Chapter 50
The civilians were held at knifepoint by the ronin, forced to move forward slowly, their eyes pleading toward Asakawa Naoki and the others.
"Don't…"
"Please, don't kill me…"
"I still want to live…"
Even ninjas like Minato Namikaze, who were trained to stay composed, felt their emotions stir at the desperate cries. For the hotblooded and kind-hearted Nawaki, the impact was even stronger.
"Damn it! If you have the guts, don't use these villagers as shields!" Nawaki's voice was sharp with anger.
"Haha, kid, haven't you heard? War isn't exactly pretty!" a ronin sneered.
"Good at throwing shuriken? Keep throwing then!" another mocked. "You've killed plenty of us already. How about a few more?"
"Let's see if your shuriken can pierce us or these civilians first!" One ronin shook the terrified civilians roughly.
Despite the taunts, not a single one of the nine ninjas made a move.
They had passed their ninja school assessments with flying colors — hitting wooden stakes twenty meters away with 70% accuracy. They had just killed more than a dozen ronin.
Yet now, with innocent lives used as shields, any shuriken thrown recklessly risked hitting civilians instead.
Even Minato Namikaze, a prodigy who scored perfect marks in shuriken throwing, couldn't bring himself to act easily. The conflict between duty and compassion twisted inside him.
The ronin, sensing hesitation, pushed closer, hiding their bodies behind the civilians.
"Damn it!" Nawaki and Masamura Oki readied their swords, poised to charge in for close combat — and the others silently agreed. If they couldn't use ranged weapons, they'd fight up close.
"These kids are inexperienced," Jiraiya muttered, perched on a branch above. His watchful eyes scanned the scene. Facing ronin on a first mission, without a seasoned guide, was tough.
He hoped they'd survive without casualties.
But just as the rookies prepared to rush forward, Asakawa Naoki stopped them with a look.
Jiraiya, too, held back, waiting to see what Naoki would do.
"Leave it to us."
For their first mission, Naoki didn't want to see his comrades fall.
"Mikoto," he said softly.
Uchiha Mikoto caught his meaning and nodded in silent agreement.
The ronin had closed the distance to ten meters, still using civilians as shields.
Close combat was inevitable in seconds.
Naoki and Mikoto slipped their hands into their ninja tool bags. Unseen by anyone, their fingers wrapped with thin steel wire — one end tied to sharp shuriken.
With a sharp flick, they both threw at once. Eight shurikens sliced through the air toward seven ronin.
The ronin ducked behind the civilians, who shut their eyes, bracing for fate.
"I didn't expect these kids to actually fight back!" one ronin muttered, heart pounding.
The shuriken missed—at first.
The ronin exhaled, relief flooding them.
"They really missed!" one laughed.
But then, in an instant, the shuriken twisted sharply in midair, changing direction to slice through the necks of the ronin before they could react.
This was the legendary Uchiha Shuriken Throwing Technique.
One ronin, caught by two shurikens simultaneously, collapsed silently.
The civilians, splattered with ronin blood, surged toward Naoki and the others, eyes wide with gratitude and disbelief.
"Don't move forward. You'll kill them!" Naoki's voice cut through the chaos, cold and commanding — the deadly resolve scaring the frightened villagers into stillness.
"Asakawa…" Nawaki began, confused by his usually gentle friend's sudden severity.
"Naoki, Masamura, Kisaragi — watch over these people," Naoki ordered. "Stay alert for spies disguised as ronin."
He didn't trust the civilians entirely — even if no spies were among them, they could disrupt their formation.
Rope Tree nodded, chastened by Naoki's calmness. He realized he had been too impulsive and resolved to learn from him.
The three escorted the seven civilians aside to guard them.
Naoki's eyes sharpened.
The ronin commander — the mastermind — was finally approaching.
From the shadows before dawn, two figures appeared.
One dragged the other slowly forward.
"Be careful! It's a wandering ninja!" Naoki warned.
He sensed chakra from the newcomer.
Minato and the others tensed instantly.
They could defeat those ronin only because they had chakra.
Facing a wandering ninja with chakra was an entirely different challenge — even for Genin and Chunin alike.
The ability to command so many ronin showed the new arrival was no ordinary opponent.
"I never expected a group of kids fresh out of ninja school to wipe out my carefully assembled ronin team," a rough voice said.
"I underestimated you."
In the dim light, Naoki and the others saw the approaching figures clearly.
The burly wandering ninja looked fierce.
But the person he dragged was familiar.
"It's you!" Rope Tree gasped, staring wide-eyed — not at the wandering ninja, but the half-dead refugee they had refused to take in before.
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