"How about we strike a deal, Lord Kazekage?"
Kazama Kyo smirked coquettishly, her tone as playful as a streetwalker haggling with a customer.
"Oh? A deal? Let's hear it."
Jinghang raised an eyebrow. At this moment, time was his greatest enemy. If he could stall for even a second longer, he would do so.
"Here's the deal: let us borrow a tailed beast from Sunagakure for three months. Once we're done, we'll return it to you intact, along with a handsome rental fee. How does that sound?"
"Hmm? There's a fee involved? Let me think about it."
Feigning contemplation, Jinghang made a subtle hand gesture behind his back, signaling to his left rear.
"How about you write me a promissory note first? Words alone don't count for much."
To Jinghang's surprise, Kazama Kyo actually pulled out a piece of paper, knelt on one knee, and began scribbling on it using her thigh as a makeshift desk. She quickly finished, folded the paper into a paper airplane, and tossed it playfully toward Jinghang. The paper airplane flew straight to him with precision—a clear indication of her skill with throwing weapons like kunai.
Jinghang caught it and unfolded the note:
I hereby borrow one tailed beast from Sunagakure, to be returned in three months.
"Oh, so that's her name," Jinghang muttered, realizing he had just learned her name for the first time.
"And how do we calculate the rental fee?"
"And what if your Iwagakure reneges on the agreement?"
"How about I stay here as collateral? You can do whatever you want with me."
"No way. You're not worth that much."
"Ah, Lord Kazekage, you're so heartless..."
"You killed people in my village!"
"And didn't you just kill some of ours?"
"You killed twenty-four of us in one go, while I only killed nine."
"Well, what's done is done. What do you propose we do about it?"
"How about this: you pick thirteen people from your side and have them commit seppuku in front of me. Then we'll call it even."
"These are elite jonin!"
"And we have elite construction crews!"
Almost simultaneously, the two adversaries' expressions shifted, and they shouted commands to their respective allies. Their seemingly trivial banter had been nothing more than a smokescreen to mask their preparations for an attack.
Before the echoes of their voices had even faded, the battlefield erupted into chaos. Five Iwagakure ninjas suddenly collapsed, each with a small red dot on their necks—clearly the handiwork of Kamizuru Heiji. Swarms of red bees surged toward the Iwagakure forces, forcing the remaining ninjas to counter with Fire Release techniques to fend them off.
Meanwhile, a massive figure burst out from underground beneath Jinghang's feet. The man stood over two meters tall, with a bulbous nose, beady eyes, and arms so long they nearly reached his knees. His forearms were as thick as thighs. Before Jinghang could react, the giant man wrapped his arms around him from behind, squeezing with such force that Jinghang felt as though his ribs might snap. He struggled to break free but found himself unable to summon his chakra to manipulate the iron sand.
"Hahaha! Can't use your iron sand, can you?" Kazama Kyo laughed triumphantly. "This is Jueyue, and the sealing technique etched into his arms—Form Rings—was left behind by the First Tsuchikage himself. As long as he doesn't let go, you won't be able to use chakra. Enjoy the sensation of your chest being crushed!"
Jinghang could feel his ribs creaking under the pressure, his chest on the verge of collapse. He cursed himself for his arrogance—he hadn't even used his sage mode, lightning armor, summoning techniques, or Rasengan. What a humiliating defeat!
Kamizuru Heiji, now fully exposed, abandoned his cover and redirected his swarm of bees away from the Iwagakure ninjas to rescue Jinghang.
But Kazama Kyo was quick to react. With a single Dust Release technique, she conjured a massive cubic barrier, trapping all the bees in one fell swoop.
Heiji's eyes burned with fury. Drawing his ninja blade, he charged toward Jueyue, only to be intercepted by a barrage of Earth Release: Earth Walls and Swamp of the Underworld techniques from the surrounding Iwagakure ninjas. Heiji found himself mired in his own struggle.
As Jinghang began to lose consciousness, a figure descended from above. Chikei Kōjin, who had been lying in ambush atop the valley, landed squarely on Jueyue's shoulders. With a Damascus short blade in hand, he drove the weapon deep into Jueyue's carotid artery.
Jueyue instinctively released Jinghang, one hand clutching the gushing wound on his neck while the other flailed wildly behind him, trying to grab Kōjin.
Ordinarily, an enemy in Kōjin's position would be out of reach. But Jueyue was no ordinary man; his unnaturally long arms allowed him to pinpoint Kōjin's location by sound and feel. With a swipe of his claw-like fingers, Jueyue's index finger pierced Kōjin's right eye, bursting it in its socket.
Kōjin screamed in agony and fell to the ground, unconscious from the pain. Moments later, Jueyue's massive body collapsed as well. With his carotid artery severed, death was inevitable.
Jinghang knelt on the ground, clutching his nearly broken ribs. He glanced at the unconscious Kōjin and the trapped Heiji, then fixed his gaze on Kazama Kyo, his eyes radiating a murderous intent that sent shivers down her spine.
"This... is your... own doing," Jinghang growled through gritted teeth.
The chilling glare in his eyes made even the battle-hardened Kazama Kyo falter.
Jinghang bit his finger, smeared the blood onto his palm, and slammed it onto the ground.
With a loud "poof," a cloud of white smoke erupted. When it cleared, three weasels stood before him—one with a single eye, another with a fiery red coat, and the third as black as ink.
"Hmm, summoning all three of us at once? Looks like a big fight's brewing," said Bark, the one-eyed weasel.
Jinghang pointed to the unconscious Kōjin and the trapped Heiji.
"Please, protect these two for me, great lords."
With that, he roared, lightning crackling around his body, and charged into the midst of the Iwagakure forces.
"It's you!" Kazama Kyo suddenly recalled. "You're the thief who raided the Iwagakure outpost and escaped!"
By now, Jinghang was wreaking havoc among the Iwagakure ninjas, surrounded by six massive, spinning iron spheres. These Iron Sand Truth-Seeking Orbs served as both shields and platforms, capable of launching iron sand spears and spikes for devastating attacks.
The Iwagakure ninjas retaliated with a barrage of jutsu, but Jinghang deflected them all with his iron spheres. Forming a Rasenshuriken in his hand, he hurled it into the fray. Seven or eight Iwagakure ninjas combined their efforts to erect Earth Release: Earth Core Walls to block it, but the Rasenshuriken tore through the barriers, exploding in their midst.
Realizing the danger of Jinghang's wide-area attacks, the Iwagakure ninjas spread out to avoid being caught in his destructive range. They unleashed Earth Release techniques to hinder his movements.
At that moment, Jinghang's expression shifted. Activating Sage Mode, his lightning armor turned a brilliant blue-gold, and his movements became nearly imperceptible. He became a whirlwind of blue, gold, and black, mercilessly cutting down one Iwagakure ninja after another.
"Impressive! He's already entered Sage Mode. Such talent!" Bark praised. The other two weasels, one red and one black, nodded in agreement.
"Lightened Boulder Jutsu!"
Kazama Kyo soared into the air, forming hand seals as she prepared her next attack.
"Dust Release: Detachment of the Primitive World Technique!"
A massive cylindrical barrier descended toward Jinghang from above. Though he dodged with agility, the barrier relentlessly pursued him.
"So, you think flying makes you untouchable?" Jinghang smirked.
Standing atop one of his iron spheres, he launched himself into the air, heading straight for Kazama Kyo!
New Chapter live! updated to Chapter 124
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