Slapping the Young Lady

Based on the clues provided by Scarface, the two finally found the upstream mastermind behind everything.

The next problem was much simpler.

"I'm going with you." Mito spoke up first.

Having come this far, she wasn't willing to stay outside alone—otherwise, why insist on following?

Knowing he couldn't talk her out of it, Sosuke bluntly threw out a line: "Just don't hold me back."

The moment the words left his mouth, two shuriken whistled away from his wrist, and the guard on duty dropped dead without even a grunt.

[System Prompt: Successfully killed an enemy, gained 15 points.]

"15 points?" Sosuke sighed in speechless disbelief, not expecting the enemy to be below even Genin level.

They probably couldn't even use ninjutsu.

Come to think of it, if they had any real skill, they wouldn't be stuck guarding a gate here.

There might be some strong fighters watching the place inside, but probably not many—he was confident he could handle them alone.

Drawing the short sword from his back, Sosuke strode into the cave with murderous intent; today, he wouldn't let a single person go.

The cave narrowed at first, then widened. After passing through a long corridor, he soon entered a spacious, dimly lit cavern.

Iron chains hung across both walls, suspending massive iron cages. From the occasional sobbing, it wasn't hard to guess what was locked inside.

"Sosuke."

"I know. You find a way to free them first."

Exchanging a glance with his companion, Sosuke walked alone into the cavern, stepping onto the only bridge leading to the high platform.

One step. Two steps. Three.

The Youth's gaze suddenly sharpened as he drove the short sword deep into a gap in the wooden planks below.

In an instant, a scream echoed through the empty cavern.

[System Prompt: Successfully killed an enemy, gained 12 points.]

"Another worthless piece of trash, not even as good as a Genin."

Kicking the plank off the step, the hidden enemy beneath was exposed to his view.

The next second, over a dozen black-clad men armed with blades flipped up from under the bridge and charged at the intruder without a word.

To avoid any mishap, Sosuke activated his Two-Tomoe Sharingan, and the entire world seemed to slow down.

With the Sharingan's evolution, his dynamic vision had nearly doubled—the black-clad men's movements were as absurd as watching a two-times slow-motion replay.

Dodging a blade swung at his face, Sosuke slashed horizontally with his short sword, and hot blood sprayed out.

Seizing the gap as they passed, he kicked an enemy's wrist, sending his long blade whistling through the air to pierce the chest of some unlucky bastard behind him.

Blocking a second incoming weapon with his reverse grip, Sosuke activated Chidori Sharp Spear, and the lightning bolt pierced through four men's chests in an instant.

For a long time, he'd been fighting enemies stronger and older than himself. Suddenly facing a bunch of weaklings, he felt a surreal sense of unreality.

"This is ridiculous." With a slight sideways shift of his palm, the Chidori Sharp Spear bisected the men in front of him at the waist.

Guts and blood flooded the bridge. The remaining black-clad men were nearly pissing themselves in terror.

"Sp-spare me!" someone finally couldn't help begging.

Soon, the bridge was filled with kneeling thugs pleading for mercy, none of them wanting to fight the cold-faced Youth anymore.

That brutal way of dying—they'd never seen anything like it, even in their dreams.

Unfortunately, Sosuke had been set on killing from the moment he decided to get involved. Fear and begging wouldn't change his decision.

Under the crowd's despairing gaze, he raised his hand and flung out a storm of shuriken, beginning a merciless massacre of the thugs on the scene.

When the screams in the cavern finally ceased, Sosuke coldly wiped his short sword clean on a corpse.

In this battle, he had killed fifteen enemies and earned 225 points—a textbook example of small gains adding up.

[Points: 2545]

At this rate, the goal of 6,000 points didn't seem so far off.

On the side passages, Mito freed the trapped women. Looking at the bodies strewn across the floor, most of them showed a hint of bitter satisfaction.

Watching in silence, Sosuke knew in his heart that these poor women had suffered no small amount of abuse—just like that innocent, radiant smile from years ago.

"Don't worry, everyone. I'll get you out of here." Though the Youth was drenched in killing intent, the sight of him holding a blade gave them a strong sense of security.

Amid the women's thanks, the Youth walked up to a blonde beauty and slowly extended his hand, as if to help her.

Slap!

Just as she was about to feign gratitude, the blonde woman was caught off guard as he raised his hand and slapped her across the face.

Before she could recover, the Youth backhanded her with another heavy blow.

"You idiot."

Slap!

"Not even bothering to put a few fake wounds on yourself."

Slap!

"Showing up to a place like this all clean and tidy—you here on vacation?"

Slap!

The supervisor, whose strength was roughly at the Chunin level, was completely stunned by Sosuke's relentless slaps.

She couldn't figure out why he was so certain.

It wasn't until she caught the faint glimmer of crimson in the darkness that she finally understood what had given her away.

The Sharingan's insight ability was astonishing; with her shoddy disguise skills, she wouldn't have fooled him even in a hundred years.

Chidori Sharp Spear pierced through the woman's arm, an intense numbing sensation causing her body to convulse, a trickle of glistening liquid spilling from the corner of her mouth.

"Gross." Mito rolled her eyes and scurried away—she had no interest in taking part in Sosuke's embarrassing torture play.

About four minutes later, the Youth left the cave with satisfaction, not forgetting to use several Explosive Tags to completely destroy the place before he went.

[System Notification: Successfully killed Fūma Iku. Earned 130 points.]

[Points: 2675]

Just as the intel had indicated, this was the Fūma Clan's Human Trafficking Hub, where customers came to pick out goods at regular intervals.

The guard who had tried to blend in among the female prisoners had spilled everything she knew.

She was really unlucky—she had the strength to fight back, but a barrage of slaps had stunned her into a daze.

By the time she came to her senses, she had already lost her chance to escape.

"Fūma Clan." Sosuke's gaze was dark, the killing intent in his eyes almost tangible, sending a chill through the princess of the Land of Whirlpools beside him.

Just then, she suddenly sensed something—the chakra fluctuation of her guardian uncle rapidly approaching.

"Sosuke, you—"

She was about to urge the boy to leave, but when she turned her head, there was no trace of Uchiha Sosuke anywhere.

"Bastard." Mito cursed under her breath. They had fought side by side, and he couldn't even be bothered to say goodbye before parting ways.

Next time they met, she was going to beat him black and blue.

Thinking of something amusing, the Ponytail couldn't help but put her hands on her hips and burst into a silly, wide-mouthed laugh.

This sight panicked the middle-aged guardian who had just arrived, making him suspect the princess had suffered nerve damage in her head, insisting on using Medical Ninjutsu to check her.

On the other side, Sosuke had finally arrived at the legendary Western War Zone camp.