Za Warudo

A man's head exploded like a watermelon.

Samui was so close that she didn't even have time to react before the warm "watermelon juice" splattered all over her, running down her face and shoulders.

"..."

Samui's lips parted. This time, she was truly stunned.

Dan frowned slightly at the sight.

He'd only meant to knock Baldy unconscious. He hadn't intended to make it so gruesome. He hadn't expected that even using only a fraction of his strength, he'd still crush the man's skull.

It was because he lacked real combat experience and hadn't killed enough people.

He'd be more careful next time.

A gust of wind blew past, and the smoke cleared.

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

At her feet lay the Spy Leader, dead on the spot, his head gone and blood still spurting from his neck.

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

Clatter.

A palm-sized scroll rolled out of the Spy Leader's clothes. It seemed to contain important intelligence.

The scroll rolled to Dan's feet, catching his eye.

"Get the scroll back!"

The four remaining spies came to their senses. Their eyes widened with fury, and they charged at Dan without hesitation.

As spies, they wouldn't avenge a dead comrade. But they had to recover the vital intelligence, because it mattered more than their lives.

"Kill!"

The four suddenly surged forward, unleashing astonishing killing intent as they rushed Dan with a fearless, death-defying resolve.

Each wielded a kunai or Ninja Sword. Two leaped high and stabbed down toward Dan's eyes and throat;

the other two attacked from below, aiming for his abdomen and heart.

All four struck at once from different angles, targeting vital points with perfect coordination.

This is bad.

Seeing this, Samui snapped out of her daze and paled in alarm.

She recognized them. They were... Amegakure Ninja!

Amegakure was a small village bold enough to challenge Konoha, Suna, and Iwa—the Three Great Shinobi Villages—all at once.

Amegakure specialized in pushing a ninja's abilities to their limits and had developed many unique Assassination Techniques. There weren't many Amegakure Ninja, but every one of them was an elite fighter.

At such close range,

even a Konoha Jonin could be killed if caught off guard by four Amegakure Ninja attacking together.

At this critical moment—

"Gym Director, watch out!"

Samui had no time to think. She cried out to warn Dan, let go of the bag full of groceries, and somehow produced a short blade.

She knew perfectly well that if she didn't act, both she and Dan might die.

So

she had to block one or two of their attacks for Dan, giving them both a chance to survive.

Samui had barely finished speaking when the enemies were already upon them.

Good grief. What a pain.

Faced with these vicious enemies, Dan sighed inwardly.

He was still holding the groceries, so only one of his hands was free. Of course, he could still deal with four enemies one-handed; it would just take a little longer.

What concerned him was Samui, that foolish woman.

If she revealed herself here, he might never find another such useful helper to do his laundry and cooking.

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

He'd finish this quickly.

At that thought, Dan's gaze turned cold. He summoned the incantation in his mind.

Za—Warudo! (The World!)

In an instant—

Vmmmm.

A strange energy surged out from Dan, spreading in every direction faster than light. The entire world within sight lost its color, like a black-and-white photograph with time frozen in it.

Flocks of birds flying overhead;

the waters of the Konoha River flowing beneath the bridge;

leaves rustling in the wind along the riverbank;

panicked civilians in the street...

Every living and nonliving thing stood still.

The four Amegakure spies before Dan were frozen in their poses, like statues. One man's Ninja Sword was less than five centimeters from Dan's throat.

The man's expression was confident, his eyes gleaming with the joy of someone about to kill Dan.

The three-meter-tall Stand, The World, appeared silently behind Dan. Clad in white armor, it seemed to gaze down upon all living things like a god.

Dan had awakened his Stand only recently and still hadn't mastered its abilities. At present, he could stop time for only two seconds.

But that was more than enough.

Then—

"Muda Muda Muda Muda!"

In less than a second, Dan and The World struck together, each throwing two punches and hitting all four enemies.

Then they withdrew their fists.

As The World returned to Dan's body,

time began to flow again.

Smack!

The plastic bag full of groceries had only just fallen to the ground after Samui let go of it.

She gripped her short blade and was about to rush forward—

BOOM!

A tremendous gust erupted from Dan, sweeping outward as if a fierce wind had sprung up from nowhere.

It was the delayed Fist Wind, released when time resumed and the air began to move again.

