I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 372 Often, one has to brush past the target several times before finally reaching it.

If Tatsuma were fully conscious, even faced with such a good opportunity, he would think twice before acting. After all, in terms of this mission, concealing his identity was more important than the traumatized Mizukage.

If he can injure Genmi under the identity of "Takasugi Shinsuke", it will be fine, since it is a "family scandal". But if he exposes his identity as a Konoha ninja, then this will be a conflict between villages and even between countries.

However, right now, Tatsuma just wanted to escape that rouge-colored ship as quickly as possible. It wasn't just that he wanted to get away from that scene; his remaining rationality also told him that the ship looked incredibly dangerous, but it was only alluring in appearance.

"Flying Thunder God Technique, Second Stage!"

Fortunately, his body didn't need explicit instructions from his brain, so Tatsuma used this skill that had become ingrained in his instincts. Genmi was startled; the speed at which he could move in an instant was too bizarre.

But it was also a bodily instinct, and Genmi directly thrust out the kunai he had caught. Tatsuma raised his hand and pushed away Genmi's thrusting hand. Because it was a hasty attack, Genmi's power was not fully transmitted.

After moving Genmi's hands away, Tatsuma did not choose the conventional blocking action, but instead switched to a single whip to bind two hands, restricting the movement of Genmi's hands and raising Genmi's hands upwards, exposing his torso.

The two raised their knees almost simultaneously. Genmi wanted to raise his knee to protect his lower torso and to force Tatsuma to create distance with a change of direction kick at any time. However, even Tatsuma, who was only thinking on instinct, could easily neutralize his intentions.

"Bang!"

With their knees colliding, Genmi's plan was thwarted by Tatsuma. At this moment, his torso was still exposed, and Tatsuma used the final step of his smooth little combo: a punch!

However, instead of punching with his fist, he thrust his palm towards Genmi. Midway through the motion, chakra turbulence condensed in his palm, and a chakra ball appeared on his palm.

"Magic! Rasengan!"

Genmi's reaction was equally swift. By this time, his hands had broken free from Chenma's single whip binding the bridge, and as his feet landed, he took a step back to create distance, which he did indeed manage.

The distance between Tatsuma's Rasengan and Genmi was not being shortened, and it was clear that Tatsuma's arm swing was about to reach its end.

But at that moment, Tatsuma, who had almost lost his ability to think rationally, suddenly had a flash of inspiration and poured Wind Release chakra into the Rasengan, which was already unstable due to its instinctive reaction.

"Sage Art! Wind Release! Rasengan!"

It only infused with Wind Release chakra, without completing the nature transformation of the technique, and thus did not reach the level of the Rasengan. However, this Wind Release energy not only made the Rasengan more violent, but also gave it a boost.

As Tatsuma's arm swung to the end, the Rasengan, which should have stopped with his hand, detached from Tatsuma's palm and flew towards Genmi, who was retreating.

"Sizzle~"

The rapidly transforming Rasengan emitted a sharp shriek, and wisps of chaotic wind rose up. Genmi caught a glimpse of his tattered clothes being torn to shreds again by the turbulent winds.

It's skin and flesh.

Genmi twisted his body with all his might, but the Wind Release: Rasengan still cut through the flesh of his left rib, drilled through the bone, and then affected his descending colon, small intestine, spleen, and left kidney.

The tiny, needle-like wind blades continuously sliced ​​through these areas. Although each area was only directly hit, and some were merely grazed, the surrounding area still suffered significant damage due to the churning effect of the wind blades.

Genmi flew backwards through the air, unable to even hold onto the kunai in his hand. As his body stiffened, his fingers spread out and straightened, causing the kunai to fall from his grasp.

"Ding~"

"Lord Mizukage!"

The Hidden Mist ninja, who were slaughtering the rogue ninjas and were about to ring the victory bell, discovered the direction of their Mizukage's battle. From the thick purple mist, a figure flew out.

Moreover, that person was not "Takasugi Shinsuke", but their third Mizukage.

In an instant, the focus of the battle shifted for the Mist Ninja. The remaining less than half of the rogue ninja army breathed a sigh of relief and all looked at the figure that was flying backward.

It is indeed the Third Mizukage.

Yamabuki, who had collapsed to the ground with a kunai stuck in his chest, grinned as he watched this scene, and a large amount of blood flowed from between his sharp teeth.

"I have no regrets about dying. I have no regrets about dying."

A Kirigakure Jonin, whose body was half-water-transformed, quickly caught Genmi and then water-transformed the rest of his body as well, enveloping Genmi, whose face was as pale as paper.

The summoning beast Sea Guardian, who was fighting against Sento, Tenka, and others, also abandoned its opponent and was willing to be bombarded with ninjutsu by Tenka, Yekura, and others. It quickly crawled to Genmi's side.

He opened his mouth and swallowed Genmi and the water-transformed Kirigakure Jonin together.

"Bang!"

A huge cloud of smoke erupted, and Hai Shou and Genmi vanished without a trace.

The mist, now devoid of the genmi chakra it filled, continued to dissipate, and Minato, along with the twenty-odd Konoha scouts he had rescued—the "Demon Ninja Team"—quickly retreated.

Seeing Tatsuma covered in blood with multiple untreated wounds, Minato tried to approach, but Tatsuma said in a hoarse voice, "Don't come near me."

As he spoke, his body remained in a defensive posture. A Konoha scout from the "Demon Ninja Team" couldn't stop himself and took a step toward Tatsuma. He then saw a kunai flying toward him.

"Ding~"

Minato threw a kunai, deflecting the one Tatsuma had thrown, and then said, "He's under a genjutsu. No one should come near him until he breaks free!"

