His Zanpakuto could slay souls.
Those slain by a Zanpakuto could not be saved even by Impure World Reincarnation. Perhaps they could not even go to the Pure Land.
But Chiba did not hesitate in the slightest.
If you wanted to eliminate the weeds, you had to pull them out by the roots. This was bound to be a bloody feast.
As a ninja, you had to be prepared to be slain at any moment.
That was called resolve.
And Chiba had possessed that resolve from the very beginning.
The world was cruel by nature.
If you did not want to be killed, you could only slay your enemies.
The three Root Division ninjas immediately split up.
The biggest ninja charged at Chiba. He was obviously a strength-type ninja.
Suppress him with strength, then attack his weakness.
It was the right approach.
Unfortunately...
That weakness had only existed before yesterday.
Chiba had already overcome his lack of strength with the Press-Press Fruit.
His Observation Haki swept out in an instant.
Chiba anticipated his opponent's movements with perfect clarity.
Then—
He brought his blade down.
His Hand Seals were interrupted. Still reeling from the shock, the ninja instantly drew his Ninja Blade and swung it at Chiba.
"Sorry, but you... won't be able to get that swing off."
Chiba's blade had already fallen.
He had anticipated his opponent's movements with perfect clarity.
"Wh—!?"
The Root Division ninja was stunned.
His attacks had been interrupted twice. He hadn't even had a chance to strike.
Could it be that his opponent had already seen through his attacks?
Impossible.
"You... can't see, can you?"
"When there are no enemies in my eyes, I am invincible."
"I don't see because you aren't worth looking at."
Gravity surged into Chiba's Zanpakuto in an instant. Then he brought it straight down.
Gravity Blade!
His opponent's pupils shrank sharply. He reflexively raised his Ninja Blade, trying to block the strike.
"This is gravity... can you really block it?"
As the words fell,
the sword pressure carrying the force of gravity shot out from Chiba's Zanpakuto.
Its immense power struck him head-on and sent him flying, knocking his Ninja Blade aside.
Even his mask shattered.
To break through an opponent's defense head-on required overwhelming strength.
"Wh—what?"
"How can you be this strong? The intelligence report said..."
Before his opponent could finish speaking,
a flash of cold light appeared before his eyes.
Chiba had somehow appeared behind him.
He gave the Zanpakuto in his hand a light flick.
A cruel blood flower bloomed on the ground.
Only then did a torrent of blood spurt from the man's neck.
The ninja's face twisted in an instant. He clutched his neck, writhing in agony.
But his pain did not come from his severed throat.
It came from his soul.
At that moment, he felt as though half his soul had been torn apart.
The pain in his soul cut even deeper.
In just a moment,
the Root Division ninja collapsed heavily to the ground, still clutching his neck.
"Your blood says it doesn't taste good."
"But it loves slaying filthy souls like yours."
"Listen. It... is humming!"
### "Listen. It... is humming!"
Those words weren't meant for the ninja lying on the ground.
The ones truly feeling fear were the other two ninjas.
In that instant,
they seemed to actually hear the humming.
The humming of a blade.
It was shaking their souls.
There was something wrong with that sword.
The two remaining Root Division ninjas were utterly stunned.
They didn't care about their comrade's death.
What surprised them was that Chiba was completely different from the description in the intelligence report.
In Root Division, there was no such thing as a comrade.
Someone could be your comrade one second and try to kill you the next.
Root Division's greatest principle was to eliminate emotion.
Roots buried in the ground had no need for such superfluous feelings.
Coldly carrying out missions was the very purpose of Root.
They felt no sympathy for their comrade's death.
They could only blame his bad luck.
Using his death to gather information and then complete the mission was what mattered to them.
The sword had clearly caught their attention.
Strength was not Chiba's weakness.
At the same time, Chiba was skilled with a sword and now wielded an additional, bizarre blade.
They lacked information and had nearly been killed instead.
"Mission changed!"
"Don't hold back. Beat him half to death, then take him to Lord Danzo!"
The mission had to be carried out.
Even though Chiba was already beyond the scope of their intelligence,
the Root Division ninjas had only one path to follow.
Hearing their exchange,
Chiba smiled, Zanpakuto in hand.
"Do you know?"
"Its humming is a warning to you!"
"You've missed your only chance to escape."
"Souls like yours..."
"It... craves them even more."
The sword was indeed bizarre.
It had made their souls tremble.
But—
The mission came first.
The two remaining Root Division ninjas exchanged glances and moved at once.
"Attack!"
Chiba only smiled and swung the Zanpakuto in his hand.
"Come on, let's kill!"
A sword and its wielder made each other stronger.
In the One Piece world, a Famous Sword in the hands of a strong fighter could unleash unbelievable power.
The slash Mihawk wielded with a small knife was absolutely different from the one he wielded with a Supreme Grade Sword.
Fujitora Issho's swordsmanship and a Zanpakuto that could slay souls would not disappoint.
Then—
The two Root Division ninjas opposite him made their move.
They leaped into the air and spread out, one in front and one behind.
Their coordination as teammates made Chiba realize that they seemed about to use some kind of combined Ninjutsu.
Immediately after, the two began forming Hand Seals.
The distance was too great for Chiba to interrupt their Hand Seals.
But even so,
the moment they moved, his Observation Haki had already identified the Ninjutsu they were using.
"I see..."
"The one in front is from the Nara Clan..."