Kill

Crack~

The crisp sound of bone splitting rang out.

Qian withdrew his hand expressionlessly from a bandit's head and let the corpse slowly topple to the ground.

Huff~

He let out a soft breath.

Turning back, Qian looked at Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko and said, "The open and hidden sentries have all been dealt with. Next, we act according to the plan. Shizuko?"

"Mm."

Hearing Qian call her, Mizutani Shizuko unconsciously straightened up.

"You watch the path down the mountain. Handle any fish that slip through the net," Qian said.

"Mm."

Though she was still a little nervous, Mizutani Shizuko nodded seriously to show that she understood.

Then Qian looked at Ryosuke and said, "Ryosuke, you and I go up the mountain and clear out those bandits."

"No problem."

Compared with Mizutani Shizuko, Ryosuke was much calmer. Even though he was going to carry out a more dangerous task, he showed little fear.

How should he put it?

As expected of a child born in the Ninja World, he had adjusted so quickly.

Qian gave him a deep look, then said, "Then let's begin."

"Mm."

Ryosuke and Mizutani Shizuko nodded in agreement.

Qian immediately headed up the mountain.

Ryosuke followed close behind him.

Mizutani Shizuko stood where she was for a while, then also slipped into the Dense Forest and hid herself.

By now, three hours had passed since they had reached the territory of Little Black Mountain. They had spent the first two hours resting, and the last hour clearing out the sentry posts.

Now, the obstacles had been removed. It was time to launch the general assault.

Uh.

A general assault seemed a bit exaggerated.

From those sentries, Qian had already learned that there were only about fifty people on this mountain in total. Of those still alive now, there were probably fewer than forty.

With so few people, as long as there was no overpowered existence among them, they did not pose much pressure at all. The only thing they had to pay attention to was overcoming their psychological barriers.

Fortunately, whether it was Qian or Ryosuke, both had adapted quite well.

Under the moonlight.

Qian and Ryosuke stepped across rocks and branches, silently approaching the bandits' camp.

Calling it a camp was generous. In truth, it was just one wooden building plus twenty-odd wooden huts. There was not even a wooden fence around the perimeter.

Seeing this crude camp, Qian finally understood why they had sent out so many sentries. So they were afraid of dying!

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Qian made several hand signals to Ryosuke, then the two of them moved toward the camp, one from the left and one from the right.

That wooden building was the Bandit Leader's residence, located in the center of the camp. To avoid being surrounded, he and Ryosuke decided to start killing from the outskirts.

As long as they were fast enough, there was no need to worry about alerting the enemy.

Pfft~

The sound of a sharp blade entering flesh rang out.

Inside a wooden hut.

Qian covered the bandit's mouth with one hand while driving a kunai into his chest with the other.

Suffering such a heavy blow, the bandit's eyes opened at once. First came confusion, then pain, then fear, before finally turning into lifeless gray.

Qian watched his eyes the entire time. He did not avoid it, did not look away, just quietly watched. He was forcing himself to accept all of this, to adapt to all of this.

Before he had the ability to overturn heaven and earth, he could only learn to adapt. Only by adapting to the rules of the Ninja World could he survive better.

Huff~

He let out a soft breath. After confirming the target was dead, Qian left the wooden hut.

This wooden hut was on the very outer edge. Whether in terms of location or the hut itself, it was among the worst, so naturally only one person lived there.

Therefore, Qian did not need to worry about alarming anyone else.

Standing outside, after carefully observing for a while, Qian once again chose a similar wooden hut and cautiously approached it.

After observing through the crack in the door for a while and confirming there was only one person inside, Qian pried open the door with his kunai and slipped in.

A moment later, Qian walked out.

Everything had gone smoothly. The other man had still been asleep when Qian slit his throat with a single cut.

After that, he repeated the process. Like a reaper, Qian went in and out of one wooden hut after another, harvesting the lives inside. The entire process was silent.

If it could keep going like this, it would save him a great deal of trouble.

Unfortunately, things rarely developed according to people's wishes.

Just as he ended the tenth person's life, a terrified scream rang through the entire camp.

Qian's movements paused slightly, then he finished off the life beneath his hand even more cleanly.

Then, in a flash, he arrived outside the hut and looked toward the direction the voice had come from.

He saw a bandit clutching his neck as he rushed out of a hut, shouting as he ran, "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"

However, before he could shout more than a couple of times, a figure chased out from inside the hut. Who else could it be but Ryosuke?

Ryosuke sprinted forward, reached the bandit's back, and stabbed a Kunai straight into his heart from behind.

The bandit's voice cut off abruptly.

Even so, the entire camp had begun to stir.

Faintly, Qian could hear tiny sounds coming from inside those wooden huts.

After thinking for a moment, Qian arrived in front of one of the wooden huts and kicked out. The wooden door shattered with a crash.

Before the two people inside could figure out what was happening, he rushed in at top speed and ended both their lives in an instant.

Then he charged back out of the hut and arrived in front of another wooden hut, repeating the method and killing the bandits inside.

It was not only him. Ryosuke no longer hid himself either, seeking only to kill the greatest number of enemies in the shortest amount of time.

Just like that, by the time the chaos briefly subsided, only twelve bandits remained in the camp.

The Bandit Leader looked at the only eleven people left gathered around him, his expression extremely ugly.

Tap, tap, tap—

A burst of footsteps sounded.

Qian and Ryosuke walked out from inside the huts, one on the left and one on the right.

Looking at the forehead protectors on their heads, one bandit cried out in terror, "They're ninja! Ninja have set their sights on us. We're done, we're done!"

Clearly, the Great Ninja War had not only dragged in the major ninja villages; countless ordinary people had been dragged in as well.

Perhaps in times of peace, these bandits would not have recognized Qian and Ryosuke as ninja, but after being tempered by the Great Ninja War, they recognized them at once.

Not only that, they also had a certain understanding of how terrifying ninja were.

Smack—

A crisp slap rang out.

"Bah, talking nonsense."

The bandit boss slapped the bandit who had been scared out of his wits across the face, spat, swept his gaze over Qian and Ryosuke, and said viciously, "What are you scared of? They're just two brats. Everyone, attack together. I refuse to believe we can't kill them."

With that, he was about to lead the charge.

However, right then, Qian flipped both hands, and six Shuriken appeared between his fingers.

The next instant, the Shuriken shot out.

The bandit boss still wanted to dodge, but level 2 "Ninja Tool Throwing" was no joke.

If it had been a ninja, they might have been able to avoid their vitals or block, but how could a mere Bandit Leader have that kind of ability?

And so, the bandit boss had only just taken half a step when he toppled straight to the ground.

"Ah! The boss is dead!"

"Everyone, run!"

No one knew who shouted, but the eleven bandits immediately scattered like birds and beasts, fleeing in every direction.

Qian and Ryosuke exchanged a glance, then each followed the bandits who were running wildly, leaving only the bandits who had fled toward the path down the mountain.