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Black Tao Taiyi's Last Day
"Yes, thank you very much!" the fat village head stammered, bowing repeatedly.
His eyes betrayed fear. Somewhere deep down, he might have wished that by pleasing Black Tao Taiyi, he could keep his village safe a little longer. But this world had no such mercy — and Chen Xing was already waiting for him just outside the village.
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From the shade of a tall tree, Chen Xing spotted his target.
Taiyi's long face was pale, his steps unsteady, but his senses were still sharp enough to know something was wrong.
This man's stamina was remarkable for someone who had been living on the run — the kind of endurance only a hardened jōnin-level missing-nin could have. But no amount of endurance could save him today.
With a flick of his wrists, Chen Xing pulled six kunai from his equipment pouch — three in each hand. Cold steel caught the light as his eyes hardened, locking onto Taiyi's vitals: throat, brow, heart, abdomen. In one smooth motion, the kunai flew.
Taiyi reacted instantly, chakra flaring. "Tch—!"
He twisted, using his forearm to deflect the first blade. But Chen Xing's kunai weren't ordinary — each one carried a subtle Wind Release enhancement, the metal edges humming faintly with cutting chakra.
One blade grazed Taiyi's right shoulder, drawing blood.
"Little brat, you're looking for death!" Taiyi snarled, forming a rapid string of seals. His chakra surged, kicking up dust around him.
"Wind Release: Pressure Blade!"
Countless razor-thin blades of wind burst from his position, shredding everything in their path. A nearby tree was sliced clean through, its trunk toppling with a heavy crash.
But Chen Xing had already moved — his body blurring into a streak of violet light as he used Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), vanishing from the path of the attack.
Taiyi's eyes widened. "Impossible—"
Before he could finish, Chen Xing reappeared above him, twisting midair. His right knee smashed down toward Taiyi's face in a brutal drop-knee strike. Taiyi barely managed to raise his arms, blocking the blow, but the force sent him skidding backward into the base of a massive tree.
Chen Xing didn't give him a chance to recover. He landed lightly, hands flashing through seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A torrent of flame roared from his mouth, engulfing the tree line. Several trees caught fire instantly, the blaze lighting up the clearing. Taiyi staggered out of the flames, his clothes singed and his breathing ragged.
"You—why are you trying to kill me?" he demanded, pain and disbelief in his voice.
Chen Xing's expression was cold. "You've been running for years. Did you really think no one would come for you?"
"You—!" Taiyi began, but Chen Xing cut him off.
"Don't waste my time. You can't escape."
Chakra burst from Chen Xing's body as he flickered forward again, closing the distance in an instant. Taiyi tried to counter, swinging a kunai, but Chen Xing caught his wrist, drove a kick into his ribs, and followed with a spinning heel strike to the temple.
Taiyi's body flew through the air before crashing into the dirt. The impact left a crater in the ground, dust billowing.
When the smoke cleared, Taiyi lay sprawled in the center — limbs twisted, chest crushed, and the life already gone from his eyes. His face was frozen in a mix of shock, fear, and unwillingness.
Chen Xing landed beside the body, his expression unreadable. The concentrated chakra in his final strike had ruptured Taiyi's heart — a clean kill. Few shinobi in the world could have survived such a blow without the regenerative abilities of someone like Orochimaru.
With that, the bounty was his.
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