_________ POV Narration _________

The war raged on between all factions in the Shinobi World.

Nations ate at each other's throats with ravenous fury and greed.

The Shinobi World was never peaceful, to them, peace was a strange state of being, one that they couldn't quite understand.

In truth, ever since the Warring States, things had never really gotten better.

The only actual period of peace was when the First Hokage, the God of Shinobi, was still alive to uphold it.

'Only someone on the level of the God of Shinobi can truly uphold peace... Only during their lifetime, however long or short it may be.'

That was the only real conclusion that could be drawn from the First Hokage's exploits.

After all, the First had made a lot of mistakes... Mistakes that included arming several shinobi villages with living nukes called the Tailed Beasts...

He had hoped that they'd serve as some sort of deterrent, that they would make the warring nations a bit more careful before starting a war, a variable to take into account before taking action...

Unfortunately, reality crushed those useless hopes and dreams. The Jinchuriki were nothing if not weapons to be used for mass destruction.

Ken could barely even count the number of places and sceneries ruined by the involvement of the Tailed Beasts.

Instead of being a deterrent, they became a factor that emboldened the nations that housed them.

And the people were left to suffer as a result...

'Be it a wayward attack from a shinobi, or a full-on tailed beast blast from a Jinchuriki... Civilian Villages have already been targeted heavily during the Third War... And it's only just begun.'

After all, the quickest way to destroy a nation was by ruining its infrastructure and making lives harder for its civilians.

And the fastest way to do so was by slaughtering said civilians, ruining their homes.

And sometimes, powerful shinobi were also sent on such tasks. Many times they found them demeaning, as killing helpless civilians was somewhat boring to trained murderers.

However, this wasn't the case for the 7 swordsmen of the mist.

They had already gone on a killing spree, getting rid of the dozen or so teams that were defending the area, so now they had free reign to slaughter the villages in said area.

They had plenty of time before the Land of Fire sent reinforcements.

So much time in fact, that Jūzō Biwa and Jinpachi Munashi had more than enough time to play around.

Jūzō was dressed in his usual attire, a black tight-fitting sleeveless shirt, black pants and sandals. His headband was also black, sporting the Mist village's symbol proudly.

His face and neck were both covered in bandages, and his sharp teeth glistened under the sun.

He made sure to feed his blade as much blood as he could, piling up villagers and creating a small pool made of corpses.

He left his long sword rest in the pool of blood, all the while he played around with a severed hand.

The madman whistled as his Decapitating Carving Knife soaked in blood, repairing any and all nicks in the large blade.

Jinpachi was a bit less practical in his fun-having.

He wore an extremely loose, long-sleeved pin-striped shirt and black pants and sandals. The top of his head was wrapped in bandages, and he had an eye patch covering his left eye, sprouting from under his Kirigakure forehead protector.

He simply started playing a twisted version of golf with the corpses, exploding them with his blade and seeing how far they flew.

He experimented with corpses of varying weights and ages, and he discovered that the corpses of children flew much further than those of adults.

The lower the height and weight the further they flew essentially.

Aramo Sakoji was also laughing along, his grey hair was pointed upwards towards the sky in an unusual manner, allowing him to stick out from the rest. The large blade on his back also helped...

He was the current wielder of the Hiramekarei, a powerful blade with two hilts that could change its appearance to its user's wishes as long as it was manipulated with enough chakra.

He wore clothes grey Mist Anbu attire. Also wearing a vest with a few pouches on top of it.

Raiga Kurosuki and Fuguki Suikazan weren't engaging much with the others...

Raiga, the wielder of the 'Fangs', was just laying on the roof of a house while surveying his surroundings. His long green hair swayed in the wind that Jimpachi's explosions were creating.

He was dressed in a traditional Mist Anbu uniform with a white mask that displayed a pair of thin eyes curved upwards and a mischievous smile. The emblem of the village was on the forehead area of the mask.

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Fuguki, the wielder of the Samehada/Shark Skin, was resting in the forest nearby, also on the lookout. He stayed further away from Jimpachi's explosions as he found them annoying.

Fuguki was a massive man, standing tall at around 2.5 meters tall, his orange hair was also long enough to reach his knees, making it longer than most men.

He wore regular Mist Jonin attire underneath a white cloak, his living blade was now strapped over his shoulder via a large belt.

They were just minding their own business while staying on guard, expecting reinforcements from the Land of Fire to arrive at any moment.

After all, they were there to cause a distraction. That was their only job...

Ever since the Mist Village had joined the Rock-Cloud-Waterfall Alliance, they had started being called the 'Upper Faction' in the Shinobi World.

Three Great Villages joining together alongside one of the biggest 'Smaller' Villages... It was certainly a force to be reckoned with.

But that didn't mean they had no one to contend with.

Even if they didn't have a proper alliance, the Sand and the Leaf villages were both fighting against their alliance.

The Leaf itself was already allied with the Uzumaki Clan, and most of the smaller villages had already joined up together.

Everyone was doing everything they could to survive and reap the most benefits while doing so. That was the premise of the Third Shinobi War...

Now, why exactly was the Mist asked to send their strongest group of Jonin to a random village somewhat near the borders of the Land of Fire?

Well, Kushimaru Kuriarare didn't really know... Neither did the other swordsmen.

Kushimaru was also in the village, sitting on a chair in the middle of the street while his long needle blade leaned on his shoulder.

