Malphegor
patreon
GSiN: Ch. 71
🕑 Added 2025-04-20 21:41:45 +0000 UTC---Ryouma's POV---
My explanation was easy to understand, even Guy grasped it instantly. He exclaimed, "So that's how it's resolved!"
"Amazing."
In moments of post-battle victory speeches like this, there was never a shortage of enthusiastic hype-men.
Guy's teammates still seemed to be processing what they'd witnessed. One of them turned to the other, his voice tinged with disbelief.
"I can't believe we actually..."
Guy grinned and said, "See? I told you the stories weren't exaggerated!"
By this time, I had already completed the summoning ritual. I unfurled the sealing scroll fully, and carefully laid out several swords, including Samehada, across the unfurled scroll and began to rapidly form hand seals.
As the seals were completed, the tadpole-like characters on the scroll began to glow.
"Seal!"
One by one, the seven ninja swords were sealed into the scroll, each stored within a specially drawn diamond-shaped area, leaving behind stylized depictions of the sealed blades.
With the jutsu complete, I packed away my tools.
Turning back to regard Guy and the others, I studied their faces more carefully.
I remembered that though we weren't in the same class back in the Academy.
Closing my eyes and thinking back, I said, "I remember, Guy, you guys were in Chōza's team, right?"
Guy replied, "Yeah, but Chōza-sensei said the frontlines against Kumo were under heavy pressure, so he went to the battlefield in the Land of Hot Water."
I nodded, processing this information.
That kind of situation wasn't uncommon. Not just Chōza, many jonin like my own instructor, had to rotate to different battlefields and couldn't always stay with their teams.
"So why did you end up on the Kiri front?" I asked. "This sector was specifically restricted to chunin-level teams and above by the mission assignment office."
"Uh, we…" Guy suddenly looked awkward, rubbing the back of his neck.
His teammates glanced at each other. Genma started, "Our mission parameters were—" before Ebisu cut in, "It was a simple escort mission that got complicated."
Alright, no need to ask further.
Just one look at the sheepish expressions on Guy and the others' faces, and I could guess, they had probably taken on a mission beyond their capabilities for some reason or another.
"Being a ninja is inherently a dangerous profession, especially in wartime," I said. "Running into fearsome enemies like the Seven Ninja Swordsmen during a mission is something no one can really predict."
"You're not going to report us?" Guy asked.
"Would it change the outcome? You survived, that's the important part," I replied. "Just be more aware of your limitations next time."
There was no need to blame them too harshly. Throughout our exchange, Duy had remained uncharacteristically silent, his eyes fixed on me with a strange intensity. His hands trembled slightly at his sides.
Suddenly, his eyes welled with tears that spilled down his weathered cheeks.
He was overcome with emotion. "This… this is the spirit of youth!"
He gripped my shoulders, his voice breaking. "To face the Seven Swordsmen alone, to protect others without hesitation, to demonstrate such POWER while maintaining such YOUTH!"
"I was just doing my job," I said, taking a small step back from his emotional outburst.
"This is exactly what I've been trying to teach Guy!" Duy continued, tears flowing freely. "That true strength comes from protecting others! That limitations can be overcome with sufficient effort!"
"You should return to the village and report this encounter," I said, redirecting the conversation to practical matters. "The intelligence about the Seven Swordsmen being eliminated needs to reach command quickly."
"What about you?" Guy asked. "Aren't you coming back too?"
I shook my head. "I have additional objectives to complete on this front before I return."
"Shouldn't someone escort you back?" one of Guy's teammates suggested. "After using so much chakra..."
I smiled. "I'm fine."
Since Guy and his team had to return to the village to report on their mission, Duy naturally accompanied his son. Guy bowed deeply. "Thank you for saving our lives. We would have died without your intervention."
His teammates followed suit. "Thank you, Ryouma."
Duy gave a formal bow. "The village often speaks of your exploits, but witnessing them firsthand... Konoha is fortunate to have you."
"There's no need for such formality," I said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "We're all ninjas of Konoha."
After exchanging a few brief words of farewell, I turned and walked away alone.
---Third POV---
As Ryouma's retreating figure grew smaller in the distance, Guy made a firm resolve. He turned to his father and declared, "Dad! I swear, one day I'll be like him, using my own strength to protect my comrades and our village!"
"That's a pretty high bar," Genma said skeptically. "He just defeated the Seven Swordsmen like they were academy students."
Guy remained undeterred. "Then I'll just train harder! Double my regimen! No, triple it!"
Hearing his son's passionate words, Duy grinned. "That's the true spirit of youth. Let's run back to the village on our hands!"
"Yes!" Guy's eyes burned with fire. "And if we cannot make it back by sunset, I'll do one thousand push-ups with my thumbs!"
"And if you cannot do one thousand push-ups with your thumbs," Duy countered, "I will run five hundred laps around the village, backwards!"
With Guy's two teammates watching in astonishment, the two green beasts of youth dashed, hands on the ground, legs in the air, toward the village. Or rather... crawled?
"Should we try to stop them?" Genma sighed.
"Would it make any difference?" Ebisu resignedly.
All in all, as Guy's teammates, they were pretty used to this kind of thing by now.
