novelraw Chapter 146 - 146
Chapter 146 - 146
"I'm really looking forward to this. I want to see Shiki-kun's abilities with my own eyes."
Orochimaru said it with a faint smile, genuine curiosity flickering in his eyes. Shiki had already shown many things before, but even Orochimaru had never truly seen the extent of his power.
"That's going to disappoint you."
Shiki casually rolled his wrist after drawing his swords. His expression remained calm, almost bored.
"With trash like this, I don't even need to get serious."
Orochimaru only smiled slightly.
He neither doubted him nor thought he was full of himself... what Shiki said was nothing but truth.
Behind them, Nara Shikaku and the others all stepped back in tacit understanding, clearly prepared to hand the field over to Shiki.
"Arrogant Bastard!"
The monks of the Fire Temple were not exactly known for patience. Even though they were monks, very few of them had good tempers to begin with.
And now Shiki was standing there, planning to face all of them alone.
To the people of the Fire Temple, that was nothing less than open contempt.
Not just the Twelve Guardian Ninja—even the monks who had come with them were glaring at Shiki in fury.
The daimyō directly waved his hand and shouted,
"Kill him!"
At that command, everyone from the Fire Temple moved at once.
Unlike the noisy samurai, the Fire Temple's men were at least disciplined. Led by the Twelve Guardian Ninja, the other monks quickly rushed toward Shiki as well.
"Ignorant."
A bunch of frogs at the bottom of a well. Did they really think this level of strength could threaten him?
Shiki raised both blades.
A cold glint flashed across his indifferent face.
"Cleave!"
Two golden slashes tore through the air and shot straight toward the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
"W-What?!"
They did not even have time to react.
The sword energy had already cut through the crowd. Every monk caught in its path was sliced apart where they stood.
What kind of power was this?
For a brief moment, they were stunned.
But reality gave them no time to think.
Shiki had already moved again, swinging his sword once more.
"Lion's Might — Severance!"
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Explosions rang out one after another.
The once-pristine daimyō estate was instantly torn apart by the rampaging sword energy.
As for the Fire Temple's people?
What kind of joke was that?
This level of sword energy could not even be stopped by the Third Raikage's strongest defense, much less by a bunch of monks.
"So strong!"
"Is this the legendary sword energy?!"
"As expected of the Golden Lion!"
Some of the Konoha ninja present had seen it before. Others had not.
But at this moment, every one of them was stunned.
That kind of destructive force was overwhelming no matter how many times you saw it.
"As expected of Shiki-kun."
Orochimaru smiled faintly.
A one-sided fight like this would not reveal Shiki's true strength, but even so, what was on display now was already enough to make Orochimaru wary.
He believed he could also wipe out the Fire Temple's group.
But he certainly would not be able to do it as easily as Shiki.
"How... how is this possible?! How can he be this strong?!"
One of the surviving monks half-knelt on the ground, staring at Shiki in disbelief.
The other party had not even moved from where he stood.
Just a few casual swings of the sword... and they were finished.
What kind of ridiculous power was this?
"Too noisy."
Shiki had no interest in explaining anything.
He swung again.
Under the flash of sword light, the remaining survivors from the Fire Temple fell one after another.
In the blink of an eye, only the daimyō was left.
"T-This…"
His mind went blank again.
The daimyō simply could not understand it.
How could this young man in front of him be this strong?
His samurai were gone.
The Fire Temple's forces were gone.
Everything was gone.
"Y-You...!"
When he noticed Shiki's gaze settling on him, the daimyō nearly collapsed from fear.
"You can't touch me! I'm the daimyō!"
At this point, that title was the only thing he had left.
It was the only thing he could think of that might make Shiki stop.
Unfortunately for him, if Shiki feared the status of a daimyō, he never would have come here in the first place.
"I think you've forgotten something."
Shiki looked at him coldly.
"If Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara hadn't possessed enough power to suppress the entire world, there would be no such thing as a daimyō in the first place."
If this were still the chaotic Warring States Era, where would daimyō even stand?
"This ninja world has always depended on strength."
Power.
That was the foundation of everything.
Without it, what was a weak man's status worth?
A flash of the blade.
The daimyō's face, frozen in the middle of begging for mercy, remained locked in that expression forever.
At that point, the daimyō's estate was completely destroyed.
Shiki sheathed both of his swords.
Only then did Nara Shikaku walk back to his side.
"Lord Shiki."
"Mm."
Shiki gave a small nod, glanced around once, then looked toward Shikaku.
"Has the new daimyō been arranged?"
Inside Konoha, it was not as though there were no people capable of handling political or financial matters.
It was just that none of them had the time.
"..."
For shinobi, strength was what mattered most.
Who would willingly waste time on something like business?
"It's already been arranged," Shikaku replied. "It's this daimyō's younger brother. His succession is legitimate, so there won't be any issues."
"Good."
Shiki's tone remained indifferent.
"As long as he knows how to obey."
This daimyō had been far too presumptuous.
Did he really think being a daimyō made him some untouchable existence?
One backhanded slap from reality was enough to wake him up.
Shikaku, who understood Shiki's temperament well, was not surprised at all. He simply nodded.
"Lord Shiki, even if we say nothing, the new daimyō won't dare act like the previous one."
What kind of joke was that?
As long as the new daimyō had even a little brains, he would never dare mess with Konoha.
Otherwise, the outcome would only be the same.
Complete destruction.
"Mm."
Shiki nodded in satisfaction and said nothing more.
Then he waved a hand toward the other ninja nearby.
"Alright. The mission is complete. Prepare to head back."
"Yes, Lord Shiki!"
They all answered at once.
In truth, the mission they had come for today was simply to deal with the samurai.
Everything else had been resolved by Shiki alone.
Bringing this many jōnin had honestly been overkill.
At that moment, Orochimaru, who had already finished dealing with the experimental subjects, walked over as well.
"Did you get them?"
"Mm. They've all been stored in the summoning realm."
Orochimaru nodded.
There were too many of them for him to drag back one by one, so he had temporarily stored them in the summoning realm and left them under the watch of his summoned snakes.
There should not be any problems.
Shiki glanced at him.
"You're not worried Manda will just eat them all?"
After all, Manda liking human flesh was hardly a secret.
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