He just wore the conventional Mist Anbu attire and mask, his long and spiky blonde hair as well as his blade were the only real ways of recognizing him.

"The more time we spend here, the more I feel like we're missing something..." Kushimaru was usually silent, but he still spoke to his teammates at the very least.

Well, at least to the teammate that was by his side...

Jinin Akebino, the current wielder of the Helmet Splitter/Kabutowari, a mallet and axe hybrid tied together at the hilt.

He also wore his anbu attire underneath a black cloak that covered most of the rest of his body. He didn't bother wearing a mask, but he still wore his forehead protector.

He sat down by Kushimaru's side, leaning onto his mallet with a bored expression.

"We're certainly missing a lot of context regarding this mission... But it's still relatively easy."

Despite their strength and importance to the village, they weren't keyed into what exactly they were creating a disturbance for.

A diversion, that was their mission. Diversion from what exactly?

"Whether it's the assassination of a Kage, the stealing of some important information or just general reconnaissance, it's not really something that concerns us, we just have to follow orders."

Jinin was bored out of his mind, sure, but he still understood that they were likely sent there for a good reason.

"It's possible we'll run into the White Fang or the Sannin while here, so that may be why this mission was entrusted to us... But it still feels like something a group of regular Jonin should've done..." Kushimaru sighed underneath his mask as he twirled a wire around his fingers.

"They said they'd send us more orders while we're here... I'm guessing it'll contain more details..." Jinin shook his head and slowly stood up.

"I'm going to patrol the forests... I'll send you guys a signal if I find anything." Jinin then walked away, leaving Kushimaru alone to his musings...

'... This reeks of conspiracy...' Kushimaru huffed as he tried to piece a puzzle in his mind...

'The Cloud and Rock insisted on us being assigned this mission, and the Mizukage relented.

Our presence here leaves the Mist a bit less defended... So the Cloud and Rock decided to send some squads of their own to defend our borders.

But what would the Rock and Cloud gain from that? Even with us there the Tsuchikage and the Raikage could likely take over the Mist by themselves...

The Mist Village should also be relatively safe from attacks since it is far from the warzone in the middle of the continent, being just an island to the East...'

Politics were never going to not be confusing to Kushimaru. The silent swordsman, much like the rest of his peers, was a lot better at killing than anything else.

It was very likely that nothing shady was going on. And the Mist Swordsmen were just sent for Guerilla Warfare against the Land of Fire to demoralize them...

Regardless, those thoughts kept bouncing around in Kushimaru's head for a while...

There was a lot that could go wrong in such a mission as well, which made him even more anxious.

The swordsmen would probably be able to win against a Sanin, they were strong enough to stand up to Kage, and even if they didn't win, they'd be able to retreat pretty easily...

But if they ran into the White Fang of the Leaf, they'd be demolished... Hunted down like dogs in the night.

The White Fang was, at the end of the day, the man that had single-handedly won the battle against the Sand Village during the Second Shinobi War.

He was not someone that the Mist Swordsmen could win against. Especially not while they were in his territory.

Fortunately for them, they weren't going to run into the White Fang at all!

Unfortunately for them, they weren't going to have a fun time either...

Kushimaru looked at the sky for a second, only for his eyes to widen as he noticed a strange red gleam covering the sky...

'... A barrier...'

The other swordsmen also noticed the change, and they immediately ran towards the middle of the village, where Kushimaru was sitting.

"The hell is happening?!" Jūzō growled as he arrived there, his large blade slung over his shoulder.

"Well, obviously a barrier... But does that mean this mission was a trap?" Fuguki scowled, showing his sharp teeth as the Samehada on his back seemed to twitch.

"Most likely... Either that or the Uzumaki are here instead of the Leaf Village reinforcements... Both options are a 'worst-case' scenario..." Jinin already had his axe and mallet in each hand, preparing for a fight to break out at any second.

"We can still break out of this... But I won't be getting any natural lightning it seems..." Raiga looked at the red barrier that covered the sky with narrowed eyes.

His blades, the Fangs, showcased their full power when he also had natural lightning aiding him.

"We just have to break the barrier directly." Jimpachi gripped his explosive scroll blade, his eye darting around everywhere as he tried to look for any enemies.

"I guess the solution is pretty obvious... We just do what we know best..." Kushimaru slowly stood up and grabbed his blade, the Sowing Needle/Nuibari.

The Swordsmen seemed to have reached an agreement, they all brandished their weapons and prepared to move together against any enemy that showed themselves.

They weren't about to go off separately and attack the barrier. They were instead going to slowly move towards the edge and try to break out with excessive force, something they all had experience with.

Fuguki was especially confident, as he knew the Barrier was going to be made out of Chakra, and his Samehada was going to be able to consume it no matter how tough it was.

"Well... You guys are lively as I remember..."

But all of their confidence seemed to crash as soon as they laid their eyes on the man that had made his presence known.

"N-no way..." The hairs on Jūzō's back stood up, the man could feel fear seeping into his bones. He could also feel a slight phantom pain in his neck.

"S-so it really was you..." Kushimaru's hand trembled a bit as he gripped his Nuibaru even harder.

"The Red Dot..." Fuguki gripped the hilts harder as those words left his mouth.

The figure in front of them was still barely visible, but they could still see the mask within the shadow... A pristine, pure white mask, with a blood-red circle in its very centre.