Iron-Blooded Loli

Fuguki Suikazan spat mouthful after mouthful of blood. Several lackeys beside him hurried forward to pat his chest and rub his back.

"There must... be a traitor. There must be... a traitor. Once I... dig him... out, I'll definitely... tear him to pieces."

Fuguki Suikazan's ambush had ended in utter tragedy. Ever since suffering a setback in the Land of Fields, he had been nursing a ball of rage. As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, ambushing a mere Kazekage escort should have been easy. Yet before they had even finished slaughtering one tiny village, they had been ambushed in return.

Who the hell knew that bearded man in green was so ferocious? He had actually used taijutsu to unleash such terrifying air cannons! The Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been beaten down to a three-man squad. They had been an elite force assembled at great expense by the Second Mizukage, once said to be capable of destroying a small country! He had to wash away this humiliation!

When he heard the village elders discussing an attack on Hidden Sand Village to provoke a war between Sunagakure and Hidden Mist Village, Fuguki Suikazan, whose injuries had not fully healed, volunteered to lead the charge. He declared that he would catch Hidden Sand Village off guard and leave corpses strewn everywhere.

The Hidden Mist elders had not intended to assign him this task. But when they saw his tiny eyes practically spewing flames, they reconsidered. The purpose of this raid was not to kill many people or start huge fires, but to create as much chaos as possible. Fuguki Suikazan seemed perfectly suited for it, so they nodded in agreement.

Just as Fuguki Suikazan, filled with ambition, led nearly a thousand men toward Hidden Sand Village, a flicker of fire appeared at the mouth of the valley ahead. Upon approaching, they saw a pretty little girl with twin buns, three burning fireballs circling above her head. In the glow of those flames, her childish face looked both exceptionally beautiful and exceptionally eerie.

"It's you!" Fuguki Suikazan seemed to recognize the girl. She was clearly the female ninja who had blocked their retreat in the Land of Fields. Jinpachi Munashi and Akebino Jinin had both been struck in the back by her fireballs while retreating and died.

Pakura did not answer. She silently drew the ninja blade from her back and carved a line into the ground.

"Cross this line and die!" Her adorably fierce little-girl voice rang exceptionally clearly through the empty valley.

A rogue ninja was instantly enraged. With a strange cry, he pulled out a kunai and charged forward. The moment his foot crossed the line, killing intent flashed in Pakura's eyes, and a fireball shot toward him. Yet that ninja was clearly no ordinary opponent. He performed a graceful side flip to evade the fireball, then hurled his kunai at it.

The kunai struck the fireball dead-on, but like butter exposed to heat, it rapidly melted into a puddle of molten iron. The fireball clung to the ninja like a bone-deep parasite. No matter how he ran or dodged, he could not escape it.

At last, the ninja stumbled and lost his footing. The fireball struck him in the chest. With a sizzling sound, like beef being seared alive on an iron plate, accompanied by the ninja's miserable screams and a strange fragrance, the fireball passed straight through his body, leaving behind a hole the size of a basketball!

The many ninjas looked at one another and retreated one after another, afraid of provoking this terrifying little girl. Fuguki Suikazan saw that things were going badly. He knew that most of these people were local thugs, hooligans, and rogue ninjas. Their combat strength was not particularly high, and they had only come on this mission to cause chaos. Even if they all died, the Hidden Mist elders would not grieve for them.

But if this small obstacle caused everyone to scatter like birds and beasts, then this operation would be a complete failure. He would basically have no place left in the village's upper circles.

"She's alone! What are you afraid of? Watch me cut off her head and use it to consecrate our banner!"

With that, Fuguki Suikazan drew the great blade from his back—Samehada—and charged at Pakura!

Before he could even reach Pakura, a figure glowing with green light descended from above and delivered several graceful reverse kicks to Fuguki Suikazan's bloated body. Fuguki Suikazan had no choice but to raise Samehada to block them.

"It's you! Bearded man!" Fuguki Suikazan was somewhat horrified. This bearded man in green was practically his nemesis.

