Crixci and Ning engaged in a flurry of top-tier martial arts.
With battle-hardened muscle memory, the Third Yokage and Crixci kicked with great flexibility, punched with utmost precision, blocked, parried, and dodged with accuracy.
Ning masterfully fought with both his body and his bo staff. His balance was superb. His strength is greater than most ninjas even with Ning entering his twilight years.
Crixci fought with a smug expression, savoring the fact he is battling with Ning of the Waves.
Perhaps he was taking Ning too light-heartedly.
Crixci got into a lull as he exchanged blows with Ning's martial arts.
All it took was one split second of Crixci losing focus.
Ning dodged a lazy left hook from Crixci, crouching down and exploding with great power.
"HOI!"
Ning cracked his bo staff into the left side of Crixci.
"!"
Crixci managed to pull back the arm he punched with and block the blow with his elbow.
Ning's strike pushed Crixci away, his feet skidding on the ground.
Despite this, it was the hands of Ning that felt a sting after the recoil of striking Crixci.
"What are you, a boulder?"
"No," Crixci replied, "I am the weight of the new era!"
As they fought, no matter how many clean hits Ning landed on Crixci, Ning couldn't help but get the feeling that he was wasting effort.
It was hurting to punch and kick the body of Crixci.
He leaped back, gaining some distance.
"Oh?" Crixci taunted the Third Yokage.
'Even if his body is like a boulder, flesh is still flesh' Ning thought.
He then tapped his bo staff on the ground. The golden end of the staff dis-attached, revealing a sharp spear tip.
"Let's see how you handle this!"
At Ning's declaration, he attacked Crixci with a flurry of masterful spear strikes.
Crixci did well to avoid any lethal damage, but even so, the Third Yokage was managing to land slicing spear attacks that would cut away at the flesh of Crixci.
"Enough!"
Crixci took a deep fiery breath through his nostrils and readied his senses.
Ning thrusted with a lethal intention.
Crixci dodged, grabbed the bo staff spear, and cracked it in half.
"!"
Then Crixci came at Ning with a speed he had not shown before, easily getting close and landing a powerful punch into the stomach of the Third Yokage.
'Ugh!'
Ning got sent flying into a building, smashing into its walls and creating dust clouds.
"Don't tell me I killed him.." Crixci whispered.
"Impressive, Crixci of the Mountains."
Through the dust cloud, Ning came striding through, a resolved expression on his face, the long ends of his ninja bandanna flowing in the breeze.
"I'm honored. To think the great Ning of the Waves is going to take me seriously?"
The reason for Crixci saying those words were simple.
The Third Yokage crouched down into his famed battle stance.
["MONKEY STYLE!"]
At those words, Ning pounced with the mannerisms of a monkey.
It was his turn to overwhelm Crixci with speed.
With his two palms, Ning paid Crixci back with a blow to the stomach of his own.
["BAZOOKA!"]
Crixci's abdomen felt a pain it never experienced before.
"I-..Impossible. My body should be immune to such attacks." Crixci said as he caught his breath.
"Ooo ooo ooo, Aah Aah Aah," The Third Yokage laughed, taking his Monkey theme much too seriously.., "My monkey style can penetrate a weak body such as yours."
The insult had struck a blow to Crixci's ego.
"You'll regret that, old man!"
At the gate, Team G was fighting against Sylvester of Rogakure, the village hidden in the Dew.
"Theetheethee!" Sylvester laughed hysterically. The chains of the kusarigama in his hands rattling annoyingly, "Your reputation isth thertainly warranted!"
"Pfft. Like I care what you have to say." Musashi Raito scoffed and pointed his tanto blade at Sylvester.
"But you can't defeat me! I'm Sylvester of Rogakure! The fiend of the dew! You've heard of me, haven't you? I'm the greatest mass murderer in the history of Rogakure. I usthed to rape a girl each morning! You would need to buy ten cthemeteries to bury the number of people I have murdered! All those WOMEN, and CHILDREN, and HELPLESSTH people… Oh, how I crave their screamsth!"
"Oh my god, you're so annoying!" Pandora shook her fist at Sylvester.
"Yeah, this guy is a total loser.." Saika added.
"Whatever! I just want to clobber his face and get back to the Third!" Bakato said impatiently.
"…I agree." Musashi Raito sterned his gaze, "Let's show him how Team G handles business."
"Alright!" Bakato jumped for joy.
"Roger!" Pandora and Saika said in unison.
Pandora and Saika ran to either side of Sylvester, throwing kunai and shurikens at him.
"Too easthy!" Sylvester screamed as he deflected them effortlessly with his sickles.
"Then how about this!" Ten of Bakato's shouted as they charged at Sylvester.
"Tch!" Sylvester flung out his kusarigama and by pulling the chain made his sickles slash all ten clones at once.
*POOF!* x10
But the smoke clouds created from Bakato's clones being defeated were just a distraction.
"Now, sensei!" Bakato hollered.
"Idiot, don't ruin the surprise by declaring it!" Saika scolded.
"Huh?" Sylvester uttered.
However, he did not have enough time to react.
Musashi Raito had raced through the smoke and was now in striking distance of Sylvester.
"!"
["HARAKIRI SUNRISE!"]
…
"BlELGUHSJ!"
Sylvester coughed up blood.
He looked down to see Musashi Raito with his tanto blade stabbed into his guts.
Musashi Raito took out his sword. Sylvester collapsed, his eyes cloudy. He barely managed to say some final words.
"Musashi… Raito…"
It was so faint that no one could hear it.
His life had ended pathetically.
"Hooah! Nice, sensei! Team G all the way!" Bakato praised.
"Haha, that's our master!" Pandora exclaimed.
"That was a little too easy." Saika proudly smiled.
Musashi Raito inspected the dead body of Sylvester as he heard the sounds of battle happening all around him.
"Let's celebrate after this is finished. We need to move." Musashi Raito wasted no time.
"What do we do now?" Pandora asked.
Musashi Raito walked with an aura of conviction. His students looked at their capable sensei with awe-inspired pupils, eagerly awaiting his orders.
"Each of you will go to either end of the village and help clean things up." Musashi Raito snapped them out of their daze.
"And what will you do, sensei?" Saika said curiously.
Musashi Raito sheathed his tanto blade,
"I'll go help Lord Third."
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
*BANG!*
"Tch! Damn bastard!"
On the west end of Namigakure, Grit was taking cover behind the wall of a building.
"Wahahahaha!" Wang Puk's laugh echoed in the streets. It sounded like the laugh came from everywhere and nowhere.
Grit peeked around the corner and scanned for Wang Puk's location.
His eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of him on top of a distant building. However-
*BANG!*
A bullet narrowly missed Grit as he hurriedly cocked his head back behind the corner.
"Is that all you got?" Wang Puk mocked.
"How about you stay put and say that to my face?" Grit called back.
"Wahahahah! Just try and catch me!"
Grit had been engaged in a game of cat and mouse with the ninja sniper Wang Puk.
Wang Puk would shoot, hide, change location, etc. Rinse and repeat.
Whenever Grit tried to catch up to Wang Puk's last location, he was gone.
The veins in Grit's neck bulged in agitation.
He had encountered a pestering opponent.