Little Demon

The flash of a blade swept across Yuehua Ai's eyes, and the bandits who had been kneeling and begging for mercy suddenly sprang into action.

"Brothers, grab him, or we're all going to die here today!" shouted a bandit named Kazuma. As the brains of the group, he had realized that begging for mercy would be futile the moment Yuehua Ai pointed out the rocks outside.

No one knew better than they did what they had done. Thinking of how they had wantonly tortured and humiliated those women, he knew that even the most softhearted person would never let them go.

With no way out, they could only fight for their lives. Fortunately, their opponent had made a foolish mistake and sent the others away. If they could take this little brat alive and use him as a hostage, they might still have a chance of survival.

When Yahiko and the others had attacked earlier, they hadn't gone hard on the bandits. Though they had lost plenty of blood, most of their injuries were only flesh wounds, nowhere near serious enough to cripple them. Once they got past the initial pain, they had already regained most of their ability to move.

The most severely injured bandit was their leader, Tōkichi. Yuehua Ai's Kunai had pierced straight through his right chest, nearly killing him. In fact, if Yuehua Ai hadn't considered that Yahiko and the others needed time to adjust and change, his blow would have gone straight into the man's heart.

A ninja was still a ninja. Even as boys, their strength far surpassed that of ordinary people. After being brutally beaten by the boys, the bandits knew they were no match for them. They naturally didn't dare make another move while the four young ninja stood before them. Even after Yuehua Ai exposed their crimes, they were too desperate to resist.

They had already prepared to await their execution, but at the last moment, things suddenly took a turn. To resolve his doubts, their opponent had actually left only the youngest boy behind to guard them.

The little boy looked harmless and was highly deceptive, though his strength had been plain for all to see. Even so, the bandits' powerful will to survive surged within them. In the end, he was just a little brat. He might be strong, but they had more people.

With so many of them, how could they fail to subdue a little kid who looked barely five or six?

If they let this chance slip by, they really would be doomed!

"Hmph!"

Watching the bandits charge toward him with twisted faces, Yuehua Ai sneered again.

"Ram—Snake—Tiger!" His hands moved rapidly, his fingers tracing afterimages through the air. In less than a second, Yuehua Ai had finished forming the Hand Seals.

"Clone Technique! Poof!"

Five clouds of ninja smoke burst open at once. When the smoke cleared, six identical figures stood in a row before the bandits.

"Damn it, clones..."

"There are so many of them! Which one's the real one?"

The charging bandits abruptly halted. Still clutching their weapons, their faces twisted with frenzy, they looked from side to side at the six indistinguishable figures, panic quickly taking hold.

"Just as I thought, they have no experience fighting ninja at all." Seeing their confusion, Yuehua Ai pursed his lips. Their reaction was exactly what he had expected. Ordinary bandits might know a few basic facts about ninja, but they couldn't possibly have any experience fighting them.

His ordinary Clone Technique could only create afterimages. Since the clones had no substance and he couldn't move freely while maintaining the technique, all it would take was picking up a stone and tossing it to identify the real one. It was only a little ninjutsu meant to confuse the enemy, and it couldn't have been easier to counter.

Anyone with even a little knowledge of ninja should have known how to counter the Clone Technique. But judging by the bandits, who were milling around like headless flies, they clearly hadn't thought of it.

Even though he had looked contemptuous earlier, Yuehua Ai hadn't dared to let his guard down while facing more than a dozen bandits alone. He had only started training as a ninja a year ago. Though he had made tremendous progress, he was still far from being able to ignore the advantage of numbers.

At this stage, the four of them were still mainly studying the Three Basic Techniques. They hadn't yet begun learning offensive ninjutsu from Jiraiya. When fighting others, they relied mainly on Taijutsu and Shuriken techniques.

At this stage, Shuriken techniques were the most effective against ordinary people. Unfortunately, Yuehua Ai had already thrown both of his Shuriken earlier. Since the boys lived in a remote area, getting ninja tools was no easy task.

The ninja tools they were using now had all come from Jiraiya's personal supplies. During their training, Yuehua Ai had received only one Kunai and two Shuriken.

He had no Shuriken left, and even his only Kunai was still stuck in the chest of the enemy leader. Yuehua Ai was now completely unarmed. All he could use against the ferocious bandits was Taijutsu and the Three Basic Techniques.

Yuehua Ai had good movement and reflexes when it came to Taijutsu, but he was still young, and his body's limitations remained. No matter how talented he was, his Taijutsu skills still couldn't match Yahiko and the others.

Besides, using Taijutsu meant fighting at close quarters. The bandits were ordinary people, so they couldn't surpass Yuehua Ai in speed or strength, but there were a lot of them. As the saying went, two fists couldn't fight off four hands. In a real fight, the enemy wouldn't take turns attacking one by one like the nameless minions in the movies and anime of his previous life. Just imagining more than a dozen blades and forks slashing at him from every direction was enough to make anyone panic—not just Ai, but even Yahiko would be at a loss in that situation.

He couldn't let them surround him. To ensure his safety, he had to split them up.

Yuehua Ai had already considered how the bandits might react when he decided to stay behind alone, and he had planned his response in advance. So the moment the bandits lost patience, he used the Clone Technique to disrupt their formation.

"Don't panic, everyone! Only the real one can attack. Let's all charge at him together!"

There was at least one clever bandit among them. When Xiangyuan saw that Yuehua Ai's clones weren't attacking, he guessed what was going on.

