For Kushina and Mikoto's performance, Lucian had to give praise.
They did things cleanly without dragging their feet, and without pointless chatter. Lucian was satisfied.
If the two of them needed to kill someone but started rambling or had a sudden saintly change of heart, Lucian would have considered replacing them.
Intelligence truly matters. As for those who, in battle, can't help but spill every detail of their abilities,
Lucian had only two words: idiots.
"Not good, Lord Lucian, Sister Kushina and Sister Mikoto have run into trouble…."
Konan cried out, and Lucian looked as well.
While Kushina and Mikoto were pulling away from the frenzied Amegakure shinobi, an unexpected interception occurred during their retreat.
An Iwagakure unit.
Jiraiya and Tsunade's earlier sense hadn't been wrong.
The reason Hanzō had kept stalling instead of going to a decisive battle was to ally with Iwagakure and wipe out the Konoha forces in one strike.
At some point the Iwa unit had arrived, planning to jump in right after both sides clashed, which would have been deadly for Konoha's troops.
"Stop hiding and get out here!"
Facing dozens of Iwa ninja ahead, Kushina barked coldly.
"What a hot-tempered little girl…."
A sturdy middle-aged man in a purple combat suit, with purple hair, stepped out from behind the rocks.
Behind him loomed a mass of at least two thousand Iwa shinobi.
Iwagakure's Four-Tails jinchūriki, Roshi.
Though later Roshi would leave the village over differences with Ōnoki and become a wandering monk,
right now Roshi was top-tier fighting power for Iwa.
Like the Five-Tails jinchūriki Han, both were famed powerhouses of this era.
Roshi squinted at the two women, then his voice sank. "Before I could even react, Hanzō was killed. I have to admit…"
"Damn it."
However ambitious Hanzō might be, he could only huddle in Amegakure bullying the Land of Iron.
So, by cooperating with Hanzō, a single corps might have crushed Konoha at minimal cost.
But just now, before he could spring from hiding among the rocks, their partner Hanzō died.
It made Roshi seethe.
Waiting for Konoha and Amegakure to finish fighting before entering is not the same as charging in directly, and the losses would skyrocket.
"I don't like bullying women. Before I lose my temper, leave at once. Otherwise, hm…"
After all, they were both strong, and Roshi did not relish provoking powerful enemies from Konoha.
But those words made Kushina laugh in anger, eyes widening.
"Otherwise? Let me tell you, Lord Lucian is waiting for me to return and report."
"A guy oozing purple haze like you, I can kill a hundred with one punch."
Hateful, this woman was so fierce.
Roshi felt his rage surge and was about to strike when hearty laughter sounded from afar.
"Hahaha, what perfect timing, beauties."
The Konoha shinobi had stopped fighting Amegakure, and Jiraiya laughed loudly.
Orochimaru and Tsunade followed close, staring hard at the Iwa who had appeared.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Jiraiya glanced at Kushina and Mikoto, then looked to Roshi.
"So it's you, the Four-Tails jinchūriki Roshi. What a coincidence, and how sneaky."
"Hmph. If you want to fight, then fight. Spare me the nonsense."
Roshi's temper was foul. As he spoke, unbearably scorching chakra surged over him like molten rock.
Tsunade frowned. "Jiraiya, didn't you hear clearly?"
"?"
Jiraiya blinked, momentarily blank.
Orochimaru, however, smiled wickedly. "The one she reports to is Lucian."
Lucian.
Demon King Lucian.
Jiraiya and Roshi were both startled.
Jiraiya knew well how strong Lucian was.
The legend of Demon King Lucian had thundered through the shinobi world; Roshi had heard it to the point of numbness.
After all, that thirty-billion-ryō bounty was madness, enough to make even Roshi itch to try.
The first month it shook the entire shinobi world. By the second month, war had broken out and the commotion quieted somewhat.
By now, fewer people paid attention to Lucian, since the Second Great War was the main stage.
Most of all, no one could find Lucian. Even Kakuzu was going crazy.
Kakuzu: Lucian, come out. Give me a drop of blood to hand over to Konoha, and we split the profit, how about it.
A long-running business. All of it money.
"Lord Lucian…."
Watching from afar as Kushina and Mikoto stood at the center of three sides, the three kids were extremely anxious.
Konoha, Iwa, Ame—nearly ten thousand people.
"Quincy Cross Blade."
Before the astonished gazes of the three children, Lucian raised his hand and drew a jet-black longsword from the void.
It emitted a gleam that made the soul tremble.
Ordinary Quincies can use a Quincy Cross to summon a bow, but Lucian's Quincy Cross summoned a black blade.
It could cut souls and release slashes of immense destructive power.
"Hanzō is dead. This country will belong to me as well."
Looking down at the Iwa and Konoha shinobi on the mountainside, Lucian slowly raised his blade.
A terrifying aura washed out, and he swung.
"Sword Pressure!"
Before the three kids' horrified eyes, the slashing wave unleashed by Lucian's strike was unspeakably dreadful.
It stretched for over a thousand meters, like a colossal star-flash, erupting with overwhelming might as it tore forward.
Rip.
The air split in an instant with rolling thunder, startling every shinobi awake.
They looked up and all were stunned.
That moon-bright descending slash made everyone feel a mortal crisis.
Kushina and Mikoto started in alarm and flashed straight into the Shadow Domain.
Boom!