Xian Yu didn't pay the obnoxious, fat merchant the slightest bit of attention. Rescuing people was urgent—he had no time to waste on this piece of trash.
"Wind Release: Shuriken." Ten shuriken imbued with wind-nature chakra shot through the air at breakneck speed. They suddenly changed direction midflight, as if they had eyes, and struck ten bandits with pinpoint accuracy.
Every strike was fatal. They didn't even have time to scream!
A young man clutching a hoe and fighting desperately against a bandit blinked, looking utterly at a loss. He had been no match for his opponent and was about to die, but then the bandit had suddenly fallen over. What was going on?
A brawny man nearly six feet tall had just knocked the little kitchen knife from his opponent's hand with a swing of his own blade. He was about to finish the man off when he caught sight of two of his comrades silently collapsing beside him. He froze...
The same scene played out across the battlefield. As they fought, people suddenly realized that the once-fierce bandit gang had dwindled in number.
"Pfft!" A sound like cloth being pierced rang out, and a burly bandit slowly fell, revealing a petite girl standing behind him.
"Crackle, crackle, crackle..." A bandit collapsed in a fit of spasms. His upper back was charred black, and faint blue currents flickered across his exposed skin.
Only seven bandits remained on the field, all of them looking horrified!
"W-what... what happened?" A smaller bandit trembled so badly he could barely keep hold of his blade.
He had only recently joined Black Wind Stronghold. Just moments ago, he had been exuberantly throwing himself into battle. His opponents were pathetic—though they were strong, all they did was defend. Even though they outnumbered his side, they had no teamwork, while his own comrades were doing great. Everything had been going smoothly. He had been just about to claim his first kill, and then, in the very next moment, everything had fallen apart?
The skinny bandit couldn't accept it.
"Ninjas..." The seven survivors huddled together, trembling. A few of them were completely at a loss, and every pair of eyes was fixed on the two young figures—a boy and a girl—who had suddenly entered the fray.
"Idiots. You've made this easier for me." Xian Yu rolled his eyes and curled his lip in disdain, then immediately formed hand seals. "Wind Style: Vacuum Sphere!"
The area-of-effect attack tore through the seven bandits huddled together like a burst of AK-47 fire. Wind Release bullets pierced their bodies, killing five instantly. Only the two who had been standing farther back were lucky enough to survive.
"Spare me... spare me! I just joined them. I haven't killed anyone! I really... I really couldn't survive otherwise, so I joined Black Wind Stronghold. I won't be a bandit anymore! I swear I won't! Give me a chance—a chance to turn over a new leaf! Don't kill me..."
Twenty-three villagers remained. They gripped hoes and other farm tools, glaring hatefully at the two surviving bandits, but nobody made a move. Their eyes kept turning, intentionally or otherwise, toward the two young ninjas.
Xian Yu was about to finish off the two remaining bandits and claim the two Killing Points when he noticed the villagers' hateful stares. After hesitating for a couple of seconds, he slowly put the shuriken back into his ninja pouch. He glanced at the bandit who was begging and claiming he had never killed anyone, then said flatly, "Here's a friendly tip: you might find it quicker if you stab yourself."
With that, Xian Yu called to the villagers, "You can deal with these two."
At his words, the twenty-three villagers exchanged glances, then angrily closed in on the bandits.
"Here, Xiao Yu." By then, Shinozaki Ayumi had finished combing the battlefield and retrieving the shuriken. She wiped the blood from the ten shuriken with a cloth and handed them over.
The two bandits tried to run, but with more than forty pairs of eyes watching them, how could they possibly get away? The furious villagers cornered them at the entrance to the village. Under a wild flurry of hoes, shovels, rakes, and all kinds of other weapons, they gradually stopped moving. The life slowly faded from their eyes, until they were nothing but a bloody mess.
"Two esteemed ninja, thank you so much for helping us! If you don't mind, you can rest at my home for a while." Before long, a farmer returned with the villagers and spoke to Xian Yu and Shinozaki Ayumi.
"Hmph! You fools! Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you've gotten yourselves into? Those people were from Black Wind Stronghold! Kid, here are your two thousand taels. I'm returning them to you. From now on, you two have nothing to do with the Hua Qi Merchant Association! Don't follow us anymore, either! Hmph! Let's go." Hua Qi's fat face quivered as he spoke. With a ninja wearing an Amegakure Forehead Protector beside him, he handed over two banknotes and ordered his caravan to leave. He didn't want to stay here a moment longer.
Xian Yu silently took the banknotes and watched the caravan depart. Black Wind Stronghold, White Wind Stronghold—who cared? They had been soaked in the rain for ages. Finding somewhere to wash up and rest was what mattered.
"Black Wind Stronghold!" The village elder leading the group narrowed his eyes at the name, his face clouding with worry. "Esteemed ninja, Black Wind Stronghold is the largest bandit force in this area. They have hundreds of men, and I hear their leader used to be a powerful ninja. I can't believe they've set their sights on us. So many of them died here today; they definitely won't let this go."
At that, Shinozaki Ayumi grew serious and quickly asked, "Uncle, do you know where Black Wind Stronghold is?"
After all, any mission involving combat between ninjas would be at least a B-Rank Mission.
And one of them was still a Ninja Academy student, while the other wasn't even an officially registered ninja. Neither of them lacked strength, but they didn't have much combat experience.
As they talked, they followed the villagers into the village. Xian Yu and Ayumi were taken to the home of the villager leading the group.
It was the largest property in the village, a small compound with five or six thatched-roof cottages. As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw an old man leaning on a cane in the doorway of the main house.
"Black Wind Stronghold is on the mountain behind Great Warm Valley." After speaking, the villager hurried over to the old man and reported what had happened.
Xian Yu, meanwhile, simply led Ayumi over to the eaves and took off his rain cape and bamboo hat.
"Meimei, you've been out in the rain for so long. Have a sip of rice wine to warm up." As he spoke, Xian Yu pulled another, new flask from his pocket.
"It's a little sweet." Ayumi hesitated, uncorked the flask, and took a small sip. A blush immediately spread across her pretty face.
"Thank you both for saving Yangxi Village. I'm the village chief, and this is my son, Hosaka Takashi, who brought you here. We're planning to send someone to Konoha to hire ninjas to wipe out the bandits of Black Wind Stronghold. But if they attack before then, our able-bodied villagers won't be able to hold them off. Would you be willing to take a job protecting our village?"
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