Chapter 23

The goon was finally put out of his misery as his head was separated from his body in a horrific and sickening 'rip' sound. His face depicting the horror and pain he had just gone through. She woke up the other two and proceeded to kill them in equally gruesome fashion. Splitting one right in the middle and the other cut into chunks with a tanto she pulled out from who knows where.

At least their deaths were quick. It was understandable; She had gotten her message across. There was no need to drag it out any longer.

She walked to me, her face and clothes drenched in blood. Her face may have been stern but I could see the fear and sadness in her eyes. What she must have been going through. To have to put your only daughter in such a predicament. Although I knew she knew it was necessary, there was no parent who would be okay making their child go through this. Just picturing myself doing this for/to my daughter, I would truly have understood if she ended up hating me.

When she got to me, I stood up straight and stared at her resolute, but my body continued to shake. I could see her fear ease up slightly as she passed me the tanto. Pointing to the goon leader, she ordered, "Kill him.". I took a deep breath to try to calm myself a little, which, honestly barely did, as I took the spotless blade from her. The blade even after slashing a person in half and cutting a person with blinding speed into pieces was still spotless.

At this point, his mind was already broken. What he had seen had sent him over the edge. Who asked them to provoke the demon mother? There was no longer any use for regret.

I squeezed the blade tight in my hand. I looked at the goon leader and raised the blade before hearing the voice behind me, "Everyone has a reason they hang onto. Be it for their family, for their village, for power, for money. I am not a saint to say I killed them as revenge for the village. I killed them because they tried to rape and kill my daughter. Just their thought of it is more than enough reason for me to rip them apart a thousand times over."

Slash.

The goon leader's head separated from his body as blood sprayed out continuously from his headless corpse. The spotless tanto now stained with blood, probably not of the headless corpse but from my dripping blood. I had torn the webbing between my thumb and forefinger. I felt pain in my wrist. I wanted to get it in one slash.

I took in a deep breath and turned to Mebuki. She had a sad look on her face. What just happened could never be undone. "Old lady, red is really not your color. It would be better to stick to your old lady clothes." My pathetic attempt to try and diffuse the tension lingering in the place.

She looked up and wiped the tears that were lingering at the edge of eyes. Her face returned to her usual annoying smirk and spoke, "Huh, did you say something, -10?" Mebuki understood what I was trying to do and I could see the slight relief in her eyes.

'Tsk. Maybe I should have let her wallow in pity and hate for a bit longer.' Just as I was about to retort she spoke up once more, "We need to leave here, the blood has begun to attract chakra beasts. Leave the bodies, the beasts can have a feast." I looked at the bodies. Just like that, they were about to become food for animals.

'I refuse to end up like that.' The resolution eased my shaking body even more.

She disappeared and in two seconds, all the kunais and shurikens I had used earlier, disappeared. "That would be the last time I pick up after you."

She grabbed me and before I realized we were in a completely different location with a water source. I had no idea how we got here and honestly; I was just too tired to care. All I wanted at the moment was to burn my clothes and take a bath.

We took off our clothes and jumped into the water to clean ourselves. Staring at her body, she had a well-toned body and quite a few scars. Seeing me stare at her so much she said, "Even if you like girls, staring at your own mother like that is just creepy, pervert."

"Who would be interested in an old lady like you?! Wait, are you really okay with that? I mean what about the family line?" I asked, honestly wondering if they were truly ok with it. I would not be able to give them grandkids unless I adopted.

"Oh, don't worry. We intend to have another child when we return from your training. I was only twenty when I had you, you know? I'm still quite young." She spoke in matter of fact.

'We are about the same age huh?' I thought to myself. "Oh my goodness, you really are an old woman. No wonder." I could not help myself.

"Oi brat, who the hell do you keep calling old?" I ignored her and focused on letting the cool water wash the fatigue away. Being ignored seemed to tick her off. "Negative 10." My body shook slightly as she grinned, knowing she had completed her objective.

We finished washing ourselves and changed into new sets of clothes. During the time of the bath she had healed the cuts and bruises on my body including the sprained wrist but left the one on my forehead.

"What do you want to do?" She asked. It seemed she already knew the answer to the question but still asked, wanting to hear it from me.

"I want to go to the bandit's hideout." I answered. She seemed to have been waiting for it.

She nodded and asked, "You want to save those from the village?"

I shook my head, "That would just be an added bonus. Those bandits are just ripe experience waiting to be plucked." She raised her brows clearly not expecting such an answer but she did not ask any further.

"According to the information, their hideout is in the mountains a few kilometers from here. Their leader is at most at chunin level. Just so you know, the person you fought was barely genin, and there are two more of them at their base with about fifty of civilian bandits. You won't be able to use the same tactic."

"Tsk, I know. Wait, when did you have time to interrogate them?" She merely smiled to my question and carried on like nothing happened.

"It has two entrances. I will block one side then both enter through the other which I will seal after. I will take care of their leader while you clean up the rest. Understood?"

I nodded to her to which she nodded back. Double checking my kunai bag tied to my right leg I was all set. She grabbed me and once again we disappeared from our old location before reappearing in front of a cave entrance.

---

We reached the goal of 300 stones and with a lot of time to spare too. Yipee. We might change the goals slightly next week as well. Thanks everyone.

60 stones = 1 chapter

120 stones = 3 chapters

300 stones = 5 chapters.

Current reached = 313

Chapters owed = 5