“Lots of people have wanted to kill me.
Unfortunately for them, none of them were strong enough.” Muzan drew the shinobi sword from his back.
It wasn’t Sakumo’s White Fang, just an ordinary shinobi blade.
And the man before him certainly wasn’t someone capable of matching Sakumo.
Clang!
His Hatake swordsmanship was already beginning to resemble the legendary White Fang’s.
The instant danger struck, Kojiro leaped back three steps.
Thinking he had successfully avoided the slash, he suddenly felt a sharp pain spread across his chest.
Lowering his head, he saw blood seeping from a cut across his torso.
His face twisted in horror.
“The Hatake Sword Style!” It was the signature technique of the famed White Fang of Konoha.
As a shinobi from an enemy village, he knew exactly how terrifying that style was.
Combining the intelligence they had recently gathered with the black-cloaked youth before him…
Both of Hatake Sakumo’s sons had already become genin.
Both were prodigies.
Both had already been placed on Kirigakure’s assassination list.
Among assassins and bounty hunters alike, the heads of talented children were often worth more than those of veteran shinobi.
An untrained genius posed little threat to a village.
Kill them while they were still young, and there would be no future problem.
But once a shinobi reached Kage-level…
They could threaten an entire hidden village.
Muzan didn’t deny it.
The two clashed again at close range.
To Kojiro’s surprise, Muzan was actually stronger.
Forced backward step after step, Kojiro found himself gradually losing strength as the venom from the snake bite spread through his body.
After only a few exchanges, his stamina was already failing.
Slash!
A single sword arc cut straight through both his kunai…
…and Kojiro himself.
A thin crimson line appeared across his neck.
Draw.
Slash.
Sheathe.
The movements flowed together seamlessly.
Still frozen in disbelief, Kojiro couldn’t accept that he was about to die…
…at the hands of a child.
Thud.
His stiff body collapsed onto the ground.
His severed head rolled to a stop before Muzan.
Bending down, Muzan gently closed the man’s eyes.
It was the last bit of dignity he could offer him.
“The life of a shinobi…
is truly tragic.” It was a strange profession.
They produced nothing.
They simply stole from one another.
Most shinobi were destined to die at the hands of their enemies.
Like an endless cycle…
One with no visible end.
After dealing with Kojiro, Muzan hurried toward the other battlefield.
Anko and Mari had already gained the upper hand.
Orochimaru had taught them wholeheartedly, never withholding knowledge when it came to ninjutsu.
Their opponents had been trapped by snakes and poisoned.
Even without Muzan’s help, Anko was fully capable of finishing the battle.
In the end, two kunai pierced their enemies’ hearts.
Their miserable lives came to an end.
“It looks like you’ve both improved quite a bit.” Muzan was genuinely surprised.
Working together, the two of them had completely overwhelmed the Kiri shinobi.
When they’d first met, Mari had been timid to the point that even performing the Three Basic Techniques was difficult.
Now…
He had killed an enemy shinobi with his own hands.
“Mhm…
Battles between shinobi are terrifying.” Looking at the corpses, Mari recalled how the enemy had even coated their kunai with poison.
To kill one another…
Every possible method was fair game.
That was the cruelty of war.
This wasn’t the Academy’s harmless mock battles.
“Still, I’m the one who won!
I’ll definitely become a famous shinobi someday!” Muzan didn’t crush Anko’s enthusiasm.
Instead, he looked down at the bodies and calmly used his sword…
…to cut off their heads.
The Anko who had been looking forward to relaxing with some dango after the mission immediately turned pale with disgust.
“You sick freak!
You actually—” She met Muzan’s emotionless gaze.
The rest of her words died in her throat.
To him…
This was simply the natural thing to do.
The expression on his face was almost identical to Orochimaru-sensei’s.
“Don’t be so naive, Anko.” “We’re shinobi.” “And they’re the enemy.” “Their bodies need to be handed over to Intelligence so Konoha can uncover Kirigakure’s plans.” Sometimes…
Dead shinobi were more useful than living ones.
Although Orochimaru had given them harsh training, they had yet to truly experience the darkness of the ninja world.
In reality, the head of the chunin alone would have been enough.
Muzan did this so his teammates would grow accustomed to the life of a shinobi.
Famous shinobi?
They earned their reputations through strength.
Step by step…
Building their names atop the corpses of their enemies.
Anko’s hands trembled as they became stained with blood.
She forced herself to endure the nausea.
When she glanced toward Mari, she saw that although he was shaking with fear…
He still held onto one of the severed heads without letting go.
“Yes, Captain.” For the first time, Anko truly accepted her role.
During a mission, subordinates obeyed the commander’s orders.
Only then could unnecessary casualties be avoided.
“Let’s move.” “We’re regrouping with the main force.” Kirigakure shinobi appearing around Konoha was anything but good news.
It meant Kirigakure had already begun preparing for an invasion.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ When they returned to camp, the three blood-soaked genin gave the guards quite a scare.
If anything had happened to Orochimaru-sama’s students…
Especially to Sakumo-sama’s son…
Everyone on duty would be in serious trouble.
“What happened to you three?!” One of the guards immediately moved to summon the medical corps, only for Muzan to stop him.
He was a medic himself.
“We encountered Kirigakure shinobi.” “This is the head of their chunin.” “Take it.
Hopefully Intelligence can extract something useful.” “A…
chunin?” Only after confirming the Kirigakure forehead protector did the guard finally believe what he was seeing.
These children…
Had actually killed a chunin.
Looking at the small figure standing before him, he couldn’t help but think back.
Whenever Konoha shinobi mentioned Muzan in the past…
They always talked about his father or his teacher.
But from this day onward…
Hatake Muzan’s reputation would belong to him alone.
A child…
Who had slain a chunin.
If nothing unexpected happened…
Konoha would one day gain another White Fang.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ When Orochimaru heard that his students had wiped out an entire chunin squad, he wasn’t surprised.
Muzan already possessed strength comparable to a chunin.
With Mari and Anko supporting him, there was little chance of anything going wrong.
Otherwise, Orochimaru would never have allowed them to patrol alone.
“You did well.” “But you made one mistake.” They had failed to clean up the battlefield.
Muzan had overlooked it.
If a Kirigakure chunin squad disappeared without a trace inside Konoha’s territory, and another patrol later discovered signs of battle…
Kirigakure would immediately realize that a Konoha team was operating in the area.
The next time they crossed paths…
The enemy would either avoid the region altogether…
Or send even stronger shinobi.
Given the Bloody Mist’s methods…
The Mizukage certainly wouldn’t let the matter rest.
“Orochimaru-sensei…
that was my mistake.” As team captain, the strategic oversight belonged to Muzan alone.
“Just don’t make the same mistake again.” Fortunately, it wasn’t serious enough to affect the larger situation.
Orochimaru usually taught them ninjutsu and chakra control.
He had never instructed them on post-battle cleanup.
In that sense…
It was partly his own oversight as well.
“After this incident, you’ve completely exposed yourself to Kirigakure.” “You’re now on their kill-on-sight list.” “Be careful.” Orochimaru tossed a scroll toward him.
It was a bounty list.
Muzan’s name appeared near the top.
The reward for his head…
Was even higher than that of an elite jonin.
“…A kill-on-sight list?” CREATORS’ THOUGHTS Hidden_Quill Thank you so much for reading!