51 Curtain

[Curtain has been established]

[Special Conditions have been enacted]

[Condition 1: Only entities that can use cursed energy can freely enter and leave the Curtain]

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When Hex and Thief got closer to the camp, they noticed the black ooze falling from the sky. In a few seconds, the ooze encased both cursed spirits and campers inside a black dome.

The curses' gazes lingered on the dome for only a moment. They continued to move closer to the camp.

Asides from Yukio and the curses, nobody else noticed the strange phenomenon. The injured and the non-injured still did whatever they were doing, unaware of the danger crawling towards them.

=====

Lying on the ground was a man with a bandaged torso, he was called Doofus by his friends. He was cursing inwardly at the pain, 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' He was a bandit, one of many at this bandit outpost.

The entire bandit group had just finished a battle and were now licking their wounds. They had recently fought against a group of four shinobi from Sunagakure.

There were thirty-one bandits in the group.

4 vs 31

Despite the large number difference, they lost nearly ten of their comrades and at least 70% of the survivors were injured. Clearly, Doofus was one of those injured.

Doofus knew that the shinobi were incredibly strong compared to normal citizens, but he didn't expect such a gap. If it weren't for the bandit leader and the vice-leader who had shinobi-like abilities, the group might've been wiped out.

As for the loot they obtained from the dead Suna-nin, Doofus didn't know. Only the leader and vice-leader knew what they were. But he did see several scrolls, at least.

'Everything hurts... I want to sleep,' he groaned inwardly. He was tired, but not to the point where he could sleep through the pain.

He was about to demand some water when his torso flared in pain. For some reason, he felt his body become constricted, as if an invisible rope was being tied around him, getting tighter by the second.

"AGHH!" Doofus screamed in pain, attracting some of the least-injured bandits.

"Doofus? Are you that weak? Be a man and bear through it." One sternly said.

However, Doofus ignored the harsh words. His screams became louder and louder. The other bandits grew worrisome and tried to help him but froze in their steps when they saw holes appear all over his body

From those dots, blood started to leak out. As time passed, the rate at which the blood flowed out the dots increased rapidly. Eventually, someone was brave enough to try to help.

However, it was too late.

Just as they had the bandages in hand, Doofus was completely drained of his blood.

"What is going on?" A man barged through the crowd. He looked at Doofus' corpse, but only for a moment. He turned to the nearest person to him and demandingly asked.

"V-Vice Leader, Doofus w-was just laying down w-when all of the s-sudden, he started t-to scream in pain! T-Then, holes appeared on his b-body and all his blood p-poured out."

The man who walked through the crowd was the vice leader of the bandit group.

The Vice Leader looked at Doofus' corpse once more and gave out a single order, "Dump him in the nearest river." After that, he walked away.

Nobody asked questions and started to pick who would complete the task. While they were busy, another poor fella started to feel constricted. He didn't say anything at first but then screamed in agony as he felt needles piercing into his flesh.

Needless to say, the same events repeated themselves and the man died.

Now, everybody was creeped out.

Was this a disease? An unknown poison? Or was there a Shinobi God punishing them for their crimes against the Suna-nin?

Slowly, one after another, people began to die from the same causes. Few were also dying by a different method; a long, narrow invisible object was being stabbed through people's eyeballs and into their brains.

At this rate, the bandits started scurrying away from the camp and into the woods. They left behind the bandits who were too injured to move to die from the mysterious phenomenons.

As for the Leader and the Vice Leader, they were more worried about something else.

"Someone fucking stole it! Our loot! Everything is gone, everything we have been working so hard for since we became thieves!" A burly man yelled at the Vice Leader. He wasn't wearing a shirt, which revealed the tattoos that covered the entirety of his torso.

That man was the leader of the bandit group, usually referred to as Leader by his subordinates. Outside of the bandit group, most would know him as Victor due to his tattoos. Every time he would win an important fight or stole important valuables, a new tattoo would be marked on his body; a mark for victory.

Victor and the Vice Leader were standing over an empty pit that was used to store the loot they obtained. Like the other bandits, the two of them were planning to leave with their loot, keeping them all to themselves. However, they found out that someone had stolen it!

"We should just leave, Victor. We might be next." The Vice Leader suggested as he cautiously looked at their surroundings.

"…Fine! If I get my hands on whoever took our loot, I'll skin them alive and feed them to the fishes!"

Victor and his vice leader gathered what was left of their belongings and ran away. They noticed several bandits standing still, confusingly looking at the edge of the clearing. Though they wondered what was going on, they didn't stop to ask.

