The moment those words left Rei's mouth, the atmosphere inside the room changed instantly. Daniel slowly lowered the beer bottle in his hand while staring at Rei for a few long seconds. Laura too looked up from the kitchen counter where she had been pretending not to listen to the conversation.
Then Daniel laughed once.
"…Excuse me?"
Rei didn't look away.
"I asked what happens if I don't."
And honestly… hearing a nine-year-old calmly challenge authority like that should have been absurd. But there was something in Rei's tone that immediately made both adults uncomfortable.
Because there was no fear there. No closing of fists, no shouting, nothing. Just calm look in his dead fish like eyes. Daniel slowly stood up afterward.
"You think because we gave you a room and food that suddenly you can start talking back?"
Rei quietly watched him. And internally… he felt nothing. No fear, no anger, just the same way Rei would watch any other person who were inconsequential in his life. Being in the Naruto world, one thing he understood very quickly. Life was cheap.
Though the anime might have made it half PG 13 standards and even then there were violent deaths. Deaths that brought him tears in his previous life. Deaths that he was determined to prevent in this life. Thus he needed to be decisive and clamp down on things that needed to be put down.
For the last couple of months he had already understood exactly what kind of people the Harris family truly were. Today merely removed the remaining mask.
"You wanted someone obedient," Rei replied calmly. "Not a son."
That sentence visibly struck a nerve.
Laura immediately stepped in from the side. "Rei, don't start acting spoiled now after everything we've done for you."
There it was again. That same tone and lines.
"You fed me because the government literally pays you to." Rei replied flatly. "Let's not pretend this is charity."
"Watch your mouth."
"No."
And honestly… that single word finally snapped something inside the man.
Daniel moved forward suddenly and fast. Not trained fast. Just angry adult fast. His arm swung instinctively toward Rei's face.
A slap. Rei's eyes narrowed slightly. And the next moment, everything happened very quickly.
Rei stepped sideways smoothly while grabbing Daniel's wrist mid-motion. The older man's eyes widened immediately because suddenly the "quiet adopted child" moved with terrifying precision.
A simple twist using the adult's body as the counterweight. A simple taijutsu reversal. Nothing fancy by shinobi standards. But against an ordinary human?
Daniel's body hit the floor violently before he even properly realized what happened. He was simply too fast for even his eyes to register what had happened.
Crack.
The sound echoed unpleasantly through the room. Daniel gave a subdued wail immediately afterward while clutching his wrist.
"…AAAGH!"
Laura froze completely for about half a second, staring in horror at the sight of her husband lying on the ground beneath a child.
Then panic overtook reason.
"You little—!"
Her eyes immediately locked onto the nearby broom handle resting against the kitchen wall. She grabbed it instinctively and swung wildly toward Rei.
Honestly? The attack was pathetic, even by women standards. Woman, you are a blot in their name, especially in a world where there were black widows, granted they were a bit physically enhanced, but she could still do better.
Rei sighed internally before forming a single hand sign.
Snake.
"Earth Release: Bottomless Swamp."
The floor beneath Laura's feet suddenly liquefied. Not across the entire room, of course. Just a very small controlled patch around her legs.
Laura shrieked instantly as both her feet sank downward into the muddy surface. The broom handle dropped from her hands immediately as panic replaced everything else.
"What the—WHAT THE HELL?!"
Her body struggled violently against the mud, only sinking slightly deeper.
Daniel meanwhile had stopped screaming. Mostly because he was staring at the floor in complete existential horror. Laura finally opened her mouth fully to scream. Loudly this time.
Rei moved instantly. One hand clamped directly over her mouth while his eyes remained cold and focused.
"Quiet."
Laura's entire body froze. His voice stayed completely calm. And somehow that made the situation infinitely more terrifying.
The room fell silent afterward except for Daniel's uneven breathing from the floor. Rei slowly looked between both adults afterward. And honestly… the visual itself probably looked horrifying from their perspective. A nine-year-old child standing calmly in their living room after effortlessly incapacitating both adults within seconds.
