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The rising sun cast a golden glow over the land, illuminating the small bandit stronghold.
The chaotic stronghold was littered with various 'parts' and debris.
At this moment, two figures slowly stood up.
They looked around in a daze, the hellish scene constantly assaulting their senses.
The excellent training at the Ninja Academy allowed them to clearly identify most of the parts as human body parts.
But at this moment, it felt like a nightmare to them!
"Ugh!"
A deep sense of nausea and revulsion filled their stomachs and throats.
It continuously tested their endurance.
They managed to hold on for just a couple of breaths before the intense discomfort overcame their rationality.
Uchiha Honō and Satoshi, who had risen first to assess the situation, began to vomit in waves.
Fuyu Shirou, on the other hand, had not yet recovered from the explosion. He lay on the ground, silently enduring the sharp pains that occasionally shot through his head.
His body twitched from time to time, showing just how poor his condition was.
He probably wouldn't be able to stand up without a moment to catch his breath.
"Fuyu Shirou! Are you alright?"
Hono, being a girl, was more observant and noticed that Fuyu Shirou was still lying on the ground.
She was 'shocked' and thought something might have happened to her savior.
Without caring about the 'fragments' on Fuyu Shirou, she hurriedly moved them aside and checked him over. After finding no external injuries, she let out a sigh of relief.
"How is Fuyu Shirou?"
She felt ashamed of her own performance, not being as calm as Hono when they were kidnapped.
Thanks to Fuyu Shirou's quick thinking, if anything had happened to him, she would have felt guilty for the rest of her life!
"He's fine, just seems to have been affected mentally! But it's not serious, he'll be fine after some rest!"
Uchiha Honō, after a thorough check, reassured her.
She would be upset if her companion had been hurt because of her, just as Satoshi would be.
Fortunately, the worst didn't happen!
"It's great that Fuyu Shirou is alright!"
"Hey! Could you two help me up? Lying on the ground is really cold!"
Fuyu Shirou, finally catching his breath, spoke up, trying to lighten the mood with a small joke to ease his companions' tension.
At the same time, he silently criticized himself.
When he watched TV, the 'filial son' who used this technique didn't even flinch.
But for him, it almost cost him half his life.
It seemed that the Shadow Clone Technique being classified as a forbidden jutsu had its reasons.
While thinking about these things, Fuyu Shirou, helped up by Uchiha Honō and Satoshi, lifted his eyes to see the hellish scene.
"Ugh!"
Just one look, and Fuyu Shirou joined them in vomiting.
While vomiting, he complained, "In this situation, you might as well have let me lie on the ground!"
Although he was mentally older than Hono and Satoshi, the sudden transition from a regular office worker to this 'hell' was hard to accept!
"It was you who asked us to help you up! Now you're blaming us?"
"Hmph! You deserve it!"
When had their Miss Hono ever endured such treatment?
If it weren't for the fact that this guy had just saved her life and was now weak because of it, she would have settled accounts with him.
"What happened here?"
At this moment, a fourth voice appeared.
"Who's there?"
The three of them turned to look in the direction of the voice.
Not far from them, two bandits who had escaped the explosion lay on the ground.
One of them had just woken up and was sitting on the ground, looking around in confusion.
Upon realizing the situation, he only paused for a moment without any extreme reactions.
Instead, he looked at his companion lying next to him, pushing and calling out, "Dahe! Dahe! Are you alright?"
"Ah! What's going on?"
Just a couple of pushes, and the bandit named Dahe woke up.
As soon as he regained consciousness, he started shouting.
It wasn't strange that these two lucky ones would wake up now.
A considerable amount of time had passed since Fuyu Shirou and the others had drugged them.
The effects of the drug had mostly worn off.
The consecutive explosions had also helped them regain consciousness.
"Stop shouting, there's a situation!"
As he spoke, he looked in the direction of Fuyu Shirou and the others.
"Who are you?"
Fuyu Shirou glanced at the bandit who was questioning them.
He didn't answer the question but turned to look at Uchiha Honō and Satoshi, saying, "Looks like a seasoned killer!"
The bandit's calm reaction to the scene around him clearly showed he was used to such bloodshed.
As he spoke, the bandit found some weapons among the debris, armed himself, and then passed the extras to his awakened companion.
Most of these were the weapons that Fuyu Shirou and Satoshi had previously thrown on the ground.
This was why the shadow clone had risked being blown to pieces to throw the bandit leader far away.
Otherwise, the intense explosion would have affected Fuyu Shirou and Satoshi's tool pouches, sending a large number of dangerous items like kunai and shuriken flying.
By then, Fuyu Shirou, Hono, and Satoshi might have had a few more bloody wounds.
"Hono! Satoshi! These two are up to you! I'm in no condition to help right now!"
He could barely stand at the moment.
Not moving was fine, but if he moved, he would probably collapse after a few steps.
(End of Chapter)