162 Ch162. The battle for the Land of Snow 1

Doto's kunai quickly pushed its way towards the apprehensive Sosetsu while Doto's face showed a mad glee. He could already see himself sitting in the Daimyo's seat, controlling this rich country as he wished. The only problem was...

Rei's hand grabbed Doto's wrist, stopping his hand in its tracks just when the tip of the kunai was only a few inches away from Sosetsu's chest. Doto blinked uncomprehendingly, his brain momentarily refusing to process he was interrupted when he was so close to finishing his plans.

"Mah~, sorry but this dude is under my protection." Rei said jovially, enjoying the bafflement on Doto's face and the frozen smug smirk on Nadare's.

Their surprise didn't last that long, however. Nadare quickly sprang forward, going for an attack on Rei whom he judged to be the bigger threat than Sosetsu while Doto's eyes focused on his brother, showing a murderous enraged glint. He clearly wanted to take advantage of Nadare slowing Rei down and finish Sosetsu off. Not that Rei would allow that.

As Nadare's sword came dangerously close to the leisure Rei, he only deflected it with the back of his hand, sending the blade forcefully to the right, causing it to pull Nadare's arm alongside it while leaving his front wide open.

He was wearing the newest product of Ringo on his hands. Silvery tight-fitting gloves weaved from very thin strands of chakra metal. In the end, they were still metal but the sheer flexibility, lightness, and most importantly, toughness... these boys were supposed to be able to block a swing from one of the Seven Swords of Kiri and still be in a serviceable shape. Ringo simply refused to stop forging, reforging them and getting help from the Uzumaki clan to create her first-ever masterpiece. Only when the gloves withstood ten brutal slashes from Samehada in her own hands did she reluctantly agree she was somewhat satisfied with their performance.

The best part? Unlike the Seven Swords, the gloves could be mass-produced and modified. Yugito even asked for retractable claws in hers... which was a bit problematic since the gloves looked like silvery butler-style gloves from Rei's previous world. Ringo was an assassin and it showed in her forging too. She wanted the gloves to be easily concealed otherwise she would simply make tougher, stronger, sharper gauntlets instead of gloves that didn't have the capacity for that much material or seals on them.

Rei quickly gave her the design to the butler gloves and Ringo fell in love with them almost instantly. The sole problem was, they would stand out in the crowd as there was no equivalent in the world and once their future ninjas got famous for using them, they would be easily recognizable.

That's where Tsunade came in and had the Biri-Biri company mass-produce similar gloves from cotton and started selling them, creating a new trend, at first in the world of nobility and from there it spread to the merchants, and later to the normal people. She earned piles of Ryo, made the company more famous for releasing such a fashion trend... and most importantly, made sure the gloves Ringo made would be nothing to bat an eyelid on even in the crowd of normal people.

As for Nadare's sword... that pitiful excuse of a sword could only get duller the more it clashed with them. The single deflection already chipped the blade. Rei estimated that the sword could handle no more than five clashes before it broke in front of Nadare's eyes.

Rei also didn't take the chance to use the created opening in Nadare's defense. He only used the momentary surprise of Nadare and stepped to the side, closer towards Sosetsu while sending the approaching Doto flying back with a light kick to his gut. Rei then stepped back, pushing Sosetsu closer to the wall. He was now in front of the Snow Daimyo. If either Nadare or Doto wanted to get to Sosetsu, they first had to go through him.

The first to attack was Nadare. He once again slashed the sword at Rei who simply caught the blade in his gloved hand, slightly grimacing, 'So this is the strength produced by the chakra armor?'

Seeing his grimace, Nadare grinned. Despite his sword being caught, his mood actually improved as he let go of it, fluidly drawing a kunai from a pouch on his belt and slashed at Rei again. By that time, Doto was already on his feet, rushing towards Rei's other side, also having a kunai in his hands. Apparently, he decided to first end Rei and only after that focus on Sosetsu.

Rei who was holding the sword in his right hand found himself in a disadvantageous position as Nadare's kunai was approaching him from the right side and Doto's from the left while he only had his left hand free. Or at least, that was what Nadare and Doto thought.

Rei simply snapped his left hand towards the right, bitchslapping Nadare away, sending his body spinning through the air until the wall stopped him. Instantly, Rei used his left foot to snap-kick Doto's ship, causing him to lean more towards Rei's left side which bought time for Rei to snap his left hand from the right towards the left and slap Doto towards the ground as his grimace turned into a pitying frown.

"Man~! I know it is just an early version but these armors are shit." He whinily drawled as he mentally noted Doto was just a genin-level ninja if taken into consideration his actual strength without the armor while Nadare was chunin at best. "To think it would only increase your physique this much..." Rei shook his head. 'If I had to compare the effect... It simply made them from cheap and small fishing boats into battleships with cannons. Still... as surprising the huge boost in their power it provides, it is a bit underwhelming for its actual cost.'

Rei could see why Kakashi could have a problem dealing with the guys and even understood where their confidence in taking on the world came from. They could probably take on smaller ninja villages with just a few teams of chunin.

'I will have to take a few armors and let Ringo and Mei study them to find out how exactly they work. They might create a gear working on similar principles but waaaaay cheaper. As it is now, the armors are just a costly shit. Wearing clothes made of diamonds would be cheaper than one of these suits. If I was in my old world, I bet I could afford a nuke for one of those.' Rei inwardly chuckled, getting out of his pondering only when he heard Sosetsu's voice.

"Why, Doto?" Sosetsu whispered towards the groaning mess on the floor. Somehow, the man actually managed to stay awake after Rei bitch-slapped him with the chakra metal gloves.

'Eh, should have hit stronger, shouldn't I? That guy's skull must be quite thick!' Rei blinked at the sight, half-expecting Doto's neck to be already broken.

"I-It's always yo-you!" Doto wheezed through the pain. Jonin would be completely fine eating such a hit and chunin could also shrug it off after some time but Doto was barely a genin-level and as such, it was not advisable to meet chakra metal with his cheek head-on. It was prone to cracking.

"What?" Sosetsu awkwardly furrowed his brows, not understanding what his brother meant. What was it that Doto lacked? Luxury, money... and as shameful as it was for Sosetsu to admit it, even women. Doto had everything he ever wished for. From birth, both of them were given only the best and Sosetsu was actually glad that the work and burden of being the Daimyo fell from him. It was a very tough job from time to time. There was no need to burden his brother with it. So then... why would his brother want to kill him? Didn't he have as comfortable a life as possible?

"I-I should have been the Daimyo! I sho-should have the weapon that you are building in my hands! The crystal...ugh!" Doto started to get progressively louder and Rei didn't like it so he kicked the nuisance in his ribs, shutting him up.

"Crystal?" Sosetsu's eyes widened. 'So he was after the Spring Generator? But... what weapon? It is just a device to bring spring into this country.' Sosetsu stood there, gazing at his brother in utter bafflement.

"I should rule... I am the better one of the two of us... I..." Doto continued madly mumbling through the pain.

It was then Rei took Nadare's sword by its handle and ruthlessly slashed Doto's throat, making the man look at him with wide fearful eyes as he gurgled while blood poured out of him like a waterfall.

Rei turned towards Sosetsu who watched in horror as his brother's blood flowed on the floor and Doto slowly died, "Sorry. He would die anyway and the longer it would take, the more awkward it would probably become for you." He shruggingly said, showing he was not sorry in the least, while looking towards Nadare, noting he had his neck broken.

Sosetsu could only wryly smile at such logic.

'And killing my brother in cold blood in front of me is not awkward for you at all?'