Naruto: The Blind Swordsman - Chapter 139: War's End, Execution and Arrival

_________ POV Narration _________

“Hah…” Roshi sighed as he felt the blood leave his body.

His vision was blurry already, around him only the smell of ash and blood could be felt.

He had lost all of his limbs, his chakra had almost run out. But he was still alive, somehow.

“This bastard sure put up a fight…” Mifune huffed by his side as he swiped his blade towards the ground, splashing some more of the 4 Tail Jinchuriki’s blood on the burnt ground around them.

“Yeah, he did, but he played weak, what a tool,

Took him down, made him look like a fool,

High five for the win, we stay cool~ Yo~”

Killer B raised his palm towards Mifune, who looked at him incredulously, not quite sure how to respond or what the young Jinchuriki was trying to accomplish.

B himself seemed to skulk and turn away after being ignored, merely mumbling a few sentences before starting to write up some new verses in his notebook.

Mifune took one more look at Roshi, who was currently coughing up some blood and ink.

Killer B had managed to drown him in ink at some point during their altercation. Although Ink Release wasn’t powerful, it was still quite useful if the opponent was caught off guard.

Both Mifune and B had worked in unison to dismember the 4 Tail Jinchuriki, who was now just a small step away from dying.

Both B and Mifune had various burns scattered on their bodies. Parts of the Samurai General’s armor were also melted off, and fallen on the molten ground at some point.

Roshi had truly put up a great fight, no matter how much B mocked him in his rap.

In the first place, Roshi was one of the strongest Jinchuriki when it came to destructive power and combat ability in general.

His lava release was something that very few could fight. To the point where Mifune was unsure if he could’ve won had it not been for B’s interference.

But they had also gotten over the fight without gaining too many injuries, much to both B’s and Mifune’s surprise.

Roshi was more focused on stalling than on killing them. Despite taking every opportunity he could, he didn’t go out of his way to create said opportunity.

He was clearly waiting for reinforcements, but that wait was for nothing by the look of things.

Even though their fight had stretched out for around 2 hours, there was not even a sign of any reinforcements coming in.

Instead, Roshi got a front-row seat to watching the army he had come with get systematically dismantled by the Samurai of the Land of Iron and the members of the Dark Brotherhood.

It seemed that the Blades of the Dark Brotherhood had also watched over all of its members and the samurai, involving themselves only occasionally to minimize casualties.

Things became even more unfair for the Shinobi when the Third Raikage recovered enough to join back into the fray. And in that moment casualties on their side were no more.

All in all, the Samurai had lost very few people, warriors that had met their end in battle, a true honour.

There were also a few hundred or so that were injured to varying degrees. That was inevitable, however, since the samurai had a very close-quarters style of combat while the Shinobi used plenty of long-range attacks.

In an open field, the Samurai still had a bit of a disadvantage, but they still prevailed.

The Brotherhood had lost none of its members, but most were injured, and the majority of the shinobi were either dead, dying, unconscious and dying, or incapacitated in some way.

And Roshi was now also counted among them.

“Shit…” Roshi could barely muster up the energy to curse his own fate.

He had been one of the people against the invasion to begin with, but orders were orders. And because of orders, he was now going to die.

And the only thought in his mind… ‘I don’t want to die this useless death!’

He wasn’t scared. He wasn’t feeling afraid. But he felt as if his death was simply in vain. Son Goku within him was also already tired, the Ape-like Tailed Beast only silently listened to its Jinchuriki’s dying internal struggles.

But what else was there even left for him? His best friend, Han, had also definitely died.

Roshi hadn’t gotten to see it with his own eyes, but at some point, his friend’s steam had died down and vanished in the wind.

“You have the right to despair Jinchuriki, I doubt you were the one to start this war after all. But we are the ones to end it.” Mifune took a step forward and grasped his katana with both hands.

Roshi’s tired eyes trailed over to the Beheading General, and it only took a second for him to understand the man’s intentions.

‘I guess this is the end…’

“It was an honourable bout, and thus, you have earned my respect. I will give you a swift end, befitting of a warrior, something I do not believe many shinobi are worthy of.”

Mifune raised his katana over his head and prepared to swing down, only closing his eyes in prayer for a few seconds.

Killer B decided not to interfere in the matter, his fight with Roshi was already over, so he decided to run off to the Third Raikage and regroup instead.

“I… I hope…” Roshi started speaking, some blood spilling from the corners of his mouth as he struggled to spread his lips wide open to show a crazed smile to his executioner.

“I hope you burn in hel-” Before he could even finish that sentence, the Beheading General’s blade came right down on his neck, sending his head rolling off on the burnt ground.

“Hmph… A shinobi till the end… Rest in peace.” Mifune didn’t let his execution be affected by the Jinchuriki’s disrespect. Instead, he sheathed his blade and started heading for the remains of the Dark Brotherhood compound.

By the time the Samurai Ladear reached the Compound, a commotion was already starting up.

Mifune arrived to see a rather odd scene.

