"Everyone, wake up!"
As the children slept soundly while the little light rays pierced through the cloudy skies, a voice resounded and exuded an intangible intent, waking a bunch of children as a result.
The man walked along and glanced left to right, seemingly trying to find a certain someone until his smile flashed with malice.
"You won't wake up, huh?! Then, take this!"
While some of the children woke up, the adolescent man's eyes gleamed with ruthlessness and raised his foot, aiming to strike Yoichi's groin.
On the other hand, Yoichi was still unconscious until his Battle Instinct screamed at his soul, immediately opening his eyes and rolled sideways away from the disgusting sneak attack.
'What the fuck was that for?'
Yoichi thought. He felt intense anger rising deep within himself and narrowed his eyes, looking at the perpetrator with fury ignited in his eyes.
"What? Are you trying to punch me?! Don't think that you still have the special status around here! Remember, you are just like these pathetic children, worthless and can be easily be disposed!"
Suddenly, the man slapped him in the face and grabbed Yoichi's collar, aggressively carrying the child like a piece of sack.
Yoichi clenched his jaws as intense humiliation rose up. Unknowingly, the negative thoughts instantly flared inside his mind and circulated, forming a supernatural and special chakra in his optic nerves.
'Calm down... I don't want to reveal my hidden secret here! Dealing with an arrogant idiot like this man wasn't worth it.'
Feeling the burning itch on his eyes, Yoichi eventually became calm while the special chakra his brain slowly subsided until it was gone in a blink.
"Yoritoki! What are you doing?!"
In contrast, the man felt smug and bullied Yoichi before a familiar voice made his face stiff.
He was Yoritoki and one of the Chūnin stationed along with Jōnin Motoyasu and Assistant Hideaki. As a Chūnin, he also has a secret mission: completely kill the sapling before the growth became uncontrollable.
Due to Yoichi's progress indirectly jeopardizing Masaru's mission, someone in the nobility faction thought it was time to nip the bud before it blooms.
Therefore, Yoritoki thought it would be easy and smooth-sailing, thinking about the subsidies until the reality snapped back.
"Hoy, I am asking you! I said earlier to wake them up, not to beat them!"
Intense anger written on Motoyasu as his walk became dominant, each step felt like a volcano as his burly physique overshadowed Yoritoki's figure.
"Motoyasu-sama! Why are you protecting these pathetic worms, particularly this kid?!" Yoritoki hurriedly voiced out his concern and recklessly threw the child to the ground.
While the children were looking at the drama, Motoyasu suddenly delivered a punch through Yoritoki's stomach, immediately launching his victim into the wooden floor.
"And who do you think you are, huh? Questioning me, a Jōnin who risked his life just to salvage this village? You don't deserve my answers!"
Motoyasu took out a kunai and stared at Yoritoki as if like a Grim Reaper, plunging his victim to a bottomless abyss. In a second, Motoyasu ruthlessly chopped Yoritoki's hands while the blood spurted out and two hands fell down to the floor.
"No... Nooooo. AAAAAHHH!"
"MOTOYASU! You fucking bastard! The nobles will definitely kill you! HAHAHA, they will kill you!"
Screaming in absolute pain, Yoritoki desperately tried to connect his arms but to no avail. In a sick delusion, he started cursing out until he fainted due to blood loss and stress.
The drama was swift yet it left a long lasting trauma for the children. As for Yoichi, he was surprised about the Jōnin's resolve to sever a Chūnin's hands in a split second.
"Hideaki, order the shinobi around and clean this place. Furthermore, assign another Chūnin and report it directly to Hanzō-sama. Finally, run an investigation on the newly assigned Chūnin. If those senile old fools tried to send another, I don't mind sending them a head without remains. Do you understand?"
In such a dominating fashion, Motoyasu commanded his subordinates while Hideaki simply nodded, aware of the future implications his superior has done.
"What should we do about this one?" Hideaki replied.
"Give him back, kill him, or feed him to the dogs. I don't care," Motoyasu, then glanced at the children and said, "Eat first, then we will talk about the trials."
Afterwards, the shinobi left and the children were sent into the dining room, still unable to comprehend such first-hand example of savagery.
"That was so scary, the intent Motoyasu-sama released was so horrifying!" On the side, Haruhiko felt a mix of terrified and amazed expression on his face.
"Yoichi-kun... Did anything bad happened to you?" Hikari grew concerned.
"No... I feel alright. Have some focus on the trials and don't worry about it." Yoichi ultimately moved on. Yoritoki was punished heavily and lost two important asset. At this point, his assailant's future was set on stone.
Jutsu required hand-seals, where would Yoritoki have a chance to utilize his learned jutsu? Release the jutsu out of his ass?
Thus, Yoichi ate his breakfast without grievances or worry in his face.
Even though he doesn't know what Motoyasu's motive was, it was apparently related to his endorser, Hayate or there was much more deeper scheme in these actions.
No man will protect a worthless child without any reason behind the action.
After that breakfast, Yoichi and the rest was soon escorted to the courtyard filled with barbed wires on the muddy ground and obstacles around the vicinity.
"This is gonna be your first trial, the trial of perseverance. See those barbed wires? You all need to crawl beneath these cords of sharp wires for one month or else, this will happen." Introducing the ordeal, Motoyasu took a severed hand and threw them at the wires.
'Looks like his hand was still useful for demonstration...' Yoichi thought.
As soon as the lifeless hand landed, a burnt scent carried by the humidity of the rain blew towards the children, shocking them in nauseating stench.
"These wires were conducted by a powerful electric current. Once you touched the wires along with your wet skin, it will definitely kill someone or electrocute them temporarily."
Upon hearing him, the children's pupils dilated in scare and anxiety. Yoichi deeply frowned, looking at the charred hand with trepidation.
'Approximately 50 meters of barbed wires up to the next obstacles ahead. Is this America's Navy Seal Training Drill or what?'
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(Current Progress)
[Heavenly Demon Posture: (Small Success) 163/300]
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Ah, I dont have any particular comments for now. But I feel like I'm not detailed enough in fleshing out the characters and their expressions.
Thanks for reading the chapters and bookmarking the novel. See ya! XDD!