Chapter 11:

“We've gotten everything out of him,” Ryu said, wiping the blood off his kunai before returning most of them to his pouch. Our captive had made the unfortunate choice to withhold information as Ryu pressed him, which resulted in a few more holes in his body.

Ryu handed me the last knife and motioned toward our prisoner. He wanted me to finish the man off, possibly as some kind of test.

The tied-up man looked up at me fearfully. “No! Wait! I told you everything you wanted to know! You don’t need to kill me. I’ll help you take down everyone in the den! I know all their Jutsus.”

“You have stab wounds in both your arms and legs. You won’t be able to move even if we untie you. This forest is also full of chakra beasts that will eat you alive once we leave. This is a kindness,” I told him.

The sun had set shortly after our interrogation started. I glanced into the darkness, where multiple pairs of hungry red eyes stared back at me. The only reason they hadn’t attacked immediately was because of my brother. Ryu had released his killing intent, terrifying every beast that came to investigate the scent of blood.

Even if we took the Chūnin back with us, he would be executed once we returned to the village. Konoha had its own prison, but they wouldn’t waste time housing some no-name Chūnin who had already given us all the information we needed.

I dragged the kunai across the Chūnin’s neck. Gurgles escaped his throat as his body spasmed for a few seconds before he lost consciousness and bled out. I handed the kunai back to Ryu and took a deep breath.

*+200 XP!*

Suki was right… Killing did get easier. I still felt slightly nauseous, but I didn't start puking as soon as his body slumped over.

“Come on, the chakra beasts are getting restless now that they smell fresh blood,” Ryu said, leaping back into the treetops. I quickly followed, hearing the snarls of carnivorous chakra beasts below as they fought over the fresh kill.

A few minutes later, we were back in the treetops, overlooking the outpost. So far, no one had noticed the missing man.

“We’re going to wipe out everyone here,” Ryu said, his voice cold. “Leave the ninja traitors to me.”

“You got it, bro,” I replied, reaching into the pouch on my left thigh and pulling out a small slip of paper.

Ryu shot me a look of disbelief. “Kasumi! Did you raid my supplies and take my explosive tags?”

“I only took about ten. You’ve still got plenty left.” I waved him off dismissively.

Ryu sighed. “Just be careful with those... They’re dangerous. Do you even know how to use them?”

“I read how in one of my textbooks. Just inject a bit of chakra and throw,” I said confidently. These things were designed to be foolproof. If Naruto could use them without blowing himself up, then I’d be fine.

I wrapped the tag around the handle of one of my kunai, effectively making a ninja grenade. I couldn’t wait to try it out…

“Attack!” Ryu ordered before vanishing in a shunshin. A second later, I heard the agonized scream of one of his victims below.

I leapt off the tree branch, plummeting toward the outpost beneath us. As I fell, I pushed a tiny amount of chakra into the explosive kunai in my hand. The paper immediately ignited, starting its burning countdown. “Fire in the hole!” I yelled, hurling the kunai at a group of three men. They were all looking around in panicked confusion, hearing their comrade’s scream but unable to pinpoint the source of the attack. They never would…

The kunai landed on the ground between them. Three pairs of eyes widened in simultaneous realization.

“Oh fu—”

The tag exploded with tremendous force, far more powerful than any hand grenade back on Earth. This was a straight-up bomb. I felt the shockwave slam into me as I landed. When the smoke cleared, three charred husks lay lifeless on the ground.

Those guys were super dead…

*+300XP!*

*You have leveled up!*

“Look alive, you dumb shits! We’re being attacked by ninjas!” one of the remaining men shouted as the Oni’s forces finally got their act together. Ten of them approached me, now armed and armored for battle. They weren’t ninjas, but they weren’t just run-of-the-mill bandits either.

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“Kill the bitch!”

“Where the hell are our own ninjas!? What the hell are we paying them for?!”

I laughed at their angry shouts. “Your traitor ninjas aren’t coming to help! My big brother is handling all of them!” I declared with pride, the sounds of combat and explosions echoing from the other side of the outpost. Those three chunins didn’t stand a chance against him.

I unsheathed my katana and faced the first man who reached me. My chakra surged through my muscles as our blades clashed, the impact forcing me to take a few steps back to absorb the force. He was a strong one, towering over me by nearly two feet. The fact that he didn’t overpower me immediately showed just how much of an advantage chakra provided in this world.

"Die, ninja whore!" While I was still locked in a struggle with the giant, another man charged at me with a spear, aiming to skewer me.

I quickly disengaged from the larger man, pivoting at the last second. Spears were formidable weapons if you knew how to maintain distance, but at close range, they were nearly useless. Clearly, no one had trained this man properly.

He moved so fast that when he missed me, he couldn’t stop himself and tripped over his own clumsy feet. His spear clattered to the ground as he fell face-first. Before he could get back up, a kunai found its mark in the back of his neck—courtesy of me.

*+100XP!*

“No! Kota! Damn you, ninja bitch! You killed my brother!” the large swordsman yelled in despair. Tears of hatred welled up in his eyes as he glared at me. “He was the last of my family. We were all each other had…”

“Oh…” I paused for a moment. That sounded pretty horrible, actually. I almost felt bad—

“We were all each other had after we murdered our parents!” he continued.

…He had me in the first half, not gonna lie! And I didn’t feel bad anymore.

