After Hatake Sakumo jumped out the window, he saw Shanks standing arrogantly on the roof of a civilian house, Withered Wood resting on his right shoulder.
Several Sunagakure shinobi corpses lay below.
During wartime, Shanks felt no pressure killing the enemy.
Seeing Sakumo arrive beside him, panting heavily, Shanks raised an eyebrow.
“How did you end up like this?
Is Shamon really that strong?”
“His puppet is powerful,” Sakumo said.
“You fought the puppet directly?”
Shanks stared at Sakumo in shock.
Sakumo had nothing to say.
“Damn it.
Why is Shukaku so slow?
We’re about to be surrounded.”
Shanks looked over and saw the One-Tail still smashing buildings in the distance.
“Let’s go.
We’ll head toward the One-Tail.
That fat cat really is useless.”
After complaining, Shanks carried Sakumo on his back and rushed toward Shukaku.
“You two Konoha brats don’t need to go anywhere.
You’ll both die here.”
Shamon appeared in front of them.
“Troublesome.”
Shanks looked at the Second Kazekage before him.
“Ah, Shamon, my son.
Look at your village right now.
I feel sad for your villagers.
What kind of Kazekage did they choose?
You’re ignoring them completely.”
Shanks could lose a fight, but he could not lose momentum.
Besides, they had not lost yet.
“Haha.
No matter what you say, the two of you will be buried with our Sunagakure shinobi today.”
After speaking, Shamon threw out two scrolls.
Bang!
Bang!
Two strangely shaped puppets appeared in front of Shanks and Sakumo.
“Shanks, put me down and run.”
Sakumo spoke from his back.
“Why are you saying such painfully honest things?
Am I, Shanks, the kind of man who abandons a teammate?
Rest as quickly as you can.
I can hold on.”
Shamon controlled the two puppets and sent them rushing forward.
Relying on Observation Haki, Shanks dodged left and right.
His right leg turned pitch-black as he kicked toward one puppet’s head.
“Chakra-Enhanced Armament: Athlete’s Foot!”
Boom!
One puppet was kicked apart.
“Oh?
So this is the special taijutsu mentioned in Kumogakure’s intelligence.
It is impressive.”
Shamon’s expression did not change.
“But how many of my puppets can you destroy?”
As he spoke, Shamon threw out a large pile of scrolls.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
Dense clusters of puppets appeared.
Although it was not as exaggerated as Sasori’s future army of a thousand puppets, there were still several hundred of them.
“Damn it.
A pile of broken toys.
I thought it would be something impressive.”
Once Shanks decided to fight, he did not hesitate.
“Chakra-Enhanced Armament: World Shot!”
Shanks charged into the puppets.
Every time he kicked one puppet, he borrowed the force and rushed toward another.
There were too many puppets, and he was still carrying someone on his back.
Shanks began to breathe harder.
After he destroyed more than a hundred puppets, the One-Tail finally arrived.
“Ah!
Shamon!
And you damned brat!
Die!”
Shukaku directly fired a Tailed Beast Ball toward them.
Shanks no longer cared about Shamon’s puppets and immediately dodged far away.
Boom!
The surrounding buildings and Shamon’s puppets were blasted into pieces by the Tailed Beast Ball.
Fortunately, Shamon had already ordered the other shinobi to keep their distance.
Otherwise, the casualties would have been severe.
Seeing the One-Tail arrive, Shamon stopped holding back.
“Come out, Tenfold Funeral!”
Ten massive black puppets surrounded the One-Tail.
Shamon no longer had time to pay attention to Shanks and Hatake Sakumo.
Sealing the One-Tail was the most important matter.
Shanks stared at the ten monster-like puppets, each roughly the size of the One-Tail, and sighed inwardly.
As expected, every Kage keeps a trump card hidden.
“We can withdraw now.
Sunagakure’s losses are already severe.
Our mission is complete,” Sakumo said after recovering a little.
“Wait a bit longer.
Let’s see what power Shamon’s ten monsters have.
If they appear on the battlefield later, we’ll be in trouble.”
Sakumo nodded.
He had already experienced how troublesome puppet masters could be.
Shamon controlled the ten giant puppets to surround and attack the One-Tail.
However, it was not very useful.
A tailed beast was made of chakra.
It was not afraid of the poison on the puppets at all.
The ten puppets were also slow.
Other than being durable, they were not especially useful.
They could delay the One-Tail, but if this had been the Two-Tails or another stronger tailed beast, they would not have been enough.
Sweat covered Shamon’s forehead as he controlled the puppets and stalled the One-Tail.
“Sealing team!
Hurry!”
He was already struggling.
Five of the giant puppets had been destroyed.
He had paid a tremendous price to create them.
Sunagakure only had these ten, and now half were gone.
The sealing team rushed over and began preparing the seal.
“Sakumo,” Shanks suddenly asked, “do you think we should steal the core?”
Sakumo did not understand what “steal the core” meant.
But after years of fighting together, their teamwork was already excellent.
He thought for a moment, then nodded.
One strike.
If it failed, they would withdraw immediately.
“Do it.”
Shanks drew Withered Wood.
