As the acting squad leader, Mei Terumi looked firmly at her two teammates.
After so many days of sparring, Mei had a very clear understanding of the strength of her two teammates.
She had long since realized that Tachibana Kenji was far more than a simple Medical Ninja.
Although the three of them were still young, they all possessed combat abilities approaching the chūnin level.
The only thing they really lacked was experience fighting actual enemies.
After making a simple tactical arrangement, the three silently split up and began carrying out their respective tasks.
A short while later.
With Lan at her side, Tachibana Kenji silently infiltrated the inner section of the camp and reached the two largest adjacent stone houses.
With a light flip, she landed beside one of the windows and concealed herself.
Just as she expected.
She didn’t even need to confirm it again.
The thunderous sound of snoring was clearly audible from inside one of the rooms.
Tachibana made no sound.
She merely gestured for Lan to investigate the other room.
She tightened her grip on her kunai, hooked her other hand beneath the windowsill, and applied a little force.
Her body slipped through the window with practiced agility.
Without bothering to determine how strong the sleeping pirate was, the instant her toes touched the floor, Tachibana bent her legs and exploded forward.
In a single step, she reached the bed.
Her kunai plunged directly into the sleeping pirate’s throat.
“Pfft—” The pirate struggled weakly for a moment.
A small amount of blood sprayed out, and then he fell completely silent.
From climbing through the window to killing the pirate, Tachibana had barely needed to think.
She had simply followed the steps taught in the Ninja Academy.
And just like that, she had ended another person’s life.
Life really is fragile.
[Ding!
First enemy defeated.
Achievement unlocked: “First Blood!”] The system’s cold notification rang out in her mind, leaving Tachibana Kenji with complicated emotions.
After learning that she had arrived in the chaotic shinobi world, Tachibana had mentally prepared herself long ago for the possibility that her hands would one day be stained with blood.
Yet the system notification somehow felt almost like it was mocking her.
At that moment, without the pirate’s snoring or the system notification to mask it, a faint sound of breathing suddenly reached Tachibana’s ears from the corner of the quiet room.
There was no time to think.
Her entire body tensed instantly.
She yanked the kunai from the pirate’s neck and hurled it toward the corner where the sound had come from.
At the same time, she spun around, chakra erupting beneath her feet as she prepared to launch a follow-up attack.
Thud.
The kunai embedded itself firmly in a wooden wardrobe.
It had missed its target.
But Tachibana Kenji had already rushed in front of the target.
And she made no further attack.
Instead, she stood there in a daze, staring at the “enemy” before her.
The kunai had not missed because of an error.
It was because the target was simply too small.
Standing before Tachibana was a red-haired child who appeared to be only four or five years old, chained to the floor.
The filthy child was so skinny that it was difficult to even tell whether they were a boy or a girl.
Their eyes were completely empty.
It was obvious that the child’s mind had already been shattered by unimaginable abuse.
Whether it was the kunai embedded less than a centimeter from their head or the fist stopped directly in front of their face, the child showed absolutely no reaction.
If not for the faint breathing, Tachibana might even have wondered whether the child was still alive.
“Froak…
O.O?” Lan’s soft call from beside the window brought Tachibana back to her senses.
“Get some sleep first.
When you wake up, you’ll be free.” There was no time to mourn for the child.
With a gentle chop to the neck, Tachibana knocked the child unconscious before turning around and leaving the room together with Lan.
Thank you, kid.
At least you made sure I don’t have to carry any psychological burden from my first kill.
After quickly searching several more rooms, Tachibana found no other pirates sleeping inside.
The mist throughout the camp was also growing increasingly dense, so she abandoned her search of the remaining rooms.
Has Zabuza finished his part yet?
Mei had assigned Tachibana the task of investigating the two noticeably better-built houses to determine whether they contained any high-ranking enemy combatants.
She was free to decide whether to launch a surprise attack or send out a warning.
Since the pirates happened to be asleep, Tachibana had chosen to kill them directly.
Zabuza, meanwhile, had gone to the harbor to eliminate the pirates guarding the boats and use the surrounding seawater to cast Hidden Mist Jutsu over a wide area.
Both sides had now completed their assignments.
Tachibana continued forward under cover, approaching the most important location—the training ground.
She could already hear the pirates’ noisy curses.
“What the hell is with this weather?
Does the fog usually get this thick?!” “Enough with the damn complaining.
In weather like this, those brats don’t have to train, so we can get some rest early.” “Rest my ass!
If those big shots come to inspect the merchandise and the pass rate isn’t high enough, are you going to take responsibility with your life?!” “Shut the hell up!
All of you brats!
Stop fighting!
Get your asses back into the cages!” Although the thick fog had successfully separated the pirates from the children, Tachibana Kenji did not immediately attack.
Instead, with a cold expression, she continued advancing according to the plan.
…
Meanwhile, on a low hill near the camp.
Seeing that the dense fog still covered the entire camp, Mei Terumi’s tightly furrowed brows finally relaxed slightly.
There had still been no signal from the camp.
That meant the two teammates’ operations were proceeding smoothly.
However, because the fog prevented her from hearing what was happening below, she naturally had no idea that the pirates had already stopped the children’s fighting because of the poor visibility.
After all, when the three had devised their plan, they had still been approaching the situation from the perspective of shinobi.
Mei continued according to the plan, forming hand seals and using ninjutsu.
“Earth Release: Earth Flow Split!” In an instant, part of the hillside cracked apart.
With a tremendous rumble, the broken earth began sliding toward the camp below.
Naturally, Mei had deliberately limited the scale of the landslide so that it would not injure the children in the camp.
Its purpose was merely to create a loud disturbance and draw the pirates’ attention, so she had not spent much chakra on it.
Before the chunks of earth even reached the edge of the camp, they had already lost their momentum and stopped.
“What the hell was that?!” “Damn it, was that a landslide?!” “Send two men over there to see what happened!
And hurry up and get those brats back into their cages!” At last, Tachibana Kenji and Zabuza, who had been waiting below for the attack signal, immediately launched their assault on all the nearby pirates.
Although they could not see far through the mist, most of the pirates instinctively looked toward the direction of the enormous noise.
The two shinobi and one Froakie silently eliminated a large number of pirates.
But in the end, their presence was discovered.
“Enemy attack!
Watch—” The remaining dozen or so pirates finally realized that the camp was under attack and immediately moved toward the source of the commotion.
Fortunately, by this point, Tachibana and Zabuza had already eliminated every pirate who was close to the children.
“Now that I don’t have to hold back anymore…” Tachibana Kenji sensed that the remaining pirates were converging on her position.
Instead of disappearing back into the mist, she simply stood where she was.
Then she suddenly laughed.
“You’re being so cooperative.
In that case, I won’t hold back!”
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