Chapter 29: Evil Spirit

"Ryosuke, Ryosuke!"

Magistrate Senmura took half a step back, shielding everyone behind him.

The name Ryosuke had already spread throughout the Land of Water. Magistrate Senmura hadn't expected Ryosuke to appear within his jurisdiction, much less to barge in like this.

After shock... came wild joy!

If he could assist the two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen in killing Ryosuke, it would absolutely be a great achievement.

The money Senmura had been offering the daimyo had long been sufficient; the reason he had not been promoted was due to lacking a "merit" that could convince the public.

Now that merit had delivered itself to his door.

'Incredible luck, absolute incredible luck!'

Magistrate Senmura gave a ninja named Fuguchi an order, "Assist the two lords and kill the traitor Ryosuke!"

"Yes!"

Fuguchi drew his ninja blade, crouched his body. On the other side, two or three guards ran off to notify the samurai and guards stationed in the county to gather.

Momochi Zabuza hoisted the Kubikiribōchō, "You are Ryosuke? The rogue ninja from Konoha... do you know Might Duy?"

Ryosuke had no intention of answering. The longer the time dragged on, the more reinforcements of samurai and ninjas would arrive.

"Kill one first!"

Ryosuke took a deep breath, Ripple energy swirling. The horse beneath him neighed again, steam spraying from its mouth and nostrils.

Ryosuke pulled the reins. The horse leapt over the broken wall, charging like a war chariot, heading directly for Magistrate Senmura cowering at the rear.

"Brat, you're underestimating me too much."

Zabuza's sinister voice rang in Ryosuke's ear, followed by a slicing sound, the Kubikiribōchō spun wide, slashing toward Ryosuke.

But Ryosuke didn't even look at him. He said calmly, "Is there a problem?"

Zabuza heard this, and a surge of rage rose up. His blade swung faster than usual.

That was the moment Ryosuke had been waiting for.

Star Platinum suddenly appeared and punched forward, while Ryosuke, gripping his massive blade with both hands, slashed from another direction.

One man and one Stand launched a pincer attack on Zabuza.

What Ryosuke meant by "kill one first" wasn't referring to Magistrate Senmura.

That kind of "official" could be killed any time.

What mattered were Zabuza and Kurosuki Raiga.

As long as he could kill one of them first, this battle tonight would be much easier.

Clang!

The blades clashed, a resonating wave of blade song ringing out.

Two long blades with reverse edges clashed against Ryosuke's horizontal slash.

It was Kurosuki Raiga.

Blue currents flickered across his skin. Skilled in Lightning Release ninjutsu, Kurosuki Raiga used the Thunder Blade, Fang to unleash ultra-high speed in battle.

Raiga sneered coldly, "You killed that useless Fuguki guy, and it seems it's gone to your head. I'll now..."

Before he finished speaking, he heard a sizzling sound.

He saw silver-white flames spraying from the back of Ryosuke's massive bandage-wrapped sword. The bandages were instantly burned away.

A straight, massive, sharply-angled, entirely pitch-black greatsword appeared before everyone's eyes.

At that moment, an ever-growing, overwhelming power beyond human imagination surged from the blade, pressing so hard that Kurosuki Raiga couldn't breathe.

"This… what kind of sword is this?!"

Black Blade, Ruin.

Crafted by Sword Grandpa, the Ruin Greatsword had 108 meridian channels inside, mimicking the human body's Ripple breathing.

When Ripple energy was infused, it received exponential amplification. Ryosuke didn't know swordsmanship, this was pure crushing through power, speed, and reaction.

Kurosuki Raiga lasted less than half a second before being sent flying.

Fuguchi, who had just been about to charge forward to help, froze in place.

One blow.

He hadn't expected that, in a 2-on-1, a member of the legendary Seven Ninja Swordsmen couldn't even withstand a single strike from Ryosuke before being sent flying.

'This is too terrifying!'

While airborne, Raiga barely stabilized his posture. He waved Thunder Blade, Fang, sending two arcs of silver lightning upward.

That was the Thunder Blade, Fang's power, it could generate and control lightning.

BOOM!

Rumble!~

Thunder roared. A bolt of lightning landed in Raiga's hand.

