As the thick fumes slowly merged with the blaring lights of neon lighting, the hues of monochromatic grey began to envelop the twisted atmosphere while a boy suddenly stopped along with the swish of a water puddle.
"Wait, let's think about our livelihood and plan ahead of time..."
Upon hearing the boy's voice, the shadows appeared to be confused, seeing the boy's unusual indecisiveness.
"Huh? But I thought you had a plan, Yoichi..." Genji replied, baffled about his friend's irregularity.
"... Do you all think I am an all-knowing child huh?" Yoichi responded with disbelief.
"Yes! You are quite like that!" Haruhiko commented while Genji and Hikari nodded in agreement.
Listening to his remarks, Yoichi shook his head. Normally, every decision he made was too wise and prudent, making people confident in the result which was significant for survival.
However, what they didn't know was that Yoichi had no clue of their place whatsoever. All he remembered was Pain's panoramic view of Amegakure and its soaring industrialized buildings drenched in cold rain.
Even small details were unknown and weren't included on the Naruto Wikipedia and other sites in his past life, all that people knew was that Amegakure was a shit hole no one other people wanted to be in the first place.
"Well, sorry to break it to you, I'm not an omniscient child. But we could begin finding shelter, a hideout in a 1-year timeframe." Yoichi stated.
"Do you have any other ideas that you all can recommend?" Yoichi continued, looking at his friends' thoughtful expressions.
In his mind, it's time for his friends to think for themselves. Being individually capable of making logical decisions for themselves was essential and almost fundamental even in the animal kingdom.
As if like a mother turtle lays her eggs on the sandy shore, the fledglings must overcome the extremely cruel process regardless of any unexpected things or life and death situations.
"Maybe we could try and ask other inhabitants here about information surrounding these alleys..." Towa replied with insight into her mind.
"Hmmm... A great idea." Genji and Haruhiko nodded.
"First, we should part ways and seek answers to our questions. Once you—" Suddenly, Yoichi's Battle Instinct felt a strong malice underway in his direction. "Hide! An enemy is going this way!"
His friends were alarmed and began searching for an unknown assailant until a shadow emerged from the buildings nearby along with another 4 people behind the enigmatic shadow.
"Yoichi! I've finally been able to catch up to those humiliating days! I must kill you to soothe my unsettled mind!" The mysterious shadow's familiar figure emerged as the neon lights shone upon his burly physique.
"Hahaha, Gorou! Did you eventually want to meet your death this early?" Yoichi smirked as his intimidating words made Gorou angry, gritting his teeth from the unstable rage he felt.
Earlier ago, Gorou was commissioned by an unknown shinobi with plentiful rewards. His mission? Annihilate Yoichi, dead or alive.
"Hehehe! So this is our target, Gorou? This is quite a good bargain for us!" One of Gorou's lackeys smiled with malicious intent.
"Attack them!" Gorou viciously took the initiative to attack them, encircling Yoichi and his friends with lethal tools in their hands.
"... Use what you learned and kill them without hesitation. I'll handle Gorou." Thus, Yoichi grabbed his kunai and rushed at Gorou with unbounded killing intent.
"Hehehe... I'll take care of Yoichi. You all go ahead and kill his lackeys!" After his orders, Gorou launched numerous tools at his opponent with precision.
These kunai and shurikens were thrown with deadly accuracy, pinning Yoichi with no room to escape from the amount of flickering metals.
'Substitution Technique!'
However, with a quick display of mastery, Yoichi's figure was hit until smoke came out from his body, slowly revealing a log struck by multiple shuriken and kunai.
Upon noticing his opponent's timely evasion, Gorou's pupils dilated and he quickly side-stepped, dodging the dangerous counterattack of his enemy behind him.
Then, Gorou stepped back at a certain distance and launched another volley of lethal tools at his enigmatic enemy, avoiding close-combat against Yoichi, who was a specialist at Taijutsu.
"Hahaha, is this what you've got? Keep tickling me with those pathetic tools, you fucking pest!" Yoichi's killing intent exuded, eluding Gorou's sneaky attacks with his keen perception.
"Say what you want, Yoichi! You'll be dead without a corpse tonight!" Gorou's reliance and mastery of his tools became his path to lean on in his way to be a famous shinobi.
Although dependency on various tools wasn't common, there was a glaring problem with this path: these tools were consumable items, only convenient when an individual had a lot of them in store.
