"Run!"
Shinji Asai and Shota Kurushima screamed in fear, not even caring about the unconscious Masaichi Arima on the ground, and fled.
They were still kids, and the bizarre situation had scared them to the point where they lost all courage.
However, they didn't even get two steps before they saw a shadow standing under the streetlight in front of them.
It was Mo Yu.
Shinji Asai and Shota Kurushima quickly stopped, their eyes wide with terror as they looked at Mo Yu.
They exchanged a glance, and without saying a word, they turned and ran in the opposite direction.
Right now, they couldn't think about why Mo Yu, a so-called "waste," was able to use ninjutsu, or how he had easily taken down Masaichi Arima, the strongest among them.
They just wanted to get away—far away.
But just as they turned, they were met with a horrifying sight.
Another Mo Yu was standing next to the unconscious Masaichi Arima.
He picked up the stick on the ground, grinning coldly, and slowly walked toward them.
"Want to leave? Fine. Leave your valuables behind."
Hearing Mo Yu's words, Shinji Asai and Shota Kurushima let out a sigh of relief.
"Okay, you want money? We'll give it to you. We'll give you everything, just please let us go."
The two of them hurriedly pulled out all the money they had on them and laid it on the ground.
Mo Yu glanced at the scattered coins, totaling only a little over a hundred ryo.
He calmly said, "Not enough."
Shinji Asai said, "That's all we have. It's all gone."
Mo Yu shook his head. "No, you have something much more valuable."
Shota Kurushima looked dejected. "Bro, we don't have anything left. If you don't believe me, search us yourself."
Mo Yu waved the stick in his hand and said, "Your lives... are worth a lot."
After speaking, Mo Yu threw the stick.
Whoosh!
With a thud, the stick landed squarely on Shinji Asai's head.
His eyes rolled back as he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
"Thud!"
Shota Kurushima dropped to his knees, repeatedly bowing his head.
"I'm sorry! I was wrong, big brother! Please, have mercy! I'll never do it again."
Mo Yu walked up to Shota Kurushima, looking down at him, and with a cold smile on his lips, he kicked him in the head.
"Bang!"
...
Ten minutes later, in a forest.
Moonlight bathed the area, casting a shadow over a lone figure.
Mo Yu stood over the three unconscious bodies lying in the grass, his eyes flashing with a hint of struggle.
But the struggle quickly faded, replaced by cold determination.
If he hadn't become a genin today, it might have been him lying there on the ground instead.
"Who told you to target me? Don't blame me," Mo Yu muttered, as if trying to justify his actions to himself.
But deep down, he knew the real reason he wanted to kill them was...
To get coins!
He was not the type to hesitate. Mo Yu had been enduring for years, but his nature had become more extreme, and his patience had made him even more decisive.
He didn't hesitate. Once he made up his mind, he acted without mercy.
Mo Yu picked up the stick and aimed for Masaichi Arima's temple, swinging it with all his might.
The ninja combat experience in his mind told him that this was one of the most vulnerable and fatal areas of the human body.
With a dull thud, Masaichi Arima's body jerked twice before going completely still.
"Killed target, gained 5 coins."
A delighted expression appeared on Mo Yu's face, somewhat alleviating the slight sense of guilt after taking a life.
Five coins... It didn't seem like much, but if converted to real-world currency, it was equivalent to 5,000 ryo!
He had worked for six years to earn 10,000 ryo.
"Sure enough, using real-world money to exchange for coins is the slowest method. If I want to make coins fast, I need to rely on the system's hunting mode. Maybe when my privileges increase, there will be new functions available," Mo Yu thought, his eyes burning with excitement as he looked at Shinji Asai and Shota Kurushima.
He repeated the process. Bang, bang—two more dull thuds, and Mo Yu added two more lives to his count.
Of course, there were also...
"Killed target, gained 5 coins!" x2
In the blink of an eye, Mo Yu had earned 15 coins.
Not only did he make up for the 10,000 ryo he had spent earlier, but he had also earned 5,000 ryo on top of that.
But now was not the time to celebrate; he still needed to deal with the situation at hand.
Looking at the three fresh corpses, Mo Yu frowned.
He couldn't just leave them here—too risky, too easy to expose himself.
Most importantly, Masaichi Arima and the other two were from prominent ninja families.
If others found out he was the one who killed them, he wouldn't need the Konoha higher-ups to intervene—their families would easily get rid of him.
However, Mo Yu didn't regret killing them.
This world was all about survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle—even Konoha, which seemed peaceful on the surface, operated this way.
Once he confirmed they were his enemies, Mo Yu would stop at nothing to eliminate them.
Otherwise, would he just wait for them to take revenge by sending someone from their family?
Of course, the most important reason was that their lives were worth a lot to him—after all, they had contributed 15 coins!
Fortunately, there were no cameras in this world, and there hadn't been a single person in sight on the road earlier, so there were no witnesses. That made things simpler.
Konoha village should have patrolling guards at all times, but now it had been 20 minutes, and no one from the guard team had shown up. Why?
A cold smile appeared on Mo Yu's lips.
It was probably that person who wanted him to suffer a good lesson tonight, making sure there were no issues. He must have relocated the patrols in this area.
For most people, this would be hard to pull off—many Konoha elders didn't even have such authority.
But for that person, it might be as simple as a word.
After all, the Konoha guard team was made up of Uchiha clan members.
And that person was the son of Uchiha Fugaku, the leader of the Uchiha clan. Changing the patrol routes was probably a piece of cake for him.
"Uchiha Fugaku!"
A red glow flickered in Mo Yu's eyes, and his voice became cold as ice.
"Today, I've taken care of your three lackeys. One day, I'll kill you too. I wonder how much your life is worth."
Finally, Mo Yu rummaged through the three of them and found a few silver bills—only a few hundred ryo.
Mo Yu didn't exchange this money for coins.
He had no money on him now, so it was just enough for his daily expenses.
Besides, a few hundred ryo wasn't much—if he recharged it, it wouldn't even be enough for one coin.
After squeezing out the last bit of value, Mo Yu set fire to the bodies and turned them to ash.
Speaking of which, Mo Yu had to thank Uchiha Fugaku.
If he hadn't removed the patrols in this area, it would have been much harder for Mo Yu to destroy the bodies.
Once everything was taken care of, Mo Yu left in a hurry.