Chapter 19

"Lord Kazekage, practically every shinobi in the village who can still move has gone to stop him. Next..."

The Anbu kneeling before him raised his head, waiting for his orders.

Shamon closed his eyes and considered for half a minute before speaking. "Don't act yet. Notify me if anything changes."

"Understood."

The Anbu nodded, then vanished into thin air.

No one who could sit in the Kazekage's chair was stupid.

Shamon would never foolishly believe it the way Rasa would later.

Without Super Kage Level strength, one person wanted to conquer an entire village?

Dream on.

Even with most of Sunagakure's fighting strength committed to the front lines, those left behind were no pushovers.

He did not need to act personally. His subordinates were enough to give Jiraiya a hard time.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

His chest spasmed. Shamon covered his mouth, and traces of blood seeped between his fingers.

There was another reason he could not move.

His body could not hold out much longer.

Boom!!

White light exploded, and the entire roof was sliced off as easily as a knife cutting tofu.

Sunlight poured straight in, turning the once-dark room into an open-top car.

Before Shamon could suppress the bloody taste in his throat, he looked up and saw a figure standing at the edge of the cut.

Even more dazzling than the sunlight was the long silver hair hanging down that person's back.

"Lord Kazekage, you're not in very good shape."

Xuan Zhe stood on the broken wall, the blade in his hand gleaming blindingly in the sunlight. "Lord Hokage's son died at your hands. I've come for your life."

Shamon finally could not hold back and pressed him for an answer.

"Knowing too much won't do you any good, Lord Kazekage. You only need to remember one thing."

As the words fell, Xuan Zhe flashed before Shamon, his blade slashing straight down. He leisurely added:

"I've come to borrow your head today."

Splat-boom!

The two forces collided. The shock wave exploded outward, shattering a section of the office wall.

Xuan Zhe narrowed his eyes at the layer of sand between his blade and Shamon, his mouth twisting:

"Why has everyone I've run into lately been playing with sand? How boring..."

"Hmph!"

Shamon snorted coldly, rapidly gathering the flowing sand into a huge mask that enveloped Xuan Zhe.

"Sand Burial!"

The instant the sand enclosed Xuan Zhe, Shamon clenched his fist.

But Xuan Zhe moved even faster!

Splat-

The blade's tip pierced through the flowing sand. Then his wrist turned, sweeping the blade sideways.

A huge opening was forcibly ripped through the sand.

"Your sand control isn't even as good as Bunpuku's. Looks like taking your head will be easier than I thought."

Xuan Zhe chuckled and flashed forward again, appearing directly before Rasa.

His second strike came down without mercy.

Sparks flew.

A half-human, half-beast puppet suddenly swung its blade, firmly blocking Xuan Zhe's attack.

Only then did Xuan Zhe remember.

The Second Kazekage before him was not only the pioneer of Magnet Release. He had also put considerable work into the Puppet Technique.

However, the construction of Shamon's puppet was far inferior to Chiyo's Ten Puppets of Chikamatsu.

Let alone the puppets Sasori of the Red Sands made from living people. Those things could produce the effects of a watered-down Impure World Reincarnation.

His Magnet Release was inferior to Bunpuku's and Gaara's.

His puppets could not compare with Chiyo's, much less Sasori's.

He knew a little of everything, but had mastered nothing.

The corners of Xuan Zhe's mouth lifted slightly. The katana in his hand instantly turned pitch-black, reflecting a cold gleam as he pressed it forward.

Crack!

The puppet's arm joint gave a sharp crack.

Then Shamon felt the resistance to his control of the puppet grow increasingly absurd, as though a mountain were pressing down on it.

Bang-

Two seconds later, a figure smashed through the window of the Kazekage's Office and slammed into the wall of the building opposite.

Hearing the commotion, the Sand shinobi already rushing over looked up. At the sight of the figure embedded in the wall, they all cried out in shock:

"Lord Kazekage?!"

