Lightning struck down from the highest heavens.
Though there was only one bolt, it was exceptionally thick, like a celestial river overturning and pouring down upon the mortal realm, crashing fiercely onto the earth.
"Boom!"
Accompanied by a massive roar, everything in sight was obscured by intense light. Only the violent air currents and the tremors and sounds of shattering boulders and trees could be felt.
After a while, sensing that the commotion outside had lessened, Jokichi opened his eyes.
The yet-to-dissipate smoke and dust veiled an apocalyptic scene.
In the center of the bare earth remained a scorched, smoking crater, within which lay the figure of the young girl.
She wasn't dead, and even her exterior remained intact, with flickering lightning lingering across her body.
Ninjutsu of the same element can offset each other.
At the critical moment, Ringo Ameyuri clad her body in a Lightning Release chakra armor.
When Kirin struck her, a portion was offset, a portion was absorbed by the Lightning Swords, and the rest was grounded into the earth.
However, this was already her limit.
Although she ensured her survival, she had also exhausted all her chakra. Her muscles twitched continuously, and she was unable to move.
As for those Anbu around the crater.
They lay haphazardly on the ground, either on their backs or stomachs, their bodies scorched black and emitting steam. They were dead beyond a doubt.
"Just who the hell are you?"
Mangetsu, with only half his face still in a jelly-like state, asked with difficulty after looking at the surrounding scene.
Possessing ninjutsu of this level, even if he hadn't relaxed his guard earlier, he would hardly be his match.
"I told you, it doesn't matter!" Jokichi looked back at him, a casual smile hanging on his face. "I only want to know Utakata's whereabouts."
Saying this, the three tomoe in his scarlet eyes spun madly.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan!"
Mangetsu's consciousness gradually blurred.
...
A few minutes later, having obtained a satisfactory answer, Jokichi shouldered his sword, picked up the birdcage, and swaggered off.
Before leaving, he broke off a piece from each of the two ninja swords and didn't forget to pluck a few hairs from both of them.
As for the ninja swords being broken and unusable because of this.
Hehe, what does that have to do with me?
...
An hour after he left, a group of Kirigakure ninjas arrived.
Leading them was a middle-aged man wearing an eye patch.
If Jokichi were here, he would definitely recognize this person's identity.
He was the future captain of the Allied Shinobi Forces' Sensory Division, Ao.
Beside him was a shy teenager, Chojuro.
When they arrived at the scene and saw the destroyed, pitch-black earth and the Anbu reduced to charred corpses, their mouths all fell open.
"With this destructive range and this manner of death, were they accidentally injured by Ringo Ameyuri?" Chojuro couldn't help but ask.
"No, Ringo Ameyuri is down too, and so is Mangetsu! They're still alive. Medical ninjas, hurry up and save them!"
Ao, who had already activated his Byakugan to investigate the scene, had taken in the entire situation and issued timely orders.
Ringo Ameyuri was fine; she had merely overused her chakra and was exhausted.
Mangetsu, however, was in a much worse state. Only a fist-sized chunk of his entire body remained in the Hydrification Technique state, and it had turned into a jelly-like form.
If no one rescued him in time, once his chakra was depleted and he could no longer maintain the jutsu, he would die.
After some emergency treatment, both were saved in time and regained consciousness.
"Who was the enemy?" Ao asked sternly. "To fail even with the two of you leading and so many Anbu, I simply cannot imagine it."
"The enemy had the Sharingan, very powerful Lightning Release, and was fast—so fast that he caught an opening and instantly killed Mangetsu. I don't know anything else!" Ringo Ameyuri said grumpily.
Speaking of which, the reason this mission failed so miserably was entirely due to Mangetsu underestimating the enemy and being careless.
If he hadn't been effortlessly taken out right at the start, they wouldn't have been so passive.
A whole group of people, and they couldn't even gather any decent intelligence.
"The Sharingan..." Ao's expression became very solemn. "This matter has become somewhat troublesome. We must notify Lady Mizukage immediately. Fall back!"
...
On the other side.
Jokichi had already left the Land of Water.
Having caused such a huge commotion, Kirigakure definitely wouldn't let it go easily.
He didn't want to be wanted nationwide in someone else's territory.
Furthermore, Utakata wasn't in the Land of Water, but in the Land of Grass, located between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth.
Coincidentally, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki, Fu, was a Genin of Takigakure, so he could take care of both of them at the same time.
Utakata was constantly being pursued by Kirigakure's hunter-nin, so it was very likely he would leave the Land of Grass.
To avoid missing him, Jokichi sprinted all the way toward the Land of Grass.
Of course, he didn't forget to forge items along the way.
He first forged items from Ringo Ameyuri and Hozuki Mangetsu, and then forged the Kaguya clan's crystals.
From their hair, he forged a fist-sized, dark purple crystal ball, two light orbs radiating a cold gleam, and a bottle filled with white granular pills.
The fragments of the Lightning Sword and Hiramekarei forged two sets of lightning rods and a vacuum cleaner, respectively.
The two light orbs were the Soul of Thunder and the Soul of Weaponry.
One enhanced a person's talent in learning Lightning Release, and the other enhanced a person's talent in mastering weapons.
Jokichi had the talent boosts of Kakashi and Minato, so his talent in all ninjutsu was not lacking. Furthermore, he had pretty much finished learning Lightning Release, so he didn't use them.
As for the Soul of Weaponry.
When seeing the description of this thing, Jokichi immediately roasted Tenten.
What was he roasting Tenten about back then?
If she could focus her mind on one type of weapon, she definitely could have become a Kage-level expert early on.
Look, just look.
Hozuki Mangetsu possessed the Soul of Weaponry and focused on the use of swords. Now, he was among the top tier of Kage-level experts.
Of course, Jokichi, who had already used a Soul of Weaponry and didn't plan to delve deeper into swordsmanship, didn't use it either.
He planned to give it to Ryohei.
Ryohei's current strength resided entirely within his twin swords.
But limited by his swordsmanship attainment, he was only an elite Jonin, and among the weaker ones at that.
With the enhancement of this Soul of Weaponry, his strength would definitely skyrocket, reaching Kage-level in the short term.
At that time, there would be many things he could be assigned to do.
Later on, the effects of those two swords would be needed against the likes of Madara, the Sage of Six Paths, Kaguya, and even Otsutsuki Urashiki, who had arrived on Earth long ago but was sneaking around investigating.
If he was too weak, he wouldn't be able to participate in battles of that caliber.
After looking at the two Souls of Talent, Jokichi turned his gaze to the dark purple crystal ball. This thing was too eye-catching.
"Thunder Pearl: Possesses the powerful natural power of lightning. It can greatly amplify the user's Lightning Release ninjutsu and imbue it with natural power. It can also be embedded in weapons or items to grant them the same effect."