"How is that possible?!"
Seeing the two men sent flying back, Nara Lukoto's face filled with utter disbelief.
He had to know—
The two people who had come with him this time were both jonin!
This time, after General Fujimitsu heard that Saito Tsubasa had arrogantly declared he would take his head within a hundred days, and after certain people fanned the flames behind the scenes, he had been furious beyond measure.
And in order to vent that fury, General Fujimitsu had promised a hefty reward:
As long as Nara Lukoto could bring back Saito Tsubasa's head, there would be a massive bounty waiting for him.
Through the clan's secret intelligence channels, Nara Lukoto already knew that the one protecting Saito Tsubasa was the Hatake Clan's young heir, Hatake Ikko, the so-called prodigy.
Although Nara Lukoto was well aware of Hatake Ikko's reputation as a genius, a young man who had already reached jonin level at such an early age...
He never truly took Hatake Ikko seriously.
In his eyes, Hatake Ikko was still just a fledgling.
But just to be safe, he had still called in his good friends—
Akimichi Go of the Akimichi Clan.
And Yamanaka Makoto of the Yamanaka Clan.
Together, the three of them formed the most ideal Ino-Shika-Cho battle formation.
They had frequently taken missions together in the past.
All three were jonin.
Even when facing extremely troublesome opponents, they could join forces and resolve the situation.
So now—
Could someone please explain to him...
Why were two jonin-level ninja sent flying backward by a teenager who wasn't even a genin?
"Looks like after this period of training, this body has gotten a lot stronger. At least now it's no longer as weak as a chicken."
Rosinante rolled his shoulders as he spoke, sounding completely at ease.
"Lukoto, be careful. That guy isn't simple," Akimichi Go said in a low voice.
"His fists aren't ordinary fists," Yamanaka Makoto added, his face serious. "There's a domineering will hidden inside them. The moment the punch lands, even I feel a moment of mental disruption. It's probably some kind of secret technique."
Although they had both taken Rosinante's Tyrant Collapse Fist head-on...
They were still jonin.
Their physical durability was far beyond that of normal people.
And Rosinante's current body was still too weak.
Even with Tyrant Collapse Fist, he couldn't unleash its true power yet.
So although the two had been blasted backward...
Neither had suffered truly serious injuries.
"General, are you alright?" Hatake Ikko returned to Rosinante's side and asked.
"Do I look like I'm in trouble?" Rosinante rolled his eyes. "Still, I really didn't expect you to be the Hatake Clan's young heir. So what is it? Has the Hatake Clan declined to the point where you're the only jonin they have left? Or do they value me so much that they actually had to send out the young clan heir personally?"
Then he snorted.
"But one thing I do need to say—your field experience is honestly terrible. If all ninja protect people the way you do, then the people under their protection would've died ages ago."
Hatake Ikko's face stiffened slightly.
"I will humbly accept your criticism, General," he said coldly, his eyes turning toward Nara Lukoto and the others. "And the same mistake will never happen again."
Clearly, his earlier blunder had infuriated him as well.
"I see," Nara Lukoto said slowly. "So your confidence comes from yourself. But that ends here. We won't be careless again."
"Who knows?" Rosinante smiled. "Maybe you'll still be careless again. After all... my trump card isn't just this much."
"Go. Makoto. Move," Nara Lukoto said sharply to Akimichi Go and Yamanaka Makoto. "Forget about staying quiet now. There's no way we're taking Saito Tsubasa's head without alerting the camp anymore."
"Got it."
"Understood."
The two responded at once.
"Shadow Possession Jutsu!"
Nara Lukoto launched the first attack.
The shadow beneath his feet stretched out rapidly, shooting toward Rosinante and Hatake Ikko.
"Careful! Avoid his shadow!" Hatake Ikko moved at once, intending to grab Rosinante and pull him out of the way.
But when he turned—
Rosinante was already far away.
He had somehow dodged ahead of time yet again.
With no choice, Hatake Ikko could only evade on his own.
"Expansion Jutsu!"
Akimichi Go roared.
The instant he shouted, his body rapidly enlarged.
In the blink of an eye, a gigantic giant burst upward, tearing apart the tent itself!
"What happened?!"
"That's the General's tent!"
"Someone's attacking the General!"
"Move! Protect the General!"
The moment Akimichi Go transformed, the surrounding soldiers were instantly stunned.
The sudden development shocked them for a heartbeat.
But a full month of training had changed them.
They reacted almost immediately.
One after another, they grabbed their weapons and began rushing over in organized formation.
"That... that's an Akimichi Clan technique? So someone has finally started making a move?"
Inside a commander's tent, Uchida looked toward the giant that had erupted from the General's tent and narrowed his eyes.
"These miserable days are finally about to end. This kind of training is even more exhausting than martial practice when I was young."
"No kidding. Especially the standing drills—that really tests your patience. Still... I have to admit, Saito Tsubasa's training methods are actually quite effective. The soldiers' discipline has improved a lot."
"In the future, we should keep making those mud-legged peasants train like this. Double their training."
Uchida said it bitterly.
Over this past month, they had suffered too.
Rosinante, as General, trained together with the soldiers.
As commanders, they naturally couldn't escape.
Rosinante had directly ordered them to join the training as well.
So for the past month, Uchida and the others had been training alongside the army.
And their workload had actually been even heavier than that of the ordinary soldiers.
After all, they couldn't train at the same level as common soldiers—
Otherwise how were they supposed to lead them later?
Although, for samurai like them, the training itself wasn't truly unbearable...
The relentless discipline drills, day after day, made men who were used to freedom feel miserable all over.
Yes, they had to admit that this kind of training would allow them to command troops more effectively.
But in their minds—
That kind of thing was fine for those mud-legged commoners.
Why should noble samurai like them have to suffer through it too?
"Be even more careful now. That's the Akimichi Clan's Expansion Jutsu. They're serious."
Seeing Akimichi Go use his clan's secret technique, Hatake Ikko's expression turned grave as he warned Rosinante.
"Take this punch!"
With a thunderous roar, the giant-sized Akimichi Go swung a massive fist straight at Rosinante and Hatake Ikko.
The sheer size of that fist...
The violent gust of wind generated by its descent...
Hatake Ikko immediately prepared to pull Rosinante away and dodge—
But then he realized, once again...
Rosinante had already moved ahead of him.
"Don't worry about me," Rosinante said from the side with a grin. "A cute, clumsy punch like that isn't hitting me."
Seeing this, Hatake Ikko quickly dodged on his own as well.
Boom!
The giant fist smashed into the ground, making the earth itself tremble.
"What you really need to be even more careful of are the secret techniques of the other two clans. Knock out all the torches and braziers!"
Even as he spoke, Rosinante had already appeared beside a brazier.
With one kick, he overturned it and extinguished the flames.
Seeing that, Hatake Ikko immediately copied him.
With a sweep of his broken blade, he cut down several burning torches at once.
And at that moment...
Hatake Ikko suddenly realized something.
Rosinante's combat experience...
Was actually far superior to his own.