As the bandits finished their words, a burst of chakra suddenly flared out from four figures in the crowd.
They immediately formed hand seals in unison.
"Earth Style: Heavy Binding Technique!"
The four of them shouted together as the jutsu activated.
A yellowish-brown halo appeared beneath the feet of each of the six young genin, each about half a meter wide with strange patterns inscribed within.
The instant the halos appeared, the bodies of the six sank as though crushed beneath hundreds of pounds of weight. Even breathing became difficult.
"This is… a binding technique!" Shikamaru muttered, his forehead already beading with cold sweat.
He tried to use Shadow Imitation to control the enemy and break the jutsu, but even keeping himself upright was almost impossible.
Lifting a finger felt like dragging iron chains.
The others were in the same miserable state. Facing this gravity-like restraint, not one of them could move.
"Hahaha!"
"These brats really are Konoha shinobi—tough little bastards!"
"But at the end of the day, they're still just kids. That brat had plenty of chances to finish me, but he was scared off by my fight-to-the-death style."
The bandits laughed triumphantly.
They had tricked and killed countless enemies with this pig-disguised-as-tiger routine.
"Damn it, I didn't expect to get caught like this!" Shikamaru gritted his teeth.
He was clever, but lacked battlefield experience and hadn't yet learned the true ugliness of human nature.
Even with his preparation earlier, he hadn't been able to gauge the enemy's strength.
"Bastards! If you've got the guts, let me go and I'll knock you all down!" Kiba barked, but the weight crushed him to the dirt.
"Whiiiine…" Akamaru whimpered in pain, flattened helplessly beside him.
"Save your strength, Kiba," Shino said calmly, though sweat trickled down his face. "They aren't like you. They're not stupid enough to let their enemies go just because you shout at them."
"What the hell's that supposed to mean? You wanna fight?" Kiba growled, pinned to the ground yet still mouthing off.
"You've still got the energy to argue? I can't even stand anymore," Shikamaru muttered, dropping flat on his ass.
Struggling, he fished a bag of potato chips out of Choji's pouch but couldn't get it open after several attempts.
"Hey, can you open this for me?" he asked the nearest bandit.
"You little—" the bandit gawked, utterly speechless.
You're fucking prisoners now! Get a clue!
None of these kids even looked worried. Didn't they understand what happened to people who got caught by bandits?
Up on the distant city wall, Asuma rubbed his forehead. "With Shikamaru around, I didn't expect a total wipeout."
Kurenai Yuhi studied the scene carefully. "They're just four wandering shinobi, strength comparable to chunin. If the kids had been serious, they wouldn't have beaten them easily, but they wouldn't have been captured this badly either."
Asuma glanced at her. "So? Do we intervene?"
"No," Kurenai shook her head. "Wait and see."
From the look of things, the bandits weren't aiming to kill. They didn't want trouble with Konoha.
This was a lesson, and Kurenai hoped her students would learn just how cruel the shinobi world could be.
Out in the water, Tsubaki also asked Itsuki whether they should step in.
Itsuki shook his head. If even their teachers weren't moving, there was no need for him to rush in either.
"Tie them up!" the bandit leader barked. "Careful not to step into the circles, or you'll regret it."
The others ignored his warning. They'd done this plenty of times and thought nothing of it. Grinning, they closed in on the six genin.
Several of them leered at Hinata and Ino, drool nearly dripping from the corners of their mouths.
Fury surged in both girls' hearts. Their eyes met, and they exploded almost in unison.
They hadn't stood out much in the earlier melee, but being immobilized gave them the chance to focus.
Both girls tapped into the buffed state of their training. Chakra burst out of their bodies in a torrent.
Against their surging power, the wandering chunin's binding technique was nothing.
BOOM!
Blue chakra flared violently as both Hinata and Ino shattered the restraints in an instant.
The sudden release whipped up a storm of air, blasting away the surrounding bandits.
"Aaaaghhh!!"
Unprepared, they were hurled screaming through the air, rolling across the ground in agony.
Bones cracked, joints popped—at best they'd be bedridden.
"What the hell?!"
The remaining bandits gaped, and the four wandering shinobi lunged to stop the two girls before they could free the others.
But Hinata and Ino had no interest in saving anyone. Their fury locked onto the perverts who had drooled at them.
"Bastards, don't get cocky!"
One shinobi whipped out a katana and slashed down at Hinata's head.
"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
Hinata wasn't afraid. Her Byakugan flared as she unleashed a perfect chain of strikes.
In the past, her timid nature had held her back, often quitting halfway. But now, with her boosted state, thirty-two palms felt no different than eight.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Her rapid strikes hammered into every tenketsu of her opponent. The man coughed blood again and again before collapsing, chakra sealed and body paralyzed.
"Awesome, Hinata!" Ino grinned, giving her a thumbs-up.
Everyone froze—including the four still trapped under the binding jutsu.
That shy, stammering Hinata? This ruthless?
"Hinata, behind you!" Kiba suddenly shouted.
Another wandering shinobi came at Hinata with a rock-hard fist. She had just finished her technique, her body relaxed, and it was too late to gather strength.
But before the strike could land, a sword flashed from behind—piercing straight through the shinobi's gut.
????
Everyone's brains short-circuited.
The attacker was one of the wandering shinobi himself.
Friendly fire?
"Hehe, Hinata-chan, I saved you!"
The tone was playful, but the voice was Ino's.
Hinata turned sharply—Ino was lying unconscious on the ground.
The Mind Transfer Jutsu!
Ino had hijacked the enemy's body and forced him to attack his own comrade.
"Thank you, Ino!" Hinata exhaled in relief, moving to guard her fallen friend.
"Damn it! This is insane!!" the last wandering shinobi roared, face pale.
But disaster stacked upon disaster.
Black insects swarmed from Shino's body, eating away at the chakra of the halo beneath his feet until it crumbled.
At the same time, Choji crunched down the last of his potato chips, clapped his hands, and expanded into his massive form.
With brute strength, he shattered the circle beneath him and freed Shikamaru too.
"Thanks, Choji!" Shikamaru smirked. Choji never let him down.
"Wait—what the hell is happening with you guys?!"
"Woof! Woof!"
Kiba gawked, dumbfounded. One after another, everyone was breaking free.
Did that mean he and Akamaru were the only ones still pinned down, looking like complete idiots?
...
Author's Note:
The full completed version of Konoha Harem Chat Group: I Can Fabricate the Future (Completed) is now on Patreon!
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