Chapter 26

"Ah, we wanted to lead you all outside first before sacrificing you, but your constant yapping has done it now. We will just go ahead and do it here." I began leaking a bit of killing intent causing the man to stumble back onto the floor. It was difficult, but I tried to feel what I felt before my 'slaughter of the lambs' episode, and that seemed to somehow do the trick.

"Yes, yes. There it is, that look. That beautiful look of despair. I absolutely love giving others hope before taking it away. The look they give is absolutely…mmm…euphoric." I hugged myself with my tongue slightly out as I watched the looks of fear they began to show. I began walking slowly towards them, my killing intent had already paralyzed them; they were civilians after all.

I finally got to the man and stood upon him. My face stern and serious and his, warped in fear. Then I spoke, "Just kidding." The already quiet place turned heavy. They had no idea what was going on. The man had already pissed himself, his face, still frozen in horror as if his body refuse to believe what I had just said. I just walked back to Mebuki and indicated wanting to leave. She merely nodded and opened up a path at the side and just walked out together.

…

We had been walking for a while now and frankly I was surprised and annoyed. Surprised because I had been expecting us to be long gone from this place with her teleport or speed or whichever it was. Or maybe resumed the running training or something. Annoyed because she had been staring at me unblinking with an annoying smile the entire time since we left the cave. She really had not blinked, once.

"What?" Finally, having had enough, I asked.

"What do you mean what? What happened back there, it came out of nowhere? I almost would have believed you if I was not there since the beginning with you. Doing this, and this" She spoke, imitating the maniacal laugh and the self-hugging, exaggerating the expressions and motions of each.

I rolled my eyes at her actions. Maybe I had done that a bit too well. I only picked my favorite psychopath's laugh, and my favorite sadist, and imitated. Deny all you want, but everyone had their favorite psychopaths, either from Animes or TV shows, or even real life. "Nothing really. I always used to wonder what I would do if I ever met characters like that."

"And you found your answer?" She asked becoming interested.

"Maybe. At first, I wanted to ignore him. Then the more he yapped on, the more pissed of I became, and the more I wanted to at least take his arm or three or something." I paused up to here.

Mebuki waited but seeing as I was silent made her ask, "And then?"

"And then what? That is just it. I could. I just simply could." She stopped walking, lost in thought for a moment before smiling. She looked at me and chuckled before looking at a directing behind us.

"Since you have been following for a while, how about come out." The moment she spoke, two people walked out from behind a tree. When they came out, Mebuki looked at me and smirked.

'Damn it!' I knew exactly why she was smirking at me like that. I just talked so big yet I was not able to even sense two civilians that had been following us. It was getting frustrating. I really needed to find a way to sense chakra around me.

They were a young girl and a younger boy. Looking at them I noticed the girl was the cute, naive one that had spoken up earlier. The younger boy she was with was likely her brother, because he looked a little like her. She looked about my age, maybe slightly older. The younger one looked about ten years.

"Would you two care to explain to us why you have been following us?" Mebuki asked with a gentle smile.

'This is why we have not continued our journey? Was she waiting for them?' I looked towards her before back at the siblings.

They looked at each other resolutely before speaking at the same time. "Please take us with you! We want to get stronger!". Did they practice it? I rolled my eyes at them and began walking away. Of course, I knew she would just send them away. I just wanted her to be quick about it so we could continue my training. She was no Jirayia to suddenly pick up orphans and decide to train them.

"Okay."

"What?!" I almost tripped at her response. What was this woman thinking?

"First you shirk responsibility but now you want to pick up more responsibility?" I looked to her unbelievably. She ignored me and walked to the siblings.

"It will not be easy for you." She glared down at them, making them shiver slightly at the sight. However, they did not back down. They looked at her and nodded.

Mebuki seemed pleased. "Good, where we are going you cannot come with, but I will take you somewhere else to train for now. After a year I will come for you. Remember my words now; No matter what, survive."

I stood there and watched as she proceeded to explain the mechanics behind the body flicker patiently. I had no sensory abilities to know if they had practiced chakra or not so I had no idea whether or not they would be able to perform it even if they understood it.

"Alright, make sure to not lose sight of us ok." She rubbed their heads and walked to me.

"Alright, let's continue. As before, keep up." She spoke to me before disappearing from her position. I looked back at the siblings before following with my own body flicker.

After using the technique, incorporating it into my fighting style, I had to be honest; I was truly beginning to love the technique. I had brought the chakra usage down to about 30% of the original when I had nothing blocking me and about 40% to 50% when I had to dodge weave through trees.

I had my eye on Mebuki the whole time. I passed where she passed, how she maneuvered around it every time I got that position. It was good training for me.

I looked back to check on the kids and noticed were quite a distance from them. Although we were among trees, I could see them each time they came from behind a tree. They were practically black dots.

After a few hours, I saw Mebuki stop ahead. She had finally decided to camp for the night. I was tired and feeling nauseas but it was not as bad as the beginnings. She was already setting up for the night. Panting heavily, I made my way towards her. I wanted to ask about bringing the kids along but she seemed to have read my mind and simply shook her head. It seemed she had her own plans which she would tell when the time was right.

After a few hours, it was already night and the darkness had almost completely taken over and the trees had mostly blocked out the lights from above. A few minutes later I could hear panting sounds as the siblings dragged their exhausted bodies towards the camp fire. They collapsed the moment they got to us.

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From next week, new stone targets. Happy we could cross the old target and more.

200 stones = 2 chapter

400 stones = 3 chapters

600 stones = 5 chapters.

Current reached = 550

Chapters owed = 3/5