Although Yuuta did feel a bit sorry for Mizuki...
As someone who came from nothing himself, he deeply understood the sorrow of being a nobody.
No, more than that, it was the sorrow shared by all the grassroots of the ninja world.
No clan to support you. No skilled mentor to guide you. In this world where strength rules all, people like that were simply destined to be swept away.
Even the Kage-levels of the Five Great Nations, so what?
In a world shaped and steered by the descendants of the Sage of Six Paths, what chance did anyone outside their bloodline really have?
"That's exactly why I have to live better, live smarter."
Yuuta clenched his fists in his heart.
With the almighty system at his side, he firmly believed that as long as he kept completing its missions, he could one day reach the peak of the shinobi world, even with a body that had zero natural talent for chakra.
And unfortunately…
Right now, Mizuki had become an obstacle he had to eliminate.
"Attack Him."
With that single order, the chubby puppet beside Yuuta sprang into action.
Despite its round build, the puppet dashed forward with incredible speed, charging toward Mizuki like an unchained warhorse.
Then, true to the dirty, underhanded nature of puppets, it suddenly opened its pitch-black mouth and fired hundreds of poisoned needles in a wide spray.
Fast, far too fast!
Mizuki never expected Yuuta to try and kill him so suddenly.
But thankfully, that very caution he'd shown earlier, the distance he'd kept, gave him just enough time to react.
BOOM!
The fan of poisoned spikes flew toward Mizuki, only to pierce through a wooden log, bursting into a puff of smoke.
Substitution Jutsu!
One of the three foundational ninja techniques.
In that split-second, Mizuki had barely managed to replace himself and escape.
"Damn it!"
Mizuki reappeared on a tree branch nearby, looking utterly disheveled.
"Are you insane?! Are you really trying to die with me?!"
From his perspective, Yuuta was a spy from Sunagakure. Someone who wouldn't dare kill anyone, at least not here, not so close to the village. One wrong move, and ANBU would descend upon them.
"This guy's insane! What's he thinking?!"
"Shut up."
Yuuta cut him off coldly.
He wasn't a villain, but he'd learned from years of manga: villains die because they talk too much. He wasn't going to make that mistake.
He gave another signal.
And once again, the chubby puppet leapt into battle.
The system-made puppet was incredible. It didn't need chakra threads to control it. That meant Yuuta could stay at a safe distance and avoid being a burden.
Hellstorm of Venom – Precision Needle Barrage!
The puppet zipped around Mizuki, moving in rapid spirals before its body split open, unleashing another deadly cloud of poisoned needles.
This time, the needles covered a wider area, ensuring that Mizuki couldn't escape, even with more substitution jutsu.
The swarm of black needles darkened the forest, descending from all directions. There was no escape.
It was a surefire kill.
But Mizuki, veteran Chūnin that he was, didn't go down without a fight.
He gritted his teeth, and with a heavy heart, pulled several dozen explosive tags from his pouch.
Just looking at them made his heart bleed.
Those tags weren't cheap. He'd earned them by grinding through multiple dangerous B-rank missions. And now… he was going to use them all in one go.
"Damn that ramen shop bastard!"
Still, if he wanted to survive, he couldn't afford to hesitate.
Mizuki's eyes went cold.
Instead of scattering the tags in every direction, which would only stall for time, he did something bolder, he focused them all in one direction: the same direction the puppet had first attacked from.
All at once, dozens of tags ignited in midair and exploded violently the moment they collided with the poisoned needles.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Thunderous blasts lit up the night sky.
The shockwaves roared, smoke billowed, and the forest trembled.
From afar, it looked like fireworks had gone off in the woods.
Yuuta's eyes narrowed.
"I bet Konoha's already noticed this mess…"
He sighed and stepped toward Naruto, preparing to carry him away.
But suddenly,
A kunai flew silently from the darkness, aimed right at Yuuta's neck.
Whoosh!
He didn't even hear the wind until it was nearly too late.
His instincts screamed.
"DANGER!"
Without thinking, Yuuta mentally screamed at the system:
"Use Substitution!"
POOF!
The kunai landed with lethal precision, right where his neck had been.
Instead of flesh and blood, there was a puff of smoke… and a wallet.
The system had instantly used one of his personal items as a substitute, sparing his life by a hair's breadth.
"That was too close…"
Yuuta's chest heaved. For a moment, he'd tasted the fear of death.
If it weren't for the system, he'd be dead right now, no time to form hand seals, no time to think.
As he caught his breath, Yuuta looked toward the direction the kunai had come from.
And there he saw him,
Mizuki.
Still alive.
Despite being riddled with poisoned needles, his entire body looking like a human pincushion, he was still standing. Or barely.
The kunai he'd thrown had been his last shot.
When he saw it fail, Mizuki's eyes lost their light. His legs gave out, and he collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.
But Yuuta didn't relax.
That near-death strike had shaken him.
Was Mizuki truly down for the count?
Or… was this one last feint?
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200 P.S = 1 Extra Chapters
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