From the moment Kitsuchi dodged that blade wind, Akashō understood his opponent was anything but weak.
After all, Stone Village ninja were known for their Earth Release and taijutsu—typically not the most agile fighters. Yet even so, he had managed to evade blade winds that most jonin couldn't avoid. At the very least, his strength was on par with an elite jonin.
So right from the start, Akashō used his Blood Demon Art to evolve the Blade of Living Flesh, intending to finish him as quickly as possible.
"Moon Breathing, Ninth Form—Waning Moonswaths!"
While charging forward, Akashō rapidly swung his evolved blade. Several purple blade winds crisscrossed through the air, sealing off every possible escape route for the retreating Kitsuchi.
By this point, it was too late for Kitsuchi to use ninjutsu to defend himself. Amid the shocked cries of the surrounding Stone Village ninja, his body was instantly split into several pieces.
"Heh, one down."
A faint smile curled on Akashō's lips as he turned his blade, ready to change direction and continue the slaughter.
But at that moment, a deep shout rang out:
"Earth Release—Mountain Earth Technique!!"
Two hemispheres of earth suddenly surged up from the ground, clamping shut around Akashō like jaws.
Darkness swallowed his vision, and a crushing force pressed in from all sides, as if his bones were about to be ground into powder.
That voice… Kitsuchi?!
A trace of blood spilled from the corner of Akashō's mouth. The power of this technique—Kitsuchi was stronger than he had expected.
"Moon Breathing, Fifth Form—Moon Spirit Calamitous Eddy!"
With all his strength, Akashō twisted his body. The spiraling pale blade winds instantly shredded the earthen sphere into rubble, revealing his body—distorted like kneaded clay.
Tilting his head, he glanced at what remained of Kitsuchi's earlier "corpse." The severed chunks slowly dissolved into a puddle of mud. Not far behind it stood Kitsuchi, completely unharmed, staring at him coldly.
I definitely hit him… what kind of jutsu is that?
His flattened body instantly returned to normal. Akashō rolled his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds.
Ninja really are troublesome opponents—they just keep getting harder to deal with. If not for Kokushibo's Demon Body, he might have already lost here.
"Kokushibo… what exactly are you thinking?"
Across from him, Kitsuchi saw Akashō recover from his strongest offensive ninjutsu in an instant. His nerves tightened immediately, hands ready to form seals at any moment.
Akashō had been loudly claiming he wanted to scout the locations of both the Leaf and Sand Village camps, which made it seem like he wasn't from the Leaf at all. Kitsuchi had assumed he was just a battle-hungry thrill seeker.
But now, despite already knowing the camps' locations, he had chosen to attack them instead. That made no sense.
Worse, this guy was both durable and deadly. If he made his way to the Stone Village camp, it would be a massive headache.
Akashō looked at Kitsuchi indifferently, clearly having no interest in answering. They were all as good as dead anyway—what was the point of talking?
But before he could launch another attack, his figure flickered, appearing in front of two Leaf ninja who were trying to escape.
"Who said you could leave? I haven't taught you swordsmanship yet."
Akashō smiled coldly at the two terrified ninja.
"I—"
Before they could even speak, his blade flashed. Their heads were cleanly severed.
The fear was already written all over their faces—there was no need to waste time on them.
Not far away, Kitsuchi, who had witnessed everything, twitched at the corner of his mouth. As expected—decisive and ruthless. This Kokushibo was definitely not from the Leaf. Could it be he was simply bloodthirsty by nature?
People like that were the worst to deal with—completely unreasonable.
"Kitsuchi-sama, he knows the location of our Stone Village camp. Should we move to intercept and kill him here?"
The surrounding Stone Village ninja, who hadn't found a chance to intervene, asked cautiously. Though they spoke of intercepting him, the fear in their eyes made it clear—they didn't actually want to fight Akashō right now.
After all, if Kitsuchi hadn't been cautious earlier, he would've been killed instantly. He was one of the top five strongest ninja in the village—if even he didn't dare act rashly, how could they, mere fodder, dare step forward and seek death?
At this moment, Kitsuchi himself hesitated—should he fight, or retreat?
Facing him head-on, he had little confidence in winning. But if he chose to run, with Kokushibo's speed, they'd likely just be picked off one by one.
"Come on… let's continue."
Before Kitsuchi could decide, Akashō was already walking toward them, blade in hand.