Chapter 248: Don’t Touch That—It’s Alive, and It Bites!

Minato quickly took out a sealing scroll and stored the corpse inside.

"That's a valuable trophy. Once we get this back to the village, the interrogation department might be able to extract some useful intel," he remarked. Konoha's knowledge of the Mist Village was far too limited. Any useful information could be a big win.

"Behave!" Takuya scolded.

Samehada was now in his hands, but the moment he touched the handle, rows of sharp spikes jutted out, aiming to dig into his palm.

Takuya immediately covered his hand in chakra, blocking the spikes. A surge of intense chakra erupted from his body, making the entire ship sway. The next moment, the defiant Samehada shrank back as if it had just met a predator, retracting its spikes and behaving itself.

Some things just needed a little reminder of who's in charge, and Samehada was definitely one of those.

After getting the sentient sword to calm down, Takuya fed it some of his chakra before sealing it in a scroll.

This thing would need to be dealt with slowly.

"You're not going to use it?" Minato asked, surprised. Takuya had been eyeing this weapon for ages, but now that it was finally his, he had sealed it away instead of wielding it.

Takuya stored the scroll and leaped back onto the ship. "If I don't seal it properly, the Mist Village could summon it back. I need to add several layers of sealing before I can use it."

Without proper sealing, Samehada could easily be summoned back to the Mist Village. Takuya wasn't about to let the sword slip out of his hands right after obtaining it.

"Did you find anything else?" he asked Minato.

"Yeah, it's definitely their doing," Minato said, his face darkening as he brought out items from the cargo hold. "These are all stolen from Fire Country's merchant ships."

While raiding merchant ships wasn't exactly uncommon, bringing warships to do the job was definitely crossing a line.

If this kept up, who in their right mind would want to trade with the Land of Water? No wonder the place was broke—they couldn't even grasp basic economics.

"At this rate, nobody will want to do business with them," Minato agreed with Takuya's sentiment. "If even Sand Village knows better than to raid merchants, these guys are just shooting themselves in the foot."

"Burn it. Send the scroll and the intel back to the village, and let them handle it from here. Our job's done," Takuya ordered.

Once the goods and the enemy's remains were sent back, Konoha would take care of the negotiations. The Fire Daimyo would likely demand compensation from the Water Daimyo for the raids. How that played out was none of their concern.

"Leave it to me," Minato replied.

He summoned a frog to deliver the scrolls and then set fire to the Mist Village's warship. Once the flames consumed the ship, both he and Takuya returned.

"How'd it go?" Nawaki asked eagerly the moment they got back.

Takuya shrugged and said, "I was expecting more of a fight, but it turned out they were all just a bunch of weaklings. Minato wiped them out in a flash. At least I got what I came for."

Destroying a single ship might not seem like much, but losing Samehada would hurt the Mist Village deeply. The newly formed Seven Ninja Swordsmen now had one less member, and Takuya imagined the Mist Village would be feeling that pain for a while.

They might even come knocking on Konoha's door, demanding Samehada's return. Too bad—anything that ended up in Takuya's hands never left.

"Well, I didn't finish them that quickly. Some of them did try to put up a fight," Minato added modestly, scratching his head. It wasn't his fault that mowing down weaklings just happened to be one of his strengths.

"Lame…" Nawaki muttered under his breath, clearly disappointed.

He'd spent all that time anxiously guarding the merchant ship, only to find out that the battle was over before he even saw the enemy.

So unfair.

"Wait, so the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist are this unimpressive?" Nawaki asked, still trying to make sense of it all.

Takuya patted him on the shoulder, grinning. "They're alright, I guess. A bit stronger than the average jonin, but once they eat one of my genjutsu... well, that's pretty much the end for them."

He paused, thinking for a moment. "Then again, I don't think the Seven Swordsmen have been around for that long, have they?"

Get lost, Takuya! Nawaki didn't even want to respond. Is that supposed to be encouraging?

"Eating your genjutsu…" Nawaki had heard enough. How many shinobi in the entire world could withstand one of Takuya's genjutsu and walk away unscathed?

Nawaki had once asked Orochimaru about it. Orochimaru's reaction had been surprising—he'd seemed almost... unnerved. After thinking carefully for a moment, Orochimaru had said:

"If it were me, I'd probably be dead the moment Takuya's genjutsu hit."

Even Orochimaru didn't think he'd survive one of Takuya's genjutsu.

Takuya wasn't sure whether Orochimaru would really die, but he was certain that if Orochimaru ever got hit by his Sakura Fall genjutsu, he'd be twirling elegantly in a storm of cherry blossoms. After all, the man was very flexible.

"Hey, don't pout. Next time we run into enemies, you go first. I'll just sit back and enjoy the show," Takuya said with a grin, sensing Nawaki's frustration. He dangled the promise of a bigger fight in front of him like bait.

"You said it! Next time, I go first. You and Minato can't interfere!" Nawaki exclaimed, his mood instantly brightening.

Takuya chuckled and nodded, while Minato gave him a skeptical side-eye. It wasn't that Minato doubted Nawaki's abilities—it was that he could already imagine how this would end, with Nawaki screaming for help halfway through the fight.

There was no denying that Nawaki was strong. Sure, it had taken him a little longer to pass his jonin exam than Minato, but that was mostly because Minato had access to a cheat code—the Flying Thunder God Technique. Combine that with Nawaki's own personal struggles, and it explained why he'd been a bit slower in advancing.

But that didn't mean Nawaki wasn't talented. He was good—really good. His ninjutsu, taijutsu, and kenjutsu were all impressive. His only real weakness was genjutsu.

Unfortunately for Nawaki, he was constantly compared to Takuya, a freak of nature, and Minato, who had skyrocketed in power after mastering the Flying Thunder God. It made him feel like he wasn't enough.

"Go tell the merchant captain to turn back. This route won't be safe for a while. And give the team stationed at the Uzushio ruins a heads-up—they should avoid this area for now," Takuya instructed.

With Fuguki Suikazan dead and Samehada in enemy hands, the Mist Village would be reeling. They would likely send people to investigate, and things could easily escalate. The last thing they needed was innocent merchant ships caught in the crossfire.

"Got it," Nawaki said, taking the task without complaint.

The team's diplomatic duties had slowly shifted from Minato to Nawaki over time. Nawaki didn't mind—it was just talking, after all. No big deal.

Once Nawaki had left, Takuya brought out Samehada.

He needed to set up the proper seals before Mist Village realized they'd lost it. Once the seals were in place, he could use it without worry.

"That sword... it looks weird," Minato said, leaning in curiously as Samehada began absorbing Takuya's chakra.

"Don't touch it. This thing's alive—it'll bite," Takuya warned, seeing Minato's hand inching closer. While Samehada had calmed down after feeding on his chakra, it wouldn't hesitate to attack anyone else.

"Uh… okay," Minato replied, retracting his hand at lightning speed. "It bites?"

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