The sound of concentrated acid corroding objects was heard, followed by a muffled groan. Amid the thick fog, the silver light flickered and dimmed. Minato sensed someone approaching from behind and quickly repelled the rogue ninja in front of him, then turned to look.
At this moment, Tatsuma was half-crouched on the ground. The clothes on his back and shoulders had been corroded, exposing his decaying skin. The corrosion was still ongoing, but the spilled blood and bodily fluids had diluted the corrosive liquid, significantly reducing its corrosive effect.
Seeing that it wasn't a fatal wound, Minato breathed a sigh of relief. Such injuries were not severe for Tatsuma; it just required a little time for Chakra to be conducted.
Sure enough, the next moment, the previously decayed skin began to heal. The newly grown skin was a pale white but looked very healthy.
"Sorry, Leader, it was my mistake for being so careless," Vulture quickly helped the rising Tatsuma and said. Tatsuma shook his head and replied, "I didn't expect there would be a Kekkei Genkai Ninja."
The injury healed almost instantly, but Tatsuma's expression under his mask was particularly grim. It wasn't the pain from the injury—since the pain from such injuries only lasted a moment for him—but because Orochimaru had emphasized that any wounds or illnesses would accelerate the growth of those mysterious cells.
This made him, who usually preferred to get injured first to trigger [Blood Awakening] and [Growing Through Battle], extremely cautious about protecting himself during this mission.
However, he didn't get injured fighting the Cloud Ninja or Chitsuchi, who both had the highest Chakra amounts and seemed to have the most authority in the team. Instead, he stumbled against a Hidden Mist Village rogue ninja whom he didn't even recognize. Tatsuma knew he had no one to blame but himself; he should have been prepared and made contingency plans upon encountering the Mist Village rogue ninja.
Since Hidden Mist Village adopted the Bloody Mist Policy, communication with the outside world has become increasingly sparse. Coupled with its overseas location, it is difficult to infiltrate, making it hard to find information about Hidden Mist Village.
This is one aspect. On the other hand, since the Bloody Mist Policy, the proportion of Kekkei Genkai Ninjas among the defectors from Hidden Mist Village is quite high.
Tatsuma only focused on whether any of the rogue ninjas could use the Hiding In Mist Jutsu and didn't think deeply or remain vigilant against individuals related to Hidden Mist Village. This was a lapse in his duties as a Leader.
Therefore, Tatsuma was willing to help Vulture with this situation. However, he didn't intend to let the person who injured him get away. He looked at the Hidden Mist rogue ninja and asked, "Who are you?"
The Hidden Mist rogue ninja also watched Tatsuma's recovery process with a grim expression. He possessed the Boil Release Kekkei Genkai, but his strength was not particularly formidable, so he hadn't planned to directly engage in combat with Tatsuma.
After fighting with Vulture for so long, he felt it was not worth the risk to use Boil Release, but without using it, he couldn't subdue Vulture.
When he used Boil Release and Tatsuma chose to reveal himself to block him, he was very pleased because he knew that the high temperature and corrosiveness of Boil Release caused significant harm to the enemy.
Although Tatsuma only suffered injuries to his back and shoulders, such wounds were enough to reduce the flexibility of Tatsuma's hands, which could lead to a decline in his ability to form hand seals and use Ninja Tools effectively.
In other words, it greatly increased the probability of defeating or killing Tatsuma. Thinking about the 45 million ryo bounty, the Hidden Mist rogue ninja was extremely excited. However, he never expected that...
This person wasn't afraid of being injured!
Tatsuma relaxed his shoulders, feeling the diluted acid slightly corroding his skin, and ignored it, leaving some wounds for better performance.
The Hidden Mist rogue ninja looked at Tatsuma's eyes, which were completely different from how he looked during his previous fights. He couldn't help but swallow. He wanted to tell this young man his name boldly, but... he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Tatsuma also had no patience to wait any longer. Scanning the few remaining rogue ninjas who could still stand, and seeing that they were all too afraid to move, he snorted softly and charged straight at the Hidden Mist rogue ninja.
He didn't use Body Flicker Jutsu or Flying Thunder God. His speed was fast, but each of these rogue ninjas managed to evade him, though that was assuming they could normally utilize their abilities.
At this moment, however, the Hidden Mist ninja felt that his Chakra had stagnated, and he could only watch helplessly as Tatsuma approached.
The rogue ninja fighting Minato had also stopped after being knocked away by Minato and didn't dare to act recklessly. As for the other rogue ninja fighting Caterpillar, they were already overwhelmed by countless parasitic insects during their moment of distraction.
Minato looked at Tatsuma with concern. Tatsuma's current state reminded him of a time before, when he had just finished a research project and was performing a mission with ANBU for the first time, displaying a complete disregard for the enemy.
After that mission, whether during the Land of Lightning mission or the recovery training over the past few months, Tatsuma had not exhibited such behavior again, which led Minato to believe that it was a rare, non-recurring situation.
But now it seems that his close friend has been restraining some negative emotions, and the previous outburst didn't seem to have a relieving effect.
In fact, it seemed that the situation had become more severe and more radical, though the reasons were unclear.
"Boil Release! Skilled Mist Jutsu!"
At this moment, the Hidden Mist ninja seemed unable to endure it any longer. The corrosive mist erupted from his mouth once again, spewing towards the approaching Tatsuma.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm!"
Tatsuma thrust his palm forward, without needing any hand seals or Chakra nature transformation. Pure Chakra surged through his acupuncture points, creating a strong gust of wind.
