The True Bond (Part 2)

As a chunin, even if Xiangyuan was not specialized in taijutsu, his series of strikes were terrifying to an ordinary person. Had it not been for the chakra protecting Yuehua Ai's body, not to mention a child like him, even a grown man would have been in grave danger after suffering such an assault.

"Ai!" Konan cried out. Seeing Yuehua Ai's wretched state, she felt as if her heart were being torn apart.

Konan scrambled to her feet and rushed in front of Xiangyuan, desperately shielding Yuehua Ai's small body beneath her own.

"Damn it! The little bastard actually dared to bite me. I'll make you wish you were dead!"

Xiangyuan clutched the bitten area with one hand while roaring in hatred. The playful expression had long since vanished from his face; his twitching muscles and sinister gaze were clear signs that he had developed a genuine intent to kill.

From the moment Yahiko attacked to the moment Yuehua Ai was injured, only a very short time had passed. Yahiko and Nagato, who had struck first, had also suffered heavy blows. By the time they shook off the pain and regained their ability to move, Yuehua Ai had already been slammed to the ground.

"Ai!" Yahiko and Nagato roared as they charged forward, no longer considering pain, injury, or even life and death.

Xiangyuan hated the brat Yuehua Ai to the core. He grabbed Konan's clothes, trying to pull her away, but the girl held onto Yuehua Ai with all her might, protecting him regardless of Xiangyuan's efforts.

"Since you want to die, I'll grant your wish!" Xiangyuan's rage was on the verge of destroying his reason. He had originally intended to keep Konan as a plaything, but her stubbornness disgusted him, and he decided to leave none of these children alive.

"Stop!" Yahiko and Nagato shouted in unison.

Yahiko leaped, attempting to kick Xiangyuan, but Xiangyuan simply tilted his body and reached out to grab his ankle.

"Get lost!" Xiangyuan bellowed, swinging Yahiko toward Nagato. Nagato couldn't stop in time, and the two collided heavily.

"I hate being resisted the most!" Xiangyuan leaned down, grabbed Konan by the hair, and hissed into her ear.

"Ah!" The girl bit her lip in agony. One hand clutched at her roots, while the other remained shielding Yuehua Ai.

"Don't... worry about me," Yuehua Ai trembled as he spoke to Konan. He felt as if his body had fallen apart; he had no strength left at all.

"Ah... ah..." The girl groaned in pain, yet she stubbornly shook her head.

The girl's tears mixed with the rain and dripped into Yuehua Ai's eyes. He stared blankly at her pained yet stubborn expression. The tears he thought had dried up in his previous life now blurred his vision once more.

"Bastards, why don't you beg? Why don't you betray each other? Why die to protect a brat?" Xiangyuan stood up, stepped onto Konan's back, and asked in a fit of pique before stomping down hard.

Konan knelt on the ground, shielding Yuehua Ai. Facing Xiangyuan's stomps, she braced herself with her elbows, eyes squeezed shut, blood trickling from her lips.

"Bastard, come at me instead!" Yahiko roared in fury, charging forward again alongside Nagato.

"Over and over again, you are truly annoying!"

Xiangyuan pulled his foot back. He was growing weary of Yahiko and Nagato and decided to kill them once and for all.

Watching them charge from left and right as they always did, Xiangyuan prepared to grab them without a second thought. With his speed, he could easily knock them both down simultaneously.

"Hm?" Just as he was about to strike, he saw a kunai emerge from Yahiko's sleeve. He dodged in a hurry, but the movement aggravated the wound on his thigh, slowing him down by a fraction.

The kunai grazed Xiangyuan's body, leaving a tear in his ninja garb.

"Damn, so close!" Yahiko lamented. Although the kunai missed, their efforts were not in vain; as Xiangyuan dodged, Nagato seized the opportunity to grab his arm.

Xiangyuan trembled with rage. These ants had actually almost wounded him.

The moment Nagato restrained him, Yahiko seized the chance to stab at Xiangyuan with the kunai again.

"Enough, you brats!" Xiangyuan roared, delivering a vicious knee strike that sent Nagato crashing to the ground. At the same time, he reached out, striking first despite the late start, and grabbed Yahiko's wrist before the kunai could land.

"Damn it!"

Yahiko tried to break free, but a massive force surged through, and Xiangyuan yanked him forward.

Xiangyuan pinned Yahiko's arms and pressed him against his own body, repeatedly driving his knee into the boy's abdomen.