"It's me! The Azure Beast of Hidden Leaf Village! Huh! You look awfully familiar. Do we know each other?" Might Duy assumed a standard opening stance before Fuguki Suikazan.

At the sight of Might Duy, countless flames of nameless fury rose within Fuguki Suikazan. He tore off Samehada's bandages and was about to fight desperately when countless torches suddenly lit up at both ends of the valley, their blazing light illuminating the entire valley!

Pakura smiled and greeted Akasuna Guimu atop the valley, and Akasuna Guimu smiled back and gave Pakura a thumbs-up.

"Your retreat has been cut off! If you do not surrender now, when will you?" Pakura's adorably fierce little-girl voice echoed through the valley again.

"Damn it! Charge back! Fight for a way out!" Fuguki Suikazan wisely chose to retreat, but it was already too late.

"Sandstorm: Great Burial!" "Puppetry: Dance of Death."

The Sunagakure ninjas unleashed a barrage upon the Hidden Mist ninjas in the valley, filling the valley with wails of agony.

In this battle, Hidden Sand Village suffered zero casualties while nearly annihilating the invading enemy force in an unnamed valley outside the village. It was only "nearly" because Fuguki Suikazan, the Hidden Mist commander, broke through the encirclement with the support of two trusted subordinates and barely escaped with his life.

After this battle, the Third Kazekage, Jing Hang, named the valley Triumphant Valley. The tale of the Kazekage's iron-blooded loli secretary also became a famous story throughout the ninja world!

Looking at the lifelike weasel jade pendant in his hand, Jing Hang rubbed his head, which still ached slightly from his hangover, and smiled helplessly. "I actually acknowledged a three-thousand-year-old weasel as my godfather. If word gets out, I can forget about holding my head high as Kazekage."

The jade carving was not large, only about two inches long. Its material was said to be extraordinarily precious, crafted from Tiger-Gall Jade, a rare jade ore unique to the Xuanyuan Mound region.

According to Yellow Immortal, even grinding down an entire mountain might not yield such a piece of jade. More importantly, Yellow Immortal had personally carved it and set a formation within it. It could calm the mind and focus one's energy. Worn on the body, it could resist most genjutsu, which made it especially valuable.

"What? Are you feeling wronged because you got to acknowledge the ancestor as your godfather?" A yellow-headed, white-bodied weasel beside him spoke in dissatisfaction. The weasel was at least twice the size of an ordinary weasel, with sleek, glossy fur. One of its eyes was blind and covered by a black eyepatch, making it look valiant and imposing.

This weasel was named Buck, Yellow Immortal's grandson. The day Jing Hang paid a nighttime visit to Xuanyuan Mound happened to be Yellow Immortal's birthday. The immortal had been sulking because he had not gotten to eat a crowing rooster.

Then Jing Hang descended from the sky carrying a crowing rooster, delighting Yellow Immortal beyond measure. He immediately accepted Jing Hang as his godson. Before Jing Hang could figure out what was happening, a crowd of weasels, big and small, dragged him off to drink. Before long, amid clinking cups and flowing wine, everyone became familiar with one another, their faces flushed red.

Drunk, Jing Hang immediately declared that he would give Yellow Immortal his half of the shares in the chicken farm at Moon Lake New District. Yellow Immortal and the other weasels all cackled with laughter.

The immortal even tore off the jade carving he wore and gave it to Jing Hang as a gift. Upon hearing that Jing Hang wanted to learn sage arts, he specifically arranged for his most capable grandson, Buck, to remain at Jing Hang's side as a liaison with Sunagakure and teach him sage arts.

"How could that be? I'm overwhelmed by your favor! How did something this good fall into my lap? Hey, you there?" Jing Hang hurriedly tried to smooth things over.

"What is it, Lord Kazekage?" A secretary entered from outside. (Naturally, a Kazekage could not possibly have only one secretary.)

"Notify Maki at Moon Lake to arrange for the chicken farm to send thirty live chickens to my villa every month. Oh, and at least one of them must be a crowing rooster. Don't put it on the company account—I'll pay for it myself!"