Though Daniel couldn't prove it, but he was sure that the mud that magically appeared under Laura was made by Rei himself. It was like magic.
"Now," he said quietly. "We are going to have a calm conversation."
Neither adult spoke. Well of course, one of them couldn't speak at the moment.
Rei slowly removed his hand from Laura's mouth afterward but kept his gaze fixed on both of them. Daniel was still clutching his wrist from the floor while Laura looked like she was having a spiritual breakdown seeing mud behave in a way mud absolutely wasn't supposed to behave.
Honestly Rei couldn't even blame them. If someone suddenly used earth magic in front of him back in his previous life, he too would probably start questioning every religious scripture known to mankind.
Still… this situation had already gone beyond simple emotional manipulation now. Once Daniel raised his hand, Rei already understood that these people would eventually escalate further. People like them always did. And Rei wasn't interested in playing this game for the future.
So it was time to end it.
With another small movement of his hand, the contract materialized into existence again. The full contract, the one which he refused for his father to sign.
"…What the hell are you…" he whispered quietly.
"Not important." Rei replied calmly. "What matters now is that you are going to sign this."
Daniel's expression darkened slightly despite the fear underneath.
"…Release Laura first."
Rei slowly looked toward him afterward.
And honestly… hearing demands from the man at this point almost amused him slightly.
"You are misunderstanding the situation," Rei said quietly. "You are not in control here."
That sentence visibly struck Daniel harder than the fractured wrist did. Because up until now, some part of him still believed he could somehow regain control of the situation.
But Rei's calmness kept destroying that illusion repeatedly.
Still… Daniel wasn't stupid. He had served long enough to understand one important thing. Timing mattered. If he got an opening, even a small one, he needed to take it immediately.
So while Rei stepped slightly closer with the contract, Daniel suddenly lunged forward using his good arm, aiming directly toward Rei's legs in an attempt to tackle him down.
Honestly? The attempt itself wasn't terrible by civilian standards. Unfortunately for him… Rei wasn't a civilian.
Before Daniel could even fully rise from the floor, Rei's foot moved downward sharply.
Crack.
His heel slammed directly into Daniel's shin bone with enough force to instantly destabilize the older man's body. Daniel's breath hitched violently as pain exploded upward through his leg.
"…NNGH—!"
The scream never fully escaped. Mostly because Daniel forcibly swallowed it halfway through. Because even through the pain, one rational thought still remained inside his head. Any disturbance might trigger an alarm in his neighbors with whom he had kept the mask on.
If police were called, what what exactly was he supposed to tell authorities afterward?
A nine-year-old child used magic mud powers and martial arts to beat us unconscious inside our own home.
And Daniel being former military only made the situation worse mentally because unlike Laura, he fully understood something horrifying now. Rei had been calm since the entire debacle started. He didn't try to silence him, but he did to Laura, who was still trying to be free while a a rocky texture had surrounded her mouth, making her only muffle through it.
That was the moment both of them realized that while the mud could be magic but silencing her was definitely not normal. This kid was some voodoo shit, or at least that was what Laura thought.
Besides.
Every movement had intent behind it. The child standing in front of him knew exactly how much force to use. Exactly where to strike. Exactly how to incapacitate without immediately killing.
That was not normal. That was training.
Real training.
Daniel slowly exhaled shakily afterward while clutching his shin now alongside his fractured wrist.
"…What are you…" he whispered again, though this time fear fully replaced anger.
Rei ignored the question entirely and instead extended the floating contract toward him.
"Sign it."
Daniel stared at the page silently for a few moments. His breathing remained uneven while Laura looked one second away from passing out entirely.
"…And if I don't?" he asked quietly.
Rei's expression didn't change.
"Then eventually I leave this house and both of you spend the rest of your lives wondering whether the supernatural child you tried to exploit decides to come back one day."