The looming weight of what had unexpectedly transformed into a dangerous B-rank assignment had the entirety of Team 7 visibly wound tight, their nerves stretched to a breaking point as the small boat glided closer to the shore. In stark contrast, Shi Yan was the absolute picture of serenity.
Having concluded his haunting melody, he casually stowed his guitar back into his spatial ring and laid down against the wooden bow, floating freely with the gentle rhythm of the tides, fully soaking in the crisp, natural air. The Genin found his completely listless, carefree behavior profoundly infuriating under the circumstances, but given his noble status, they could do nothing but silently endure.
As he stared up at the passing clouds, a deeply philosophical train of thought drifted through Shi Yan's mind.
'For twelve long, grueling years, this exact state of existence is precisely what I fought to attain. To live entirely without arbitrary restrictions, answering to no one, and genuinely enjoying my own existence. I know I might come off to others as an ignorant, arrogant person, someone who is seemingly wasting his immense potential and celestial knowledge on petty whims. But when you boil it down, what truly is the meaning of a life?'
He took a slow drag of a freshly lit cigarette, letting the smoke curl into the ocean fog.
'A incredibly rich, highly successful man eats, reproduces, and eventually dies in his bed. A stray street dog also eats, reproduces, and eventually dies in an alleyway. So, what is the fundamental difference between those two individual existences? It is remarkably simple: one actively LIVED, while the other was merely ALIVE. What truly defines a life are your personal actions, and whether you genuinely enjoyed the final results of those actions. How did your existence affect the world around you, and what lasting legacy did you leave behind?'
A cold, mocking smile played on his lips.
'All of those edgy, isolated idiots who constantly claim they don't care about having friends, don't care about other people, or don't care about the validation of society are just lying to themselves to feel superior. In absolute reality, those people care more than anyone else. It is human nature; everyone naturally craves to be recognized, and they feel a deep, burning resentment or disappointment when their relentless hard work goes completely unnoticed by the world.'
Shi Yan forced his trembling, exhausted memories of his past life away, replacing them with absolute resolve.
'So, I am going to do exactly what I want. I have worked too hard, for far too long, to simply play the part of a fragile, pampered noble. From this moment onward, I will sing whenever I damn well please. I will flirt whenever I feel like it. I will dance whenever the mood strikes me. And as for those foolish enough to stand in my path? I will utterly crush them into the dirt.'
The boat soon hit the shoreline, and the group began their trek down the foggy dirt path leading deeper into the Land of Waves.
Swish!
Suddenly breaking the tense silence, Naruto whipped around and frantically flung a kunai into the heavy brush, the sharp steel narrowly missing a snow-white rabbit. Seeing the specific animal, a brilliant, predatory smile broke across Shi Yan's face. He knew exactly what this meant. The highly anticipated showdown was about to commence.
'Perfect,' Shi Yan thought, his hand lightly brushing against the hilt of his sword. 'I have been feeling an immense itch to personally test the limits of Zabuza Momochi.'
"Everyone, duck!" Kakashi's voice exploded with an urgent, sharp authority.
The heavy, rhythmic whistling of spinning metal tore through the fog. A massive, executioner-sized sword was hurling directly toward the group at a terrifying velocity, aimed to decapitate anyone standing in its path.
Paying absolutely no heed to Kakashi's frantic warning, Shi Yan remained completely upright. He calmly raised his right hand into the air, extending his ring finger toward the oncoming projectile.
Flash.
The moment the spinning iron made physical contact with the localized gravity field of his spatial ring, the massive weapon instantly vanished out of mid-air, dissolving completely into the ring's storage void.
Shi Yan smirked, flexing his fingers. 'Remarkably easy. My spatial ring can effortlessly absorb and store absolutely any physical object in the world, provided it does not currently contain a living soul signature or a direct spiritual binding. In this universe, standard chakra cannot be utilized to permanently bind a weapon to a ninja's soul. There are virtually no soul-bound items in the Elemental Nations. Samehada of the Seven Swordsmen might pose a minor exception due to its sentient nature, but given enough time, I could easily tame that overgrown fish as well.'
