"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"
Giri burst out from the ground, wrapping both arms around Whitebeard's ankles—he had to use both arms like hugging a tree because one hand couldn't hold him.
"Now!" Giri tried to pull Whitebeard underground while shouting to his companion.
The other Sarutobi clan ninja, hidden behind a rooftop, saw Giri almost restraining the "giant."
He quickly emerged and formed hand seals!
"Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!" He aimed a Fire Style jutsu at Whitebeard's head.
"Hey, hey!"
Following behind them, Kakashi's pupils contracted. "What's with these two ninjas? Don't they recognize Whitebeard?"
He wanted to stop the conflict, but it seemed too late.
As the Great Fireball Technique was about to hit Whitebeard, he simply blew a breath in that direction.
The breath, powerful enough to extinguish magma, redirected the Fire Style jutsu back to its origin!
The returning Great Fireball Technique frightened the Sarutobi clan's ninja so much that his hands trembled while forming seals.
He tried to dodge but couldn't!
"Ahhhh!" The flames engulfed him, burning his clothes and scorching his skin. He fell from the rooftop, rolling on the ground to extinguish the flames.
"Hey, kid, how long are you going to hold on?" Whitebeard glanced down, meeting Giri's terrified eyes.
Giri realized something was terribly wrong.
His best Earth-style technique couldn't drag this giant underground. The giant's strength was overwhelming, making it impossible to move!
Whitebeard slightly lifted his leg and then stomped it down hard!
Boom!!
The whole street shook violently, cracks spreading across the ground, shattering it.
Giri, clinging to Whitebeard's ankle, vomited blood and lost the strength to hold on.
Whitebeard picked him up effortlessly. If lifting Naruto, a five-year-old child, was like picking up a baby mouse, then lifting an adult was like picking up a chick.
"W-Wait a minute!" Kakashi hurried forward. "There must be some misunderstanding."
"Sarutobi... Sarutobi Giri?" The badly injured Giri saw a familiar face.
Giri was bewildered.
Wasn't this giant supposed to be a pirate? Why was Hatake Kakashi with him?
What was going on?
"Gurararara! White-haired kid!" Whitebeard looked at Kakashi. "When someone attacks me, it means... they have the courage to challenge an Emperor of the Sea! Such a fight can't be stopped just because someone says so!"
Whitebeard tightened his arm muscles and threw Giri away.
With terrifying force, Giri flew like a cannonball, smashing into one building, flying out the other side, crashing into another, and breaking through several more before falling into the rubble!
"..."
Kakashi couldn't tell if the Sarutobi clan ninja was still alive. He could only pray that the guy's body was a bit tougher.
Two ninjas couldn't even last ten seconds against Whitebeard.
The Fire Country citizens didn't understand what it meant to defeat a Jonin and a Chunin in such a short time. But they understood one thing clearly.
—The ninja lords weren't a match for the giant pirate!
"Gurararara!" Whitebeard planted Murakumogiri into the ground, an invisible shockwave spreading out.
Naruto yelped in surprise and fell over.
"I'm Whitebeard of the Whitebeard Pirates!" Whitebeard's loud voice echoed through the town. "In ten minutes, the person in charge of this town must appear before me! Gurararara!!"
The controlled Conqueror's Haki brushed lightly over the area, not knocking anyone out but making them shiver in fear.
Ten minutes later.
A group of well-dressed people appeared before Whitebeard.
They weren't ordinary citizens of the Fire Country but nobles!
The leader was the noble Giri had been escorting for the past half-month. A dozen samurai surrounded him.
Gulp— The noble swallowed hard, trying to suppress his fear.
He perfectly fit Whitebeard's stereotype of a noble—luxuriously dressed but overweight from lack of exercise.
His elegant clothes looked awkward on his bulky frame.
"P-Pirate lord," the noble stammered, looking at the devastation. He had inherited his noble title but lacked the courage of his ancestors. His chubby face was full of forced smiles. "W-What do you want? I am the noble and administrator of this town."
He felt extraordinarily unlucky today.
He had spent 3 million Ryo hiring two Konoha ninjas to escort him back, thinking he had wasted the money since nothing happened along the way.
Then, he had to spend more money to treat the ninjas to drinks.
And now...
Pirates had arrived in the town!
If they were ordinary bandits, his dozen samurai retainers could handle them easily.
But seeing Whitebeard himself dispelled that notion, leaving him with only one thought—compliance.
Whitebeard looked at him with disdain. "I didn't expect there to be nobles in the shinobi world too!"
The noble remained silent.
"Whitebeard-sama," Kakashi whispered urgently. "Nobles and daimyos in the shinobi world are special figures. There's an unspoken rule that ninjas don't harm them."
"Are you teaching me what to do?" Whitebeard's question silenced Kakashi.
This man is so unjust!
Kakashi decided to keep quiet.
Whitebeard examined the noble, whose bladder felt like it might give out from fear. Sweat soaked through his fine clothes.
"Gurararara!"
Whitebeard grinned. "Nobles must have plenty of treasures, right? Watch carefully, son! Learn well! As a pirate of the sea, you must plunder wealth!"
"Yes, Dad!" Naruto, struggling under the weight of the stone, lifted his head to watch Whitebeard.
Hey, hey!
Don't teach Naruto such strange things!
Kakashi's mouth twitched.
He wanted to say something but held back.
...
...