Mission Destination: Kihara Village

"Gasp..."

A string of sharp inhales rang out in succession!

"That's the Sharingan!"

Morino Itate stared at the Sharingan in Mirai's eyes in shock and cried out.

"What is it? What is it? Why are you making such a fuss? What happened..."

Wasabi Jirocho walked out of the tent with a wine bottle in hand.

Morino Itate had been out for so long, so why was it still such a mess outside?

Clearly dissatisfied, he had come out to take a look.

"The Sharingan! A Konoha ninja!"

The moment Wasabi Jirocho saw Mirai's eyes, he remembered that only Konoha possessed the Sharingan and began sizing him up.

"Morino Itate, what exactly is going on?"

Morino Itate saw Wasabi Jirocho looking at him and had no idea how to explain, so he could only answer honestly.

Wasabi Jirocho suddenly placed both hands lightly on the ground, actually using his sensory ability.

"There's no ambush nearby. This brat is alone!"

Hearing this, everyone relaxed considerably.

"Since the Sharingan has delivered itself right to my door, I, Wasabi Jirocho, will take it! Everyone, attack!"

Wasabi Jirocho stared greedily at Mirai before him, practically floating with excitement.

"Perfect. I'll see just how powerful Susanoo really is!"

Mirai's lips curled upward as the Sharingan in his eyes shifted, transforming into six-pointed stars in an instant.

"Susanoo!"

A translucent black barrier enveloped Mirai, with wisps of black flames clinging to its surface.

"Water Release—Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Fire Release—Great Fireball!"

"Lightning Release—Ground Walk!"

Seeing Mirai enclosed within the barrier, all six chunin unleashed ninjutsu.

The six ninjutsu surrounded Mirai from every direction.

Boom!

An explosion rang out, smoke billowing everywhere, yet Mirai remained completely unharmed.

"Is that the best you can do?"

Mirai's mocking voice reached everyone's ears, stirring their anger.

"Morino Itate, split open that turtle shell!"

Seeing that his six chunin subordinates could not break Mirai's barrier, Wasabi Jirocho found it hard to believe.

But he believed that Morino Itate's Sword of the Thunder God should be enough to cleave through the barrier.

"Alright!"

Morino Itate stepped forward from the crowd, removed the sword from his back, and activated it.

A finely crafted longsword, silver-white from hilt to tip, appeared before them.

"Take this!"

Morino Itate poured chakra into the Sword of the Thunder God and slashed down through the air.

With a sharp ring of steel, a chilling, razor-sharp sword light shot forth and struck Mirai's barrier in an instant.

Boom!

Crackle...

The sword light struck the barrier and erupted with dazzling lightning.

The immensely destructive lightning combined with the sword light, actually carving a crack into the barrier.

"The Sword of the Thunder God is this powerful?"

Seeing cracks appear in the barrier, Mirai was not worried. Instead, he marveled at the Sword of the Thunder God's power.

With a boom, the cracked barrier abruptly healed, and a rib bone suddenly appeared.

The rib bone gradually expanded and evolved, eventually forming a skeletal torso.

"W-What kind of monster is that?!"

"What exactly is this..."

"What a powerful aura!"

The six chunin saw the sudden skeletal torso and began to feel afraid.

Clearly, they had never seen anything so bizarre before.

Although Wasabi Jirocho was surprised as well, he was not as frightened as the others.

Because he had noticed a weakness in this barrier: it could only defend and could not attack.

Otherwise, why would he have stood there, taking their attacks without reacting at all?

"Don't panic, everyone. His ninjutsu can only defend. As long as we focus our attacks on one point, we can shatter this turtle shell!"

Wasabi Jirocho was the first to form hand seals, and the others also unleashed their strongest attacks with all their strength.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of explosions rang out as smoke filled the air.

Everyone stared intently into the smoke, their nerves taut. Even Wasabi Jirocho, who had remained calm until now, was no exception.

As the smoke dispersed, everyone's pupils suddenly contracted.

"How could this be... completely unscathed!"

Wasabi Jirocho stared ahead in shock, his face full of disbelief.

"Sigh, is that all the strength you have?"

Mirai shook his head in disappointment and sighed. "I thought you'd be much stronger. This is practically a waste of my ocular power!"

With a turn of the Eternal Mangekyo, a skeletal arm extended from the ribcage torso.

The bony palm opened and swept toward the people before him.

"Run!"

Someone shouted, and everyone immediately scattered in all directions.

But was Mirai's Susanoo really so easy to escape from? Clearly not.

Other than Wasabi Jirocho and Morino Itate, everyone else was struck by Mirai's skeletal palm.

The immense force instantly smashed the six chunin to death, sending them flying off to who knew where.

"Spare me!"

"Please, spare my life!"

Seeing that he could not escape, Wasabi Jirocho was the first to kneel and beg for mercy.

Morino Itate immediately followed suit, kneeling on the ground and trembling as he begged for mercy.

Mirai dispelled his Susanoo and walked over to the two of them.

"Why should I spare you?"

Mirai answered with a question.

"I'll give you the Sword of the Thunder God. Please spare me!"

Morino Itate tremblingly offered up the Sword of the Thunder God, utterly panicked and terrified.

Clearly, he was extremely afraid of Mirai.

With a click, Mirai took the Sword of the Thunder God.

He gave the Sword of the Thunder God a few light swings and was quite satisfied.

The Sword of the Thunder God truly deserved its reputation as a legendary Naruto artifact. Not only was it light and sharp, but more importantly, it could carry an even greater amount of chakra.

Seeing that Mirai was very satisfied with the Sword of the Thunder God, Morino Itate immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

With a whoosh, the kneeling Wasabi Jirocho suddenly sprang up.

Gripping a kunai, he thrust it toward Mirai's chest.

Just as it was about to pierce Mirai's chest, Wasabi Jirocho stopped.

His eyes had gone vacant, while Mirai wore a smile.

Clearly, he had fallen under Mirai's genjutsu.

He flipped the kunai in his hand, gripped it in reverse, and viciously stabbed it into his own chest.

Pfft!

The kunai pierced his body, and blood sprayed out.

With a thud, Wasabi Jirocho, now a corpse, collapsed onto the ground.

"Sigh, I'm a pacifist too. None of this was what I wanted!"

Morino Itate had already been terrified, and Mirai's words only made him even more frightened.

At the same time, countless complaints ran through his mind.

A pacifist, my ass!

"Look at what you've done. A pacifist? You've got some nerve saying that."

"Isn't it because you were willing? If you hadn't been willing, so many people wouldn't have died."

"If you ever decided to take action, wouldn't rivers of blood flow?"

Though he grumbled inwardly, Morino Itate did not dare say a single word of it aloud.

After all, the person before him was a god of slaughter. His own life mattered more.