Just as Tahm was mentally rehearsing how he would step in righteously and earn a wave of favorability, a thin orange figure beat him to it and stood in front of Sakura, leaving Tahm quite surprised.
Looking closely, who else could it be but their hot-blooded protagonist, Naruto?
"With me here, I won't let you bully Sakura!" Naruto wore a resolute expression, while splendidly ignoring Ino, who was also one of their targets.
Seeing Naruto's steadfast figure standing before her, Sakura could not help feeling touched. She had only met Naruto a few times before, and they had essentially been strangers, but now a faint, hazy fondness for him arose in her heart.
Faced with this unexpected scene, Tahm could only sigh. Using a hero-rescues-the-damsel act to earn girls' favor really was something Naruto excelled at. Last time, Tahm's appearance had disrupted Naruto and Hinata's story. Who would have thought that this time, by sheer coincidence, he would run into this business with Sakura?
"So it's the demon fox brat!" The ringleader instead revealed a mocking smile. "An ugly freak paired with a monster fox—what a perfect match!"
"You're the ugly freak!" Naruto's words suddenly turned sharp and struck right at the heart of the matter. "Sakura is so pretty. I think you're just jealous of her!" His words made Sakura blush shyly, while the ringleader had been exposed so thoroughly that her face shifted between green and white. Tahm could not help giving Naruto a thumbs-up in his heart. He was clearly a hot-blooded idiot, yet he could flirt with girls so naturally. Impressive, impressive.
"What nonsense are you spouting?!" The delinquent girl finally flew into a rage from embarrassment and threw a punch. "I'll teach you brats a proper lesson today!" Seeing this, the lackeys behind her all rushed forward as well.
Naruto put on a heroic, determined expression and shouted, "I won't let you bully Sakura!" Without caring that the other side outnumbered him, he charged forward headlong.
Unfortunately, although his opponents were just a few girls, they had clearly received instruction from ninja elders in their families, and their movements were well disciplined. Naruto, relying on nothing but wild, clumsy punches, was quickly beaten until his face swelled up. Then a kick sent him flying back, and he slammed into the ground with a thud, taking a mouthful of dirt.
Sakura hurried forward to help Naruto up and asked with concern, "Are you okay, Naruto?"
Naruto was carefree and unafraid of pain. Feeling Sakura's concern, he grinned foolishly. "I'm fine!" Tahm, who had been watching and studying his flirting techniques from the side, admired him even more.
The delinquent girls became even more arrogant. "That stinking fox is nothing special! Sakura, Ino, don't think you can get away like last time today!" As they stepped forward again, Sakura and Ino tensed up and stood helplessly at a loss. Naruto gritted his teeth, leaning against Sakura while still waving his fists, ready to fight again.
"I say..." Tahm suddenly spoke. "Do I really look that unthreatening?" As he spoke, Tahm stood to his full height. His over-two-meter-tall body directly blocked the group before him, faintly filling the delinquent girls' entire field of vision.
"W-what are you going to do?!" The ringleader, who had been so arrogant all along, finally started to panic. "Summoned beasts aren't allowed to harm people casually! That's a contract recognized throughout the Shinobi World!"
"Oh? There's such a rule? But I wasn't summoned through any contract recognized throughout the Shinobi World..." Tahm showed a sinister smile, then suddenly shot out his huge tongue and used Tongue Lash. In an instant, the flexible, snake-like tongue swept several delinquent girls into the air all at once.
"We're going to be eaten!" The lackeys immediately broke down and started crying.
The ringleader's face had turned pale with fright. Her body was tightly bound by Tahm's tongue, leaving her unable to move, yet she still blustered fiercely, "You stinking toad! Do you really dare eat people? Let us down right now!"
"Let me go! My dad is XXX! If he finds out, he won't let you off!" When Tahm ignored her, she began screaming madly again.
So she was from a ninja family, no wonder she was so arrogant. But this upbringing was truly a failure. Look at how wonderful the personality of my noble young lady Hinata is... Seems like she needs a little education through love.
With that thought, Tahm loosened his tongue and flung them back to the ground. The lackeys were already trembling, looking as though they had survived a disaster. But the ringleader revealed an exaggerated, smug grin and shouted with all her might, "Stinking toad, I knew you didn't have the guts! Just wait until I go back and find someone to deal with you all!"
Devour! Tahm had long discovered that the three layers of Big Fish Mark he applied to opponents did not necessarily require landing three hits. As long as his tongue remained in contact with them for a certain amount of time, he could stack all three vicious marks.
At that moment, the voice that had just been echoing through the woods and assaulting everyone's ears abruptly stopped. No—the annoying little brat had vanished in an instant, right before everyone's eyes. Naruto, Sakura, and the others stared at one another, while the lackeys cried out in panic, "The boss is gone!"
Tahm, however, could clearly sense that the ringleader was struggling inside the alternate space within his body. Using this person-swallowing skill again, Tahm felt that he had a strong degree of control over the alternate space. He precisely controlled the corrosive liquid within it so that it would not harm her. She was still just a child, after all; there was no need to be too cruel. Even so, being swallowed by Tahm was hardly pleasant. Enveloped by darkness and trapped in a narrow, scorching place, her sense of space and time had completely collapsed.
Such an experience was clearly more than a delinquent girl who usually threw her weight around could endure. Before long, she began crying inside Tahm's alternate space.
"Tahm?" Hinata instinctively asked the person she found most dependable. "Where did that person go?"
"She's right here!" Tahm put on a showy expression, leaving everyone baffled.
Then came a scene that frightened the little girls badly. Tahm opened his huge mouth, and with a bang, a figure was spat out from it—it was the ringleader who had just disappeared!
"Will you still dare bully people in the future?" Tahm asked.
"N-no... I won't. Never again!" The ringleader sat collapsed on the ground, her face smeared with tears and snot. She could no longer act arrogant as she stammered out her answer.
Sigh... Seeing the delinquent girl give in, Tahm felt no sense of accomplishment. He suddenly realized that ever since coming to the Shinobi World, he seemed to have done nothing but educate troubled children.
One of the braver lackeys stepped forward and helped the ringleader, whose legs were still weak, to her feet. They staggered away into the distance.
Sakura and Ino had been stunned by the horrifying sight of Tahm spitting out a person. But seeing their "archenemy" so dispirited, they could not help relaxing and bursting into unrestrained laughter.
"Wait! Don't be in such a hurry to leave!" Tahm suddenly spoke again.
The delinquent girls, who had been trying to sneak away, shuddered and froze in place like wooden dolls, too afraid to move.
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