The wind and sand blew past, kicking up Kusuo's robes. A sparse wave of yellow sand swept across the earth.
Hiding behind the stone giant, Akatsuchi's round face was filled with anxiety.
What do I do? What do I do?
He couldn't escape; he had no noteworthy escape skills. He also hadn't learned his teacher Onoki's Super Light-Weight Rock Technique, so he couldn't fly. He couldn't come and go as he pleased. Everyone else was dead. Now he was the only one left. Drops of cold sweat trickled down his forehead.
Then, Kusuo moved. Holding his sword, he walked towards him step by step.
Tap, tap, tap~
Every step, the rustling sound on the ground, was like the footfalls of the God of Death, stomping heavily on Akatsuchi's heart.
"Earth Style! Rock Clone!" Gritting his teeth, Akatsuchi would not sit and wait for death. He clapped his hands together and split off a thick stone clone that looked exactly like him. Its attack power was lacking, but its defense was top-notch.
In the past, Akatsuchi had used this move to fight his teacher's granddaughter, Kurotsuchi, for half a day, withstanding all her attacks before it finally shattered.
Watching the separated rock clone rapidly rush towards him, Kusuo's eyes were without a ripple. He calmly swung the sword in his hand. It was a light and understated motion.
SWISH!
A clear sword light flashed past, cutting through the void. The rock clone, which had been renowned throughout the Hidden Stone Village, which his teacher, the Third Tsuchikage Onoki, had held high hopes for and praised endlessly, was actually cut open by a single slash.
One slash. Just one slash. The cut was smooth, like a mirror surface.
"What terrifying swordsmanship..."
Without another word, seeing his most commonly used defensive technique instantly broken, Akatsuchi turned tail and ran.
Unfortunately, "Trying to run now? It's too late," Kusuo whispered.
He swung his hand again.
VMM!
A sky-high sword pressure. A crimson sword aura, wrapped in astonishing power, carried the scorching heat of a great sun. It was as if two suns had appeared in the sky.
Before Akatsuchi was even caught by the sword aura, he felt his back was about to be melted by the oncoming heat.
Schlick!
A muffled sound of a blade cutting. Finally, Akatsuchi's body was split in two, falling unwillingly to the ground.
Dead. Akatsuchi was dead.
And with that, this batch of Hidden Stone Village ninja had been completely annihilated.
This shocking scene... deeply stunned all the Konoha ninja in the rear. Even though these two slashes were aimed at the enemy, the sharp coldness within them and the irresistible momentum of the blade still made their pores tremble. This feeling of dancing on the edge of a blade, brushing past death, made their backs wet with sweat.
"Gulp..."
"Captain, you were right. Lord Kusuo... he... he's just too strong."
Even now, they still couldn't believe that the Hidden Stone Village squad that had been chasing and killing their side for three days and three nights, that had completely occupied half of the Land of Demons' territory, had been wiped out by just two slashes. Not a single person was left alive.
That Akatsuchi... the Konoha captain recognized him. He was one of the Tsuchikage's personal guards. And he had been so lightly cut down by Lord Kusuo. From beginning to end, he didn't even have room to struggle. Similarly, as a Kage's guard, this gap... was simply heaven and earth.
"Lord Kusuo." After Kusuo finished dealing with the Hidden Stone ninja, he sheathed his sword and walked back.
Everyone looked at him. Their eyes were filled with reverence, and with terror. If before, they had only respected him after hearing of his glorious battle record, then now, it was a lingering fear after personally witnessing his swordsmanship.
This level of terrifying strength... all they could say was, thank goodness he was a teammate. If they had been born on the opposite side, they feared they wouldn't even have the courage to resist, just like the Hidden Stone chunin squad before them. Over a hundred ninja, among them no shortage of elite chunin and even jonin. Akatsuchi himself was a standout among the jonin, yet he couldn't even take a single slash.
"Mm." Hearing their greetings, Kusuo gave a faint "mm." He sheathed his sword, preparing to leave.
"Lord Kusuo! Where are you going?" The captain, as their representative, asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
Kusuo waved his hand and said faintly, "Continuing on to the next battlefield. As for you all here, I've already arranged a backup. You don't need to worry about the Hidden Stone ninja anymore."
These words were very mysterious. Lord Kusuo's strength is immense, he needs to provide support to various battlefields. They understood this point. But what did he mean by "arranged a backup"? Could it be that Konoha reinforcements were coming? But Konoha was dealing with three countries at once. All available forces were deployed on various battlefields. Where would they have the spare capacity to support them here?
With deep doubts, this small squad still listened to Kusuo's words and settled down, digging their trenches and setting up various exploding tag traps again.
In the evening, they lit a fire to cook. The entire process took only three minutes, the time strictly controlled. On the battlefield, any firelight would attract the enemy's attention. Even though they had confirmed that the entire enemy chunin squad of over a hundred people had been wiped out during the day, they still needed to adhere to the iron rules of a ninja.
Suddenly, "Enemy attack!!"
A few chunin who had gone out to urinate seemed to have seen something incredible. They ran back to the army tent, scrambling and crawling in fear.
"What? Another enemy attack?" The captain was still recovering from his injuries, but hearing the sound of an enemy attack, he still struggled to get up and prepare to respond.
But when all dozen or so of them came outside, they were all dumbfounded.
And they saw... a full thousand terracotta warriors, impervious to blades and spears, standing neatly in front of them with a murderous aura. At the very front was a girl in a purple dress, with light golden long hair and amber eyes. The girl's figure was graceful, her entire body emitting a holy yet obscure chakra fluctuation.
Shion looked at them and said softly, "All of you, stand in a line and receive my chakra."
Her voice was as crisp and pleasant as a young girl's, yet it held an irrefutable power.
The dozen or so people stared blankly and stood in a line as instructed. Shion shot out a dozen Mōryō larvae from her palm. The purplish-black larvae found the group of Konoha ninja and quickly drilled into their wrists.
In an instant, a brilliant purplish-black light shone. Like a gloomy lamplight, it dyed the entire world with a mysterious and quiet hue.
"Alright. You now possess my chakra. You can temporarily control these terracotta warriors and have them be destroyed and restored ten times," she said. "With their help, you should be able to defend this line."
With that, Shion retracted the chakra fluctuation around her body. The holy white light and the purplish-black gloomy light simultaneously extinguished. On the spot, only the thousand or so terracotta warriors and the Konoha ninja were left.
These people looked at each other, their mouths slightly agape, not knowing where to begin. After a long time, the girl's figure had long since left.
Someone finally said with shock, "I... I feel my chakra... it's like it has skyrocketed by more than three times!"
"Me too!"
"It's like my own cultivated chakra, stored in my wrist."
"Everyone, look! I think I can control these stone men!" They didn't know that these were terracotta warriors before them.
"I can too!"
Excitement, pleasant surprise, and astonishment stirred in the entire camp.
At this moment, they suddenly remembered. It turned out... the backup Lord Kusuo had mentioned when he left this morning was this powerful chakra and the control over a thousand stone men.
"This is great!" the captain thought, clenching his fist, though he was still seriously injured. The strength of these terracotta warriors was very high. It would take a full-power strike from a jonin-level ninja to completely shatter one. And here... there were a full thousand of them. And that beautiful girl had said that their chakra could let them be destroyed and restored more than ten times.
"Brothers, we must defend this place well! We absolutely cannot disappoint Lord Kusuo!"
"Yes!"
-------
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