"Big sister, big sister!"
The girl's young voice came from Sakura's shoulder. "This Genjutsu doesn't seem very impressive!"
Tama, unaffected by the aura, asked naively, causing the girl's momentum to falter.
Actually, not having a decent Genjutsu to offer couldn't be entirely blamed on Sakura. Since recorded history began updating, noble Genjutsu had always relied on external aids.
No matter how good your technique, it couldn't compare to the convenience of the accessories those hardware guys carried.
Not to mention that they were currently in a world where everyone was centered on their own will. Without external aids, Genjutsu was worse than a roadside stray… not even qualified to sit at the table.
"Never mind. This stuff is hard to practice. Let's not touch it!"
Sakura sighed and shook her head. "Skip the Genjutsu lesson and go directly to the last one: Ninja Tactics Essential Number Three, Ninjutsu!"
When the word 'Ninjutsu' appeared, a murderous atmosphere spread.
"Here it comes!"
Fujin and Raijin both drew their weapons, their entire bodies hardened with Armament Haki as they charged at Sakura.
The gruesome, unexplained death of Kazekage earlier was still fresh in their minds, so when they attacked Sakura, they applied maximum protection to themselves.
Frenzied and dense shuriken poured out wildly. Overlapping and interweaving flying slashes spun and cut.
"Wood Release: Wood Human Technique!"
To Tama's admiring gaze, Sakura raised her finger and formed a hand seal.
Wood Release Chakra penetrated deep into the earth, even creating seeds from nothing. The seeds quickly took root and sprouted. Vines pushed up through the ground, expanding and shaping in an extremely short time, finally transforming into a gigantic figure standing tall upon the earth.
The Haki-coated shuriken and flying slashes all cut into the massive Wood Human's body... and then... nothing.
"..." Fujin and Raijin fell silent.
Even if they had tolerated the previous acts of treating swordsmanship and killing intent as Ninja's Ninjutsu, they could at most curse the foreign barbarians for not understanding the essence of their mainland ninja culture.
But this was just too much.
Claiming sorcery was ninjutsu right in front of them, two ninja? It was an insult to their ninja integrity. This was truly unbearable.
If this woman was a ninja, they would eat this Wood Human on the spot!
"Hey, Raijin, can you still fight?"
By now, Fujin had already accepted death. No matter what, he couldn't let this woman do as she pleased. Otherwise, his way of the ninja would weep!
"Of course. I assume you're thinking the same thing!"
Raijin nodded and lit the drum wheel behind him. Flames gradually spread over his entire body.
Their Haki blazed fiercely under the stimulation of their death-defying will, finally transforming into two streaks of light charging toward Sakura's Wood Human.
"You bastards, take this!" x2
—Combined Ninja Technique: Wind and Lightning Dancing Flow!
A crimson-red wind arose from nowhere, raging and swirling in this narrow space.
Dense slashes instantly covered every inch of the air. Wherever they passed, the lush green flowers and plants were cut into a mess.
"Heh!"
A light laugh came from Sakura atop the Wood Human.
The giant Wood Human spread its arms wide, palms open. Then, with a roar of tearing air, the palms clapped shut toward the center.
The streaks of light that Fujin and Raijin had transformed into flew into the air and were suddenly caught between the Wood Human's clapping palms.
Smack—!
A huge shockwave spread from the Wood Human's palms. When they opened, the two figures, like squashed mosquitoes, fell from a height of over thirty meters.
"Clean up the remaining small fry!"
Sakura gave the order to the Wood Human. The Wood Human, infused with Senjutsu Chakra and possessing a certain degree of self-awareness, began autonomously hunting down the other ninjas.
She herself, carrying Tama, jumped down from the Wood Human's head and landed beside Ace and the villagers, rejoining them.
"Had your fun?"
The freckled boy, leaning against the ruins with his sword on his shoulder and resting, heard the noise and glanced up at the two.
Sakura covered her eyes with her palm and feigned hurt. "How can you say that? I was just introducing the profound depths of Ninjutsu to your future little junior sister!"
"Little junior sister?" Ace opened his eyes wide in surprise. "You're planning to take her on the ship?"
"What are you thinking? She's only four. She'll have to wait until she's at least six to go to sea!"
The girl stared at Ace with a strange look, her face full of 'you're weird' expression.
"What kind of bizarre standard is that... never mind." Ace was already too exhausted to complain about this quirky big sister. "If you're not taking her to sea, how is she supposed to become my little junior sister?"
"This kid seems pretty smart. I'll teach her for a while, and she can study the rest on her own."
Sakura pulled a scroll of Ninjutsu from her chest and handed it to Tama. "Tama, are you willing to become my disciple?"
"Yes! This girl would be honored to become big sister's disciple!"
Hearing her words, Tama's eyes lit up. Without a moment's hesitation, she hugged the scroll to her chest and tucked it away like a rare treasure.
"Good. Then grit your teeth and prepare to set foot on the path of the Ninja!"
Sakura's voice was gentle as she raised her hand and gently placed it on Tama's head.
'What? Why grit your teeth?'
The girl's expression froze. She had been overjoyed at receiving the scroll, but now a bad feeling rose in her heart.
The next moment, the power of Chakra surged from Sakura's arm into her body, connecting her Spiritual Energy and Physical Energy, implanting the seed of Chakra.
Pain filled the girl's entire body. A vigorous scream echoed out:
"Ow, it hurts—!!!"
…
Elsewhere, in the Tenshukaku of the Flower Capital.
After Fujin and Raijin released the signal of mission failure, the Oniwabanshu's ninjas on lookout duty immediately relayed the news to the Shogun of Wano.
"What did you say?!" Orochi's shriek once again echoed through the Tenshukaku. "Useless! All of you are useless!"
The giant mythical beast with eight heads rampaged through the room. Fine porcelain, precious folding screens, elegant hanging scrolls… all were smashed out of the room by him.
"My lord."
After he had vented a bit, even killing the ninja who had just brought the message, Fukurokuju finally arrived.
"Fu-ku-ro-ku-ju! Didn't you tell me you could handle those outsiders?!"
The eight-headed serpent with dark green scales writhed, its sixteen crimson eyes locked onto the ninja before it, its killing intent boiling.
"I am very sorry about that. But I have also brought you good news!"
Fukurokuju quickly knelt on one knee, pulled out a mirror as tall as a person from his chest, and pushed it in front of Orochi.
"Bastard, are you trying to humiliate me?"
Seeing the large, pink-trimmed dressing mirror, Orochi's anger grew.
But the next moment, a voice from within the mirror made Orochi regain his composure.
"Wororororo, still as useless as ever, Orochi!"
"!!!"
That low, hoarse voice was like heavenly music. Orochi scrambled to the mirror, pressing his face against its surface.
Sure enough, he saw two tall figures inside, along with a vast horde of pirates and various strangely shaped soldiers following behind them.
That shadow was undoubtedly the one he had been thinking of day and night...
"Kaido—!!"
Orochi called out to the figure in the mirror with the warmest voice of his life, his posture and expression resembling that of a pitiful couple reminiscing about old times.
"Less talk. Go prepare an open space and a mirror large enough for me to pass through!"