Matatabi gave Shikatoki a portion of its chakra.
[Tailed Beast Chakra detected.
This can be converted into a Template.
Convert?]
Shikatoki paused for a moment.
“Yes.”
The chakra Matatabi had just given him immediately disappeared.
That portion of chakra transformed into a new Template.
[Special Template: Matatabi]
[Matatabi: Special Template.
Grants Flame Enchantment, increases the power of Fire Release techniques, and enables the formation of a Tailed Beast Ball.]
Shikatoki stared at the description in surprise.
He had already expected the increase to Fire Release damage.
But—
Enables the formation of a Tailed Beast Ball?
What the hell?
Did that mean Shikatoki could use a Tailed Beast Ball too?!
That was insane.
Come to think of it, Shikatoki really did lack large-scale destructive ninjutsu.
“My chakra disappeared.”
Matatabi looked at him curiously.
Shikatoki was pulled from his thoughts.
He immediately activated Sage Mode.
A natural aura emanated from his body.
“I rarely use chakra anymore.”
“I mostly rely on natural energy, so I stored the chakra you gave me.”
“Thank you for the gift.”
Matatabi studied him again.
“The aura around you feels somewhat similar to the old man’s…”
“But it’s also different.”
“How strange.”
“I should get going.”
Shikatoki waved.
“Hopefully we’ll meet again.”
Matatabi lay back down.
“Goodbye.”
At this moment, Yugito Nii had already returned to normal.
She was sleeping peacefully.
“Done.”
Shikatoki suddenly spoke.
A looked at him suspiciously.
“Seriously?”
“I didn’t even see you do anything.”
“You just stood there for a while and suddenly it’s fixed?”
Shikatoki rolled his eyes.
“Why would I lie to you?”
“I went inside and met the Two-Tails.”
“I dealt with the problem from within her inner world.”
Just as Shikatoki said, one of the sealing shinobi examining Yugito suddenly exclaimed excitedly,
“What an advanced sealing technique!”
“It’s completely different from Kumogakure’s methods!”
“Lord Shikatoki’s mastery of fūinjutsu is incredible!”
“See?”
Shikatoki spread his hands.
Hearing that, A finally stopped doubting him.
“Come on.”
“You promised you’d fight me.”
“Sure.”
“Let’s go!”
At Kumogakure’s training ground—
Shikatoki and A stood facing each other.
The surrounding area was packed with spectators.
“Lord A!
You can do it!”
“A!
You have to win!”
Shikatoki glanced around.
As expected of home-field advantage.
Not a single person was cheering for him.
“Lightning Release Chakra Mode!”
Lightning erupted around A’s body.
Shikatoki activated Sage Mode.
“Here I come!”
A gave him a warning— then disappeared.
His speed was already comparable to Minato in his normal state.
But Shikatoki’s sensory abilities in Sage Mode were no joke.
He swung his fist toward his right.
Boom!
The two fists collided.
A shockwave erupted around them.
Excitement immediately appeared on A’s face.
“What incredible strength!”
“I didn’t expect your taijutsu to be this good!”
“Heavy Lariat!”
“Monstrous Strength!”
There were no flashy ninjutsu.
Only overwhelming physical power.
The two exchanged blow after blow at point-blank range.
Eventually, both of them practically abandoned defence altogether.
A had the Lightning Release Armour created by his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Shikatoki had his immortal body.
Their brutal exchange made even the spectators wince.
Too vicious!
From a high vantage point, the Third Raikage watched the fight.
He couldn’t help sighing internally.
Why does Konoha always produce monsters like these?
First Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.
Then the Sannin and the White Fang.
And now Shikatoki Nara and Minato Namikaze.
“This is great!”
“This is incredible!”
A shouted excitedly.
“Shikatoki Nara!”
“Opponents like you are way too rare!”
Truthfully— against a straightforward fighter like A, Shikatoki could end the battle almost instantly.
He wasn’t using his Sealing Technique.
He wasn’t using his modified Shadow Imitation Technique either.
He was inside Kumogakure, after all.
He had to give them at least a little face.
That was the only reason he was trading punches with A.
Shikatoki mentally estimated the time.
That should be enough.
A faint trace of soul power gathered around one of Shikatoki’s fingers.
