Chapter 29: Ten Years of Slaughter Passed in a Flash
"A swordsman without Killing Intent cannot comprehend the true essence of swordsmanship!"
Naruto was knocked down by the back of Hiko Seijuro's blade time and again, and he climbed back up each time amidst Hiko Seijuro's urging.
"With a heart set on a certain kill, your strike will be faster, steadier, and more unpredictable!"
Every time he practiced with Hiko Seijuro, the long sword in Naruto's hand was sharpened, and the same was true for Hiko Seijuro.
To this day, the crisscrossing scars on Naruto's body were all left by Hiko Seijuro. Among them, one scar stretched from his collarbone all the way to his abdomen; it had nearly cost Naruto his life back then.
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"When you return alive, only one of us, master and disciple, shall remain living!"
These were the last words Hiko Seijuro said to Naruto before his departure. They caused a surge of panic in Naruto's heart, and he suddenly felt a reluctance to learn the two Profound Truths of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū.
In a clash of Nine-Headed Dragon Flash against Nine-Headed Dragon Flash, Naruto stood no chance of winning. His only opportunity was to use the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki against the Nine-Headed Dragon Flash.
This was the true reason why a powerful swordsmanship like Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū had been passed down to only a single successor since its inception!
To master the Profound Truth, one must kill their master to prove their path; it could be described as utterly cruel!
Naruto took one last look at the place where he had lived for six years, extinguished all the complicated thoughts in his mind, and after shouldering his long sword, he walked away from the wooden house without looking back.
...
During the late Bakumatsu period, amidst the war between the Ishin Shishi and the Shogunate, a powerful swordsman appeared who sided with neither.
He roamed the edges of the battlefields, picking out the strong. Sometimes, he even carried out indiscriminate attacks in the midst of battle just to experience the sensation of hovering on the edge of life and death.
Consequently, the Shogunate and the Ishin Shishireached a tacit understanding: whenever they encountered this swordsman, without exception, they would temporarily set aside their conflict and choose to eliminate him first.
Yet, without exception, the only one who survived in the end was that swordsman.
"You executioner! Do you have no heart?!" cried the last survivor on a battlefield. "We raise our swords for our ideals, but you! You are just a demon who slaughters for the sake of slaughter!"
"Are you finished?!" Naruto asked.
"I..."
"I never waste words with others; this was taught to me many years ago by a Ninja who nearly killed me." Naruto sheathed his sword, while the samurai who had been questioning him just moments ago collapsed, clutching his throat.
Scanning the devastated battlefield to ensure no one could stand up, Naruto shouldered his long sword and limped away.
Naruto was injured, and quite severely.
Naruto could no longer remember how many times he had fought against many alone, and the scars on his body were so dense that it was impossible to tell what his original skin looked like.
In a world without extraordinary powers, where one relied solely on physical strength, agility, and swordsmanship to overcome enemies, it was unrealistic to emerge unscathed after every major battle.
Hovering between life and death time and again, Naruto's strikes became faster, his sense of danger grew sharper, and his heart turned colder with every slaughter.
A sword is a weapon of murder; no matter how beautifully it is decorated, it cannot change the fact that it is a butcher's blade meant for taking lives.
Naruto didn't want to think about anything else. He only wanted to close off his heart and temper himself through numerous battles, striving to gain as much combat experience as possible before returning to his original world.
He still remembered the first time he drew his sword to kill; he vomited up his meal from three days ago. That sensation was something Narutowould never forget for the rest of his life.
What left the deepest impression on him was the Killing Intent from others, because once, Narutohad hesitated for a moment because he was intimidated by a swordsman's Killing Intent.
At that time, just a fraction more, and the end of his second life experience game would have been declared prematurely.
Since then, Naruto understood a fact he didn't want to face: in life-and-death struggles where lives are on the line, many external factors are equally important.
Killing Intent, naturally, was one of those external factors.
And the fastest way to temper Killing Intent goes without saying: the more blood the sword in one's hand drinks, the more the Killing Intent grows day by day.
During these years of slaughter, Naruto had the fortune of meeting Ninjas of this world and had discussed the essence of a Ninja with a few of the remaining ones of this era.
Ninjas are a group of executioners ordered to kill; it has nothing to do with justice, and even less to do with strength or weakness.
The strong live, the weak die—what a realistic and brutal Law of the jungle. Although Naruto didn't want to admit it, he had no choice but to abide by it.
Because the Ninjas of the Naruto World were essentially the same as the Ninjas of this era!
"Do you think you're the strongest in the world just because you killed me?!" The deathbed roar of a renowned samurai pulled Naruto back from his contemplation. "No! There are many others stronger than you, and you will just be another soul lost to someone else's blade!"
"At least not right now!" For the first time, Narutospoke a second sentence to an enemy. "The weak do not have the right to choose their death, but the strong do! And I am one of the strong!"
Soon, as if heaven were punishing him, not long after Naruto said those words, a samurai troop from a joint expedition of the Shogunate and Ishin Shishi surrounded him.
The battle lasted a long time, and corpses littered Naruto's escape route. But just as he was about to make his escape, a gunshot severely wounded him, and after being struck by several more blades, he fell into the sea.
Fortunately, Naruto did not die. After his life was saved by a young girl, no popular or clichéd stories unfolded between them.
Naruto chose to measure life with money. After giving the girl a generous reward, he heartlessly vanished.
"Was that a Musket? Truly unexpected!" Narutostroked the dense, pitted bullet holes across his back, his heart filled with emotion. "The power of technology is also an external factor in life-and-death combat!"
"But unfortunately, in this life experience game, I won't be able to make up for this shortcoming of mine."
During the late Bakumatsu period, Muskets were loaded with Lead Bullets, which are poisonous. With the girl's clumsy medical skills, some Lead Bullets were left inside Naruto's body during his treatment.
This caused Naruto's health to deteriorate, forcing him to stop the slaughter and prepare to head to his master's residence to take back the Profound Truth of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū that should have been taught to him.
"Ten years passed in the blink of an eye; time really is something that doesn't stand up to testing!" Naruto looked at the familiar wooden house, scenes of his past training here flashing before his eyes.
"Master! Your disciple has returned from his trials and requests that you fulfill your promise to teach me the Profound Truth of Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū!"
Naruto sank his Qi into his Dantian and let out a loud shout toward the wooden house.
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