Chapter 16.1

While contemplating, he heard a voice from behind. 

"Huhuhu...well  well, what do we have here?...Oh it's just kids."

Upon hearing the voice, he became alert. Kaya who was in his embrace also stiffened up.

He hurriedly stood up, while carrying Kaya and gripped on the axe.

He turned around to find the source of the voice, he saw someone standing on one of the branches of a nearby tree.

Though it was dark, the light of the moon made it clear to see,

The said man was wearing a red outfit — which has one sleeve— a lapel which is usually found on the side without a sleeve and a brown flak jacket — which also has a pouch attached to it. He had a wide creepy grin on his face.

The man spoke, "Oh! Are You survivors from the village we burned down this morning? What a surprise...I didn't think we would have somebody escaping in the forest." he maintained the sinister smile as he continued, "Well, no problem. I will just finish off you two huh.. hahahahaha!" Saying so he laughed.

'This is bad…' Koutaro thought. He knew they were in a serious problem. This man was a shinobi and he was not trying to mast his menace at all.

"Onii chan..." Kaya was trembling from fear.

'We have to run...I can fight this guy…' he thought. Without wasting any more time, he turned around and ran….or at least he tried to.

Before they could distance themselves from him, the man jumped and appeared in front of them.

'So fast…' before they could react, the man forced a kick onto them. As a result they flew away and fell on the ground.

Koutaro clutched the part of his stomach where the kick fell, it was really painful.

Kaya, who separated from him and fell on the ground, started crying. The kick was too much for the little girl.

"K-kaya…." Koutaro tried to get up and reach her. But before he could, the man appeared in front of Kaya and picked her up by grasping her hair.

"I-it hurts!!"

The strain on her head made her yell.

Seeing this Koutaro gritted his teeth.

"Let her go!!" He yelled at the man. To which the man just laughed, clearly enjoying the look on koutaro's face.

'He is toying with me…' he gritted his teeth, as his body trembled. 

Seeing no other choice, he gripped on his axe and channelled his chakra around him. Though his chakra pool is very low, training all day for a few months really improved his chakra control. 

He used his chakra to increase his speed and dashed towards the man.

The man was very surprised to see Koutaro using chakra. But as an experienced shinobi he quickly got hold of himself, and avoided Koutaro's attack.

He swiftly took out a shuriken and threw it towards Koutaro. Koutaro was not accustomed to fights, so he could not avoid the incoming attack, the shuriken hit him on his hand, cutting it. Blood started flowing.

"Ahh!!" He yelled. And fall on his knees.

"Koutaro nii chan!!'  Kaya cried in horror. She was still held by her hair.

"Shut up wrench!!" The man yelled. His face contorted. He looked at Koutaro and said, " You b*stard! Who do you think you are huh!? Who would have thought a country bumpkin like you could use chakra...but so what!? I am a genin of the stone village, you think a brat like you could beat me!?"

Koutaro ignored his rambling. He bit his lips, trying to lessen the impact of the pain. He quickly grabbed the axe that had fallen at tried to stand up again.

The man saw Koutaro standing up and frowned, "Oh! You are a tough nut huh? Well guess what….I will just finish this." Saying so, he took out a kunai and pointed at Kaya's slender throat.

Koutaro saw what he was doing. He gave a horrified look. 

"NO! DON'T!!" He yelled as tried to run towards them.

Kaya just blankly stared at Koutaro.

The man laughed, and without waiting slit her throat in front of Koutaro's eyes. Blood gushed from the cut. Her body trembled for some time before going limp. The man let go of her as her lifeless body fell on the ground.

"NOOO!!!" 

Seeing this horrific event in front of him, his every thought vapourised. 

At this moment something broke inside him. Bloody tears started coming out of his eyes. A sudden special chakra began to release from his brain. It reached his optic nerves. His dark brown pupils trembled and started swirling rapidly. The colour of his pupils changes to bright crimson with a black ring in between. And a small bean-like mark appeared in it. But it was not over yet, the pupils continued to swirl as the black bean-like mark multiplied to two, before coming to a halt. 

Adrenaline gushed throughout his body, as his vision changed. He turned to look at the person who had just committed this horrible atrocity. 

The said person was staring at him with widen eyes, as if he had seen a ghost. 

He opened his trembling mouth, and shouted, "T-they are…..they are t-those cursed eyes!!! Wh-why do you have th-them!???"