CHAPTER 178: CHAPTER 178

"He actually collected six of the Seven Ninja Swords already..."

Orochimaru stared at Mangetsu, a thoughtful look in his eyes. Had he underestimated this guy all along?

Mangetsu had always been hard to read, making it unclear just how strong he really was.

He usually came off as a slacker—no political ambition, nothing flashy in terms of skill.

Had he been acting like that on purpose this whole time just to throw them off?

Orochimaru was more curious about Kimimaro’s body than Hozuki Mangetsu’s strength.

Even though Orochimaru ran all kinds of human experiments and studied forbidden jutsu, he also traveled to different villages and had looked into Kirigakure’s ninja swords in the past.

Back during the Blood Mist era, all seven of the swordmen had become rogue ninja. Logically, the swords should’ve been scattered everywhere.

But now, six of them had been gathered again. As Mizukage, that alone showed he was no pushover.

"Getting that many swords back from rogue ninja isn’t an easy thing."

"But can you really use all of them by yourself?"

Orochimaru’s expression darkened a bit as he tilted his head slightly, sounding almost like he was picking a fight.

Each sword had a totally different way of being used, so almost every ninja who used them only mastered one.

For Hozuki Mangetsu to bring them all out at once just looked like he was showing off.

The copies by his side were probably water clones, only carrying a tenth of the original’s power.

The real one might manage fine, but these clones likely wouldn’t last long.

Orochimaru didn’t really believe someone as young as Hozuki Mangetsu could fully use all six swords, especially since they had been slowly recovered over time.

But if he really could handle them all smoothly, then he would definitely deserve the title of Mizukage.

"Why don’t you fight me and find out?"

Mangetsu grinned, flashing a row of sharp shark-like teeth. Then, with one hand, he grabbed a massive sword wrapped in explosive tags and charged forward.

The explosive tags on the sword unrolled like a scroll and shot out suddenly from the blade.

Sarutobi Hiruzen quickly formed hand signs, leaned back, and shot a wave of fire from his mouth.

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Bullet!"

Mangetsu jumped high into the air, and the scroll of tags on his sword unraveled midair, dropping down to form a ring around Hashirama and Tobirama.

With a burst of red flame, the tags lit up all at once, followed by a huge, ear-splitting explosion.

*BOOM!!!!!!*

The blast was so powerful, the entire rooftop shook violently.

"Whoa, that’s Mangetsu for you. Blowing things up that badly in that spot."

Hatake Satoru had just finished greeting Kimimaro. When he turned around, the inside of the barrier was filled with black smoke, completely hiding what was going on inside.

The building where the three Kage were sitting kept shaking from the explosion.

If it weren’t for the barrier around them, this place would’ve been blown to pieces.

Shisui shot out from the lower part of the building, with a huge flock of crows flying into the sky. Their beady black eyes spun as they looked up at the barrier above.

"That’s the rooftop, man... using that sword in a place like this—yeah, we really shouldn’t have let him go up alone."

Shisui frowned and rubbed his forehead.

"...Earlier I thought it was weird that you were his teacher."

"Now I feel like if you two aren’t actually father and son, this mess won’t make any sense."

That wild, carefree attitude—just going with the flow—is exactly like Hatake Satoru’s.

Kakashi looked away and quietly pulled his head back, like he couldn’t bear to watch.

"It’s allowed, but was it really needed?"

"And are you throwing shade at me right now? Let’s round it up and call that a compliment~"

Hatake Satoru raised an eyebrow as he spoke.

Nearby, Baki was leading some of the Sand ninja to work together with the Leaf ninja, helping evacuate the Daimyo and other important figures.

Temari and Kankuro took charge of escorting duties, since chaos still raged outside.

Many Sand ninja who had blocked the village gate earlier suddenly turned on Otogakure and fought alongside the Leaf.

Although a lot of the Leaf guards outside got caught off guard and beaten up by the fake-out,

at this point, it didn’t really matter—whoever could help fight the Otogakure ninja was good enough.

The outside news kept changing—at first, it was that Otogakure and the Sunagakure were teaming up to attack the Leaf Village.

Then it turned into: the Sunagakure was actually on their side, and all they needed to do was take down Otogakure. Orochimaru had disguised himself as the Kazekage to kidnap the Hokage and had fooled most people.

Since Baki was a middleman in the plan and the evidence was solid, the Sand ninjas quickly switched sides.

A lot of Sand shinobi stayed outside the village with the Leaf ninjas to block Orochimaru.

Because the Leaf didn’t have enough shinobi overall, some Sand ninjas even came into the village to help with crowd evacuation and other tasks.

Naruto and Sasuke should be able to hold on for a while.

But it’s hard to say if Shukaku will suddenly come out during that time. If a tailed beast escapes and slams down with one paw...

This place has the Daimyo and all the major ninja leaders. If they got wiped out in one hit, the whole balance of power in the world would shift.

"Good thing the Sand didn’t really betray us. Otherwise, this situation would be way harder to handle."

Just as Kakashi said that, Baki let out a slightly awkward cough.

But he didn’t explain much—just treated Gaara’s transformation into a tailed beast as an accident.

Since Orochimaru had been pretending to be the Kazekage and they realized the truth in time, they hadn’t actually turned on the Leaf.

If they could get away with this story for now, it was good enough.

Kakashi scratched his head and looked around. Even though things were changing quickly, for now, everything nearby seemed to be under control.

But there was still one area holding the real core of the situation—and they couldn’t get involved there.

That was the barrier where the Hokage and Orochimaru were fighting.

Black smoke kept pouring out from inside the barrier, and the shadows inside moved extremely fast.

"That speed... Did you teach the Mizukage your teleportation... huh?"

Kakashi squinted with one eye, trying to see more clearly. He caught a glimpse of a figure blinking in and out of sight, moving fast.

But when he finally saw the shape more clearly, his tone suddenly changed.

"I never taught Mangetsu teleportation. My powers can’t be taught anyway~"

Hatake Satoru said casually from the side.

He had also seen the figure suddenly flashing in and out inside the barrier.

Golden hair... and the cloak of the Fourth Hokage.

That teleporting jutsu—was the Flying Thunder God.

Kakashi’s eyes widened in disbelief.

"Sensei... Why is he inside there?"

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