At that moment, the White Fang short blade in Mikami Yuu's hand seemed to come "alive," transforming into a white venomous snake… no, not one, but dozens, even scores of them. With every motion of Yuu's blade, they stirred into motion, weaving into a silver curtain of light so dense that not even water could pass through it.
Several streaks of blade-light broke away from that "curtain," scattering the wild wind that drew near Yuu and canceling it out midair.
This was the external blade energy effect of Hatake Swordsmanship.
At other moments, Yuu's blade precisely blocked the claws and scythes that the weasels swung with the momentum of the wind, attacks as fast as lightning. Each collision sent dazzling sparks flying.
Clang, clang, clang, clang, clang—!
At first, the sounds of collision were scattered and sparse.
But soon, they became faster and denser.
The three weasel brothers had never encountered an opponent who could face their razor-sharp wind-style ninja-taijutsu head-on in their own home field, refusing to take even a single step back. Compared to Pakura, who had revealed multiple openings after only a few exchanges, this white-haired brat before them was clearly the real hard target.
And so,
the brothers' competitive spirit was gradually stirred.
Again and again, they drove the raging wind, launching fierce attacks like a storm, circling, ambushing, and slicing around Yuu in a frenzy, trying to tear him apart completely.
Yuu's movements also continued to accelerate.
At this moment, he pushed the perception of Heart-Blade Domain to its absolute limit. Within the 6.6-meter spherical range, every subtle movement of the airflow, every trajectory of every attack, was clearly reflected in his "heart." And the White Fang short blade was an extension of that heart, moving as naturally and smoothly as his own arm.
Seen from afar,
it was as if a silver storm made of countless blade-lights and sparks had risen from the ground, enveloping Yuu's figure within it. The movements of both sides had long exceeded what the naked eye could capture.
"This…"
Pakura was already a little stunned.
She had thought her evaluation of Yuu was already high enough. She had not expected him to refresh her understanding once again.
If, a few months ago, Yuu had used swordsmanship of this speed when fighting her…
then she probably would not even have had the chance to fight back before being cut down.
Even now, when Pakura believed her own strength had improved greatly, she did not dare say how long she could last in front of Yuu. If they fought again, the result might be no different from last time—perhaps even more miserable.
Of course…
Yuu from a few months ago had indeed not trained to this level yet.
If not for the fight against Gekkō Shigure helping him unlock the third-stage trait of Hatake Swordsmanship, he probably would not have been able to withstand the three weasel brothers' continuous fierce assault. At the very least, he could not have done it so calmly.
At this moment,
Pakura's amber eyes gradually began to shine, and her thoughts quietly shifted.
To be fair, she did have a vague fondness for Yuu. Otherwise, she would not have gone on this trip to the Death Desert with him. It was just that because of their opposing positions, as well as the age gap between them, Pakura had been consciously suppressing her own feelings.
But now…
it seemed she had been shallow.
With talent and strength like this, age no longer mattered. If she could abduct this white-haired brat back to Sunagakure and make him serve the village…
Pakura felt that she would not be unable to sacrifice a little of her charm to attract him.
After all, judging from their previous encounters, this white-haired brat seemed quite interested in her body. And if the target was Yuu, she would not mind developing a sibling-style romance with him despite the few-year age gap. It sounded rather interesting…
Regardless of what Pakura was thinking,
the battle in the arena continued.
As the intensity of the fight between Yuu and the three weasel brothers kept increasing, the weapons in both sides' hands—whether it was Yuu's White Fang short blade or the scythes held by the three weasels—were beginning to show signs of strain.
The edge of the White Fang short blade trembled violently from repeated friction and impact. The temperature of the blade rose sharply, and it had already begun to glow faintly crimson.
Finally…
at a certain moment, a scorching spark suddenly leapt from the edge of the White Fang short blade.
Then came a second, a third…
This was not Fire Release. It was merely a normal reaction caused by high-intensity physical collisions between metals.
However, these sparks produced by collision actually connected in an instant and joined the silver storm woven from blade energy, like explosives being thrown into boiling oil.
The result was naturally… violent combustion!
"Roar—!"
In a certain instant,
under everyone's gaze, a mass of crimson flame rose out of thin air, unexpectedly transforming into a roaring fire dragon. The diameter of that dragon expanded from one or two meters to seven or eight meters in the blink of an eye, and its height rapidly climbed to nearly twenty meters as it soared into the sky.
The scarlet flames were like layers of dragon scales, while at the top of the flame, the vague silhouette of a ferocious roaring dragon head formed. It carried the body behind it upward with a force that seemed capable of destroying everything.
