Based on the clues Scarface had provided, the two of them finally found the mastermind pulling the strings behind the operation.
The problem now was much simpler.
"I'm coming with you," Mito said before he could.
They'd come this far, and she had no intention of waiting outside alone. Otherwise, why would she have insisted on coming along?
Knowing he couldn't talk her out of it, Sosuke replied bluntly, "Just don't slow me down."
As soon as he finished speaking, two shuriken whistled off his wrist. The guards on watch collapsed without making a sound.
[System Prompt: Successfully killed an enemy. Gained 15 Points.]
"15 Points?" Sosuke sighed in disbelief. He hadn't expected the enemy to be weaker than a Genin.
Maybe he couldn't even use ninjutsu.
Then again, that made sense. Anyone with even a little skill wouldn't be stuck guarding the entrance here.
There were probably some capable fighters inside, but there shouldn't be many. He was confident he could handle them alone.
Drawing the short sword from his back, Sosuke strode into the cave, murder in his eyes. He wouldn't let a single person get away today.
The cave started out narrow before opening up. After passing through a long corridor, they soon reached a vast, shadowy cavern.
Iron chains hung along both walls, suspending enormous cages. The occasional sob made it easy to guess who was being held inside.
"Sosuke."
"I know. Find a way to rescue them."
Giving his companion a look, Sosuke walked into the cavern alone and stepped onto the only bridge leading to the raised platform.
One step. Two steps. Three—
The boy's gaze suddenly sharpened. He plunged his short sword into a gap between the wooden planks below.
A scream instantly echoed through the cavern.
[System Prompt: Successfully killed an enemy. Gained 12 Points.]
"Another good-for-nothing who's weaker than a Genin."
He kicked a plank off the steps, exposing the hidden enemy beneath to his view.
The next second, more than ten black-clad men wielding swords vaulted up from beneath the bridge. Without a word, they slashed at the intruder before them.
To avoid getting caught off guard, Sosuke immediately activated his Two-Tomoe Sharingan. The entire world seemed to slow down in an instant.
His Sharingan had evolved, nearly doubling his dynamic visual acuity. The movements of those black-clad men looked absurdly slow, as though they were being played back at half speed.
Dodging a sword swinging toward him, Sosuke swept his short blade sideways. Scalding blood sprayed into the air.
As they passed each other, he kicked the enemy's wrist. The man's long sword shot through the air, piercing the chest of an unlucky fighter behind him.
He blocked a second sword with a backhanded motion, then activated Chidori Sharp Spear. Lightning instantly pierced the chests of four men.
For so long, he'd fought powerful enemies who were older and stronger than him. Now that he was suddenly facing a bunch of weaklings, he actually felt as if none of this were real.
"This is ridiculous." A slight sweep of his hand bisected the men in front of him with Chidori Sharp Spear.
Guts and blood spilled across the bridge. The remaining black-clad men were nearly pissing themselves.
"P-please spare us!" At last, one of them couldn't hold back and begged for mercy.
Before long, the thugs were all kneeling on the bridge, begging. None of them wanted to fight the cold-hearted boy in front of them anymore.
They'd never seen deaths so brutal, not even in their nightmares.
Unfortunately for them, Sosuke had been set on killing them from the moment he decided to get involved. Their fear and pleas wouldn't change his decision.
As they watched in despair, he flung out a shower of shuriken and began indiscriminately slaughtering the thugs.
Only when the screams in the cavern fell silent did Sosuke coolly wipe his short sword on a corpse.
In this battle, he'd slain fifteen enemies and gained 225 Points—a fine example of how small gains could add up.
[Points: 2545]
At this rate, the goal of 6,000 Points didn't seem so far away.
On the paths along either side, Mito had freed the captive women. Looking at the bodies strewn across the ground, most of them wore faint smiles of relief.
Watching them in silence, Sosuke knew that these poor women had suffered plenty of abuse, just like that innocent, radiant smile from years ago.
"Don't worry, everyone. I'll get you out of here." Though the boy was wreathed in killing intent, the sight of him holding a blade gave them a powerful sense of security.
Amid the women's thanks, the boy walked up to a blonde beauty and slowly reached out as if to help her.
Slap!
The blonde woman was about to offer a false thank-you when he suddenly raised his hand and smacked her across the face.
Before she could recover, the boy backhanded her with another vicious slap.
"Idiot."
Slap!
"You couldn't even be bothered to put a few bruises on yourself for the disguise."
Slap!
"You show up somewhere like this looking spotless. What, are you here on vacation?"
Slap!
The woman in charge, whose strength was about that of a Chunin, was left dazed by Sosuke's string of slaps.
She couldn't understand how he'd been so certain.
Only when she saw the glimmer of scarlet in the darkness did she realize how she'd been exposed.
The Sharingan's powers of observation were astonishing. With her pathetic disguise skills, she wouldn't have been able to fool him in a hundred years.
Chidori Sharp Spear pierced the woman's arm. The intense numbness made her body convulse, while a glistening trail of liquid seeped from the corner of her mouth.
"Pervert." Mito rolled her eyes and hurried away. She didn't want to get involved in Sosuke's humiliating interrogation routine.
About four minutes later, the boy left the cave, satisfied. Before going, he made sure to use several Explosive Tags to destroy the place completely.
[System Prompt: Successfully killed Fūma Iku. Gained 130 Points.] [Points: 2675]
Just as they'd learned beforehand, this was the Fūma Clan's Human Trafficking Hub. Customers came to pick out merchandise every so often.
The guard who'd tried to blend in with the female prisoners had revealed everything she knew.
She'd been terribly unlucky. She'd had the strength to fight back, but Sosuke's relentless slaps had left her dazed.
By the time she came to, her chance to escape was long gone.
"The Fūma Clan." Sosuke's expression darkened. Killing intent radiated from his eyes, making the Princess of the Land of Whirlpools beside him shiver.
Just then, she sensed something: the chakra of her uncle, her guard, rushing toward them.
"Sosuke, you—"
She was about to urge the boy to leave, but when she turned around, Uchiha Sosuke was nowhere to be seen.
"Bastard." Mito cursed under her breath. They'd fought side by side, so how could he not even say goodbye when they were about to part ways?
Next time they met, she'd give him a good beating.
At the thought, Ponytail put her hands on her hips and grinned like an idiot.
The middle-aged guard who'd just arrived panicked at the sight. He suspected the princess had suffered a head injury and insisted on examining her with Medical Ninjutsu.
Meanwhile, Sosuke finally arrived at the legendary Western War Zone camp.
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