Several people turned their heads in horror. When they saw the man's face, their breathing became rapid, their nostrils flaring uncontrollably.
"Why are you here?!"
The man covered in mud was Feng An.
He chuckled in response to their terrified questions.
"I've always been here."
Then they saw three more Feng Ans appear around them, looking at them with playful expressions.
"It's just the Transformation Technique. You have no experience at all."
The four Feng Ans had simply used the Transformation Technique to turn into patches of sand. He could kill them after Hinata left.
Letting them go would do no good.
Feng An didn't waste time talking. The four of them attacked simultaneously.
Soon, the ground ran red with blood.
In the end, only one man was left.
The man was already terrified by the gruesome fate of those around him.
"I—I have more than a million ryō hidden in a secret place! Please, let me go. I swear I won't say anything!"
The man was sweating profusely. Seeing Feng An's expression remain indifferent, he quickly added, "You can cut out my tongue! Just don't kill me!"
Nearly fifteen people had come, and now all were dead. He was genuinely terrified of Feng An to his core.
Feng An glanced at him and asked, "Do you know who the one who escaped is?"
"I know! His name is Ibe Keiichi. He makes money by carrying out assassinations in various villages. Oh, right! He seems to have connections within Konoha. When we entered the village, not only did no one stop us, but the people in this alley were even cleared out in advance."
"How can I find him?"
"W-well, I don't know... It's always Ibe Keiichi who contacts us. We don't know each other."
"I see. Thank you."
Feng An stood up and began to walk away slowly.
The man's face turned pale. "Are you... still going to kill me?" he asked despairingly.
Feng An didn't reply. The four of them formed hand signs in unison.
"Earth Style: Earth Flow River."
The ground in front of them instantly turned into a several-meter-wide quagmire. The corpses on the ground, along with the desperate man, sank into the mud.
Then, the four changed their hand signs and used Water Release.
"Water Style: Water Wave."
A large amount of water gushed from their mouths.
Soon, the mud softened further, and the bodies trapped within sank completely deep into the earth, impossible to excavate.
Then, with several poofs, the four Feng Ans vanished into clouds of smoke.
The remote alley fell silent once more.
…
Feng An, walking on the other side of the road, suddenly felt his head swim.
The moment the Shadow Clones dispersed, everything they had seen and felt flooded into his mind. The chaotic information nearly made him collapse.
Hinata quickly supported him. "Were you injured just now?" she asked worriedly.
Feng An rubbed his temples. "Maybe I used too much chakra. It's fine."
Hinata placed her hand near his temple and gently massaged it with the base of her palm. "Does it hurt here?"
Feng An took her hands and smiled. "It doesn't hurt anymore."
Hinata lowered her head shyly. "That's good."
Feng An gradually processed the influx of information from the Shadow Clones, organizing it into clarity.
Someone in Konoha deliberately let them in?
He instinctively thought of Tayuō. It was indeed possible he could use his status in the security force to make connections.
"You just dealt with the younger one. What about the older one?"
…
That night, on a remote hilltop, two men in black cloaks stood.
If Feng An had been present, he would have recognized them both.
One was Tayuya's father, Tayuō. The other was Ibe Keiichi.
Tayuō roared at him, "What the hell are you doing?! I paid you so much money, and you can't even take care of one little brat!"
Hearing this, Ibe Keiichi was not to be outdone. A cold glint flashed in his eyes as he shouted back, "How dare you say that? I suspect you set us up! You said he was at most a Chunin, but what happened? More than a dozen of my brothers—men I've been through life and death with—are all dead!"
"Every single one was a brother who shared hardships with me! Your two hundred thousand ryō isn't even enough for their funeral expenses!"
Tayuō's face grew increasingly dark.
What kind of bullshit 'brothers'? To a scumbag like him, brothers don't exist. He was clearly just here to extort more money.
"I'll give you another million ryō for their funeral expenses."
Ibe Keiichi shook his head, staring intently at Tayuō. "Those were my fifteen sworn brothers. Their funerals must be grand. One hundred thousand ryō per person isn't too much, right?"
"For my brothers' sake, I'll cover the two hundred thousand you already gave. Just give me another one million three hundred thousand ryō."
That's too much!
Tayuō clenched his fists, his expression extremely grim. "Be too greedy, and you might die without even knowing how."
Ibe Keiichi was slightly taken aback, then threw his head back and laughed. "Hahaha! After playing lackey for the security force, you really think you're somebody? One and a half million ryō. Short even one ryō, and you're dead."
"I'll burn it for you in hell."
"How dare a mere Genin talk to me like that? You're looking for death!"
Ibe Keiichi's killing intent flared. He raised his hand, and five or six shuriken flew toward Tayuō.
Clang!
A figure instantly appeared in front of Tayuō, deflecting the shuriken with a kunai.
"Rogue ninja are indeed unreliable. They even dare to kill their employers."
Ibe Keiichi immediately held his kunai defensively and took a cautious step back. "Who are you?"
"The one who will kill you." The man quickly formed hand signs. "Water Style: Water Wave!"
A torrent of water sprayed from his mouth, assaulting his opponent.
Ibe Keiichi also rapidly formed signs. "Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall!"
A wall of earth erupted from the ground before him.
The water crashed against the earthen wall, scattering and flowing to the ground with little force.
Ibe Keiichi sneered. "You dare boast with skills like that? Let me show you what real Water Release is!"
He quickly changed hand signs. "Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
Using the water the man had sprayed, he formed a coiling water dragon that opened its massive maw and charged.
"Water Style: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"
The man used the same technique.
The two water dragons collided mid-air and exploded.
At that moment, Tayuō, who had finished his hand signs, suddenly attacked Ibe Keiichi.
"Water Style: Water Prison Technique!"
The exploding water instantly coalesced into a sphere, trapping Ibe Keiichi and immobilizing him.
Ibe Keiichi's expression changed drastically.
He'd been caught off guard by a Genin.
His body trembled violently as he tried to break free by brute force. The water prison showed signs of shattering.
Tayuō hurriedly shouted, "Captain! He's breaking free!"
Captain?
"You're the captain of the security force, Shimura!"
Ibe Keiichi's eyes widened. He then gave up struggling.
Even though he was above Chunin level, he had no confidence in escaping Shimura's grasp.
He understood everything now—how they'd bypassed Konoha's security so easily. That wasn't something Tayuō could have arranged; only Shimura could do it.
Shimura looked at Tayuō and said in a low voice, "What happened today was all your own doing. Understand?"
Tayuō bowed deeply. "I understand."
Then, a kunai pierced through the water prison and into Ibe Keiichi's chest.
Soon, the water turned blue, then red.
Until his death, Ibe Keiichi never understood why a high-ranking ninja would orchestrate the assassination of a mere kid.
*****
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