"What?!" a rough, disbelieving voice echoed from the trees.
Stunned to the absolute core by the sudden, unexplainable disappearance of his primary weapon, Zabuza Momochi dropped down from the branches, landing heavily on a nearby tree trunk. He glared down at Shi Yan with a freezing, murderous intensity. "Give me my sword back right now, you little brat!"
Before the rogue ninja could even finish his demand, a subtle ripple in the air manifested directly behind Shi Yan's blind spot.
Another Zabuza had materialized out of thin air, a hidden kunai driving toward the youth's spine.
Without turning around, Shi Yan simply delivered a lightning-fast, casual back-kick. His heel connected cleanly with the assassin's chest, the pure, dense impact instantly shattering the construct as it violently dissolved back into a puddle of ordinary water.
"A commendable effort, Zabuza Momochi, but far too slow to catch me," Shi Yan chuckled smoothly. He turned his golden eyes up toward the tree trunk, giving his spatial ring a slight flick. "You want your sword back so badly? Fine. Here, take it."
Thud!
With a heavy surge of spatial energy, the massive Executioner's Blade materialized out of thin air, hurtling through the sky before embedding itself directly into the wood right beside Zabuza's hand.
"What on earth are you doing?!" Sakura shrilled frantically from the back, her voice cracking in absolute disbelief. "Why would you give the enemy his weapon back?!"
Even Kakashi, who had swiftly uncovered his left eye to reveal the spinning crimson of his Sharingan, stood thoroughly bewildered by the youth's paradoxical actions. He instantly scanned the returned blade, searching for any hidden explosive tags or runic traps, but found absolutely nothing.
'He actually thinks I rigged the steel,' Shi Yan thought, highly amused by the Jonin's deep paranoia.
Completely ignoring Sakura's screaming, Shi Yan slowly reached down and drew his own pristine blade. Having finally secured a rare opportunity to battle a world-class, Jonin-level master swordsman, he had absolutely zero intention of wasting the experience on a one-sided disarmament.
He glanced back over his shoulder at the Copy Ninja. "I will handle this one myself, Kakashi. Secure the client and watch the perimeter. There is another hidden mouse lurking in the shadows nearby."
Kakashi hesitated for a fraction of a second before slowly stepping back, his Sharingan continuously spinning.
Though he was profoundly confused by Shi Yan's bizarre techniques and motives, he recognized a golden opportunity to accurately gauge the true, unredacted depth of the youth's mysterious strength.
Zabuza gripped the hilt of his returned blade, a dark, sadistic chuckle vibrating through his chest protector. "You are an incredibly stupid little brat. To actually think you can stand against me in open combat... I suppose I will grant you a swift, painless death as a reward for your arrogance!"
Shi Yan offered absolutely no verbal reply to the blatant provocation. He was far too experienced of a soul to fall for basic psychological ploys.
Realizing he couldn't mentally shake his opponent, Zabuza's eyes went entirely cold. He kicked off the tree, descending like a falling meteor.
In the exact same microsecond, Shi Yan vanished from his position.
'Swift Step.'
Using his supreme movement technique, he bypassed the laws of acceleration, instantly materializing directly in front of Zabuza's descending form. He swung his sword in a flawless, horizontal arc aimed cleanly at the rogue ninja's neck.
Zabuza's instincts screamed in pure terror; he forcefully twisted his torso mid-air, the razor-sharp edge of Shi Yan's blade missing his throat by a mere millimeter.
Yet, despite evading direct contact, the sheer, crushing physical momentum of the swing unleashed a localized shockwave that flung Zabuza backward, forcing him to skid roughly across the dirt.
"I believe a proper introduction is in order," Shi Yan spoke smoothly, resting his blade casually on his shoulder. "His name is Samatage Rarenai. And as for the reason why I graciously gave you your weapon back? I simply wanted to see how well my creation fares against the legendary strength of the Executioner's Blade. Besides, stripping a member of the Seven Swordsmen of their blade before the fight even begins is equivalent to crippling them. So please... don't go dying on me too early."
