwagakure Ninja skilled in Earth Style!
A collapse? How could that happen? Ruri frowned. That Chunin had conducted a terrain survey and had even tried using Earth Style to open the mountain, though he had failed due to insufficient skill. Yet the mountain had shown no reaction at all. By all rights, this should not have happened!
"Takikage-sama, this waterfall was formed when a tributary of the Takigawa River was blocked by the cliff. Although Mu-sama's Dust Release only pierced a hole, it fundamentally damaged the cliff's structure, causing it to collapse under the waterfall's impact..." Hagane Masamasa explained from the side.
Oh, so the load-bearing point had been destroyed. Ruri was somewhat surprised that Hagane Masamasa possessed such analytical ability.
"Takikage-sama, please retreat! We may not be able to hold on much longer! Once we withdraw our chakra, this entire area will be flooded!" one leading Iwagakure Ninja said with difficulty.
"Earth Style: Earth Core!" Mu formed hand seals and used Earth Style as well. Under his control, the surrounding terrain changed and the ground began to sink. "Takikage-sama, I'll do my best to make the ground here sink and create a larger depression to store the water and form a lake. But there definitely won't be enough time. I can only do my best. Please evacuate the nearby people in advance!"
Hearing Mu say this, Ruri felt rather embarrassed. He had thought using Dust Release to open the mountain was a good idea. Who would have expected this to happen? Mu was truly decent, helping clean up the mess without a word, but in the end, it was Ruri who had made the wrong decision.
[ Ding... Congratulations, Takigakure Ninja Academy has been successfully established, promoting the development of Takigakure. The reward has been issued. Please check it, Host. ]
A reward at a time like this? Ruri had thought the Ninja Academy reward would not be issued until students enrolled! He hurriedly checked for a way to solve the problem. System rewards might arrive late, but they would never be absent.
[ Iaijutsu ]
Kenjutsu? Establishing the Ninja Academy was a huge investment for the village's century-long development, wasn't it?! And it was only giving him some damn Kenjutsu? Kenjutsu was completely useless in this situation! It was not even as useful as the Wood Style he had drawn from the lottery! Even the civilian version of Amaterasu would be ten thousand times more useful than this lousy Kenjutsu!
But once Ruri looked into it more deeply, he realized he had been wrong.
Iaijutsu was not a single sword technique. Rather than calling it Iaijutsu, it would be more fitting to call it Iaido. It embodied the sword intent and techniques of every iaido school. If compared to people from Naruto, only Mifune could barely serve as an example.
According to the system, Mifune's Iaijutsu had not reached sufficient mastery and followed only a single speed-focused path. Yet even that incomplete speed-focused Iaijutsu had easily defeated Edo Tensei Hanzo, Deidara, and even Ten-Tails clones. It was not weak even among Kage-level experts.
The system's Iaijutsu, however, contained sword intent refined to the pinnacle, techniques that reduced complexity to simplicity, and the strengths of every school. Among them, Ruri preferred the Iaijutsu focused on killing in a single strike. What he lacked now was high-damage ninjutsu. As the system said, at its ultimate extreme, Iaijutsu could split mountains, sever rock, and even shatter small asteroids, creating a stellar explosion!
"Takikage-sama, hurry and arrange for everyone to evacuate!" Hagane Masamasa's shout pulled Ruri back to reality, but after learning the true meaning of Iaijutsu, Ruri had no intention of retreating.
Iaijutsu was the strongest slash in Naruto, right? Splitting open a waterfall should not be a problem!
"Iwagakure Ninja, lend me your sword." Ruri used a Body Flicker to appear behind an Iwagakure Ninja with a short sword at his waist. Before the man could respond, Ruri drew the short sword.
The instant he took hold of the blade, Ruri unconsciously took a sidestep and bent slightly forward. A sharp gleam burst from his eyes, and his aura surged, suffocating like an abyss. Vast amounts of chakra gathered on the blade, pressing the nearby Iwagakure Ninja so hard that they could barely breathe. Their Earth Style even stopped!
"What are you doing?! Why did you stop—" Mu, drenched in sweat as he continuously sank the ground, sensed the Earth Style stop and raised his head with a shout. Then he saw an unbelievable sight. The chakra Ruri released was not much, and its fluctuations were not particularly strong. What was terrifying was the sword intent on the blade in his hand—it sent chills down the spine!
"Takikage-sama actually knows Kenjutsu too? With sword intent like this, his mastery of Kenjutsu may already surpass even those generals of the Land of Iron! And he can even infuse chakra into his blade..." Hagane Masamasa said, trembling as he spoke. Despite becoming the Takikage's assistant, he realized he still knew far too little about the Takikage!
"Is he trying to cut apart the waterfall?!" Mu finally realized Ruri's purpose. Wasn't Ruri facing directly toward the waterfall?!
The next moment, Ruri stepped forward with his right foot, leveled the blade at the center of the waterfall, and drew his sword!
Before you continue