Cruelty, Revenge

On the training ground behind the Camp.

Taiichi was meditating and practicing when, for a moment, the sunlight shone on his face and made it appear multicolored.

However, this strange sight did not last long, only a few breaths, and soon after, Taiichi opened his eyes.

Surprise, shock, and regret.

A mix of emotions swirled in Taiichi.

Just now, taking advantage of the opportunity to improve his skills, he was able to directly observe the existence of Natural Energy.

Although it was only for a brief moment, it allowed Taiichi to experience the unique scenery of Natural Energy.

The sheer magnitude and power of that force is completely different from the feeling one gets from Chakra.

One is ruthless and selfless, like the impartial justice of Deva Path; the other is full of personal imprints, making the difference immediately apparent.

Unfortunately, this observation only lasted for a moment, leaving Taiichi with no opportunity to gain further insights.

I glanced at my own panel.

As expected, no skill was developed.

That makes sense. If one could develop skills simply by observing, then what in the world wouldn't he be able to do?

However, Taiichi was not in a hurry. If there was a first time, there would be a second. Since the meditation upgrade allowed him to feel the Natural Energy, he believed that with continuous meditation practice, he would eventually be able to normalize this feeling.

At that time, will Natural Energy and the Sage Mode be far away?

Taiichi stood up, stretched his slightly stiff body, and then made a series of cracking sounds from his bones.

Whether it was due to the enhancement of his mental strength or the perception of Natural Energy, Taiichi found that his mind had become exceptionally active.

Extending his right hand, a ball of flame condensed in his palm. As Taiichi's Chakra was poured in, the flame almost instantly transformed into Bright Gold, and even showed a tendency to further turn into incandescent white.

Sure enough, my feeling was right. My mind was more active, and even the power of my Ninjutsu had increased significantly.

The temperature bottleneck of the Fire Style that had been trapping me for so long has actually loosened up quite a bit today, which is truly a series of pleasant surprises.

Just as Taiichi was thinking about the next sword technique exercise, a strange noise in the distance caught his attention.

He stopped what he was doing, turned around and looked in the direction from which the sound came. Through the sparse trees, a beautiful figure with golden hair and a broad chest emerged from the woods.

As the figure drew closer, exclamations of admiration followed, "Your perception has improved; you could detect my movements from this far away."

"I just had a small success," Taiichi said modestly, twirling his Short Sword with a graceful flourish before sliding it into its sheath. "Master, is there something you need from me?"

Tsunade paused slightly. She had only been surprised and asked the question casually, but she hadn't expected that he would actually improve again. How could ordinary people like them survive?

Well, in Tsunade's mind, she has already been categorized as an ordinary person. She just wonders what those truly ordinary people would think if they knew what she was thinking.

"What, can't I come to see you if there's nothing wrong? It's perfectly normal for me to check on my disciple's cultivation progress, isn't it?"

Taiichi smiled wryly and quickly raised his hands to beg for mercy. Even if she was Sannin, this was the most direct way to deal with an unreasonable woman.

Seeing this, Tsunade knew that the joke had to stop, so she immediately became serious and started talking about serious business.

"The first village to be massacred has appeared."

Her tone was calm, but beneath that calm lay a raging indignation.

It is wrong for ninjas to lay a hand on ordinary people, let alone when the victims are Civilian from the Land of Fire, people that Konoha is supposed to protect.

Taiichi's playful expression immediately turned serious, and he said in a low voice, "Wasn't this something we expected? Mist Village still took this step after all."

"What does Teacher Tsunade need me to do?" Taiichi stood up straight, waiting for Tsunade's instructions.

"Simple. I want you to find this group and leave them all on the land of the Land of Fire as a warning to others!"

The beautiful face uttered murderous words, yet Taiichi felt no sense of incongruity.

"I obey!" Taiichi immediately replied, "I'll set off right away!"

Tsunade tossed a Mission Scroll, turned, and walked towards the Camp, leaving behind only the words, "Go, and do a good job!"

Taiichi reached out and took the scroll. He opened it and saw that it contained a brief introduction to the mission and the location of the massacred village.

Taiichi checked the map and found that the distance was indeed not short. He immediately leaped up, spread his wings, and soared into the sky in a whirlwind.

An hour later, a wisp of black smoke rose from the horizon, its location suggesting it was the village that had been massacred.

Taiichi flapped its wings and increased its flight speed, covering several kilometers in less than a minute to reach the airspace above the village.

