Silence.....
The vast battlefield, moments ago filled with chaos, fell utterly still because of Garp's single sentence. Not a bird chirped. One could hear a pin drop.
Whether it was Orochimaru, the Mist-nin who had wanted to flee, or those who planned to seize back the Seven Ninja Swords, every last one of them froze in place.
Countless wary, curious, uneasy, and nervous gazes swept repeatedly across the seven swords scattered on the ground. Yet not one person dared step forward. No one even approached.
It was as if getting even a step closer would cause the blades to turn into ravenous beasts and swallow anyone who dared touch them.
"Enough, Byakuren. How much longer do you plan to hide under my nose?
Or do you believe that after all these years apart, my eyes have grown so dim that I still wouldn't see through your petty trick?"
The battlefield was already thick with an oppressive aura of conspiracy and unease.
With Garp's sudden words, that eerie, skin-crawling atmosphere intensified tenfold.
"No way…"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed sharply, and her body tensed on instinct.
"The First Mizukage who supposedly died before the First Great Ninja War… didn't actually die?"
Shisui struggled to believe it.
"Were all the people from that era monsters?"
Fugaku's face was grave.
He had never once doubted Garp's words.
If this man said so, then the First Mizukage, ranked just beneath the Three Legends of that era, was almost certainly not completely dead.
He had survived somehow, using a method they couldn't begin to understand.
"The First Mizukage isn't dead…?"
After the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist were killed, Yagura Karatachi took command of the thousand Mist-nin forces due to his overwhelming authority.
Now, this near guaranteed Fourth Mizukage candidate stared at the seven swords with a shifting expression.
He knew the secret that the Seven Ninja Swords sealed Byakuren' power, this much was disclosed to him as a future Mizukage.
But that was all.
It wasn't until this moment that he realized there was an even deeper secret hidden behind the Seven Ninja Swords.
"If what the Iron Fist says is true… then what did the First Mizukage take Mist-nin for?"
The thought darkened Yagura's expression instantly.
If a leader didn't care for the shinobi of his own village… Was he even worthy of being called Kage?
Why entrust these seven blades to elite Mist-nin? For what purpose?
Just as the Konoha and Mist shinobi were shaken to their core by Garp's revelation, the seven swords, lifeless on the ground like corpses, suddenly trembled.
Even with Garp's warning beforehand, the movement of the swords made everyone's nerves spike.
"Iron… Fist!"
But what happened next stunned everyone, everyone except Garp.
The swords, which had only trembled at first, slowly began to glow.
Then, they lifted from the ground, floating upward.
A moment later, gathered together in midair, they encircled a slowly forming silhouette, faint, old, and blurred.
In a span of just two or three seconds, the translucent outline solidified into the form of a living person.
White hair. A beard as long as his hair. A hideous scar slashing across his cloudy left eye. Two rows of sharp teeth.
No one present could mistake this figure's identity.
"It's really the First Mizukage!"
"That's impossible!"
"Lord Byakuren was hiding inside the Seven Ninja Swords?!"
The Mist-nin, led by Yagura, cried out in disbelief.
But the expressions that followed were anything but joyful.
The First Mizukage's appearance proved that Garp had been telling the truth.
And that meant, his reason for leaving behind the Seven Ninja Swords for Kirigakure might not have been benevolent at all.
At the very least, it was unlikely to be good for those who wielded them.
"Hahaha, you finally decided to come out?"
Instead of feeling pressure or dread, Garp couldn't help but laugh.
After living through entire eras, everything in the current shinobi world felt foreign to him.
But now… he was seeing an "old friend."
Whether this old friend came with ill intent didn't matter.
If Byakuren tried anything, he'd just smash him again.
For the moment, the unexpected reappearance only stirred a long-lost sense of excitement in him.
"You truly haven't changed. Aside from Hashirama and Madara, you were one of the few worth my attention.
And after all these years… you still haven't died off."
Garp's grin widened as he looked at the nearly lifelike apparition.
The Mist-nin exchanged bewildered looks. Seeing Garp this delighted, more delighted than any of them, it felt surreal.
If they weren't Mist-nin… if they didn't already know of the early hatred between their First Mizukage and the Iron Fist…
They'd think these two had been inseparable comrades during the Warring States Era!
"If you hadn't kept me company in the Pure Land, how would I ever have left in peace?"
Byakuren stared at Garp, his expression unchanged, though a vicious killing intent surged thicker and thicker.
"What? You want to fight the moment you crawl back out?
Don't be ridiculous. You weren't my match when you were alive. Now that you're half dead, you're even less of a threat.
If you don't want me to send you right back to the Pure Land to eat dirt, I suggest you behave."
Garp folded his arms and shook his head, half amused.
In the Warring States Era, he'd beaten Byakuren so badly that the man made his way back to the Land of Water.
And now?
He could send the half dead ghost straight back to the Pure Land just as easily.
.........
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