Captured Alive

It turned out that the bandit chief was actually Nawaki using Object Transformation. He hadn't expected Shin to let down his guard while reminiscing about the past. Distracted by Nawaki's lies as well, Shin had let him get close with ease.

As he grasped the other man's hands, Nawaki used the Spore Technique's ability to attach itself and fuse with the cells in Shin's hands, then began absorbing his chakra. If Nawaki wanted, he could completely merge with Shin's body, just like Sakon and Ukon, but that was too disgusting and made it easy for an enemy to take them both down. So he chose to target Shin's hands.

Feeling his chakra rapidly draining away, Zhixin showed the decisiveness of a rogue ninja and raised his right leg, kicking hard at his enemy.

But Nawaki easily released his hands and vanished from sight in an instant.

Zhixin's full-force kick struck empty air. He'd put too much power into it to stop in time, and his right leg swung high from the momentum. Then the back of his neck went numb, and he completely lost control of his body from the neck down.

A calm voice sounded behind him. "Ninja Art: Body Pathway Derangement."

Unable to keep his balance, Zhixin fell backward under the force of his momentum and hit the ground.

Zhixin turned the only part of his body he could still control—his head—and finally saw his enemy's true face. He was just a kid around ten years old! The Shinobi World really was full of unexpected dangers. Any child who appeared out of nowhere could take his life. Those so-called genius ninja were all monsters! If Zhixin had known that the kid before him wasn't ten, but five, he would have felt even more aggrieved and resentful.

"Ding! Zhixin has developed intense resentment and jealousy toward the host, generating 1,000 Wish Power."

Nawaki had read Zhixin's intentions from his eyes and slight movements. He'd turned the tables by using Shunpo (also known as Soru, but Shunpo is easier to understand, so Nawaki changed the name. No further explanation will be given) to appear behind him, then used the Medical Ninjutsu Tsunade had taught him, Body Pathway Derangement, to cut off his control of the nerves below his neck.

Medical Attack Ninjutsu: Body Pathway Derangement: By transforming the user's chakra into electrons to create an electric field, the technique sends electrons into the enemy's nervous system, disrupting their control over their own body.

Though this was an A-rank jutsu, its difficulty lay in precisely controlling Yang Release Chakra. Its effect was similar to pressure-point techniques in martial arts novels, and it consumed the least chakra of any A-rank jutsu. On top of that, Nawaki had just absorbed a large amount of chakra from Zhixin, so he could use it with ease.

Seeing the resentment in Zhixin's eyes, Nawaki smiled. He didn't waste time gloating and talking like a villain. Instead, he cautiously and swiftly broke all four of Zhixin's limbs.

Since his nerve signals had already been cut off, Zhixin didn't feel any intense pain, sparing him some suffering.

Only after confirming that Zhixin's limbs were broken did Nawaki relax. Then he seemed to remember something important. "Oh, right! We can't let your chakra go to waste."

With that, Nawaki grabbed Zhixin's hands again and used the Spore Technique to drain every last bit of chakra from his body.

Though this True Clone contained only two-thousandths of Nawaki's cells and chakra, it had all the properties of a clone, and its body was made of chakra. As a result, it could absorb other people's chakra for its own use, but couldn't increase its own chakra reserves. The chakra it absorbed was a one-time consumable and couldn't be replenished.

After absorbing all of Zhixin's chakra, this clone of Nawaki's had the strength of an elite jōnin, but its chakra would only dwindle with use. It could also use Object Transformation to become an exact copy of Zhixin. Even people who knew Zhixin best would struggle to spot a difference in his appearance or presence.

In less than a minute, Nawaki had efficiently completed the whole series of actions and finally let out a relieved breath. If his movements hadn't been so awkward because this was his first time doing this, he could have been even faster with his hands. (This sentence somehow feels awkward, but this pure-hearted author can't figure out why.)

Only after cautiously dealing with the first opponent he'd truly defeated in his life did Nawaki have time to glance at Zhixin. His eyes were bloodshot from staring, and his face was so twisted that he looked like a savage wolf, as if he wanted to bite Nawaki.

Nawaki smiled unconcernedly. "Lord Zhixin, I'm sorry for the trouble. I was busy dealing with your body earlier, so I kept you waiting a little. I hope you'll forgive me for the neglect! We haven't met before. I'm Senju Nawaki, a Special Jōnin of Konoha, and I've come to rescue the innocent civilians you've locked in cages like 'chicks.'"

At the title "Special Jōnin," Zhixin's pupils couldn't help but shrink. A Special Jōnin barely ten years old—he really was "special" in a way that hurt.

Watching the monstrous kid before him speak so politely with a smile, Zhixin felt he was deliberately humiliating him. He didn't want to look at that hateful face anymore, so he simply closed his eyes. "If you're a ninja, then kill me, you Senju brat! A defeated ninja has no reason to go on living."

Seeing Zhixin act so haughty, Nawaki smiled. He was best at dealing with people like that.

"Oh? Aren't you afraid of dying, Lord Zhixin? If so, why did you defect back then because you were afraid of punishment?" Nawaki taunted him on purpose.

Closing his eyes couldn't stop Zhixin from hearing Nawaki's voice worm its way into his heart.

Sure enough, at Nawaki's jeer, Zhixin opened his eyes in anger and shouted, "How could a monstrous kid like you, hailed as a genius, understand the hardships of an ordinary ninja? I merely promised to live on for someone else."

"Someone else? That fool who liked flowers and plants? That makes your life all the more precious! You're carrying your comrade's life with you, so you shouldn't be in a hurry to die. Are you trying to be a coward and run away again? If you really want to die, you can always bite your tongue. I definitely won't stop you."

Nawaki was truly good at talking people into submission. Zhixin's face flushed red, but he had no answer.

"What do you want from me?" After a long silence, Zhixin finally asked, helpless beneath Nawaki's amused gaze. He simply didn't have the courage to bite his tongue and kill himself. He couldn't tell whether that was because he was a coward or because of his promise.

Nawaki nodded with satisfaction. "As one of the 'senior' rogue ninja under the Consortium, you must know a lot about the other rogue ninja and bandit groups in the Land of Fire, right?"

"You want me to betray my comrades? That's impossible!" Zhixin seemed to have a strong aversion to betrayal.

"Comrades? From what I know, you're not that close. Take a certain comrade named Baran, for example. Didn't he threaten you with his ninjutsu to make you become his subordinate? You don't know this yet, do you? He's already bribed the bandit chief under your command to keep an eye on you."

"Jiro!" Zhixin ground out through clenched teeth.

"Jiro? Is that the bandit chief's name? You really do hate betrayal. You hate him even more than you hate Baran, the one who put him up to it!

"Does this have something to do with that failed mission before you deserted your village?" Nawaki asked curiously.