Keep Traveling

Looking at the three men wailing on the ground, Zhou Yang shook his head. "What a pity, what a pity. If Nan were here, she'd definitely applaud me right now. Still, you three didn't lose for nothing under this taijutsu of mine. This is the first time I've used it in the real Ninja World!"

Ignoring Toothless, Short Hair, and Topknot, who were still unconscious, he walked straight toward Curly Hair. Though Curly Hair's arm looked horribly twisted and miserable, his injuries were actually the lightest. The other two had suffered at least concussions from that blow and had probably lost the ability to think by now.

"Hey, curly-haired fatty, stop screaming."

But Curly Hair acted as though he had not heard him and continued howling miserably.

"Fine. Since you want to keep howling, I'll grant you that wish!" Zhou Yang said as he pulled back his right leg, seemingly preparing to stomp down again.

Seeing Zhou Yang like that, Curly Hair hurriedly shut his wailing mouth and blurted out at top speed, "Don't, don't, don't! Lord Ninja, please spare me! No, spare me with your foot! I don't want to take another hit!"

"Oh? Since you're so aware of your situation, answer a few questions for me."

"N-No problem, Lord Ninja. I'll tell you everything I know." It had to be said, a hulking man calling himself "little me" in front of Zhou Yang was rather amusing.

"Where are you from?"

"Earth Country."

"Are you residents of Earth Country?"

"Yes, all three of us brothers are."

"Then why did you come to the Land of Rain?"

"Because our hometown was attacked by a group of unknown people. Even though Hidden Rock arrived, more than half the villagers still died. Then we wandered here."

"Oh, so that's how it was. Did those unknown people have any distinguishing features?"

"They all wore masks. After entering our village, they started slaughtering people indiscriminately."

Looks like my previous guess was right. The Second Shinobi World War had already begun.

Just as Zhou Yang was inwardly lamenting how quickly war had arrived, the fatty suddenly said, "Lord Ninja, you've finished asking your questions. Shouldn't you let us go now?"

"Oh, leave? No problem. But hand over the money you've robbed during this time."

"Huh?"

"Don't even think about hiding any. Otherwise, I'll show you what a Human Pig looks like."

Human Pig—it didn't sound like a pleasant term. To avoid becoming one himself, the third brother obediently gave up the location where he lived and handed Zhou Yang a key.

"My lord, can I take my brothers and leave now?"

"No. How am I supposed to know whether what you said is true? Aren't you coming with me?"

"Uh... of course I am. Then, Lord Ninja, should I carry my eldest brother?" Curly Hair asked, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

"No, why are you sweating? Could it be that the place you just mentioned was wrong? No, that would be sending yourself to your death. So you have more than one place where you hid the money, is that it?"

"Uh..." At that moment, Curly Hair began sweating even more. He roared inwardly, How did he guess that? Was it really because of my sweat? "My lord, I absolutely—"

"Hm? Think carefully before answering. I'll give you one more chance. After this chance is gone, you won't receive my mercy again."

"Uh..." Could he really know? "Oh, right! My lord, I remembered that my two brothers also have vaults, so they each have keys on them too."

"Is that so? Have you thought it through?"

"I have, I have." The fatty stared at the child who was only as tall as his leg, feeling that this was not a child at all, but a mature and shrewd adult.

"Very good. Your honesty has earned my respect."

"Th-Thank you, my lord." The fatty thought, I finally made it through.

"So, having earned my respect, you've gained an opportunity to challenge me."

The fatty's relieved expression immediately turned deathly pale upon hearing that. Still hoping that this child did not mean what he thought he meant, he used the last of his strength to ask, "Lord Ninja, what does this opportunity mean?"

"Hm? That shouldn't be possible. I didn't hit your head, so there shouldn't be a problem with it, right? Fine, I'll be merciful and tell you." Then his previously casual voice suddenly turned serious. "If you defeat me, you get to live."

Hearing those words, the fatty seemed to lose all his strength at once and collapsed onto the ground.

"Don't give up! Life has to be full of hope, doesn't it? As long as there's hope, miracles will surely happen, young man!"

Though those words sounded encouraging, to the fatty, the person before him was simply a Devil. Even at a time like this, he was still humiliating him. But he knew the person before him was someone he could never defeat, so he simply closed his eyes and assumed the posture of someone awaiting death.

"Not even angry? That's way too spineless." Zhou Yang found it somewhat boring. Normally, he would not spare people who wanted to kill him, but he had run into such a shameless rascal instead. Boring, boring.

Just as Zhou Yang was considering how to rebuild the man's confidence, the shameless rascal felt that he had finally found a chance to launch a sneak attack. He suddenly pulled a shuriken from his body and hurled it at Zhou Yang.

If he had encountered this move before, Zhou Yang might really have been hit. But after training under Hanzo for three days, he had become vigilant of his surroundings at all times. Who was Hanzo? The timing of the shuriken Hanzo had thrown before was something an amateur like this curly-haired fatty could never compare to.

The instant his opponent threw it, Zhou Yang had already dodged. At the same time, he leaped up and delivered a flying volley—not with his foot, of course, but with the leg wrapped in weights. Those weights were made of metal, so naturally he was not afraid of the shuriken piercing through them. As for his opponent, the smile on his face had not lasted three seconds before he was struck by the very shuriken he had thrown. The shuriken pierced straight through his entire body, and he was done for.

"Tch, you dared sneak-attack me? Do you know what I've been through these past few days?" After quickly finishing off his two brothers, Zhou Yang went looking for the place according to the shop name Curly Hair had given him.

"Eh, I finally found it! This shop is actually right across from the one I stayed at last night. Heh, those three looked like crude brutes, but they were pretty clever!"

Afterward, he found the three men's savings. Their savings might have been nothing more than a number to most ninjas, but for Zhou Yang, who was buried in debt, even a mosquito's leg was still meat!

Then, under the owner's astonished gaze, he returned the key and left.

"At this pace, reaching it in three days will still be a bit tight. I need to speed up. It'll be troublesome if I suddenly lose the target."