As the final words left his lips, Shi Yan licked his lips slowly and unleashed the full, unbridled majesty of his Second Stage Nirvana-realm cultivation aura.
The spiritual pressure surged outward, feeling as sharp and suffocating as a mountain of butcher knives.
What followed was a sequence devoid of any useless banter, a pure, high-speed feast of elite swordplay.
Zabuza wielded his massive Executioner's Blade masterfully, utilizing his immense physical strength to swing the giant hunk of iron with terrifying fluid motions.
But Shi Yan's profound achievements in the Sword Realms were vastly superior. His fluid parries and elegant thrusts completely dismantled Zabuza's heavy style. Realizing he could gain absolutely zero physical leverage in a direct clash, Zabuza forcefully created distance, dropping into a hand-sign sequence.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
A thick, supernatural white fog instantly saturated the battlefield, completely blinding the senses of everyone present.
But to Shi Yan, the technique was utterly useless. Though he did not possess a mystical bloodline like the Sharingan, his twelve years of continuous physical refinement and sensory cultivation allowed his eyes, ears, and cellular instincts to track the subtle displacements of air with perfect accuracy. To his enlightened perception, the dense mist was as clear as a sunny afternoon.
Clang!
Zabuza struck fiercely from Shi Yan's absolute blind spot behind his back. Shi Yan executed a flawless, hand-signless reverse parry, the steel ringing loudly through the fog.
In the exact same instant, another Zabuza clone materialized from the side, its blade cleanly cleaving both Shi Yan and the original Zabuza in half.
But it was a mere illusion. The form Zabuza had sliced through was nothing more than a flawless, residual Afterimage left behind by Shi Yan's extreme velocity.
Before Zabuza could even celebrate, his combat instincts flared again, forcing him to violently retract his blade to block a sudden, lethal blind-side thrust from the real Shi Yan.
Throughout the continuous, high-speed back-and-forth, Zabuza found himself entirely outclassed. He was accumulating minor laceration after laceration across his arms and torso, while Shi Yan remained completely untouched, his white robes pristine.
Feeling thoroughly played with, a deep, burning sense of humiliation consumed the rogue ninja's pride.
Desperate to end the humiliation, Zabuza intentionally left his own abdomen wide open, risking a fatal counter-strike in order to execute a massive, full-force vertical cleave to slice Shi Yan cleanly in half.
Shi Yan simply pivoted on his heel, smoothly evading the desperate trajectory, and utilized a quick burst of speed to gracefully escape to mid-range.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!" Zabuza roared, frantically molding his remaining chakra as a massive, towering dragon of liquid energy erupted from the nearby river.
Shi Yan let out a slow, disappointed sigh. "You just had to resort to that, didn't you? And here I was, actually having a decent amount of fun."
Shi Yan calmly extended his right index finger, pointing it directly at the oncoming, massive water construct.
Deep within his Dantian, his cultivation energy compressed a massive volume of ambient atmospheric water down into a single, infinitesimally small, hyper-dense droplet at the very tip of his fingernail. It was a profound, high-tier art of the Black Tortoise lineage.
Thrum.
A brilliant, long blue ray of hyper-pressurized water suddenly flashed through the clearing. The sheer density of the compressed stream was so immense it could effortlessly cleave solid mountains in half.
The laser-like ray punctured right through the center of the Water Dragon, instantly causing the entire massive jutsu to collapse back into ordinary rain. The beam continued its trajectory with zero loss in velocity, tearing straight through a hidden water clone and striking the real Zabuza hiding behind the brush.
Although the rogue ninja sensed the primordial danger at the absolute last second and tried to desperately throw his body aside, the blue ray cleanly punctured right through his right shoulder, blowing a devastating, bloody hole through the muscle.
Shi Yan lowered his hand, his eyes scanning the tree line. 'And right on cue... the little hunter-nin is about to make his move.'
Exactly as the original history dictated, a young masked figure wearing the uniform of the Hidden Mist Hunter-Nin stepped out from the fog, swiftly launching a volley of senbon needles into Zabuza's neck to plunge him into a temporary state of artificial death.
