"Abe Rō, stay here and deal with anyone who slips through," Yechen instructed.
Abe Rō knew Earth Release ninjutsu, making him the best choice to guard the road. If anyone escaped, he could use Earth Release to finish off the fleeing bandits.
"All right. Yechen, Miyuki, you two be careful too."
This was the plan they had already agreed on, so Abe Rō accepted without objection.
A figure stood in the treetops a short distance away. It was Nakagawa Ichirō.
"They've already reached the stronghold?"
Nakagawa Ichirō had been watching the three from the start. They had taken out six or seven hidden sentry posts along the way without alerting anyone in the stronghold. That alone puzzled him.
"Could this kid have activated his Sharingan?"
It was a reasonable suspicion. Finding every hidden sentry post and mapping out the route in such detail was impossible with binoculars alone.
Of course, he could not be certain Yechen had awakened his Sharingan. He still needed to observe him.
"Miyuki, come up the mountain with me. We'll wipe out these bandits. Remember, don't show mercy."
"Understood."
Compared with Abe Rō's nervousness, Ito Miyuki was much calmer.
As expected of a Jonin's child, she had adapted quickly.
The two immediately darted up the mountain.
Ninjas were physically far superior to those bandits, and even at night, they could see better than ordinary people.
With Yechen, who practically had cheats, leading the way, the two reached the vicinity of the stronghold with ease.
Under the moonlight.
Yechen and Ito Miyuki stepped across branches, silently approaching the stronghold's perimeter.
Though called a stronghold, it was really just a wooden palisade enclosing two tall towers, with two bandits keeping watch atop them.
Farther inside stood twenty-odd wooden houses. Yechen could not understand why such a crude stronghold needed so many hidden sentries. Were they that afraid of dying?
Shaking his head slightly, Yechen signaled for them to take one side each and eliminate the two lookouts first.
Ito Miyuki nodded to show she had no problem with that.
Like phantoms in the night, they crept up to the sentry posts and silently drew their kunai. Covering the bandits' mouths and noses from behind, they drove the blades hard through their hearts.
Evolution Points +2
Yechen pursed his lips and signaled to the other side. Then the two began assassinating their way inward from the perimeter.
From Yechen's observations, the stronghold had held a little over a hundred and thirty people, including the abducted women. With more than twenty bandits already killed, fewer than a hundred people remained inside.
The slaughter began!
Moving along the rows of wooden houses, Yechen killed decisively, looking like an expert at the work. In truth, every time his blade pierced flesh, he still felt an inward resistance.
He kept reminding himself that this was the Shinobi World. This was a battlefield. Only by adapting could he survive.
"Whew...!"
Letting out a soft breath, Yechen confirmed the bandit was dead and left the wooden house.
After watching from outside for a while, Yechen crept toward the next one.
Peering through the crack in the door, he confirmed there was only one person inside. He gently pried the latch open with his kunai and slipped in.
Moments later, he emerged with blood dripping from his kunai.
Up to this point, the assassinations had gone smoothly. With nothing to do, many bandits had gone to sleep, giving the two their chance to strike.
He continued in the same way, like a god of death emerging from a sea of corpses, relentlessly harvesting the bandits' lives. The entire process unfolded without a sound.
Unfortunately, things rarely went as hoped. As Yechen approached the houses deeper inside, he heard a woman's screams. Through a crack in the door, he saw an appalling scene.
A bald, burly man was brutally abusing a woman.
Pinned beneath him, the woman kept begging for mercy. Bloody marks covered her body; she had clearly been tortured beyond recognition.
"You beast..."
At the sight, Yechen could no longer keep his cool. He kicked the door open.
Bang!
The burly man jolted in fright!
"Who's there? Can't you see I'm enjoying myself? If you want a turn, you'll have to wait!"
The man grumbled and had barely turned his head when a cold gleam flashed. His head went flying.
"Aah...!"
Already terrified, the woman screamed at the sight, her voice ringing throughout the stronghold!
Immediately, flames sprang up across the stronghold. Someone noticed something was wrong and shouted, "Enemy attack!"
"Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
The woman, brutalized beyond recognition, was so frightened that she had lost all composure. She did not even think to push away the headless corpse lying on top of her, only kept shouting, "Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"
Yechen kicked the man's corpse away, picked up the torn clothes from the floor, and covered the woman with them. Then he turned and walked out.
He did not regret what he had just done. At that moment, the fury in his heart erupted completely.
Though this woman had nothing to do with him, no one with any spirit could remain unmoved by the helplessness and humiliation in her eyes.
He was a ninja, yet not entirely one. He could not extinguish his humanity, nor could he remain calm at the sight of someone abusing a woman.
"Everyone, get out here! Enemy attack! Enemy attack..."
One bandit had barely shouted twice when someone rushed out of a house on the other side and slit his throat. It was Ito Miyuki.
She did not know what had happened. Hearing someone shout about an enemy attack, she had rushed outside.
When she saw Yechen, she asked in confusion,
"What happened?"
"Forget that for now. Kill them all."
Yechen was truly enraged. Before, he had still felt uneasy about killing. Now, only fury remained in his heart.
"All right..." Ito Miyuki answered without thinking further.
At that moment, twenty or thirty bandits rushed out from all directions. Kunai in hand, Yechen charged straight at them.
There was no method to his movements, nor any wasted motion. Acting entirely on instinct, he reaped one life after another.
Ito Miyuki had just begun to move, but seeing Yechen in such a frenzy, she instinctively stopped.
"Yechen, what's wrong?"