One Piece: Silent-Silent Fruit

Seeing the mass of samurai and ninja rushing at him, Rosinante showed no fear at all.

His long blade rose in his hand, and he charged straight into the crowd.

Relying on the powerful perception and predictive ability of Observation Haki, Rosinante moved calmly through the chaos.

His sword seemed to swing slowly.

But every single time he swung it...

Another life was taken.

In barely a dozen minutes, the great hall was already carpeted with corpses.

There were soldiers.

There were samurai.

And there were many ninja as well, including members of the Nara Clan.

Still, most of them were only genin, with one or two chunin mixed in.

There were no jonin among them.

Which made sense.

The only jonin the Nara Clan had sent to protect General Fujimitsu was likely Nara Rokugen.

And Nara Rokugen still hadn't returned yet, because he had gone off to assassinate Rosinante.

If even one jonin had been present here...

Rosinante definitely wouldn't have been able to cut through them this easily.

As for the ninja gathered here, most of them were just wandering rogue shinobi.

Their strength was average at best, hired and kept by General Fujimitsu with heavy pay.

Rosinante's current strength might not have been much by his own standards...

But with his mastery of Observation Haki, slaughtering ninja whose abilities mostly didn't even reach chunin level was still effortless.

Looking at Rosinante's calm expression as he casually continued swinging his sword and harvesting lives one after another...

Everyone remaining in the hall revealed expressions of pure terror.

And then, as he looked at the fear on their faces—

Rosinante's body suddenly erupted with an overwhelming aura.

A shocking, tyrannical pressure exploded outward.

Under that crushing force, everyone became even more horrified.

"I'll be taking General Fujimitsu's head with me," Rosinante said calmly. "If any of you want revenge... I'll be waiting at the Saito household."

His face was utterly indifferent.

Carrying General Fujimitsu's severed head in one hand, he began walking slowly toward the exit.

As Rosinante moved forward step by step, the samurai, soldiers, and ninja around him all involuntarily backed away.

They made way for him.

They had been killed into fear.

And at the same time, his aura had shaken their minds.

With so many people surrounding him...

Not a single one dared step forward to block his departure.

After Rosinante walked out of the great hall, he flashed once—

And vanished from everyone's sight.

Only then did the people in the hall finally let out the breath they had been holding.

Many of them collapsed to the ground on the spot.

"G-Ghost...!"

Someone pointed at the place where Rosinante had disappeared, screaming in sheer terror, his face pale and twisted.

After leaving the main hall, Rosinante was just about to slip out of General Fujimitsu's residence and rendezvous with Hashirama and Madara—

When suddenly, he heard the sounds of battle coming from not far away.

Curious, he extended his Observation Haki to sense what was happening.

Who else would choose today of all days to cause trouble in Fujimitsu's residence?

The moment he saw—

His face darkened.

The ones fighting...

Were none other than Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara.

So all that repeated warning and endless reminding...

Had been completely wasted.

Hashirama and Madara hadn't listened to a single word.

Those two idiots.

At this moment, the situation the two of them were in was becoming difficult.

After entering the General's Residence, they had started setting fires all over the place to draw the guards away.

And yes, they had succeeded in attracting a huge number of soldiers.

But in doing so...

They had also gotten themselves surrounded.

There were many samurai and rogue ninja stationed throughout the residence.

The ones in the great hall earlier had only been a small portion of them.

A large number of samurai and ninja hadn't even had time to reach the hall before they were diverted by the chaos Hashirama and Madara caused.

Naturally, they all assumed the two boys were the intruders who had invaded the General's Residence.

Hashirama and Madara were strong.

At their young age, they already possessed the strength of top-tier chunin, perhaps even brushing the edge of jonin.

By the standards of the future Leaf Village, they would probably be classified as special jonin.

But the problem was—

There were simply too many enemies.

Every time they cut down one group, another group arrived.

Little by little, the two of them were being swallowed up by the encirclement.

Under the constant pressure from all sides, and with arrows flying in as well, the two of them were gradually reaching their limits.

Then—

Rosinante's expression suddenly changed.

His body shot toward their position at astonishing speed.

Because just a moment ago, within the range of his Observation Haki—

He had sensed a ninja taking advantage of Madara's blind spot.

A kunai was flying straight toward Madara in a sneak attack.

Hashirama noticed it too.

Without hesitation, he shoved Madara aside with one hand—

But the kunai plunged into Hashirama's body instead.

"Hashirama!"

Seeing Hashirama take a blow meant for him, Madara's face changed drastically.

His eyes flashed blood-red for an instant.

Within that brief crimson flicker, it was as though a single tomoe rotated inside each eye.

But Madara's Sharingan appeared only for a split second.

And with the chaos of the firelight and the darkness of night, the surrounding samurai and ninja didn't notice it.

Hashirama, however—

Saw it.

"Madara..."

Hashirama looked at him in surprise.

"Hashirama, are you alright?!" Madara asked urgently.

"I'm fine," Hashirama said with a grin, even while wounded. "A little injury like this isn't enough to bring me down."

Truthfully, after spending time together over this period, Hashirama had already begun to vaguely suspect Madara's identity.

He simply hadn't openly confirmed it yet.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Madara said, helping Hashirama up while keeping a wary eye on the enemies around them.

"You should be saying that to yourself," Hashirama said, pressing a hand over his wound as he laughed lightly.

Then both of them turned serious again, watching the encroaching enemy.

The soldiers, samurai, and ninja all around them advanced step by step.

A full assault could begin at any moment.

And then—

Every single person present suddenly felt an incomparably tyrannical aura descend over their heads.

Under the pressure of that霸道 presence, whether soldier, samurai, or ninja, cold sweat began pouring down their faces.

It felt as if they had all been struck by overwhelming terror.

"Looks like you two were having fun."

A voice sounded out at that moment.

"But sorry... I'm going to interrupt. It's time for us to leave."

As the voice rang out, a figure slowly walked forward.

And with each step that person took—

That already crushing aura grew even heavier.

The soldiers turned toward the owner of the voice.

And the moment they saw him—

They all froze.

"T-That is...?"

"No way...!"

"The General's head!"

The man walked toward them slowly.

And as he approached, the soldiers involuntarily parted, opening a path before him.

But then they saw what he was carrying in his hand—

And all of them screamed in disbelief.

Because they recognized it immediately.

That was their General's severed head.

His dead eyes still hadn't fully closed.

The expression on his face still carried that same sneering cold smile.

It was unmistakable.