Slaughter Two

Hayate Gekko asked, "What now? Do we charge straight in?"

"Let's take out all the hidden sentries around here first. No point letting them raise an alarm and run. Not that they'd get far, but chasing them down would be a hassle."

"Alright, let's do it your way."

Yugao Gekko followed behind the three the whole time without saying a word. This was his disciples' mission, a process they had to go through. He would only step in to offer hints if they made a wrong decision, like a soulless tutorial guide in a game.

In truth, that was most of a leading jonin's job.

Higashino Makoto led the squad straight to the next hidden sentry's position. The perception ability that came with absorbing White Natural Energy was like a full-scale scanning radar—not only could it sense chakra, but it also etched the terrain within range into his mind.

Still, it wasn't as cheap as the Hyuga Clan. Those cataract-havers all had X-ray vision built in from the moment they awakened their eyes.

When they reached the spot, Uzuki Yugao suddenly spoke up: "Let me handle this one. I'll take care of it."

Higashino Makoto didn't object. "Alright, be careful. There are just two ordinary pirates inside."

The little girl clenched her small, fair fist, took a deep breath, and used the same method as Hayate—sneaking quietly into the cliffside cave.

By the time Higashino Makoto and the other two caught up, Uzuki Yugao was trembling slightly, but she had completed her first kill well.

That was how shinobi worked. From the day they entered the academy, their mental preparation had already begun. So, killing rarely left anyone with lasting guilt.

If someone couldn't get past it, the only options were to retire or request a transfer to a non-combat department.

Everything was hard at the start. With a good beginning, the rest went smoothly. The three spent some time clearing out the sentries on the outskirts one by one, and finally, under Higashino Makoto's lead, they gathered outside an unremarkable wide island deep in the Dog Teeth Archipelago.

Ahead lay a fairly open stretch of water, where a large ship was moored.

A simple dock had been built beneath the wide island, and a stairway carved into the sloping cliff face led up to a cave entrance in the middle.

Light spilled from the cave. This was the Sea Shark Clan's lair.

After silently taking out the guards outside the cave, Yugao Gekko asked, "Makoto, do you sense any shinobi inside?"

"Two of them. Their chakra fluctuations are about the same as the chunin teachers at the academy."

"Do you need me to step in?"

Hayate Gekko immediately cut in: "No need, teacher. Leave it to us."

"Alright, go ahead. Clean the place out."

The three exchanged glances, drew their weapons, and charged in. The cave tunnel wasn't long, and inside, the lights were blazing and the noise was deafening.

A group of burly men in all sorts of outfits were throwing a wild party. Some were drinking contests, some gambling, and some had passed out on the floor from too much booze.

Plenty of young women in skimpy, revealing clothes were serving them. A few men dressed like ordinary villagers were toiling like slaves, endlessly bringing food and pouring drinks. If they messed up even slightly, they'd get pinned down and beaten with fists and feet, while the watching thugs roared with laughter.

These bastards really knew how to live. This place was their paradise.

It was the first time Hayate Gekko and the other two had seen such a scene. At that moment, only one thought filled their minds: kill every last one of these bastards.

Chop all their heads off.

Compared to other ninja villages in the shinobi world, Konoha ninja generally had a stronger sense of justice. After all, it was founded by the great good guy Hashirama Senju.

Hayate and Yugao charged in first, sweeping through the crowd in the cave hall like a gust of wind. Blades rose and fell, and the raucous laughter was instantly replaced by screams.

Higashino Makoto formed a hand seal for a Shadow Clone, splitting off three clones to handle other tasks while he followed the two into the crowd. His strikes were like lightning, each blade precisely slicing across a pirate's throat.

Did killing make him sick? Not at all. After getting past the initial strangeness, he now found it exhilarating. Watching those panicked pirates fall one by one, seeing them writhe on the ground clutching their necks like fish out of water—this was art.

Was art eternal? Was art explosion? No, art was the red that flew the moment a blade crossed a throat.

Higashino Makoto suddenly felt that once the door to killing was opened, he might be a little twisted.

An honest man who had never even killed a chicken in his previous life—turns out he had a hidden side all along.

After the slaughter, bodies lay everywhere.

The people who had been captured were all huddled in the corners, trembling, staring in terror at the scene before them. But no one cried. In fact, many looked on with grim satisfaction as the bastards who had been so arrogant moments ago were now corpses.

