If it had been a head-on encounter, Orochimaru might have been a somewhat even match, but this was an ambush Orochimaru had set long ago, with multiple contingencies prepared. Combined with his Chakra being suppressed by Orochimaru's snake venom, he was no longer a match for Orochimaru.
Mifune was currently entangled by Kakuzu, unable to break free.
"Mifune-sensei, if you're willing to hand the Kusanagi Sword over to me, then... hmm?"
Orochimaru suddenly paused.
The next instant, a Chain Scythe descended from the sky.
Orochimaru's head was instantly severed by the scythe.
Meanwhile, a brilliant, bright blue flash of light appeared, And Kakuzu's body was instantly sliced open by Qingshui, even being cut into several pieces.
The blade light, its momentum undiminished, continued towards Mifune.
"Clang!~"
The refined Ninja Blade Qingshui now held collided with the Kusanagi Sword in Mifune's hand, producing a clear, ringing sound.
Mifune's face showed shock as he retreated sharply, crashing forcefully against the wall and spitting out a mouthful of blood.
On the other side, Orochimaru tore through his damaged body, crawling out of his headless corpse, covered in mucus. He looked at the Kusanagi Sword, which had fallen into Hanzo's hands, his expression grim.
He'd been ambushed!
The sudden attack by these two old schemers truly caught everyone off guard.
"Damn it!"
Black lines surged as Kakuzu looked at Qingshui and cursed.
One of his Water Release hearts had been pierced by Qingshui!
"Orochimaru, 30 million Ryo isn't enough for me to help you steal the Kusanagi Sword anymore!"
Kakuzu's implication was that either Orochimaru paid more, or he would withdraw.
If it was just dealing with the two from the Land of Iron, he had no problem, but with these two newcomers, the difficulty had more than doubled.
Hanzo had been a terror in the Ninja World for many years, hailed as a pinnacle of the Ninja World, an absolute Kage-level peak individual.
And Qingshui had also been recognized by Kakuzu.
Future stars from certain ninja villages, like him, would definitely have bounties placed on them by enemy villages, and often the bounty amount wasn't low.
If he were a pushover, Kakuzu wouldn't mind earning some extra money, but judging from the way that single strike just now destroyed one of his hearts and repelled Mifune, Qingshui's strength was definitely formidable; no amount of overestimation would be too much.
"Orochimaru, your strength has improved significantly over the years."
Hanzo stood on the wall, holding the Chain Scythe in one hand and the Kusanagi Sword in the other, looking down at Orochimaru. It was just like years ago, when he stood atop Salamander Ibuse, bestowing names upon the Sannin, his gaze full of disdain.
"Hmph, what will become of you in a few more years, Hanzo? Even you cannot contend with the mighty force of time."
Orochimaru sneered, looking at Hanzo with cold, snake-like eyes.
"There will always be young people who rise up. Old guys like me just need to pave the way for the younger generation while we still have time."
Hanzo spoke to Orochimaru with an air of great magnanimity.
Orochimaru did not reply. Instead, he bit his thumb with extreme decisiveness, summoning a massive purple giant snake.
"Orochimaru, this time I need to..."
"Two hundred, just stall them for me."
Orochimaru did not stand on Manda's head. Instead, he had Manda coil around him for cover.
"Three hundred!"
"If you don't help me get through this trouble, you won't get a single one."
Orochimaru said coldly, forming a hand sign and creating a Shadow Clone. Then, the clothes on his main body fell away, and he transformed into countless small snakes, slithering away.
The Shadow Clone also summoned countless snakes, attacking the surroundings indiscriminately in conjunction with Manda.
He was going to flee. Manda was left behind to obstruct the enemy's pursuit.
Once Manda could no longer hold out, it would dispel the Summoning Jutsu itself and return to Ryūchi Cave.
Orochimaru's escape was extremely decisive, and Hanzo didn't summon Salamander Ibuse to assist in the fight either.
The sword was already in hand; there was no need to seek more trouble.
And just as decisive as Orochimaru's escape was Kakuzu's.
He couldn't not run; he'd lost another heart!
No matter how much money there was, he needed to be alive to spend it.
Qingshui glanced at Kakuzu, who was frantically repairing his body with black threads as he fled, then exchanged another sword strike with Mifune.
"Separation Breathing, Sixth Form: Parting Dragon Night Dance!"
"Swordplay: Sky-Rending Slash!"
The sharp sword energy barely managed to cleave the hornless dragon. Mifune gripped the Kusanagi Sword with both hands, panting heavily.
Years ago, he had crossed blades with Hanzo once, and ever since, Hanzo had been his target to surpass.
