Miya Hadn't Done Anything Inhumane, Either

"Die."

Seeing Miya standing there as if unmoved, Sugihiro Chōhei let out a vicious snarl.

As the poisoned blades on the two puppets closed in, Miya moved, kicking out twice in quick succession.

Bang.

Bang.

After kicking away the puppets controlled by Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen, Miya vanished from the brothers' sight in an instant.

Whoosh.

When Miya reappeared, he was already between Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen, sweeping two successive kicks at their heads.

Bang.

Bang.

The brothers had no time to react and were sent flying. Miya also tore off their cloaks, revealing the Sand Forehead Protectors they wore, each marked with a slash.

"Oh!"

"So you're missing-nin!"

Sugihiro Chōhei quickly scrambled to his feet and stared at Miya, his expression grave.

"Chōsen, be careful. This isn't some ordinary brat."

Even without Sugihiro Chōhei's warning, Sugihiro Chōsen could tell that Miya was no pushover, but he also understood that it was a signal from his brother.

A signal to prepare to fight for their lives.

"Yes, big brother."

The brothers' fingers twitched again, and they used their Chakra Threads to bring the two puppets flying back in front of them.

Sand puppet masters held a high standing in Sunagakure. They could be called the village's treasures, and they represented its prestige.

Now that Miya had run into two missing-nin puppet masters, he was delighted.

Even in Sunagakure, puppet masters were not easy to train. Not only did aspiring puppet masters need a certain amount of talent, but money was also indispensable. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have enough to buy puppet-making materials, so how could they improve their strength?

Although Miya didn't know how Sunagakure judged a person's talent for becoming a puppet master, he had never intended to become one himself. He was only interested in the village's secret technique for forming Chakra Threads.

So Miya was determined to have the brothers.

"Here I go."

Sugihiro Chōhei murmured in a low voice and immediately sent his puppet flying toward Miya.

Black Secret Technique: Senbon Needle Rain.

Sugihiro Chōsen didn't stand idle either. Under his control, the puppet in front of him opened its mouth wide and spat a torrent of poisoned Senbon at Miya.

"All flash and no substance."

Miya specialized in Taijutsu, and against these two puppet master brothers, he felt like their natural counter.

In short, their openings were too obvious.

Miya darted to the side. Having decided to capture the brothers alive, he immediately activated Limit Mode.

Big Ball Atomic Rasengan.

Dodging Sugihiro Chōsen's secret puppet technique, Miya pressed an Atomic Rasengan the size of a millstone against the puppet controlled by Sugihiro Chōhei.

Boom...

Poor Sugihiro Chōhei. His puppet was utterly helpless against Miya's attack and was destroyed outright.

"Ah!!!"

"My Black..."

Sugihiro Chōhei, still in shock, was cut off mid-cry. After destroying his puppet, Miya had appeared in front of him in an instant and pressed the Rasengan in his hand against his chest.

Bang.

"Big brother!!!"

Sugihiro Chōsen roared at the sight. He simply couldn't understand how Miya could be so strong, defeating the two of them in an instant despite their strength.

"Ha..."

Close-quarters combat was a puppet master's greatest weakness.

Sugihiro Chōsen shouted and leaped backward, controlling his puppet to attack Miya at the same time.

"Tch."

They weren't in the same league. Miya couldn't see any chance of Sugihiro Chōsen turning things around.

He repeated the same move.

Big Ball Atomic Rasengan.

Bang.

Destroy the puppet, knock him out, and take him away. That was Miya's plan.

Just as helpless to resist, Sugihiro Chōsen soon followed in Sugihiro Chōhei's footsteps, gravely injured and unconscious.

"Done."

Miya smiled and clapped his hands, looking at the brothers. They were a completely unexpected windfall.

After hoisting the three gravely injured, unconscious men onto his shoulders, Miya left Asakusa Town directly, made a cave in the forest outside, and trapped them inside.

On Tashiro Masato, he had already found the token for entering the black market: a black iron token.

He also found identical tokens on Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen, but the secret Chakra Thread technique he wanted was nowhere to be seen.

Smack, smack, smack...

Miya slapped the tightly bound Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen awake. They were still a little dazed when they first opened their eyes.

I'm still alive?

Then the pain in their bodies made them both gasp, and Miya answered the question on their minds.

"Don't worry, you're not dead yet."

"Do you want to live?"

Staring at the brothers, Miya gave them a harmless smile.

Seeing the smile on Miya's face, Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen couldn't help shuddering.

Nothing good could come of this.

"What do you want to know?"

But Sugihiro Chōhei had a clear grasp of the situation. If revealing a few secrets could keep the two brothers alive, he was certainly willing to do it.

"I want your method for forming Chakra Threads. Think about whether you want to tell me!"

Still smiling, Miya eagerly hoped the brothers would refuse him.

"Ah..."

"Ah, ah..."

"Ah, ah, ah..."

For more than half an hour, Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen endured every kind of torment.

Miya hadn't done anything inhumane, either. He had merely tested some torture methods on the brothers.

After driving needles under their fingernails, he skinned them. He hadn't even gotten around to death by a thousand cuts before the brothers confessed everything.

"Wouldn't it have been better to say it sooner?"

"Honestly."

At death's door, Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen looked at Miya, their eyes full of tears of pain.

A demon. This man is definitely a demon.

"Well!"

"Living like this would only mean more suffering for you. I'll be a good person and put you out of your misery!"

"No need to thank me!"

Miya, who had never intended to let them go in the first place, immediately put his new knowledge to use, forming a Chakra Thread in his hand and pointing it at their heads.

Atomic Ray.

The Chakra Thread, which originally had no direct killing power, had undergone a tremendous change in Miya's hands.

Not only did it retain its original ability to control puppets, but it had also gained the power to kill. He now had a deeper understanding of the effects and applications of Atomic Chakra.

Miya then walked over to Tashiro Masato and likewise slapped him awake with a few smacks.

Looking at Miya, Tashiro Masato had already resigned himself to his fate.

"That piece of Chakra Metal you obtained on a mission more than three months ago."

"Where is it?"

That piece of Chakra Metal was the reason Sugihiro Chōhei and Sugihiro Chōsen had been pursuing Tashiro Masato, and Miya had likewise extracted that information through interrogation.