They died too easily. They should have been tortured for days.

Higashino Makoto had no time for torture. He wasn't here to avenge these people. This was just a job—the goal was to wipe out the Sea Shark Clan who had committed crimes in the Land of Fire.

Now the job was done.

After the rush of hot blood faded, Uzuki Yugao looked at the bodies littering the floor and felt a bit sick, but the satisfaction outweighed it. Every last one of those bastards deserved to die.

Hayate Gekko walked up to the men and women cowering in the corner. "Are any of you from the Sea Shark Clan?"

They glanced around at each other and all shook their heads. Looked like no clever imp was trying to play victim among them.

After confirming there were no stragglers, he examined the cave's layout. There were rooms with wooden doors along the walls, but most were wide open, with bodies lying inside.

"Makoto, where are those two shinobi hiding?"

"In the stone room with the closed door."

When the chaos erupted in the hall, the two Sea Shark Clan shinobi leaders had already seen it through the peephole in the door. They didn't need to think—any shinobi who came here could only be from Konoha.

They had no intention of fighting to the death with Konoha ninja, even if the three looked like underage kids. They became rogue ninja to make money and live a free, easy life. Fighting to the death? How would they make money then?

So the two of them decisively fled—they'd seen this day coming for a while, and had already packed up the cash and valuables into two full chests.

Unfortunately, Higashino Shinichi had already cut his way out from the hidden passage in their room.

He had no hobby of chatting with enemies. Facing the two who were holding kunai, ready to take him out and make their escape, he opened with several Wind Release: Shadowless Swords.

Those razor-sharp, nearly invisible blade waves were nothing the two—at most Chunin-level—could handle. By the time they sensed something wrong, their hands and kunai had already been shredded by the sharp Wind Release Chakra.

Then, amid their screams, Higashino lunged forward, kicked fast, and sent both of them flying toward the door. The flimsy wooden door shattered instantly, and the two men tumbled weakly into the hall, landing heavily among the corpses.

Both were adult males, not young—looked nearly thirty years old. Their clothes were ordinary in style, but they wore forehead protectors: one with the Iwagakure emblem, the other with Sunagakure's. Both had a single slash through them—clearly rogue ninja.

What the hell was up with that? Why would guys who'd defected from their villages still wear slashed forehead protectors?

What, did that mark show you came from the Five Great Shinobi Villages, earning you more respect from your fellow criminals? Or was being a rogue ninja from one of the Five Great Villains itself a way to prove your strength?

Well, that kind of made sense.

Sure, we're all scraping by at the bottom, but how could a Harvard grad be on the same level as a Lanxiang grad?

Looked like the Shinobi World had its own discrimination chain too.

Higashino Shinichi's main body in the hall looked down at the two ninja on the floor and asked curiously, "Aren't your Sunagakure and Iwagakure still at war? How come you two rogue ninja get along so well? Don't you hate each other?"

The tall, thin Sunagakure rogue ninja sneered, "That's the village's grudge. What's it got to do with me? Throwing my life away for some stupid reason—that's just being an idiot."

"You sure live with your eyes open!"

The burly Iwagakure rogue ninja, sensing an opening, quickly said, "So you agree with that, huh? A Konoha ninja—how about this, let us go, and all the money here is yours."

Higashino felt his intelligence insulted. He turned and sent two blades to send them off.

Kill you, and the money's mine too.

But he was an honest man—he only thought that, not said it aloud. Shouting it wouldn't fit the Will of Fire.

Just then, Yugao Gekko walked in, pulled out a Sealing Scroll, and sealed the two bodies. Both were ninja; taking them back for the intelligence division to comb through might yield something useful.

For a ninja, interrogation targets didn't have to be survivors—the dead worked too.

Given these two rogue ninja's strength, their brains probably didn't have any Sealing Jutsu anyway.

"All done?"

Higashino recalled his Shadow Clone and responded, "Done, Teacher. I've cleared out the Sea Shark Clan hiding in the rooms around here. The cash and valuables are all in those two ninja's room."

"Good. Have the victims pack up. We'll take that large ship straight back to Hemo Port. We'll need to notify the officials there to sign off on the mission's completion and help us dispose of the ship."