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"Not bad, Kakashi."
Almost the instant the corpse in front of him fell, Kakashi heard a familiar voice beside him.
He immediately recoiled, drawing his sword like a startled cat.
Until Sawara Kiri's figure was reflected in his vision.
"Sawara-sensei?"
"What... what exactly is this...?"
The young man looked at him, puzzled, then glanced at the group of people following behind him and Namikaze Minato, their mouths pursed.
According to their previous plan, Kazahana Sayuki and the others should have already reached the border Train Station, right?
Sawara Kiri, however, looked at him with a calm expression:
"Assessment is assessment; mission is mission."
"The assessment operation against you doesn't mean I have to abandon the client's request."
"Originally, we were just following behind to see if your squad could take the risk and, under your leadership, complete that somewhat difficult objective. Now it seems..."
His voice paused slightly, his gaze falling upon the thoroughly pierced corpse on the ground. With an appreciative look, he said gently, "You are far more outstanding than I imagined, Kakashi."
It wasn't until he noticed Sawara-sensei's actions that Kakashi suddenly realized, looking at the corpse on the ground with astonishment, that this was the first time he had ever killed someone.
But until just now, under the cover of adrenaline and impulsive emotions, he hadn't realized this at all, even forgetting to check if the person was dead or not.
Faced with Sawara's kind and frank praise, Kakashi felt a bit ashamed instead.
"This, you flatter me, Sawara-sensei."
Sawara Kiri lowered his head, looking at the young man, whose face was not particularly thick-skinned to begin with, appearing abashed. He then chuckled, stretched out his large hand, and ruffled his white hair a couple of times, before brushing off the slight snow on his clothes, completely ignoring his minor embarrassment as he instructed:
"Let's go."
"The next part of the mission will be under my command."
"Yes!"
Upon hearing this, the people who breathed the biggest sigh of relief were none other than Kazahana Sayuki and his daughter. Their hearts were now pounding with excitement, as if they had been injected with a stimulant.
This feeling is actually quite easy to understand.
'Even this adult's student can easily defeat those demonic Rogue Ninja. Then his own strength must be even one, no, even two or three levels higher than theirs?!'
For the daimyo nobles who had not deeply understood the Ninja system or been exposed to Konoha's new education, their understanding was quite limited.
At this moment, the ruler of the Land of Snow looked towards Sawara Kiri and the others with an extremely hopeful and eager gaze.
Sawara Kiri, however, gestured for the other party to calm down, then turned his head to look in Namikaze Minato's direction.
During these past few days, while Sawara Kiri had been busy acting as a babysitter for a group of children, Namikaze Minato had certainly not been idle either.
On the contrary, in just a few short days, he had already gathered quite comprehensive intelligence on the enemy.
"Kazahana Doto, thirty-one years old, a Jewel Ninja, a Renegade Union cadre... skilled in Ice Release and Armor Fighting Style?"
"Tch."
Sawara Kiri lowered his head, slowly reading out the contents of Namikaze Minato's report, a cold smile appearing on his face.
When he turned his head, the smile gradually faded, and he asked with a slight frown, "Did we still not manage to lure out anyone deeper within the Renegade Union this time?"
"No trace at all."
Namikaze Minato shook his head, quite helpless.
Clearly, the reason they used this mission to assess their students, besides the inherent assessment purpose, was also to hopefully get Kazahana Doto to reveal a little more information during their contact with him.
The Renegade Union, they had been watching it for a long time.
To be able to provide so much funding and technology, there must be a Five Great Nations-level power involved in this organization; otherwise, they would not have survived until today.
Sawara Kiri calmly said, "Then let's talk about it after we've caught that fool, Kazahana Doto."
"Yes."
The Land of Snow, Capital.
The howling wind and snow outside the gate grew heavier, and the sky turned from dark to bright again.
However, Kazahana Doto, sitting in the daimyo palace, still received no news from outside.
