Killing an Elite Jonin

Heichen and Chiba stared at each other, a series of complicated thoughts flashing through both their minds.

Chiba, of course, wanted revenge for what Heichen had done to him earlier.

He had actually made Chiba serve as a human bomb. The agony that had sunk into his very bones—everything about it filled Chiba with deep hatred for the man before him.

And there was also the highly poisonous puppet Heichen had mentioned earlier. It sounded like nothing good. If this unexpected turn of events hadn't happened, Chiba's fate would probably have been just as miserable.

Heichen was feeling deeply unsettled as well. At that moment, he couldn't move at all. If the kid realized that, he would be in danger.

With that thought, Heichen's eyes shifted, and he spoke first in a stern voice. "Kid, what are you standing around for? Hurry up and get my medicine. Watch it, or I'll kill you."

"Uh..."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Chiba decided to give up on killing the man. The difference in strength between them was simply too great. If Heichen had even the slightest ability to move, he could easily kill Chiba.

With that in mind, Chiba decided to use this chance to escape.

"Yes, yes, Lord Heichen."

Chiba pretended to respond fearfully. As he turned around, he was already considering which direction to run.

However, just then, as if worried that the kid might notice his weakness, Heichen shouted sharply again.

"Hurry up! What are you dawdling for? It's in that blond guy's ninja tool pouch. If you keep wasting time, I'll kill you right now."

Chiba, who had been about to run, stopped in his tracks and froze.

"Ninja tool pouch?"

He lowered his head and fell silent for a moment. Then he suddenly curled his lips into a mocking smile.

"Heh..."

Turning his head slowly, Chiba revealed a strange smile.

"Lord Heichen, as far as I know, aren't your medicines all managed by that guy called Shadow?"

Heichen's brows twitched at once. He realized something was wrong.

"Why are you asking so many questions, you little brat? The kind of medicine I need is only on him."

"Is that so?"

Chiba shook his head.

"But I don't think it's a good idea to reach into another ninja's tool pouch without permission. Especially when it belongs to a ninja who specializes in ninja tools."

As he spoke, the smile vanished from Chiba's face, replaced in an instant by a cold expression.

Bending down slightly, Chiba quickly picked up a Kunai from the ground and charged at Heichen, driving it into him with all his strength.

"Heh..."

As Heichen stared in disbelief, Chiba plunged the Kunai straight into his chest.

"You... how dare you..."

Heichen tried with all his might to raise a hand, but in the end it fell limply back down.

"Heh."

Chiba couldn't help laughing cruelly.

"Didn't you realize? That last thing you said gave away how helpless you were."

Heichen's eyes were full of disbelief and confusion. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out where he had slipped up.

"You wanted to use the traps on that guy's ninja tool pouch to kill me, didn't you?"

Heichen's pupils had already begun to glaze over. He struggled to open his mouth, and it took a long time before he managed to make a sound.

"How... how did you know?"

"How did I know? Some mistakes are only worth making once in a lifetime."

Seeing the confusion in Heichen's eyes, Chiba slowly lowered his head and stared intently into them.

"From what I've observed over the past few days, each of you opens your ninja tool pouch in a different way. There must be some secret hidden in that, right?"

Heichen's pupils contracted sharply. Summoning the last of his strength, he managed to say, "What sharp... instincts. Shadow was right. You really do have extraordinary talent. I misjudged you."

With that, Heichen stopped breathing and lay motionless and stiff on the ground.

"Ninja talent? Heh..."

Chiba suddenly remembered something and closed his eyes in pain.

His parents' deaths, which had happened not long ago, were still fresh in his mind. How could he forget? How could he possibly forget?

Whenever Chiba stopped to rest over the past few days, he would stare at these people's ninja tool pouches. They thought he was curious about ninjas, but in truth, Chiba was reliving a painful memory.

From his observations, Chiba had learned that even a simple ninja tool pouch wasn't simple at all. It was a complex piece of ninja equipment.

Heichen and Scar's pouches were fairly ordinary, but Yellow Hair's and Shadow's were clearly much more complicated.

For example, pressing one spot made a steel wire spring out; pressing another made a scroll pop out. They were incredibly complex. Every day, it took them quite a while to organize their ninja tool pouches. Their mechanisms were far beyond Chiba's current understanding.

But that didn't stop Chiba from realizing that the things were dangerous.

They were extremely careful and meticulous whenever they organized their own pouches, and even then, they occasionally set something off. It went without saying that someone else messing with them would be even more dangerous.

Then there was the way Heichen had oddly told him to get the medicine from Yellow Hair. Chiba immediately realized that Heichen clearly had bad intentions.

At the same time, it revealed just how helpless Heichen was. Why had he wanted to kill Chiba? It was obvious: he was afraid. If he'd still been capable of fighting, he wouldn't have needed to resort to such tricks.

Chiba gazed silently at the dead Heichen, his feelings complicated.

He could never have imagined that things would turn out this way.

From Heichen's wide-open eyes, Chiba could tell how unwilling he was to accept his fate.

Yes, he had every reason to feel that way. He was an elite Jonin who had endured countless hours of grueling training and survived countless battles to the death. Yet he had died at the hands of a child with no combat ability who had never learned ninjutsu.

It was no exaggeration to say that if he hadn't been injured and had been in good shape, he could easily have killed ten thousand Chibas as he was now.

If he hadn't said those last words, Chiba wouldn't have seen through his weakness.

If Chiba hadn't spent the past few days thinking about the construction of their ninja tool pouches, he wouldn't have figured out so much.

But there were no ifs. Dead was dead. In the end, Chiba was the one who survived.

For some reason, Chiba suddenly remembered a saying: luck was a kind of strength, too.

Putting down the Kunai in his hand, Chiba felt a slight sense of discomfort.

It was his first time killing someone, after all. But that discomfort soon faded away. Perhaps it was because he had already seen so many deaths, or perhaps the harsh environment had numbed his nerves.

Chiba understood that if he wanted to survive in this cruel world, this was only the beginning.

He rose to his feet in silence and looked around, unsure where to go.

In every direction, the forest looked exactly the same. There seemed to be no difference at all.

But Chiba knew that there were huge differences hidden within it. He had little ability to survive to begin with, and now he was injured as well. If he could escape the forest and reach a human settlement, he might have a chance at survival. But if he went deeper into the forest, he would be doomed.

After a moment of silence, Chiba chose a direction and started walking. Since he didn't know what to do, he would leave it to fate.

But before Chiba had gone far, a deep voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

"What an interesting little fellow. But where do you think you're going?"

!!!

Chiba's pupils suddenly widened.

That voice was...