"Today, I'll do a good deed and help you all retire from this dark profession of being shinobi."
Gari gathered chakra in his palm, releasing waves of chakra pressure.
"Hey, hey, sending us genin to the battlefield is already pretty unreasonable, don't you think?"
One of the medical ninjas, unable to withstand the overwhelming pressure, began to lose hope.
With the first sign of weakness, fear spread like a creeping vine, coiling around everyone's hearts.
Except for… Shimizu.
Buzz!
The Tenrō Katen (Heavenly Prison Fire Sword) materialized.
Gari raised an eyebrow. Someone was actually ignoring the oppressive aura of his chakra.
In the shinobi world, the concept of "pressure" was very real. Just a flick of Tobirama Senju's finger had once suffocated Sasuke and his team with its sheer intensity.
"Oh? An Uchiha."
Gari had clearly heard about Shimizu from the retreating Iwa-nin.
"The granddaughter of the Kamizuru clan leader was killed by you, huh? Do you know how furious they are?"
Gari took a step forward, his body darting forward in a surprise attack.
In that instant, electricity surged through Shimizu's body, stimulating his spinal nerves and pushing his reflexes to their limit.
Gari's movements slowed infinitely in Shimizu's three-tomoe Sharingan, allowing his body to easily keep up with the Sharingan's reaction speed.
The sound of air being sliced echoed.
However, the explosion Gari expected didn't happen.
The Shimizu before him turned into an afterimage.
Years of battle experience made Gari instinctively retreat.
Sure enough, a half-meter-wide trench was carved into the ground where he had just stood by the fiery blade.
"Hmph."
Gari sneered. This Uchiha brat was still too naive.
No matter how powerful a jutsu was, if it didn't hit, it was meaningless—a waste of effort!
He concentrated chakra into his fists, preparing to unleash his Earth-Style Landmine Fist once again.
At that moment, Shimizu's lips curled into a smile.
The fire sword he had swung bent unnaturally, folding at nearly a 90-degree angle, slashing toward Gari.
Gari's pupils contracted sharply. He couldn't dodge in time, and the fire sword grazed his left cheek.
"You bastard."
A chunk of flesh was missing from Gari's face, revealing the bone beneath.
The intense pain seared through his brain.
As Gari tried to stop the bleeding, Shimizu's figure flickered around the battlefield.
Like a blazing red lotus, Shimizu's movements were impossible to predict.
The only thing clear was that every time Shimizu's figure appeared, another Iwa-nin would fall.
Thud.
In just a few seconds, only Gari remained.
Shimizu stood still, holding the Tenrō Katen, and smiled faintly.
This was simple.
The Sora no Tachi (Sky Sword) technique allowed a blade to float and move freely.
However, once chakra left the body, Sora no Tachi couldn't control it.
But by attaching Sora no Tachi to the Tenrō Katen, Shimizu could force the fire sword to follow his will, splitting the blade into two independent sections.
Thus, the Tenrō Katen could bend at 90-degree angles at will. After all, chakra could be gathered or dispersed freely, and its flexibility could be altered.
Seeing Gari's look of disbelief, Shimizu shook his head lightly.
Too weak. They were all too weak.
These people weren't even worth him using his full strength.
He had thought that surviving the Great Shinobi War would require extreme caution.
But now, it seemed that ordinary jōnin were no match for him. Even elite jōnin would only take a bit more effort.
His strength not only stunned Gari.
It also stunned everyone else.
It was as if the battlefield had been split into two worlds.
One side was engulfed in the chaos of war, while the other was eerily silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Kakashi tightened his grip on his sword.
Every time, every single time, it was Shimizu who stepped up to deal with the enemy.
Was he really so useless?
If he could be called a genius, then what did that make Shimizu?
The determination in his eyes wavered, replaced by a rare hint of doubt.
"Kakashi, stop straining yourself."
Rin ran over to stop the bleeding from Kakashi's reopened wounds.
But the veins in Kakashi's arm were exposed, and the blood just wouldn't stop. Rin was on the verge of tears.
It was the calmer Shizune who stepped forward, pressing on the artery in Kakashi's arm, finally stopping the bleeding.
"Explosion Release: Earth-Style Bullet!"
A black-yellow mud ball shot out from Gari's hand.
He had been injured countless times.
But never had he felt so humiliated as he did now.
His heart burned with rage.
This Uchiha brat, wearing the white robes of a medical ninja, had managed to wound his face due to his own carelessness.
If the blade had been just a few degrees off, his entire jaw would have been cleaved off.
"You said you can make anything you touch explode, right?"
The Tenrō Katen in Shimizu's hand extinguished, and his hands turned a molten red, as if forged from lava.
Using the high mobility of his Fire-Style Body Flicker, Shimizu dodged the black-yellow mud ball and slammed his palm into Gari's chest.
Fire-Style chakra danced along specific pathways within Shimizu's palm, and upon contact with Gari's chest, it surged into his body.
Scalding! Burning!
Gari vomited a mouthful of blood, his internal organs boiling as if he had been thrown into a pot of boiling water.
But strangely, there was no explosion.
At the same time, Shimizu drew two kunai, slashing downward and upward, severing Gari's arms at the shoulders.
"What's going on? How can Shimizu touch him?"
Might Guy was puzzled.
He had tried to kick Gari with his Leaf Whirlwind, only to be blown back. Thankfully, he had protected his legs with chakra.
"I get it now. He's been using his words to mislead us all along."
Shizune suddenly seemed to understand.
She had traveled with Tsunade to many places and seen all sorts of things.
No Kekkei Genkai was perfect.
If Gari could truly neutralize any attack and blow his enemies back, he would already be the strongest in the shinobi world.
"Good, Shizune. Quick thinking."
Shimizu nodded, looking at Gari, who was now kneeling on the ground, gasping for breath.
Gari's Explosion Release could only turn things he touched with his hands into bombs.
In the future Great Shinobi War, an Iwa-nin named Bunpuku had first created a small earthen wall, then retreated and created a larger one, placing explosive tags in the gap between them.
When the larger wall was pushed forward, it triggered the explosive tags on the smaller one. Gari, thinking it was just an ordinary Earth-Style Wall, was caught off guard and blown to pieces.
If not for his reanimated body, he would have died a meaningless death.
"He started by ambushing Captain Hagane, deliberately creating the impression that he was overwhelmingly powerful. In the battles that followed, he guided our thoughts with his actions.
Exploiting our lack of knowledge about his Kekkei Genkai, he pretended to be invincible, tougher than a turtle's shell, and pressured us psychologically."
Shimizu analyzed.
"You… figured it out."
Gari, pale from blood loss, slumped weakly. His spiky, explosive hair now lay flat.
"In the end, your strength is only at the level of a special jōnin. It's only because of the uniqueness of your Kekkei Genkai that you've gained any reputation."
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