"Ah, ah, ah!"
The direction of the mist changed, covering the Hidden Mist ninja. The intense pain made the Hidden Mist ninja cry out in agony, leaving others extremely confused as to how Tatsuma had been so silent earlier.
Is this person really so tough?
"Thud, thud, thud~"
Tatsuma quickened his pace and increased the force of his steps. Each step slightly altered the terrain, bringing him closer to the Hidden Mist ninja.
But with his face corroded and his eyes accidentally exposed to the acidic mist, the Hidden Mist ninja could no longer pay attention. Suddenly, after a loud crash, the surroundings seemed to fall silent.
The Hidden Mist ninja's ears sent some information to his brain, with danger warnings, but the brain, overwhelmed by intense pain, couldn't process the auditory information.
He couldn't see or hear, but others saw it differently. They watched as Tatsuma ran up to the Hidden Mist ninja, leaped with his legs pushing off the ground, and spun in mid-air, executing a spinning kick with both legs.
Throughout the whole sequence, Tatsuma didn't consider any margin for error, only seeking the most powerful force output. Tatsuma's Enhanced Strength fully erupted at this moment, with his lower legs smashing down onto the Hidden Mist ninja's shoulder.
"Boom~"
Onlookers saw that the moment the Hidden Mist ninja was kicked, a burst of red mist exploded from his body. The red mist didn't obstruct their view; they clearly saw that the left half of the Hidden Mist ninja's torso had vanished, and a twisted segment of his arm, along with his shoulder, fell to the ground.
The kick had split the Hidden Mist ninja apart like a giant axe. The imbalanced ninja fell to the ground, with a white, sticky paste oozing from his mouth and nose.
Others also noticed that Tatsuma, who had landed and risen, wasn't entirely unscathed. Force always acts reciprocally; Tatsuma's weight was completely on his left foot, while his right foot was only standing weakly.
A good opportunity. Or is it?
The group wanted to take action against the clearly injured Tatsuma, but none of them dared to actually make a move.
"Step, step~"
"Crack~"
Before they could overcome their doubts and hesitations, Tatsuma lightly stomped his foot. After bearing the extra pressure, not only did his injured right foot not worsen, but they even heard the sound of his joints realigning.
Seeing Tatsuma regain his balance, they all knew they had missed their best chance, even if it could hardly be called a real opportunity.
As for Tatsuma, he felt much better. Violence isn't the best way to solve problems or vent emotions, but it is the quickest. However, in most cases, most people suppress this beastly nature within them.
Everyone has had the thought of becoming an aggressor, but rationality stops them because the cost of violence is too high for most to bear. So, the violent impulses driven by this primal nature are usually compensated by exercise, crying, or shouting.
"There's nothing more interesting left to do. Let's end this."
Tatsuma looked in Minato's direction and said. Minato seemed like he wanted to say something, but didn't at that moment. He just nodded, and the two of them simultaneously pulled out their kunai, turning their attention to the rogue ninja.
"Earth Release! Earth-Style Wall!"
One of the rogue ninjas targeted by Tatsuma, in a moment of desperation, quickly performed hand signs and released the Ninjutsu, creating a thick wall. Only then did he feel a slight sense of security.
But that was for him; for Tatsuma, the Wind Release Chakra in his hand was directly enveloping the Shuriken.
He didn't waste Chakra on metal to create Kunai. However, not using Chakra-conductive metal didn't mean Chakra couldn't be conducted; it just had extremely low efficiency and utilization.
Instead of using Chakra-conductive techniques, Tatsuma wrapped the Kunai directly with excess Chakra. He threw the Kunai towards the thick earthen wall.
Upon leaving Tatsuma's controlled Wind Release Chakra, it dispersed like an activated chainsaw. The Kunai had not even reached the earthen wall before the Wind Release Chakra had already begun to destroy it.
The Kunai subsequently pierced through the heavily damaged wall. As the rogue ninja watched the Kunai break through his Ninjutsu, he tried to evade, but the silver light flickered, and the flying Kunai was once again under Tatsuma's control.
"Flying Thunder God Slash!"
Using the Kunai to change his momentum, Tatsuma only adjusted the direction slightly, and the Kunai sliced directly across the rogue ninja's neck.
"Splash~"
The rogue ninja fell to the ground, clutching his neck in an attempt to delay his death. However, the powerful beating of his heart, which once provided him with energy, now served as his death knell.
With each heartbeat, the major arteries sprayed out large quantities of blood.
Tatsuma did not pay him any more attention but instead looked at the others. Except for the one who had also been executed by Minato, the remaining rogue ninjas all attempted to flee.
However, Caterpillar's parasitic insects formed a line of defense. These insects, which couldn't be cut or struck, but could gnaw at the body upon contact, prevented them from escaping.
The rogue ninjas, slowed down by the parasitic insects, could only catch glimpses of silver or golden light in the swarm of insects before they died.
In the face of absolute speed, all techniques lost their advantage. The rogue ninjas could only regret their involvement in the operation in their final moments.
"Leader, you're so violent. His brain is destroyed beyond repair; it's better to let my insects have a feast."
Caterpillar looked at the serene forest that had suddenly turned into a maple grove, speaking in a chillingly calm tone. Tatsuma shrugged, then pointed to the rogue ninja who had been pinned in the forehead by a Kunai and said:
"Minato also did it."
"I—"
Minato was at a loss for words, and Tatsuma's comment had a strangely familiar ring to it.
----
Check out my Patreon for more advanced chapters up to 50 at patreon.com/HellGolt