Purge

Everyone silently sought out their own targets. Once all sixteen had found one, they watched the wandering samurai in their loose, shabby clothes laugh wildly and arrogantly, then slowly drew the short blades from their backs and launched a Body Flicker attack.

Squelch, squelch squelch—

They struck in an instant, catching the wandering samurai off guard and driving blade after blade into their hearts. In the blink of an eye, sixteen wandering samurai were dealt with.

Their first battle had ended in victory. How could these weaklings who called themselves samurai just because they carried swords possibly be their opponents? They could not even see through a Genin's Body Flicker Technique. They were pathetically weak.

Before long, the sixteen ANBU had eliminated the wandering samurai plundering the village. The surviving villagers suddenly noticed that the sounds of burning, killing, and looting had grown quieter. When they stepped outside, they found every wandering samurai sprawled on the ground, their chests pierced through in clean, fatal blows. They had finally been saved and hurriedly packed their belongings to flee the village.

The seventeen ANBU continued on their journey after leaving the village, heading for the northern border. Along the way, every bandit or samurai they encountered plundering settlements was killed.

He really did not know why the northern border had let such people in. They were so weak, yet dared call themselves samurai and imitate others by robbing homes and villages. They were nothing more than deserters with swords, capable only of bullying unarmed civilians.

Once they reached the northern border, Leopard went alone to the border outpost to hand over the mission. Seeing that reinforcements had arrived, the border ninja assigned an outpost to the ANBU for rest and recovery. At the same time, their mission was issued: they were to take charge of an area and purge the criminals who had entered the Land of Fire.

The ANBU rested at the border outpost for a night. The next day, the sixteen ANBU set off in groups, spreading outward in fan-shaped patrol routes from the outpost. Lin Chuan and Terai were assigned together to the easternmost sector.

When they patrolled to the eastern coast, people were boarding ships to migrate. Since the land routes were unsafe and difficult to travel, some chose sea transport, taking ships to the south of the Land of Fire. The moment Lin Chuan and Terai arrived, they spotted several samurai causing trouble.

"Five samurai? You take three, I'll take two." Standing on a rooftop, Lin Chuan watched the samurai at the dock threaten others with their swords so they could board first, then assigned targets to Terai beside him.

"Fine." Terai looked at Lin Chuan speechlessly. This guy was so blatant even when trying to slack off. Of course, Terai did not mind killing one more.

Swish, swish, swish—

After dividing up their enemies, the two used the Body Flicker Technique to appear first and take one samurai by surprise. The remaining samurai could only be dealt with in an open fight, which was nothing like the ANBU's usual style.

But the samurai at the docks were already terrified upon seeing the ANBU. They jumped straight into the sea, hoping to escape through the water. Had they forgotten that ninja could use Water Release?

Water Clone. Lin Chuan raised his hands and formed seals, summoning two Water Clones in the seawater. They grabbed the samurai by the legs and dragged them beneath the waves. Only a string of bubbles remained on the surface before the sea quickly returned to calm.

"My lords of the ANBU, may I ask why you have come?" Seeing the ANBU eliminate the troublemaking samurai, the passenger ship's manager forced himself to approach Lin Chuan and Terai, asking whether they intended to stop the refugees from migrating by ship.

"Passage can continue as normal. Anyone who causes chaos dies." Lin Chuan gave the ship manager a bland glance, then vanished from the dock with the Body Flicker Technique. Terai followed close behind.

When everyone saw the ANBU leave and the passenger ships allowed to proceed normally, they understood that the ANBU had come to maintain order. No one argued or caused trouble after that, and they boarded in an orderly manner. Yet some people no longer wanted to head south. The ANBU had come, so the north would be peaceful. The ANBU had come, and clear skies had returned!

With the ANBU purging the refugee samurai from the Land of Hot Water, the north would soon be peaceful. They could return to the land they had worked day and night, without having to leave their homes to scrape out a living or seek refuge with relatives and endure outsiders' scorn.