The searing heat roasted the surrounding air until it glowed red and bright, drowning out the wailing of the wind. One entire wall of the cavern was dyed crimson by the light, and rolling heat waves surged outward.
"Gulp…"
Pakura swallowed hard, awe rising in her heart.
Beside her, the Weasel Great Elder was also frozen in shock, not even noticing when the cane in his hand fell to the ground.
The Great Elder's perception was sharper than most humans and weasels, so he had long noticed that Yuu's chakra strength surpassed Pakura's.
But for humans, chakra strength did not equal combat power. More often, it was just a sign of bloodline, while actual strength was mainly judged by age. So in the Great Elder's expectations, Yuu's strength should have been inferior to Pakura's, or at most about the same.
But now…
How was this "about the same"?
Just in the field of swordsmanship alone, the level Yuu displayed could already be called monstrous, and this seemed to be only the tip of the iceberg. Judging from the scene before him, his Fire-nature chakra affinity was probably extraordinary as well. His Fire Release skill was almost certainly above Pakura's.
This was simply…
a monster!
"Squeak, squeak, squeak—!!!"
Three shrieks, twisted with terror, came from the edge of the flaming storm.
Inside such a terrifying fire tornado, the three weasel brothers could no longer maintain their elementalized state. One after another, they were thrown out while rolling, flames burning in several places across their fur. After landing, they began desperately rolling around, looking utterly miserable. Several other weasels nearby were using stone chips to help pat out the flames.
On Yuu's side, the instant he sensed the three weasel brothers had exited the field, his mind moved.
The violent flames that had shot into the sky seemed to be seized by an invisible giant hand. After letting out an unwilling whimper, they collapsed inward and extinguished at a speed visible to the naked eye. In just one or two breaths, they turned into a faint crimson glow along the blade, then vanished completely.
This exquisite fire-control technique once again drew a wave of astonishment.
Pakura let out a long sigh, fully convinced, and completely lost the desire to compare herself to Yuu.
In addition…
several members of the galgame system reacted at just the right time:
[Great Fireball Technique: Wow, what a beautiful little fire dragon! As expected of little Yuu, you can actually create such fire art using only swordsmanship! So cool! (≧▽≦) (frantically cheering)]
[Phoenix Sage Fire Technique: It's alright. If you added my Light-Flame Bullet and created a little phoenix shape too, that would be even better. After all, there's an old saying in the human world: "Clouds follow the dragon, wind follows the phoenix; dragon and phoenix heroes proudly rule the heavens"… That sparkling look would definitely be dazzling.]
[Dragon Fire Technique: Mikami-kun is amazing!]
[Dragon Fire Technique affection +3. Current affection: 90/100 (Attachment)]
[Hatake Swordsmanship: …Hmph, flashy and unnecessary.]
[Hatake Swordsmanship affection +2.]
"Good grief…"
Yuu's eyes lit up.
He had not expected an unexpected gain.
The affection increase from Hatake Swordsmanship was within Yuu's expectations.
After all, he was currently fighting the three weasel brothers with this swordsmanship and had even displayed an effect that surpassed normal Hatake Swordsmanship. It was only because the three weasel brothers' scythe techniques were not systematic enough and were not recognized as a sword style, otherwise the progress of The World's Greatest Swordsmanship would have increased by one point too.
But the affection increase from Dragon Fire Technique was an unexpected pleasant surprise.
After all, he had not used Fire Release at all.
According to Yuu's estimate, Dragon Fire Technique was probably like Water Wave, a ninjutsu that could be raised to full affection without a "special event." Although the ceiling of this kind of ninjutsu was usually lower than those requiring special events, its advantage was that it could take shape quickly.
And…
if Yuu's guess was correct, three Fire Release techniques at 100 affection could unlock a bond trait. Then even if Dragon Fire Technique's max-affection trait did not change at all, this was still a guaranteed win.
"Hoo…"
Yuu ignored the noise in his mind and refocused his attention. The moment he sheathed his blade, his body flickered and appeared beside the three weasel brothers. He spat out another Water Wave, helping extinguish the remaining flames on their bodies.
These guys had already suffered a bit against Pakura earlier, but they had stubbornly insisted they were fine and refused Yuu's help with treatment. Now, after being burned again, even after the fire was put out, they were still lying on the ground groaning. Their previously beautiful fur was now scorched black and curled, making them look pitiful.
Fortunately…
Yuu let bygones be bygones and activated Mystical Palm Technique to begin treating them.
Although ordinary Mystical Palm Technique did not have a "rollback" effect, as long as the wounds fully healed, these weasels' vitality should allow them to shed this layer of fur and regrow it in a relatively short time.
