Living your daily life in a shonen anime seems to be wrong.

Even if you can't kill them instantly, you should still take them down cleanly and efficiently.

Therefore, Honglian had no intention of showing mercy or testing the waters first; instead, she went all out from the very beginning.

Kakashi and Zabuza also discovered Guren.

I've never seen Kakashi in his Crimson Lotus form.

But Guren was wearing a military uniform, the standard uniform of the Snow Country army, which made her look heroic and dashing.

The people from the Land of Snow have arrived!

Realizing this, Kakashi immediately broke off contact with Zabuza.

The Land of Fire and the Land of Snow are allies, and the Snow Ninja and the Leaf Ninja are comrades.

"Um... what's your name?"

Kakashi retreated to a short distance from Guren.

It's best not to get too close before their identities are confirmed.

Zabuza was also on guard, wielding a large guillotine that looked quite intimidating.

"Commander of the Snow Country Ninja Special Forces, Guren."

"Kakashi Hatake, a Jonin of Konoha, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Kakashi had a big smile on his face.

Sure enough, the real show is about to begin.

Upon hearing Kakashi's self-introduction, Guren also glanced at him.

Kakashi had once gone to the Land of Snow and escorted Kazahana Koyuki to find Nanaya, which turned the tide and allowed Kazahana Koyuki to successfully eliminate the rebels and take power. Many people in the Land of Snow knew that Kakashi had gone to the Land of Snow and escorted Kazahana Koyuki to find Nanaya.

Therefore, the people of the Land of Snow were quite welcoming to Kakashi, a Jonin of Konoha.

But other ninjas in Konoha might not be so sure.

Although it's called a business alliance, merchants from the Land of Snow used to be oppressed by the Land of Fire quite a bit. However, because things were relatively better, the Land of Snow continued to do business with the Land of Fire instead of other countries.

In fact, geographically speaking, the Land of Lightning is closer to the Land of Snow.

Next is the Land of Water, and then the Land of Fire.

As for the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth, unless you go directly around them along the coastline, you can only get there by land, so there is basically no contact with the Land of Snow.

These are things we don't need to worry about for now.

Nodding to Kakashi, Guren then looked at Zabuza.

Perhaps older people tend to look down on younger people.

Honglian is not very old, only fifteen this year, about the same age as Haku who is next to Zabuza.

But Haku is a genius. He has achieved remarkable success in Ice Release Bloodline Limit without any guidance. In a typical ninja village, he would at least be a Special Jonin.

Therefore, Zabuza did not believe that such geniuses were common.

"From the Land of Snow? So all the ninjas from the Land of Snow are dead."

They even sent out a young girl; what else could it be but a massacre?

Rumors circulated that all the ninjas of the Land of Snow had been wiped out, but few outsiders knew the specifics.

Unfortunately, Kakashi was the one who knew what had happened back then.

He secretly curled his lip at Zabuza's words, unconvinced.

In his view, Guren was, after all, the current commander of the Snow Village, that is, the leader. The fact that the leader of the Snow Village had come out to deal with Zabuza was already a great honor for him.

Rather, if we really provoke Shichiya, the entire ninja world will probably be thrown into turmoil.

If Seven Nights was already that amazing ten years ago, how will he be now, ten years from now?

Hard to imagine.

Because Qi Ye didn't use his full strength back then, no one knew how powerful he would be if he went all out.

"Zabuza Momochi, a traitorous ninja from Kirigakure, half a month ago, you were commissioned by the merchant Gato to kill two merchants from the Land of Snow who were doing business in the Land of Waves. This act is unforgivable. Now, in the name of the people of the Land of Snow, I sentence you to death."

In the Name of the People...

Kakashi wanted to complain when he heard this, because it sounded a bit... well, you know.

But before he could say anything, and before Zabuza could refute him, Guren began to act.

Very quickly, extremely quickly!

Even the Sharingan could not detect Gu Lian's figure.

That instantaneous attack made Kakashi's heart skip a beat, and he suppressed his thoughts of making sarcastic remarks.

"Perhaps this good show will soon come to an end!"

That's what he thought.

Zabuza didn't think that way; he was horrified.

He was also frightened.

Instinctively, he simply used the decapitation sword in his hand to parry.

But it didn't help.

With a "clang," the decapitation sword was knocked aside by a long sword in Honglian's hand that looked like a red crystal.

The sheer power caused Zabuza's shock to manifest on his face.

"Oops!"

A thought flashed through my mind.

Then, with a "hiss," blood splattered everywhere.

"Zabuza-sama!"

As if going berserk, the person who looked like a girl or a boy, who had been fighting with Uchiha Sasuke and others in the distance, rushed over.

Honglian remained expressionless.

In his hand, he swung the crystal longsword formed from the Crystal Release bloodline limit once more.

"laugh!"

……

If Zai Buzhan dies, his subordinate Bai will also die.

Without them, Gato is just a paper tiger; any strong person could take his life, let alone a ninja.

Although he also took in some desperados, they were only after money and were just ordinary people who liked to fight. What use were they?

So Kado died too.

Gato's property was seized by the Marine Corps of the Land of Snow, leaving the Daimyo of the Land of Waves helpless.

There's no way around it; without strength, even the meat right in front of you will be snatched away.

However, he didn't dare to act recklessly. He didn't have any ninjas under his command, and those ordinary soldiers with broadswords and spears wouldn't even be enough to fill a man's teeth.

They watched the whole thing. Cado's men didn't even get close to the Marines; they were taken down from tens or hundreds of meters away with a "rat-a-tat-tat" sound.

For the Land of Snow, this was a battle with zero casualties.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that the other side was just a rabble. If they were a well-trained army, they might not have been able to do this.

Regardless, the Daimyo of the Land of Waves still has to fulfill his promise.

It's fine if it doesn't happen; the fleet is still waiting outside. We can just bomb his daimyo's capital and annex the Land of Waves into the Land of Snow's territory. That would be even better.

Who made his daimyo prefecture so close to the coastline?

However, we won't do that for now; it would attract too much attention.

The Land of Fire would not allow the Land of Snow to occupy the Land of Waves, as that would be tantamount to pointing a gun at them.

However, the Land of Waves's permission for the Land of Snow to station troops on its territory still displeased the Land of Fire.

But they can't exactly point fingers.

However, many people sensed that the ninja world, which had been dominated by the five great nations for over a thousand years, might be about to change.

Chapter Sixty-Four: A 50/50 Match

In the ninja world, Guren's reputation also began to rise.

This was spread through Konoha; they killed Zabuza in no time, which is no small matter.

Zabuza is actually quite famous in the ninja world.

Moreover, he is, after all, a Jonin, someone who, in Kakashi's words, can go toe-to-toe with him.

However, the one who could fight him to a standstill still died.

While Kakashi might be being modest by saying he's evenly matched with someone, others might not know the truth.

Kakashi's reputation is much greater than Zabuza's. If Guren killed Zabuza, wouldn't he also be killed if he faced Guren, who was evenly matched with him?

Many people make this guess.

Even the Third Hokage was a little worried when he heard this.

Kakashi was basically groomed to be the successor, and if he weren't still a little lacking, he would have already stepped down and given way to a more capable successor.

Kakashi is quite strong, but he's held back by his Sharingan. Otherwise, he would have been a true elite Jonin long ago, equivalent to one of the Five Kage. Right now, he only has the title.

Perhaps, once I fully master the Sharingan, it will be alright.

"So? How do you compare to that Red Lotus?"

"Well, it's about 50/50."

Kakashi answered like this.

The battle ended too quickly for him to clearly see just how powerful Honglian really was; he felt it was a 50/50 match.