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The moment Suigetsu caught sight of Mangetsu, his taut nerves had momentarily relaxed. But when Mangetsu followed Gengetsu into the wooded area to the side, a renewed and even deeper sense of unease surged up within his heart.
Could he really handle this?
Suigetsu harbored an almost blind, unquestioning reverence for Mangetsu. He firmly believed that Mangetsu was absolutely qualified to compete for the title of Mizukage. The reason he had ultimately lost to Mei Terumi was, on one hand, because Mei Terumi had remained in the Hidden Mist Village all along and had secured the backing of the majority of the elders. The other part stemmed from his physical condition. The elders harbored deep doubts about whether his body could truly shoulder the immense burden of the Mizukage's mantle.
After all, two consecutive Mizukage had been deeply problematic. If a fifth Mizukage were to also go astray, the Hidden Mist Village would be staring complete annihilation in the face.
But none of that meant that Mangetsu was inferior to Mei Terumi.
At least, that was what Suigetsu believed.
Yet now, seeing Mangetsu depart in Gengetsu's wake, an icy chill snaked its way down his entire spine.
Who exactly was Gengetsu?
The Second Mizukage!
His strength exceeded Mangetsu's by not just one, but multiple tiers of magnitude.
And now, Mangetsu was going to face him in single combat...
How could he possibly win?
The thought had barely flashed through Suigetsu's mind when a razor-sharp kunai, coated with lethal poison, arrived directly before his face at blinding speed.
With virtually no conscious thought, Suigetsu launched his entire body into the air. As he evaded Sasori's strike, he simultaneously hurled his Kabutowari to ensure that Sasori could not immediately follow up with a second, successive attack.
Upon landing, Suigetsu yanked on the cable attached to the Kabutowari and reeled the weapon back in.
An axe on one end, a hammer-like weight on the other—it could smash apart an opponent's defenses while the cable connecting the two weapons could also be utilized for unpredictable, unorthodox attacks.
This was precisely what made the Kabutowari so fearsome.
"Allowing your attention to wander is the gravest taboo in battle," Sasori remarked coldly.
"That's not necessarily true. Against an opponent like you, a momentary lapse in focus might not prove fatal," Suigetsu retorted stubbornly, even as his eyes remained locked unblinkingly on Sasori.
Regardless of anything else, Sasori had once been a core member of the Akatsuki. While his strength might not have been the absolute pinnacle within the organization, Suigetsu, for his part, was not counted among the Hidden Mist Village's absolute top-tier elite either.
It was only due to the dire shortage of personnel that he had been fortunate enough to be entrusted with the Kabutowari.
When compared to the Sasori standing before him, his disadvantage was glaringly obvious.
"I've heard you're a puppeteer. Where are your puppets?" Suigetsu asked warily.
His intelligence regarding Sasori was largely based on "hearsay," as he had never had the opportunity to cross blades with him before.
But as long as Sasori's puppets remained unseen, Suigetsu had to exercise extreme caution in every single exchange.
"Puppets? Are you referring to this?" Sasori suddenly extended his palm. Several chakra threads shot forth from his fingertips and adhered themselves to two Mist shinobi standing nearby.
"What's happening?!"
"My body... I can't control it! Lord Suigetsu, please don't kill us!"
The two shinobi staggered forward like marionettes, positioned directly in front of Sasori as living shields. Pure, unadulterated terror was etched across their faces.
"You despicable bastard," Suigetsu snarled, his brow furrowing deeply.
"On the battlefield, there are only the victorious and the vanquished. The concept of 'despicable' does not exist," Sasori countered. Manipulating his fingers, he sent the two chakra-thread-controlled shinobi hurtling at breakneck speed straight towards Suigetsu.
Should I... just give them each a whack with the hammer?
The thought flickered briefly through Suigetsu's mind before he immediately discarded it.
If he dared to slaughter his own clansmen right here and now, the moment this war was over, his own fate would be sealed.
"What a damn pain!" Suigetsu cursed furiously as he retreated at high speed.
The two shinobi, however, pursued him relentlessly. Even as they let out miserable, terrified wails, desperately hoping Suigetsu wouldn't turn his blade on them, they simultaneously flung kunai rigged with explosive tags directly at him. The sheer absurdity of the situation nearly made Suigetsu explode with rage.
"Those two bastards... I swear I'll deal with them sooner or later."
When one explosive tag detonated barely two meters away from him, Suigetsu found himself teetering right on the very brink of losing all control.
