Chapter 72: First Kill
Kaito closed his eyes, calming himself completely. He thought,
"The time has finally come for my first kill."
He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. He formed several hand seals, then disappeared underground using Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage.
At the cave entrance, two bandits stood guard listlessly. One complained to the other,
"Why are we stuck guarding here? I wish we could raid that village again and capture a few more girls."
The second bandit chuckled with disgusting lewdness.
"Yeah, the girls we caught a few days ago were really entertaining! I can't wait to—"
However, his words were cut short abruptly.
As he spoke, a chakra-enhanced sword emerged from the ground, thrusting toward his waist with lethal precision.
Before either bandit even registered the threat, the blade sliced completely through one bandit's torso, severing him in half. He died without even knowing what killed him!
The surviving bandit panicked immediately. His hand instinctively reached for his sword, attempting to draw it.
But before he could grasp the hilt, his head separated cleanly from his body.
After eliminating both guards, Kaito disappeared underground again, entering the cave system.
The next two bandits were stationed in the passage between the outer entrance and the inner cave. They stood with their backs against opposite walls, facing each other.
Kaito phased through the stone wall, directly piercing one bandit's heart from behind.
The bandit opposite witnessed a sword suddenly emerge from his companion's chest, and prepared to shout an alarm.
However, before he could cry out to attract attention, a shuriken flew straight at him, piercing his throat and killing him instantly.
Kaito phased through the ground again, carefully avoiding the spike pit trap the bandits had dug.
He had now entered the bandits' main hideout chamber. He stealthily observed through the wall and identified the three smaller caverns Hodaka had mentioned.
In the main chamber where he currently positioned himself, there were twelve bandits. The remaining seven were distributed among those three smaller caves, which made him wonder, "Are those seven the leaders?"
He then carefully observed the twelve bandits in the main area.
Four were sleeping in the corner. Two appeared busy with various tasks. One was intently studying something, while another was sharpening a blade. The remaining six were drinking and playing cards loudly.
Kaito moved through the ground, approaching the bandit who was sharpening his knife.
He emerged directly behind him and decapitated him in one swift motion.
Before the severed head even struck the ground, Kaito moved toward the bandit examining the map. He thrust a sword directly through his heart, then quickly withdrew it.
Just then, the previous bandit's head and knife clattered loudly to the ground. This noise attracted the attention of the six drinking bandits.
Seeing their comrade's severed head, they appeared shocked and terrified. However, before they could react properly, Kaito had already flickered behind them using Body Flicker.
He cleanly severed two more heads in rapid succession. Before the remaining four could comprehend what was happening, he decapitated two more. Only the last two bandits actually saw Kaito, but they died before they could raise an alarm.
Two of the six bandits had been holding sake bottles, and the bottles shattered against the ground. The noise woke two of the four sleeping bandits.
One simply ignored the disturbance and rolled over. But the other sat up to investigate what was happening.
However, before he could fully open his eyes, his head was severed by Kaito's blade. Immediately after, Kaito thrust his sword through the throat of the man who had turned over, followed by piercing the hearts of the remaining two still sleeping.
He then disappeared underground again, entering one of the three smaller caverns.
The first cavern contained two bandits, who were swiftly eliminated with heart strikes.
In the second cavern, Kaito sensed three people. He quickly entered the cave and stabbed through the heart of the person resting against the wall.
He moved rapidly again, preparing to kill the second person lying on the ground.
However, his sword stopped just inches from her chest. Lying there was a teenage girl, completely naked, covered in bruises, and bleeding from multiple wounds.
He quickly shifted his attention to the third person in the room.
The sight of the brutalized young girl unsettled Kaito deeply, and he hesitated for half a second.
This momentary distraction gave the bandit an opportunity to grab his sword and charge at Kaito. Kaito merely raised his left blade to block the clumsy attack, while his right sword pierced the bandit's heart efficiently.
He decided to clear the final small cavern, but then heard an angry shout. The last bandit yelled,
"Damn it! Who knocked over my good sake? This is—"
However, his words died in his throat when he saw the bloodstains throughout the hideout.
All he could see were the severed heads and bodies of his comrades. He saw blood pooling across the ground, and his heart raced with terror. He asked with a trembling voice,
"Wh—"
But before he could finish his sentence, a sword pierced his heart from behind.
Kaito withdrew the blade from the corpse and created a Shadow Clone.
The clone departed to report to Renjiro and summon the team inside. Meanwhile, Kaito began cleaning the blood from his swords.
Finally, as he wiped his blades clean, he looked up at the corpses before him, and the twelve bodies scattered throughout the hideout. The sight and overwhelming stench made him immediately vomit. He thought,
"Holy hell, the first kill really is a big deal. I didn't feel anything while actually killing them. But now..."
He vomited violently and trembled from what he had done.
Just as he began retching, Renjiro's Shadow Clone emerged from the ground and asked,
"Are you alright?"
After Kaito finished vomiting, he nodded weakly. He stood up and moved to sit in the corner. Renjiro said calmly,
"It's normal. The first kill is always difficult. You'll have to eliminate more enemies in the future."
Kaito nodded in acknowledgment. Renjiro instructed,
"Close your eyes and center yourself."
Kaito followed Renjiro's guidance, closed his eyes, and began clearing his turbulent thoughts.
At this moment, Kaito's Shadow Clone approached Renjiro and reported the mission's successful completion.
Renjiro then brought Hodaka and Mieko to the cave.
Upon reaching the entrance, Mieko and Hodaka finally saw the corpses and smelled the overwhelming stench of death.
Hodaka suppressed the urge to vomit, but Mieko couldn't contain it, and she vomited immediately. Renjiro observed but said nothing.
Renjiro used Earth Release: Earth Spear to safely disarm all the traps and announced,
"Follow me."
They followed him into the cave interior. Mieko and Hodaka tried desperately to ignore the two corpses in the passage.
However, after entering the main chamber and seeing the twelve bodies and several severed heads, they couldn't maintain their composure. Mieko vomited again violently, and this time Hodaka also retched.
Renjiro waited for them to finish and stated firmly,
"These are merely corpses—people killed by others. If you cannot even stop vomiting at this sight, how can you become proper shinobi? If just this scene makes you sick, how will you survive on the battlefield?"
These harsh words steeled Mieko and Hodaka's resolve, and they forced themselves to stand upright.
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