“Hold on a minute!” one of the eight remaining men called out, stopping the others from charging at me. He turned toward the swordsman whose brother I had just killed. “You two had parents, Kota?” he asked.

“Wait, your name is Kota? I thought *he* was Kota,” I said, pointing to the corpse with a kunai lodged in its neck.

The living Kota shrugged. “Yeah, our pops sucked at naming, so he named both of us Kota. I hated that guy! He was always trying to get us to better ourselves! Wanted us to go to school and become respectable merchants someday!” he spat out. “Can you believe that dumb shit?” he asked the other men.

They all looked between him and his dead brother in disbelief.

“You two actually had parents? Parents who loved you guys? I grew up on the streets eating rats!” a man wielding a nodachi snarled at Kota.

“Me too! I would’ve loved to go to school!” another added.

“Same!” “Definitely!” “Screw you, Kota!”

I was suddenly starting to feel bad again. Can these guys please not give me their tragic backstories before we fight to the death. It makes killing them a lot harder emotionally!

“Why would you and your brother have wanted this life, Kota?” the initial man who had paused the fighting asked, holding a bow with an arrow partially drawn back.

Kota rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “C’mon, guys… it’s not that big of a deal. Who cares if my brother and I grew up different from all of you? Who cares if we had parents who cared about us and murdered them? We’re all the same at the end of the day—”

His words were cut off as an arrow struck him in the throat. His sword slipped out of his hands as he started clawing at his neck and gasping for air. He was shot by the man with the bow who was glaring at him in disgust. Kota slumped to his knees and stopped moving a few seconds later.

And now there were eight men left.

Seven of them stared awkwardly at the guy who had just shot Kota. “W–What are you all looking at me like that for? I would’ve killed to have loving parents or the chance to go to school!” he defended himself. To his credit, none of the others seemed too upset that both the Kota brothers were now dead.

“So…” I said, breaking the silence. Was this the moment for the Legendary Talk no Jutsu? “Do you all want to keep fighting? If you surrender, I promise my brother and I will escort you to the nearest Shinobi outpost. You might spend a few years in jail, but when you get out, you’ll have a chance to start over—lives free of crime.” It was a lot harder to want to kill them all after hearing how they all just wanted a normal life.

The bow man scoffed at me. “Don't you dare look down on us, girl! I have a better idea. How about we kill you, strip off that fancy armor, and then do unspeakable things to your corpse!” he voiced out loud.

“I like the sound of that!”

“Me too!” “Let's gut this bitch!”

This was officially the last time I ever tried to sympathize with bad guys! Fuck Talk no Jutsu! It didn't work at all! In fact, I wanted these guys dead even more than before they opened their mouths in the first place!

I pulled my hand out from behind my back. While the men were distracted earlier, I had taken the opportunity to wrap another explosive tag around a kunai. I threw it directly at the disgusting bow wielder. I can’t believe I actually felt bad for him just a few seconds ago!

He let out a noise that resembled a squealing pig as the explosive kunai pierced his stomach. The fuse of the explosive tag quickly burned away…

“I gave you a chance…” I muttered just before the tag detonated, turning the man into a red mist. The explosion also killed the man closest to him and severely injured two others!

*+200XP!*

That’s what they get for standing so close together. Didn’t they see me blow up three other guys right before this?

While the rest were disoriented from the explosion, I rushed forward with my katana, showing no mercy as I ruthlessly cut them down as quickly and efficiently as possible. A few slit throats and a couple of decapitations later, and they were all taken care of.

*+600XP!*

“That’s the last of them,” I said to myself, flicking the blood off my katana. Once I was sure it was clean, I sheathed it.

“Good work, Kasumi,” Ryu said as he landed directly in front of me. “That was certainly one of the more unorthodox battles I’ve ever seen, though…” he trailed off.

My cheeks heated up as I blushed in embarrassment. “It’s not my fault they stopped in the middle of our fight to start talking about their pasts. What was I supposed to do?”

“Kill them when they are all distracted...” Ryu suggested.

I pouted. Yes, that would have been a good idea. “I felt bad for them… at first.” I admitted. “They gave me their tragic backstories and everything!”

Ryu patted me on the shoulder and chuckled. “Cmon, didn’t you want to check out their loot?” he asked me. “We need to hurry, all of this blood is going to attract the larger chakra beasts. The kind we saw in the forest earlier were nothing compared to what could show up.”

“Let’s hurry then!” I said quickly.

I followed Ryu into the main tent in the middle of the now quiet outpost. These guys didn’t have as much loot as I thought they would have had, but it wasn’t a bad haul. Ryu counted out around 100,000 Ryo along with multiple precious gems that could triple that amount of money. There were also a few Jutsu scrolls that listed the details to perform three C-Rank water Jutsu and one B-Rank Earth Jutsu.

*+500 Luck XP!*

I also figured out a way to finally raise my Luck Stat. Embarrassing my inner Loot Goblin!

Name: Kasumi Hayabusa

Stat Points 1

Perk Points 1

Level 3 (1100 / 4000 XP)

Chakra Points 200/200

Body 3 / 20 (270/4000 XP)

Spirit 2 / 20 (340/2000 XP)

Mind 1 / 20 (750/1000 XP)

Tech 2 / 20 (410/2000 XP)

Luck 1 / 20 (700/1000 XP)