Sand Hidden and Cloud Hidden Village share no common borders, nor do they have a history of conflict like Mist Hidden and Sand Hidden. In fact, they both consider Konoha an enemy. If he had a choice, the Third Raikage wouldn't want to antagonize Sand Hidden.
"I'm afraid, senior Raikage, as I just said, they are already part of Sand Hidden. I don't think Cloud Hidden Village would believe abandoning comrades is the right thing to do, unlike Konoha, would they?" Qingshui said with a slight smile to the Third Raikage, even subtly referencing Konoha's White Fang incident.
He was desperate to stall the two of them with words, the longer the better.
Now, the seven or eight large and small cats of the Chinoike Clan were gone, leaving only Oyakata En, who was on their side.
Adding Pakura, Baki, and Sada, that made four Jonin, two of whom were clearly Elite Jonin level in strength. As long as they didn't encounter other Kage-level powerhouses or organized units from the Five Great Ninja Villages, they would face virtually no opponents, enough to safely escort the team out of the Land of Hot Water.
Such a large team, with an obvious objective, would certainly need Sand Village to send people to meet them once they retreated.
However, Sand Village was quite far, and Qingshui estimated he'd have to pay a significant price for Hanzo to intervene.
As long as they could quickly cross the Land of Rice Fields after retreating from the Land of Hot Water and reach the area Hanzo's influence could extend to in a short time, they would essentially be successful.
"Brat, don't play these tricks with this old man. Anyway, I just need to leave you alive, not cripple you." The Third Raikage was clearly out of patience. He twisted his neck, clenched his fist the size of a cooking pot, and his body erupted with Lightning Release Chakra, charging at Qingshui like a high-speed, heavily armored tank.
Even faster than him was A, the Fourth Raikage, who had transformed into a bolt of lightning and attacked, attempting to break through the blockade formed by Qingshui and his three Puppets.
"Well, there's no other choice then..." Qingshui shook his head regretfully, also transforming into a bolt of lightning, and met him.
"*Lightning Release: Lariat!*"
"*Separation Breathing: Second Form - Separation Dance!*"
Hand blades and Ninja Blades clashed, releasing a powerful shockwave in an instant.
Then came the second, the third...
Not far away, A, the Fourth Raikage, instantly dodged Big Ivan's carpet bombing, elbowed Little Boy away, and then punched Fatty's earth-shattering blow.
It was almost impossible for three Puppets, with an average mass equivalent to the Chikamatsu Collection, to defeat a near Kage-level powerhouse, but stalling him wasn't a big problem.
Little Boy's speed was considerably slower than A's, the Fourth Raikage, but he could barely keep up. Coupled with Big Ivan and Fatty's wide-range attacks, they could hold A, the Fourth Raikage, for a short while.
Compared to him, the truly troublesome opponent was the Third Raikage.
In just a short moment, the two had exchanged dozens of blows.
Qingshui's first impression of this guy was that he was incredibly tough.
Not only was his defense tough, but his offense was too.
A's, the Fourth Raikage's, physical prowess allowed him to defend against most conventional Ninjutsu when using Lightning Release Chakra Mode. To further enhance his attack and defense, A, the Fourth Raikage, wore metal armguards made of intertwined lines around his arms.
The Third Raikage, however, had no need for such things.
Because he couldn't find any material tougher than his own body in the Ninja World, even though he commanded one of the five strongest forces in the Ninja World.
Unless he could find a divine weapon like the Kusanagi Sword, his body was the strongest Ninja Tool he could find, both offensively and defensively.
Excluding special attacks like Dust Release or Amaterasu, it was very difficult to truly wound him.
"*Heavy Lightning Ball!*"
"*Separation Breathing: First Form - Ion Cut!*"
"*Lightning Release: Lariat!*"
"*Separation Breathing: Eighth Form - Separation Turn!*"
The two's exchange grew more intense. Despite being pure physical combat, Qingshui felt his Ninja Blade was struggling to keep up.
Although this blade was also a high-quality Ninja Tool forged through much refinement, costing as much as two S-rank Missions, and could withstand Qingshui's power against most enemies, allowing him to fully exert his strength, it ultimately couldn't compare to weapons like the Sword of the Thunder God or the White Fang Short Sword, which were made of Chakra metal, let alone ancient divine artifacts like the Kusanagi Sword.
Weapons made of Chakra metal increased in hardness and power as the wielder's Chakra intensity rose.
In the hands of an ordinary Chunin, they could significantly boost Swordplay power, but their quality was average. In the hands of a Jonin, their power was even more impressive, but there was still a possibility of them being shattered.
However, in the hands of top-tier Swordplay masters like Hatake Sakumo or Tobirama Senju, these Chakra metal weapons, when reinforced by top-level Chakra, could rival divine artifacts like the Kusanagi Sword in sharpness and hardness, becoming the sharpest weapons in the Ninja World.
But this approach was too extravagant. Apart from the incredibly wealthy Konoha, few would do this.
This material was too rare, and in Sand Village, most of the Chakra metal was used to create critical hubs for top-tier Puppets. Roughly sixty percent of it was in Chiyo's Chikamatsu Collection.
The remaining portion was used to make the Three-Star Fan, the strongest of which was currently in Karura's hands.
Qingshui's three Puppets also contained a small amount of Chakra metal. This was typically melted down and drawn into extremely fine threads to strengthen the Chakra Threads' control over certain important hubs.
The total Chakra metal in Qingshui's three Puppets might be less than ten grams.
The most cost-effective method was to combine Chakra metal with other special metals to create other high-quality Ninja Blades. While these blades wouldn't reach the same upper limit as those made purely of Chakra metal, their lower limit was much higher. Typical examples include the Seven Ninja Swords of Hidden Mist Village. With a few exceptions like Samehada, other Ninja Blades, such as Twin Swords Hiramekarei and Longsword: Nuibari, were all made this way.
For top-tier Swordplay masters in the Ninja World, that slight boost wasn't very useful, but for some Jonin and Elite Jonin, the blade's inherent special mechanisms could allow them to unleash power far exceeding that of ordinary Jonin.
In fact, if Qingshui could have such a Ninja Blade, it would be sufficient. He didn't seek a blade that could significantly boost attack like the White Fang Short Sword, but one that was durable enough and could consistently allow him to fully exert his strength, unlike the current situation.
Unfortunately, Chakra metal was expensive and rarely available on the market. Sand Village also wasn't historically known for its Swordplay, so it didn't possess such weapons.
If Qingshui wanted one, he'd probably have to figure it out himself.
And now, the Third Raikage, who had fought for half his life, had already used his extensive combat experience to determine that Qingshui's weapon was struggling. After realizing he couldn't inflict effective damage on Qingshui, he began to change his fighting style.
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Read 1111+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// beta.randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------