However, because Kakashi was currently at absolute full health and had witnessed the entire terrifying display of Shi Yan's power, he was significantly more alert.
The Copy Ninja didn't buy the hunter-nin's elaborate story for a single second, his hand tightening on his kunai as he prepared to secure the body.
Sensing the tactical shift, Haku instantly triggered a hidden water clone, sending it charging directly toward the defenseless Tazuna as a high-stakes distraction. Kakashi's eye widened; he rapidly glanced over at Shi Yan, silently pleading for assistance to lock down the threat.
But seeing the absolute look of cold, aloof disinterest plastered across the youth's face, Kakashi was forced to abandon his pursuit of the hunter-nin. He bounded backward, using his body to shield the client and his students from the rogue clone. Taking advantage of the brief chaos, Haku successfully vanished into the mist with Zabuza's body.
"Why on earth didn't you help us?!" Sakura screamed frantically, stamping her feet as she marched right up to Shi Yan, her face flushed with a mixture of terror and burning anger. "We could have easily captured or killed both of them right then and there if you had just stepped in!"
Shi Yan slowly sheared Samatage Rarenai back into its black sheath, the metallic click echoing loudly in the quiet clearing. He turned his freezing golden eyes down toward the pink-haired girl.
"The answer is remarkably simple, girl: because I am under absolutely no obligation to do so," Shi Yan delivered his retort with a brutal, cutting coldness. "I do not care a single iota about what happens to any of you. You are shinobi—mere military tools that my estate hired for transit security. As for that old bridge builder? I couldn't care less whether his life is reaped or saved; he is a complete stranger to me. In case your tiny brain has forgotten the layout of this contract: I am a paying client. I am not, in any capacity, required to fight your battles for you."
Tongue-tied and visibly shaking from the sheer, icy weight of his response, Sakura stammered weakly, "B-But... you are clearly so strong! You have the power, so you should have helped us!"
"I am strong, therefore I am obligated to help?" Shi Yan let out a loud, mocking scoff, taking a step toward her. "Zabuza Momochi is also incredibly strong—does he dedicate his life to helping anyone but himself? Your own Hokage is hailed as the supreme 'God of Shinobi,' yet does he personally deploy to save every single civilian in trouble across the nations? He literally sat in his tower and allowed his closest allies to be slaughtered to absolute extinction. Why don't you try using that pathetic, naive logic on your future opponents on the battlefield? You will quickly learn the answer when they carve your throat open. Listen to me carefully: this is no longer the peaceful, structured environment of your Academy. People in the real world will not play according to your comforting little rules."
He turned his gaze across all three Genin, his voice echoing with the ancient authority of a seasoned cultivator who had witnessed rivers of blood.
"The earlier you children beat that reality into your skulls, the better your minuscule chances of survival will be. There is absolutely nothing but raw blood, betrayal, heinous atrocities, and inhumane behavior waiting for you along the path you have chosen to walk. Grow up. Stop blaming your own pathetic, miserable weaknesses on the actions of others. You are weak. Accept that objective fact, and actually do something about it."
A profound, suffocating silence gripped the clearing. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all dropped their heads, their minds thoroughly fractured as they sank into a deep, intense contemplation under the weight of his harsh scolding.
Kakashi stared at the white-robed youth in an entirely new, profoundly complex light. 'His personal philosophy and methods are undeniably ruthless... but in a twisted, brutal way, he is actually attempting to keep these kids alive by forcing them to shed their naivety,' the Jonin analyzed, completely misinterpreting the youth's intent.
Shi Yan secretly relished the misunderstanding, a mental smirk playing out deep within his mind. In truth, he had only delivered the grand, dramatic speech because he loved absolutely any opportunity to downgrade their fragile egos, flex his philosophical superiority, and remind them exactly how powerful he truly was.
'I wonder what kind of hilarious face Kakashi will make when he eventually discovers the truth,' Shi Yan thought, walking ahead down the path as the group silently followed in his wake.