It folded its wings and slowly floated to the ground using its Wind Style. A Konoha reconnaissance team immediately came up to meet it from a short distance away, and they were familiar faces.

"Hizashi, and Kai, I didn't expect it to be you two here!"

Taiichi greeted him warmly, took two steps forward and put his arm around Kai's shoulder. It was really lucky to meet one of the many Konoha Ninja in the Camp.

"Kai, is your team following Hizashi on a mission?"

"Yeah," Kai flashed his dazzling white teeth and said to Taiichi with a smile, "Our team suffered last time because we didn't have a leader, so the camp arranged for us to work with the Hinata ninja."

Although the two were in the same Camp, Taiichi was often out on missions, so they only had the chance to meet when they were at the Medical Camp. They rarely saw each other otherwise.

"I've been mostly staying at the Camp lately. If you have any free time during your mission, feel free to come find me. It's been a while since we sparred; I wonder how much your Taijutsu have improved!"

Taiichi was intentionally giving pointers to his friends, but in a very tactful way that didn't offend anyone, since they used to fight every few days during their school years.

"Ebisu and Genma, you guys should come too, otherwise I'm afraid Guy alone won't be enough for me."

The two nodded excitedly. Who Taiichi? He was Konoha's rising star. If he could guide them, how could their progress be small?

Moreover, they weren't in the same class as Taiichi; they only got this opportunity because of Kai.

"Alright, you guys, if you want to catch up, wait until we get back from the mission."

Hizashi waved to Kai and the other two, interrupting them before turning to Taiichi and saying, "I knew the Camp would send you on a mission like this."

When the conversation turned to serious matters, Taiichi immediately became solemn. He looked around at the village houses that had become ruins, and a nameless anger rose in his heart.

"So, did you find anything here?"

Come with me.

As he spoke, he led Taiichi to the central square of the village.

The place was densely packed with corpses—the elderly, children, women, and young adults alike. Some were killed with a single blow, while many others were brutally murdered using various methods.

"Of the 158 people in the entire village, not a single one survived; they are all here."

Hizashi calmly recounted that as a veteran Jonin, he had seen many such things, only that they usually happened in other countries, and this time it was happening in the Land of Fire.

Unfortunately, apart from him being the only slightly older one, everyone else here was still in the Chuunibyou stage of having an inflated sense of justice.

Although it wasn't their first meeting, Kai was still indignant. "Taiichi, you must capture these Mist Village Villagers!"

Taiichi nodded silently, continuing to look at Hizashi, waiting for him to continue.

"Judging from the traces, the massacre occurred this morning, about 3 hours ago."

The enemy consists of two squads, one of whom is a master swordsman, and the other is skilled in using Wind Style.

They retreated towards the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools.

"It seems they really did manage to break through the patrolling ninjas' blockade by taking a detour."

Taiichi muttered to himself, feeling helpless. The border was too long, and they were too few in number. It was really hard to guard against such a small force breaking through.

"I'll go after them right away. You can handle the cleanup here."

Taiichi gave his instructions and was about to leave when Hizashi called him back.

"Taiichi, don't we need to go together? Byakugan is quite useful for finding people."

"No, if the enemy retreats in a straight line, they're almost at the border by now. It would take me one day to catch up with them."

Taiichi refused without hesitation; this was not the time to be sentimental.

"Alright, then best of luck!"

Although it was a bit of a pity, Hizashi knew what was important and didn't dwell on it.

Taiichi nodded, then turned and soared into the sky, accompanied by a hurricane. His speed increased rapidly, and he disappeared from the four people's sight after a dozen breaths.

At this moment, Taiichi dared not be negligent. While flying, he activated his Chakra Perception and Soul Vision to quickly capture every detail on the ground.

He didn't believe that this group of Mist Ninja would actually dare to retreat in a straight line without making any attempt to change direction or conceal their intentions.

Sure enough, less than a minute later, it showed that there were two forks in the road.

Taiichi didn't argue and chased after them along a side path, leaving behind only a Flying Thunder God Kunai.

He chased for two kilometers, but the trail disappeared to the left and right. Undeterred, he used Flying Thunder God Technique to return to the starting point and continued the pursuit along another path.

Although this is troublesome, Taiichi's speed is fast enough that verifying the authenticity of a path doesn't take much time.

This happened five times. At the edge of the Chakra Perception, not far from the border of the Land of Fire, two teams of Mist Ninja were silently making their way.

