Putting his thoughts aside, Yuki Seisui glanced at the two of them and casually tossed the blood-stained cloth he had used to clean his blade to the ground.
"Now it's time to deal with those who ran off."
Minato and Haru Uchiha both nodded. Now that they understood how the Duel Arena worked, they weren't the least bit worried about the bandits escaping.
No one leaves the arena unless everyone is dead.
Either you wait six hours for it to dissolve on its own, or… you die.
With that in mind, the trio headed off in the direction the bandits had fled.
==========
Meanwhile, in the real world…
Jiraiya was staring blankly at the scene in front of him. One moment all his students and the bandits were there, the next, poof, gone.
"Where'd they go?" he muttered, staring at the bandit camp's entrance, where only four corpses remained. "Where are my three gigantic students?"
"Why are they just… gone?!"
"Excuse me, are you one of the bandits here?"
A voice cut through his thoughts. Jiraiya turned and saw a man walking toward him in a samurai's garb, a straight-bladed katana at his waist.
"I'm Higashino Shuichi. Just a wandering swordsman," the man said with a polite nod, though his tone turned steely. "Forgive me, but I'm afraid I'll be taking your life today."
This guy was apologizing while threatening to kill him? Jiraiya couldn't help but feel at a complete loss for words.
"Wait, hold on a, "
Before he could finish, Higashino Shuichi drew his sword in a blur.
"Gentle Slash."
As the words left his mouth, he vanished from sight.
Jiraiya reacted instantly, springing high into the air. A second later, Higashino reappeared in the exact spot where Jiraiya had just been standing.
"You dodged that?" he muttered in surprise. He hadn't expected a lowly bandit to avoid his blade. Still, he didn't think much of it, after all, if someone was strong, why would they be a bandit?
His first strike having missed, Higashino swung upward with his sword.
"Falling Crescent!"
"Wait, I said, "
Jiraiya started to speak again, but the second slash was already flying toward him.
"Ninja Art: Needle Jizo!"
Forming a series of hand signs, Jiraiya's hair suddenly grew long and hard as steel, wrapping tightly around him to absorb the blow.
"You bastard!"
He landed back on the ground, fury in his eyes.
"Can't you listen for just one second?!"
"In that case, let me show you what real power looks like!"
Jiraiya's hands blurred through another set of signs.
"Ninja Art: Hell Needles!"
In an instant, his hair hardened into thousands of iron needles and launched toward Higashino like a deadly rainstorm.
"You're not a bandit?!" Higashino's calm composure shattered. As the barrage closed in, he finally realized the truth. There were plenty of ninja in the world, but none this powerful would ever stoop to being a mere bandit.
He scrambled to dodge the incoming technique.
In truth, both Needle Jizo and Hell Needles were variants of the same jutsu, one was defensive, encasing the user in hardened hair; the other was offensive, turning that hair into lethal projectiles.
Both were part of Jiraiya's signature line of hair-based techniques.
==========
Elsewhere…
Yuki Seisui and the others had already hunted down and eliminated all the fleeing bandits. They reappeared at the bandit camp, only to find a man in samurai garb desperately dodging Jiraiya's attacks.
"…What's going on here?" Seisui asked, blinking in confusion.
Minato and Haru were equally puzzled.
They had only been gone a few minutes. How had a fight broken out already?
Jiraiya noticed them appear and froze in surprise. One moment they'd vanished into thin air, now they were back like nothing had happened.
With a huff, he turned back to Higashino.
"Now you see just how strong I am, don't you?" he said smugly.
Higashino, breathing heavily, wiped the sweat from his forehead. He had genuinely thought he was going to die just moments ago. But the enemy had stopped attacking.
"I truly apologize for my rudeness," he said with a deep bow.
Jiraiya nodded, now that it was clear the guy had come here to deal with the bandits too. Had he not clarified that earlier, he'd be dead by now.
"Jiraiya-sensei, what happened?" Minato stepped forward, eyeing Higashino curiously. It was his first time seeing a real samurai.
"This guy thought I was a bandit and attacked me without a word," Jiraiya grumbled. Then his face lit up again. "But of course, your amazing teacher here totally crushed him!"
"Ha ha ha!"
Seisui glanced at Jiraiya showing off in front of Minato, then turned to Higashino.
"Are you a samurai from the Land of Iron?"
Higashino's eyes lingered on the still-unsheathed sword at Seisui's hip, surprised.
A ninja… who uses a sword?
He'd been wandering for years and had rarely, if ever, seen a ninja who wielded a blade.
Most relied on kunai, shuriken, or senbon, throwing weapons and stealth tools.
But this… this was new.
Still in a daze, Higashino hadn't answered. Seisui asked again, this time more directly.
"Are you from the Land of Iron?"
Higashino blinked, then quickly bowed. "Forgive me. That was rude of me."
Rising from his bow, he shook his head.
"No, I'm not a samurai from the Land of Iron. My strength comes purely from traveling across the world and challenging strong opponents."
There was pride in his voice as he spoke.
After all, even as a wandering swordsman, he had defeated several Chunin-level ninja in battle.
Seisui studied him with interest.
"So you came here to train yourself?"
Higashino chuckled. "Not exactly."
"These bandits aren't strong enough to help me improve."
"I just couldn't ignore the suffering of the nearby villagers. That's why I came."
Jiraiya had walked over by then, nodding in agreement at Higashino's words.
"Strength should be used to protect those who can't protect themselves," he said, clapping Higashino on the shoulder. "You've got talent."
Even though their exchange had lasted only a few moves, Jiraiya could tell Higashino was no slouch. Not many could last that long against his Hell Needles technique.
Clearly moved by the praise, Higashino's face lit up.
"Thank you for the compliment!"
Jiraiya glanced at Seisui and the others, suspicious. There was a lot he didn't understand, but with Higashino still here, it wasn't the time to pry.
"Our mission is complete. Time to head back to the village."
Upon hearing this, Higashino bowed deeply.
"In that case, I'll take my leave."
"Thank you again for showing mercy."
After Higashino left, Jiraiya turned to Minato. Compared to Seisui, who was a little too smooth-talking for his liking, Jiraiya felt Minato was much more trustworthy.
"Now, tell me exactly what happened during your mission."
Minato hesitated, glancing at Seisui.
Not sure if he should speak.
Seisui gave a slight nod, if he had already used the power, there was no point hiding it now.
Relaxing, Minato took a deep breath and began recounting everything in detail.
=============
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