Hong Meiling Sleepwalks Through the Heavens

Sandaime Mizukage’s body was placed in the most luxurious tent that was setup in the enemy camp, and his body was embalmed. After we win the war, we will bury our Lord, the three ninjas outside the tent collectively thought.

The three ninjas were the three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist – Jinpachi Munashi, Fuguki Suikasan, and Jinin Akebino. Their teeth were gritted and their gazes solemn, and each of them had nothing but revenge on their mind.

Of course, the underlying motivation for revenge is simply to become the next Mizukage.

Earlier today, when that strange red-haired girl was escaping through the dense forest, the three ninjas ventured out of camp to hunt her down.

If the three of them worked together to hunt her down, she may be in real danger. However, the three also knew that if they killed her with their own effort, there is a high chance that the particular ninja who killed her will become the next Mizukage. Working together is not an option.

This strange girl is almost as strong as a full-fledged Kage. In a fair hand-to-hand combat, the three knew that each of them can never fight her, so the only way to beat her is to work together as a team. However, it seemed that the three had a mutual understanding that not a single one of them will work together, but how would they beat her?

Moreover, when she returned to the battlefield, they simply allowed her to wreak havoc upon the other ninjas.

“This mustn’t continue,” Jinin gloomily muttered as he stood next to the tent. “We must not allow our Lord to die in vain due to our selfishness.”

Fuguki simply scoffed and laughed to himself, “Isn’t it funny that you of all people are saying that? If you really mean it, why don’t you help me kill her and let me be the one to avenge our Lord?”

“That’s not what I meant,” Jinin sighed. “Even if we aren’t working together, we shouldn’t do it to the detriment of our people. Look – the situation is far worse than expected, and I can’t say with confidence that we will win this war. Would you prefer not winning the war over the petty vengeance of our Lord?”

Fuguki snorted, but stopped talking. Jinpachi, in turn, slowly nodded. It seemed that the three of them have reached a silent agreement.

…

Shortly after dawn, before about six o’clock in the morning, the enemy ninjas launched their attack on the mountainous forest region near the coast, which urged the Hidden Eddy ninjas to fight back.

It seemed that the three ninja swordsmen came to an agreement last night, but when it came to combat, their interests were still at a conflict with each other.

Plus, killing that strange girl now is out of the question.

Ashina Uzumaki has also returned to the battlefield, and would closely trail behind her, as if to escort her.

Although Hong Meiling is an ‘outsider,’ as the hero who killed Sandaime Mizukage, she holds a very important position in the hearts of Hidden Eddy. If she were to fall in battle, Hidden Eddy’s morale would plummet.

Ashina’s own strength is estimated to be as strong as Meiling, and they were almost as strong as a full-fledged Kage.

The two of them leapt into battle gracefully to fight against the three ninjas swordsmen, and since the three were still at a silent conflict, victory was almost assured for both Ashina and Meiling.

As the battle between them raged on, other enemy jōnins attempted to support the ninja swordsmen. However, they were much, much weaker compared to Ashina and Meiling. The moment they step in to support, Meiling or Ashina will instantaneously kill them, and the jōnins would not even register what had hit them.

The three swordsmen weren’t the only ones with murder on their mind – Meiling herself wonders if she would ever find an opening to defeat any one of these three swordsmen.

They already lost their Mizukage, so if another one of them dies, it will be nearly impossible for them to win! She cheered inwardly.

“Fragrant Wave!”

Meiling twirled her fingers and fired a wave of qi from her palm, and as it flew through the air, it collided head-first into Jinpachi’s explosive tags, causing violent explosions and billowing, black smoke to obscure the battlefield.

“Jinpachi! What did I tell you about using that damn sword of yours?!” Fuguki yelled, coughing through the smoke.

“…indeed. The smoke is troublesome,” Jinin’s voice echoed through the smoke.

“Well, this is how I fight!” Jinpachi cursed. “How else do you want me to?!”

Just as the smoke began to dissipate, Meiling dashed straight towards Jinpachi.

Meiling wanted to get rid of Jinpachi first – although the explosions were deterring his other comrades in battle, they were also the most likely to cause any meaningful harm to her.

Samehada, Fuguki’s sword, does not pose any threat to Meiling, since she doesn’t use chakra; Kabutowari, Jinin’s sword, is actually a combination of a giant axe and a hammer, which can be used to carve through impenetrable defenses. However, to Meiling, they aren’t threats that require special attention.

The smart choice would be to kill Jinpachi first.

Seeing a flash of green, Jinpachi’s first instinct was to detonate the explosive tags on his sword, but before he could do so, Meiling had already stomped straight into the ground.

“Chi Sign “Earth Sky Dragon Kick!””

