Chapter 87: Defeat (Part 1)
When Kiyoshi reappeared, the armor with metal parts had been removed, revealing the white ninja undershirt underneath.
Iron Sand, completely perplexed, stared intently at Kiyoshi. At this moment, he finally noticed Kiyoshi's eyes beneath the mask, which were different from the appearance of ordinary Kaguya clan members. "This is... some kind of dōjutsu?"
Iron Sand began to mutter to himself. This seemed completely different from what he had initially thought. This Hidden Mist Anbu, whom he had initially identified as a member of the Kaguya clan, had given him one surprise after another, completely Subversioning his understanding of the Kaguya clan. How wonderful it would be if they were from his Hidden Sand Village.
"Hidden Mist ninja, state your name! I acknowledge you in the name of the Kazekage!" Iron Sand said, having failed to achieve any results with several attacks.
"Heh!" Kiyoshi scoffed, "One of the Hidden Mist's Seven Ninja Swordsmen, Kiyoshi!"
At the same time, the other battlefields also fell into a stalemate.
Hanzo and Chiyo, these old rivals, continued their destined duel. After Chiyo deciphered his salamander poison, Hanzo no longer had that fatal suppressive power over Chiyo and the entire battlefield. Although Hanzo's combat power was above Chiyo's, against a puppeteer who was determined and focused entirely on defense, and could even be said to be the strongest puppeteer in the current ninja world, Hanzo didn't have the overwhelming power to kill Chiyo.
On another side, Suikazan Fuguki and Saito Kage teamed up to suppress Rasa, who was also fighting using Magnet Release. Rasa at this time was only 16 years old. Although he used Magnet Release: Gold Dust quite extraordinarily, he was only at the level of an Elite Jōnin approaching Kage. Regardless of strength and only considering bloodline, there was still a long way to go before he could match his teacher, the Third Kazekage Iron Sand, in the development of Magnet Release.
Under the various Water Release + Lightning Release combined ninjutsu of Suikazan Fuguki and Saito Kage, Rasa was beaten black and blue, looking very狼狈. Unlike his teacher, the Third Kazekage Iron Sand, although Rasa inherited the use of Magnet Release, he didn't focus on the development of magnetic force and magnetism. He was skilled at using Magnet Release to control Gold Dust with a larger density, and Rasa's most common combat method was to use a large amount of high-density Gold Dust to unleash various large-scale ninjutsu, aiming to win head-on with quantity.
But this time he met his match. Suikazan Fuguki, who already had enormous Chakra, coupled with the Great Sword, Samehada, and the environment of the Land of Rain, which was suitable for Water Release, could use various large-scale Water Release techniques with ease. In addition, there was Saito Kage constantly using the Lightning Swords, Kiba, to coordinate with Suikazan Fuguki's Water Release to form various combined ninjutsu. This set of indiscriminate bombardment left Rasa extremely憋屈ed.
The last area was the four members of the Seven Swordsmen besieging Ebizo. The Long Sword, Nuibari, flew everywhere on the battlefield under Kurare Kushimaru's control, restraining Ebizo while occasionally launching sneak attacks on other Hidden Sand ninjas fighting nearby. Jinpachi Munashi's Exploding Sword, Shibuki, was used in wide, sweeping attacks. Coupled with the Blunt Sword, Kabutowari, in Torune Aburame's hands, which had extremely high defense-breaking efficiency, the two had jointly eliminated Ebizo's five puppets one after another.
If it weren't for Ebizo's rather wealthy foundation, carrying a large number of spare puppets with him, and the fact that his own strength was also decent—after all, even the weakest Kage-level was still Kage-level—he might have already been decapitated by Jūzō Biwa wielding the Executioner's Blade, who was constantly looking for an opportunity to strike from the shadows.
For a time, under the four's exquisite and seamless teamwork, Ebizo was overwhelmed and struggling to cope, unable to spare any strength to help other Hidden Sand ninjas like he had during the previous large-scale battles with the Hidden Rain ninjas.
The perspective returned to Kiyoshi's side.
Hearing Kiyoshi's reply, information about the Seven Ninja Swordsmen quickly surfaced in Iron Sand's mind.
Although the Hidden Sand's intelligence system had obtained information last year that the Hidden Mist Village had established an elite force called the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, since the formation of this unit, there had been no publicly executed mission records. They could only roughly confirm that these seven were at least Jōnin-level fighters based on the intelligence returned by spies lurking in the Hidden Mist Village.
Good heavens, this isn't Jōnin-level strength. He can fight me, the Kazekage, without losing ground at all. He has completely reached the Kage level. Iron Sand thought to himself. For a moment, various thoughts flashed through his mind. Then he looked around at the other battlefields and saw that the other members of the Hidden Mist were also displaying extremely powerful combat power, and his heart couldn't help but ache. It seems the other six also belong to this Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Besides that old fellow, the Third Mizukage, the Hidden Mist Village has produced another remarkable figure. Why doesn't our Hidden Sand Village have a few talents like this!
It seems we need to send more spies to the Hidden Mist Village. Our understanding of the Hidden Mist Village is still too lacking! Iron Sand sighed again inwardly. However, since we've encountered him, let's see if we can leave him behind. The ninja world doesn't allow for ninjas more powerful than me to exist! Iron Sand's gaze firmed up. The usual flattery in the village and the combat power that could easily suppress the One-Tail Shukaku had led him to misjudge his own strength.
So, for the sake of the Hidden Sand, since the Hidden Mist had intervened in their war with the Hidden Rain, he would risk injury to eliminate this rising star of the Hidden Mist.
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