Inside the processing plant, it was deathly silent, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
The legs of the three Mist Village ninja were trembling.
What they had just seen and heard, it was basically a fantasy tale.
'Lord Fuguki Suikazan actually… died?!'
Not by assassination, not by a group attack. In a one-on-one, head-on, direct fight, beaten to death!
Like a stray dog by the roadside.
An intelligence disadvantage about the Stand?
Did Ryosuke not also have an intelligence disadvantage?
What ninjutsu Fuguki Suikazan possessed, what mysterious abilities Samehada had, Ryosuke was equally unaware.
This was a battle fair to the extreme.
Fuguki Suikazan even had home-field advantage.
But in the end, he died.
The three ninja stiffly turned their heads, their gazes falling on Ryosuke, silently adding a sentence in their hearts, 'He didn't even manage to touch a corner of the opponent's clothes.'
'This wasn't a match between people of the same level.'
They couldn't believe Fuguki Suikazan was dead, let alone believe someone would dare, on the land of the Land of Water, to do such a rebellious…
Stupid act.
Yes, a stupid act.
For the sake of a few ordinary people not even worth livestock, to challenge the authority of the Land of Water and Mist Village, only an idiot would do something like that.
Fuguki Suikazan had already explained very clearly.
All major organizations, more or less, were aware of this gray industry chain.
Why hadn't they dared act?
Because none of the organizations were exactly clean themselves.
If you take action against me, I'll mess with you too.
Instead of mutual destruction, it became an unspoken rule to squeeze the bottom class together and profit handsomely.
To risk universal condemnation and break this unspoken rule that had existed for who knows how long…
What kind of madman was the man standing before them?!
Plop!
A footstep of a ninja who subconsciously backed away attracted Ryosuke's attention.
In the instant their eyes met, the mental defenses of that Mist ninja were shattered, boundless fear swallowed him whole, and he turned and ran.
The other two Mist ninja quickly snapped out of it and turned to flee in different directions.
They still had a final shred of reason.
As long as they ran in different directions, even if Ryosuke chased one, the others might survive.
They had to report Lord Fuguki Suikazan's death back home.
The three of them ran with all their might. In their ears, only their heavy breathing and the pounding of their hearts remained.
They looked back, Ryosuke still stood where he was, joy of survival overflowed in their hearts.
He wasn't chasing them?
The broken skylight was right in front of them. As long as they escaped through it, they would live.
Suddenly, one of the ninja felt something wrong.
The thumping of his heart… was gone?
Looking down, a sharp pain struck, a spot of crimson appeared on his chest.
The bloodstain expanded before their hopeless eyes, draining their strength.
Under the threat of death, they imitated Fuguki Suikazan, channeling chakra to their eyes. Finally, they saw,
Aerosmith sliced through the air, drawing an arc, turning midair to charge at them again, two machine guns spitting flames.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat!
The dense barrage of bullets swallowed the three. Amid screams and wails, their bodies were turned into sieves, and fell with a plop, silent forever.
Dead.
All dead.
The stench of blood flowed out, seeping through the floor's cracks, reaching the feet of the 400 prisoners, soaking their shoes.
They looked up at Ryosuke's back.
Outside the skylight, a gust of wind blew, scattering the clouds, revealing a waning moon.
Moonlight streamed through the window. A spotlight-like beam fell upon Ryosuke, enveloping him in a thin layer of silver light, like a god or a Buddha.
In pairs of deadened eyes, light slowly returned.
This light, it didn't come from the moon. It came from the man before them.
He was like a flame, igniting the extinguished hope in their hearts.
The first person stepped out of the cage, feet entering the pool of blood.
Then came the second, the third, the fourth… more and more people walked out.
They followed behind Ryosuke, keeping a respectful five-meter distance, not daring to come closer. They knelt reverently and bowed their heads, chanting aloud,
"Oh god… thank you for saving us!"
In their eyes, Ryosuke was a god sent from above to save the innocent.
Otherwise, there was no way to explain how Ryosuke, without even moving, caused Fuguki Suikazan and the other ninja to drop dead.
Too mysterious. Too divine.
A ninja, couldn't do this. Only a god could.
Ryosuke slightly turned his head.
The captives looked up, anticipating the god in their eyes to deliver a divine revelation.
"Stand up. No kneeling allowed."
Everyone froze.
This was the second time Ryosuke had said this.
The first time, it was to stop them from submitting to fear.
This time, it was to stop them from submitting to worship.
"You are free."
The captives looked confused, at a loss.
Some were locals of the Land of Water, some were travelers like Rei. After gaining freedom… where could they go?
Return home? Be captured again in a few days?
What if Mist Village blamed them for Fuguki Suikazan's death?
Even if public opinion kept Mist Village from retaliating in the short term, what about later?
One problem after another overwhelmed the captives until they could hardly breathe.
"Please, my lord, show us a way forward." A voice rang out from the crowd.
Not only did they not rise, instead, they knelt even more humbly.
They truly didn't want to be caught again, didn't want to suffer that hell again.
Ryosuke's gaze swept across them. After a long time, he said,
"Come with me."
"Yes!"
All 400 bowed as one, their foreheads pressing into the blood-soaked ground. When they looked up again, blood flowed down from brows and eyes, but so too did their fear drop away.
They stood up.
Ryosuke picked up Samehada from the ground, slung Fuguki Suikazan's corpse over it, and walked at the front.
More than 400 people followed behind.
When they stepped out of the processing plant, every spy hidden in the dark to monitor the facility was stunned.
'What happened?! Had the Fourth Great Ninja War started?!'
In their understanding, it made no sense that a member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Mist would die on home soil, outside of wartime.
No one dared provoke a Hidden Village like this.
Yet Ryosuke, walking calmly in the lead, told the world with his actions,
The people others dare not kill, he kills.
The people others dare not save, he saves.
Outside the factory, Ryosuke glanced back.
'Upgrade… Aerosmith.'
Soul fragments poured out, 400 spent.
Aerosmith leveled up 2 levels.
It became more agile. Its flight speed greatly increased. More importantly, its weapons cache became even more powerful.
"This place doesn't need to exist anymore."
"Roger."
Pilot Smith in the cockpit gave Ryosuke a thumbs up, gliding above the plant. The bay doors opened below the fuselage, and dozens of fist-sized missiles dropped.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A series of explosions echoed across Mist Village. Towering flames dispersed the ever-lingering fog, and the air felt noticeably fresher.
Ryosuke took a deep breath and walked forward.
Four hundred people followed in silence.
The glow of the fire behind them lit their path in red, spreading open a bright road of flames.
In that moment, every hidden observer had the same thought, though they lived in the same city, those in the darkness… and Ryosuke walking in the light… now belonged to two different worlds.
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