I founded the "Bragging Cult" in Naruto.

Chapter 690 Extra work demands extra pay

"There's a flag up ahead. Let's see who touches it first, and they win! How about it?!"

In the snow-covered mountains, two snow walls rolled and pushed forward. At the forefront were Ai and Tatsuma, who were on the run. Ai looked at the samurai camp in the distance and shouted to Tatsuma.

Before Tatsuma could agree, Shikaku shouted, "I refuse! Put me down!"

Shikaku was like a kite, his feet already off the ground, but his shadow, which was attached to his body, was held by Tatsuma, so he couldn't even stop. Tsuchida weakly said, "Slow down...slow down."

Neither A nor Tatsuma paid any attention to their wishes. Tatsuma nodded, and the two sped up again. A's hair stood on end, clearly indicating that he had activated the full power output of his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.

Tatsuma's chakra surged, his wind-style technique dispersed the snow and wind ahead, and his earth-style technique made the road more suitable for running. There were even small slopes where he landed, allowing Tatsuma to exert his strength more effectively.

At the same time, Lightning Release chakra was constantly activating Tatsuma's body. Although it was not as powerful as the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, combined with Tatsuma's stronger physique, the speed of the burst was no slower than that of A.

Ai gritted her teeth, not daring to even glance at Chenma's location, and instead used all her strength to unleash the Body Flicker Technique.

This should have been his strength. Tatsuma's speed was more about his agility in combat, while for long-distance raids, he mostly used the Flying Thunder God technique.

In other words, Chenma should not have received any specialized training; in this respect, Chenma is an amateur.

Even so, Ai still failed to take the lead, which made him feel both frustrated and excited, because although he did not take the lead, he was not behind at all.

The thought of defeating Tatsuma, even in this way, filled Ai with excitement. He had been waiting for a victory against Tatsuma for far too long.

The distance of several thousand meters was covered in the blink of an eye by the two of them using their teleportation abilities. They had already seen the clear appearance of the flag, and at the same time, they reached out and grabbed the flag.

"Hahahaha~ I won! I won!"

Ai, taking advantage of his long reach, touched the flagpole first. The wind and lightning he generated snapped the flagpole in two, and he grabbed the flag. However, his body lost balance due to the extreme leap and he fell to the ground, rolling around.

But he burst into laughter, completely oblivious to the flag scorched black by the lightning, the earthen platform whose eyes rolled back in shock, and the thousands of samurai watching from the sidelines.

Tatsuma landed smoothly, even giving Shikaku a slight push to help him land on his feet. Tatsuma sighed and said, "Looks like I'll have to train a bit more when I get back."

He didn't hold back. Although his final dive wasn't as reckless as Ai's, he did use his fastest speed during the process.

In the end, he was just a little short. Tatsuma felt a bit regretful and even glanced back at Shikaku. If Shikaku had been willing to cooperate, the outcome might have been different. After all, when flying a kite, the running speed would definitely be limited.

Shikaku straightened his clothes, pointed at Ai, and said, "Was this kind of victory really necessary?"

Tatsuma also looked at Ai, who was rolling on the ground laughing wildly, and shrugged. At this moment, he heard the sound of swords being drawn all around him.

"Take them down!"

Before Tatsuma could speak, a series of chakra sword strikes came crashing down.

"Molten Essence! Protective Jade!"

Having just escaped Ai's clutches, Tsuchida, enduring the numbness in his body, quickly formed hand seals and unleashed a ninjutsu. The Lava Release chakra, as smooth as rubber, protected the four of them. Chakra sword energy struck the chakra, causing the protective jade to deform, but it quickly deflected the attacks back.

"interesting."

Tatsuma observed the ninjutsu and nodded with interest. If the timing weren't inappropriate, he would have liked to activate his Byakugan and Sharingan to see if he could copy it.

Or maybe we can get some blood samples from the earthen mound and take them away to breed a Luffy.

