Massacre

Taking advantage of the Jonin being immobilized by Red Ink, I threw three kunai with explosive tags attached at him, then raised two fingers and detonated them.

"Boom—"

The explosion rang out. The three explosive tags detonated together; even a Jonin would lose the ability to fight if he could not evade them.

"Hey! You're not dead, are you?"

What a truly unique way of showing concern. But before worrying about someone else, he should have kept his attention on the enemy.

My blade flashed past, and blood sprayed from the distracted Chunin's throat, splattering across my face as he died on the spot.

"Bastard!"

Losing one's cool in battle was a grave taboo, my Chunin friend. He had actually abandoned the ninjutsu he had nearly finished preparing and charged at me with a kunai.

A cold gleam flashed. The kunai snapped in two, and his throat was sliced open, scarlet blood spilling across the ground and blending into the rainwater.

The rainwater pooling on the ground was growing deeper, making Sword God Style difficult to use. The purpose of the ambush had been achieved. Now, I only needed to use North God Style and Water God Style to keep them occupied.

Sakumo should not be losing over there. Chiyo was nowhere in sight, so she probably was not here. A half-crippled Rasa and several Jonin definitely could not stop him.

As I was thinking, another Chunin who had been watching from the sidelines finally made his move.

After rapidly forming hand seals, he slammed both hands against the ground. Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears activated. The earth shook, and sharp stone spikes surged toward me.

Speaking of Earth Release, this kind of technique was indispensable. Its large-scale destructive power made it suitable both for controlling the field and dealing with groups.

With the ground currently covered in rainwater, the speed disadvantage of this technique had also been offset. However...

"Bang—"

More than ten sharp stone spikes struck my body, but against the defense of Dragon Saint Battle Aura reinforced by an eruption of chakra...

An attack of this level was nothing worth mentioning.

The sharp stones, capable of piercing through a human body, merely dealt some impact damage to me. Instead, the tips of the Earth Flow Spears shattered, and the Jonin who saw this showed a look of panic.

"Monster..."

A monster... That truly was a fitting description. In the high-attack, low-defense world of Naruto, this level of physical toughness could indeed be called monstrous.

After all, even Sasuke Uchiha, protected by the Eternal Mangekyo during the Fourth Shinobi World War, could be killed by Madara with the Kusanagi Sword.

After swinging my ninja blade and using Battle Aura to shatter every sharp stone spike, I grabbed two of the pointed fragments and hurled them at maximum speed.

Though he easily dodged them, he exposed a huge opening while evading. Seizing that moment, I gripped my blade one-handed and charged straight at him.

"Don't take people lightly to this extent!"

He seemed to think my completely unguarded charge was a foolish choice and immediately formed hand seals, preparing to attack me with ninjutsu.

That was the essence of North God Style: seemingly full of openings, yet filled with hidden tricks from head to toe.

Still using my cloak to conceal the movement of my hand, I secretly fired a short blade straight at his heart. Unfortunately, he reacted in time and leaped high into the air, so the blade only pierced his thigh.

At the same time, he completed his hand seals. Countless tiny stone pellets shot out, each as powerful as a bullet.

After stopping my charge, I switched to holding the sword with both hands and used Water God Style. My ninja blade moved like flowing water, deflecting every stone pellet away.

Several of the rebounding stone pellets struck the Jonin, easily piercing through his left arm.

Against ninjutsu specialists like this, each of the three sword styles had its own advantages. They could instantly close the distance, deflect ninjutsu, and launch unexpected attacks.

To native shinobi, such specialized swordsmanship was simply a dimensionality-reduction strike.

"It's time to support Sakumo. Sorry, friend, but please rest here forever."

After dashing two steps and instantly closing in, I pulled a short blade from between my thighs and first stabbed the wrist of the hand reaching for his kunai, restraining him. Then I swung my ninja blade with my right hand and accurately slashed his throat.

One strike, one kill.

Suddenly, Observation Haki warned me. The Jonin I had injured with explosive tags still had enough strength to move and had launched a ninjutsu.

Wind Release: Blade of Wind came flying at me, compressed air accelerated into a sharp blade, incredibly fast.

Though Dragon Saint Battle Aura meant this technique could not hurt me, I still chose to crouch low and slide beneath it to end things quickly.

After approaching the Jonin, I swung my ninja blade upward from below and precisely slit his throat, killing him.

The rest were merely a disorganized rabble. With a few quick movements, I dealt with all of them, their bodies lying in puddles as bright red blood continued to flow out.

It was my first time killing so many enemies at once, yet the nausea I had felt earlier had already vanished without a trace.

Though I still felt somewhat uncomfortable deep down, that emotion quickly passed in an instant.

"I need to support Sakumo."

After confirming that everyone on the ground was dead, I immediately hurried to Sakumo's side.

Before me lay Hidden Sand shinobi who could no longer rise, along with Sakumo, whose left arm and right leg had been pierced by golden sand spears, and Rasa, whose chest had been pierced by a white chakra short blade.

"As expected of Sakumo, brother. That was the Fourth Kazekage!"

Not only that, there were also two or three elite Jonin from Hidden Sand on the ground. I had seen intelligence reports at Orochimaru's place, so I recognized them at a glance.

"Thanks to your bizarre ninjutsu, Rasa basically lost his mobility."

The mission had been completed beyond expectations. No one in the Hidden Sand camp, including Rasa, had survived, so their supplies were naturally meaningless now.

Even after taking a blast of Lightning, Rasa had still managed to injure Sakumo. Without Hill's help, we likely could only have fled in defeat.

That Violent Thunderstorm truly turned the tide. If the shop ever offered magic or something similar for exchange in the future, I definitely had to consider it.

Since even sensory-type shinobi could not detect it, the Otsutsuki clan and Rinnegan users definitely would not be able to absorb it either.

I had obtained unexpectedly useful intelligence. I really had to thank these Hidden Sand shinobi for that.

They were all excellent shinobi. I held no grudge against them at present, but unfortunately, this was war.

I was not strong enough to end a war with just a few words, so I could only protect my companions from the same village.

I'm sorry, Hidden Sand shinobi. I felt remorse for killing you, but I would not stop my steps or the ninja blade in my hand.

I checked Rasa's corpse. There was no problem; his heart and lungs had been pierced, leaving no possibility of recovery.

That meant Gaara would not be born, right? If Minato survived the Third Shinobi World War, Hidden Sand might even become a vassal of Konoha.

Given Konoha's habit of being excessively kind, once an alliance treaty was reached, they would probably help them as much as possible if they had the capacity.

If such an opportunity came, I would volunteer. It would count as satisfying myself.

"Since everything is over, let's head back. But before that... Qingyue, shouldn't you explain something to me?"

I still could not escape it. I had thought Sakumo would forget about it after fighting Rasa, but apparently it was not that simple.

I needed to think carefully about how to fool him.

"Sakumo, brother, have you ever heard of magic?"