Even the soldiers in the city, whom he had under his control, did not observe any large explosion traces far beyond the city walls.
This made him realize that he had, after all, underestimated 'Ninja'.
Or rather, he actually didn't understand what Ninja truly were.
As the eldest illegitimate son of the Land of Snow's daimyo, Kazahana Doto's first twenty years of life were completely filled with noble etiquette and family education. His life experience was solely filled with the honor and responsibility of being a noble.
It was only after realizing he could not become the next daimyo that he gradually began to delve into the 'Chakra' path, drawing upon the Snow Country daimyo clan's accumulated knowledge over the years, attempting to find power sufficient to overthrow the nation by himself.
This is how the 'Chakra Armor' came into being.
However, his understanding of the Ninja World was merely a glimpse, opened through this research, and he never delved deeper.
"It seems that Rouga Nadare and those 'Ninja commoners' ultimately cannot defeat these 'Ninja nobles' from Konoha."
"That's to be expected."
He muttered to himself, gazing at the wind and snow outside the window, and slowly stepped out towards the door.
Ultimately, he would still have to rely on his unparalleled power to eliminate those foolish Ninja.
Then, he would extract the location of the Rainbow Wall from his equally foolish elder brother's mouth.
Kazahana Doto thought this as he followed the mountain path from the daimyo palace down to the capital's central avenue, advancing through the heavy snow, and soon arrived at the city gate.
But before he could even step out of the great gate of this snowfield fortress, he suddenly noticed faint torches being lit in the distance amidst the heavy snow. Figures of soldiers, who had been hiding in the city tower, gradually converged towards the city gate, seemingly having discovered something outside.
Kazahana Doto watched the soldiers all converging outwards and leaped onto the city tower.
Just as he was about to peer into the distance to see what was happening, Kazahana Doto realized that he probably didn't need to guess anymore.
"Hinokami Kagura, First Style, Modified —"
Amidst the vast, howling snowfield outside the city, at an unknown distance, a clear shout suddenly pierced through the wind and snow.
The sharp tone was like a swift wind, rapidly approaching from afar, making one's eardrums seem to vibrate violently with it.
— The Castle Wall Ablaze!"
Almost the instant the voice faded.
Kazahana Doto, who had been standing on the city wall, suddenly instinctively narrowed his eyes.
A piercing whistle, in that brief moment, overwhelmed all the roaring wind and snow that filled his ears, shattering everything in its path with an almost crushing force — whether it was the propagation distance or the impurities in the propagation medium.
The surging high temperature melted the accumulated snow, dispersed the high-hanging dark clouds, and suddenly bloomed from the distant horizon with a new vitality, like the first light of dawn or a torch suddenly lit in the night sky. It instantly dispelled all the cold that had crept over his body moments before, transforming into an extreme heat that was both desired and feared.
"Boom—!"
It had been cut down.
Despite the obstruction of the wind and snow, Kazahana Doto clearly couldn't see any movements in the distance, but the moment he heard that violent sound, this thought suddenly arose in his mind.
As if everything was just as it should be.
The terrifying, overwhelming high temperature, in a manner unimaginable to ordinary people, transformed into light and heat that no one could look directly at, appearing as golden or fiery red combustion, or like a sword mark descending from the sky, suddenly carving a rift valley through the snowfield.
It directly bypassed the obstruction of vision and landed on the city wall of the Land of Snow's capital.
"Boom! Boom!"
All the Snow Country soldiers who had gathered at the gate due to the unusual light just now paid the price at this moment.
Their fragile formations were like soft tofu, and their armor, which was supposed to ward off severe cold, was as light as paper.
The fiery red sword mark pierced through dozens, even hundreds of people, and also through the great gate behind them, as well as the seemingly tough and heavy, yet in reality fragile, dark city wall.
Kazahana Doto, standing on the other side of the city wall, watched this scene unfold before him in a daze.
He watched with his own eyes as the fiery red sword mark tore through the entire wall, and then, with an overwhelming force, continued to leisurely rip apart all the pathways behind this great gate.
