"Hahahahahahaaha..."
Ryun started laughing loudly.
He was amused by Kaiji's nonchalant attitude towards him, focusing on the bounty instead of the threat.
"Looks like you aren't taking me seriously, huh?!" he challenged.
He then looked at Kuita. "Well," he said, curiosity in his voice, "I myself wants to know how much price has been set on my head."
Kuita put the bingo book back in his pouch. He took out Kunai, ready for a fight.
"175,000 Ryo," he stated the bounty amount.
On hearing this, both Ryun and Kaiji showed distasteful expressions.
"HUH! JUST 175,000 RYO?!" Ryun shouted loudly.
He couldn't believe he was only worth this much.
Kaiji wasn't much surprised by the low number, but this bounty clearly indicated that he was not a top-level threat, only a wanted criminal.
Kaiji knew that all the resources confiscated from this bandit group would be given back to the village.
But with these resources, plus the bounty on this missing-nin, the team might gain a huge bonus from this mission.
Kaiji calculated quickly.
Even after the village took its cut and then distributed the remainder among the team, Kaiji could easily get 15,000+ Ryos alone from this mission.
This amount was triple his monthly allowance he used to receive from the village. It would be enough for him for a few months.
And it wasn't like this was the only mission he was going to do; he would be doing more missions as well.
But that hopeful calculation was based on the assumption that this Ryun had at least 350,000 Ryo or more on his head as a bounty.
Since the bounty was much lower, his previous expression was one of disappointment; the bonus wouldn't be as huge as he had hoped.
"Well, fuck it!" Ryun snarled, dismissing the bounty's value.
He pointed his sword towards them. Then his gaze landed on Nao. He smirked lecherously.
"I will kill all of you," he said, his voice rough, "but I can let you live, girl, If you don't resist."
Nao's face hardened upon hearing this. Her voice was deep and furious.
"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?!" she roared, completely unlike the gentle senior they had known during their travel.
Hearing her cursing, Kuita wasn't much surprised, having worked with her longer.
But Kaiji, Shin, and Sato looked at her in shock.
'Is she the same gentle and polite senior of their's,' they thought, bewildered, 'who with they were travelling for last few days?'
Ryun laughed manically, unaffected by Nao's outburst.
"Well," he sneered, "I don't mind assertive types as well."
With that, he quickly rushed towards Kuita with his sword. Kuita blocked the attack with his Kunai.
But the sword was sharp and powerful. Kuita's kunai was cut in two with a sharp slice.
"Huh!" Kuita exclaimed, shocked that his weapon was so easily broken.
Ryun grinned triumphantly. "Do you think this sword is only for show?" he taunted.
While he again tried to attack Kuita, Nao attacked him from behind. He dodged her strike, but again, an attack came from behind him.
It was Kaiji, he had used Body Flicker Technique to get behind Ryun.
He quickly made hand signs and said in a low voice,
"Wind Style: Wind Cutter!"
A thin blade of wind shot out. The attack hit Ryun, but it didn't damage him much; it merely sliced through his rough clothes.
Ryun sneered, brushing off the minor attack.
"Looks like I need to take care of these insects first," he growled, clearly annoyed.
He made hand signs. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he shouted.
He created a similar-looking shadow clone of himself.
He, the original, immediately engaged Kuita and Nao.
His clone went against Kaiji, Shin, and Sato.
'He is just a Genin,' Kaiji thought, observing the clone.
'Just how strong would he be? Can he really able to survive against five of us, or does he has any secret trump card?'
Kaiji knew that this Ryun was obviously stronger than all five of them individually.
But against them together, even with a shadow clone, how long could he last?
Unless he was truly Chunin level, him getting out of here alive was difficult.
Unlike how the team had fought against those bandits with only Taijutsu and Kunai, this time, against a trained Ninja, they were using Ninjutsus, Genjutsus, as well as paper bombs.
Though most attacks were countered or dodged by Ryun's clone, they still continued to attack in this pattern, trying to overwhelm him.
Kaiji, Shin, and Sato had taken positions on each side, with Ryun's Clone in the middle.
All of them launched individual Ninjutsu attacks against him.
"WIND STYLE: TWISTER SHOT!"
"WIND STYLE: WIND CUTTER!"
"WIND RELEASE: WILD WIND PALM!"
They shouted, combining their D-rank attacks. Ryun's clone made quick hand signs in response.
"WIND RELEASE: WIND BREAKTHROUGH!" he yelled.
Ryun's Wind Breakthrough jutsu blew away their attacks. It also threw them off balance momentarily.
They quickly recovered. Shin and Sato again used any offensive Ninjutsu they could.
Meanwhile, Kaiji took their attack and let it distract Ryun's clone, even if just a little.
Upon seeing an opportunity, he used Body Flicker Technique.
He came up behind Ryun's Clone instantly.
He attached a Kunai with a Paper bomb on the clone's back and ran back.
A small but powerful explosion occurred with a loud BOOM! The explosion destroyed Ryun's Clone in a puff of smoke.
It wasn't much difficult in the end; it was just a Shadow Clone created by a Genin, even if he was Elite in that Category.
Ryun himself wasn't having much advantage against Kuita and Nao.
Nao's continuous assault attacks with Ninjutsu and relentless Taijutsu kicks, which were mostly targeted at Ryun's area between his legs, kept him pressured.
From the side, Kuita supported her and attacked Ryun whenever he could.
Ryun, in rage, used Chakra enhanced on his sword attack on Kuita.
Kuita barely managed to dodge it, but the sword still struck him on his left bicep and pierced through it.
"Aaargh!" Kuita groaned in pain, clutching his arm.
Blood was flowing from the wound, though not much initially.
Nao stopped her attacks on Ryun and went to Kuita's aid, taking out a bandage from her pouch.
Ryun took this chance to move backwards, creating some distance between himself and the team.
He looked at them angrily, his teeth gritted.
He clearly didn't think that these twelve or thirteen or maybe fourteen-year-old teenagers would be able to stand against him and even injure him.
***