Xiangyuan was a Chunin. Even though Taijutsu wasn't his specialty, his barrage of blows was terrifying to an ordinary person. If Yuehua Ai hadn't had chakra protecting him, then even an adult man—not just a child his age—might well have been in grave danger after taking an attack like that.
"Ai!" Konan cried. Seeing Yuehua Ai's battered state, she felt as if her heart were about to be torn apart.
Konan scrambled to her feet and rushed to Xiangyuan. Without a thought for her own safety, she threw her arms around Yuehua Ai and shielded his small body beneath hers.
"Damn it! You little brat actually dared to bite me. I'll make you wish you were dead!"
Xiangyuan clutched the place where he'd been bitten and roared furiously. The mocking expression had long since vanished from his face. His twitching muscles and vicious gaze made it clear that he now truly wanted to kill them.
From the moment Yahiko attacked to the moment Yuehua Ai was injured, only a very short time had passed. Yahiko and Nagato, who had been the first to act, had also taken heavy blows. By the time they'd just managed to recover enough to move again, Yuehua Ai had already been slammed to the ground.
"Ai!" Yahiko and Nagato roared as they rushed over. Pain, injury, life, and death were no longer on their minds.
Xiangyuan had grown to hate Yuehua Ai. He grabbed Konan's clothes and tried to pull her away, but the girl clung tightly to Yuehua Ai, shielding him no matter how hard Xiangyuan tried to drag her off.
"If you want to die, then I'll grant your wish!" Xiangyuan was so furious that his anger was on the verge of destroying his reason. He'd intended to keep Konan as his plaything, but her stubbornness disgusted him. He decided to leave none of the children alive.
"Stop!" Yahiko and Nagato shouted together.
Yahiko sprang up and tried to kick Xiangyuan, but Xiangyuan merely sidestepped and reached out, catching him by the ankle.
"Get lost!" Xiangyuan bellowed. He grabbed Yahiko and hurled him toward Nagato. Nagato couldn't stop in time, and Yahiko slammed into him.
"I hate it most when people defy me!" Xiangyuan bent down, seized Konan by the hair, and leaned close to her ear to hiss the words.
"Ah!" The girl bit her lip in pain. One hand clutched her hair at the roots, while the other still shielded Yuehua Ai.
"Don't... worry about me," Yuehua Ai told Konan in a trembling voice. He felt as though his body had fallen apart, and he didn't have the strength to move.
"Ah... ah..." The girl groaned in pain, yet stubbornly shook her head.
Tears fell from the girl's eyes, mixing with the rain as they dripped onto Yuehua Ai's face. He stared blankly at her pained yet stubborn gaze. He'd thought he'd shed all his tears in his previous life, but now his vision blurred despite himself.
"Bastard, why won't you beg? Why won't you betray them? Why are you risking your life to protect a brat?" Xiangyuan stood up and planted one foot on Konan's back. He spat out the questions in a fury, then stomped down hard.
Konan knelt on the ground, shielding Yuehua Ai. Under Xiangyuan's stomp, she struggled to support herself with her elbows. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and fresh blood was already trickling from between her lips.
"Bastard, come at me!" Yahiko roared angrily as he and Nagato charged again.
"Again and again. You're really annoying!"
Xiangyuan pulled back his foot. He was already growing sick of Yahiko and Nagato, and decided to kill them once and for all this time.
Seeing them charge from either side as they always did, Xiangyuan didn't give it a second thought. He reached out to seize them, confident that his speed would let him knock both of them down in succession even while they attacked together.
"Hmm?" Just as he was about to move, he saw a Kunai slide from Yahiko's sleeve. He quickly dodged, but the motion tugged at the wound in his thigh, slowing him by a fraction.
The Kunai grazed Xiangyuan's body and cut a slit in his ninja uniform.
"Damn, so close!" Yahiko exclaimed in frustration. Although his Kunai had missed, their effort hadn't been for nothing. As Xiangyuan dodged, Nagato seized the chance to grab his arm.
Xiangyuan trembled with rage. Those ants had almost hurt him.
The instant Nagato restrained him, Yahiko seized the opportunity too and thrust his Kunai at Xiangyuan again.
"Enough, you brats!" Xiangyuan roared. A vicious knee strike knocked Nagato to the ground. At the same time, he reached out, moving faster than the Kunai, and grabbed Yahiko by the wrist again.
"Damn it!"
Yahiko tried to wrench his wrist free, but an overwhelming force pulled him toward Xiangyuan.
Xiangyuan pressed down on Yahiko's arms, pinning him in front of himself. He repeatedly drove his knee into Yahiko's abdomen with brutal force.
