No.2 raised his ninja blade and drove it down toward Reiji's heart again.
Splurt!
The blade pierced through, and Reiji couldn't hold back anymore—another mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
Seeing Tsunade's pupils shrink in horror, Reiji's expression softened slightly. A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
"Don't swallow my blood... it's poisonous."
He still remembered.
Those twisted experiments by the Jashin cult—injecting his blood into test subjects. Their bodies would sprout weeds, eventually transforming into grotesque bushes.
Tsunade stared blankly at Reiji's face. Time seemed to stop as silent tears streamed from the corners of her eyes.
"Reiji..." It was the first time she had said his name. She struggled to raise a hand, reaching toward his stiff, lifeless face.
At that moment, No.2 looked down on the scene—these pitiful little lovers—and scoffed. With a disgusted sneer, he kicked Reiji's body aside.
"Still clinging to each other even in death? Disgusting.
Fine. I'll send you off together."
He raised his blade again and thrust it toward Tsunade, whose eyes had gone blank.
Just then, No.1 strode forward quickly, carrying No.3's corpse, and stepped between them.
"Brother, the obstacle's dead. Take the hostage and finish the mission.
We're still two hours from the Land of Fire's border. Don't waste time.
If Konoha's pursuit squad catches up, we won't make it out of this alive."
Hearing that, the completely exhausted No.2 let out a long breath and gave a slow nod.
As the two prepared to carry off the now puppet-like Tsunade, Reiji—who had appeared lifeless just moments ago—suddenly cracked a wide, eerie smile, as if rising from the dead.
In the distance, near the spot where he had fallen, his severed arms slowly crept together and formed a strange hand seal.
"Sword!"
With a thunderous roar, the massive sword No. 2 held started to tremble violently, then shot toward him with brutal force before he could react.
Reiji had kept his Magnet Release hidden for this exact moment.
Once revealed, those two would've gone on full alert—and with No.1's mastery over Earth Release, losing the element of surprise would have meant losing everything.
Even when he was being pummeled midair like a training dummy, Reiji had refrained from using sword flight.
The arms he left behind weren't the result of Flying Thunder God—they were a setup, intentionally discarded so he could secretly form hand seals undetected.
Crack!
No.2's head burst like a ripe melon, blood and bone scattering across the field.
The massive door-sized sword didn't stop. It continued its arc, slicing straight toward No.1.
But No.1 was older, more seasoned.
Even shocked, he didn't freeze. With brains still on his hands, he formed a hand seal in a flash and vanished with a Body Flicker Technique.
Of course, Reiji wasn't about to let him get away.
From afar, the disembodied hands formed another seal.
"Screw you—Sword Technique No. 23!"
Instantly, the door-sword disassembled in midair. Iron Sand surged outward, transforming into ten slender blades that shot toward where No.1 had reappeared.
The switch from a massive blade to longswords made them far faster.
No.1 had just recovered from the disorientation of using Body Flicker when he saw the swarm of blades bearing down on him.
"Shit!"
"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!"
With no hesitation, he used the jutsu he trusted most.
The swords clashed against the solid wall of earth, sending dirt flying.
But Earth Shore Return only protected one direction—and Reiji's blades were coming from everywhere.
Burning through the last of his chakra, No.1 cast an enhanced version of Earth Shore Return.
In an instant, thick walls of earth rose on all sides, forming a dome-like barrier that sealed him inside.
Blades slammed into it from every angle, and from afar, Reiji shifted his hand sign—now using the "Monkey" seal.
The ten swords fractured again, splitting into countless short blades that bombarded the dome like a rainstorm. Dirt flew in all directions, but under No.1's chakra, the wall constantly repaired itself.
For a moment, the two were locked in deadlock.
"No more 'No.1'—I'll turn you into a pile of red paste!"
Reiji's chakra drained rapidly, only to surge back in waves. He licked the blood off his lips, eyes burning with resolve. He was dead set on taking this bastard's head—no matter what it took.
Inside the dome, veins bulged on No.1's forehead as he squeezed out every last drop of chakra.
