"Ah!!!"
Screams rose one after another.
The wrists of the men who had attacked Asuma now bore scorched wounds marked by lightning, slowing the bleeding somewhat.
Asuma was close enough to see clearly—
What speed. What precision.
The force had been controlled to perfection, crippling the hands they used to wield their swords without the slightest excess.
Shisui had also finished off his target.
"Tie them up and take them back."
Kyoichi did not say much more.
Asuma gritted his teeth, took rope from his ninja pouch, and tied up every one of the surviving men.
Afterward, they cleaned up the corpses nearby.
The bundles on those men were all plundered goods. Some even had freshly killed chickens and ducks hanging from their waists, blood still dripping from them.
The captives kept begging for mercy along the way, but no one paid them any attention.
Eventually, they simply stuffed cloth into their mouths.
Peace and quiet returned to the world.
"Teacher, I'm sorry. If it weren't for me..."
Asuma came over to apologize.
If he had not been distracted, there would have been no need for the teacher to intervene. With their strength, they could have handled these desperate criminals themselves.
"You should apologize to your teammates. On a battlefield, what you did just now would have gotten you killed or seriously wounded. Even if you survived, you would have become a burden to your teammates."
Kyoichi spoke calmly.
Asuma realized his mistake and turned to bow to Kurenai Yuhi and Shisui.
Kurenai Yuhi quickly stepped aside, then said, "Teacher, I also bear a great deal of responsibility for Asuma ending up in that situation."
They were only swordsmen and had no way to dispel genjutsu.
If she had used her genjutsu in time, she could have restrained them.
However.
At that moment, she had panicked.
"What about Shisui?"
"I wanted to attack them and force them to come to their teammates' aid, but I didn't expect them not to rescue their own people."
Shisui was somewhat discouraged and was still reflecting on what had happened.
A faint smile appeared on Kyoichi's face. "Here in Konoha, we uphold the Will of Fire. Protection and mutual aid are our creeds. But they're different. They're bandits who live by the blade. If one teammate dies, they might even end up with a larger share of the money."
"Understood."
Shisui nodded.
If he had understood that sooner, he would have used ninjutsu to cover the rescue instead of the tactic he had chosen.
Kyoichi was very satisfied.
These students are easy to teach!
They did not stubbornly argue, and there was nothing wrong with their thinking.
If they had been like Kakashi or Obito, Kyoichi himself might have been driven to his grave. Besides, considering the circumstances this time, they had already performed exceptionally well for a newly formed Genin team.
A normal Genin team would have been far more chaotic.
Therefore.
Kyoichi did not criticize them too harshly. "It's good that you know how to reflect. Actual combat and training, or sparring, are completely different things. At the very least, no blood will splash into your eyes during training."
"Yes!"
Asuma felt somewhat ashamed.
The teacher was clearly talking about him. The reason he had stood there blankly for a second or two was partly because blood had gotten into his eyes, but another reason was that he had genuinely been frightened.
"Take them back and have the town mayor confirm whether they're the ones. Once we finish the mission, we'll also investigate the surrounding area and find out where these men robbed. Then we'll return the money."
"Yes!"
These wandering swordsmen had probably just robbed a village.
They had quite a lot of goods, but it was not actually much money to them. Taking such money would not sit well with him, and Kyoichi had no intention of keeping it for himself.
When they returned to the town.
The town mayor was at the construction site where the walls were being built.
When Asuma and the others saw Shadow Clones helping to build the wall, they were all stunned, taking a long while to react.
Afterward.
"Mayor, while we were patrolling, we ran into these wandering swordsmen. Are they the bandits who robbed Baiyun Town before?"
"Yes, yes, yes! It's them!"
The town mayor did not recognize them, but the foreman beside him recognized them at a glance. He had been there during several of the robberies, and had nearly lost his life once.
Kyoichi nodded.
Then they had not arrested the wrong people.
He had Shisui hand the captives over to them, then looked around and said, "Asuma, help them repair the wall. I'll take a look around."
"Yes!"
Asuma did not object.
Although they were clan heirs in Konoha, they did all kinds of work, from carrying water to farming.
That was simply what being a ninja was like.
So none of them found anything strange about it.
Kyoichi left a Shadow Clone there and walked into Baiyun Town himself.
Earlier, when he had used Chakra Sensing, he had not only discovered the group of bandits to the west, but also someone with an extremely powerful chakra reserve. He did not know who it was, but...
This was the Land of Fire.
After thinking it over, he decided it would be better to take a look.
However.
Kyoichi had a vague guess—the Third Hokage had assigned this mission, so the chances of a missing-nin appearing were clearly not high. Someone with such a massive chakra reserve was most likely that person.
One of the Sannin, Princess Tsunade!
Kyoichi used Chakra Sensing again, locating the other party.
After hurrying over, he was basically certain that it was Princess Tsunade. The destination was a casino, and not only that—just after arriving, he saw a group of people rush inside.
Considering the circumstances...
Could they be here to collect a debt?
"I'd better wait outside."
If he went in now, there was no telling whether Tsunade would mistake him for a sucker and make him pay her debts instead.
The problem was...
He did not have much money either!
Although he had earned some money from mission shares this month, it was a mere drop in the ocean compared with Tsunade's debts.
Kyoichi sat on the roof with a blade of grass between his teeth, watching the spectacle.
After a while.
A woman climbed out through a window on the other side of the casino, with a little girl following closely behind.
"What a miserable life!"
He sighed softly.
Shizune had left the village with Tsunade when she was five or six. She had probably spent the past three years living like this.
However.
What about that pig that kept being used to pay off debts?
Had they not raised it yet?
Kyoichi watched for a while and saw a whole crowd chase after Tsunade and the others. But those people were ordinary civilians. When it came to pursuit and hiding, how could they possibly match a ninja?
Around one corner, combined with a Transformation Jutsu...
All right, they had lost them.
"Chasing Tsunade for her debts really is difficult!"
Kyoichi sighed inwardly.
If ninjas were involved in collecting the debt, she would probably have to take a beating as well.
The next moment.
He sensed someone arrive behind him.
"You brat, you saw me being chased and didn't even come down to help. You're hiding up here watching the show, are you?"
He turned around.
Sure enough.
Princess Tsunade.
Whoa!
That...
That necklace is dazzling!
Kyoichi shifted his gaze away and said, "Lady Tsunade, you wouldn't have been in any danger. I'm just a poor man. Even if I went down there, I couldn't pay your debts. Besides, even if I paid one debt for you, wouldn't you just gamble again next time?"
One of his principles—
Never lend money to a gambling addict, even if that person was Princess Tsunade.
"Hmph!"
Tsunade did not refute him. She looked him over a few times, then turned her head and snorted coldly.
What was so interesting about gambling?
The silver-haired boy the teacher had mentioned, combined with his appearance, made her think of Tobirama Senju despite herself.
He disliked gambling just as much.
"Lady Tsunade, where are you going..."
Shizune leaped up, only to see a silver-haired boy sitting beside Tsunade. The two turned their heads, and their features bore three or four similarities.
Tsunade ignored her and instead turned her head toward him. "Brat, how about going down for a drink?"
"Did you lose all your money?"
"..."
Sure enough, he was really annoying!
Before you continue