Chapter 168: Watch Me Smash the Wood Golem with One Punch
Poke, poke.
While everyone was quietly traveling on their way, Uchiha Hikari poked Shiromo, pulled him aside, glanced at Kurotsuchi Raiga over there with his vacant stare, and asked in a low voice, "You asked him that just now, so that guy actually does have a family in the future?"
Naturally kind-hearted Uchiha Hikari was afraid that she might have misunderstood him.
After all, even if someone has started a family, it doesn't necessarily mean they aren't people who are "bound together" like Senju Hashirama.
"Oh, that's not the case. We should go by what he himself said."
"The person in the future only claims to be Kurotsuchi Raiga's daughter. She doesn't look like him at all, blonde hair, looks weak as hell."
"Of course, her appearance could be explained as taking after her mother, but her age can't be explained at all."
"Kurotsuchi Raiga was originally supposed to die around this time, but twenty years later, that person who calls herself his daughter is at most sixteen years old."
"…"
Uchiha Hikari fell silent.
The amount of information was a bit overwhelming.
The father had been dead for twenty years, yet the daughter was only sixteen.
This must be because future Orochimaru kindly helped Kurotsuchi Raiga's wife with in-vitro fertilization, right? It had to be that.
"Don't dwell on it. Look at his reaction just now, he doesn't even care himself."
Shiromo patted Hikari on the shoulder.
In Kurotsuchi Buntan's memories, the sentence her mother said most often was, "You're just like your useless father."
Although Kurotsuchi Raiga really was useless, not just anyone had the right to call him that.
As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, bullying ordinary ninja was absolutely no problem for him.
As for whether Kurotsuchi Buntan's mother was some big-shot ninja from an influential Kirigakure clan?
That was even more impossible.
After the Blood Mist policy began, bloodline clans were basically wiped out.
If her mother truly had the qualifications to curse Kurotsuchi Raiga like that, she wouldn't have left behind not even a name when Terumi Mei was so desperate for manpower.
A reasonable deduction was this: Kurotsuchi Raiga might indeed have had some kind of encounter with her, but Kurotsuchi Buntan wasn't his daughter. That identity simply made it easier to inherit the Lightning Blade, so her mother directly had Kurotsuchi Buntan appear in Kirigakure as Kurotsuchi Raiga's daughter.
All things considered, Kisame was actually pretty lucky.
Back then, Kisame killed the girl who was on missions with him.
That girl was quite gentle and might not necessarily have done something like what Kurotsuchi Buntan's mother did.
But the fact that Kisame even killed such a normal girl meant that someone like Kurotsuchi Buntan's mother wouldn't have been able to survive on the same team as Kisame at all.
That was a good thing.
Otherwise, in Boruto, that guy who looked like Michael Jackson and seemed to have wandered over from the One Piece set, Hoshigaki Shizuma, probably wouldn't have called himself a member of the Hoshigaki clan, but would have directly claimed to be Kisame's son.
On the other side.
Ranmaru was pointing the way, while Senju Hashirama was responsible for controlling the Wood Golem's direction.
Relying on his gentle and approachable personality, Senju Hashirama gradually made the little boy Ranmaru lower his guard.
…Well.
It would be more accurate to say that the little boy Ranmaru made Senju Hashirama lower his guard.
Because this guy just blurted out everything.
That he was the First Hokage.
That he had been resurrected with Impure World Reincarnation.
That his Impure World Reincarnation body couldn't display his peak strength.
Sentence by sentence, all of it was cheerfully said by Senju Hashirama without a shred of caution.
Hearing Hashirama say this, Kurotsuchi Raiga, who had originally been staring blankly, suddenly lit up.
He couldn't bring out his full strength?
Could it be that he was actually just a flashy facade?
Could it be that this Wood Golem beneath them only looked huge, but would shatter at a single touch?
Thinking this, Kurotsuchi Raiga felt behind himself.
Then he remembered that the Lightning Blade had already been stolen by Shiromo. On the verge of tears, he could only raise his fist and punch downward with all his strength.
"Aoow…"
Kurotsuchi Raiga clutched his hand and collapsed to the ground, howling.
So damn hard!
Hearing Kurotsuchi Raiga's cry, Ranmaru anxiously turned around to look.
But all he saw was Kurotsuchi Raiga rolling around alone, while Shiromo and Uchiha Hikari were clearly keeping their distance and had no interaction with him at all.
"This guy is a real talent. A Wood Golem that even a Tailed Beast Ball can't break, and he tries to punch it."
Shiromo complained.
Did Kurotsuchi Raiga think the durability of Wood Release was the same as ordinary wood?
At close range, the Nine-Tails could fire a Tailed Beast Bomb, and the Wood Golem could directly catch it with its hand and smack it back like a Rasengan.
After howling for a while, Kurotsuchi Raiga finally quieted down.
If he didn't calm down soon, Hikari was already thinking about using Amaterasu to "cool him off."
"Who… who exactly are you people…?"
Kurotsuchi Raiga asked weakly.
Uchiha Madara-level Susanoo.
Impure World Reincarnation Senju Hashirama.
Were these really things he was supposed to be facing?
"I'm an ally of the Mizukage. This time I'm coming to capture the Three-Tails, and while I'm at it, I'm retrieving the Ninja Sword that wandered outside, to give to the Mizukage as a meeting gift."
Shiromo didn't hide anything and said it outright.
"Huh?? An ally of the Mizukage?"
Kurotsuchi Raiga froze.
Recently, while in the Land of Water, he had also heard about the changes in Kirigakure.
The Mizukage now controlled the lifeline of the entire Land of Water. Her authority was overwhelming, to the point that it had completely surpassed the scope of the First Mizukage.
At the same time, Kirigakure had undergone large-scale reforms and was no longer the Village of the Bloody Mist.
Many missing-nin, including the Six-Tails jinchūriki, chose to return to the village and continue serving it.
After all, for the vast majority of people, such changes to the village were a good thing.
Even someone with a vicious reputation like Zabuza, if he hadn't already promised Shiromo to stay in the Land of Waves, would have chosen to return to the village as well.
However, there was no change that could satisfy everyone.
Even in the Boruto era, Kirigakure still had the so-called "New Seven Ninja Swordsmen" and generations before them who wanted to turn the village back into the Village of the Bloody Mist.
Some people simply enjoyed killing and reveled in that perverse atmosphere. There was nothing that could be done about that.
And Kurotsuchi Raiga, if he was still alive, would have been one of them.
His hobby of killing people and holding funerals for them was clearly something that could only be indulged in within the Bloody Mist Village.
That was why, even after hearing about Kirigakure's changes, Kurotsuchi Raiga had no intention of returning.
If he went back, how could he continue his perverse hobbies?
But now, he had changed his mind, after all, his Lightning Blade was gone.
"Um, even if you just have the Ninja Sword, no one in today's Kirigakure can bring out the Lightning Blade's power. I'm willing to submit to the Fifth Mizukage and follow her orders…"
"You're overthinking it. Coincidentally, Kirigakure really does have someone right now who can bring out the Lightning Blade's power."
Shiromo shattered Kurotsuchi Raiga's fantasy.
Trying to 'endure humiliation' to first get the Lightning Blade back and reclaim the honor of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen?
Pure wishful thinking.
"Don't be unconvinced. If I remember correctly, Ninja Sword inheritance has always been about the strong ruling over the weak, right? You can be given a chance later."
After saying this, Shiromo stopped paying attention to Kurotsuchi Raiga.
Because the Wood Golem had come to a stop.
They had arrived at their destination.
(End of this chapter)