At the same time—

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

With four successive, heavy thumps, the Amegakure spies flew backward as one, like cannonballs launched through the air.

A few seconds later—

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The first man slammed into a roadside tree, snapping it in half with a crack. Branches pierced his body, and blood poured from his wounds;

the second flew off the bridge and plunged into the Konoha River, sending up a column of water several meters high. The water nearby quickly turned crimson;

the third flew low over the ground until he crashed into a high wall beside the street. Tiles flew everywhere as the wall collapsed, burying him beneath it and kicking up a cloud of dust;

the last bounced across the road like a skipping stone, striking the ground several times before turning into a mangled mass of flesh and falling at the feet of the Police Force members.

Two dead, two grievously wounded.

The World had struck the two who were severely wounded. The two who died on the spot had been less fortunate: they'd taken Dan's iron fists.

Dan's strength surpassed The World's.

After Dan struck,

there was a deathly silence. No one had seen what happened.

Then the villagers came to their senses and screamed as they scattered in every direction.

The street soon emptied, leaving only Dan, Samui, and the shocked members of the Police Force.

"Gym D-Director..."

Samui tilted her head up, staring at Dan's profile in horror, unable to calm herself.

"Put the knife away," Dan said, glancing at her.

Just then,

the Police Force members also came to their senses and walked toward Dan and Samui with grave expressions.

The man leading them had long brown hair and a pair of scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan. His frown gave him a cold, unapproachable air.

His name was Uchiha Inohi. He was a Konoha Jonin and a squad leader in the Police Force.

"You're... Dan?!"

Inohi stepped in front of Dan. After studying his features, he asked in disbelief.

"It's you, Inohi. Long time no see."

Dan raised a hand and greeted him.

Dan and Inohi were about the same age and had known each other since childhood. They'd had a few unpleasant encounters when they were younger. They weren't friends, but they weren't enemies either.

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

"You took out four enemies in an instant. How... did you do it?"

Inohi stared into Dan's eyes, his own scarlet gaze intense and oppressive.

From where he stood,

he'd seen four spies attack Dan together, only for all four to be flung away in the blink of an eye, some dead and others wounded.

The most unbelievable part was that Dan had used only one hand. His other hand had still been holding the groceries.

Even with the powerful kinetic vision of his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Inohi hadn't been able to see how Dan had struck.

Faced with Inohi's pressing question,

"I did what you saw. I knocked them away," Dan replied casually.

Inohi stared at Dan for a long while. At last, he gave up with a clenched jaw and said, "You really are... just as you've always been."

Uchiha Inohi was reminded of an unpleasant childhood memory.

Back then,

he and Dan had attended the Ninja Academy together. He'd seen Dan pin a Chunin instructor to the ground and beat him, leaving a deep shock in his young heart.

Dan's misdeeds had damaged the Uchiha Clan's reputation.

They'd also dragged Inohi down with them, making his time at the Academy unpleasant.

After Inohi had earned his Chunin rank through sheer ability, the first thing he'd done was challenge Dan, hoping to teach the arrogant man who irritated him a lesson.

The result:

in front of many clan members, Inohi had been beaten by Dan without being able to fight back at all.

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

That guy, Dan...

He really had never given up training. Just as before... terrifyingly strong.

"Captain."

While Inohi spoke with Dan, a Police Force member finished checking the spies' injuries and reported to him.

Of the five spies,

three had died on the spot. The other two were on the verge of death from blood loss, and probably couldn't be saved.

Inohi's frown deepened.

"Dan, you went too far. You should have left at least two alive for us to take back to the Police Force and question," he said coldly.

Dan didn't seem to care. "A spy has only one possible end—death. Isn't that right?"

At those words,

Samui's legs nearly gave out, and her face turned deathly pale. Fortunately, her skin was already so fair that Inohi and the others didn't notice her distress.

Inohi fell silent for a moment, then spoke again:

"Regardless, please come with us and cooperate with the investigation into this incident. Don't worry, I won't make trouble for you. You just need to come to the Police Force, go through the formalities, and give a statement."

His tone was fairly polite.

He didn't want to provoke Dan either, so as a squad leader in the Police Force, he made a rare show of deference.

Unexpectedly—

"Inohi, don't make trouble for me."

Dan looked down at Inohi, his calm tone leaving no room for negotiation. It sounded more like... an order.

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