As the border ninja began their propaganda efforts, the tide of refugee migration finally came to a halt, and the restless people gradually calmed down. After all, this batch of ANBU killed any samurai carrying a sword, without caring whether they were criminals from an enemy nation.

After two or three months of continuous killing, no one in the north of the Land of Fire dared carry a samurai sword anymore. Let alone swagger through the streets with one or use it to hurt someone. Even samurai had to walk empty-handed, all wanting to leave the troubled northern Land of Fire as quickly as possible.

On the eastern side of the northern border, another day of patrol followed another. Terai had barely drawn his blade lately. Sitting in a tree, he stared boredly toward the docks and sighed, "So boring! It feels like this mission is almost over..."

"It won't be that simple." Sitting on the other side of the trunk, Lin Chuan gently shook his head. Once the criminals within the country were cleared out, there would still be plenty of chaos outside it. As long as the Land of Hot Water remained unsettled, refugees would continue to exist.

The Land of Hot Water was surrounded by the sea on three sides. Its closest and longest border was with the Land of Fire, followed by the Land of Rice Fields. If these refugees did not flee to the safer Land of Fire, were they supposed to sail out to sea? This was not the Pirate World.

There was also the Jashin Cult in the Land of Hot Water. The daimyo of the Land of Hot Water had not commissioned Konoha ninja to deal with it. Konoha had no obligation to help the Land of Hot Water quell its internal strife. All they could do was guard the border and watch the Land of Hot Water rot away bit by bit.

None of that had anything to do with a small-time ANBU like him. He only knew to carry out his superiors' orders. Whoever they told him to kill, he killed. Meanwhile, he ruthlessly milked Root and grinded like crazy. After half a year of milking them, the proficiency on his Grind Panel had increased considerably again.

[Ninjutsu]

[Non-Elemental Ninjutsu]

[E-rank Ninjutsu: Transformation Technique (Genin: 1020/2000)]

[E-rank Ninjutsu: Clone Technique (Genin: 1019/2000)]

[E-rank Ninjutsu: Substitution Technique (Genin: 1027/2000)]

[D-rank Ninjutsu: Body Flicker Technique (Chunin: 2230/4000)]

[B-rank Ninjutsu: Shadow Clone (Genin: 748/1000)]

The basic Three Body Technique was still the same. He had not grinded much, and only the Body Flicker Technique had gained over two hundred points of proficiency.

Only the Shadow Clone was worth paying attention to. It had gained over three hundred proficiency points in the past half year, and it was not far from breaking through to Chunin level. With another half year or so, it would probably break through to Chunin level.

[Ninjutsu]

[Water Release Ninjutsu]

[C-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Clone (Genin: 388/1000)]

[C-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Shock Wave (Genin: 252/1000)]

[B-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Formation Wall (Usable: 41/100) (Two seals)]

[B-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet (Usable: 43/100) (Six seals)]

[B-rank Ninjutsu: Water Release: Heavenly Weeping (Genin: 783/1000)]

Water Clone had also gained over a hundred proficiency points, while Water Shock Wave had gained over fifty. Its usage frequency truly was not as high as Water Clone's.

Water Formation Wall and Water Dragon Bullet were still improving slowly. His focus was not really on them, mainly because they consumed too much chakra. After successfully becoming Maruboshi Kosuke's disciple, he only practiced them occasionally to keep from getting rusty.

Water Release: Heavenly Weeping's proficiency growth was very encouraging. Like the Shadow Clone, it was close to breaking through to Chunin level. That was also the result of it being his main focus. It was probably the Water Release ninjutsu most likely to reach Chunin level first. Heavenly Weeping should break through in around half a year. He was really looking forward to it!

He did not know when this boring patrol mission would end. He truly did not want to keep wasting time here, killing insignificant small fry who were not even background characters. At the very least, the people he wanted to kill had to have shown their faces before. Otherwise, he would not even have any interest in making a move.