In reality, to the current Yūki, those three Kusagakure genin were truly nothing.
After nine years of training, the current "Princess Kaguya" was no longer what she used to be. Even if Yūki remained motionless and simply fought using his Stand, killing a few genin would be child's play.
But among these four, it was the jōnin, Hannya, who posed a considerable challenge.
Yūki was quite aware of his own strength. After years of rigorous training, his main body had essentially integrated the power of the "Gentle Fist" and "Byakugan." In terms of combat power alone, he had reached a decent chūnin level.
If combined with "Princess Kaguya" in her "Tidal Moon" state at night, Yūki was confident he could kill an ordinary jōnin—provided he could move freely.
Though Hannya wasn't a top-tier jōnin and was far from elite jōnin level, a jōnin was still a jōnin—an opponent "Princess Kaguya" couldn't easily kill.
After all, a "Stand" wasn't invincible. If Yūki carelessly materialized Princess Kaguya to attack, she could easily be hit by various ninjutsu, and death wouldn't be far off.
"It's over... What do we do now?"
"Shh, don't speak. They'll hear."
"Waaah... Mom..."
As Yūki pondered how to resolve the situation, screams and shouts continued from the surrounding villagers gathered together.
But this was inevitable. After all, the villagers of "Kujō Village" were just ordinary people. It was natural for them to panic when held hostage by professional ninjas.
"Quiet, everyone! Calm down! It's on fire? Why is my house on fire?"
Seeing the chaotic scene, Village Chief Kujō Ichirō initially tried to quiet the villagers, but then he smelled burning. Turning, he saw black smoke rising from his wooden house.
Oh no—it's probably from the pipe I dropped earlier.
Watching his own house slowly burn, the village chief's face grew even uglier, but he could only watch as the surrounding villagers grew more panicked.
So noisy, these people.
At that moment, the Kusagakure jōnin Hannya, guarding them, frowned and glanced at the burning wooden house dozens of meters away. He suddenly retracted his hands, and chakra surged around him like a storm.
What's he planning?
Kusagakure Style: Explosive Palm — External Technique
As Hannya retracted and then thrust his hands forward, a powerful air current stormed toward the house, its residual force even forcing nearby villagers to shut their eyes.
Boom! With a loud explosion, Ichirō's burning wooden house was blown apart. Burning wood chips and dust scattered everywhere—a shocking sight.
"I said, why don't you all just quiet down? Unless you want this to happen."
By demonstrating his power at the right moment, Hannya stunned the villagers of "Kujō Village," who had never seen such things. He then sneered at them.
Shattering a wooden house with one palm—this kind of power belonged to a realm utterly incomprehensible to ordinary people. It was natural to be shocked and stunned after witnessing it.
"Alright, we're only here for valuables, not lives. Cooperate, and everything will be fine. But if you don't... next time, it won't be a house that gets blown up."
"Y-Yes, we'll cooperate."
Village Chief Ichirō hurriedly stood up, reassuring Hannya. To him, village property didn't matter—saving lives and avoiding unnecessary casualties were paramount.
As the scene quieted under this display, sounds of rummaging came from the wooden houses nearby—clearly, the three grass ninja were searching thoroughly.
With hundreds of various wooden houses and sheds, the search took nearly half the afternoon.
"Teacher Hannya, here are all the medicines we could find. They've all been moved here."
When the three grass ninja returned, a person-high mountain of herbs had piled up before Hannya, containing all sorts of pills, herbs, and more.
Since "Kujō Village" grew vast quantities of herbs and had many skilled herbalists, medicines were abundant—much to the grass ninjas' exhaustion.
"Let me see... The legendary 'Platinum Pill' should emit a faint platinum glow. Anyway, let's search through this first."
Though Hannya had heard of this miraculous medicine from his teacher, he'd never seen it himself, so he could only keep searching through the hill-like pile of medicines.
After searching fruitlessly for a long time, the sky began to yellow. Hannya grew impatient.
"Are you sure you've searched all the surrounding houses?" he asked the three genin searching beside him.
"Should have turned over everything that could be turned. Including cellars and such. Oh, right—I saw a building on the hillside earlier, but there's no human presence there."
Yin Snake, whose sensory abilities were the strongest present, thought for a moment before replying. He could detect human presence from a distance.
"Ah—that is—"
But at that moment, Renna in the crowd couldn't help but gasp softly. Yūki hadn't had time to cover her mouth due to the suddenness.
Although Renna's voice wasn't loud, such movements naturally couldn't escape Hannya, a jōnin.
He immediately strode into the crowd, grabbed Renna's arm, and pulled her up. Smiling, he asked, "It seems you know what's there, don't you?"
"That's... my grandmother's herb garden. But there's no secret medicine you mentioned."
"Hmph, whether it's there or not, we'll check first. Come with me. Take me there immediately, or I'll kill you."
"Wait, Teacher Hannya, why not stay here? I'll take her to search over there."
But as Hannya prepared to drag Renna away, the lecherous monk who'd been watching sidled over and made the suggestion to his teacher.
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