---Ryouma's POV---
Meanwhile, after parting ways with them, I searched for a while in the direction the Seven Swordsmen had originally appeared from.
I extended my senses to their maximum range, searching for any hint of additional Kiri forces that might have been supporting the Swordsmen.
After confirming there were no survivors, I used the Flying Thunder God Technique to return directly to the frontline camp of the Kiri battlefield. The distinctive ripple of space-time folded around me as I visualized the marker at the camp, the forest blurring into streaks of green and brown before resolving into the familiar surroundings of the forward base.
The first thing I did upon arriving at the camp was head directly for the Intelligence Division's tent.
"Priority intelligence delivery for the Yamanaka team," I told the guard at the entrance.
The guard recognized me immediately. "Of course, Ryouma-san. They're all inside."
I handed over the scroll containing the bodies of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen to the Yamanaka clan's ninja stationed there.
Inside, I unrolled the storage scroll across a clear table, forming three quick hand seals before pressing my palm to the central matrix.
"Release."
As the scroll was unsealed, a cloud of smoke dispersed, revealing seven not-very-intact corpses inside the Interrogation Division's body storage room.
I believed I had been careful not to damage their heads when I struck them down. Technically, that should mean the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques would still work on them.
However, I noticed the reactions of the three Yamanaka clan members seemed... off.
One of them, a young man around twenty stammered, "Y-You're saying... t-these corpses are... are those..."
The oldest one, who had a small tuft of beard on his chin, stroked it thoughtfully. "Impossible. They never operate without at least a dozen support squads." He suddenly covered his cheeks and shouted wide-eyed, "The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist!!!"
Honestly, his expression had been totally serious until he suddenly yelled like that, it actually startled me a bit. Even when the swordsmen were alive, they hadn't managed to surprise me like this.
"Yes, that's what I just—" I tried to respond, but was cut off.
The only woman among them pressed her hands together, eyes shining as she stared, um, stared excitedly at the seven blood-soaked corpses and exclaimed, "Did you defeat them all by yourself? This is incredible, ah no, it's amazing!"
"I encountered them threatening a genin team and neutralized the threat," I said simply, uncomfortable with her enthusiasm.
She bent closer to examine the bodies. "The cellular structure is still fresh! The chakra pathways are barely degraded! These will yield exceptional intelligence!"
My mouth twitched. These Yamanaka clan interrogation specialists sure had some unique personalities, or maybe it was just a common thing for people in the Interrogation Division to be a little... off.
The first one excitedly added, "The memory extraction will be incredibly clean with these specimens!"
The old one suddenly switched to a professional tone. "Miki, prepare the preservation seals. Shinji, get the extraction equipment ready."
"We'll need to document everything meticulously, Naruki" Miki said, almost reverently.
"I should report to the commander," I said, backing away subtly. "Will you need anything else from me?"
"No, no. We'll handle everything from here," Naruki replied distractedly.
And that's my cue to leave before they start asking for detailed accounts of how I killed each one.
After leaving the Interrogation Division, I hummed a little tune to myself as I strolled through the camp. Mission complete. Time for some actual rest, I thought, stretching my arms above my head.
I'd decided to give myself a break today, not in the mood to play the game of cat and mouse with the Kiri ninjas anymore.
Besides, with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen dead and after several months of sweeping operations, the Kiri battlefield was more or less decided.
However, unlike the battle in the Land of Rivers, where Suna could still muster a major counteroffensive despite the unfavorable situation, Kiri couldn't do the same. That was because there were no sufficiently large neutral nations between the two countries to serve as a buffer. Kiri's invasion strategy had always relied on small, covert squads.
This had definitely caused considerable damage to the Land of Fire, but the flip side was that anytime Kiri tried to deploy larger forces, Konoha could react quickly and send reinforcements.
In an all-out landing battle, Konoha had never really feared the Kiri. Even if Kiri managed to land troops successfully, their logistics and supply lines would be far less convenient compared to Konoha, which had home-ground advantage.
In short, I wanted out. I had volunteered to come to Kiri front for the express purpose of eliminating the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Now that I'd done that, and with the battlefield advantage clearly in Konoha's favor, my personal mission was complete.
Especially after hearing from Guy that Chōza had been dispatched to the Land of Hot Water frontlines because of an emergency situation there, I began seriously considering heading over to help out Minato and Kakashi's team.
Sigh, this damned sense of responsibility.
Still, considering how much of Konoha's advantage on the Kiri front depended on me alone, and how difficult it would be to escalate into full-scale warfare, I couldn't just up and leave immediately.
So, I came up with a plan: I would wait for the merchant ship I had previously marked with my Flying Thunder God to reach the Land of Water, then teleport there and capture the Three-Tails. I would then release it near Kiri, delivering a major blow to them.
That way, I could decisively wrap up the Kiri front and no longer need to remain stationed there.
Then I could head to the Land of Hot Water to reinforce that battlefield. And if things went well with Minato's coordination, using Flying Thunder God and sealing techniques together, there was a good chance we could capture Killer B alive.
Which would effectively bring the war against Kumo to a swift end as well.
Besides... I really didn't like Kiri anyway.
