"It really is troublesome."
Asakawa Kiyosuke surveyed everyone and said, "These Edo Tensei reanimations can't be killed. Don't try to take them head-on. Is the sealing squad here?"
"We're here!" the group carrying the sealing cloths responded.
"Good. Seal any reanimated ninja who's lost the ability to fight — don't hesitate. They're already dead."
"Yes!"
Everyone checked the revived personnel for faces they recognized. If you knew someone, find a way to deal with them!
"Yes!"
"Kiyosuke-sama!" a Konoha communicator called out. "A large number of Edo Tensei have appeared — the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist!"
Kiyosuke fell silent.
Kisame, assigned to the Third Unit, fell silent as well.
The Kirigakure shinobi fell silent.
"Oh, isn't this a meeting of old friends?" Kiyosuke smiled, gentle on the surface, and called out, "Kisame, how about coming with me to deal with these old friends?"
"I'd rather not fight them, but if I must, it would be an honor!" Kisame hoisted the Samehada and came over.
"If I'm not here, please take command," Kiyosuke instructed.
"Got it! Be careful!" Kakashi didn't refuse. He knew how terrifying the Seven Swordsmen were; sending Kiyosuke and Kisame to face them was the best choice.
Kisame knew them well, and Kiyosuke had personally wiped out the previous incarnation of the Seven Swordsmen.
"Isn't this walking straight into a hornet's nest? Kiyosuke took out that generation of the Seven Swordsmen when he was only twelve or thirteen." A Kirigakure shinobi murmured to his companion.
An Iwagakure man, surprised, said,
"What? That actually happened? I only knew our captain was insanely strong — the kind who can run from missions without punishment! He's already comparative to the Fourth Hokage, a yellow flash!"
Konoha's shinobi, proud, said, "Kiyosuke-sama is incredibly strong. He could tie all of us together and still be a handful for one of us."
"But the Seven Swordsmen are immortal now — dealing with them will be troublesome, won't it?" one shinobi said anxiously.
"Don't worry." Kakashi walked over and patted his shoulder. "Kiyosuke isn't someone who'll lose easily." He looked toward the distant figures and added, "He's very strong."
"Let's trust Kiyosuke-sama!"
"All right, all right," Kakashi said. "Everyone, focus on those White Zetsu armies and the reanimated shinobi. They're not easy opponents either."
"How long are you going to ignore me?" an Edo Tensei shinobi from Sunagakure stomped angrily, his body moving involuntarily again. "Wind Release: Wind-Cutting Technique!"
A Sunagakure wind-user deflected the attack with Wind-Return, sending it flying back, and said seriously, "Teacher, let me stop you!"
"You've grown so much!" the reanimated shinobi said with complicated eyes. "Be careful!"
"Yes! Sensei!"
The formal teacher-student duel began, and at that moment Kiyosuke, with Kisame and two members of the sealing squad, headed to where the Seven Swordsmen had been sighted.
When they arrived, they saw a group being cut down by the reanimated Seven Swordsmen.
Even at the Kage level, the Seven Swordsmen were a nightmare to face; these Chūnin and lower-ranked shinobi had no capacity to resist.
Kushimaru Kuriarare — lanky as a bamboo pole — threw his long blade, the Nuibari, and began to manipulate the wire to pierce and stitch the group together, when a strong hand suddenly grabbed the blade, stopping it dead.
"What person is this?" Kushimaru asked.
The newcomer chuckled. "Tsk tsk — familiar faces. You dead folks causing trouble even after death — what a pain. You should have been crushed to dust a long time ago."
Who knew where Kabuto had gotten the body information for this group — he'd incinerated them before, or left them to Konoha's intelligence division to handle.
Had they been left undone?
Or was Konoha's intel security as useless as a lightless kingdom?
"Who are you? Why do you look so familiar?" Kushimaru's expression under his mask turned serious.
"Seriously, after all these years, you forgot old friends?" Kiyosuke smiled, flames roaring around his body…
Memories flooded Kushimaru — the last scene he'd ever seen in life.
His body trembled. "Y— you… you are…"
"Asakawa Kiyosuke. Long time no see, Kushimaru Kuriarare. For you, it was only a moment." After all, they were dead; death was an instant for them. When they woke again, they'd already been returned to the battlefield.
But they paid no mind to their condition — as long as they could fight, that was enough.
They were a bunch of crazed murderers.
At Kushimaru's cry, the other Seven Swordsmen turned toward Kiyosuke. Jinin Akebino, Jinpachi Munashi, Raiga Kurosuki, and the others encircled him.
Jinpachi Munashi, gripping the explosive blade Splash, looked furious, hatred blazing in his eyes.
"Damn brat — you actually survived until now. I wanted to kill you so badly!"
He had been the only one of the Seven to survive originally — until Kiyosuke, a certified lunatic, had chased him down into Kirigakure and killed him.
Being killed in your hometown — what could be more humiliating?
"Oh, it's you. Looks like I'll have to kill you again!"
Kiyosuke gave a light chuckle. Seeing the people he had killed before made him feel strangely nostalgic, like meeting old acquaintances after many years — and now he could finish them off again!
"Then let me finish you off once more!" Kiyosuke licked his lips, radiating killing intent.
Several of them backed away in fear.
Jinin Akebino snorted coldly. "What's there to be afraid of? We're immortal now — no one can kill us!"
"Well said! All of you, attack! Kill him!" Jinpachi Munashi swung the sword and charged first, but before he could take more than a few steps, Kiyosuke pierced his skull.
"What's the rush? It'll be your turn soon enough." Kiyosuke casually picked up a kunai and said, "I'll use this against you. Sorry, I really don't have anything smaller."