"Finally—we caught up with you."

A distance of three kilometers is just a matter of seconds for Taiichi in flight.

He flew through the air, his senses pinpointing the enemy ahead. He threw out three Flying Thunder God Kunai with the momentum of the attack, and then began to form hand Hand Seals with his hands.

The Ninjutsu was activated the instant it flew past them.

Lightning Style ·Lighting Thunder.

Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the clear sky, dozens of bolts appearing out of nowhere and striking the Mist Village ninjas below with deadly precision, as if they had eyes.

As we all know, lightning is faster than thunder; by the time you hear thunder, lightning has already struck.

Faced with this sudden sneak attack, the Mist Ninja's reaction followed the objective course of events.

Apart from two Jonin with Jonin dodged the Lightning Style, the other six team members were all instantly reduced to charred remains.

Unfortunately, the Flying Thunder God Kunai's landing point was avoided; otherwise, there would only be one person still alive below.

However, this just means it will take a little more time.

The two Mist Village Jonin filled with terror; they still couldn't figure out where the attack had come from.

Before they could even see the enemy, six of their men were struck dead by lightning. Had they not been quick-witted and dodged at the last second, they would probably be lying there as charred remains.

The two quickly approached, back to back, cautiously surveying their surroundings. However, all they could hear was the sound of wind rustling through the leaves; there was no sign of enemies, not even a single animal.

Just as they were on guard, Taiichi suddenly appeared in an open space only a dozen meters away from them.

Taiichi is now universally hated in Mist Village; not only Jonin, but even Genin know him.

So, upon seeing that the two looked Taiichi alike, they didn't exchange a single word and Body Flicker fled in opposite directions.

This decisiveness and tacit understanding left Taiichi completely stunned.

Do you think splitting up the races will make a difference?

Taiyi instantly chased after one person, while simultaneously raising his left hand to create a shadow clone that chased after another Jonin.

How powerful can Jonin sight of me be? Dealing with their Shadow Clone would be more than enough for me.

On the other side, the Jonin his teleportation Body Flicker without regard for the consequences, not daring to waste even a glance back, because Taiichi's infamous reputation in Mist Village was too great.

Even so, the increasingly close commotion behind him told him that Taiichi was about to kiss him.

A fierce internal struggle raged in the mind of this high-ranking Jonin: should he disregard everything and focus solely on escaping to seize that last chance of survival, or turn around and fight to the death, hoping to die with more dignity?

Hearing the commotion right behind him, the Jonin's face gradually contorted with rage. Since he couldn't escape, he might as well fight.

He suddenly increased the power of his Body Flicker, leaping forward while drawing his sword and turning around, wanting to have a one-on-one swordsmanship duel with Taiichi, intending to leave a deep impression on Taichi Matsushita with his sword even if it meant his death.

However, he had only turned halfway when he suddenly felt a pain in his ribs. Looking down, he saw a Short Sword had stabbed him through from left to right.

His face was blank, his eyes filled with confusion. "How could this be? It was clearly still some distance away from me—"

"Fool! You didn't even realize you were under Genjutsu! You deserve to die!"

Taiichi curled his lip in disdain, twisted his Short Sword, and cut him in half at the waist.

"You'll suffer and die a agonizing death from the massacre of Civilian!"

After saying that, he didn't bother to clean up the corpse, leaving it there as a warning to the Mist Village ninja: those who commit cruelty will be cruelly punished in return.

Meanwhile, Taiichi's Shadow Clone caught up with another Jonin.

According to the information Scout by Hizashi and his team, this should be a ninja skilled in Wind Style.

Sure enough, before the Shadow Clone could get close, the fleeing Mist Village Jonin turned around, his hand already forming the last hand seal.

Wind Style: Thousand Face Wind.

A massive amount of Wind Blade spewed from his mouth, truly deserving of his title as Jonin.

However, when it comes to Ninjutsu, Taiichi has never been afraid, not even of Shadow Clone.

The shadow Shadow Clone at the forefront clasped its hands together, forming only three hand seals.

Wind Style · Vacuum Great Sphere.

A massive whirlwind was blown out by Taiichi, its size more than enough to conceal the three Shadow Clone behind it.

The whirlwind, carrying an invincible force, destroyed everything in its path, even carving a deep trench in the ground, not to mention the scattered Wind Blade blowing from the opposite side.

The power and effect of this attack startled the Mist Ninja.