(Merry Christmas, everyone! I'm celebrating today with a 5-chapter mass release.)
With his Observation Haki active, Shanks focused intently for a few moments, sensing the movements of the four Kirigakure ninjas rushing toward the Uzumaki Clan temple. Though he could not physically see them, through his Haki he could clearly perceive their presence—their speed, intent, and the direction of their movement—as if he were watching them with his own eyes.
After confirming that their trajectory was indeed leading straight to the Uzumaki temple, Shanks wasted no time. In an instant, his body vanished from the room. The only trace left behind was a faint current of air swirling where he had just been standing.
(Ai generated image in Comments area.)
Meanwhile, the four Kirigakure ninjas arrived at their target—the Uzumaki temple, which they had decided to destroy. Without delay, one of them withdrew a sealing scroll and spread it across the ground. After performing a rapid sequence of hand seals, a puff of white smoke appeared, and from it emerged a massive coil of string covered with explosive tags.
"Spread out immediately!" he commanded his teammates. "Disperse this string of explosive tags around the entire perimeter of the Uzumaki temple—and even beyond it. We must cause the maximum possible damage to the Land of Uzumaki!"
He continued coldly, "Once we're done, we'll retreat straight back to our designated residence in the Uzumaki village and act like nothing happened—just regular escort ninjas protecting the Daimyo."
But just as they were about to take out their own sealing scrolls and the rolls of explosive tags, a cold voice suddenly reached their ears.
"I have been waiting here for you all for the last three minutes. You all are quite slow. I mean, for you to reach here... I even asked my brothers and sisters to deliberately spread out so that you wouldn't face any hindrance while coming here, and so you wouldn't find any guards along your path. But still, you took so long. You really are pathetic."
The moment they heard this voice, a chill ran down their spines, and cold sweat covered their faces. Their eyes immediately turned toward the direction the voice had come from. From the shadows atop the roof of a nearby house, a young man in a kimono stepped forward, holding a sword in his hand.
As soon as they saw this young man, they instantly recognized him—he was none other than Shanks Uzumaki.
Their first instinctive reaction was to retreat and escape from there. In that instant, they even took a few steps back. But being elite ninjas, they quickly came to a halt, realizing that escaping from someone like Shanks was nearly impossible. Now, all they could do was fight back with everything they had. And if fighting back wasn't an option, then at the very least, they needed to complete their mission—to destroy the Uzumaki village temple.
All four of them came to a halt and looked into each other's eyes, silently understanding one another's intentions. They were all thinking the same thing—to fight Shanks. None of them responded to Shanks's taunt; not a single word left their mouths.
The ninja leading the mission simply said, "Do it."
At once, he hurled the roll of string tied with explosive tags toward Shanks—or at least, he tried to.
However, the very moment his hands moved, Shanks, who was observing their every motion through his Observation Haki, already knew what they were about to do. His future sight had shown him everything before it even happened.
In the next instant, Shanks moved. His figure blurred, and before the leader could even complete his throw, Shanks was standing right in front of him. The ninja's hand had already released the explosive tag ball—it was midair—but in that same heartbeat, his wrist was sliced cleanly off, and the explosive tag ball was now in Shanks's hand.
All of this happened within seconds. In that brief span of time, Shanks not only severed the wrist of the ninja holding the explosive tag ball but had already sheathed his sword and caught the explosive tag ball in his hand.
It took the leading ninja a moment to realize what had happened—that his hand had been cleanly cut off and his plan had completely fallen apart. The instant the pain registered, he let out a scream of pure agony.
His three teammates froze for a heartbeat, fear gripping their hearts as they witnessed Shanks's overwhelming strength firsthand. Shanks had moved like lightning—or rather, it was as if he had been standing in front of them from the very beginning. After all, he had crossed a distance of forty meters from the rooftop to their position and accomplished all of that so swiftly that the three of them could barely comprehend what had just occurred.
Without hesitation, all three began retreating, leaping backward to create distance. At the same time, they pulled out their sealing scrolls, their minds fixed on their mission. They understood clearly now—if they tried to flee, Shanks would kill them in an instant. His speed had already proven that much beyond any doubt. Thus, the thought of escaping was completely abandoned by all three of them.
The leading ninja was now completely hopeless after having his hand cut off. Shanks looked not only at the leader standing before him but also at the teammates retreating backward and said calmly, "If you all can succeed in doing what you came here to do, then wouldn't that make me a completely useless protector of this village?"
The moment those words left his mouth, red, lightning-like energy erupted from his body. It wasn't actual lightning, but rather the manifestation of his Conqueror's Haki. The crackling aura spread outward in an instant, first striking the leader in front of him and then reaching the other three who had just drawn their sealing scrolls, preparing to unseal them and release the explosive tag balls within.
But before they could act, the wave of Conqueror's Haki hit them with overwhelming force. Their bodies stiffened immediately, frozen in place as if bound by invisible chains.
Just as Shanks subdued them completely, the sharp sound of air being cut—swish, swish—echoed through the area. In the next moment, Makima, Erza, and Antares appeared on the scene.
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