Easy Victory

"Damn it!!"

His guard was wide open!

Menma closed in.

His arm was raised high.

Under the blazing sun, the kunai reflected a chilling gleam.

At that moment,

it seemed to waver ever so slightly, as though he hesitated.

But only for a second.

A sharp glint flashed through Menma's pupils.

The kunai stabbed fiercely toward the attacker's vital spot.

"!?"

There was no longer any way to evade at this distance.

The attacker gritted his teeth and threw his body sideways with all his strength, swinging his right arm across to shield himself.

"Pfft!"

He barely blocked the strike aimed at his vital spot.

But the kunai still sank easily into the attacker's right arm.

A dull sound of metal piercing flesh followed.

"Splat!"

Blood sprayed everywhere.

The attacker could not suppress a muffled groan of pain.

Just as he twisted his other arm back to counterattack—

"Whoosh!"

Menma had already raised his left leg a step ahead of him, kicking through the air and slamming it hard into the attacker's abdomen.

The force erupted.

"Gah!"

As the attacker spat out a mouthful of blood, his body shot backward like a shell.

With a loud "Bang!"

He crashed heavily onto the ground.

Under the double blow,

the attacker felt as though his entire body were about to fall apart. Before he could regain his bearings,

Menma had already flashed above him.

He bent his knee and smashed it into the attacker's abdomen once more. This blow completely robbed the attacker of any ability to resist.

His eyes rolled back, and he passed out on the spot.

Just as Menma subdued that attacker,

on the other side,

Sasuke also struck another attacker hard in the neck with a hand chop, knocking him unconscious as well.

"Ahhh! You two reacted way too fast, didn't you!? Leave one for me!!!"

Naruto, who had only just caught on, looked at Menma and Sasuke, each of whom had taken down an enemy. His face was full of displeasure.

This was a rare chance for real combat after leaving the village!

And he had missed it just like that!!

Naruto was utterly heartbroken and full of regret!

"Hehe, then next time, you'll have to move faster, Naruto!"

Menma took out some rope and tied both attackers to a nearby tree as he spoke softly to Naruto.

"Hmph, just wait and see. Next time, I'll definitely be faster than both of you!"

Naruto said, wrinkling his nose.

"Is now really the time to be talking about that!? Teacher Kakashi! Teacher Kakashi was killed!"

Sakura Haruno, some distance away, seemed to have only just snapped out of her daze. Seeing that Menma, Naruto, and Sasuke were still so calm and composed, she widened her eyes and shouted at the three of them.

Sakura truly could not understand.

Did the death of their Jonin instructor mean nothing at all to Menma, Naruto, and Sasuke!?

"I'm telling you, Sakura, take a careful look at where Brother Kakashi was standing just now. Besides, this is already the second time. Don't you have any understanding of Brother Kakashi's strength yet?"

After hearing Sakura's frantic shouting,

Naruto shook his head and pointed to where Kakashi had originally been, speaking with a hint of helplessness.

Menma and Sasuke remained just as calm.

"Ah?"

Only after hearing Naruto's words did Sakura freeze. Then, following Naruto's finger, she saw that 'Kakashi's corpse' had somehow turned into a wooden stump broken into several pieces. Even the blood that had splattered earlier had completely vanished.

It was not entirely identical to what had happened a month ago, but it was almost exactly the same scene.

An embarrassed look immediately appeared on Sakura's face.

"Ahaha, so it was the Substitution Technique..."

Sakura put on an awkward yet polite smile, trying to cover it up with laughter.

"Also, Brother Kakashi, you should come out already, shouldn't you? With your strength, you could have easily defeated those two enemies, right? Why were you hiding?"

Naruto asked, sounding somewhat dissatisfied and confused.

"Haha, so we still couldn't escape your eyes. But I had a reason for hiding, Naruto. It was to determine who the attackers' real target was. After all, don't forget that this mission was only C-rank, Naruto. But Menma and Sasuke, the two of you acted too quickly. Now there's no way to tell!"

Kakashi stepped out from the shadow of a tree on the right side of the road. He wore a smile as he finished the first half of his words.

For the latter half, he deliberately looked at Tazuna.

At that moment, Tazuna finally could no longer maintain his composure. A clear trace of panic surfaced in his pupils.

"Huh? The real target? Brother Kakashi, you mean...?"

Naruto was merely straightforward, and sometimes he simply did not want to think too hard. That did not mean he was stupid.

Especially when Kakashi had already made it so clear!

If Naruto still could not understand, that would have been strange!

"If we want to know who the target is, isn't that simple? Teacher Kakashi, you should have plenty of ways to pry open the mouths of those two Mist Ninja, shouldn't you?"

Menma smiled faintly, glanced at the still-unconscious Demon Brothers, then looked back at Kakashi and responded.

"That's true. You heard what he said, didn't you, Tazuna-san? Shouldn't you give us an explanation? Of course, you can remain silent if you wish, but someone over there will definitely be willing to talk!"

Kakashi turned to look at Tazuna. By this point, there was no need for any further pretense.

Menma, Sasuke, and Naruto all fixed their gazes on Tazuna following Kakashi's words.

Only Sakura still wore a confused expression.

She turned her head from side to side, still unable to understand what was happening.

"Sigh..."

After the two Mist Ninja had been subdued and Kakashi had reappeared,

Tazuna's expression had already been tense.

As Kakashi's words fell,

Tazuna could not help but let out a deep sigh.

It was not that he truly did not understand.

He had merely been pretending not to.

Deep down, he had always hoped that if he hired ninjas from Konohagakure to protect him,

those who wanted his life would back off in the face of difficulty.

Then he could enjoy a period of safety for free and hold out until the Great Bridge was completed.

But now, all his fantasies had been directly shattered.

"There's no need to ask. Those people came for me!"

Tazuna admitted it readily. The facts were already laid out before them; there was no point in continuing the act.

Tazuna had lived for several decades, after all. He could still see this much clearly. He was still clinging to his last sliver of hope!

Naturally, he had to preserve that last bit of goodwill—though it might not exist at all, it might still exist!