The steaming heat melted the snow accumulated over half the city.
"Just one slash, and it possesses such power?"
Kazahana Doto stared with wide eyes, stunned by the sight.
Without knowing why, he was convinced that among all the opponents he had ever faced, there was only one who could unleash such a strike!
The warm current clash between intense heat and severe cold created complex wind patterns near the city wall, and the sizzling sound of melting from the scorching black sword mark nearby made Kazahana Doto's blood pulse rapidly.
Only the last shred of pride as a 'noble' forced him to remain standing atop the city wall, not scampering off like an excited monkey.
He folded his arms, proudly raising his head, and with an inexplicable confidence, gazed at the group of people who had already appeared in front of the Land of Snow's capital, striding along the melting snow.
Among them, protected in the middle, were his elder brother and niece.
However, at this moment, Kazahana Doto did not look at them, but rather at the figure at the very front of the crowd, suddenly puffing out his chest and shouting:
"Sawara! Kiri!"
The rapidly advancing crowd suddenly slowed their steps.
The tall man at the very front of the crowd looked up in confusion.
Kazahana Doto, for some reason, felt even more excited under the gaze of this 'Ninja'.
Is this the pinnacle of a Ninja?
Nothing more than this!
Sawara Kiri, however, looked at the man on the city wall with some doubt.
'After seeing such an attack just now, he didn't choose to flee, but chose to approach me?'
'He does have some backbone.'
Just as he was thinking this, he saw the figure standing proudly on the city wall suddenly form hand seals.
"Ice Release: One-Horned White Whale!"
Suddenly, the ground beneath the group's feet began to shake continuously as a massive amount of Chakra was infused.
Hozuki Mangetsu in the crowd quickly warned:
"Sawara, something is coming out!"
In reality, he didn't need to be reminded at all.
Kakashi tried his best to use Chakra to adhere his feet to the soil beneath, while his dark pupils stared in astonishment at the massive ice surface in front of him, which was being broken open by a tangible 'giant object' and continuously bulging upwards.
"What is that thing?!"
Uchiha Obito even screamed out this sentence in an almost shriek-like exclamation.
As for Kazahana Sayuki and his daughter in the crowd, they seemed to have become numb, staring blankly at the giant object falling towards them with eyes like they were gazing at a natural disaster.
It was a white whale.
A 'white whale' whose body, constructed solely from ice, was at least five hundred meters long.
As this super-gigantic creation tilted towards their side, its body compressed a vast amount of air, squeezing out a low hum like a melodious whale song amidst the still howling wind and snow.
"Oooooooh—"
The exaggerated volume of this creation perfectly matched the characteristics of a Jewel Ninja.
—One characteristic of a Jewel Ninja: extremely abundant Chakra.
However, Sawara Kiri and Namikaze Minato both looked at this scene with calm expressions.
Sawara Kiri placed his left hand on one of the two swords at his waist, and suddenly asked behind him:
"Kakashi."
"You've been researching a Lightning Release Ninjutsu that can be applied to your combat system recently, right?"
Kakashi, who was staring blankly at the scene above his head, was startled by the question and looked up at his Sawara in surprise, as if he couldn't understand why the other party would say such a thing at such a critical moment.
"Just watch carefully."
"This slash should give you some inspiration."
Before Kakashi could answer anything further, Sawara Kiri's body lowered slightly, his upper body almost parallel to the ground, his left hand holding the scabbard, and his right hand on the hilt of the sword.
—Deep breath.
The cold air of the Land of Snow, under a terrifying suction, was drawn into two swirling mists at the corners of the handsome young man's lips, his azure eyes lowered, his eyelids slightly closed.
Perhaps it was an illusion.
At this moment, in Kakashi's eyes, Sawara Kiri seemed to have transformed into an iron-bow stretched to its limit.
