Staring at the ninja blade floating in the air—identical to Mikazuki Munechika—Hoshiyomi instinctively reached out and grabbed it.
The moment he held it, he could immediately feel the differences. Though its appearance was indistinguishable from the real Mikazuki Munechika, to Hoshiyomi—who had handled the real one for thirty years—this replica differed noticeably in both weight and feel.
Of course, the biggest difference was this:
Hoshiyomi raised the real Mikazuki Munechika from his waist and slashed it three times against the counterfeit in his hand.
After three collisions with the razor-sharp real blade, the fake began flickering, its sword body pulsing with blue light.
This was the signal that its durability had reached the limit. If he continued using it, it would only withstand maybe one more hit before completely breaking and exploding.
Of course, the explosion could be manually canceled by Hoshiyomi—preventing unfortunate incidents like "It was a critical hit… on my teammate."
Glancing at the flickering sword in his hand, Hoshiyomi pointed toward the distance. A second later, the blade flew into the air, shooting rapidly toward the direction he indicated.
BOOM!
The instant the blade touched the ground, it exploded, scorching the surrounding earth pitch black.
Hoshiyomi and Kimimaro exchanged looks and appeared beside the crater a second later. Examining the size of the blast, Kimimaro nodded.
"Looks like the power is about the same as a C-rank jutsu. Not bad. But what about the chakra cost?"
Hoshiyomi assessed the chakra he had just spent and smiled.
"Making a weapon of that quality costs less chakra than using a C-rank jutsu. With my current chakra reserves, I could make three to five hundred of those in a row without issue."
At that thought, Hoshiyomi's smile brightened even more. He suddenly stretched out his right hand and placed his left hand on his wrist, taking a dramatic pose:
"I am the bone of my sword…
Steel is my body, and fire is my blood…"
Kimimaro watched Hoshiyomi's performance with interest—until Hoshiyomi suddenly stopped halfway. Kimimaro blinked.
"What's wrong?"
Scratching his cheek awkwardly, Hoshiyomi said:
"Uh… what was the next line again?"
"My blood is iron, my heart is glass… Seriously, if you don't even remember the chant, don't try to act cool! Fake fan, get out!! (▼皿▼#)"
Since he couldn't remember the chant, the act-cool sequence was temporarily canceled, and Hoshiyomi could only gather chakra honestly.
Even without an incantation, as chakra flowed and countless differently-shaped weapons emerged behind him, the scene was overwhelmingly dramatic.
Seeing Hoshiyomi standing before dozens of floating swords—like a monarch of blades—even Kimimaro had to mutter inwardly:
"It's basically useless, but damn… he really is cool."
As that thought crossed his mind, Hoshiyomi raised his hand. With a flick of his finger, the countless swords shot downward like torrential rain.
Dozens of flying swords fell across the distant ground, explosions booming one after another. A single sword exploding might not mean much…
But dozens exploding simultaneously?
The shockwaves alone made the ground tremble continuously—it was quite the spectacle.
After about half a minute of bombardment, the lunar surface finally returned to calm. From the smoke, Hoshiyomi and Kimimaro looked at the massive crater before them and nodded in satisfaction. Hoshiyomi couldn't hide the grin on his face.
No matter how old a man gets—if given the chance, he will never give up the pursuit of looking cool. That's why they say men are boys until the day they die.
Now, with Ten Thousand Sword Pavilion being both flashy and powerful, it perfectly met Hoshiyomi's expectations. Naturally, the smile on his face couldn't fade at all.
Kimimaro, standing to the side, watched Hoshiyomi's expression and slowly developed a "you're so childish" look on his face.
But in his heart, he comforted himself:
My Truth-Seeking Orbs can transform into weapons too. The effect isn't that different. And other people can't even block mine. Totally fine. Totally.
Seeing Hoshiyomi getting more and more addicted—clearly intending to keep summoning flying swords—Kimimaro finally raised a hand to stop him, for the safety of the moon if nothing else:
"Alright, enough testing. Recover your chakra. Show me that Swordmaster Awakening move later."
At the mention of Ghost Swordsmanship: Storm Style, Hoshiyomi immediately had his attention diverted:
"Ultimate Slash has a 24-hour cooldown. I already used Ultimate: Heavenly Rift Flowing Light today. If you want to see Storm Style, you'll have to wait until tomorrow."
"In that case, let's head back and eat. We'll leave the rest for tomorrow."
...
The next day, on the moon training grounds.
Reiichi, who had just awakened the Tenseigan and exhausted far too much energy, was still resting at home and hadn't come today. Other than the shackled attendants imprisoned in the palace, only Kimimaro and Hoshiyomi were here on the moon.
Kimimaro and Hoshiyomi faced each other, both unable to hide the eager excitement in their eyes. In the end, Kimimaro spoke first:
"The cooldown for Ultimate Slash is over, right?"
Hoshiyomi nodded immediately.
Seeing this, Kimimaro smiled:
"Today, let me be your test dummy. Show me—let me see the true power of Ghost Swordsmanship: Storm Style."
Of course Hoshiyomi wouldn't refuse. He simply placed his hand on the hilt of Mikazuki Munechika and spoke softly:
"Be careful. It's my first time using this—I'm not sure how strong it'll be."
Hearing this, a look of seriousness flashed in Kimimaro's eyes.
His star-like Tenseigan gleamed. In an instant, a surge of pale blue chakra poured through his entire body, forming a divine robe around him depicting nine magatama.
Behind him, nine Truth-Seeking Orbs materialized, radiating a profound and unfathomable aura.
It was Hoshiyomi's first time seeing Kimimaro in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, and he couldn't help but gasp.
This terrifying pressure—he hadn't even felt it from old man Madara.
Even he felt a slight chill in his chest.
Kimimaro's claim to be the strongest in the entire shinobi world was clearly not empty boasting.
Facing Kimimaro, who was now in full Tenseigan Chakra Mode, Hoshiyomi felt a spark of excitement in his eyes. He couldn't wait to see what kind of clash his Ghost Swordsmanship: Storm Style would produce against a monster-level powerhouse like Kimimaro.
With that thought, Hoshiyomi placed his hand on Mikazuki Munechika's hilt, closed his eyes, regulated his breath, and entered the state of Ultimate Slash.
When he opened his eyes again, an aura no weaker than Kimimaro's erupted skyward:
"Ghost Swordsmanship — Storm Style!"
...
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