"No. Impossible. This, this cannot be true. This lowly scum who is as insignificant as an ant." The Second Elder, his lower body still bleeding, looked at the scene before him and could not help but roar in anger.
"Why… why…" Minato asked, holding the woman who had gone limp in his arms.
"Thank… thank you… I am already dirty. My parents… died long ago… I myself… truly had no courage left… to live on…"
"You saved the people of our village. So… I… saving you… as repayment… is… is also… not… unacceptable…" After saying these words, the woman's hand, which had been reaching for Minato's face, suddenly fell limp.
Shinnosuke Sarutobi felt a pang in his heart. He gritted his teeth, his eyes growing moist. Hiashi Hyūga remained silent, leaning against the wall without a word. Fugaku Uchiha gritted his teeth, his Sharingan activating, instantly spinning with two tomoe.
Inoichi Yamanaka closed his eyes, unable to bear the sight. To be honest, Minato had no particular feelings for this woman. He only saw her as the mission protection target. But when a living person like this died protecting him, it was a completely different feeling.
Minato wanted to cry loudly, but no tears would come. He wanted to scream, but his throat felt blocked, as if something was stuck there. He opened his mouth.
He raised his left hand. Even though he wore black night clothes, a dark red stain was visible on it. He could already smell the faint, sweet scent of blood in the air.
Finally, he laid the woman on the ground, drew his kunai, senbon, and shuriken, and slowly walked towards the Second Elder.
He crouched down. There was no light in his eyes, as if he were a machine, looking at the Second Elder.
Then he raised the kunai in his hand and stabbed it into the eye of the Second Elder, who only had half a body left.
"Argh!!!! My eye." The extreme pain jolted him awake from the brink of death once more.
"Inoichi, please use the Mystical Palm Technique to keep him alive," Minato's voice held not a trace of emotion.
Inoichi Yamanaka hesitated. Fugaku Uchiha kicked him. "Hurry up." He also gave him a meaningful look.
Inoichi Yamanaka nodded. His Yamanaka family studies were quite varied, and he knew a little of the Mystical Palm Technique.
Inoichi Yamanaka channeled chakra, inputting green chakra into the Second Elder's body, keeping him alive.
Seeing this, Minato smiled. He flicked his kunai, pulling out the Second Elder's eyeball.
The Second Elder, seeing this, was already numb. "Madman. You madman. Damn you."
Minato ignored him completely. He raised his kunai again and cut towards his ear. Instantly, blood spurted, and an ear fell to the ground, still twitching.
The Second Elder continued to roar and curse. Minato pried open his mouth, inserted the kunai inside, and stirred. The vocal cords were cut out. The throat was punctured.
The Second Elder rolled his eyes. The intense pain made him want to die immediately, but it also made him clearly aware that he was still alive.
Minato raised the kunai and brought it down, again and again. He did not know how long it had been. Only after even the Mystical Palm Technique could no longer sustain the Second Elder's life did Minato stop.
"Fugaku, do me a favor. Burn this guy up for me. Collect the ashes and throw them into the sea to feed the fish," Minato looked at Fugaku Uchiha.
Fugaku Uchiha nodded. When he looked at Minato's face, his pupils constricted. Minato's facial features were unrecognizable, replaced by a face stained red with blood. His originally golden hair was also dyed deep red by the enemy's blood.
Minato slowly stood up. He told Shinnosuke Sarutobi to cremate the woman, put her ashes in an urn, so he could bury her after they got out.
Shinnosuke Sarutobi did not dare to provoke Minato at this time and could only obediently comply.
Minato had Hiashi Hyūga lead the way, positioned himself in the center, and had Inoichi Yamanaka bring up the rear as they proceeded to explore further.
They walked for an unknown length of time before they saw three cold corpses lying on a bed. A putrid smell assaulted their noses, making the few of them frown involuntarily.
Just as they were about to search for the bandit leader, a figure suddenly burst through the wall and crashed onto the corpses, making the three youngsters frown even more.
"You made my students suffer so much, exposed them to so many things. I cannot forgive you." A familiar voice sounded. The three youngsters looked towards the broken wall, their eyes showing excitement.
"Teacher." Hiashi Hyūga and Inoichi Yamanaka shouted.
"Teacher." The bandit leader who had been sent flying rolled his eyes and was about to attack the yellow haired boy. Unexpectedly, Minato turned his head. His blood stained cheeks and half red hair were taken in by the bandit leader.
He screamed. "Ah. A ghost." Too brutal. Too brutal. He had never seen such a scene even on the Land of Rain battlefield.
Just as he withdrew his hand, about to move away from Minato, Minato grabbed his arm, then delivered a headbutt to the bandit leader.
The bandit leader was dazed by the headbutt. Immediately after, he had both his legs and arms severed by a Wind Dagger summoned by Minato.
Ryun watched, feeling more and more that something was wrong, and quickly said, "Stop."
Minato froze, the kunai in his hand pausing mid action. After Ryun's call, he slowly lowered it.
"Ding. Detected that host's disciple, Minato, has witnessed the darkness of the world for the first time. Darkness alignment has reached 50 percent."
"Now distributing all experience visuals from Minato's bandit suppression mission."
Ryun saw everything Minato had experienced and fell silent. He looked at Minato, sighed, then walked up to him and patted his head.
"Child, you have already done very well." After saying this, Ryun pulled Minato into his embrace, completely disregarding the blood covering him.
The kunai in Minato's hand fell to the ground. All his grievances surged forth like a tide. He sniffled, then began to cry bitterly.
"Teacher, teacher. Those women with broken legs, their bodies rotting and stinking, begged me to kill them. I did it. I killed them."
"The woman we rescued, she died in front of me protecting me. Why, why do good people have short lives in this world. Why. They are all people too, how could they do such things to their own kind."
Minato cried as he recounted his experiences. Now, only Ryun's embrace was the one place where he could relax. And only Ryun was someone he could confide in without worry.
His hands were stained with the blood of evil men, and also stained with the blood of those pitiful women. He was so scared, so sad. He did not want this. But faced with their pleas, he had no choice.
Ryun took a deep breath and patted his head. "It's all over. It's all over. It was your teacher's fault for letting you see this ugly side of the world."
Ryun felt some regret. That scene had indeed stirred great emotion even in his own heart, let alone a 7 or 8 year old child.
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