Water Release: Great Gulp Water Technique

The remaining dozen or so men gripped their kunai with trembling hands.

Being surrounded by utter darkness caused fear to rise uncontrollably in their hearts.

The leader was not within the range of the Darkness Manipulation Technique.

In his field of vision, everyone was like blind men. Faced with the shuriken Feng An threw, they did not dodge at all.

He frowned.

Suddenly, he seemed to realize something.

He immediately shouted at everyone, "Fall back! This should be an area-of-effect Ninjutsu!"

Hearing this, everyone turned and ran.

Feng An smiled and calmly hurled shuriken at the fleeing men.

Several masked men actually ran toward Feng An.

"Idiots, why are you running toward that kid?!"

While deprived of their vision, they had long since lost their sense of direction as well.

Splat—splurt—

In less than a few seconds, another two or three masked men died.

The masked men who ran toward Feng An met even more miserable ends.

They ran straight into the kunai in Feng An's hands and died on the spot.

Of course, a few lucky ones stumbled into a way out and actually escaped.

Feng An said coldly, "You're pretty lucky."

Only then did the people who had regained their vision look at Feng An with lingering fear.

At a glance, they saw their former companions sprawled haphazardly in pools of blood.

The few survivors' legs went weak.

They made a living by taking lives, but that did not mean they were not afraid of death.

On the contrary, they feared death more than ordinary people.

One clearly inexperienced masked man tremblingly dropped his kunai and cried out loudly.

"I'd rather go home and farm than do this kind of work!"

Before coming here, his cousin had told him that he only needed to make up the numbers and help make the group look imposing to earn ten thousand ryo.

He had not expected to be sent here to kill people! He did not even dare kill chickens, yet they wanted him to kill people.

Seeing someone trying to flee, the others hurriedly made their escape as well.

They had realized that if they did not run, they might really die here.

"Boss, I'm out of this job."

"I still need to go home and support my eighty-year-old mother in her old age and see her off when she passes. I'll be going first!"

"M-my son was just born and hasn't even been weaned yet. I have to go home and feed him."

"I... I have a stomachache!"

The leader flew into a rage. "You dare run?! I'll have people hunt you down for the rest of your lives!"

Hearing him say that, the masked men cursed inwardly.

If we don't run, we'll die right now! Do you take us for idiots?!

They turned to flee, paying no heed to his threats.

Suddenly, an icy voice rang out behind them. "Did I say you could leave?"

The masked men scattered without even looking back.

Each of them silently shared the same thought.

As long as he doesn't chase me, it's fine. Who cares about everyone else? Go die.

Shadow Clone Jutsu.

In an instant, four identical Feng Ans appeared and leaped into the air.

Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique! ×5

Whoosh—

An enormous fireball instantly appeared and engulfed all the fleeing masked men.

The masked man who had not made a move until now gaped in shock.

"Damn! It's huge!"

His hands rapidly formed seals, and he instantly used the Body Flicker Technique to appear several meters away.

"Why did you run too?!"

"My wife just gave birth!"

The leader shouted, then turned and left. As though he had made up his mind, he never looked back.

"Body Flicker Technique?"

Feng An narrowed his eyes. It was already too late to chase him.

Everyone else who lacked his reaction speed was swallowed by the flames.

"Ahhh!!!"

Painful screams immediately rang out one after another.

One of them happened to know Water Release and hurriedly spat water from his mouth to put out the fire on himself.

The little stream he spat out was not even as much as Akamaru's piss.

Following the principle of not burning people to death, the Fire Release only burned away most of their clothes.

Feng An raised an eyebrow.

Hinata was still here. He could not let them pollute the windows to her soul.

The five Feng Ans formed hand seals as they walked toward the masked men constantly rolling on the ground. No, that was wrong—they should be called bare-assed men.

Earth Release: Headhunter Jutsu. ×n

A moment later, aside from Feng An and Hinata, no one remained standing in the alley.

All the bare-assed men had been pulled underground by Feng An using the Decapitation Technique, with only their heads exposed above the ground as they begged for mercy.

"Don't kill me! I really have an eighty-year-old mother waiting for me to support her!"

"I-I really do have a stomachache."

"The Third Hokage and I are friends despite our age difference!"

As soon as he shouted that, everyone looked at him as though he were an idiot.

Why not say you were the Hokage's son while you were at it?

Feng An's original body then walked toward Hinata while the remaining four clones tortured them.

He walked over, took Hinata's little hand, and smiled.

"It's okay now."

Hinata nodded and pointed at the seven or eight people who looked like moles.

"What should we do with them?"

Feng An pondered briefly. "Hmm... kill them."

Hinata's brows rose slightly, as though she found it hard to decide.

She looked up at Feng An and asked timidly, "Can we spare them?"

Hearing her words, Feng An's expression did not change, as though he had expected it.

He rubbed her head. "Whatever you say."

In an instant, his four clones vanished.

Feng An and Hinata walked out of the alley hand in hand.

The few men with only their heads above ground stared fixedly at the figures disappearing at the alley entrance.

After several minutes, once they were sure the two really would not return, their pounding hearts finally settled.

"Brothers, we're so lucky. That kid really is merciful."

"Hah, you can still laugh? That kid was so strong. He nearly wiped us all out by himself."

"But even if he's gone, we still can't get out."

With one man's words, they fell into despair once more.

At that moment, the man who had previously used Water Release: Great Gulp Water Technique actually crawled out of the ground.

Covered in dirt, he threw back his head and laughed wildly.

"Hahaha! Who dares say my Water Release is useless now?"

It turned out that he had been constantly using his spitting technique to soak the surrounding soil, making it damp and loose. Then, with a little effort, he broke free.

The people still trapped in the ground looked delighted.

They were saved.

"Brother, save me."

"Save me first, brother! My stomach really hurts! Please!"

They turned to look at him and saw that he wore a constipated expression.

"So you'd been telling the truth all along. I thought your excuse was way too lousy."

"Save him first. We don't mind."

The others nodded in agreement.

The dirt-covered man sneered. "You don't mind, but I do."

"Why the hell should I save you?"

The man with the stomachache was about to reach his limit.

He was so anxious that he looked ready to cry.

"Save me already! Get me out, and I'll give you one hundred thousand ryo."

Hearing that, the man walked over and slowly crouched down.

The man with the stomachache brightened. "Thank—"

Before he could finish speaking—

The man slit his throat with a kunai.

Blood immediately sprayed out. He struggled with disbelief written across his face, and before long, blood had spread all over the ground.

Soon, he stopped breathing.

The surroundings fell silent, with only heavy breathing audible.

The man sat on another man's head, idly playing with his kunai as he sneered. "One hundred thousand ryo is too little."

"My Chakra is insufficient. Right now, I can only save one person. Highest bidder lives."

After a moment of silence, they began shouting bids over one another.

"I'll pay two hundred thousand ryo."

"I'll pay five hundred thousand ryo!"

"One million ryo!"

Following a middle-aged man's firm, forceful roar, the seated man was overjoyed and slashed at the man beneath his buttocks.

"You, then."

The dirt-covered man rose to his feet in wild delight.

Suddenly, a kunai stabbed viciously into the back of his head.

Thud!

He crashed face-first onto the ground, his face filled with confusion and unwillingness.

Then a teasing voice sounded behind him.

"Your performance was truly wonderful."