This was completely different from the earlier situation where the Village Hidden in the Sand and Village Hidden in the Cloud had declared war one after another, allowing Konoha to rotate its forces and respond to each enemy individually.
Facing the full-front pressure of two of the Five Great Ninja Villages at once, while also guarding against potential changes from the other villages, even Konoha would inevitably be stretched thin and reveal massive openings.
This time, the chances were very high!
Rasa pondered for a long time before issuing an order to the staff member standing quietly nearby: "Go notify Jonin Pakura! Tell her to put aside all current matters and come see me immediately at full speed!"
"Yes, Kazekage-sama!"
A short while later, a tall woman with a graceful, cold demeanor walked into the Kazekage's office.
"Kazekage-sama, you summoned me?"
Rasa looked at the female Jonin, Pakura, before him, who possessed both the Scorch Style and Quick Style Kekkei Genkais and held considerable prestige within the village. Suppressing the trace of complicated emotion in his heart, he handed her a document and spoke: "Pakura, represent me on a diplomatic mission to the Village Hidden in the Mist."
"Yes, Kazekage-sama."
Pakura accepted the order and turned decisively to leave.
The Kazekage's office fell silent once more.
Rasa raised his head and looked toward the enormous Shinobi World map hanging on the wall, his gaze growing increasingly cold.
...…
Two days later, the Land of Takumi, Takumi Village.
Whoosh!
A swift figure moved through the village's crisscrossing alleys and towering smelting chimneys at incredible speed, fast as the wind, yet strangely making very little sound.
The figure slashed fiercely through the air with one leg, sending out an incomparably condensed and razor-sharp pale cyan wind blade that tore through the air toward the white-haired figure ahead!
Storm Blade!
The one attacking was none other than Shinichi.
Their visit to Takumi Village had been an incredible coincidence. The moment they arrived, they ran straight into Seimei, the village's genius craftsman and Jonin, who was leading part of the radical faction in a coup to seize control of Takumi Village.
Tsunade originally had no intention of interfering in another village's internal affairs, but after Shinichi carefully observed the several oddly shaped weapons in Seimei's hands, an idea formed in his mind.
He immediately sought out the current upper leadership of Takumi Village, who were desperately struggling to hold on, and proposed his conditions.
They could help suppress this internal rebellion, stabilize Takumi Village's situation, and ensure Konoha's order transfers and future cooperation would not be affected.
In return, Takumi Village would provide Konoha with the most favorable friendship prices and delivery priority on this and future orders, while also offering convenience in certain technical consultations.
At the same time, Shinichi clearly stated that the dangerous tools used by the radical leader, Seimei, would be considered spoils of war obtained during the suppression. According to Shinobi World conventions, they rightfully belonged to the suppressors, and Takumi Village would not be allowed to reclaim them.
Facing internal chaos and external threats, with their village on the verge of collapse, Takumi Village's higher-ups barely hesitated before agreeing.
Thus, the current battle came to be.
"Damn Konoha ninja! Stop meddling in other people's affairs! Get lost!"
Seeing his supposedly foolproof coup plan suddenly encounter complications, Seimei was furious beyond measure.
At this moment, he wore the Infinite Armour, held the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords in his left hand while gripping the Fire Sword in his right.
Most bizarre of all was the Dark Sword floating behind him as if it possessed life. Its azure blue blade trembled slightly, like three venomous snake tails poised to strike.
Facing the gigantic wind blade slashed out by Shinichi, Seimei's eyes turned cold as he violently swung the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords forward with his left hand!
"Wind Style: Wind Slash!"
The green light on the sword blades suddenly surged explosively, and an equally condensed pale cyan wind blade burst forth, matching Shinichi's Storm Blade in both speed and power as it shot directly toward it!
Boom!!!
The two enormous green wind lights collided violently in midair!
An ear-piercing explosion like tearing metal erupted as a terrifying spherical shockwave spread wildly in every direction, directly blowing the roofs off several nearby workshops. Smoke mixed with chaotic air currents surged into the sky.
At the very instant when the smoke and light from the explosion became most dazzling, the Dark Sword behind Seimei suddenly activated.
"Dragon Eye Fang Release!"
Following Seimei's low shout, the trident-like structure on the sword hilt emitted a blinding light.
The slightly longer central blade and the two shorter side blades seemed to gain life, rapidly extending, deforming, and intertwining. In the blink of an eye, they transformed into three ferocious giant dragons entirely composed of blue chakra!
In the distance, Tsunade stood with folded arms atop one of Takumi Village's unique furnace platforms while quietly overlooking the duel.
Shizune and Kurenai Yuhi stood beside her, their expressions tense.
With one of the Sannin taking action, Seimei's subordinates had quickly been subdued, leaving only the current battle.
"Tsunade-sensei, aren't we helping Shinichi?" Kurenai Yuhi could not help but ask softly.
"Just watch quietly."
Tsunade answered calmly, "That kid is far stronger than you can imagine. Right now, instead of fighting, he's practically using this guy as a whetstone to test the new Wind Style Nintaijutsu techniques he recently came up with. If he really wanted to end this quickly, he would've already taken that guy below down."
As if to confirm Tsunade's words, Shinichi remained calm while facing the roaring blue chakra dragons charging toward him. His footwork resembled a butterfly weaving among flowers, his figure drifting like willow catkins in the wind as he merged into the surrounding chaotic air currents, bringing the lightness and predictive ability of Quick Step to the absolute limit. At every critical instant, he narrowly avoided the chakra dragons' lunges, bites, and tail sweeps by mere fractions of an inch.
At the same time, while flashing and maneuvering, his figure continuously closed the distance between himself and Seimei's real body.
The moment he reached a certain range, Shinichi's right fist shot out like a cannon shell as he punched fiercely toward Seimei from afar!
An extremely condensed transparent shockwave, as though compressing the air itself into a solid artillery shell, roared through the atmosphere toward Seimei!
Dream Bullet: Focus!
A strengthened variation that condensed Dream Bullet's scattered strikes into a single-point breakthrough.
"Wind Style: Wind Reversal!"
Seimei's pupils contracted slightly, but he did not panic. The Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords in his left hand crossed in a strange arc as they proactively met the incoming shockwave.
This was the unique ability belonging exclusively to the Weaknessless Soaring Shortswords.
When striking Wind Style or similar attacks along a specific trajectory and chakra frequency, they could forcibly twist and reverse the attack's wind chakra structure and impact direction, reflecting it back!
Sure enough, the fierce Dream Bullet halted abruptly the instant it touched the green light at the crossing point of the twin swords, as though it had slammed into an invisible wall possessing strange elasticity.
Then it actually reversed direction, reflecting back along its original path at nearly the same speed!
However, there was already no one there.