Now, facing Qingshui, the feeling the opponent gave him was even more terrifying than Hanzo!
Mifune felt that even at his peak, Hanzo wouldn't have pushed him into such a desperate state!
Superior sword skills, stronger attacks, and that foresight like precognition!
Mifune felt as if his swordplay was being countered by the opponent, forcing him to constantly change tactics and speed up his attacks. Only with the Kusanagi Sword's sharpness could he barely contend with Qingshui.
"Impressive!"
Even Qingshui couldn't help but give this middle-aged samurai a higher regard.
In the original timeline, Mifune, at the age of sixty-five during the Fourth Great Ninja War, was able to fight Impure World Reincarnation Hanzo to a stalemate and ultimately rekindled Hanzo's conviction, allowing Hanzo to forcibly break free from Kabuto's Impure World Reincarnation.
Even if that was a Hanzo who had lost his spirit, Mifune was still quite old at that time.
It's important to know that samurai and ninja are fundamentally different.
While both possess Chakra, the former generally don't perform hand seals to cast Ninjutsu like ninja do. They rely more on Nintaijutsu, which focuses on physical prowess—in the Ninja World, swordplay is also a type of Nintaijutsu.
Therefore, physical condition affects samurai much more than ninja.
No matter how much Mifune continued to train and maintain his body, his physical condition at sixty-five certainly couldn't compare to when he was middle-aged.
From Qingshui's perspective, Mifune's current combat strength was roughly at the upper-middle Kage-level.
He was a bit weaker than the current Five Kage, who were at peak Kage-level, but few others could surpass him.
A master of this caliber could be killed, but it wouldn't be easy; it would be quite troublesome.
And don't forget there was still a Hanzo nearby.
Although the Sand Village and Rain Village were currently allied, and Qingshui and Hanzo had agreed to cooperate beforehand, the binding force of such an alliance was truly limited.
Before the Rain Hidden and Sand Hidden alliance, Konoha was their ally!
After realizing Konoha couldn't help Rain Hidden achieve victory, Hanzo was quick to switch sides.
Currently, the benefit of just one Kusanagi Sword wasn't enough for Hanzo and the Sand Hidden, currently one of the top two powers in the Ninja World, to abandon their alliance. However, what needed to be guarded against always had to be guarded against.
Not to mention Kakuzu and Orochimaru, who had just fled.
Those two must have left behind contingencies, monitoring what was happening here, in case Qingshui and Hanzo potentially fell out over spoils, or if the two Land of Iron samurai decided to fight to the death, determined to take someone down with them.
If you ask Qingshui why he was so sure, it was because he had already detected the methods these two had set up.
Not far from here, several small white snakes were hiding underground, their serpent eyes peeking out to spy.
A bit further away, a barely perceptible black thread stretched into the distance.
Kakuzu was from the same era as the first Kage of each village. Having lived for so many years, he must have developed many different techniques. Orochimaru was also a deeply cunning individual with numerous methods. It was not surprising for them to possess such capabilities.
What if they had some other ideas?
Qingshui gripped the Ninja Blade, which already had a few nicks on its edge, with one hand and slashed out two more times, suppressing Mifune even more completely.
*"Clang!~"*
Another clang of swords.
"Do you still want to continue fighting, Lord Mifune? Perhaps you could keep me occupied for a while longer, but Lord Mizukawa might not be able to withstand Orochimaru's snake venom."
A clear look of hesitation appeared on Mifune's face.
Qingshui, at this moment, voluntarily withdrew his attack and took a step back.
The expression on Mifune's face grew even more hesitant at this moment.
However, Qingshui then intentionally cut the back of his own hand in front of Mifune, revealing a wound deep enough to show bone.
Immediately after, he quickly performed the Mystical Palm Technique.
If he didn't, this small injury would have already healed on its own.
In less than a second, the wound healed and recovered, as smooth as new, leaving no scar at all.
Hanzo's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Your Medical Ninjutsu has surpassed that old hag of a teacher you had. Among all the people I've seen, even Princess Tsunade wouldn't heal wounds faster than you on the battlefield with Medical Ninjutsu."
"Indeed, just as Senior Hanzo said, I am a decent Medical Ninja."
Qingshui spoke confidently.
He had just used his own body for the demonstration.
But in reality, Qingshui's Medical Ninjutsu level was already among the top tier in the Ninja World.
Hanzo saying that Qingshui's Medical Ninjutsu surpassed Chiyo was not an exaggeration.
