Chapter 51
"Save me..."
The refugee clutched by the wandering ninja groaned, pain and desperation etched across his face.
Asakawa Naoki and the others were right—this refugee was indeed a scout sent by the ronin. But there was more to his story. Initially, if the caravan leader had accepted him, he was willing to abandon his captured relatives—held hostage by the ronin—and live a quiet life traveling with the caravan.
Unfortunately, Zemu Koichi had refused him.
Bitter and cast out, the refugee had retaliated by feeding the ronin every scrap of information he'd seen inside the caravan—details that zeroed in on Asakawa Naoki and his group of freshly graduated ninjas.
The wandering ninja, the real leader of the ronin standing before them now, had initially held back upon learning there were nine ninjas guarding the caravan.
But the refugee's spite fueled his suspicion. Not only did he repeat all the insults Zemu Koichi had hurled at Asakawa and his comrades, he twisted the innocent and careless behavior of Rope Tree into a grave threat.
That was when the wandering ninja understood—this small caravan wasn't so simple. The nine guards were all Genin, fresh graduates of the ninja school.
After a moment's thought, the wandering ninja made his decision.
Nine inexperienced Genin were easier prey than a seasoned Chunin—or a Jonin of Konoha.
To be safe, he sent his ronin ahead, hoping to flush out any hidden Jonin.
But his plan backfired.
Dozens of his men had fallen to the shuriken thrown by these novice ninjas.
No guiding Jonin had appeared, and the wandering ninja's patience finally snapped. He prepared to strike himself.
But before moving forward, he decided to punish the traitorous refugee who had lied to him.
"Damn it, if you hadn't stirred the flames, I wouldn't have lost so many men!"
He strode forward, grabbing the refugee and pounding heavy fists into him.
The refugee gasped for air, struggling beneath the blows.
If these truly were nine ordinary Genin, unled by a Jonin, they might have been caught off guard.
But with Naoki Asakawa, Minato Namikaze, and the others here? The ronin's attack was doomed.
"Are you the wandering ninja? Why attack us?" Minato Namikaze asked calmly, eyeing the man.
In the dim dawn light, the wandering ninja flung the battered refugee aside like trash and fixed his murky gaze on Naoki and his team.
He had once been like them—young, full of passion, dreaming of becoming a powerful ninja.
But years of harsh reality had crushed those dreams.
With little talent, promotion to Jonin or special Jonin was impossible.
On the brink of a deadly mission, he fled Konoha.
Thanks to an advanced transformation technique, he avoided capture.
Now, taking advantage of the chaotic ninja world, he led a gang of homeless youths, preying on caravans.
"Leave your supplies, and I might spare your lives," he sneered.
"Impossible," Asakawa Naoki shook his head. "We'll see how this really plays out."
"Good boy!"
The wandering ninja cursed, rapidly forming hand seals.
"Shoot!"
Except for the three guarding the civilians, six Genin hurled shuriken in unison.
Without a certain level of skill, flesh was the greatest weakness—even a shadow ninja could fall to a well-placed shuriken!
But just as the projectiles were about to strike, the wandering ninja's hand seals completed.
"Earth Escape: Hardening Technique!"
His skin instantly hardened to a rocky, brown texture.
The shuriken embedded only as faint white spots, leaving his skin unscathed.
The shuriken aimed at his eyes were spotted early—he raised his arms to shield them.
Even the hardened arms took the impact without a mark.
"Useless!"
He tossed his arms aside, charging to slaughter the Genin—only to be met by a massive orange fireball.
"Fire Escape: Great Fireball Technique!"
Facing a true ninja, Asakawa Naoki's team knew a simple shuriken wouldn't suffice.
While the wandering ninja prepared seals, Uchiha Mikoto unleashed the clan's signature Great Fireball Technique.
"A kid fresh from ninja school can use C-rank ninjutsu?"
"That's incredible! Usually, school ninjas only learn E-rank techniques at best."
The wandering ninja's surprise was brief—combat experience kept him calm.
He rolled aside to dodge, knowing his hardened earth skin was weaker against ninjutsu than physical weapons.
"An Uchiha among these kids... lucky they didn't open their Sharingan."
He exhaled, but in truth, Uchiha Mikoto had already activated her double magatama Sharingan.
She simply didn't need it against him.
"Still, such a prodigy—I want to kill her myself!"
His bitterness toward gifted ninjas boiled over. Killing a genius before they rose was sweet justice.
"Go to hell!"
He lunged at Uchiha Mikoto, kunai in hand.
Just as his blade neared her, he noticed a faint smile on her face.
"Why aren't you dodging?"
"Is an Uchiha scared to move?"
His thoughts were cut short by a sudden, powerful kick to his waist.
He was thrown sideways.
The attacker was Asakawa Naoki, the tallest among them.
The wandering ninja finally understood—Uchiha Mikoto trusted her teammates implicitly.
But he had no time to dwell on this realization.
A second fireball burst from Mikoto.
Landing awkwardly, he formed seals and slammed his hands to the ground.
"Earth Escape: Earth Wall!"
A thin wall of earth sprang up, blocking the flames.
The fireball shattered the wall, but it gave the wandering ninja a chance to slip away from the blaze.
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