I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 529 No one will listen to you if you just talk nicely; you have to bang on the table and shout to get their attention.

"Who are you?! Konoha ninjas?"

Several boys dressed in gray landed in front of Tatsuma and Shisui and questioned them in an interrogative tone.

Tatsuma remained silent, instead lifting the enormous bundle from Shisui's back and tucking it under his arm. Shisui stepped forward and said, "You gentlemen must be ninjas from Takigakure, right?"

The Takigakure ninja nodded, and Shisui introduced himself: "I am Uchiha Shisui, a Konoha genin, and this is my teacher, Konoha jonin Sakamoto Tatsuma."

After he finished speaking, he opened his eyes wide, anticipating the reactions of these people, and even began to imagine what expressions they would make.

Shock? Fear? Or admiration? Or perhaps guilt after being exposed for colluding with the Iwa ninja?

Unfortunately, none of them did. These people only glanced at Tatsuma once after hearing that he was a Konoha Jonin, and then looked away without showing even a hint of seriousness.

Chenma couldn't help but be curious about the reactions of the others. He was not an arrogant person, but he was also not a self-deprecating person. He knew that he had a good reputation.

Even the ninja villages of the five great nations should regard him as a heavyweight figure, like a "Kage," yet his name failed to elicit any further reaction from them.

Let alone the current Tatsuma, even ten years ago, during the Second Shinobi World War, among the Five Great Nations, Sakamoto Tatsuma was quite well-known, and it was only natural that he received attention.

But now, the leader of the group of ninja from Takigaki, still speaking in an unfriendly tone, asked, "What is your purpose in coming here?"

Shisui frowned slightly, feeling somewhat displeased. He did have some fanboy sentiments, after all, Tatsuma was his most admired person, followed by the successive Hokage of Konoha, and his ancestor Uchiha Kagami, whom he had never met.

But now, his idol, Tatsuma, was being ignored like this by someone else. Inevitably, he was a little angry. He looked up at the faintly visible sky and said:

"Is this the Land of Waterfalls, or the Bottom of a Well?"

Several Takigakure ninja were stunned for a moment before realizing what Shisui meant. Their attitude instantly became even more hostile, and they even took two steps forward. The leader said viciously:

"Konoha ninja, what do you mean by this?!"

Seeing that Takigakure's hand was already on the ninja tool pouch at his waist, Shisui also directly formed the opposing hand seal to refine and condense chakra, and placed the other hand on the ninja tool pouch.

The leader of the Taki ninja was slightly more rational. He glanced at Tatsuma and, seeing that Tatsuma showed no intention of intervening, he became somewhat puzzled.

As a mere Konoha Jonin, he wasn't really afraid, being a ninja from Takigakure. After all, there were other Jonin from Takigakure stationed nearby, and they would come to the rescue if a battle broke out here.

When that time comes, this Jonin will be held back, and this kid who is only a Genin will be easily defeated by them. He couldn't understand where this Konoha Jonin named Sakamoto Tatsuma got his calm confidence from.

Tatsuma realized at this point that the Takigakure were indeed somewhat arrogant. As expected of a village that dared to send a Jonin to assassinate Hashirama Senju, their audacity was truly astounding.

Furthermore, the closed environment meant that the ninjas of Takigakure lacked communication with the outside world, creating a closed loop in their understanding. They didn't know where Tatsuma's confidence came from, and Tatsuma was also curious about where their confidence came from.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh~"

"Whoosh~ Bang!"

The stalemate lasted only a few seconds before Takigakure made his move. Shisui's attitude was clear: he had ill intentions, at least not at this moment.

The most direct way to deal with unfriendly people who enter one's territory is to control them first. This decisiveness impressed Chenma, and he did not stop them as he watched the signal flare rise into the sky.

"Bang!"

The signal flare exploded, and a figure approached at an extremely fast speed. At the same time, Shisui also began fighting against the Takigakure ninja.

Although the Takigakure ninja were somewhat arrogant, they weren't foolish enough to attack Tatsuma. Instead, they wanted to capture Shisui as soon as possible. However, their combined ninja tool throwing techniques seemed inferior to Shisui's, and he easily stopped them.

Tatsuma made way for the Takigakure ninja to surround Shisui. Then, he looked at the Jonin from Takigakure who had approached and said, "Let the children play by themselves."

The Jonin from Takigakure stopped and looked at Tatsuma with much greater caution. While the Genin couldn't tell, he could clearly see the immense power of Tatsuma's barely perceptible chakra.

"A Jinchūriki?"

The thought flashed through the mind of the Jonin of Takigakure, but his hands kept moving, quickly forming hand seals.

"Water Release: Water Blade!"

Several water blades condensed and slashed towards Tatsuma. Tatsuma gathered chakra in his right hand, used his superhuman strength technique, and combined it with the Hyuga clan's Eight Trigrams Empty Palm to instantly unleash the chakra.

"Bang bang bang~"

The water blade was smashed to pieces, and the splashing water droplets reflected the incredulous face of the Jonin from Takigakure. Tatsuma withdrew his hand, formed the opposing hand seal, and the water droplets in the air instantly froze, hovering in mid-air.

"Water Release: Water Jet!"

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle~"

The water droplets stretched into bullet-like shapes, spinning and shooting towards the Jonin of Takigakure at extremely high speed.

"Water Release! Water Curtain!"