But it didn't take long for them to figure out why.

When they tried to move twenty meters away from the camp, they would find themselves back at the edge of the clearing as if they didn't move at all.

"Someone is targeting us. This is a genjutsu. Release!" Victor believed that they were under a genjutsu that fooled their senses, tricking them into believing that no matter how they moved, they would always return to their initial position, "Let's go!"

Unfortunately for them, it wasn't a genjutsu.

A sense of fear began to creep into their hearts as they found themselves back at the same place. They tried running away in a different direction but their situation didn't change.

They soon noticed that they were the only ones alive; or at least, the only ones still lost in this cursed place.

"Hmm... I didn't think Thief would actively kill people. Perhaps it was merely trying to take something valuable from them; their lives?" The two heard a voice from behind them.

They whipped their heads and saw that a boy was casually walking towards them. He wasn't even trying to conceal his presence.

'A genin?' They inwardly guessed in unison, but quickly shook their heads. The boy wasn't wearing the signature headband, but from what he had said, they assumed that he was likely a rogue shinobi.

Despite there was a boy in front of them, they didn't dare to look down on him. Victor pulled out two axes while the Vice Leader drew a katana from its sheath.

"That's a good choice. I was planning on attacking you guys when I noticed you could use chakra," the boy praised.

The boy in front of them was Yukio.

How surprising... not.

Yukio had told Hex and Thief to not attack the bandit group's leaders. While the curses were on their killing/stealing spree, Yukio sensed above-average chakra flowing through the two leaders. He guessed that they had some capabilities as ninjas.

The Vice Leader inquired, "Kid, are you the one doing this?"

Before Yukio could answer, Victor threw one of his axes towards Yukio's innocent, cute face. Unexpectedly, Yukio grabbed it with ease and threw it back at Victor with twice the force.

Victor wasn't expecting the counter throw, but he tried to block it with his other ax. He was successful in a way. He managed to block the thrown ax and redirected it somewhere else. The ax that was used for blocking had several cracks on its head.

The Vice Leader used this short opportunity to weave several hand seals and cast a jutsu, 'Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole!' And he disappeared into the ground.

Yukio slightly furrowed his brows at the man's action. He tried to see if he could somehow sense him underground, but he was distracted by Victor swinging down his ax down onto his head. However, Yukio caught the ax and punched the bandit leader with his chain-wrapped fist, and flung him a couple of meters away.

That punch was infused with both cursed energy and chakra; cursed chakra.

At that moment, the ground behind Yukio was pierced open by the Vice Leader who swung his katana at Yukio's neck in an attempt to decapitate him. Yukio easily dodged the attack and threw out his chain.

The vice leader watched in amazement as the chain flew towards him like a living snake. The chain wrapped around his neck, and Yukio pulled on the chain, pulling the Vice Leader to him.

When he got close enough, Yukio kicked him in the stomach. He pulled on the chain again and punched the Vice Leader in the face this time. After repeating that several more times, he manipulated the chains to crash him into Victor.

"Mm... We should get going soon. Thanks for the fun, I guess." Seeing that the sun was about to go down, Yukio walked away from them. They had suffered incredible injuries.

The Vice Leader had gotten the shorthand of the stick. Yukio had broken several ribs and his skull, forcing the second leader to stand at the edge of life and death.

"I thought we were going to die, phew." Victor sighed, then he noticed his partner lying on the ground in a near-death stage. He felt his blood boil, "That kid's going to regret it! I'm going to find him, and KILL- Huh?"

With wide eyes, he watched with eyes filled with fear as he saw his and his vice leader's body glow brightly. Numerous talismans had been placed on their bodies without their acknowledgment.

*kaboom*

=====

After the loud explosion, Hex and Thief arrived at Yukio's position. Hex lazily wrapped itself around Yukio. Ignoring the lazy centipede, Yukio praised Thief for its accomplishment, as well as exceeding his expectations in participating in the hunt.

He wasn't expecting Thief to kill people. The mouse had used its long finger-tail to jab through people's eyeballs and into their brains. In a way, it had stolen what they valued the most; their pitiful lives.

"Let me see what you got," He asked.

From his mouth, Thief 'threw up' every valuable that he had taken from the camp. Some were scrolls that had information on them, others were jewelry. Yukio glanced at the scrolls for a moment before sealing them and the other loot inside other scrolls and placed them inside his backpack.

"Get in, now. It shouldn't take long until we get there."