A Merciless Rout

Shinji could hardly be blamed for letting his guard down. Nothing about these men's earlier behavior had suggested they were ninja.

Who could have imagined that the man before him, who had been groveling for mercy just moments ago, was a genuine ninja?

"Earth Release: Earth Mausoleum Dumpling!"

Okamoto crouched and slammed his hands into the ground, wrenching out an enormous boulder over ten meters across. He hoisted it overhead, then hurled it forward with all his strength.

The unfortunate burly man, still bound, could only watch in horror as the "sky" went dark.

Boom!

The boulder crashed down!

Although it was only a C-rank Earth Release technique, anyone capable of lifting such an enormous boulder had to be at least Chunin level.

In the tiny Land of Waves, even a Chunin was quite a surprise.

Shinji himself had only been a Chunin before the Jashin Cult captured him for human experimentation.

Of course, his strength had long since surpassed that of his former self.

"Now I believe you can lead me to Gato."

Having dodged with his speed, Shinji reappeared atop the boulder and spoke softly.

An X-shaped blood mark had already appeared on his forehead, indicating that he had entered the [Flowing Red Scale] state.

Making a basic mistake like letting his guard down once was enough.

Now, he would show his opponent despair!

"Convergence: Piercing Blood!"

He crushed two blood bags outright, and the spilled blood immediately compressed into high-speed "bullets" that sprayed toward Okamoto!

Knowing there was no peaceful way out, Okamoto abandoned any thought of running. He formed hand seals with both hands, then pressed them against the ground.

"Earth Release: Earth Shore Return!"

The next instant, the earth before Okamoto flipped up into a large stone slab, shielding him.

The slab was a good two or three centimeters thick and offered decent protection.

But Okamoto had underestimated Shinji's attack.

Under the barrage of blood bullets, the slab's surface became pitted in an instant. It was rapidly growing "thinner," and in less than five seconds, it would likely be punched through and blasted to pieces!

When Okamoto realized this, his expression changed again. Gritting his teeth, he hurriedly unleashed the only B-rank ninjutsu he knew and could perform.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

The instant the slab shattered, a taller, thicker, sturdier wall rose from the ground just in time to block every subsequent attack.

Against a defense like this, Shinji's casually unleashed Convergence: Piercing Blood indeed could not easily punch through.

But Shinji had never expected to defeat his enemy with that move alone.

Okamoto had blocked his attacks with one earthen barrier after another, but that also meant he had sacrificed his view of the battlefield!

In other words, Okamoto had completely lost track of Shinji's position.

He could only assume Shinji was still directly ahead of him based on the attacks he was blocking.

However, one of the biggest differences between Shinji's jujutsu and ninjutsu was that most ninjutsu were released in a single burst, while he could control his jujutsu throughout!

The one firing blood bullets at Okamoto right now was not Shinji at all, but a condensed sphere of blood he had infused with cursed energy.

Meanwhile, taking advantage of this opening and the speed granted by [Flowing Red Scale], Shinji had already circled around the Earth-Style Wall and appeared behind Okamoto like a ghost.

A short dagger formed from condensed blood was aimed at the center of Okamoto's back.

After a moment's thought, however, Shinji shifted the weapon in his hand away from his opponent's vitals.

Until he met Gato, this man was still useful.

With that thought in mind, Shinji indulged his mischievous streak and whispered, "Shoot him dead, Shinso!"

Pfft!

The short dagger extended in an instant,

becoming thin, long, and sharp. The moment Okamoto heard the voice behind him, he realized he was in danger, but it was already too late to react. A hole was punched straight through his abdomen.

From a distance, it looked as though Shinji had driven a long, blood-red needle through Okamoto's belly.

Shinji then withdrew his cursed energy, allowing the "long needle" in his hand to revert to ordinary blood.

Because it had pierced Okamoto's abdomen, some of that blood remained inside his body.

Okamoto let out a pained grunt, then immediately leaped away several times to put some distance between them.

He was scared!

The unkillable bald man from earlier had merely struck him as troublesome. He had figured he could always run if things went badly.

But the man before him not only wielded an extremely bizarre "ninjutsu," he had also slipped behind him without being noticed. That meant the two of them were not even on the same level.

He could not drag this out any longer, or the next attack would cost him his life.

At that thought, Okamoto immediately pulled two Smoke Bombs from his pouch and smashed them at his feet with a bang, preparing to flee.

But he had barely taken two steps when his head began to swim and his entire body went weak. Then he collapsed headfirst onto the ground.

Poisoned?

Damn it! When did he do it?

Okamoto barely managed to cling to consciousness, but he could no longer speak.

Tap, tap, tap...

By then, the smoke had cleared, and measured footsteps approached.

Shinji stood over Okamoto, looking down at him. Noticing the utter confusion in his eyes, Shinji raised a finger as if to answer his questions. He gathered the remaining blood from earlier into a sphere above his fingertip and said:

"I just dissolved poison into this blood beforehand and sealed it up. Bringing it out during a fight can produce some unexpected results, just like this."

Upon hearing that, Okamoto immediately recalled the moment he had been wounded.

Some of that poisoned blood must have remained inside his body, causing him to collapse from poisoning.

Facing an enemy like this, he had lost all desire to resist.

So when Shinji gave him two choices, he became very cooperative.

"If you're willing to lead me to Gato, blink twice in a row. If you'd rather die, that's fine too. It'll just cost me a little more time."

With that, Shinji aimed his raised index finger at Okamoto's head, and the sphere of blood began spinning at high speed.

Okamoto had no doubt that if he was even a fraction too slow, Shinji would mercilessly blast his head apart. He hurriedly mustered every ounce of strength to blink twice, squeezing his eyes so hard that tears came out.

At the sight, Shinji made no attempt to hide the disappointment on his face.

Then, the very next second, the blood sphere shot from his fingertip!

Only its target had shifted from beneath his feet to somewhere in the distance.

Bang!

A man fell at the sound, his head blown apart.

"Hey, hey, hey! That one was mine!"

Having just finished off the last man, Hidan turned around and shouted, looking thoroughly annoyed.