Mitsuki's explanation was so clear that even Might Guy instantly understood it.
"So that's how it's done!" he exclaimed, his eyes shining.
"Amazing!"
"As expected of Lord Mitsuki!"
After every victorious battle, there were always people ready to cheer and hype things up.
Guy's two teammates, who had thought they were doomed when they ran into the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, could hardly believe their luck. They'd heard rumors of Mitsuki — the man who roamed the Mist battlefield alone, rescuing comrades and cutting down enemies alike — but they never imagined they'd actually meet him in person.
By now, Mitsuki had finished inscribing the summoning array. He placed all seven blades — including Samehada — onto the open scroll, then began rapidly weaving hand seals.
As his fingers danced, the tadpole-like runes on the scroll glowed faintly.
"Seal!"
With a flash of light, the seven swords were absorbed into the scroll, each one leaving behind a sigil — a diamond-shaped mark bearing the weapon's image.
When the process was complete, Mitsuki calmly packed away his tools.
He turned to Guy's team, studying them for a moment. Although he and Guy hadn't been in the same class back in the Academy, his memory was sharp.
Closing his eyes to recall, he asked,
"If I remember right, Guy — you're from Chōza Akimichi's squad, aren't you?"
Guy nodded. "Yeah, but our teacher, said the front was in trouble, so he went to reinforce the line near the Land of Hot Water."
That wasn't unusual. During wartime, even jonin who served as instructors — like Inoichi Yamanaka, Mitsuki's own mentor — often had to leave their squads to fight elsewhere.
"Then why did you end up here, on the Mist front?" Mitsuki asked.
"Uh, well… we…" Guy scratched his head awkwardly.
Alright, no need to hear the rest.Just looking at the embarrassed faces of the three young ninja told Mitsuki everything — they'd probably taken on a mission far beyond their level.
But he couldn't blame them. Being a ninja was a profession of blood and blades; in war, unexpected encounters with monsters like the Seven Swordsmen were just part of the deadly gamble.
No need to lecture them.
Meanwhile, Might Duy was moved to tears — literally — his eyes sparkling as he mumbled,
"This… this is the true spirit of youth!" over and over again.
Since Guy's team needed to return to Konoha to report their mission, and Duy would naturally accompany his son, Mitsuki only exchanged a few brief farewells before turning to leave on his own.
Watching Mitsuki's back fade into the distance, Guy clenched his fists, determination burning in his eyes.
"Father! Someday, I'll become like Lord Mitsuki — someone strong enough to protect my comrades and our village!"
Duy flashed his brilliant grin, his teeth gleaming in the sunlight.
"A fine spirit of youth, Guy! Let's run back to the village upside down!"
"Yes!"
And so, before their bewildered teammates, the two green beasts inverted themselves and ran — or rather, scuttled — back toward the village, their bodies a blur of enthusiastic energy.
…
Meanwhile, Mitsuki, having parted ways with them, searched briefly in the direction the Seven Swordsmen had come from. After confirming there were no survivors, he used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport back to the Mist Front encampment.
The first thing he did upon return was hand over the scroll containing the Swordsmen's corpses to the Yamanaka clan's interrogation unit.
With a puff of chakra smoke, seven rather incomplete bodies appeared in the morgue.
Mitsuki was confident he'd preserved their heads intact, so the Yamanaka should have no trouble using their secret techniques.
But… the trio of Yamanaka nin looked oddly pale.
A young man, perhaps in his twenties, stammered, "You… you mean these… these bodies are…?"
Before he could finish, the older one with a goatee suddenly clutched his face and shouted, eyes bulging,
"The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?!"
Mitsuki nearly jumped — none of those Swordsmen had managed to startle him like that while alive.
The lone woman among them, Masaki, clasped her hands together, her eyes practically sparkling as she gazed (a bit too eagerly) at the corpses.
"Lord Mitsuki, did you really defeat them all by yourself? These cuts… they're beautiful— I mean, incredible!"
Mitsuki's mouth twitched. Yeah… the interrogation unit definitely attracted a special kind of personality.
Still, since they seemed capable of handling the remains, he waved off the praise with a polite excuse and made his escape.
…
Humming a carefree tune, Mitsuki strolled through the camp. He decided to take the day off — no more playing cat and mouse with Mist-nin for now.
Besides, with the Seven Swordsmen dead and months of relentless assaults behind him, the Mist front was essentially decided.
Unlike the Suna front back in the Land of Rivers — where Sunagakure could still deploy large armies despite their losses — Kirigakure didn't have that luxury. The sea and lack of buffer nations made large-scale invasions impractical; their entire offensive relied on small infiltration teams.
That strategy had hurt the Land of Fire, yes, but it also meant Konoha could respond swiftly with reinforcements whenever the Mist committed troops.
A full-scale invasion? Impossible. Even if they somehow managed to land, their logistics would crumble fast.
In short — Mitsuki wanted to wrap this up and move on.
After all, the only reason he'd volunteered for this front was to take down the Seven Ninja Swordsmen — and he'd done that.
When Guy mentioned that Dingza had been sent to reinforce the Hot Water front, Mitsuki felt a familiar tug of responsibility. That front meant Minato and Kakashi's team — and if things were tense there, he wanted to help.
"Sigh… my damn sense of duty again."
Still, he couldn't leave just yet. The Mist front's stability depended heavily on him, and without a major battle to decide it once and for all, he couldn't just disappear.
So, Mitsuki came up with a plan.
He would travel — via the Flying Thunder God seal he'd left on a merchant ship — to the Land of Water, capture Isobu, and release it inside Kirigakure.
That would throw the entire village into chaos and effectively end the Mist campaign overnight.
Then, once that was done, he could head to the Hot Water front to support Minato. If they coordinated Flying Thunder God and sealing techniques together, there was even a real chance they could capture the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki — Killer B — alive.
That, in one move, would end the war with Kumo.
And besides… Mitsuki had always hated the Kiri anyway.