War Erupts Once More

"I have to get revenge!" Hana stormed off to go find trouble with Itachi and the others. She had never suffered such a huge loss in all her life. "I'm going to beat them senseless!" Only after Yuun and Hayate talked her down did she finally recognize the gap between their side and the enemy, allowing them to stop her.

"How did Itachi convince so many people to join forces with him?" Hayate asked curiously. "Could we also team up with some classmates like he did?"

"That's right. We only need to find a dozen or so people to beat Itachi up properly." Hana suddenly understood. "And we can snatch the beef jerky from him too. Hehe."

"That probably won't work." Yuun spread his hands helplessly. "From what I saw, every one of them had more or less some beef jerky hidden on them. It looks like Itachi brought in all those people by handing out the jerky. If I'm not wrong, he definitely told them we still had plenty of beef jerky."

"So we just need to copy Itachi and we can gather even more people?" Hayate said excitedly. "And if we hand out the beef jerky, those people definitely won't stay together once they have no way to get any more."

"Don't even think about it!" Hana hugged her little backpack tightly. It had originally contained ninja tools, but judging from how stuffed it was now, it was probably packed full of beef jerky. "Anyone who tries to take mine will be destroyed!"

"Yuun..." Hayate could only turn a pleading look toward Yuun.

"It's fine. They're just a bunch of trash!" Yuun glared in Itachi's direction, gritting his teeth. "I'll show them what it means to play stupid games and win stupid prizes!"

"Yuun, do you have a plan?" Hana asked in delight.

"No, but at worst, I'll seal your hearing. As long as we set up proper warning traps, hearing isn't all that important. And when it comes to playing stupid games, I'm really not afraid of anyone!" Yuun said confidently. "Tonight, I'll let those bastards know that the biggest mistake of their lives was competing with me in stupidity!"

Night arrived right on schedule amid the anticipation of a group of kids preparing to do something stupid. Since they were all looking forward to the night's stupidity contest, the forest remained fairly peaceful throughout the day. At least, no one announced that they were withdrawing from the training.

Some kids who had already gathered broad leaves during the day to make leaf trumpets could not hold back and started making noise early, kicking off the stupidity contest. Whistles, banging, and shouting immediately rang out in a jumble, joined by the pitiful cries of innocent birds caught in the crossfire. The forest descended into noise the moment night fell.

Just as some people with nerves of steel or poor hearing prepared to plug their ears and sleep, the sound of gongs began ringing out one after another. This was the genuine sound of clanging broken gongs, the metallic ringing unending. The few kids beating them were quite talented too: they had somehow beaten several crude gongs made from thin metal sheets into a rhythm.

"Ready? When I count down three, two, one, we start together." Yuun held two sticks in his hands and nodded at Hana and Hayate. "Three, two, one!"

Boom boom boom boom... Dull drumbeats fell like raindrops. This was the result of Yuun and the others' day of hard work. Using wood for the drum bodies and waterproof blankets for the drumheads, they had forcibly made three drums that could actually be played. They had three sleeping bags anyway, so cutting up a few waterproof blankets did not matter. At worst, they could just go steal a few more.

The three homemade drums sounded at once. Though they were not as loud as real drums, their deep tones were even more powerful. Combined with Yuun and the others' excellent control over their strength and rhythm, the three drums created a resonant effect when played together. For a moment, every other sound was suppressed by Yuun's group. Just as Hana was looking smug, a thunderous blast erupted, startling her so badly that she dropped her drumsticks.

"What was that? It sounded a little like firecrackers, but firecrackers shouldn't be that loud," Hayate quickly realized.

"Those bastards..." Black lines filled Yuun's face as he looked in a certain direction. Hearing Hayate's question, he pointed toward where the thunderous blast had come from. "It's those bastards with Itachi. They followed the drumbeats here. That sound just now came from lighting firecrackers and putting them inside lunch boxes."

"So that's how it was." Hayate nodded. "That explains it. Still, I didn't expect them to have firecrackers."

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" Hana punched the drum in frustration. "Yuun, use that!"

"Do we really have to use that?" Hayate hesitated.

"Yes, we have no choice now." Yuun sighed. "I originally didn't want to... Fine, I admit it, I'd planned to use it from the start." Wearing a wicked grin, Yuun took three thin metal sheets from his backpack.

"Haha, give them to me! I'll show them the biggest mistake of their lives." Hana snatched the metal sheets and pulled out a kunai from her bag.

"Wait." Yuun grabbed Hana's hand. "I'll seal your hearing first. If you notice anyone approaching or need it undone, pat me on the shoulder. Got it?"

"Itachi, could the people over there have given up after being quiet for so long?" a tall, burly student asked curiously, then rubbed the dark circles beneath his eyes. "How about we stop for a while? I'm so sleepy."

"What nonsense are you talking about, Haruna?" Before the burly student could finish, someone else interrupted him. "Didn't you already sleep for quite a while during the day? Besides, have you forgotten how that guy bullied us before? We finally have an opportunity like this. We have to get our revenge properly!"

Yuun doesn't seem like someone who'd surrender that easily, Itachi thought with a frown. And Hana is with him too... Before Itachi could reach any conclusion—

Screeeech... A sharp, ear-piercing sound immediately rose from the place that had just fallen silent. The instant they heard it, students skilled in pranks and mischief began cursing loudly. A sound this harsh and capable of carrying this far could only come from specialized equipment. In other words, someone had predicted this situation in advance and prepared special tools specifically to mess with them.

There was more than one sharp-eyed person. They quickly explained the situation to the others, who were suffering while covering their ears, prompting even more people to curse. Unfortunately, beneath the crushing noise, their resistance was far too weak.

Meanwhile, Yuun, Hana, and Hayate excitedly scraped their metal sheets with kunai, producing shrill screeches. Covering one's ears was useless against that sound; it could be called utterly inescapable. No matter how strong someone's will was, they would eventually collapse after listening to it for too long. Even tempered steel would turn soft as silk.

Ordinary people rarely used this kind of prank tool that hurt its user before hurting others. But Yuun could use the Gentle Fist to seal his side's hearing, turning this unpopular tool into a terrifying weapon in his hands. Unfortunately, they had not brought an amplifier. Otherwise, aside from Yuun's group, everyone would probably have had to withdraw from training by tomorrow.

The metal sheets might have been terrifying weapons, but unfortunately, their sound did not carry far. As long as one moved a certain distance away, one would be fine. That was what the person familiar with prank tools had said.

A few minutes later, Itachi and the people around him all went green. If the noise had not made their entire bodies, bones included, tremble, they would have dearly loved to beat up the person who had said that.

Just as they dragged their weak bodies in an attempt to leave, Yuun, with his Byakugan activated, waved for Hana and Hayate to follow. They merely scraped the metal sheets from a distance. The nighttime forest was so dark one could not see a hand in front of one's face. Only Yuun's Byakugan could still see anything, while Hana and Hayate could only judge Yuun's position from the sparks produced by the metal sheet in his hand.