Armament Haki wrapped around the blade.
Sakumo’s short blade flashed with a bright white light.
The two exchanged a glance.
“One-Sword Style: White Fang Pursuit!”
A black light and a white light flashed past.
“Lord Kazekage, careful!”
A Sunagakure shinobi not far away shouted.
Shamon heard the warning, but it was already too late.
“Ah!”
Shamon let out a pained cry.
One black blade and one white blade pierced his chest from the front and back at the same time.
“Withdraw!”
Sakumo shouted.
The two pulled out their blades at the same time and rushed toward the village entrance.
“Don’t chase them!”
Shamon endured the terrible pain and continued controlling the puppets.
“Help seal the One-Tail!”
The Sunagakure shinobi’s eyes filled with grief, but they forced themselves to hold back and threw ninjutsu at the One-Tail from every direction.
“Hahaha!
Shamon, you were actually killed by two brats!”
The One-Tail could only run his mouth now.
His body was slowly being drawn back into Bunpuku’s stomach.
“Ah.
I suppose I am Sunagakure’s most failed Kazekage.”
Shamon’s voice was weak, but his eyes remained firm.
“But as long as I am Kazekage for one more day, I will protect this village to the death.”
“So, One-Tail, go back inside!”
Shamon desperately controlled the remaining five puppets.
“Ah!
You bastards!
One day, I’ll pay this back!”
After the sealing succeeded, Shamon collapsed to the ground.
“Lord Kazekage!”
“Lord Kazekage!”
The nearest Sunagakure shinobi rushed forward and held him up.
“After… after I die, notify Lady Chiyo to return and take charge…”
Shamon’s breathing became faint.
“Sunagakure… has lost…”
“I… have failed… the First Kazekage…”
After saying that, Shamon’s breath disappeared.
“Lord Kazekage!”
“Lord Kazekage!”
Every Sunagakure shinobi present wept.
“Send someone to notify Lady Chiyo.”
One of the security team’s shinobi spoke through his grief.
Meanwhile, Shanks and Hatake Sakumo had still not escaped the Land of Wind.
They were hiding in a cave, resting.
Both of them were exhausted like dogs.
“Damn it.
After we get back, if Second Uncle doesn’t give me an SSS-rank reward, I’ll block his door every day.”
Even with his pale face, Shanks still spoke arrogantly.
Hatake Sakumo clenched his fist tightly.
His body and mind were exhausted.
But when he thought that the two of them had killed the Second Kazekage, he could not help feeling his blood heat up.
No matter what the process had been, the result was what mattered.
The two rested for a day.
After that, they quickly entered the Land of Rivers.
Over the next few days, they encountered several Sunagakure search teams in the Land of Rivers.
Relying on Shanks’s Observation Haki, they hid and avoided pursuit all the way.
At the same time, the entire shinobi world was shaken.
Konoha’s Red-Haired Shanks and Konoha’s White Fang Hatake Sakumo had once again infiltrated Sunagakure.
They released the One-Tail, then took advantage of the Second Kazekage fighting the tailed beast to launch an assassination and kill Second Kazekage Shamon.
Sunagakure suffered massive losses and had no choice but to announce its surrender.
The names Konoha’s Red-Hair and Konoha’s White Fang spread throughout the shinobi world.
These two were practically the nemeses of jinchūriki.
Every major thing they did seemed to involve a tailed beast.
On the Land of Lightning battlefield, Hatake Itō saw the news and nearly dropped the scroll from his trembling hand.
This was too exciting.
A genius boy from the Hatake Clan had killed the Second Kazekage.
He automatically ignored Shanks’s contribution.
Hearing the people around him congratulate him, Hatake Itō kept his usual calm expression.
But inside, he was already feeling incredibly pleased.
“Congratulations, Lord Hatake.
Now Sakumo’s name, Konoha’s White Fang, has spread across the shinobi world.
Lord Hatake truly raised a great genius.”
At another battlefield, Senju Mokuma also received congratulations.
“Lord Mokuma, congratulations.
Your cousin is now the famous Konoha Red-Hair.
Lady Mito truly raised him well.”
Mokuma did not have many complicated thoughts.
He simply thanked them honestly.
But inside, he was also shocked.
He knew his cousin had always been clever and strange since childhood, but he had not expected Shanks to do something this huge.
The report made it sound simple.
But to lure a tailed beast into Sunagakure, survive Shamon, and then kill him…
Every step had been full of danger.
Shamon was no weakling.
He was the famous founder of puppet techniques.
In Konoha, when Tobirama saw the intelligence, he almost shouted out loud.
“These two brats are too useful.”
He had only ordered them to lure the tailed beast into Sunagakure.
He had not expected them to kill Shamon too.
Tobirama was in an excellent mood.
A faint smile appeared on his face, frightening the hidden ANBU so badly that they nearly dropped from the shadows.
“Go.
Spread this report widely through the village.”
Tobirama called an ANBU over.
“Yes.”
The next day, news spread everywhere in Konoha.
Konoha’s two great supernovas had infiltrated Sunagakure and assassinated the Second Kazekage, forcing Sunagakure to surrender.