"Bang!"
Rikuto, pierced in the chest by a shuriken, dissolved into white smoke and vanished into the air.
"Shadow Clone!" The black-clad Ninja was startled. Chakra quickly attached to his feet as he tried to escape. "I… I can't move."
The black-clad Ninja looked down at his feet. Unbeknownst to him, he had stepped into a Sealing Ninjutsu. Fine black 紋印 had already spread to his thighs.
"Boom!"
Rikuto, who was lying on the ground near the black-clad Ninja, dispelled his Transformation Jutsu. At the same time, the still-sleeping Yuta and Nao vanished into white smoke.
Seeing this, the black-clad Ninja said in disbelief, "How is this possible? You clearly already…"
"You clearly already ate the poisoned food, didn't you?" Rikuto smiled, using a Kunai to lift the black-clad Ninja's chin. "If two Special Jonin from the Sealing Team usually came, even if they weren't poisoned, they might not be able to escape a Jonin's assassination. Tell me, who exactly are you?"
Besides serving as combat power, Shadow Clone can also be a qualified intelligence-gathering Ninjutsu. Everything seen and heard during the clone's existence is fully relayed back to the user upon its dispelling.
According to the Shadow Clone's feedback, apart from the few people who showed themselves, there was no one else in the entire Rakugan Temple. Yuta conveyed this to Rikuto via a secret code. Rikuto activated Kagura Shingan to observe the entire temple and found that there were indeed only five people, and those five people were also Ninjas in disguise.
"Boom!"
The black-clad Ninja suddenly burst with Chakra, breaking free from the seal, and retreated to a position five meters away from Rikuto. The black-clad Ninja said disdainfully, "So what if you found us? Do you really think you alone can stop the five of us?"
The black-clad Ninja himself possessed Jonin strength. With the four Chunin waiting at the entrance, the black-clad Ninja believed the current situation was still under control.
"Five? Are you sure?" Rikuto looked at the black-clad Ninja with a half-smile.
The black-clad Ninja snorted, "Still talking tough at a time like this, you really are…"
"Boom!"
Before the black-clad man could finish speaking, the wooden wall behind him shattered, and a Ninja, also dressed in black, flew into the house, struggled twice on the ground, and then fell unconscious.
"What?!" The black-clad Ninja looked at the hole in the wall in shock.
"Clang, clang…"
Yuta walked into the wooden house, dragging two golden chains. At the end of each chain was a black-clad Chunin. Outside the wooden house, by the fake rock, the last Ninja had his Chakra sealed by Nao and was thrown onto the ground.
Seeing the disbelief on the black-clad Jonin's face, Yuta's mind stirred, and he swung the two chains forcefully. The two black-clad Chunin crashed through the wall, rolled twice on the ground, and lost consciousness.
Yuta stopped not far from the black-clad man and said with a hint of mockery, "Are guys like these even considered Chunin? I'm getting more and more curious which Ninja Village you're from."
It was no wonder Yuta mocked them. The strength of these so-called four Chunin, compared to Konoha Ninja, could barely be considered Genin level, and not even top-tier Genin.
"How is this possible… just three children." The black-clad Ninja said in disbelief. Seeing Yuta's smug expression, the black-clad Ninja once again burst with Chakra and attacked Yuta like a shadow.
Feeling the chilling killing intent from the Kunai, Yuta's expression remained unchanged. The chains behind him plunged into the ground and tightened. Using this force, he quickly retreated from the wooden house.
"Where do you think you're going?" Rikuto smiled and activated the seal he had laid out in the room beforehand.
"I'll risk it all!" The black-clad man gritted his teeth and threw eight shuriken, his body retreating as he quickly formed hand signs.
"Risk it?" Rikuto opened his eyes, the flickering light within them sending shivers down one's spine. "What do you have to risk?"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Hearing the loud noises from inside the house, Yuta tilted his head and asked, "Nao, have you found any clues?"
Nao took out a forehead protector from her bosom. "This forehead protector belongs to Kakure Ninja Village, a small country that was annihilated during the Third Ninja World War when it was caught in the conflict between Konoha and the Stone Ninjas."
"So these Ninjas are here for revenge? This method is not bad, but the strength of these few people is a bit too weak, isn't it?" Yuta bent down and pulled off the black-clad Ninja's mask. "He's quite handsome."
"Boom!"
Hearing an even louder sound than before, Yosei worried, "Teacher Rikuto won't be in any trouble, will he?"
"How could that be? Teacher Rikuto is not an ordinary Jonin. Dealing with these kinds of characters is a piece of cake for him." Yuta looked at Rikuto, who was walking out of the wooden house. "See?"
"Thud."
Casually throwing the unconscious black-clad Ninja to the ground, Rikuto stretched comfortably. "Defeating a Jonin so easily, I really am very strong."
"Teacher Rikuto, this one seems to be, at most, a Special Jonin," Yuta mercilessly retorted.
"Hey, kid, don't interrupt your elders when they're fantasizing. That's very rude. But what's this?" Rikuto looked at the forehead protector Yuta threw over. "Isn't this from Kakure Ninja Village, which was annihilated more than ten years ago?"
"The initial speculation is that they are surviving Ninjas and children from Kakure Ninja Village. After years of training, they felt they had gained a bit of strength, but they couldn't directly attack Konoha Village, so they came up with this idea." Yuta bent down and tore open the black-clad Ninja's clothes. Sure enough, there was a unique 紋印 of Kakure Ninja Village on his chest.
Yuta looked up and asked, "So, Teacher Rikuto, how should we deal with these people?"
"Kill them," Rikuto narrowed his eyes. "Enemies who could potentially harm Konoha cannot be let go, especially when there's the hatred of their village being destroyed."
Yuta and the other two had no objection to what Rikuto said. The principle of not showing mercy to enemies was constantly taught to many students by their teachers from the very first day they attended the Ninja Academy.
"Teacher Rikuto," Yuta suddenly said in a low voice.
Rikuto paused. "What is it?"
"Can that be left to me?" Yuta pointed at the Chunin subdued by Nao.
In this world, to become a qualified Ninja, there is one thing that cannot be avoided no matter what: taking another's life. Yuta had not yet crossed this inner hurdle, but he did not want to cause harm to himself or his comrades on a future battlefield because of such a thing, not even a slight possibility.
"If you were a child from the Third Great Ninja War, you would have already experienced mountains of corpses and seas of blood at your age. But in this era, such a thing seems a bit early for you. However, if you are truly mentally prepared, your teacher supports you." Rikuto looked at Yuta approvingly. This child might truly become an amazing Ninja.
"Then I also…"
Nao immediately followed, but Yuta interrupted her. "Nao, you don't need to do this. Teacher Rikuto, I'll go over there and take care of it."
Yuta grabbed the Chunin by the collar and dragged him into the wooden house.
Watching Yuta leave, Rikuto turned and asked, "Will the two of you step aside, or watch from the side?"
"We'll stay here." Nao held Yosei's hand, as if cheering him on.
"Alright." Rikuto took a Kunai from the pouch on his back. Under the moonlight, the Kunai shimmered with a cold light.
"Pfft!"