"What a bind," A said. "I admire you and want to recruit you. But once you accept my recruitment, you are no longer admirable."
"Exactly."
"Still, living is worth celebrating.
Life is precious and beautiful. To live, you must give up some things. For example, my admiration."
Ren smiled. "Sounds like if I refuse, you will kill me."
"Not kill you. Kill all of you."
A raised his hand, pointing across the faces of Ren and Tsunade and the others. "I did not bring this many into the Fire Country's interior to share the breeze."
He paused, then added, "It is respect."
Two years ago, A had admired Ren's talent. Now he respected him. Ren had grown into a fighter A himself needed to meet head-on.
Cutting down a Leaf prodigy before the war began would matter.
"You seem very sure you can keep us here."
"Should I not be?"
A gestured to the hundred elites around them. "Every one of them is chosen from tens of thousands in the Hidden Cloud, the best of the best, to kill Tsunade.
Taijutsu fighters to engage Tsunade up close. Ninjutsu casters to suppress from range. Speed types for tracking and sealing for lockdown.
Even the Third Hokage, stepping into this net, would die."
"Does your net include them?" Tsunade's face was pale. She stared coldly at A.
"Them? Oh, you mean the Rain folk."
A started, then sneered. "It is true, a healer's heart. I did not expect the Tsunade that terrifies the Land of Rain to be this compassionate."
To Leaf folk, Tsunade is an angel in white.
To Rain folk, she is very near death itself.
Tsunade just stared at A, waiting for an answer.
"A chance coincidence.
We prepared long for this assassination. Not long ago we found a Rain group who were plotting to kill Tsunade in Tanzaku. Our advisors realized we could use them to lull Tsunade's guard.
No one expected our casual setup to work so well. The legendary Tsunade became a wreck."
A shook his head, whether regretting not ganking earlier or the cost of this deployment, hard to say.
Still, Tsunade might have fallen. Ren's strength was greater than expected. The plan was not wasted.
Tsunade's feelings were mixed.
Good news, the Rain group had not been fooled. Bad - they truly wanted to kill her.
Asuma muttered, "A bunch of muscle-heads thinking up something this nasty."
"Kid, you are insulting us," A said, eyes sharp. "Who told you the Cloud villagers are only muscle?"
Ren sighed. "Anyone who thinks the Cloud are fools is the fool."
As a reader of the original, Ren knew how sharp the Cloud was. In some ways, it was his favorite village.
United, focused, active, piercingly insightful. Without a protagonist halo, the Cloud is nearly flawless.
Before the Third Raikage died, the Cloud plotted to kidnap Uzumaki Kushina during village-level sealing troubles.
Early in the Fourth's era, the Cloud struck during Konoha's Nine-Tails crisis, kidnapping Hinata at the peace ceremony. When they failed, they twisted it to force Konoha to apologize.
In the Fourth War, the seemingly rash Fourth Raikage — A — showed extraordinary leadership and calm judgment as commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces.
Such people are not fools. In strategy and planning, the Cloud may surpass the Leaf.
"Correct. Whoever thinks we are fools is the true fool."
A coldly smiled, then said to Ren, "Enough talk. Draw your sword."
Murder flooded the street. The hundred Cloud elites tightened. The dense killing intent pressed down so hard Shinku could barely breathe.
Asuma and Kurenai, facing their first scene of this scale, shook.
Five against a hundred. Two rookies and one wreck on our side. All elites and one top master on theirs. Who would not fear?
Any way you looked at it, this was certain death.
Ren did not panic. He could still think clearly.
Why did A tell him to draw his sword?
Because Ren was strong and famous. Heavenfall Strike was not common knowledge, but his sword work was known.
Because Ren wanted to be a sword immortal with grace, he was known for swordsmanship.
For a man with a thousand-plus years of inner power, a superhuman body, and countless arts, fingers or fists or blades changed little. Barehanded might be stronger.
They did not know that. A did not know.
They would assume that if Ren could trade dozens of moves using only finger arts, then his true specialty, the sword, would be even more terrifying.
So the sword must not be drawn.
As long as he did not draw, A would harbor a gnawing concern. Even a sliver of psychological edge was precious.
Ren shook his head. "I will not draw."
"Why not?" A raised a brow.
"Your skin is too dark."
"My skin is dark. How does that relate to your sword?"
"Very much."
Something shifted in Ren's eyes, a strange light. An aura rose off him. Pure king-of-style.
"When you pierce another's throat with your blade and watch the blood bloom beneath it, if you can see the color and splendor of that instant, you will know nothing is as beautiful.
Your throat is not white enough. Naturally, the blood blooming from your throat will not be beautiful."
A was stunned. Ren's sense of conviction was too strong. His aura too dense.
So dense that even knowing Ren had other reasons, A found himself believing this, perhaps Ren truly did not want to draw because A was not pale enough for a beautiful bloom.
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