Chapter 13

Her name was Sarutobi Rie, and she usually went on missions with Sarutobi Shinnosuke.

As for their relationship, those who knew, knew.

Beside her, Sarutobi Shinnosuke swallowed.

He remembered how, just a few days ago, he had let Danzo goad him into humiliating Hatake Sakumo.

And now, seeing these two brothers slaughtering their way across the battlefield-

Xuan Zhe lowered his head and glanced at his blade. That thrust had clearly been aimed at the chest, yet it had only grazed the shoulder.

"Was it that layer of Sand Armor they call an absolute defense?"

He looked up at Bunpuku, a faint smile curling his lips.

"Not bad. This is the first time anyone's managed to deflect my thrust that far."

Bunpuku said nothing. He snapped his sleeve, and yellow sand formed into blades, spinning as they shot through the air.

It was practically like fighting another Gaara.

Xuan Zhe blurred into motion, his lingering afterimages weaving between the sand projectiles.

His Observation Haki saw through the trajectory of every Sand Shuriken.

"Attack, perception, technique—he's honed them all to the limit. He's the most well-rounded Shinobi I've ever seen..."

Bunpuku gritted his teeth.

It had been a long time since he had faced an opponent like this.

He knew perfectly well that once Xuan Zhe got close, he would have no chance of winning.

But ordinary techniques could not hit him.

His only option was to burn more chakra and unleash a wide-area killing move.

But the risk was plain: once a Jinchūriki ran out of chakra or approached death, the seal could loosen.

"There's no time to hesitate!"

Bunpuku slammed his palms together.

Whoosh-

Yellow sand surged into the battlefield like a tide. The hard rock beneath their feet was instantly crushed into fine sand that Shukaku's power could control.

An area more than two li across became a sea of sand.

The next second, Xuan Zhe, along with Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Sarutobi Rie, and the others fighting the Sand ninja in the distance, felt a tremendous suction beneath their feet.

Their entire bodies were violently dragged underground.

"Prison Sand Burial!"

Bunpuku growled.

First, he transformed the terrain into a desert, then dragged every enemy on its surface two hundred meters underground, burying them alive.

The pressure from the endless grains of sand could leave someone unable to move even a finger.

Even as a Jinchūriki, this technique would practically drain his chakra dry.

Bunpuku had spread it over such a vast area precisely so Xuan Zhe could no longer evade it with that absurd perception of his.

"Is this the move Gaara used to bury Kimimaro? Except you spent more chakra to expand its range."

Xuan Zhe muttered to himself.

"Th-this is bad! I can't break free!"

"Help! Someone, come help!"

Not far away, several Sarutobi Clan Shinobi had also been caught in Bunpuku's technique.

"Mmph! Mmmph! H-help-"

The stronger ones struggled desperately, trying to escape with the Body Flicker Technique. The weaker ones could not resist at all and were dragged deep into the quicksand in the blink of an eye.

"Shinnosuke! Shinnosuke, save me!"

The sand had already reached her throat. Her eyes brimming with tears, Sarutobi Rie reached toward Sarutobi Shinnosuke, sobbing her heart out.

"Rie!"

Shinnosuke desperately reached out too, trying to catch her.

The scene was much like something out of a cheap romance movie.

Unfortunately, reality was no movie.

Before their fingertips could touch, Sarutobi Rie was completely swallowed by the sand, disappearing without a trace.

On the other side, Sarutobi Shinnosuke had also sunk into the quicksand up to his waist.

"Damn it! Rie!!!"

Shinnosuke let out a piercing cry. Just before he was completely buried, he bit his thumb and brought his right hand to his mouth.

The next second, the quicksand swallowed him whole.

"The strongest absolute defense against the strongest offensive flames-which do you think is better?"

Xuan Zhe withdrew his sidelong gaze. The sand had reached his neck, but there was not a trace of panic on his face as he calmly watched Bunpuku.