Water cannonballs were spat out by the Takigakure Jonin to meet the water hail bullets, but the larger and seemingly more advantageous water cannonballs were easily pierced by the water hail bullets, which continued their momentum toward the Takigakure Jonin.

"impossible!"

The Jonin of Takigakure was increasingly surprised. His Water Release skills were not low in the entire village, so how could they be easily broken by a young man?

"Water Release! Water."

Before he could use his next ninjutsu, water shards were already hitting him, either grazing his skin or striking directly into his body.

"Ahhh~"

The two clashed in the blink of an eye, and the Takigakure Jonin was already defeated. Several Takigakure Genin heard their superior's cry of pain and were about to turn around to assist him, but Shisui was also extremely good at seizing opportunities. With his shuriken flying in his hand, he forced the Genin to stop their advance towards the Jonin.

Any dramatic fluctuation in emotions can be fatal in combat operations that require a high degree of mental concentration.

Although they stopped their efforts to aid their superior, their own formation was thrown into chaos in an instant. Under Zhi Shui's pull, they were tied up one after another with steel wire.

As for the Jonin from Takigakure, Tatsuma had no intention of controlling him, nor was there any need for it. The water shards had already pierced through a considerable number of his muscles and tendons, and also broken some of his bones.

Although he appears to have only basic external injuries, his ability to move has been completely compromised.

After Shisui finished checking the restraints on the several genin, Tatsuma walked over to the Takigakure jonin, squatted down, and asked, "What's your name? Oh, right, introduce yourself first."

"I am Sakamoto Tatsuma, a Jonin of Konoha. That is my disciple, Uchiha Shisui, a Genin of Konoha."

This self-introduction was actually no different from Zhishui's self-introduction just now, and it didn't reveal any other information.

The only difference was that the introducer changed from Shisui to Tatsuma, and the order was just switched. But at this moment, whether it was the Jonin of Takigakure or the Genin from before, everyone was paying close attention to Tatsuma's speech.

The reason is simple: Chenma is stronger than them, and it seems that he is much stronger.

Sometimes, no one listens when you speak politely; you have to bang on the table and shout to get attention. But Tatsuma just flipped the table over.

At this moment, the Jonin of Takigakure, though frustrated and resentful, could only reply, "My name is Takesake, a Jonin of Takigakure."

"Bamboo Wine."

Tatsuma nodded and said, "This is my first time in the Land of Waterfalls. How about I ask Lord Takesuke to be my guide? I plan to go to Takigakure to help you resolve the issue of being held hostage by Iwa ninja."

"Holding someone hostage?!"

Takejiru looked puzzled, then denied it, saying, "What nonsense are you talking about?! When did Takigakure get taken hostage by Iwagakure?!"

"There is no need to fear the Iwa ninja. I have come on behalf of Konoha to resolve this matter. There is no need for such hypocritical words, nor for us to hide anything from them out of fear of the Iwa ninja."

"Nonsense! Iwagakure ninja!"

Takeji was about to say something, but Tatsuma's finger hovered in front of his eyes, and a drop of water appeared out of thin air, gently rotating. Takeji suddenly fell silent.

"With me here, I will uphold justice for your Takigakure village, and I will help you get revenge on the Iwa ninja for all the injustices you have suffered!"

Tatsuma spoke with righteous indignation, but Takesuke's lips twitched, partly from the pain and partly from being angered by Tatsuma. When did the justice of their Takigakure village ever need the ninjas of Konoha to uphold it?!

What nonsense about grievances! When did they suffer any grievances?! No, they did suffer grievances, but these grievances were not caused by the Iwa ninja, but by this Konoha Jonin named Sakamoto Tatsuma.

But circumstances forced him to act against his will. Zhu Jiu dared not say anything to disobey Chen Ma now. The pain of the water-based bullets piercing his body was still exploding, and he didn't want to experience it again, especially not his mind.

Chenma put away his righteous expression and adopted a tone of earnest persuasion, saying, "Besides, if you want to hold my rudeness against you, you can't do it on your own."

So, wouldn't it be better to just take me to your village and let your village's ninjas lend you a hand?

For a fleeting moment, Takeji was persuaded. He was indeed no match for Tatsuma. In fact, in their brief exchange just now, he couldn't even see Tatsuma's potential. He was a formidable opponent.

To defeat him, we need assistance, such as returning to the village and getting help from everyone there. No matter how strong Sakamoto Tatsuma is, he can't possibly be stronger than a group of hundreds of ninjas, right?

What's more, their village has more trump cards up its sleeve! And not just one. No matter how strong Sakamoto Tatsuma is, he can't possibly be stronger than those two trump cards, right?

At this thought, a fleeting look of anticipation and excitement appeared on Takeji's face, which he quickly suppressed. He struggled to lift his head and meet Tatsuma's gaze, saying, "Alright, I will take you to Takigakure, but you must promise..."

"No one is allowed to cause injury or death to me, my subordinates, or any other civilians of the Land of Waterfall along the way."

"Konoha has always pursued peace and has been committed to the cause of peace in the ninja world. I agree to what you said."

As Tatsuma spoke, he placed his hand on Takesuke's body. Takesuke's pain suddenly dissipated rapidly, and his strength began to recover. He suddenly had an impulse to take advantage of his recovery and launch a surprise attack on Tatsuma.

But when faced with those bloodshot eyes, Zhu Jiu chose to remain patient and let things calm down.

(End of this chapter)