During this process,
Pakura stood off to the side wrapped in her cloak, looking at Yuu's profile. Her eyes shimmered with strange light.
The Weasel Great Elder, meanwhile, let out a long sigh.
"Remarkable Konoha youth… Among all the human ninja I have seen in my life, I am willing to call your strength the greatest. And you as well, Sunagakure ninja. Both of your strengths have exceeded the standard for signing a contract with our clan. You may become contractors of our clan.
"However…"
"I hope the two of you will treat the descendants of my clan kindly. If possible, please try not to make them participate in battles far beyond their own abilities. Consider this an elder's request."
The latter sentence was mainly directed at Yuu.
After all…
Yuu's strength was already far above the three weasel brothers. The enemies he would face naturally would not be easy opponents either. As the leader of the weasel clan, the Great Elder was somewhat worried that his kin might be used as disposable pawns.
There had been precedents for such things.
"Please rest assured, Great Elder. I know my limits in this regard."
Yuu said with a smile.
Pakura also made a solemn promise.
Next,
the Weasel Great Elder took out an ancient-looking scroll from a hidden compartment beneath his stone bed. It seemed to be made from some kind of dried beast hide. A weasel held it with both hands and brought it before Yuu and Pakura.
As Yuu and Pakura each wrote their names at the end of the scroll, the contract relationship was completed.
[Summoning Technique affection +4. Current affection: 31/100 (Friendly)]
[Summoning Technique: Mm-hm~ congratulations, little white-hair. You've gained another summoned beast. But these few still aren't top-tier in strength, so keep working hard in the future~]
Listening to Summoning Technique's congratulations in his mind, as well as the very real four-point affection increase, the corner of Yuu's mouth curved slightly.
It seemed that subduing new summoned beasts really did help raise Summoning Technique's affection.
In that case, the core objective of this Death Desert trip had been achieved.
Moreover…
from his personal experience, this Wailing Canyon really was an ideal training ground. Whether using the violent wind formation to train movement, as a disguised form of "weight training," or sparring in swordsmanship and Fire Release with the weasels, it would produce twice the result with half the effort.
The only drawback was that he had not discovered this treasure ground earlier. But it was not too late now…
…
After completing the contract,
Yuu and Pakura did not immediately leave. Instead, they stayed in the canyon for about another day.
First, both of them had consumed some energy in the previous battles and needed to rest a little.
The one with actual "consumption" was mainly Pakura. Yuu actually wanted to fight the three weasel brothers a couple more times, but they probably would not be too willing.
Second, they needed to understand the weasel clan's situation. After all, they would need to ask them for help in battle in the future. At the very least, they had to know what these creatures were called, as well as their average strength and upper limit.
This weasel clan had a total "population" of around fifty or sixty.
Excluding the old, weak, women, and children, there were around twenty core individuals who could truly be used in battle.
The Tarōmaru brothers they had fought earlier were considered quite strong, but not the strongest. The strongest weasel was called Kazekirimaru. Supposedly, he was stronger than the three brothers combined. However, he had a solitary personality and spent all year deep in the innermost part of Wailing Canyon, rarely showing himself before the other clansmen.
"Kazekirimaru…"
Yuu memorized the name.
The three weasel brothers were already pretty decent among summoned beasts. If not for elemental countering, they would have been enough to threaten Pakura, a Sunagakure jōnin. Then Kazekirimaru, who could defeat the three of them together, should have strength close to elite jōnin level. He was worth spending some effort to woo.
Of course…
that probably could not be done in just a day or two. There was no need to rush.
As a side note,
among the weasel clan, very few individuals could speak human language. Including the Great Elder, there were fewer than ten in total.
Even among the three brothers, only Tarōmaru could speak relatively fluent human language. Jirōmaru and Saburōmaru could only make simple sounds. Most of the time, they needed Tarōmaru to translate before they could communicate with Yuu and Pakura.
While they were chatting,
several fluffy little weasels bounced over.
They were all about the same size, raising their furry front paws high with some effort as they carried an irregular stone plate over to Yuu and Pakura.
Yuu glanced at it and noticed that the stone plate contained a shallow layer of thick liquid glowing with an emerald sheen. It appeared to be some kind of plant juice and smelled fresh with a slight astringency.
"This is the juice of the Sanddew Cactus."
Tarōmaru pointed with his claw and said, "They are one of the few plants that can grow inside Wailing Canyon. Their juice tastes very good and is helpful for restoring chakra. We usually only take it out during festivals. You two are honored guests of our clan, so please try it."
