Blocking the Way

Blocking the Way

"Gentlemen, please have a seat. Look, these are all pickled in-house..."

"Just bring whatever." The man in the conical hat tossed him a money pouch. The waiter gave it a squeeze and immediately beamed.

"Right away! Your food will be ready soon!"

Seeing that these conical-hatted men had no interest in talking to him, the waiter tactfully withdrew, leaving them plenty of space.

After the waiter left, the group began chatting idly.

"This place is rather like the village... there's thick fog everywhere."

"The Land of Waves is an island nation, after all. The humidity is high."

"Once we pass the Land of Waves, we need to be careful. Our secret base on the coast of the Land of Fire is well hidden, but those Hidden Leaf bastards aren't to be underestimated... They have the Byakugan and the Sharingan."

Thud. Thud.

The sudden knocking brought the casual conversation to an end. The man seated in the middle removed his conical hat, revealing his face.

"As ninja, we should act discreetly. Though ninja rarely appear in the Land of Waves, we must still be cautious."

If you want to act discreetly, then put your hat back on... his subordinates silently muttered. But they did not dare contradict him openly, and could only lower their heads in apology.

"Sorry, Lord Munashi Jinpachi."

"Mm." Munashi Jinpachi nodded slightly and closed his eyes to rest.

He was of average build, with a white cloth wrapped around his head. His beard was braided into several small plaits, his lips were thick, and his left eye was covered by a strip of black cloth. His appearance was somewhat strange, but the ninja world had no shortage of bizarre outfits, so few people paid him much notice.

What drew more attention than his appearance, however, was the enormous blade strapped to his back—

—or perhaps it could not even be called a blade. It had no sharp edge and was instead as broad as a door panel. Its spine was cylindrical, and the body was covered by a casing that concealed what lay within.

Anyone from the Hidden Mist Village would know that the broad blade was covered from end to end in layers of explosive tags!

The man carrying that blade was also famous.

Munashi Jinpachi, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist, wielder of the Explosive Blade: Splash!

Removing his conical hat and revealing his true face had actually been a helpless choice on Munashi Jinpachi's part. The Explosive Blade: Splash was far too recognizable. Any ninja could identify it at a glance, and a conical hat could not hide his identity.

As for sealing the Explosive Blade: Splash inside a scroll... Few of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Munashi Jinpachi included, would do such a thing.

They lived by their blades and earned their fame by their blades. If they could not grip the hilt at the first possible moment, it would be an insult to the title "Seven Ninja Swordsmen."

With Munashi Jinpachi's warning, his subordinates became much more restrained. They communicated only through glances as they silently waited for the food to arrive.

"Oh, honored guest, this way, this way! Please sit inside!"

Yet before their food arrived, another guest entered.

Wearing a straw raincoat and keeping his head lowered, the lone figure entered through the door and headed straight for the table beside the Hidden Mist ninja.

The newcomer had his back to them, concealing his face. All they could tell was that he was a long-haired man.

"Look, these are all pickled in-house..."

The solitary guest interrupted the waiter by placing down a money pouch, then said softly,

"Bring me a pot of tea. Good tea."

"Right away!"

The waiter hurried off again, thrilled. He felt that every guest he had encountered today was exceptionally generous, spending money with startling extravagance.

He was overjoyed, but the Hidden Mist group was far from relaxed.

The Hidden Mist ninja who had accompanied Munashi Jinpachi were all battle-hardened veteran chunin. The Hidden Mist Village was an even more unstable and violent organization than the Hidden Leaf Village. They had personally experienced more battles than ninja from other villages and possessed far richer combat experience.

At a glance, they saw that the lone guest's position was peculiar... extremely peculiar.

The distance between the guest and Munashi Jinpachi was an awkward five meters—just beyond the range Munashi Jinpachi could cover with a single step and a swing of the Explosive Blade: Splash!

Distance was always the most important factor for ninja who specialized in close combat. There was no exception.

An expert... Several Hidden Mist ninja quietly gripped their kunai and looked toward Munashi Jinpachi.

The Seven Ninja Swordsman did not panic. He merely stared at the guest and spoke one word at a time.

"Hidden Leaf?"

"Ah, yes."

He asked openly, and the other admitted it just as openly.

Not concealing one's identity might have been a good thing in peacetime, but in the current chaotic era, such "honesty" meant there could be no reconciliation.

"That's a fine blade... the Explosive Blade: Splash, right? Then you must be Munashi Jinpachi, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen."

"Correct. So you...?"

Before Munashi Jinpachi could finish, the guest turned around, revealing a handsome and gentle face, along with eyes as pure as blank paper.

"Hyuga Yuto. Just a nobody."

Tsunade's disciple? This is troublesome... Munashi Jinpachi sighed inwardly. Half a year had passed since Hyuga Yuto became Tsunade's student. The Hidden Mist intelligence network could not possibly have missed it.

"Then, Munashi Jinpachi, why are you in the Land of Waves?" Hyuga Yuto asked. His expression was not unpleasant; perhaps because he was so handsome, he even seemed to carry the warmth of a spring breeze.

"Traveling, training, sightseeing..." Munashi Jinpachi bared his rather sharp teeth in a grin. "I can do whatever I want. What does any of that have to do with you? This isn't the Land of Fire."

"Mm, this is the Land of Waves. I know." The branch family youth chuckled softly.

"But finding you has been quite difficult. Even for someone with the Byakugan like me, it hasn't been easy."

"Oh? And?" Munashi Jinpachi's hand clenched tightly around the hilt. The formidable swordsmanship he had honed over countless days and nights gave him the confidence to close in on Hyuga Yuto and deliver a fatal slash within a tenth of a second.

Hyuga Yuto did not seem nervous in the slightest. He continued smiling.

"To be serious, my mission is to stop you from entering the Land of Fire."

"I'm a rather personable fellow." The branch family youth pointed at his own face.

"I'm fairly good with words, and I'm reasonably perceptive too. I was thinking that if I could persuade you to return to the Land of Water, that would be ideal. After all, then we wouldn't have to fight."

"But you know, the important people at the top, whether in the Hidden Leaf or the Hidden Mist, are all cautious and clever. If I returned to the village and said I persuaded you to go back, the higher-ups wouldn't believe me without proof."

"So do me a favor. Could you give me your Explosive Blade: Splash? With that, the higher-ups in my clan will believe me."

"Of course, if you won't give it to me, that's fine too. After all, it's a treasure of your Hidden Mist. I don't like forcing people. Anyway..." Hyuga Yuto paused, his voice turning gentle, as though whispering to a lover.

"I'll bring your heads and your blades back together."

Inside the lakeside tavern, there was a deathly silence.

After a long while, Munashi Jinpachi suddenly burst into wild laughter, his voice growing louder and louder.

"You arrogant... brat!"

A massive explosion erupted into the sky.

(End of Chapter)