Nine Kinds

Nine Kinds. It was night, in a certain town on the border of the Land of Fire, at a hotel.

"Whew~"

The late autumn night wind howled, masking the already faint sound of landing. Four ninja silently appeared on the rooftop.

They all wore brown, streamlined bodysuits beneath dark blue half-armor, along with their signature respirators. The Amegakure Forehead Protectors on their brows reflected a faint glimmer beneath the dim moonlight.

After the leading ninja made a hand signal, the four split up and infiltrated the hotel from different directions.

None of them noticed the small, pitch-black shadow clinging tightly to the rooftop amid the shifting light and darkness.

One long-haired ninja ran along the wall to a top-floor window. He placed a hand on it, gently pushed it open, and entered the room without any unnecessary movements.

The instant his foot touched the floor, he saw a short Konoha ninja standing in the distance, staring coldly at him.

A Konoha brat.

He instinctively formed hand seals, then heard a shriek of wind from behind him.

A Shadow Clone, or— The long-haired ninja raised his kunai to block. Years of combat instinct allowed him to determine the attack's position from the sound of the wind. He easily caught the strike from behind him, and judging from its height, he could tell that its attacker was about the same height as the short Konoha ninja before him.

Then I just need to attack the original body.

He gathered chakra, explosively launched himself forward, and charged the short Konoha ninja with kunai in hand.

"Whoosh~"

With a flick of the short ninja's fingers, four needles shot through the air.

The long-haired ninja swung his kunai repeatedly, knocking away the needles, which were neither particularly fast nor powerful. A strange secret technique, but it lacks power.

Although he was unharmed, his speed inevitably slowed slightly. When he saw the short ninja charge at him, a sense of danger rose in his heart. But with both of them rushing toward each other, changing direction at the last moment was difficult.

Since a collision is unavoidable, I'll strike first! He slashed his kunai toward the short ninja's neck. In terms of reach, as an adult, he definitely had the advantage—

The head fell off!

The other man's head and neck dropped together, leaving only the kunai-wielding body to pass right by his attack. He was shocked, but instinctively made the correct choice anyway, twisting his body and using his arm to take the blow.

"Squelch!"

After the sound of kunai piercing flesh, the long-haired ninja endured the searing pain and kicked the short ninja's headless body away. Before he could catch his breath—

"Bang!" The airborne headless body turned into white smoke. From below and behind him, the piercing whistles of two kunai rapidly closed in.

It's over!

"Squelch!" x2 His final thought flashed through his mind as kunai brutally pierced his lower abdomen and the back of his neck. The agony far exceeded the limits of what he could endure, and his consciousness plunged directly into darkness.

"Thud!" — "One."

Lin Ke released his grip, shoved away the blood-spraying corpse collapsed against his back, drew another kunai, and left the room expressionlessly.

The shadow had already returned to its two-dimensional form, passing through walls and rooms to scout the hallway.

He followed close behind and quickly arrived at another battlefield.

"Bang!" An Amegakure ninja was kicked into the wall by Yuan Wei. Xia extended a kunai from the shadows, pierced his temple, then twisted and pulled it free.

Seeing Lin Ke arrive, Yuan Wei held up two fingers.

Of the four, three had already been dealt with. The last one should have headed straight for the rich merchant's room...

Lin Ke nodded without saying anything unnecessary. After signaling them to remain vigilant, he left.

The hallway floor held not only the bodies of Amegakure ninja, but also two dead caravan guards. Ninja who were easy for them to handle could assassinate a few samurai and Ronin just as easily.

When he reached the hallway outside the rich merchant's room, the caravan's samurai captain stood braced against the wall, clutching his bleeding abdomen. Three samurai corpses lay scattered nearby, their bodies covered in needles. Nara Yan Shui was putting a scroll away in his Scroll Kit. On the floor beside him lay the Amegakure ninja leader's genuinely headless corpse.

The three exchanged glances, but none of them spoke. Amid the absolute silence and killing intent, they returned to their respective positions.

The surviving samurai also began cleaning up the battlefield.

This was not the first assassination they had experienced.

Lin Ke leaned against the wall, closing his eyes to recover his strength and steady his mind while reviewing the battle in his head.

There was really nothing to review. Against ordinary ninja without any hidden trump cards, he could kill them instantly now.

Even his weakest area, taijutsu, was more than enough to crush ordinary genin or chunin with the support of the Clone Technique and a righteous two-on-one alongside his shadow.

As for why he had not summoned his Stand, used Shadow Clones to weaken his opponent, or summoned the earth dragon...

There was no need.

Ninja battles depended heavily on intelligence. For him, the more moves he kept hidden, the better.

He had a full nine ways to kill his opponent. Nine! But when it came to actual combat, the simpler and more direct the method was, the less intelligence it exposed, the better.

As the caravan gradually approached the Land of Rivers and neared the border, they had already encountered three attacks. One had been a group of Ronin, one had been rogue ninja from Kusagakure, and this was the third—ninja from Amegakure.

The first two had been handled by Yuan Wei and Xia without even requiring Lin Ke or Nara Yan Shui to intervene.

Would they face stronger attacks after entering the Land of Rivers? Lin Ke did not know, but there was a high chance they would have no fixed rest periods over the next two days.

He quietly remained at the position he was assigned to guard until dawn. After swallowing a Soldier Pill, he prepared to set out.

The corpses and bloodstains in the hotel had been thoroughly cleaned away, leaving almost no trace of last night's slaughter. Yet a faint scent of blood still lingered in the air. The ninja and samurai were responsible for fighting, while the ordinary people traveling with the caravan cleaned the battlefield and attended to the rich merchant's daily needs.

After meeting up with his two companions and Nara Yan Shui, Lin Ke saw the fat merchant, still dressed in loose clothing, loudly berating the pale-faced samurai captain before they had even departed.

"You idiot..."

Even though the man had risked his life to protect him last night, the merchant's dissatisfaction stemmed only from the noise being slightly too loud and disturbing his "sleep."

Two beautiful women in low-cut dresses left the room.

Lin Ke watched coldly. Yuan Wei clenched his fist, looking indignant, but Xia stopped him in the end. She said nothing, merely shooting the merchant an angry glare.

Nara Yan Shui turned a blind eye. He nodded to his three subordinates, and the four followed the merchant and samurai out of the hotel.

That was simply how this world worked. Ninja, who wielded the greatest military power, considered themselves tools, carrying out killings that were neither black nor white under the control of the ninja system.