Ryosuke glanced at him.

'Isn't this just a lightning rod?'

Raiga raised his blade high, lightning flickering across it. As he landed, he stabbed it into the ground.

"Lightning Burial, Feast of Lightning!"

Arcs of electricity crawled along the ground, like vipers striking toward Ryosuke.

Fuguchi also snapped out of it, formed hand seals, and summoned three winged ninja wolves from his back. The wolves howled and charged together.

Raiga stared at Ryosuke.

His goal wasn't to kill Ryosuke, it was to push him back temporarily and give Zabuza some breathing space.

However...

Ryosuke turned his head slightly. Their gazes collided in midair for half a second.

Raiga's heart thumped.

"He saw through it!"

Star Platinum grabbed Ryosuke with one hand and Zabuza's blade with the other. With a sudden heave, he hurled both of them out of the courtyard.

"What is he doing?"

Everyone in the courtyard was stunned.

'Is he… escaping?'

'But if he were escaping, why bring Zabuza? Did he get too nervous and rescue the wrong person?'

Only Kurosuki Raiga realized what was happening, his heart sank.

"He's forcing a one-on-one situation!"

Fuguchi suddenly understood too. Cold sweat soaked his back.

It wasn't just Ryosuke's power, it was his calm combat mindset.

After failing to kill someone in the first strike, Ryosuke knew that with so many strong enemies, taking down one would be incredibly difficult.

So he decisively took Zabuza away.

Ryosuke was playing a time game, he wanted to kill Zabuza before Raiga and the others could catch up.

———

"You chose to kill me first? Seems I've been underestimated," Zabuza said coldly.

"Is there a problem?"

The same answer. But a different state of mind.

Zabuza wasn't angry, he understood that Ryosuke wasn't underestimating him. In fact, to Ryosuke, all enemies were treated the same.

Words were merely psychological tactics.

They were now useless.

Thus, the two fell silent.

Beads of sweat appeared on Zabuza's forehead.

The intel was wrong.

According to reports, Ryosuke specialized in manipulating invisible evil spirits. His main body didn't use ninjutsu or taijutsu and could only summon one evil spirit at a time.

Zabuza had assumed Ryosuke's ability was like that of a ninja beast summoner.

As the wielder of the Kubikiribōchō, Zabuza had the highest endurance among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, so the plan was,

He'd stall the evil spirit, while Raiga, being the fastest, would blitz and kill Ryosuke.

But no one had imagined Ryosuke's close-combat prowess would be this terrifying.

With second-stage Ripple and the Ruin Greatsword's boost, Ryosuke's full-force assault was just as strong as Star Platinum.

Zabuza swallowed. 'This guy… is a monster with no weaknesses!'

'No, there's still one weakness.'

'Ninjutsu.'

'As long as Raiga returns and they combine their ninjutsu, they can suppress Ryosuke. The key is not getting killed first. But…'

Zabuza stared at Ryosuke approaching with the massive Ruin Greatsword in one hand.

His heart trembled.

"Water Release, Hidden Mist Jutsu."

Dense fog appeared, blocking Ryosuke's vision. Zabuza hid within it, disappearing from sight.

Ryosuke waited a few seconds, then asked softly, "Aren't you coming to kill me?"

His voice echoed in the mist.

Standing ten meters away, Zabuza snorted internally. The Hidden Mist Technique truly was the most suitable ninjutsu for assassinations.

From now on, he wouldn't get within two meters of Ryosuke.

"If you're not coming, then stand still."

"Stand still?"

Zabuza didn't understand what Ryosuke meant. 'Is it another mind game?'

He hesitated on whether to move, but feared Ryosuke might have some strange trick to detect him if he moved, so he didn't.

At that moment, a faint buzzing came from the sky. Zabuza looked up.

A string of egg-sized objects was falling.

As they neared, Zabuza saw what they were and turned pale.

Dozens of miniature missiles.

BOOM!!

A sky-splitting explosion lit up everything. The heat burned away the thick mist.

Fuguchi, Magistrate Senmura, Raiga, and the others rushed to the scene just in time to see, Ryosuke standing in the firelight, like a demon walking out of hell.

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