The Advancing Demon

The village chief saw that Sarutobi Hiruzen was interested and pressed his advantage.

"If you can help us deal with the man-eating demon, sir..."

"We would be deeply grateful!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up the tea in front of him and took another sip.

"So this is how you show your gratitude? By drugging my tea?"

The village chief's expression faltered, but he did his best to keep it composed.

"Sir..."

"What are you saying?"

"How could I possibly have drugged the tea?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen swept his hand across the table, flipping it over. Tea and food spilled across the floor. His upright frame radiated an imposing presence.

"Looks like the weak are always willing to take a chance."

"Let me guess..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen put Professor of Ninjutsu's mind to work, and in an instant, he was close to the truth.

"You were planning to offer me to that man-eater?"

"And the women and children weren't hidden away..."

"They were eaten?"

At that, the village chief lowered his head and fell silent for a moment. Then he admitted it with a gloomy expression.

"The drug was supposed to take longer to work..."

"Looks like you really are a well-trained Ninja."

There had undoubtedly been Ninja in the Warring States era, but they were worlds apart from the Ninja of the Naruto world. At most, they were death warriors with a few ways to kill.

As for the so-called drug, it would have been strange if a medicine from the ordinary world could affect a Ninja with Chakra.

To poison a Kage, you would need an apothecary at least on the level of Chiyo or Tsunade.

Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't be bothered to correct him. He simply asked,

"You know the man-eating demon, don't you?"

"Tell me..."

"What do you know about that demon?"

The village chief responded with a strange laugh, his expression twisted and ferocious.

"Hahahaha!"

"If I tell you, will you let me go?!"

"It's no use."

"Humans can't possibly defeat demons!"

"Soon, you'll be joining me!"

"It's just a shame..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen raised an eyebrow.

"What's a shame?"

"Whoosh!"

The village chief suddenly pulled a sharp kitchen knife from beneath himself and swung it toward the top of Sarutobi Hiruzen's head, the blade whistling through the air.

Judging by his form, he had clearly been a skilled warrior in his youth.

"Clang!"

"What?!"

The village chief's ferocious face froze in place. His knife had struck the other man's head, but it was like hitting solid granite.

A metallic clang rang out!

"Earth Style: Hardening Technique."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression didn't change as the area above his neck quietly turned yellow.

"Clatter!"

The incomprehensible supernatural sight shattered the village chief's will to resist. The knife slipped from his hand and hit the ground.

"I understand!"

"You're a demon too, aren't you?"

"Don't kill me!"

"I can provide you with human flesh!"

"I'm willing to become a demon too!"

The village chief immediately prostrated himself and kept kowtowing, begging Sarutobi Hiruzen for mercy. He believed Sarutobi Hiruzen was a demon with supernatural powers.

"How pitiful."

"Looks like the man-eating demon promised to turn you into one too."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression held a trace of pity, along with a hint of disgust.

Then, without hesitation, he brought his palm down. His concentrated Chakra crushed the village chief's internal organs.

Watching the village chief fall with a twisted expression, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt nothing.

He felt no guilt about killing someone who had lost every shred of humanity and sent the village's women and children to their doom.

"I acted too quickly."

Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head.

"I forgot to ask where the demon was hiding..."

"But..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen crouched down and formed Hand Seals.

"Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!"

"This must be where it's hiding..."

"The so-called man-eating demon."

Sarutobi Hiruzen leaped down from a tree dozens of meters tall. His powerful Ninja footwork let him run at mechanical speed.

The ten or so kilometers vanished in an instant.

Looking at the terrain of the valley before him, Sarutobi Hiruzen twitched his nose.

"This smell of blood..."

"It's so strong, you'd think a war had been fought here."

Even Sarutobi Hiruzen had only smelled blood this thick in the aftermath of a brutal war.

With a foreboding feeling, Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped into the valley.

Just as expected, corpses littered the ground, and blood ran like a river.

Women's and children's bodies were everywhere, and many were missing pieces.

Some had their organs torn out, others their limbs. They all bore the marks of being gnawed on by beasts, their heads left behind with eyes that had never closed, their faces frozen in despair.

The sight was so horrific that even Sarutobi Hiruzen, with his memories of Ninja wars, couldn't help frowning.

"The man-eating demon..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen recognized the demon from the village chief's memories and already had some idea of what he was dealing with.

After walking farther, his feet squelching in the sticky blood, Sarutobi Hiruzen saw a hunched figure crouched over a corpse.

The sound of it chewing loudly on something hard made his teeth ache.

"Hmm?!"

"More food has arrived?!"

The demon's voice sounded no different from an ordinary person's, but it carried a deep, ravenous greed.

"Looks like that fellow kept his promise about providing me with food..."

"And then some."

The demon looked back toward Sarutobi Hiruzen with satisfaction.

Its blood-red eyes, unlike those of any human, its mouth full of sharp teeth, and the dark red blood smeared across its face—

Together, these savage features were enough to make any ordinary person lose the will to resist.

Sarutobi Hiruzen regarded the demon with an assessing gaze as well.

"It's completely detached from humanity now."

"This world's supernatural power..."

Though its appearance wasn't much different from an ordinary human's, its savage, blood-soaked aura and the speed at which its blood raced through its body...

In Sarutobi Hiruzen's estimation, it posed a serious threat.

"About the level of a Chunin..."

"And..."

"It's still rising rapidly..."

"Is it because it's eaten so much flesh and blood?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen gauged its strength by the standards of the Naruto world.

"But I'll have to test it firsthand to know for sure..."

As he spoke, Sarutobi Hiruzen vanished from the spot.

"What?!"

The man-eating demon was taken aback when the human in front of it suddenly disappeared.

"Bang!"

Chakra erupted against the demon's cheek. The force, far beyond that of an ordinary person, sent it flying.

Falling rocks and dust billowed against the cliff, swallowing the demon's figure.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen wasn't watching what lay ahead. Instead, he turned slightly, his uncanny battle instincts allowing him to evade a sharp claw that reeked of blood.

The fierce rush of the claw left a slight sting on Sarutobi Hiruzen's cheek. It had come within a hair's breadth.

Yet his expression remained calm.

Or rather, a battle instinct that had lain dormant in his body was rapidly awakening.

Even the long years he had spent working as Hokage couldn't erase his memories of dancing across the battlefield.

That was what made the Ninja profession so fearsome.