Yahiko's face flushed, his eyes wide with fury as he coughed up blood. Under such suppression, he had no room to resist.

"Yahiko!" Konan, having just caught her breath, looked up to see the wretched state of Nagato and Yahiko. She screamed and grabbed loose stones from the ground, hurling them at Xiangyuan.

"Hmph!" Xiangyuan snorted, tilting his head to dodge the stones. He dropped the unconscious Yahiko and began walking toward Konan.

"You really don't learn, do you? I actually wanted to keep a pet as pretty as you."

"Eh..." The regretful tone had barely left Xiangyuan's lips when he let out a startled sound.

"I... will never... let you... hurt my friends... before I die..." Yahiko's faint voice drifted up. He was sprawled on the ground, the rainwater already stained red with his blood. His face was pressed into the mud, and though he lacked the strength to even lift his head, his hand was locked tightly around Xiangyuan's ankle as he prepared to step away.

Cold rain lashed against Yuehua Ai's face. His eyes were blurred by warm liquid once again. Though he couldn't move, he took in everything Yahiko was doing.

This 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 this, Yahiko was like this, and even Nagato, who seemed timid, showed no fear when facing a powerful enemy for his friends. Wasn't one's own life the most important thing? Why give so much for others?

Yuehua Ai managed to turn his head slightly. He stared blankly at Konan, Yahiko, and Nagato. Their eyes were clearly filled with helplessness and fear, yet their spirit and actions were so strong and fearless. This stark contrast left Yuehua Ai bewildered; he realized that some of his long-held perceptions might have been wrong.

"Disgusting, just like cockroaches!"

Facing the frantically charging Nagato, Xiangyuan stood his ground and punched him in the stomach. Nagato vomited bile, the unbearable pain forcing him to his knees, clutching his abdomen.

Watching the boys lying on the ground or convulsing at his feet, Xiangyuan suddenly wore a sadistic smile. He used his other foot to stomp down on the hand Yahiko had clamped around his ankle. He crouched down, picked up the kunai Yahiko had dropped, and patted Nagato's head with a smile.

"Since your bond is so strong, how would you feel if I performed an execution right in front of you? I'm truly looking forward to it."

"I hate your eyes the most, so let's start there. I'll gouge out his eyes first, then cut off his ears, then his nose, his lips... ah, what a beautiful picture. Just thinking about it makes me impatient."

Xiangyuan laughed as he traced the kunai across Yahiko's face. Yahiko had long since lost consciousness.

"Stop!" Nagato's curled body trembled violently.

"Let them go!" Konan cried out. Just as she moved to intervene, a volley of shuriken embedded themselves in the ground beside her feet.

"As rare spectators, you should be grateful. Don't come over and get in the way!"

Xiangyuan said a word to Konan before turning his head back to Nagato. "What did you say just now?"

"Stop it... quickly..." Nagato's body trembled even more violently. He lifted his head slightly, his hair soaked by the rain obscuring his entire face.

Letting out two smug chuckles, Xiangyuan mistook Nagato's trembling for fear of him. He reached out once more to pat Nagato on the head.

"Stop? How could I? You'd better watch closely now; this will be an experience you'll never forget for the rest of your life!"

As he spoke, Xiangyuan raised his arm, aiming the kunai at Yahiko's eyes.

"Ah!" Konan let out a miserable cry, and Yuehua Ai's eyes widened in shock.

"I told you, stop it already!" A roar erupted, and the arm Xiangyuan had just begun to thrust forward was seized by a pale hand.

Xiangyuan looked up in astonishment, only to be met by a pair of ruthless eyes filled with swirling patterns.

"This is..."

Before the thought could even fully form, the curtain of rain around Xiangyuan was instantly blasted away. As the rain was cleared, an unimaginably massive force slammed into his body.

"Ah!!!" "BOOM!"

The young ninja Xiangyuan only had time to let out a single scream before his body was shoved horizontally, carving a trench into the earth like a plow. The roar of collapsing buildings echoed, and as the dust settled amidst the falling rain, a vast, flat, empty space appeared within the chaotic ruins.

Across the leveled ground lay a long trail of blood, and at the end of that trail was a corpse crushed into an unrecognizable shape.

Bone, blood, and mud were churned together; yet, this indistinguishable mass strangely failed to evoke any sense of filth or disgust.

Xiangyuan's words had ultimately come true—for Nagato, this was indeed an experience he would never forget for the rest of his life.