"So you're a dumbass from Kumogakure."
Nara Kazuki narrowed his eyes. That distinctive blend of nintaijutsu gave the man away instantly—clearly a shinobi from the Hidden Cloud.
Cloud-style taijutsu was famous, after all.
Even more infamous were the blond beasts of Kumogakure.
The ones that conquered cities across every doujin and side-content.
What Fourth Raikage A never accomplished in the anime, those yellow-haired invaders managed in... other genres.
But right now, Kazuki's shadow was already unfurling across the ground, crawling and twisting before lashing up to bind the massive brute.
But his raw strength was no joke. A true taijutsu user, his muscle alone made the Shadow Possession Jutsu strain and flex.
Kazuki felt the pressure mounting. He had to finish this—fast.
Even as he thought, his hands never stopped. A flick of the eyes caught the second Chūnin nearby—already reeling from the Whispers, unable to respond before Kazuki's Great Fireball Technique slammed into him.
The fire's reflection shimmered in Kazuki's pupils—and in the wide-eyed shock of the brute still locked in place.
Without pause, Kazuki launched into the Ritual Dance.
The moment his first movement snapped into place, the brute's body mirrored it—left ankle twisting grotesquely with a sharp crunch, drawing a raw howl of pain.
His left arm broke free from the shadow. Then his right.
Kazuki's eyes narrowed.
His hands flew into hand seals.
And he noticed—his seal speed had increased significantly.
The dance continued. The brute was still copying the moves—his body under Kazuki's command—but now his arms were no longer restrained. They didn't form seals.
Which could only mean one thing.
The other Chūnin wasn't dead.
He's forming seals... right now.
Kazuki's thoughts raced. "So this ritual... has detection effects too? Maybe even AoE influence?"
Before he could complete the third movement, he finished his hand seals first. At that same moment, the brute's right leg snapped, ankle bending backward.
Kazuki opened his mouth.
Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!
He spat a fresh wave of fire toward the exact spot where the earlier blaze had begun to die out.
Sure enough—the second Chūnin had been sneaking in for a strike, but again the Whispers assaulted his mind. He broke free quicker this time, but earlier burns made his movements sluggish.
His eyes widened in helpless disbelief as the fireball caught him broadside.
The flames devoured him.
In those final seconds, the man's expression turned peaceful.
I'm sorry... wife, daughter... it took me so long to come home...
"You lunatic!!" the brute screamed, face twisted in rage and pain as he charged Kazuki, dragging his shattered ankle, wrapped in Lightning Release chakra that shrieked and hissed through the air.
Kazuki wasn't worried.
Still calmly weaving hand seals.
"You little brat..." the brute snarled. "Still trying to cast jutsu at this distance?"
Didn't even understand the most basic principle of fighting a taijutsu user at close range.
He could already see it—the kid's throat crushed under his fingertips, his spine gripped tight, twisted until—
His body locked up again.
A twitch, and suddenly he was the one forming hand seals—in a stuttering, puppet-like rhythm.
Terror bloomed in the brute's eyes.
He could break free in two seconds. Tops.
He didn't have two seconds.
"Katon!" Kazuki's voice rang out loud and clear.
The fire surged forth.
The Kumogakure brute's hands twitched, unable to complete the sequence. He couldn't counter. Couldn't dodge.
The Whispers came again, and his mind stuttered.
The Great Fireball Technique struck him square.
Kazuki moved without hesitation, continuing the ritual dance as flames danced and hissed.
By the time they died down, the brute was on the ground, groaning—burned, broken.
His chest had a charred crater from the jutsu's detonation. His limbs lay twisted and warped—hopelessly useless.
Kazuki blinked behind him with the Body Flicker Technique, raising his blade over the motionless wreck of a man.
The shinobi's eyes had melted. Skin cracked and blackened.
Kazuki didn't hesitate.
This is what it means to be a ninja.
"A solid performance," Kakashi said, emerging at last. He'd been on the verge of stepping in himself—Kazuki had been too focused on the brute to notice the second Chūnin, still barely alive and forming seals through the smoke.
But Kazuki had noticed. He'd handled it.
As for why that second Chūnin hadn't resisted more?
Kakashi knew that answer too well.
"Not bad," Kazuki said, though he sounded disappointed.
If only he were a little stronger... maybe then the brute could've finished the entire ritual dance.
That might've been worth another few hundred proficiency points.
He looked down at the corpse. Then glanced toward the house, where terrified eyes peeked out from cracked shutters.
Kazuki frowned, lowering his blade.
Two nobodies who didn't even have names in the anime, and they'd still pushed him.
What if it had been actual elites?
He was still too weak.
Still had to keep grinding.
Kakashi collected the enemy headbands and belongings, then set to managing the cleanup. Removing the bodies. Securing the scene.
Kazuki watched, bemused.
He thought they'd just do the job and leave.
You know—like when you're done pissing and just walk out the stall.
(He meant literally pissing. Don't get weird.)
"This is still the Land of Fire," Kakashi said quietly, noticing Kazuki's puzzled look. "We finish the job, we clean up the mess. Especially when there's a B-rank bounty involved."
It was about protecting the company's image.
Give the "client" that premium service experience—"money well spent"—so next time, they come back hungry for more.
Kazuki licked his dry lips.
What was the point of this payout? It was pocket change.
His eyes drifted toward the horizon.
He didn't know exactly where the Daimyō's mansion was. But he did know one thing.
The Daimyō had a lot of money.
One day... he'd go shake that tree.
Maybe even topple it.
This world didn't need these fossilized feudal relics anymore.
The age of the Daimyō was over.
This new ship called "the future" had no room left for the dead weight of the past.