In specific areas, Qingshui's Medical Ninjutsu had already surpassed Chiyo, especially for Medical Ninjutsu like the Creation Rebirth Technique, which requires extremely meticulous, at least cellular-level, perception and massive amounts of Chakra to perform. Qingshui could do it better than Chiyo.
In this regard, even Tsunade might not be as fast as Qingshui because the Creation Rebirth Technique consumes too much Chakra.
Usually, multiple Jonin-level Medical Ninja need to work together to create a formation to barely perform a reduced version of the Creation Rebirth Technique, the Living Regeneration Technique.
Currently, only two individuals in the Ninja World can perform this Jutsu alone.
Tsunade, with her Senju and Uzumaki bloodlines, and as the granddaughter of the First Hokage, inherently possessed a massive amount of Chakra. This allowed her to just barely use this Ninjutsu. However, to use it multiple times or for extended periods, she needed to activate the Strength of a Hundred Seal and employ the Creation Rebirth Technique.
As long as her stored Chakra lasted, she could essentially achieve immortality, healing any injury instantly.
For Qingshui, it was simpler: just a huge amount of Chakra and rapid recovery.
His Perfect Demonization body granted him physical recovery capabilities, a massive Chakra reserve, and incredibly fast Chakra regeneration, much like Senju Hashirama, who possessed Sage Mode.
For himself, he practically didn't need the Creation Rebirth Technique.
As long as the energy stored within his body wasn't depleted, he could regenerate his flesh indefinitely. For others, he could also use the Creation Rebirth Technique multiple times consecutively.
Simply the sheer amount of Chakra required inherently disqualified most people in the Ninja World from learning the Creation Rebirth Technique.
Those who possessed such a vast amount of Chakra were either Tailed Beast Jinchuriki or had innate advantages like Tsunade's bloodline. The total number of such individuals wouldn't exceed twenty.
Aside from Qingshui and Tsunade, others either had enough Chakra but their Medical Ninjutsu skills were far too lacking, or, like Chiyo, their Medical Ninjutsu skills were proficient enough to even perform forbidden Jutsu like the Chakra Transfer Technique, which could revive the dead, yet they lacked such an immense Chakra reserve.
Of course, in terms of pharmacology, poison creation, detoxification, and handling various strange and difficult illnesses, Qingshui still had a considerable gap compared to Chiyo and Tsunade.
"General Mizukawa, not only can I cure the poison in your body, but also the old injuries you've accumulated over the years. I believe you've probably noticed that your physical decline is far exceeding your expectations. If you don't get timely treatment, I fear that in less than two or three years, Mr. Mifune could become the new General."
Qingshui then turned his head to look at Mizukawa, who was on the other side.
Mizukawa was currently clutching his wound, gripping his spare wakizashi, and vigilantly staring at Hanzo.
"These old injuries are all thanks to Hanzo!"
The trauma Hanzo had inflicted on him and the samurai of the Land of Iron back then was truly immense, even developing into PTSD.
Seeing Mizukawa in this state, Hanzo remained as calm as ever.
So what if I beat you badly back then, and now I've even beaten the Kusanagi Sword? It's not my problem, is it? Isn't it just because you're weak?
"Sigh..."
Mifune reluctantly set down the Kusanagi Sword, and, along with its sheath, tossed it to Qingshui.
"This sword is yours, sir. You and Mr. Hanzo are both swordsmen whose swordplay surpasses mine. You are more suited for a divine sword like the Kusanagi Sword. I also hope that our friend from the Sand Village will keep his word."
Qingshui caught the Kusanagi Sword with one hand and examined it.
The blade was long and straight, moderately weighted, with a stable center of gravity, making it easy to handle—definitely a good sword.
Only the hilt and guard were a bit too old. It was clear that Mifune and his samurai had painstakingly tried to restore it, but their craftsmanship was mediocre. While the feel was good, there were still some slight imperfections.
This was a minor issue. Qingshui could make a new set himself once he returned, using mathematical tools to create the most perfect hilt and guard based on the sword's weight, length, center of gravity, and shape.
"Excellent."
Qingshui re-sheathed the Kusanagi Sword and walked towards Mizukawa.
Mizukawa shifted his gaze from Hanzo, his mortal enemy, to Qingshui, then to Mifune, who was shaking his head helplessly at him before finally nodding. Finally, he sighed.
"Whatever you want. Mifune, this was your idea, so you might as well take charge of everything from now on. Starting tomorrow, you'll be the General of the Land of Iron."
Mifune's face showed guilt, and just as he was about to speak, Mizukawa cut him off.
"Don't argue! Let the doctor detoxify and treat me! I want to live a few more years, damn it, and I'm too lazy to deal with these trivial matters!"
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