Iaijutsu

"Iaijutsu!"

Ruri slashed through the air, and blade energy soared skyward, meeting the waterfall head-on. The strike was earth-shaking; even the ninjas far away in Takigakure saw it and were filled with astonishment!

In that instant, the several-meter-long sharp blade energy tore a gash through the air. White rings of air spread in every direction, and before the shrieking sonic boom could even sound, the blade energy had already struck the waterfall!

The sheer momentum of that slash forced every Iwagakure Ninja beneath the waterfall to retreat several steps!

Under that blade energy, the waterfall, dozens of meters tall, was actually split in two.

The waterfall, which moments ago had surged violently enough to crush the mountainside into collapse, was severed down the middle. Its upper half stopped flowing as though blocked by a dam!

A blade cleaving a waterfall! The strongest slash!

What kind of power was that?

Perhaps Uchiha Madara could achieve this with a full-power strike after activating Susanoo, but that borrowed the power of those cheat-like eyes! Ruri's slash, however, was merely blade intent and chakra forming blade energy!

At that moment, the aftershock of the blade energy finally dispersed completely!

"Screech!"

The Iwagakure Ninjas all looked up at once. The blade energy had passed straight through the halted waterfall and cut off the entire cliff!

The cliff had visibly become shorter by a section. The portion through which the blade energy passed had been forcibly cut into nothing but air!

Countless people in Takigakure stared wide-eyed. They only knew that Lord Takikage had gone to that waterfall today with the Iwagakure delegation; they had no idea what had actually happened!

"Can Kenjutsu really do this?" Hagane Masamasa could not help questioning his entire life, while the ordinary Iwagakure Ninjas had long since been left speechless in shock!

Mu's expression kept shifting. Who the hell knew you could use a slash like this?! You could cut an entire section off a cliff, so what was the point of making me painstakingly use Dust Release to carve through mountains? You could stop a waterfall with one slash, yet I had to rack my brains changing the terrain for you? Did I have so much damn chakra that I had nothing better to do?!

Before this, Mu had been delighted. Even one of the Six Kage like the Takikage had needed to ask him for help with Dust Release. But now he realized he had been completely wrong. This was a damn monster! Forget Atomic Dismantling Jutsu—even Limitless Atomic Dismantling Jutsu probably could not split mountains and sever waterfalls so easily!

"Eh?! This is bad, Lord Mu, the waterfall has started flowing again!" An Iwagakure Ninja with strong nerves reacted in time. The waterfall Ruri had split apart in defiance of all ninja common sense had only stopped for a minute before plunging down once more! And because the mountainside had been damaged again, the water flowed even more fiercely this time!

Damn it, after one slash, he still had to rely on me! Mu hurriedly gave orders, and everything returned to how it had been before. They still had to rely on the Iwagakure Ninjas' Earth Style to maintain stability, still had to build the lake, and still had to lower the terrain.

"..." Hagane Maomori felt somewhat awkward. His Takikage had unleashed such a heaven-shaking slash and even cut off the waterfall, yet nothing had changed in the end?

Ruri rubbed his nose, seeming to have overestimated himself. His chakra was limited. Although that slash had surpassed Kage level, it still could not defy physics. The waterfall would flow when it had to flow...

"Ahem... A-Zheng, make me a steel sword." Ruri coughed lightly to hide his embarrassment. The katana he had borrowed earlier did not even have its hilt left.

"..." Lord Takikage, what are you trying to do? Another slash? The last one did not work! However, Hagane Masamasa did not voice his thoughts. Following Ruri's instructions, he made a steel katana.

The quality of this steel sword was far better than the Iwagakure Ninjas' shabby little blades. Ruri found it more comfortable in his hand as well. Somehow, after gaining the blade intent of Iaijutsu, he felt an innate closeness even toward swords.

His first use of Iaijutsu had been a little clumsy, and he had not had enough chakra. This time, he would make the Seven-Tails pay some rent and use more chakra. He had also switched to a better sword, so it would definitely work! Thinking this, Ruri assumed the stance once more.

A vast amount of the Seven-Tails' chakra gathered around him. He abruptly raised the katana and held it across his waist. His entire body seemed to become a blade, as chakra, blade intent, and every scrap of power melted together into a single point at that instant!

"Iaijutsu!"

The blade energy unleashed by this strike was more solid than before. Flooded with immense chakra, it nearly became tangible, illuminating the somewhat dim sky as brilliantly as daylight, like the rising sun in the east. It even carried a trace of natural energy!

Although Ruri did not know Sage Mode and could not wield natural energy, this slash stirred it! More precisely, this blade energy caused natural energy to follow behind it of its own accord!

Earth Style ceased once more. Whether the stunned Iwagakure Ninjas or the Takigakure Ninjas watching everything in a daze from the village, all they could see was that blade energy, seemingly more dazzling than the sun. Nothing else remained in their sight!

The blade energy struck the cliff with a tremendous boom. The cliff, already shortened by one section, suffered again. The sounds of the waterfall being severed, the cliff being pierced, and the mountain crumbling rang out, even more violent than before!

Hagane Masamasa felt that this scene looked familiar. In Ruri's hands, the cliff was like ingredients in Ono's hands. The difference was that Ono peeled away ingredients layer by layer before turning them into delicious sushi, while Ruri simply shaved several meters off the cliff out of thin air!

"This... it has completely stopped?" Mu stared at the waterfall in disbelief. A minute had passed since that slash, yet there was not the slightest sign of the waterfall flowing again!

The sun gradually emerged. Beneath the sunlight, the waterfall seemed frozen in time, reflecting boundless rays of brilliance.

Just as Mu began to feel that he could never contend with him, a leisurely voice suddenly sounded beside his ear. "Are we still building the lake or not?"

Ruri looked perfectly calm. If Kakuzu were here, he would know Ruri was definitely putting on an act. It was just like when he had detonated the Truth-Seeking Orb before—his own chakra and even the Seven-Tails' chakra had been completely drained.

But how could Mu and the others know the truth? They thought Ruri had simply unleashed that slash with ease!

"Yes, yes, make this area sink in a little more. It can serve as the center of the lake... If we can make an island in the middle, it could even be used for vacations..."

"Make two channels over here to divert the flow. Lead some of the water into shallower paddies; we can relocate some villagers here to farm."

"Build a dam here to block the water, or it will not stay contained."

"You there, do you know Fire Style? Bake this area a little, evaporate the moisture and reinforce it..."

"A-Zheng, stop standing there like an idiot. Use Steel Release to seal this side off..."

The Iwagakure Ninjas numbingly followed Ruri's commands. Before they knew it, they had become a construction crew once again.

Ruri was very satisfied with the gradually changing terrain. He could not keep the waterfall cut off forever; that defied physics, it was unscientific. Once the blade intent and natural energy completely dissipated, the waterfall would naturally continue flowing. But by then, the terrain below would have been reshaped, ready to receive the water as the source of an artificial lake!

Moreover, he had deliberately reserved space for rice paddies. Takigakure did not have vast stretches of land suitable for cultivation, so turning this into fertile farmland was perfect. The new waterwheels they had drawn up before could finally be put to use too! Wonderful, wonderful!