Za Warudo

The man's head exploded like a watermelon.

Samui, standing within arm's reach, hadn't even reacted before she was splattered with warm "watermelon juice," which began to drip down her face and shoulders.

"..."

Samui's lips parted slightly; this time, she was truly stunned.

Dan frowned as he witnessed the scene.

He had only intended to knock the Baldy unconscious and hadn't meant to be so brutal, but he hadn't expected that using only thirty percent of his strength would still crush the man's skull.

This was due to his lack of practical combat experience and the fact that he had killed too few people.

He would have to be more careful next time.

A gust of wind blew, and the smoke dissipated.

On the bridge, Samui, covered in blood, stood completely frozen.

At her feet, the Spy Leader lay dead, his head missing, with blood continuing to spurt from his neck.

This sight left the remaining four spies and the members of the Police Force stunned.

Roll, roll.

A palm-sized Scroll rolled out from the Spy Leader's robes, seemingly containing vital Intelligence.

The Scroll rolled to Dan's feet, drawing his gaze.

"Retrieve the Scroll!"

The remaining four spies snapped out of their shock, their eyes splitting with rage as they charged at Dan without hesitation.

As spies, they wouldn't seek revenge for a fallen comrade, but the important Intelligence had to be retrieved, for it was more valuable than their own lives.

Kill!

The speed of the four men surged instantly, erupting with astonishing killing intent as they rushed toward Dan with a desperate, suicidal momentum.

Each of them wielded a Kunai or a Ninja Sword; two leaped high, aiming to stab at Dan's eyes and throat from above, while the other two struck from below, targeting his abdomen and heart.

The four attacked his vitals simultaneously from different angles, their coordination flawless.

Oh no.

Seeing this, Samui snapped back to reality, her face pale with alarm.

She recognized these guys—they were Amegakure Ninja!

Amegakure was a small village that dared to challenge the three great villages of Konoha, Sand, and Rock all at once.

Amegakure excelled at pushing a ninja's abilities to the limit and had developed many unique Assassination Techniques. The number of Amegakure Ninja was small, but every one of them was a formidable elite.

At such close range.

Facing a coordinated assault from four Amegakure Ninja, even a Konoha Jonin would likely meet their end if they were the least bit careless.

In this critical moment.

"Gym Director, watch out!"

Samui had no time to think; she shouted a warning to Dan and dropped the bag filled with groceries, pulling a short blade from who knows where.

She realized clearly that if she didn't act, both she and Dan would likely die.

Therefore.

She had to block at least one or two of the attackers so that they might have a chance to survive.

Before Samui's voice had even faded, the enemies were upon them.

Good grief, there's really no helping it.

Facing this group of vicious enemies, Dan sighed inwardly.

He was still carrying groceries, leaving him with only one hand free. Of course, dealing with four enemies with one hand wasn't impossible, it would just take a little more time.

What concerned him was this foolish woman, Samui.

If she were exposed here, he feared he would never find such a good tool to do his laundry and cooking again.

It seemed he would have to use the power of The World once more.

End this quickly.

Thinking this, Dan's gaze turned cold as he invoked the incantation in his heart.

ZA WARUDO!

In an instant.

Hum.

A strange energy radiated from Dan, spreading in all directions at a speed exceeding light. The entire world within his sight lost its color, resembling a black-and-white photograph where time had frozen solid.

The flock of birds passing through the sky;

The Konoha River flowing beneath the bridge;

The leaves on the bank swaying in the breeze;

The panicked civilians on the street...

All living and non-living things had come to a standstill.

The four Amegakure spies before Dan remained in their respective poses, frozen like statues. The Ninja Sword in one of their hands was less than five centimeters from Dan's throat.

The expression on that man's face was one of absolute confidence, his eyes radiating the wild ecstasy of someone about to kill Dan.

The three-meter-tall Stand, The World, clad in white armor, appeared silently behind Dan, looking down upon all living things like a god.

Dan had awakened his Stand only recently and had not yet mastered its abilities, currently only capable of stopping time for two seconds.

But for him, that was more than enough.

And so.

"Muda Muda Muda Muda!"

In less than a second, Dan and The World struck out together, each landing two punches, hitting the four enemies respectively.

Then, they retracted their fists.

As The World returned into Dan's body.

Time resumed its flow.

With a snap.

The plastic bag full of groceries in Samui's hand, which she had let go of, finally hit the ground.

She held a short blade, just about to rush forward—

BOOM!

A massive wave of air erupted from Dan's body, like a sudden gale rising from flat ground, sweeping outward in all directions.

This was the Fist Wind, delayed in its appearance as the air resumed flow after the time stop ended.

At the same time.

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

Accompanied by four consecutive heavy, muffled sounds, the four Amegakure spies were sent flying backward in unison, like cannonballs launched into the air, soaring at high speed.

A few seconds later.

CRASH, CRASH, CRASH, CRASH!