The corner of Sasori's mouth curled upwards ever so slightly. "What happened to all that bold talk from just a moment ago?"
"If you've got any guts, let them go!" Suigetsu began to circle around Sasori at a sprint. The two controlled shinobi pivoted in perfect synchronization, always keeping their bodies squarely facing him.
"Controlling them is my skill," Sasori sneered.
The moment those words reached Suigetsu's ears, he skidded to an abrupt halt. The two controlled shinobi, however, carried forward by sheer momentum, continued their lateral movement for another two or three meters.
Seizing that exact, fleeting gap, Suigetsu suddenly surged forward, charging straight at Sasori.
"Let's see what you plan to do now!" Suigetsu taunted.
"What are you prattling about?!" Sasori abruptly retracted his chakra threads. The two shinobi were violently yanked back and forcibly positioned directly in Suigetsu's path. At the same moment, they hurled over a dozen kunai towards him.
Suigetsu twisted his body desperately, and the kunai whistled past his sides.
Sasori pulled on his chakra threads, preparing to launch his next attack, when he suddenly sensed a ferocious burst of energy rushing at him from behind. He spun around sharply, only to find two ninja blades already descending upon him, mere inches away. He threw himself into a roll, narrowly evading the strike. The moment he scrambled back to his feet, he saw the newcomer slice clean through his chakra threads with a single stroke.
The two shinobi, finally freed from Sasori's control, fled in utter panic without a backward glance.
Who knew what kind of hellish ordeal they had just endured?
Every single time they had locked eyes with Suigetsu during that nightmare, they had been able to feel the terrifying, murderous intent radiating from his glare.
That oppressive, bloodthirsty aura had chilled them to the very marrow of their bones.
Towards the end, the two of them had simply squeezed their eyes shut. After all, they were nothing but puppets, completely and utterly helpless to resist.
Now, having miraculously escaped, only a complete fool wouldn't flee for his life!
Suigetsu had absolutely no time to waste dwelling on those two bumbling, hindrance-causing shinobi. His attention was fixed entirely on the person who had just rescued him from that exceedingly awkward and perilous predicament. It was a child who looked to be no older than eleven or twelve.
In any other Great Shinobi Village, a child of that age would never have been expected to participate in a war of this scale. But the Hidden Mist Village had truly run out of elite fighters. Otherwise, this boy would never have been entrusted with Hiramekarei.
It was not that his current skill was sufficient. It was that he possessed the raw potential to one day become a member of the Seven Swordsmen.
Chojuro!
"I'm not thanking you!" Suigetsu tilted his head, staring at Chojuro.
Though he was still so young, Chojuro wore glasses and had eyebrows that slanted downwards in a perpetual "八" shape, giving his entire face a naturally sorrowful, woebegone expression.
Upon hearing Suigetsu's brusque declaration, Chojuro forced out a weak, hesitant smile.
Suigetsu twitched his lip. That expression was even more unsightly.
"We're supposed to kill the guy standing in front of us, aren't we? That much is correct, right?" Chojuro asked.
"That's true enough. Then let's start by taking down this utterly repulsive bastard first," Suigetsu said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
"Heh... I do hope you won't be too disappointed!" Sasori declared.
Both sides settled into their combat stances, ready to resume their duel in earnest. But just then, a Water Dragon Bullet that came crashing in from the side abruptly forced their engagement to a temporary halt.
All three of them frowned deeply and turned to look in the direction from which the Water Dragon Bullet had come. The caster, they realized, was none other than Kisame, who was currently locked in a grueling, desperate struggle against Zabuza.
The two groups were separated by a distance of roughly a hundred meters. The only reason the attack had veered towards them was, without a doubt, that it had simply gone astray.
"Kisame, watch your aim! You nearly hit me," Sasori warned.
"This opponent is rather troublesome. You'll just have to bear with it!" Kisame shouted back in the brief window he had to catch his breath after narrowly evading one of Zabuza's ferocious lunges.
"Your power has diminished considerably without Samehada," Zabuza remarked, gripping his Executioner's Blade with both hands as he fixed his stare on his opponent.
"What are you talking about? I haven't even begun to get serious yet," Kisame retorted with a vicious grin. "Even with that Executioner's Blade of yours, you still can't alter the fate of being slaughtered."
"Shall we test that theory, then?"
"Let's test it." Kisame launched himself into another blistering assault.