47. 4th Raikage

Zoro returns to Kumogakure after quite a long time. He hasn't caught any missing nins from Kumo since his fight with B.

It's not that he avoided hunting them. He just didn't find them to be close to his locations when he was hunting and he never had any specified targets.

When he submits the corpse, the ninja officers are surprised. After all, he just defeated an S-Rank missing nin that will need at least a team of strong jonins to defeat.

But he defeated E alone, which means he also has the power of an S-Rank ninja. It's surprising for them because it's rare for independent mercenaries or bounty hunters to be this strong.

Furthermore, he is still very young. Most of his peers are still chuunin. It's very rare for someone his age to reach a jonin-level of power and an S-Rank jonin at that.

He gets a reward of 3.4 million ryo and even receives 500 thousand ryo as a bonus for returning the precious items that E stole.

Those items are ninjutsu scrolls. Zoro actually has checked them and found out that the scrolls' contents are incomplete.

The writings are also not really good as if they are made in a rush. Torao guesses that E was copying the original scrolls instead of trying to take them away.

Zoro doesn't understand why E didn't just steal the original scrolls. So Torao tells him that if E didn't take the original scrolls, then he would still be a Kumo ninja.

He just needed to hide the ninjutsu he learned from the copies. But he must have been discovered when copying the scrolls, so he couldn't complete them and was forced to run away.

Torao even assumes that E's assassination attempt on B was done after that. Else, he wouldn't even try to copy the ninjutsu scrolls.

His assumptions are proved to be correct when they meet B who hears the news of E's death. B confirms Torao's assumption when they eat katsudon in a small restaurant.

As for the reason why E tried to kill B, it was because Hachibi killed E's wife when it was rampaging in the past. So his real target was Hachibi instead of B.

But E knew he was no match for Hachibi and B who already has full control of Hachibi's power. That's why he tried to steal those ninjutsu that were the 3rd Raikage's skills.

The 3rd Raikage was the only one who could fight Hachibi alone. So he thought that he could defeat B and Hachibi with the 3rd Raikage's skills. But he was discovered midway and B also managed to defeat him, forcing him to flee.

"Still, yo~ You're so cool. Defeating an S-Rank nin alone, Fool! Ya Fool!"

"He underestimated me and thought too highly of his incomplete skills. His attacks were strong, but not as strong as yours. Though he was faster than you when we fought."

"My brother is still faster."

"No doubt. If he is as fast as the 4th Raikage, then he won't keep running away. He would have returned here to kill you. By the way, thanks for the money you gave me last time, I could buy better swords."

He didn't buy the swords, but Zoro can't reveal that because he asked B to compensate him for breaking his swords.

"Oh? Your new swords~ They look cool and can't be described with words~."

"Surely. I'm sure they won't break again even if you go all out."

Zoro's eyes twitch because he realizes he has just made a mistake by saying that. He looks at B who already has a big grin on his face and as he thought, B asks for a spar again.

"..... Fine, but let's do it tomorrow. It's late and I need to find an inn to stay tonight."

"EZ~ But don't try to run away, ya fool!"

"Don't worry. I can't run away because I still need to come here more in the future to get more bounty rewards."

B then helps him find a good inn that is highly recommended in the village. It's also to make sure he knows where Zoro stays so he can pick him up for the spar tomorrow.

The next day, B really waits in front of the inn very early in the morning. He takes Zoro to a different field from the one they used last time.

To Zoro's surprise, there are a few people there. A muscular man with dark skin and white-blonde hair, another man with dark skin and white hair but not muscular, a lean fair-skinned man with blonde hair, and a blonde woman with average body size.

"Are you ganging up on me now?"

"Fool! Ya fool! I'm not that shameless. My brother and the others just want to see because they are curious about you who defeated E alone~."

".... This has become quite troublesome."

B introduces the spectators. The 4th Raikage A, Darui, C, and Kumogakure's 2nd Jinchuuriki, Nii Yugito.

"So there are A, B, C, and D here because I defeated E?"

"Pfft!"

Darui holds his laugh while the others frown and shake their heads at Zoro's joke.

"Boy, did you really defeat E alone?"

The 4th Raikage suddenly asks Zoro such a question.

"Didn't you receive the corpse already?"

Zoro doesn't show any fear and even talks impolitely to the 4th Raikage, which intrigues the others.

"That doesn't prove that you defeat him alone. You could have teammates helping you and then claim to do it alone."

"I see, that is a possible assumption. But is that really a problem? I don't think the method I used was your concern. What's important for your village is that the criminal gets defeated, right? How he gets defeated isn't that important as long as he gets stopped."

The 4th Raikage frowns hearing Zoro's rude yet correct answer while the others are impressed seeing him not pressured by the 4th Raikage's presence.

"You're right, it doesn't matter. Then it also doesn't matter if I want to see how good you are, right?"

The 4th Raikage suddenly activates his Lightning Chakra Mode which is times stronger than E's Lightning Chakra Mode.

".... Such an unreasonable old man."

Without any sign, the 4th Raikage suddenly disappears from his spot and flashes toward Zoro. He tries to grab Zoro's head but his wrist is caught by Zoro before his hand can reach Zoro's head.

Everyone is surprised seeing Zoro doesn't just react, but even catches Raikage's wrist. They never saw someone do that before.

"You, did you predict my attack? You were moving before I arrived, so you could catch me even though you are not as fast as me."

"That's the company secret."

"Hmph! Now I can see why E lost to you. Heh, this is interesting. B, let me spar with him instead. This kid is interesting."

"Eh? But I was the one who asked him."

"Fight him another time. Let me play a bit after so long."

The 4th Raikage seems to not care whether B allows it or not and he surely doesn't even ask Zoro. He just decides it by himself as he takes off his top to fight.

Zoro sighs and unsheathes his 3 swords because he knows he can't escape this. Besides, this is yet another chance to fight a very strong opponent.

The 4th Raikage is obviously faster than E. Just now, he only used similar speed to E, but Zoro knows he can move even faster than that because he can feel the 4th Raikage's Lightning Chakra Mode has much more power than E, so his speed and attack power must be higher too.

Zoro coats his swords with Armament Haki, which piques everyone's interest. Some of them have seen this skill when Zoro fought B in the past, but it's just from afar.

Seeing it up close, the black coating on the swords looks more impressive. The metallic glisten and mysterious aura coming out of it is something they never see before.

"What kind of ninjutsu is that?"

Yugito asks B who now stands with them.

"A defensive ninjutsu that hardens anything coated with it. In our sparring, he used that to block my attack that hit his body. It felt harder than steel. He must've used it on his swords to harden them so they can withstand brother's attacks."

B doesn't even rap when answering because he is too focused on the incoming fight. But his answer is enough to pique everyone's interest once more because B of all people praises the black coating.

"I never saw such ninjutsu from any villages or clans that I've ever fought."

The others also never saw it just like Darui. That's why they get even more curious now.

"Well, we'll see how good it is when the sparring starts."

Everyone stops talking after C says that. They are focusing on the sparring between their Kage and a young bounty hunter.

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