There Are No Onmyoji in This Country

Ninja?!

The Onmyoji in human stories and legends did indeed have the power to command fire, and slicing through dummies with fluid ease could arguably qualify someone as a Swordmaster, but what the hell was a ninja?

Weren't Japanese ninja just rats skulking in the gutters, hiding in the shadows to perform dirty tricks like poisoning people and stealing information? Since when could ninja breathe fire? Even the trashiest historical drama the monster had ever watched wouldn't dare film something like that.

No, no. The man had led the monster astray.

"Bullshit! There are no Onmyoji in this country!"

Feeling that it had been toyed with, the Six-Armed Monster roared.

"How strange. I never thought I'd hear that from a monster's mouth. You monsters actually deny that Onmyoji exist?"

Uchiha Naruto wore a peculiar expression. "Since monsters and demons like you exist in this island nation, isn't it perfectly reasonable for Onmyoji to exist too?"

"I am a monster, yes, but I've lived in Tokyo for all these years, ever since I was born, and I've never seen an Onmyoji. Humans have no Yoki, so naturally, they can't use supernatural powers..."

The Six-Armed Monster was bewildered and uncertain. The very existence of the young man before it had shattered what the monster world accepted as common knowledge.

Humans had no supernatural powers. So-called Onmyoji, psychics, and the like were all inventions of human imagination. That was the consensus not only among monsters, but among the human authorities as well.

If supernatural humans like Onmyoji really existed, why had they never appeared throughout all those years of conflict between humans and monsters? Why had no one even heard of them?

Yet this man not only possessed terrifying scarlet demonic eyes, but could also spew immensely powerful flames from his mouth. He was certainly no ordinary human.

And he couldn't possibly be a monster!

Humans could not become monsters, and monsters could not become humans. This was another ironclad rule established through years of clashes between the two after supernatural beings first appeared.

That was what their "teacher" had taught them in their general education classes on humans.

"What you just said was very interesting! Could you keep going? I still have plenty of questions I'd like to ask."

Uchiha Naruto also realized how serious the problem was. His understanding of this world's supernatural side seemed to be badly off the mark, and his expression grew solemn.

The Six-Armed Monster struggled several times, but its arms were pinned firmly to the ground with Kunai, leaving it unable to move. It extended its slender tongue, licked its lips, and asked tentatively:

"If I tell you, will you let me go?"

"Although I'd love to say yes, you wouldn't believe me anyway. So let's not bother. When you killed those people earlier, you should have been prepared for this."

He hadn't even bothered with a perfunctory lie. At that moment, the Six-Armed Monster could clearly feel the red-eyed man's undisguised, icy killing intent. It knew there was no escape. A chill swept through its entire body, but its resolve hardened as well.

Seeing the monster clamp its mouth shut and refuse to say a word, stubborn to the bitter end, Uchiha Naruto scratched his cheek in frustration.

"Since you won't answer those earlier questions, how about we switch to something easier? You even know how to use a phone. Judging by what you've said and done, you should be able to handle addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with numbers under thirty, right?"

"You have five arms now, and each hand has five fingers. Five times five is twenty-five. What's 25 minus 1?"

The Six-Armed Monster was completely baffled. Why was he asking such an absurdly simple math question at a time like this?

"What's 25 minus 1?"

Although it had no idea what the red-eyed man intended, the Six-Armed Monster remained silent, just as before.

"It's 24!"

Uchiha Naruto drew a Kunai and sliced one of the monster's grotesquely long fingers clean off at the base.

"Aaaaah!" The Six-Armed Monster instantly let out a scream.

"So monsters have red blood too... Now for the next question. What's 24 minus 1?" Uchiha Naruto remained unmoved, a cruel amusement gleaming in his scarlet Sharingan.

If it had been a monster with a nearly human appearance, like a girl with animal ears, Uchiha Naruto might have found it difficult to torture her so brutally. He would have simply slit her throat and been done with it.

But with an ugly, inhuman-looking monster like the Six-Armed Monster, one that had killed people at that, he felt no qualms whatsoever about torture.

"Human! I'll kill you, hang your whole family, and eat them... Aaaah!"

"Wrong answer! Next question. What's 23 minus 1?"

"What's 15 minus 3?"

"...Kill... you..."

Nearly ten minutes later.

"I'm honestly starting to admire you. I didn't expect you to keep your mouth shut even after I cut off every last finger. Are all monsters as tough as you?"

Wiping away the blood that had splashed onto his hands, Uchiha Naruto looked down at the monster beneath his foot and clicked his tongue in admiration.

At the same time, he felt a headache coming on.

He really wasn't good at interrogation. To think the Six-Armed Monster could be this stubborn.

Was killing it for a Ninja Jewel his only option now?

But it was so rare to encounter a monster that could talk. Killing it without extracting any information about this world's supernatural side felt like a waste.

Unfortunately, his Sharingan hadn't reached the three-tomoe stage yet. Otherwise, he could have used its hypnotic power to make it talk without getting his hands dirty.

Wait...

The Two-Tomoe Sharingan in Uchiha Naruto's eyes spun rapidly. He noticed that the wounds where the monster's fingers had been severed had already stopped bleeding, and fresh tissue was writhing within them.

"I see. So you monsters can regrow severed limbs?"

"You really... don't know... anything..."

The Six-Armed Monster's eyes twitched with pain. After laboriously gasping for breath for a while, it finally regained a little strength and sneered through gritted teeth:

"Heh heh heh. We monsters aren't like you weak humans. With injuries this minor, all we need to do is eat a person or rest for a few days, and our severed fingers will grow back."

"Even if you won't talk, your body is honestly handing over information, isn't it? That's important information too. Still, ending things this soon would be boring. Let's start round two!"

What second round? The Six-Armed Monster was immediately puzzled. It had no fingers left to cut off. What vicious method would this devil of a human use to torture it now?

"I haven't used this since I redeemed it from the shop, and I happen to need a test subject. Hmm, the injuries aren't too severe. Half a Blood-Boosting Pill should be enough."

Unable to understand what the human was muttering about, the Six-Armed Monster suddenly felt something tossed into its mouth. Then a warm current spread from its mouth throughout its body and into the wounds on its six arms.

Not only did the weakness throughout its body ease somewhat, but its severed fingers began growing back at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the arm that had been blasted off by the flames grew back!

What had this human made it eat?!

"Aaaah!"

Before it could think any further, its newly regrown arm was severed at the base, making it howl in pain.

"Starting from 25 again would be best, wouldn't it? These are the same questions this round, so don't get them wrong again."

That devilish voice began echoing eerily once more.

"Come on, class is back in session. What's 25 minus 1?"