"Alright."
Yuu and Pakura followed his words and picked up the stone plate, each taking a sip.
The juice felt slightly cool in the mouth, with a unique light sweetness and faint sourness. After sliding into the stomach, it turned into a gentle warm current that gradually spread through the limbs and bones. Both of them felt their spirits lift, and even their chakra circulation became slightly smoother. It was quite marvelous.
"It really is good."
Pakura narrowed her eyes slightly and savored it carefully.
Yuu also nodded, then looked at Tarōmaru and asked, "Are there many of these cacti? Can we… take two plants outside and grow them?"
"Quantity… is alright."
Tarōmaru scratched his ear and squeaked. "But this cactus is already used to the environment inside Wailing Canyon. Humans have tried transplanting it before, but most of them quickly withered. If you want to try, you can dig up one or two when you leave, but don't get your hopes too high."
"Alright."
Yuu nodded, indicating that he had remembered it.
At this point, he and Pakura had more or less understood the basic situation of the weasel clan.
And Pakura's injuries from the trial, as well as the chakra she had consumed, had basically recovered.
So,
Yuu and Pakura found an opportunity to bid farewell to the Weasel Great Elder.
The Tarōmaru brothers volunteered to escort them.
"Escort?"
Yuu raised an eyebrow. "Are there other dangers in Wailing Canyon?"
"It's the violent wind formation."
Tarōmaru waved his paws around as he explained. "Our weasel clan is born with the ability to control wind. We can help open a path for you, so you won't have to suffer the wind and sand on the way out… If you want to experience what it felt like when you came in again, then forget it."
"…Then we'll trouble you again."
Although Yuu intended to use the violent wind formation to train his chakra, there was no need to start right now.
In any case, with the summoning contract in place, if he wanted to come here again, a single Reverse Summoning could send him over. There was no need to spend so much effort this time. It was better to return quickly in case something changed over at Kikyo City.
At once,
Yuu and Pakura left the rock wall cavern. The three weasel brothers followed beside them, working together to open a windless area two or three meters wide, isolating them from the violent sand and hurricane. This allowed the two of them to walk as if on flat ground, and they quickly arrived at the outer edge of Wailing Canyon.
Outside, there were still endless sand dunes, and the sunlight was still blinding, but the wind had already weakened greatly.
"This is far enough. Thank you."
Yuu and Pakura thanked the three brothers.
Tarōmaru waved his paw to show it was nothing, then prepared to lead his younger brothers back into the depths of the canyon.
At that moment, the usually quiet Jirōmaru suddenly stopped. His nose twitched, his fur faintly bristled, and urgent, alert squeaks came from his throat, as if warning them of something.
"Hm? What does that mean?"
Yuu and Pakura looked at each other.
Tarōmaru listened carefully to Jirōmaru's cries. A serious look flashed through his soybean-sized eyes as he translated, "Jirōmaru says that behind that sand dune over there, something seems to be approaching. It's very fast, and… it seems hostile."
Almost at the same moment Tarōmaru finished speaking, a figure clearly appeared atop the distant sand dune.
That person stood on the ridge of sand with his back to the dazzling sunlight, making his figure look somewhat indistinct. He seemed to be observing them from above. The sunlight stretched a long shadow behind him, carrying a silent pressure.
Pakura narrowed her eyes and tried to observe the person's outline. When she caught sight of that distinctive bright red hair, her pupils suddenly contracted.
"Sasori…?!"
An unbelievable name appeared in Pakura's mind.
This… how was this possible?!
Wasn't that guy missing together with the Third Kazekage?!
Or was this someone else who just happened to have red hair?!
Pakura's faint hope was quickly dispelled, because the figure on the sand dune moved.
He took one step after another, walking toward Wailing Canyon. As the distance closed, that handsome, delicate, puppet-like youthful face clearly entered Yuu and Pakura's eyes.
It was none other than Sunagakure's young genius, former member of the Kazekage's guard unit, Sasori of the Red Sand.
"Mm…"
Speaking of which, why wasn't this guy hiding inside Hiruko?
That thought briefly surfaced in Yuu's mind, then he understood.
That's right.
When Sasori appeared in the original story, it was already the Shippuden period, nearly twenty years after he defected from Sunagakure. By then, Sasori had long since sealed away his heart and completed the transformation of his own body.
But now, the timeline was still during the Third Ninja World War.
According to the timeline, Sasori had only just killed the Third Kazekage and defected from Sunagakure not long ago. Naturally, he had not had enough time to carry out that shocking puppet transformation on himself. So right now, he still appeared in "human" form.
~~~
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