It wasn’t enough to cause serious damage.
A’s soul would gradually recover on its own.
Shikatoki sidestepped A’s next attack.
Then— he lightly tapped A’s abdomen.
The soul power passed straight through the Lightning Release Armour.
It struck A directly.
A suddenly felt as though his abdomen had suffered a devastating blow.
His body collapsed backward.
Shikatoki immediately stopped attacking.
“Thanks for the match.”
A climbed back to his feet in disbelief.
He looked down at his Lightning Release Armour.
Completely intact.
Then he checked his abdomen.
There wasn’t a single visible injury.
Yet the intense pain he had just felt had undeniably been real.
“How did you do that?”
“Just a little trick.”
Shikatoki smiled.
“Let’s stop here.”
“I still need to visit Kirigakure, and I’m starting to run short on time.”
Shikatoki left the training ground.
Before departing, he respectfully saluted the Third Raikage from a distance.
Then he left Kumogakure without looking back.
The Third Raikage appeared beside A.
“What did you learn?”
A shook his head.
“My Lightning Release Chakra Mode still isn’t good enough!”
“I need to train harder!”
The Third Raikage’s expression instantly darkened.
“Are you an idiot?”
“I told you to learn from the way Shikatoki Nara and Minato Namikaze plan their battles!”
“I wasn’t telling you to become an even bigger brute!”
“Just look at what happened.”
“You rely far too much on your Lightning Release Armour.”
“You assume it can block everything.”
“If Shikatoki had aimed that attack at your heart instead of your abdomen, would you still be alive?”
“And that brat was holding back so much he practically flooded the entire Land of Water!”
A looked unconvinced.
“What do you mean he was holding back?!”
“You still don’t get it?!”
The Third Raikage showed him absolutely no mercy.
“Did he use Shadow Imitation?”
“No.”
“Did he use his Sealing Technique?”
“No!”
“He fought you evenly using nothing but taijutsu, and you’re still refusing to admit he was holding back?!”
A could only lower his head and endure the lecture.
But internally— he was already thinking about the upcoming Chūnin Exams.
Just as Hiruzen had predicted— because the Daimyōs of the various nations were involved, Kumogakure’s participants this time included A himself.
After leaving Kumogakure, Shikatoki found a merchant vessel heading toward the Land of Water.
The journey was peaceful.
He arrived at the border of the Land of Water without incident.
However— the moment he stepped ashore, he received an unprecedentedly warm welcome.
“Shikatoki Nara!”
“You actually dare come to the Land of Water?!”
More than ten shinobi immediately surrounded him.
Shikatoki sneered.
“Looks like you people are just like Sunagakure.”
“You have no idea what basic hospitality means!”
His shadow spread across the battlefield.
The shadows of every shinobi present began to rise.
“Kill.”
The shadows immediately fought their original owners.
Before long— every shadow had been destroyed.
And the shinobi themselves were left screaming on the ground.
Some had lost arms or legs.
Others were already dead.
“Looks like delivering this invitation won’t be easy.”
Shikatoki calmly walked away.
Hidden in the distance—
Ao swallowed hard.
“No way.”
“I have to report this to Lord Mizukage immediately!”
Before long, Kirigakure updated its intelligence report on Shikatoki Nara.
Damage inflicted upon a shadow will now be perfectly transferred to the shadow’s original owner.
Simply reading that information was enough to inspire despair.
After all— a shadow didn’t necessarily have to be defeated by its opponent.
It could kill itself.
Because of this, Kirigakure’s newest recommendation regarding Shikatoki was extremely simple:
Do not allow Shikatoki Nara’s shadow to touch your own.
If his shadow couldn’t make contact— he couldn’t extract yours.
Simple in theory.
But actually doing it?
That was another matter entirely.
Thanks to Ao’s intelligence report, Shikatoki spent the rest of his journey leisurely sightseeing.
He reached the entrance of Kirigakure without incident.
The Third Mizukage was already waiting for him.
“Oh?”
Shikatoki smiled teasingly.
“Lord Third Mizukage is awfully polite.”
“You even came to welcome me personally.”
Since Kirigakure had already attacked him, Shikatoki saw no reason to remain polite.
The Third Mizukage’s expression was ugly.