Even though his entire body maintained a quite relaxed stance, whether it was the extremely deep sound of his breathing, the muffled drumming of his heart, the surging and refined Chakra, or the snake-like lightning current gradually coiling and swirling around his body—
Everything was so, Violent.
"Clang!"
The thumb of his left hand, holding the scabbard, slowly pushed upwards.
Creating a chilling white gleam for the blade.
"Thunder Breathing: First Form"
"Thunderclap and Flash!"
Sawara Kiri raised his head, his azure eyes filled with lightning.
The massive white whale, rolling down like a dark cloud, enveloped in a pure white aura of extreme pressure, combined with factors such as repeated violent impacts, extremely close proximity, and unbelievably exaggerated width, made it seem to the few people standing still as if a mountain had collapsed in an instant.
The violent wind pressure squeezed them all so much that they could barely keep their eyes open.
The young Kazahana Koyuki, in her father's arms, couldn't stop letting out 'wah-wah-wah—' screams.
Until the next moment.
Everyone present felt a sudden surge of wind pressure spread out and hit their faces, cutting like a blade.
The ground beneath their feet even seemed to jump at that moment.
"Thud!"
Sawara Kiri's slender figure moved close to the ground, transforming into a flowing, platinum-colored shadow, surpassing everything they could perceive at a speed that seemed slow but was actually incredibly fast.
Kakashi and a few others managed to keep their eyes open with difficulty.
In their line of sight, a brilliant white light, like a clap of thunder, instantly pierced through the boundless darkness caused by the gloomy clouds of the Land of Snow and the colossal object of unknown weight above their heads.
Just a flash of an instant.
The tearing sound seemed to break through the limits of their brains.
Making everything they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears gradually turn into a blank.
Only a great, silent hum remained.
"Ah ah..!!"
However, even with such ringing in his ears, Kakashi could still hear the desperate cry from Kazahana Sayuki, who was also looking up.
He looked up like a Lunatic, his mouth wide open, the pupils in his eyes almost shrinking to a pinpoint, staring blankly at the scene, only able to emit a series of meaningless sounds.
However, Kakashi didn't think he was crazy; in fact, he felt it was somewhat expected.
"Collapse."
The darkness covering them above was suddenly split into two sections.
The giant white whale was completely cut into two pieces from head to tail, falling to the left and right.
In his line of sight, he could even clearly see the violently surging lightning, evenly spread across the smooth cut surface.
But at the very end of the cut, only Sawara Kiri's figure remained as he slowly sheathed his sword.
"Rumble—!!"
The ground beneath their feet jumped again as the white whale fell.
But compared to the sky being split apart, all of this seemed to be nothing major.
Kakashi looked at Sawara Kiri's figure in the distance, quietly wiped away the slight sweat that was gradually seeping from his forehead in the cold weather, and slowly exhaled.
It was clear that the Lightning Release swordsmanship just now would undoubtedly be of great benefit to him, who was attempting to combine Lightning Release Ninjutsu with White Fang swordsmanship.
But—
Kakashi looked at the spiderweb-like cracks extending several kilometers along the 'trunk' of the white whale on the ground to his left and right, and at his still-shaken companions around him, and couldn't help but quietly mumble:
".I just need to be able to learn it."
At this moment, Sawara Kiri raised his head and looked at Kazahana Doto on the city wall:
"It's rare to find a Ninja these days who dares to take the initiative to attack, knowing that I am their opponent."
"You still have some courage."
"How about it?"
He spread his hands, asking as if going through the motions: "Do you choose to stop here, or fight to the death?"
"You are Sawara Kiri?"
"What 'Ninja World's Strongest'? It's just some absurd notion of lowly fools."
"It's laughable that it could make you so arrogant."
Kazahana Doto looked down from above, disdainfully waved his hand at Sawara Kiri, and said coldly:
"I choose to kill you here!"
The smile on Sawara Kiri's face grew more intense, and a hint of bloodlust even flickered in his azure eyes:
"Just as I wished."
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr