"Fūma Shuriken!"
"Summoning Jutsu: Manda!"
With a hand sign, two enormous shuriken appeared in Shangguan Yingjie's hands. He hurled them, and under his control, the Fūma Shuriken multiplied into a barrage of shadow blades that attacked Mingye. But Mingye showed no sign of dodging. He slapped one hand against the ground, and a huge black serpent appeared. The Fūma Shuriken struck Manda's massive body without leaving so much as a mark. Shangguan Yingjie's eyes were bloodshot, but he showed no fear of the enormous serpent.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
The ground beneath Manda turned into a swamp, and his body began sinking into it. Mingye sighed again. This time, it wasn't because he couldn't bear to do it. He had decided to kill Shangguan Yingjie. The ninjutsu talent he had displayed had made Mingye wary. Shangguan Yingjie couldn't possibly defeat him or the Uchiha Clan, but Mingye might regret letting him go today. He snuffed out that last flicker of conscience, then leaped from the top of Manda's head and shot straight toward Shangguan Yingjie.
"Where's my food, brat?!"
"You can eat anyone here!"
Manda didn't even glance at Shangguan Yingjie. He glared at Mingye as he dropped from the air, demanding food in a tone that sounded as though he might kill him. But when Mingye answered, Manda actually gave a humanlike chuckle, then turned away and flicked his tongue as he searched for people to fill his belly.
"Multiple Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
"Great Wind Chaos Performance!"
Mingye hurled another enormous shuriken. His body paused in midair. He took a deep breath and spread his arms, and a whirlwind spun before him, forming a wall that altered the trajectories of the countless shuriken flying toward him. On the ground, Shangguan Yingjie repeatedly curled his fingers, and the shuriken that had veered off course turned back toward Mingye. Mingye sensed the Chakra Threads controlling them. He showed his own skill in turn, vanishing from the air in a flash. The next moment, he appeared before Shangguan Yingjie and swept him off his feet with a sideways kick.
Shangguan Yingjie's reflexes were impressive. Just as Mingye's sweep sent him tumbling toward the ground, he slammed one hand down and used the force of the impact to push himself back up. Then he launched a flurry of kicks at Mingye. A thin snake emerged from Mingye's arm and darted into Shangguan Yingjie's body, biting his leg. As Mingye retreated from the flurry of kicks, he tugged on the snake. It didn't let go of Shangguan Yingjie's leg. Still clamped onto him, it allowed Mingye to yank him up and then slam him to the ground. Mingye stepped forward and kicked him in the stomach, sending him flying several meters.
Shangguan Yingjie spat out a mouthful of blood and quickly got to his feet, only to feel a sharp pain in his leg. He tore open his trouser leg and saw that the spot where the snake had bitten him had turned black. He could also make out a faint, putrid stench. When he looked up, Mingye was already coming at him again. He punched Shangguan Yingjie in the shoulder, chest, stomach, and joints in quick succession, then wrenched both his arms out of their sockets.
"Wind Release..."
Summoning the last of his strength, Shangguan Yingjie endured the pain throughout his body and tried to fight back. But Mingye gave him no chance. One punch dislocated his jaw, leaving him unable to speak, and then another kick sent him crashing into a house.
"I know you hate me. I hate myself, too. This isn't the first time I've killed someone, but it's the time that scares me most, because it's the first time I've actually wanted to kill someone. Heh. But I have to say, you really were a good friend. So I won't let you suffer for long. I'm sorry, my friend. I gave you a chance. If you'd run away then, you could've come back for revenge someday, and that would've been fine. But you chose the one path you shouldn't have. I'm sorry."
Shangguan Yingjie stared at Mingye. With both arms and his jaw dislocated, he couldn't utter a single word. All he could do was watch Mingye walk toward him, pick up a short blade from the ground, and plunge it into his heart.
As the short blade sank inch by inch into Shangguan Yingjie's chest, Mingye struggled inwardly, but his hand never stopped moving. When the blade had pierced Shangguan Yingjie's heart, Mingye sat beside him and patted his head, already lifeless. He laid him flat, then leaned against the wall and gave a bitter smile as he looked at the corpse.
"Mingye!"
Some time later, Shimizu suddenly appeared before him. Seeing Mingye staring blankly into space, Shimizu immediately understood what was on his mind. Mingye smiled faintly and shook his head. He knew what Shimizu was worried about, too, and explained, "Uncle Shimizu, I'm fine. Check the bodies and see if all the Fuma Clan's ninja really are dead!"
"Mingye... Sigh. Take care of yourself. I can only tell you this: you did nothing wrong. You don't need to carry any guilt."
Shimizu let out a long sigh. He truly didn't know how to comfort him. Killing wasn't a skill; it was simply something you needed in order to survive. In this world, if you didn't kill, someone would kill you. Just as people needed to drink water and eat every day, killing was an unavoidable part of life. But if Shimizu tried to offer comfort, he wouldn't even know where to begin. He shook his head.
"I know. I don't think I did anything wrong, either."
"It's only this world that's wrong."
Mingye stood up and answered Shimizu. Then he hoisted Shangguan Yingjie over his shoulder. As he walked past Shimizu and left the house for the woods, he silently reminded himself that this had been his first true friend—someone who had befriended him as an ordinary person, without a shred of suspicion. The first friend he had killed with his own hands, and the first friend he would bury in the earth.
Shangguan Yingjie
After sitting beside the body for a while, Mingye left again. As he stepped out of the room, he suddenly raised his arm and spoke to Ara, who was coiled around it. "Could you stop sucking my blood? I don't have much to spare as it is. Can't you see everyone here is already dead?"
A snake's head poked out from Mingye's sleeve. Ara looked at him with humanlike contempt and demanded, "If it weren't for me, would you look like an ordinary person? You've studied the Art of Qi for three years, and you still can't completely purge the chakra bloodline from your body. What does that make you, if not a waste?"
Mingye couldn't see Ara's expression, but he could imagine it from the snake's tone. After three years together, he was no longer the boy who feared snakes. He joked, "Then go find some geniuses and ask the Sage Granny to bring them back for training!"
"You ungrateful brat. I won't help you next time!"
Ara's curses didn't anger Mingye, because they were true. A major reason the Fuma Clan had captured him instead of killing him was that his body had no chakra fluctuations. No—when Ara sucked his blood, he was a person completely devoid of chakra. That was how he had managed to infiltrate the Fuma Clan and carry out all his plans. Ara had served not only as his eyes and ears, but had also helped suppress the chakra bloodline in his body. At night, Ara had even helped him put Ryūchi Cave's poison into everyone's food boxes. Mingye was grateful, but the rumbling crashes he heard nearby stopped the words from leaving his mouth. Instead, he said to Ara, "You're pretty satisfied, aren't you? Take Manda with you, too!"
"I know!"
Ara glanced at Manda in the distance, who was acting like a scavenger, eating people and demolishing houses. He was fed up with Manda's arrogance. If Ara hadn't been there, Manda might even have attacked Mingye. So Ara bit Mingye's finger again, then used the Reverse Summoning Technique and disappeared with Manda from among the Fuma Clan's ninja, returning to Ryūchi Cave.
"This isn't the first time I've killed someone. How melodramatic of me!"
Once Ara had disappeared and returned, Mingye sensed chakra beginning to form in his body again. His mood suddenly grew heavy. He kept replaying the scene of the killing in his mind, then mocked himself and shook his head. He headed down the mountain, wanting to leave that place of killing as quickly as possible.
In the general's hall, Shimizu knelt on one knee and held a square wooden box above his head with both hands as he addressed the general seated before him.
"I pay my respects to the general. I have carried out the task without fail. This is the head of Fuma Kotaro!"
The general's eyes flickered. He hadn't expected them to wipe out the tumor-like Fuma Clan in less than a month. The ease of the slaughter even made him regard the Uchiha Clan's ninja in a new light. His surprise flashed across his face and vanished. He praised Shimizu and offered him a reward. "Excellent! You truly are ninja of the Uchiha Clan. I'm very pleased. From today onward, you'll take charge of security in West City. Your clan will receive one-tenth of its tax revenue!"
"Thank you for your generosity, General!" Shimizu showed little excitement. Although it was a reward, he knew that West City's security amounted to no more than a single street, and one-tenth of its tax revenue was worth no more than a hundred strings of coins. Compared with the Fuma Clan's more than four hundred ninja, that meant each of them wouldn't even get one string. Heh.
"Heh heh heh! Shimizu, would you mind telling this old man how you managed to wipe out the entire Fuma Clan in a single night?"
Just then, Fujiwara Muneyoshi asked him with a genial laugh. Shimizu looked coldly at Fujiwara Muneyoshi and answered with open disdain, "That's none of your business!"
"Heh heh heh!"
Watching Shimizu and Fujiwara Muneyoshi, the general smiled again. The simplest way to rule his ministers was to keep them divided and balanced. If they began forming cliques for private gain, he would have to support another faction. Otherwise, the saying that ministers could overcome their ruler and sons their fathers might come true for him. In this chaotic age, he couldn't even trust his own sons completely. When he saw Fujiwara Muneyoshi rebuffed by Shimizu, he silently reassessed their positions. Fujiwara Muneyoshi was undoubtedly his strategist, but a strategist could only advise with words. When it came time to fight with blades and spears, he would still have to rely on ninja. And among his ninja, it seemed only the Uchiha Clan was at odds with Fujiwara Muneyoshi. Given the circumstances, the general nodded to himself and decided to give the Uchiha Clan a little support, so it could gain some real power.
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