The first man slammed into a roadside tree, snapping it in half with a crack; his body was impaled by branches, blood gushing out like a fountain;

The second man flew off the bridge and plummeted into the Konoha River, splashing a water column several meters high, quickly staining the nearby river water bright red;

The third man skimmed across the ground until he slammed headfirst into a high wall by the street; rubble flew instantly, the wall collapsed with a roar, burying him beneath it and kicking up a cloud of dust;

The last man first skipped across the road like a stone on water, colliding with the pavement several times before finally landing as a mass of bloody, mangled pulp right in front of the Police Force members.

Two dead, two severely injured.

The two who were severely injured had been struck by The World, while the two who died on the spot were simply unlucky—they had taken the brunt of Dan's iron fists.

Dan's strength was even greater than that of his Stand, The World.

After Dan's strike.

The surroundings were deathly silent at first; no one had seen clearly what had happened.

Then, the villagers who had regained their senses began to scream and scatter in all directions.

The street quickly became deserted, leaving only Dan, Samui, and the stunned members of the Police Force.

"Di, Director..."

Samui looked up, staring in horror at Dan's profile, her Inner Heart unable to calm down.

"Put your blade away," Dan glanced at her and reminded her.

At this moment.

The members of the Police Force also regained their composure and walked toward Dan and Samui with serious expressions.

The leader among them was a man with long brown hair and a pair of scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan. He frowned, giving off an impression of being difficult to get along with, cold and heartless.

This man was Uchiha Inohi, a Jonin of Konohagakure and a captain of the Police Force.

"You are... Dan?!"

Inohi arrived in front of Dan, carefully scrutinized the latter's features, and asked with a mix of shock and uncertainty.

"It's Inohi, long time no see."

Dan raised his hand to greet him.

Dan and Inohi were of similar age and had known each other since childhood, having had some unpleasantness during their youth. Although they were not friends, they could not be considered enemies either.

After all, they were both Uchiha, with the same blood flowing through their veins.

"To think you could take out four enemies in an instant, how... how did you do it?"

Inohi stared directly into Dan's eyes, asking with a burning gaze, his pair of scarlet eyes exerting immense mental pressure.

From his perspective.

He had seen the four spies surround Dan, only for them to go flying backward in the blink of an eye, some dead and others wounded.

The most absurd part was that Dan had only used one hand, while the other was still carrying groceries.

Even with the powerful kinetic vision of the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Inohi had failed to see exactly how Dan had struck.

Facing Inohi's interrogation.

"As you can see, I knocked them away," Dan said casually.

Upon hearing this, Inohi stared daggers at Dan for a long while before finally deflating, gritting his teeth as he said:

"You guy, you really... haven't changed a bit."

Uchiha Inohi recalled a childhood memory he would rather forget.

Back then.

He had attended the Ninja Academy with Dan and had seen with his own eyes Dan pinning their Chunin Teacher to the ground and beating him, leaving a deep, traumatic shock on his young heart.

Dan's notorious behavior had ruined the reputation of the Uchiha Clan.

It had also implicated Inohi, who was also an Uchiha, forcing him to endure a rather unpleasant time at the Ninja Academy.

After Inohi became a Chunin through his own strength, the first thing he did was challenge Dan, wanting to teach this arrogant guy who annoyed him a lesson.

The result.

In front of many clan members, Inohi was beaten up by Dan, and it was the kind of defeat where he had no power to fight back.

Later, Dan moved out of the Uchiha Clan Compound, and Inohi rarely saw him again.

This guy, Dan.

As expected, he had never given up on his training; he was, as always... terrifyingly strong.

"Captain."

Just as Inohi was speaking with Dan, a Police Force member finished his inspection and reported the condition of the spies to Inohi.

Five spies.

Excluding the three who died on the spot, the remaining two were also on the verge of death due to excessive blood loss, and it was estimated they wouldn't survive.

Inohi's brow furrowed even deeper.

"Dan, you were too heavy-handed. You should have left at least two alive for us to bring back to the Police Force for interrogation," he accused Dan in a cold voice.

Dan, however, was dismissive: "The fate of a spy is one word—death, isn't it?"

As soon as these words were spoken.

Samui, standing to the side, felt her legs go weak, her face turning deathly pale. Fortunately, her skin was naturally fair, so Inohi and the others didn't notice her loss of composure.

Inohi was silent for a moment before speaking again:

"Regardless, please come with us and cooperate with the investigation into this incident. Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you; I just need you to come to the Police Force to go through the motions and provide a statement."

His tone was relatively polite.

He didn't want to provoke Dan, so as a captain of the Police Force, he uncharacteristically lowered his stance.

Unexpectedly.

"Inohi, don't cause me trouble."

Dan looked down at Inohi, his calm tone devoid of any request; it sounded more like... a command.

Inohi's expression changed, and he instinctively took a step back.