"So I alerted them after all. Having you get in my way would be a bit of a nuisance."

Xuan Zhe pursued him, turning to look at the growing number of Sand shinobi pouring over.

Whoosh-

Flames suddenly ignited along his blade, yet they lacked the scorching heat of ordinary fire.

Undying Flame: Amaterasu!

"Hmm-"

With a casual swing, Xuan Zhe flung a streak of fire from his blade, erecting a ten-meter-high wall of flames outside and sealing every route leading toward them.

"Urgh-aaah! What the fuck is this?!"

The Sand shinobi at the front had barely reached the wall when they ran straight into the pitch-black flames.

Before they could even finish screaming, black fire had wrapped around their bodies.

They rolled frantically on the ground, trying to smother it, but the eerie flames only burned fiercer, showing no sign of going out.

This stuff would not stop until it had burned its target to nothing.

"Wind Release: Scattering Sand Bullets!"

Shamon waved his hand. The sand filling the air instantly compressed into fingernail-sized pellets and came pelting toward him like machine-gun fire.

A ninjutsu combining Wind Release and Magnet Release?

Xuan Zhe narrowed his eyes, holding his black blade across his chest.

Within those pitch-black eyes, the incoming sand bullets seemed to have been paused. He could see every single trajectory clearly.

The next second, he charged out.

His wrist turned, deftly rotating the black blade.

The sand bullets that struck its edge bounced away as though they had hit a spring, flying off in other directions instead.

Not a single one even touched Xuan Zhe's clothes.

"Y-you've got to be kidding! A blade can deflect them?!"

Shamon's eyes bulged.

Was that a blade or cotton?

Those sand bullets could punch straight through rock!

As for cutting them apart with a blade, Konoha's White Fang had done something similar last time.

But bouncing them away? That defied all reason!

"A sword without some flexibility will never amount to anything."

Xuan Zhe casually recited a line. It was the Greatest Swordsman Hawkeye's understanding of swordsmanship.

That held true for practicing the sword, and for living as well.

Anything too rigid would break sooner or later.

"Don't think this is enough to beat me!"

A Kage Level figure after all, Shamon quickly suppressed his shock and raised his hand, making a grabbing motion.

The sand beneath Xuan Zhe's feet shot upward as though it had come alive.

Then it crashed down from every direction like a tsunami.

This was Terrain Advantage.

Sunagakure's military strength was indeed lacking, but few villages dared invade it.

These sand users could casually send a sea of sand crashing down and wipe out more than half an enemy army.

Facing the rolling sea of sand bearing down from overhead, Xuan Zhe did not so much as blink.

His black blade hung point-down, and his left hand gently rested against it.

"Shall we see who's faster?"

Shamon had no time to answer. He clenched his hand fiercely.

The sea of sand, enough to swallow half the village, roared downward like a giant whale maddened by hunger.

At that very instant, Xuan Zhe vanished.

When he reappeared, he was already standing behind Shamon.

The blade's previously lowered tip now pointed upward, aimed squarely at the back of Shamon's neck.

The scene looked exactly like the moment Hawkeye defeated Zoro.

The sea of sand falling around them stopped dead in midair, as though someone had pressed pause.

Splat-rip!

By the time the black blade returned to its original color, a horizontal line of blood had appeared across Shamon's neck.

Blood sprayed out as though it cost nothing.

Shamon's head had just separated from his neck and had yet to hit the ground.

Xuan Zhe had already sheathed the restored katana with his right hand. Reaching back with his left, he firmly caught the head before it landed.

With its caster's chakra supply cut off, the surrounding sea of sand instantly became fine grains scattering on the wind, losing all offensive power as it drifted in every direction.

After the sand wall collapsed, the Sunagakure shinobi gathered nearby looked over.

They saw Xuan Zhe holding their Kazekage's head in his left hand, while the headless body behind him toppled toward the ground.