"What now, rat? Nothing to throw around this time?" Looking at Gorou's grim expression, Yoichi's eyes gleamed with a cold light as if a predator felt his prey's useless struggles.
"Damn it! Everyone, leave!" As soon as he used all of his arsenal, Gorou retreated with all of his might.
'Body Flicker Technique'
"Don't let them get away, kill them!" With a cold voice, Yoichi suddenly vanished and hunted Gorou with fast maneuvers in the alleyways.
Like a game of cat and mouse, Gorou eventually met a dead end on his path and frantically became fearful of his opponent's thick, suffocating intent.
'This is my sole chance to kill him!'
As exhaustion kicked in his body, Gorou took his kunai and clenched his jaws in extreme rage, preparing for the silhouette appearing in the distance.
Along with easy steps, Yoichi's figure came out with unparalleled coldness amplified by his soaking clothes and face amidst the chilly rain.
"Fuck you, Yoichi! Even if I die, I will haunt you in your dreams!" While the kunai were thrown at his opponents, Gorou threw a smoke bomb and gradually disappeared beyond the thick haze.
'Did he leave? No, that guy was surely here!'
As the unnatural fog subsided, Yoichi instinctively rolled forward and quickly looked at Gorou, who was deeply shocked by Yoichi's uncanny instinct.
'What?! How did he predict my attack?! I didn't even reveal a single flaw from the start!'
"Using the Transformation Technique and melding together along with the kunai you've thrown... How clever."
Yoichi replied with a gleaming smile. Deeply, he was grateful for his overpowered Battle Instinct for saving his life. Otherwise, he could be seriously injured by the sneak attack.
"Damn you, Yoichi! I don't believe that you are talented than me!" Gorou's vicious eyes intensely glared at him.
'Clone Technique!'
Instantly rushing like a cornered beast, Gorou's 2 afterimage began charging at Yoichi, who was filled with contempt.
"Die!" Gorou yelled as his body and phantom-like clones attacked Yoichi from all sides. However, Yoichi rotated around 360 degrees and evaded the attacks before striking Gorou's unbalanced momentum on his neck.
*Psskkk*
Like a hot knife slicing through the butter, Yoichi impaled his kunai on Gorou's neck and twisted it with sheer force as Gorou's face was filled with extreme resentment and regret.
'Shit... Am... I... Dying?... Yoichi!'
While his consciousness continues to slip, Yoichi violently pulls his kunai while Gorou's lifeless body falls to the ground with its neck spurting blood.
「Heavenly Demon Posture EXP +9」
Looking at the deceased figure, instead of feeling nauseated from killing a human, Yoichi felt neither joy nor sorrow. In his mind, he must do anything to survive and Gorou made his choice to kill him.
Kill or be killed.
"Haaah... There's no redemption for someone who was seeking his death. Be grateful though, your blood will be a stepping stone for my ascension!"
'Goredrinker!'
Activating his divine ability, Yoichi was shocked. His demonic ability was significantly improved over time while the blood was sucked out of the deceased body and it crawled towards him.
Suddenly, the crawling and stinging sensation of his skin made him itchy like numerous ants wriggling on his body as the blood enveloped his whole figure, eventually absorbed by his pores down to his bloodstream.
「Goredrinker EXP +10」
"Truly a demonic technique!" Yoichi exclaimed. His physique was strengthened without any issues.
"Yoichi! Are you there?" Genji and his party searched for their lost friend until Yoichi's profile arose within a dark alley.
"Relax, it's fine now," Yoichi replied.
"You've got us worried for nothing! Looks like Gorou is dead I assume?" Haruhiko insisted.
"Yeah... That rat was certainly annoying. What about the others?" Yoichi noticed small incisions in the middle of his jaw but the slow recovery of his body made him forget it, focusing on Gorou's lackeys with high expectations.
"We piled them near this area, do you want to see them?" Munekatsu politely asked.
"... Let's go and take their belongings." After that, Yoichi left with anticipation while the rest followed suit.
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(Current Progress)
[Heavenly Demon Posture: (Great Success) 144/500]
[Goredrinker: 10/100]
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Thank you for the huge support everyone, I'll further enhance and write with a positive impact from you all. Thanks!
Thanks for reading the chapters and bookmarking the novel. See ya! XDD!