The First Blade held out a giant spiky blade to the neck of a man who was adorned in an attire very similar to his own.

The Third blade was also behind that man, with his regenerating blade resting neatly on the other side of the man’s neck.

The man in question wore a mask with two red lines down the middle, and Mifune recognized him as the Second Blade.

“You have some guts coming back here you traitorous bastard…” Tosho muttered as he watched Saburo’s clone with a hostile gaze.

“Now now, I believe I have already explained the situation… Lord Ken had requested that I specifically make it look like I betrayed the brotherhood to help with his scheme…” Saburo’s voice was calm despite the circumstances.

The Second Blade seemed quite unbothered, he was acting with great poise and composure in Mifune’s eyes.

“As if we’ll believe any of your bullshit!” Akira, the Third Blade spoke out as his hands seemed to twitch in excitement.

The madman seemed to barely be able to contain himself from just decapitating the Second Blade right then and there.

“You don’t have to believe me. The second that our Leader returns everything will be made clear.” Saburo stated with his arms crossed.

“And that is the very reason why we haven’t killed you yet. But well… I guess we can also explain the situation to Lord Ken with just your head present,

Even if it’s just a clone, you must be running out of them right? At some point, we’ll manage to kill the original too…” Tosho’s living sword seemed to tremble in excitement much like the Third Blade.

But just before the First Blade could act, he felt his living blade stop in its tracks, and he could see sparks rising up.

“Now now, let us calm down and take a few steps back.” Mifune had immediately stepped forward and stood in between the Blades.

The General’s katana was firmly blocking the Samehada, and his hand was firmly gripping the edge of Akira’s regenerating blade, which was seemingly cracking under his strong grip.

Tosho’s eyes narrowed, realizing that Mifune had moved faster than he had expected.

Akira also blinked a few times, realizing that he was a bit too famished to follow the General’s movements.

‘I guess he’s the strongest Samurai in the Land of Iron for a reason…’

“General Mifune, this is an internal matter of the Dark Brotherhood, I only ask that you do not interfere…” Tosho pulled the Samehada back and allowed it to rest on his shoulder.

Akira did much the same, circling around a bit while whistling and choosing to stand at the Frist Blade’s side.

Mifune sighed when hearing that, his hands were a bit tied in a sense.

He didn’t wish to overstep his boundaries and get involved needlessly. But at the same time, he hoped to not see any more blood be shed on that day.

“It’s not that I wish to get involved, but if we are merely waiting for Lord Ken, then I do not wish for the situation to be this hostile…

Enough lives have been lost today, and I don’t want any more to be snuffed out needlessly.”

The old General’s words seemed to resonate with some of the people listening. The Third Raikage for example, who just wanted to rest now.

But they didn’t seem to do much to placate the First and Third Blades.

“I understand your words, but I do not feel safe leaving that thing run around freely… Please step out of the way Sir Mifune… This is the last time I ask politely.”

Tosho’s tone was threatening, but even then Mifune refused to budge.

“First Blade, I ask that you see my reasoning. Nothing good will come from the two of us crossing blades.”

Mifune was still hellbent on trying to mediate the situation. It also helped that Tosho was not quite confident in facing the old General.

Akira was also almost famished at that point, so he wasn’t going to be of much help if a fight broke out.

In the end, as the strongest Samurai, Mifune’s power was much greater than that of Tosho.

Tosho could be called an Elite Jonin by that point. Some could even say that he was close in power to a leader of a lower village.

But Mifune had tussled with the strongest of the world, he was on a different playing field.

That didn’t mean Tosho wasn’t going to at least try.

But just as he took a step forward, his ears perked up, and his head immediately turned to the sky.

In the distance, he could see a dot, the figure of a strange being, its wings spread out widely as it flew through the clouds.

From seeing it, it only took a few seconds for that figure to appear right in front of him, the ground fragmenting underneath him from the landing, as a cloud of dust also arose.

“Seems I was a bit late…” Everyone could hear the sounds of bones crackling and shifting places, of muscles moving around underneath skin.

And from the cloud of dust that had arisen, stepped out the figure of none other than Ken.

Mifune sighed when seeing that, deflating slightly as he did so.

The General may have been the strongest samurai in the Land of Iron, but it was no secret that Ken held the title of Strongest Swordsman.

Intact and unbothered by the obvious tension in the air, he stepped up to Tosho and Akira and patted them both on the shoulder.

“Good job you two! You did more than great…” Ken’s voice sounded quite proud, and Mifune behind him had already sheathed his katana.

“Hmph, about time you came!” The Raikage huffed as he shook his head. He was also preparing to jump in and stop a conflict from happening.

Killer B seemed to still be stuck on writing lyrics, although he did wave at Ken, who unfortunately didn’t see it.

“Heh… I got a bit held up. But it’s fine.

Now then, I guess I should explain the situation, right?”

_________________________________________

Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Took me a bit to write, and I didn’t have time to do much proofreading, so lemme know if you notice anything strange :))

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