Minato could tell that Tatsuma was currently unable to distinguish friend from foe, so he adopted the mindset that anyone who got close was his enemy.

At this moment, Tatsuma's mind was in complete chaos, and even his perception was only at the instinct stage, let alone distinguish right from wrong, or use his talent of "malice perception" to discern the good and evil of outsiders.

Upon hearing Minato's words, the "Demon Ninja Team" and Tenka, among others, reacted and stopped approaching, instead forming a defensive line at a distance. Yekura looked at the disheveled Tatsuma and clenched her fist.

This is the best opportunity to attack or even kill Sakamoto Tatsuma!

With excessive chakra depletion, countless injuries, and trapped in an illusion, Tatsuma at this moment was perhaps the weakest Tatsuma she could see.

If he misses this opportunity, perhaps Tatsuma will never show such a weak side again.

Yekura gritted her teeth, not knowing why, but she also seemed to be under an illusion, unable to take a step towards Tatsuma.

Minato kept a wary eye on her, because Yekura was the closest enemy to Tatsuma, but... Minato felt he was mistaken.

"Perhaps Yekura isn't Tatsuma's enemy, but Nonou's?"

For some reason, this thought suddenly popped into Minato's mind, and he quickly dismissed this inappropriate idea.

It's an illusion! It must be my own illusion! Just as Chenma said, in a crisis, the body will rapidly secrete substances such as adrenaline and endorphins, which are very likely to affect a person's judgment.

In the context of love, it's like the "suspension bridge effect"? Minato couldn't quite remember, nor did he recall why Tatsuma would use such a term to describe it. Anyway, he vaguely remembered that Tatsuma's experiences with love and friendship during wartime were all deceptions and compensations used by the brain to divert attention.

Yekura is definitely a victim of the suspension bridge effect! Once she's out of danger, perhaps Yekura will remember that Tatsuma is her mortal enemy, and she should be thinking about killing him instead of falling in love with him!

However, Minato glanced at Tatsuma again. He understood love so thoroughly, yet he had never embraced it. Was it because he had dismantled romance?

Just like a beautiful plush pillow, but no one would think that a tattered cloth cover and a pile of rotten cotton are beautiful. Perhaps people who understand the essence of romance too well cannot see the beauty of romance?

The saying "the wise do not enter the river of love" means that they have built bridges or boats to cross the river of love. So, in their eyes, those who swim across are unevolved fools.

Am I a fool?

Minato quickly shook his head. His love for Kushina was unwavering; how could he let his mind wander like that?!

Chenma doesn't fall in love, which shouldn't be due to so many messy factors. Perhaps it's just that, as he said, in love, he only sees the loss and not the gain.

At this moment, the battlefield converged on Tatsuma's location with remarkable coordination. The Cloud Ninja, along with Yagura Karatachi, the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and others, also moved closer to this location. The rogue ninja group and the main force of Kirigakure continued to close in.

Minato dared not let his mind wander any further. His eyes scanned the entire scene, and his brain was rapidly analyzing the situation, preparing to deal with any possible attack.

"Look, that's the person."

Suddenly, a calm voice came from Tianfeng's ear. Without turning his head, he activated his Byakugan under his bandages and focused on the direction Tianfeng was pointing. There was a Cloud Ninja fighting "himself".

"Is it Ziyu?"

Qian Dou asked in a deep voice, and Tian Feng nodded. The two fell silent. After a while, Qian Dou asked, "Can you still fight?"

Tenka purses his lips. When friends spend a lot of time together, it's easy to learn each other's little habits or verbal tics. For example, he learned to purse his lips from Tatsuma.

He stared in Ziyou's direction for a long time before saying, "Next time."

Tianfeng doesn't have much mobility right now, otherwise Qiandou wouldn't need to stay by his side. Besides, he knows that Qiandou is also in bad shape.

The taijutsu that unleashed chakra also had some impact on Sento's body. Coupled with the continuous battle that followed, which left his body no time to catch its breath, Sento was now at his limit.

Given their current state, Tianfeng can at most breathe fire a few times, and Qiandou can throw a couple of punches, but with that, they're still far from being able to take revenge.

In particular, Tatsuma is currently unable to provide any assistance to the two of them, and it is not yet time for them to seek revenge.

Tianfeng took a deep breath, suppressing the surging emotions in his heart, his eyelids lowered so that no one could see the three-tomoe Sharingan that was constantly turning in his eyes.

Qian Dou put his arm around his shoulder and said, "Your uncle and aunt will understand."

"Um."

Tianfeng clenched his fists tightly. He knew he was going to be a deserter again.

In the arena, Tatsuma, who had actually regained his senses and was just waiting for his chakra to return to normal, was eavesdropping on the conversation between the two. His expression was also very unpleasant, after all, the reason, or rather the motive, for him to "encourage" the two to carry out the mission was Suzuyui.

But right now, there's really no other way.

The moment the chakra within her body stabilized, Tatsuma disappeared and appeared behind Yekura. He grabbed Yekura's hand, and a kunai was placed against her neck. Yekura's body stiffened, and she regretted why she hadn't attacked Tatsuma earlier.

"I can take you away from the battlefield, but you have to do me a favor."

Hearing Tatsuma's words, Ye Cang breathed a sigh of relief, but a strange emotion welled up inside him again. He stubbornly said, "Is this how you ask for help?"

"Should we help or not?"

"You go first."

Tatsuma glanced in the direction of Suzuyui, then at the Mist Ninja fighting in the middle of the battle, and suddenly leaned close to Yekura. Before Tatsuma could even say anything, Yekura's ears turned bright red.

(End of this chapter)