Yahiko's face reddened, his eyes bulged, and he kept spitting blood. Pinned down by Xiangyuan, he was powerless to fight back.
"Yahiko!" Konan had just caught her breath. As soon as she looked up and saw the state Nagato and Yahiko were in, she screamed and grabbed a chunk of rubble beside her, hurling it at Xiangyuan.
"Hmph!" Xiangyuan snorted. He tilted his head and dodged the stone, then let go of Yahiko, who had already lost consciousness, and started toward Konan.
"You really don't learn. I'd honestly wanted to adopt a pretty pet like you."
"Huh?" Xiangyuan had just spoken in a tone of deep regret when he suddenly let out a startled cry.
"I... won't... let you... hurt my friends... before I die..." Yahiko's faint voice rang out. He was sprawled on the ground, the rainwater around him already stained red with blood. His face was pressed against the earth, smeared with blood and mud. He didn't even have the strength to lift his head, yet his hand gripped Xiangyuan's foot tightly, stopping him from stepping forward.
Cold rain struck Yuehua Ai's face, and his eyes blurred again with warm liquid. Though he couldn't move, he'd seen everything Yahiko had done.
The feeling was so heartbreaking, yet truly so warm. Why were there such fools in the world, willing to sacrifice themselves for others? Konan was like that, and so was Yahiko. Even Nagato, whose nature seemed timid, had faced a powerful enemy without fear for his friends. Wasn't one's own life the most important thing? Why give so much for someone else?
Yuehua Ai managed to turn his head slightly and stared blankly at Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato. Their eyes plainly showed helplessness and fear, yet their spirits and actions were so strong and fearless. The stark contrast left Yuehua Ai dazed. He realized that some of what he'd believed all along might have been wrong.
"You're disgusting, like cockroaches!"
Nagato charged at him in a frenzy, but Xiangyuan stood his ground and punched him in the abdomen. Nagato spat up bile and doubled over, dropping to his knees as unbearable pain seized him.
Looking at the boys—one sprawled on the ground, the other kneeling before him and convulsing all over—Xiangyuan suddenly broke into a malicious smile. He lifted his other foot and stomped on the arm Yahiko had wrapped around his ankle. Then he crouched, picked up the Kunai Yahiko had dropped, and smiled as he patted Nagato's head.
"Since you're so close, I wonder how you'll feel when I torture your friend right in front of you. I can't wait to find out."
"I hate your expressions most of all. So let's start with the eyes. I'll gouge them out first, then cut off his ears, then his nose and lips. Ah, ah, ah! What a beautiful sight that'll be. Just thinking about it makes me impatient."
Laughing, Xiangyuan traced the Kunai over Yahiko's face. Yahiko had already lost consciousness.
"Stop!" Nagato's curled-up body trembled violently.
"Let them go!" Konan cried. She'd just started to move when a volley of Shuriken struck the ground beside her feet.
"As their rare audience, you should count yourselves lucky. Don't get in my way!"
Xiangyuan spoke to Konan, then turned back to Nagato. "What did you say just now?"
"Stop..." Nagato's body trembled even harder. He slowly raised his head, his rain-soaked hair hiding his entire face.
Xiangyuan chuckled smugly. Seeing Nagato tremble, he thought it was from fear. He reached out and patted Nagato's head again.
"Stop? As if. Now watch closely. This will be an experience you'll never forget!"
As he spoke, Xiangyuan raised his arm and thrust the Kunai toward Yahiko's eyes.
"Ah!" Konan shrieked, and Yuehua Ai's eyes widened in shock.
"I said, stop!" A roar rang out. Just as Xiangyuan was about to stab, a pale hand grabbed his arm.
Xiangyuan looked up in shock. He saw a pair of emotionless eyes filled with spiral patterns.
"This is..."
The thought had barely crossed his mind when the curtain of rain around Xiangyuan was suddenly swept aside over a wide area. As the rain was cleared away, an unimaginable force struck him.
"Ah!!!" "Boom!"
The young ninja Xiangyuan had only enough time to cry out before his body was hurled sideways, plowing across the ground. The crash of collapsing buildings rang out. When dust and rain settled, a vast, level clearing had appeared amid the rubble.
A long streak of blood marked the flattened ground, ending at a crushed body, no longer even remotely human in shape.
Bone, blood, and muddy water had mingled into an unrecognizable mass, yet strangely, it didn't look dirty or repulsive at all.
Xiangyuan's words had finally come true. For Nagato, it really had been an experience he'd never forget.
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