He refused to believe this kid—who had fought so long and was so badly wounded—could still have chakra left. It had to be a bluff.
Reiji split his focus—one part controlling the blades shaving down No.1's cover, the other analyzing the flaws in the Sword Technique No. 23.
As a modified application of Magnet Release, its full potential hadn't yet been unlocked.
After all, Reiji didn't create this technique to look cool—it was meant as groundwork for future advances in Magnet Release.
And right now, it still lacked power—and worse, it drained his focus to maintain.
The reason for the lack of power was obvious—he simply didn't have enough chakra.
Right now, there weren't many ways to increase his reserves.
He could try to get his hands on a sword like Samehada, steal the Yin Seal technique from Tsunade, or just go all in and seal a Tailed Beast inside himself.
Between those, Reiji was leaning toward becoming a Jinchūriki.
He had a feeling—if he did, he could let the Tailed Beast come and go from his body as it pleased, and he wouldn't die from it.
But that raised another problem. If a beast was going to be moving in and out of his body, the Nine-Tails—with that grumpy old man voice—was out of the question.
The One-Tail was no better—loud, obnoxious, always running its mouth.
The Three-Tails had a spiked shell. Too prickly.
Four-Tails, Son Gokū? Please—it's not like we're family or something!
Six-Tails, Saiken... that thing looked like a blob of white turd. Where in his body would he even seal it?
Seven-Tails, Chōmei... an insect. No thanks.
Eight-Tails, Gyūki... uh...
The more he thought about it, the more hopeless it seemed. Were these really his only options?
Was he really going to have to learn the Yin Seal from Tsunade and become a glorified chakra battery?
As Reiji frowned and mulled it over, No.1's semicircular mound finally stopped regenerating. With a loud boom, it collapsed, revealing No.1's lifeless corpse, completely drained of chakra.
Without a word, Reiji summoned his flying swords, reformed the massive door-blade, and with one swing, flattened "No.1" into "No.0."
With everything settled, he raised an eyebrow smugly and let out a playful whistle.
"Damn, I'm cool."
Then a thought hit him. He tilted his head—and spotted Tsunade lying nearby.
She was staring at him like she'd just seen a ghost.
Crap!
Reiji's heart skipped a beat. An awkward smile crept onto his face.
"So... uh... would you mind picking up my hand for me?" he asked weakly.
Tsunade blinked, startled, then nodded rapidly like a pecking chick.
Despite the numbness in her legs, she clumsily pushed herself up and stumbled toward his severed arm.
Watching her shaky silhouette, Reiji flexed his toes and muttered under his breath,
"Man, this is awkward..."
Still, there was a bigger issue now staring him in the face.
His immortality had been exposed.
Now what? Kill her?
No way—this girl was already a walking disaster. Besides, the battle had made enough noise to attract attention. Unless something unexpected happened, Konoha shinobi would be here any moment.
They might be far from the village, but this was still within the Land of Fire.
Erase her memory?
Right. Like he could pull off something that miraculous.
Romance her?
Hmm... now that wasn't a bad idea.
Except... the woman she'd grow into was a total money-sink. That would completely derail his plans to become the richest man in the shinobi world.
Forget it. One step at a time.
Before long, Tsunade returned, dragging his arm behind her.
She was holding it delicately by the pinky, fingers pinched like she was picking up dog poop.
Reiji's face darkened.
You little brat—I nearly died saving you, and this is how you treat my two girlfriends and lifesavers?!
"Hey, Washboard Princess, help me sew my girlfr—cough—my arm back on."
With effort, he twisted his body to reveal the ninja pouch strapped to his backside.
Surprisingly, Tsunade didn't get mad. She gave a serious nod and reached for the pouch.
One senbon. One thread.
Needle and thread in hand, she trembled as she shuffled over to him.
What she didn't know was that Reiji could've easily stitched himself up.
But because she'd treated his arm like trash, he'd decided to make her suffer a little.
Honestly, that's just the kind of petty guy he was—he liked to disgust others just for fun.