Yuehua Ai's real body stood motionless among the clones. So what if the enemy had figured out the limitations of his technique? They still couldn't tell at a glance which one was the real body.

Why had he arranged the clones in a row? So the bandits couldn't surround him. There were six of him, counting the real one and the clones, and since the bandits couldn't tell which was which, they would have to attack all six figures at once.

There were only eleven of them. Spread among the six targets, at most two or three bandits would be facing Yuehua Ai's real body at once. By the time they figured out which one was real, the situation would be different.

Since the clones stood far apart, the bandits facing them were forced to spread out too.

As a pitchfork thrust toward him, Yuehua Ai's gaze sharpened, and his body moved in an instant.

"Clap!" Yuehua Ai shifted to the side and grabbed the pitchfork's shaft. At the same time, he stepped forward with his left foot, placing it right against the bandit's toes.

With a tug, he pulled the bandit off balance, sending him toppling behind Yuehua Ai. Just as the bandit was about to fall, another one who had attacked alongside him swung a cleaver at Yuehua Ai.

The cold gleam of the blade was enough to send a chill through anyone, but Yuehua Ai showed no fear as the weapon bore down on him.

For a ninja, the greatest advantage in Taijutsu over ordinary people—aside from strength—was speed.

Yuehua Ai grabbed the collar of the bandit who was about to fall. Using the tip of his foot as a pivot, he straightened his arm and tilted backward even faster through the force of the counterbalance.

In an instant, Yuehua Ai's body formed a thirty-degree angle with the ground, while the bandit he held was already positioned above him.

"Ah!"

Blood sprayed everywhere!

The bandit above Yuehua Ai let out a scream as his companion's cleaver, unable to stop in time, sank deep into his shoulder blade.

Because Yuehua Ai was light, he used the bandit in his hand as the center of a circle and the tip of his foot as a pivot, swinging his body through a half-circle in an instant. The centrifugal force brought him back onto his feet, while the bandit who had wielded the pitchfork hit the ground hard, his weapon falling into Yuehua Ai's hands.

Without hesitation, Yuehua Ai thrust the pitchfork into the belly of the bandit with the cleaver.

Another piercing scream rang out. The bandit collapsed and writhed on the ground, looking just like a big fish caught by a fisherman!

The two bandits fell within the space of a breath. By the time Yuehua Ai pulled the cleaver from the man's shoulder, the afterimages left by his Clone Technique had also been slashed apart and vanished.

"Bastard! Kill the little brat!" Seeing two of their own fall in an instant, the remaining bandits were both furious and terrified.

Now that he had a weapon, Yuehua Ai felt much calmer. He brandished the cleaver in his hand, taunting them. The cave was large, and with his speed, as long as he didn't make a mistake, he had nothing to fear from being surrounded if he kept moving in and out of range.

Seeing that they couldn't even take down one child, the bandits realized they'd have even less chance once the other boys returned. Faced with a choice between life and death, they all saw red.

"Kill him!" The bandits charged, weapons raised.

They came at him fiercely, but Yuehua Ai didn't mind. To him, this was a perfect opportunity for real combat experience.

They looked as if they'd been driven to desperation, but Yuehua Ai didn't let them engage him in a prolonged fight. He struck and moved away, wounding or killing whenever he could, his small figure constantly darting through the cave.

In less than twenty breaths, four more bandits had fallen to his blade. Three of them were seriously wounded, while the last had his throat cut in one stroke. As he convulsed on the ground, he was clearly breathing his last.

A faint smell of blood began to spread through the vast cavern. More than half the bandits had fallen at the hands of this little demon in such a short time. The few who remained trembled and didn't dare step forward.

The surviving bandits stopped chasing him and huddled together instead. Yuehua Ai saw no reason to go after them.

Fighting five at once was still dangerous. He could get hurt if he let his guard down, and he also wanted to leave them for Yahiko and the others.

In Yuehua Ai's eyes, these men weren't merely bandits who deserved to die. They were also training fodder that could help Yahiko and the others grow quickly!

The two sides faced each other in silence beneath the firelight. In the cave, the only sounds were the flickering flames and the low groans of the seriously injured bandits.

The smell of blood clung to Yuehua Ai's nostrils, and his cleaver was covered in it. Now that he had stopped, he felt something sticky on his face. He knew it was the blood splattered there by the bandits. His clothes were stained with blood, too, and his right hand, which held the blade, was dyed scarlet.

The bandit lying at his feet weakly clutched his throat. His face was full of pain and fear, and the earth beneath him had turned reddish brown in the firelight. His body still twitched helplessly, but the last traces of life were already fading from him.

Yuehua Ai noticed the man's gaze slowly focus, and his heart gave an involuntary shudder. That look of helplessness and despair was so much like the looks of the women he had sensed outside.

Yuehua Ai felt a little saddened, but he didn't regret what he had done.

An eye for an eye—that had been his principle in both his lives.

Just as Yuehua Ai lost focus for a moment, the remaining five bandits seized their chance and ran for the cave entrance.

Run! This little demon was too terrifying. It was hard to say whether he was stronger than his companions, but when it came to ruthlessness, he was far ahead of those three boys combined.

They had given up on taking the enemy hostage. Now all the bandits wanted was to escape as far away as possible.

Fear drove them on. They didn't care about their remaining companions; one after another, they scrambled to get outside. Their formation broke apart at once. They didn't care that they might be picked off one by one. All they wanted was to run as fast as they could, while silently praying that the companions bringing up the rear could hold the little demon back.