Chapter 12

Just then, the sea of sand opposite them collapsed with a roar.

The army of Sunagakure Ninja hidden behind the sand was fully exposed to the Konoha forces.

"That slash just now... was that Konoha White Fang?!"

On the Sunagakure Ninja's side, an old woman with a head of white hair shrieked.

She swung her two short arms, slender chakra threads springing from all ten fingertips at once.

Each thread connected to a white puppet.

These were the Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu, said to be capable of destroying an entire village with just ten puppets!

"White Fang! Your life is mine!"

Chiyo roared and charged out first.

"Sis, calm down! That move didn't look like White Fang's."

Ebizo hurriedly called after her, saying that the sword energy just now felt completely different from White Fang's. It was most likely another master of Swordsmanship, and they had to be careful.

But at the mere mention of "Konoha White Fang," Chiyo went completely mad.

She threw herself at the enemy without a care.

Left with no choice, Ebizo waved his hand and ordered the Sunagakure Ninja army behind him to charge.

Xuan Zhe stood on high ground, watching the tiny old woman rush toward them.

She had a few fewer wrinkles than he remembered, but otherwise looked much the same.

"Hahaha! Bro, women are terrifying when they **, especially older women. I'll leave this one to you."

Down below, Hatake Sakumo gave a wry chuckle.

His aura abruptly changed.

In the blink of an eye, he became a streak of blue lightning and appeared right in front of Chiyo.

"Hatake Style: Thunder Earth Flash!"

"Konoha White Fang!!!"

With the enemy who had killed her son and daughter-in-law right before her, Chiyo's eyes went red.

All she wanted was to tear the man before her apart with her bare hands.

The moment Hatake Sakumo and Chiyo, the two sides' main fighters, clashed,

the thousands of troops behind them slammed into one another.

Within mere seconds, the thick stench of blood filled the battlefield.

"Hmm, everyone's really giving it their all."

Xuan Zhe remained atop the high rock, calmly watching the fighting below.

It was as though the battlefield of flying flesh and blood before him were some comedy film.

But a closer look would reveal that his gaze kept unconsciously drifting toward the Sarutobi Clan.

The Hatake Clan's swordsmanship, combined with the modified Lightning Release the future Sasuke Uchiha would use-coating the blade with shape-transformed lightning release chakra.

That was the foundation of Hatake Sakumo's fighting style.

The Lightning Blade Kakashi later developed was also largely learned from his father.

However, Kakashi's Chidori compressed all the destructive power of Lightning Release into his palm, releasing it at a single point.

The Lightning Release Hatake Sakumo used was more like the Lightning Release Chakra Mode passed down through generations of Kumogakure's Raikages-coating his entire arm and blade in lightning.

It hit harder and burned through chakra faster.

"Xuan Zhe, watch overhead!"

During a gap in his fight with Chiyo, Hatake Sakumo glanced back out of the corner of his eye.

He happened to see a sand cloud rapidly forming above the high rock where Xuan Zhe stood and shouted a warning.

Xuan Zhe was watching the Sarutobi Clan's movements when he heard his bro's warning.

Without any change in expression, he slowly raised his head and glanced at the sand cloud blocking out the sunlight.

"You still have time to look around on a battlefield?"

Half of Bunpuku's body emerged from the sand cloud, his voice as cold as a blade.

Countless tiny pellets of sand suddenly shot out of the surrounding cloud, pelting down like rain.

Sand Shower.

Xuan Zhe twisted his body slightly. The movement was small, yet it let him dodge every bit of the sand rain.

Bunpuku's expression changed on the spot.

That perception, and that flexibility-weren't they a little too absurd?

"A blade without enough resilience will never amount to anything."

Xuan Zhe abruptly drew his sword and delivered a backhand horizontal slash, sending a flying slash straight out.

There was a muffled thud.

Bunpuku's body and the sand cloud overhead were cleaved in half together.

But the next second, Bunpuku's body turned into yellow sand and fell along with the sand floating in the air.