This is one of Hong Meiling’s signature moves. She stomps, injecting her qi into the earth, which generates intense waves of energy that shake the ground. The violent tremors generated by the impact will then launch the enemy up into the air, and Meiling would then position herself to perform a devastating kick to the guts, dealing massive, lethal damage to her target.

The kick itself was as powerful and majestic as a dragon, which is how the name of the spell came to be.

As her foot connected with the earth, her qi spread through the soles of her feet as it was injected into the earth, generating violent waves that rapidly moved towards Jinpachi. Just as he was about to swipe his sword through the air, he suddenly felt a powerful tremor beneath his feet, and when he next blinked, he already found himself launched into the air.

And because of this, he forgot to defend himself.

Like a heavenly dragon, Meiling shot through the air like a comet and performed a flying kick as she imbued her feet with qi.

However, she wasn’t aiming for his head, or chest, or any other vital parts. After all, he still had that large sword of his to defend himself.

Hence, after a short deduction, Meiling landed a sky-shattering kick on Jinpachi’s wrist, which immediately caused the bones in his right arm to shatter.

The searing pain caused him to drop his sword, and as he yelped out in pain, he could see the strange girl in the air in front of him rotating her body gracefully before landing another kick onto his dropped sword.

Before she kicked, however, Meiling made sure to kick the side of the sword that was not covered in explosive tags. If she did, she might cause herself fatal damage.

With a single, rainbow-infused kick, his sword spun rapidly away in the air.

Meiling wanted to ensure that Jinpachi will be weaponless. Although he may still be able to use ninjutsu, he would no longer be a threat without his sword.

Jinpachi’s heart dropped when he saw his sword flipping and twirling in the air. He knew that without his sword, he is nothing – he can’t kill this red-haired girl; he can’t become the next Mizukage; he can’t ensure that he’ll still be alive after this…

He landed violently on the ground, but it seemed that pain was but an afterthought to him. He hurriedly got up and chased after his still-flying sword, only to stop when golden chains shot out from behind him, catching his sword.

Obviously, it was Ashina Uzumaki, who seized the opportunity to catch his sword before Jinpachi could get to it.

Ashina himself knew how much a powerful sword can add to a ninja. With this sword taken away from Jinpachi, he is nothing but a tiger with no teeth.

Jinpachi gritted his teeth. Ignoring his pain, he turned around and pounced towards Ashina.

At this moment, Ashina held onto the chain with his right hand, and took out a sealing scroll with his left hand. He spread the scroll on the ground, which revealed a strange, esoteric sealing patterns on it.

Pressing his left palm into the scroll, a faint light buzzed from it. Jinpachi’s sword was then violently tugged over by the chains, and submerged into the scroll as if it was falling into water.

True to Hidden Eddy fashion, sealing weapons is nothing but a cakewalk to Ashina.

Jinpachi immediately fell to his knees, as if the scroll was a beast that just devoured his sword. Every ninja knows that Hidden Eddy ninjas specialize in sealing techniques – even if he kills Ashina, he will never be able to get his sword back out from the scroll.

Ashina quickly put the scroll away and unleashed a spray of fire towards Jinpachi to further deter him.

Jinpachi was immediately filled with grief and rage, fully knowing that he was no longer capable of fighting. Watching the fiery pillars approached, he instinctively dodged to the side.

As he dodged, his eyes landed on his two other comrades, and he bellowed, “So, the two of you are just going to watch my sword be taken away?!”

Damn it, damn it, damn it! If those two intervened, I might still have my sword! Especially that damned Jinin! Did that talk yesterday mean nothing to you?! You are not a man of your word!

“And who was the one who created all this useless smoke?” Fuguki simply shrugged and waved his hand through the air, as if to blow the smoke away from his eyes. “How can we help you when we can’t even see anything?”

Jinpachi’s face was visibly red. Yes, although there was still residual smoke, any ninja could still see through it.

If that damned old man can cast his stupid chains to catch my sword, you can surely see through the smoke!

Even with Fuguki and Jinin’s apparent indifference, they were still shocked, regretful even, at the situation. They inwardly celebrated that Jinpachi was injured, and that he was separated from his sword, but never did they expect that his sword would be sealed into a scroll. A tinge of guilt began gnawing at their hearts.

They may be happy that Jinpachi’s chances of becoming Mizukage is greatly reduced, but they did not want him to be fully taken out of the fight. However, there is nothing that can be done. They couldn’t even admit that they were wrong to Jinpachi’s face.

Jinin was silent at Jinpachi’s accusations, and Fuguki’s words were like poison to Jinpachi’s ears, even if he thought that his own words were unreasonable.

TL Notes

We’re on Chapter 10! Thanks for sticking around ^.^ In the meantime, here’s a shameless plug of my Ko-Fi 👉👈 (https://ko-fi.com/slicedbreadsbakery). Feel free to tip me or commission me to translate anything you’d like if you’ve been enjoying my translations! <3