This was the man who had practically wiped out an entire generation of Kirigakure elites!
The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist from that generation had been among Kirigakure’s strongest young shinobi.
Now— every last one of them was dead at Shikatoki Nara’s hands.
Even the Seven Ninja Swords had been taken.
The Third Mizukage desperately wanted to kill the person standing before him.
But he couldn’t.
Ignoring Shikatoki’s bizarre abilities for the moment—
Shikatoki had come here representing the Fire Daimyō.
If he died somewhere along the journey, Kirigakure could claim it was an accident.
But if he died right outside Kirigakure’s gate?
That would be an entirely different matter.
“Hmph.”
“Where’s the invitation?”
The Third Mizukage’s voice was icy.
Shikatoki took out the invitation.
But he didn’t hand it over.
“I had barely stepped onto the shores of the Land of Water when someone tried to kill me.”
“Shouldn’t Lord Mizukage give me an explanation first?”
“An explanation?”
The Third Mizukage replied coldly.
“Those men were missing-nin from Kirigakure.”
“Oh~”
Shikatoki narrowed his eyes.
This permanently squinting bastard said it so naturally that it almost sounded convincing.
“In that case, I suppose I killed the right people.”
“Conveniently, I don’t have anything else to do right now.”
“Maybe I’ll spend a while travelling around the Land of Water.”
He smiled.
“I just hope none of Kirigakure’s shinobi happen to get killed by…
water bandits.”
A threat.
A completely undisguised threat.
Everyone present understood exactly what Shikatoki meant.
He had no intention of letting this matter go for free.
The Third Mizukage clenched his fists.
After a moment— he slowly released them.
If Kirigakure mobilised the entire village, he was confident they could kill Shikatoki.
But the cost?
Shikatoki’s shadows could return damage perfectly to their original owners.
If Kirigakure truly fought him— the village could easily lose nine out of every ten shinobi involved.
His ability was simply too efficient against ordinary ninja.
“What do you want?”
The Third Mizukage knew what Sunagakure had been forced to pay.
When he first read that intelligence report, he had even mocked the Third Kazekage for being useless.
Now— the boomerang had come flying straight back at him.
Shikatoki fell into thought.
Truthfully—
Kirigakure didn’t have much that interested him.
Their most prominent techniques were Water Release.
But when it came to Water Release— who had greater authority than Tobirama Senju?
The Water Release techniques recorded in Konoha’s Scroll of Seals were already superior to almost anything Kirigakure could offer.
Still—
Shikatoki couldn’t simply ask for nothing.
Wouldn’t that mean he had taken a loss?
After thinking for a while, Shikatoki finally spoke.
“How about this?”
“Give me two vials of blood.”
The Third Mizukage blinked.
“What?”
“One vial from a member of the Yuki Clan who has awakened their kekkei genkai.”
“And one from a member of the Kaguya Clan who has awakened theirs.”
Shikatoki smiled.
“That should be enough.”
“Huh?”
The Third Mizukage had already mentally prepared himself to suffer a massive loss.
And Shikatoki was only asking for two vials of blood?
“That’s not acceptable?”
“It’s acceptable.”
The Third Mizukage immediately replied.
“I’ll have someone bring them.”
His tone was perfectly calm.
He had never particularly liked the kekkei genkai clans in the first place.
Those clans were all absurdly arrogant.
If their strength weren’t genuinely valuable to Kirigakure, the Third Mizukage would have wanted to eliminate half of them already.
If two vials of blood were enough to solve the problem— what was there to hesitate about?
When the Yuki Clan and Kaguya Clan received the order, however— they strongly resisted.
The Third Mizukage only had to say one thing.
“If you refuse, you can deal with Shikatoki Nara yourselves.”
“But if Shikatoki Nara personally comes to collect…”
“I doubt he’ll stop after taking only two vials.”
Both clans knew exactly how dangerous Shikatoki was.
They could only endure it.
After all— shinobi were supposed to know how to endure.
Once he obtained the two vials of blood, Shikatoki preserved them using a special method and then sealed them away securely.
Hopefully, once Orochimaru sees these two vials of blood…
Shikatoki silently prayed.
he’ll finally stop bothering me.
With that—
Shikatoki officially began his journey back to Konoha.