But now was not the right time. Hearing the cries of pain coming from outside, Tsuchida activated his protective jade and said, "We have come to discuss matters with Admiral Mifune and have no intention of clashing with the Land of Iron!"

"This is illegal intrusion!"

A roar erupted from the warriors, followed by a figure charging towards the opening in the protective jade. Just as the earthen platform was about to close the protective jade, Ai shouted, "Release it!"

Upon hearing this, Tsuchida had no choice but to open the entire protective jade box. Instantly, all the samurai rushed towards the four of them. Shikaku moved behind Tatsuma and said, "Tatsuma, I'm here to participate in diplomatic talks. If we're going to fight..."

"You'll have to pay more!"

"This counts as an A-level mission for you."

Tatsuma nodded. The other ninjas would probably consider his status as Hokage, but Shikaku would probably be the one to lead the rebellion if someone in Konoha rebelled someday.

Upon hearing this, Shikaku smiled with satisfaction and asked, "To what extent?"

"Peace is of paramount importance."

After Tatsuma finished speaking, Shikaku nodded. As he formed hand seals, his shadow instantly expanded. The shadows of the samurai, touched by his shadow, instantly transformed into Shikaku's claws and teeth.

In the brief moment the samurai charged forward, Shikaku had already connected his shadow with the shadows of all the samurai, and then he changed his hand seals and activated a ninjutsu.

"Shadow Stitching Technique! Black Spider Lily!"

All the shadows instantly tightened, and all the warriors froze, unable to move. Some powerful warriors tried to move, but were firmly bound by the shadows that rose from the ground.

If viewed from above, one would see that everyone's shadows overlap, resembling a blooming black spider lily.

"Hiss~ Give me some chakra."

Shikaku's face paled, and he said to Tatsuma with a straight face that with his chakra, it was impossible to control thousands of samurai for a long time. In just a few seconds, his chakra had been completely depleted.

This was even when the samurai didn't understand his shadow technique, didn't know how to counter it, and had a relatively rudimentary understanding of chakra.

If there were thousands of ninjas, probably more than half of them would be able to escape the moment he cast the spell, due to the dispersion of power.

Tatsuma smirked and said, "A quickie."

However, he still shared some of his chakra with Shikaku. Shikaku's complexion improved somewhat, and his trembling hands calmed down. The samurai who still wanted to resist also stopped completely.

Ai glanced at Shikaku with apprehension. He had never thought that Shikaku would be a problem for the Hidden Cloud Village in terms of military strength, but now it seemed that if Shikaku were given enough chakra, the role that guy could play on the battlefield was unimaginable.

However, it seems that even when this guy is not on the battlefield, he can still have a significant impact on the battlefield.

Tatsuma looked around, then fixed his gaze on a particular building and said, "Admiral Mifune, how have you been?"

"Bang!"

The gate flew open, and a gaunt figure appeared—it was Mifune, the general of the Land of Iron and leader of the Land of Iron samurai group. Mifune stared at Tatsuma and said, "Fourth Hokage, are you going to start a war with the Land of Iron?!"

Tatsuma didn't answer immediately, but instead looked at Mifune for a while and said, "To have developed puppetry to this extent and created such puppet works, is truly remarkable."

"Puppetry? What puppetry?"

Mifune was puzzled, but then a surge of anger rose within him, and he said, "Are you saying I'm a puppet?!"

Tatsuma stopped looking at Mifune and instead scanned his surroundings. Under the equally puzzled gazes of Ai, Shikaku, and the others, Tatsuma said, "It's been a long time, Sasori."

"What scorpion? That's a sword from my Land of Iron!"

Seeing where Tatsuma's gaze fell, Mifune said with dissatisfaction, but before he could question Tatsuma further, the body of the sword suddenly split open, and a handsome young man pushed the sword's body aside and showed a sickly smile to Tatsuma.

"You still managed to find out, Fourth Hokage."

(End of this chapter)