The Otsutsuki Road from Kirigakure

After Kiyoshi and others became members of the Shadow Guard, their Anbu organization was not cancelled by the Third Mizukage.

Strictly speaking, the Shadow Guard is actually a member of the Anbu, but they will no longer carry out the Anbu's missions.

The Shadow Guard can be said to be the Anbu directly under the Mizukage, and they are responsible for protecting the Mizukage closely and executing the Mizukage's orders, and they are only responsible to the Mizukage alone.

Moreover, the Shadow Guard allows members to not wear ANBU masks or ANBU attire. For example, Seiji's father, Kaguya Genji, was so famous and his Corpse Vein fighting style was so easy to recognize that he usually wore standard Kaguya clan attire and never wore a mask.

So currently among the seven people, only Seiji and Kurisan Kushimaru are still wearing Anbu masks. Seiji is because he cannot expose himself to everyone now, and Kurisan Kushimaru is simply used to wearing the mask and doesn't want to take it off.

Time flies, and more than half a year has passed since the establishment of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. During this period, the Third Mizukage Bing has been generous with various training resources and ninjutsu, vowing to build the Seven Ninja Swordsmen into an existence that surpasses the elite demolition troops of the Iwagakure Village and the once-famous Kinkaku and Ginkaku troops of the Kumogakure Village.

During this half year, the other six people have all mastered the use of their respective ninja swords. With the power of the ninja swords, the combat effectiveness of all of them has been steadily maintained above the level of Jonin. And Qingji, with his extraordinary talent, can master and use all the ninja swords proficiently.

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It is October of the 35th year of Kirigakure, and one year has passed since the outbreak of the Second Ninja World War.

The Sand Village and the Konoha Village are worthy of the reputation of the five biggest gangsters in the ninja world. After many attacks on each other, the two villages have completely pushed the battle line back to the border of the Rain Country.

At the Rain Village front, in Hanzo Salamander's command post, Hanzo was unleashing massive attacks on all the jonin who came to attend the combat meeting.

"Our Rain Country has seen countless large-scale wars in history, whether it is the more distant ancient times, the previous Warring States period, or the current Ninja Village era. It is difficult to say the right and wrong, but it is this place that has determined the rise and fall of countless countries." Hanzo's voice came out slowly, steady and firm.

"I don't understand why everyone is so dejected, as if this war is doomed to be disastrous for us. A year ago, we divided our troops into two groups and attacked the Wind and Fire Kingdoms from here at the same time. We defeated the Sand Village and the Hidden Leaf Village and won a great victory! We broke into the enemy's hinterland with great momentum, and the scene of thriving vitality and competition is still before our eyes. Has it only been a short year, and the war situation in our Rain Village has fallen into such a tense situation?" Hanzo's tone gradually became excited, and his voice unconsciously began to increase.

"No matter how you look at it, in terms of war strength, we have 20,000 ninjas, while Sand Village and Konoha have only a little over 10,000 ninjas in total. The advantage is on my side!" Hanzo gave the final conclusion, his tone still full of confidence in winning the war he started.

"Order!" Hanzo's tone suddenly became serious.

All the ninjas present stood up at the same time with serious expressions, ready to accept the orders from their leader.

"Everyone go back and reorganize the ninjas under your command and prepare for a large-scale operation. Secretly select half of the elite ninjas from the Konoha-direction troops, and launch a major counterattack against Sand Village in 10 days. I want to cripple the Sand Village troops in one go, and then concentrate all my forces to deal with Konoha!" Hanzo stated his plan.

Most of the territory of the Wind Country is desert, and there are not many oases suitable for survival, and most of them are concentrated in the hinterland. In addition, due to the looting of the border towns of the Wind Country in the early stages of the war, the value of the Wind Country to Hanzo and Amegakure is now far lower than that of the Fire Country. Therefore, Hanzo's plan is to first eliminate the Sand Country and make it unable to disrupt the situation, and then concentrate all the ninjas of Amegakure to deal with Konoha.

"Kanada, be sure to keep it confidential when you transfer personnel, and try to avoid large-scale friction with Konoha during these days. You stay and continue to confront Konoha, and Heiji will be responsible for leading all the transferred elites to secretly go to the Sand Village defense line." Hanzo continued to instruct his left and right hands.

"Go back and prepare yourself, the meeting is adjourned!"

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The perspective returns to the Hidden Mist Village.

In the Hidden Mist Village, in the Mizukage building, in the Mizukage's office, Seiji and Ken are discussing matters related to the upcoming war with the Third Mizukage.

"I'll give this to you for safekeeping first. After so much training, the weakest of the seven of you can now rival a jonin with the help of the ninja sword. It's time to start the mission!" Bing picked up the scroll on the table and handed it to Qingsi. It was the ninja sword summoning scroll.

This scroll was made by the Hidden Mist Village using a special method. It can not only store ninja swords, but also remotely summon the seven ninja swords.