"Hehe, you're so beautiful. You're much better than that shrew at home!" The bandit leader was drunk, hugging the woman.
"Oh, you're so naughty~" The woman let out a coquettish cry. "I left my family for you, you know."
"Hahaha, that sickly husband of yours couldn't satisfy you anyway, right? Let me... Sss, what is it?" The bandit leader felt a pain on his instep, as if bitten by a mosquito, but he didn't pay much attention. After all, he had thick skin. The woman also felt a pain in her ankle. She looked down and saw a white snake tail disappearing.
"Snake!" The woman exclaimed and stood up. Then she felt dizzy. The bandit leader held her in his arms. "Hey, what's wrong with you?"
After that, he also felt his body going weak. One of his legs lost sensation. He wanted to speak, but couldn't open his mouth. He couldn't even feel his mouth anymore.
The two foamed at the mouth, their bodies convulsed, and they fell down. The little white snake stuck out its head, flicking its tongue, quite satisfied with the outcome.
Seeing this, Asakawa Kiyosuke climbed down from the roof, entered the room, and checked their pulses. They were both dead. He whispered, "Don't blame me. I'm a ninja. It's just for the mission."
He dragged their bodies onto the bed, covered them with a quilt, and then transformed into the appearance of the bandit leader. He pinched his throat, changed his voice, and finally settled on a tone that was the same as the bandit leader's. He coughed and walked out the door, cursing, "Where are you all! Where have you all gone? Get over here right now!"
With his shout, lights came on one by one in the mountain stronghold. Some bandits, wearing only pants and holding knives, ran out of their rooms and asked, "Boss, what's going on? Who are we going to chop?"
"Call everyone over. There's a big deal!"
The few men's eyes lit up. One of them asked, "Boss, what kind of big deal?"
"A deal that can make us rich! Call all the brothers in the stronghold over. I have something to say. If we pull this off, none of us will have to worry about our livelihoods in the future!"
"That's great! That's great! We'll go call them right away!" The bandits immediately went to call the others.
At this moment, a figure landed beside him. It was Asuma. He said, "The hostage has been rescued. Kurenai is taking care of him. Is the bandit leader dead?"
"Poisoned." Asakawa Kiyosuke said softly.
Asuma was silent for a moment, then said, "I see. Let's wait for the others to come!"
"Okay. Hide and block their escape route."
"All right."
With a flash, Asuma disappeared.
Not long after, about fifty to sixty bandits gathered. One group of them said unhappily, "Boss, what if the kid we caught ran away?"
Before Asakawa Kiyosuke could say anything, a lackey shouted, "Don't worry about him. How much is he worth? The boss said that after this job, none of us will have to worry about the future. By the way, boss, what's this big deal we're doing?"
Asakawa Kiyosuke said, "It's a huge, huge deal! Is everyone here?"
"Uh, three brothers are missing. Two were guarding the kid. They probably went after him. And we don't know where the other one went."
The two were probably taken out by Asuma and the others, and the remaining one was killed by himself.
Asakawa Kiyosuke nodded, raised his hand, and said, "Okay, then let's move!" After that, he jumped onto the roof nearby.
"Move? What move? Boss, what are you doing?!" The bandits were confused. Then they heard a voice suddenly ring out.
"Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!"
A shower of shurikens rained down from the sky.
"Ah! It hurts!"
"Boss, what's going on?!"
"No! This is a ninja's attack!"
"Someone hired a ninja to kill us!"
"No! I don't want to die! Please, ninja - sama, spare me!"
The bandits tried to run, but with the shurikens all over the sky, where could they escape?
Some were lucky and got hit in non - fatal places like the arm, while some were unlucky and got stabbed in the heart or head, dying on the spot.
Asakawa Kiyosuke changed back to his own appearance, his body ablaze with flames. "Ember!"
The flames engulfed the bandits and set the stronghold on fire!
It became the only light in the mountain in the dark night.
"Ah! It's so hot!"
"No! I don't want to die!"
"Ah! It hurts!"
Under the attacks of Asakawa Kiyosuke and Asuma, the mountain stronghold turned into a sea of fire. They didn't let a single bandit escape. The mission was completed!
The air was filled with the smell of charred flesh, making the two of them frown. Trying to hold back their nausea, Yuuhi Mahiro came up behind them and said, "You have to get used to it."
This was the way of ninjas. It was either you kill or be killed. As long as it was a mission, it had to be completed without room for negotiation.
"I know. Since the moment I became a ninja, I've been prepared for this." Asakawa Kiyosuke said, coughing.
"Me too. How are the hostage and Kurenai?"
"The hostage has been safely transferred. Kurenai is escorting him to the employer at the foot of the mountain. She should be back soon. You guys did a great job on this mission." Yuuhi Mahiro was satisfied with the performance of the three this time.
"I think we should stick to D - rank missions next time. I can't handle missions like this every time." Asuma shook his head.
My old man is really ruthless. This mission turned out to be so troublesome.
Yuuhi Mahiro said, "Not every C - rank mission is like this. Of course, you're still genins, so you'll mostly take D - rank missions. And C - rank missions aren't available all the time either."
"Okay, I'll treat you guys to a good meal when we get back. Let's go."
"I want to rest when we get back. I don't have much of an appetite."
"Me neither."
Seeing the two of them like this, Yuuhi Mahiro smiled and said, "Well, forget it then."
They still need to get used to it!
They're still young!
He believed that the three of them would become excellent ninjas.
The four of them returned to Konoha. Instead of celebrating with a big meal, they each went home to rest. For several days, they didn't have much of an appetite.
"I'm telling you, Kiyosuke, I had nightmares for several days. Mom was so worried." When it was time to receive missions again, the four of them got together, and Asuma said.
"Oh, I recovered the day before yesterday." A child with a mother is like a treasure. He, without a mother, was like a weed. He still had to go do experiments with Uncle Snake.
These days, apart from training, he went to Uncle Snake's place to "clock in" for experiments and help out, like passing scissors and scalpels. When Uncle Snake got an idea, he would say things that were hard to understand. Anyway, he just listened. How much he could understand depended on his own comprehension.
Uncle Snake's experiments hadn't shifted to humans yet, but they were still a bit gross. After watching for a while... he got used to it and got over the shock.
Uncle Snake, master of core technologies!