"A Sand Clone."

Xuan Zhe's tone was flat.

Then he turned his wrist, twirled the sword in his palm, and thrust backhanded toward his rear right.

In one strike, he pierced the eyeball floating in midair, hidden amid the swirling grains of sand.

That was the cheat-level ninjutsu both Gaara and his father could use-the Third Eye.

"He saw through it!"

In an inconspicuous corner of the battlefield, Bunpuku covered one eye.

Although destroying the Third Eye would not injure his actual body, the sheer sharpness of that strike had still made him ** violently on a mental level.

His perception is absurdly strong. I'm too close to him. I need to put more distance between us.

Bunpuku silently weighed his options.

By now, he was one hundred percent certain that the Konoha ninja who had split his quicksand waterfall with sword energy was the very Xuan Zhe before him.

He had never expected Konoha to have another master of Swordsmanship of this caliber besides White Fang.

He specialized in long-range combat. He wasn't stupid enough to fight a Swordsmanship Shinobi up close.

With that thought, Bunpuku stepped out of a rock's shadow, intending to quickly put some distance between them before Xuan Zhe caught up.

"Hmm?!"

But before he could get far, when he looked toward Xuan Zhe again-

Bunpuku froze.

The man merely glanced at him, an unreadable smile at the corner of his mouth, then turned his head to watch the fighting elsewhere.

He had no intention whatsoever of chasing after him to cut him down.

What was going on?

If Bunpuku had known about transmigrators, he would surely have wondered whether this fellow had studied under that Marine, Kizaru-was it really all right to slack off so blatantly?

Bunpuku stayed still, but the other Sunagakure Ninja weren't about to let this sitting duck go.

Several Sunagakure Ninja lunged at once, kunai clutched in their hands, surrounding Xuan Zhe from every direction.

Xuan Zhe barely shifted his gaze. He turned his wrist, sweeping the blade through half a circle.

An arc traced through the air.

Pfft-

All those on the outside had time to see was that the four Sunagakure Ninja who had just surrounded Xuan Zhe now had their heads separated from their necks.

Strong.

The same word sprang into the minds of everyone on the battlefield.

It was practically as though another White Fang had appeared.

While Bunpuku stood stunned, Xuan Zhe lifted his chin slightly, turned, and ran toward another part of the battlefield.

Bunpuku's wrinkled old face stiffened.

What did he mean? Was he telling me to follow?

Was he worried a battle between Kage Level fighters would catch his allies in the crossfire, so he wanted to fight somewhere else?

But Bunpuku had no time to think further.

On Sunagakure's front line, he and Chiyo were their only two Kage Level fighters.

Chiyo was already struggling somewhat to hold White Fang off.

He was the only one who could stop this "Black Blade."

With that thought, Bunpuku followed, keeping his distance to avoid fighting Xuan Zhe up close.

Ten seconds later, however, things turned out nothing like Bunpuku had imagined.

Xuan Zhe had run only a few hundred meters and had not even left the heart of the battlefield before he attacked again.

With Armament Haki coating his black blade, his entire body became a streak of interwoven black and white.

Like a plunging meteor, he struck with the force to pierce through everything.

"!"

Bunpuku's expression changed sharply, and he hurriedly bent down and slapped both hands against the ground.

Whoosh!

A wall of sand abruptly rose from the ground.

But the defense Bunpuku had thrown together in haste was nothing compared to his earlier Shield of Shukaku.

Xuan Zhe felt almost no resistance as he passed straight through the sand wall, his blade piercing Bunpuku's shoulder.

Gritting his teeth against the excruciating pain, Bunpuku hurriedly formed hand seals, grinding the rocks beneath his feet into sand.

It instantly formed Shukaku's claw and swiped at his opponent.

He finally managed, just barely, to evade Xuan Zhe's next killing move.

"He's so strong! He's even overwhelming a Jinchūriki!"

Beside Sarutobi Shinnosuke, a female Shinobi about his age cried out, her eyes wide.