After Raikage fell on the ground, Zoro raised Enma high above him and swung it to Raikage who seemed to have accepted his fate as he closed his eyes to receive the sword attack. But then, the Jinchuuriki Mode Version 2 B suddenly appeared between Zoro and Raikage.
"STOP!" B shouted with his arms spread open as he looked at Zoro.
Zoro's sword swung down and stopped right in front of B's face. The swing created a very strong shockwave that pushed B and the fallen Raikage back a little, but it didn't injure them.
Yugito also appeared beside Zoro and grabbed his right hand. "B is right, I think it's enough. I know you don't plan to be Kumo's enemy, you just want to prove your point to Master Raikage. If you go any further than this, then you will be the whole village's enemy, including us."
Zoro glanced at Yugito, then B who had changed back to his normal form, Samui who checked Raikage's condition, and Raikage himself. He closed his eyes and sheathed his swords back to their scabbards.
"Old man, you once told me that you despised someone like Orochimaru who experimented on people, or other shinobi like him and called them crazy. But you yourself tried to take the eyes of a little child. In my eyes, there's no difference between what they did and what you did. Only trash would torment innocent people and children. So if you still want to act like trash, then go on and one day my sword will be the last thing you see."
Raikage shivered because he could tell that Zoro was serious. Even the others who weren't being threatened couldn't help but shiver too. Zoro's aura was just too intimidating.
"Change your way of thinking and how you see everything. Look at things from different perspectives and you will find answers you have never thought of before. That's what I always do and this is the result. You can be stubborn and cold, but it's a different thing to be close-minded and heartless."
After saying that, Zoro left Kumo. B told Yugito to chase Zoro. They couldn't lose such a great ally because of this and they also shouldn't lose a friend. So B wanted Yugito to talk to Zoro while the others took care of Raikage.
"Wait, Zoro!" Yugito caught up to Zoro in the forest.
Zoro knew she was chasing him, so he walked slowly to wait for her.
"Don't worry, I won't break my relationship with Kumo and you guys, as long as that old man doesn't make me this village's enemy." He knew why Yugito chased him, it was so obvious.
"That's.... I'm sure he understands what you want to tell him. But weren't you being too extreme with your method?"
"Extreme? Yugito, I've always told you that I will never kill innocent people and children. It's another case to spank them to discipline them. But trying to hurt a child and taking her eyes at that just because of an ability is unforgivable. If I am being honest, I actually hated all villages' Kages who sealed Tailed Beasts inside Jinchuuriki's bodies when they were still children. Why didn't they seal the Beasts in the bodies of strong shinobi who can fight the beast already? They know that Jinchuuriki are being discriminated against, yet they still use children even though they know it will ruin those children's lives."
This is always something that puzzles Zoro. Why do they always need to seal the Tailed Beasts in children's bodies? He hates that idea and that makes him hate the Kages who ordered it. That includes Minato who sealed the 9 Tails in his son's body no matter what his reason was.
"But it's already a common practice and at least most of the Tailed Beasts are sealed properly, so they can't harm the Jinchuuriki under normal circumstances. Except for Suna's Ichibi. I don't know how they seal it, but it is a really bad seal because the beast can come out if its Jinchuuriki sleeps and worse, the Jinchuuriki is the Kazekage's son who got the beast since he was but a baby."
"Does that mean you were also angry with Master Raikage because of me?" Yugito grins a little to tease Zoro.
"It can be seen like that because you were forced to be a Jinchuuriki since you were a clueless kid."
"Fufufu, somehow that makes me happy. Well, it's good that you don't see us as an enemy even if you have a disagreement with Master Raikage. Next time, you need to do a proper conversation with him over any disagreement. I'm sure he will prefer a civil discussion with you rather than fistfights from now on. I know his stubbornness is irritating, but he is a good leader who thinks of his people. Still, I am grateful to you for opening his mind, hopefully he'll open his mind from now on and listen more to others."
"Well, good luck with that." Zoro turns around to really leave now.
"You better come back here soon."
"I'll come back, but not so soon. I'll at least give that old man time to recover or he will shit his pants when he sees me again." He waves with his back hand as he walks away.
*****
Back to the present, Zoro is having a flashback about his battle with Raikage that was caused by Hinata's kidnapping incident. Seeing Neji who inspects him with byakugan has made him remember what happened back then.
His relationship with the 4th Raikage is still sour now, but they won't go for each other's throat when they meet at least. Zoro also still hunts Kumo's missing nins and still meets his friends there, so his relationship with Kumogakure is fine.
Raikage knows that Zoro's problem was with him personally. It got nothing to do with the village and he knew better than to mix personal problems with the village's problem. That's why Kumo doesn't make Zoro their enemy.
"Alright, kids, show me what you've got. Let me see how good Guy has been teaching you." Zoro taunts the genins without taking out his swords.
"You don't use your swords?" Lee asks curiously.
"Do you think I would need them just to fight kids like you? I wouldn't even need a toothpick to beat you up, so swords are not necessary now." Zoro smirks smugly, irritating the 3 genins.
"You better not regret it then." Neji is the most irritated, so he gets into his battle stance immediately.
Guy doesn't know what to say in this situation, so he just starts the sparring match. Lee and Neji immediately charge toward Zoro while Tenten takes out a pair of sickles connected with a chain before charging toward Zoro too.
The first to arrive is Lee who immediately jumps to send a roundhouse kick at Zoro's head. But Zoro dodges it easily by stepping back a bit. He dodges the kick very narrowly with a precise calculation, but Lee doesn't realize it and thinks that Zoro just barely dodges his kick.
Neji arrives right at that time and sends a palm attack at Zoro's stomach. But just as before, Zoro only moves a bit to the side to dodge Neji's palm. The dodging gap is so narrow that Zoro still can feel the breeze from that palm thrust.
He can't relax yet because then Tenten's sickle flies toward his chest. It flies right above Lee's head who has just landed. But then again, Zoro moves back a bit to dodge the sickle very narrowly.
The 3 genins keep attacking him with Lee and Neji as the main attackers and Tenten supports them. They only use Taijutsu and Bukijutsu, but Zoro actually likes this more than when his opponents use flashy elemental ninjutsu because this feels like fighting his own type of people.
Zoro keeps dodging their attacks without doing anything else. So the fight keeps moving here and there following where Zoro moves to dodge. But he only dodges their attacks narrowly, making them frustrated, so they keep increasing their attacks' speed and power.
"What's wrong, kids? You are getting slower. Come on, hit me. You won't win if you can't even hit your opponent." Zoro dodges them relaxedly while crossing his arms on his chest, making them even more frustrated as the battle goes on.
Seeing his team members who are also his students being toyed like that makes Guy remembers the times Zoro did something similar to him. It makes him wonder if this is the correct thing to do.
"W-well, this will help them grow stronger, so it should be fine. ..... Right?"
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Chapter: 151. Akatsuki Attack
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