Bunpuku's pupils abruptly contracted, and a powerful sense of unease welled up inside him.

Boom-!!

A savage slash suddenly burst from the quicksand, burning with black flames that could reduce everything to ash.

Just as Hatake Sakumo could coat his blade and sword energy in lightning.

Xuan Zhe used flames.

Blaze Release: Kagutsuchi!

Though he could not manipulate the Black Flames' shape with the same mastery as Sasuke Uchiha using his Mangekyō's ability.

For Xuan Zhe, who was already proficient in Armament Haki, adding some Black Flames to a flying slash-

Was no problem at all.

The attack came far too suddenly.

Before Bunpuku could react, the slash burning with Black Flames was already right in front of him.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder.

"Urgh-aaagh!!"

With a scream, his entire left arm fell to the ground.

At the severed stump, the inextinguishable Black Flames still hissed and burned.

"Those Black Flames?!"

In the distance, Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga, who had their Byakugan activated and could see the battlefield clearly, abruptly paled.

Two days earlier, they had received a confidential report from their clan.

It said someone from Sunagakure had destroyed the Third's likeness on Hokage Rock, using savage sword energy and eerie black flames.

Yet now, Xuan Zhe had used that very move.

Th-then that meant the one who had destroyed Hokage Rock was probably...

The Hyuga brothers did not dare follow that thought any further.

Xuan Zhe leaped through the opening his sword energy had carved and landed on the ground.

Pfft!

Just as he steadied himself, a noise came from behind him.

Xuan Zhe turned his head for a glance and pursed his lips:

Bunpuku's shoulder was severed and drenched in blood. Yet a strange arm was emerging from the wound, its surface covered in violet markings, resembling a beast's claw.

It was Shukaku's arm.

The left half of his body also began to mutate, Tailed Beast features gradually appearing on his skin.

Xuan Zhe stood in midair, looking down at the sight. An invisible force supported his feet, keeping him suspended almost ten meters above the ground.

"He's floating?" Enma looked up, his expression jolting.

The surrounding Shinobi froze too, staring at the empty space beneath Xuan Zhe's feet in disbelief.

"Is... is that the Tsuchikage's flying technique?"

"Doesn't look like it. There's nothing under his feet."

"Just where did this kid come from?"

Xuan Zhe had no time to bother with their astonishment. His attention was entirely on Bunpuku.

Meanwhile, Sarutobi Shinnosuke was still digging at the sand like a madman.

He knelt on the ground, frantically clawing apart the sand beneath his feet, blood filling the gaps under his nails as he kept shouting, "Rie! Rie! Come out! Come out-"

"Stop digging," Enma said gravely. "There's no air down there anymore."

He had already done everything he could when he rescued Shinnosuke. Braving that terrifying pressure, he had barely managed to pull the boy out of the quicksand. As for the female Shinobi named Rie, there was no possibility of her surviving.

"Impossible! I don't believe it! I haven't seen her **! I don't believe it!" Shinnosuke roared, his voice already hoarse.

Sand pressed down from overhead.

A dense shower of sand came crashing down like a waterfall.

Enma's expression changed. He grabbed Shinnosuke around the waist and surged forward, narrowly avoiding the mass of yellow sand hurtling down at them.

Using Hohō, Xuan Zhe lightly leaped twice more in midair, then hovered steadily.

He had previously obtained this move from the system. The Naruto world's Body Flicker Technique had evolved into the Bleach world's Hohō. Put simply, it used bursts of Reishi from the soles of the feet to reach speeds approaching teleportation. But Hohō had another advantage-it let him float.

Of course, Xuan Zhe had not yet trained his Hohō to a sufficiently high level.

After all, those big shots-old man Yamamoto, Aizen, and the like-casually measured their training in centuries or millennia. That guy Ichigo Kurosaki had only been a Soul Reaper for two years, all told, yet he could stand on equal footing with them. It was absurd no matter how he looked at it.

Xuan Zhe had no time to think about any of that nonsense.