The smell of gunpowder mingled with blood, especially pungent in the dry grassland wind.
The Iwagakure Jonin's corpse lay on its back in the dust, steam still gushing from the hole in his chest. His eyes, which had remained open even in death, retained a terrified disbelief—as though he had watched an ant bite an elephant to death.
A deathly silence lasted three seconds.
"Captain... is dead?"
The remaining three Iwagakure Chunin finally reacted. After the fear came rage born of utter humiliation. Proper Iwagakure ninja had actually capsized in a gutter, their captain killed by a bunch of mud-legged peasants who could not even refine chakra!
"Kill them!!"
One Iwagakure Chunin roared and rapidly formed hand seals.
"Earth Release: Earth Flow Spears!"
The ground shook violently. Countless sharp stone spears, like fangs bursting from beneath the earth, instantly pierced the earthen wall at the village entrance.
"Ah!!"
Several screams rang out. The villagers, who had just been swept up in brief fervor after killing a Jonin, were instantly dragged back to brutal reality. Blood sprayed everywhere. Two young men trying to rush forward were pierced clean through by stone spears, left hanging in midair as they convulsed in agony.
The young man who had fired the gun had split the webbing of his hand from the massive recoil. Now he was frozen with fear, slumped on the ground while clutching the scalding-hot Defender in his arms.
"So this is the power of ninja..."
Despair spread like a plague.
This was the gulf between ordinary people and ninja. Even with a "divine weapon" in their hands, before they formed any scale or tactics, they remained as fragile as paper before well-trained killing machines.
"Disarm them! Don't let them fire again!" Another Iwagakure ninja flashed forward, using the Body Flicker Technique