Fight...almost

No other team of bandits made it to the hideout in all this time and they didn't find a secondary entrance either.

However, there were some bandits who would come out to go to the bathroom, although they did not stray far from the entrance.

That was until late at night, when a bandit struggled out of hiding and staggered as he walked. Unlike the others, he wandered quite a bit from the small entrance.

Anko looked at Kuro and pointed out that he will wait before disappearing and appearing behind the bandit who was trying to unbutton his pants.

She hit him on the neck and the man lost consciousness instantly.

Anko grabbed the man and led him to where Kuro was.

"We don't have time to question him. I'll use the Henge to transform into this guy and go into the hideout. Once inside I'm going to look for the hostages, and if there aren't, I'll start eliminating the bandits. You wait outside just in case some manage to escape. " Anko said before transforming into the bandit.

Kuro nodded and asked, "What will you do if there are hostages?"

"If there are not too many and it is possible, I will rescue them first. In case there are complications, I will examine the cave and go out to make a plan accordingly. " Anko replied before handing me her backpack and heading to the hideout.

She reached the small entrance and crawled across the floor to enter.

Once she entered, Kuro activated his Sensory skill.

He could see that the chakra signature noticeably larger than that of the bandits paused for a few moments before walking close to the smaller signatures.

A few moments later, Anko had traveled the entire underground space and approached one of the chakra signatures.

Less than a second later, that same signature went chaotic for a moment before starting to wane.

Anko approached another signature and the phenomenon was repeated.

However, suddenly, 2 chakra signatures entered the limits of Kuro's Sensory skill.

The size of both signatures was roughly the same as Anko's, and with the speed at which they moved, it would only take them 1 to 3 seconds to reach the hiding place.

Kuro quickly let out a specific whistle to alert Anko as he touched the backpack and stored it in inventory, he activated the Stealth and became invisible.

Kuro stood so his back was against the tree and his right hand was on the hilt of the katana.

Not even two seconds later, 2 men arrived and stopped at the same branch as Kuro.

They looked at the unconscious bandit and then exchanged glances.

"It seems they are inside the hideout." The tall and burly man spoke first.

Kuro quickly used Observe on him.

[Jizoku Kesseki

Age: 35

CP: 15.700/15.700

Strength: 160

Vitality: 160

Dexterity: 148

Intelligence: 147

Chakra: 157

Chakra Control: A]

The other man, who was shorter and fatter, showed a sadistic smile, "Isn't that perfect, Brother Jizoku? We could end everything with a technique."

'Then they know about us…' Kuro's eyes turned to him.

[Yawara Kesseki

Age: 35

CP: 16.000/16.000

Strength: 153

Vitality: 161

Dexterity: 136

Intelligence: 146

Chakra: 160

Chakra Control: A]

They both have stats for a low-level Jounin, but they seem to have their specialties; the first, greater physical attributes and the second, more chakra.

As Kuro cast Observe, he searched for a headband or something that would identify the men, but couldn't find anything with the naked eye.

Jizoku nodded at his brother's words and was about to speak when a whimpering sound rang out, causing the brothers to tense up.

"Ugh…" They both looked at the bandit who was starting to wake up as they began to relax.

The moment Yawara showed an expression of contempt as he looked at the bandit, Kuro made his move.

He spent 127 stat points and increased all of his attributes to 170.

Leaving 148 points for any emergency.

The closest brother to him was Jizoku, then there was the bandit and the furthest was Yawara, the fat man.

Since Jizoku had only turned his head slightly to look at the bandit, Kuro had a side view of his body.

Kuro tightened his grip on the hilt and when Jizoku paid attention to his brother who was about to kill the bandit, he moved.

"Swoosh!" The sword moved extremely fast in a vertical slash.

"Argh!" Jizoku screamed in agony as he leapt towards the direction of the bandits' hideout.

On the other hand, Yawara was momentarily stunned, something that Kuro took advantage of.

Taking a step forward, he immediately launched a kick with his left leg, directly at the fat man's head.

However, Yawara managed to protect himself using his forearm, although he was sent flying in the opposite direction from his brother.

Yawara landed on top of a branch and crouched down, holding his arm.

Kuro looked to the left, where Jizoku was, also crouched holding his shoulder.

Initially, Kuro had planned to go for the head, however, he did not have a good angle and did not have the confidence to accommodate without being discovered.

Thus, he aimed for the arm, but Jizoku managed to move slightly before he could cut it off.

Jizoku's wound starts right at the waist and continues straight up. Part of the shoulder is also cut, but not enough to paralyze the arm, meanwhile, due to its movement, the cut left a vertical mark on the side of his face, passing by his ear.

Kuro's invisibility had already disappeared, attracting the attention of the brothers.

Yawara straightened up and pointed his finger at Kuro, "It's you…!? Brother Jizoku! Wasn't it supposed to be just a Gennin!?"

However, Jizoku didn't have a chance to reply; he jumped back, dodging just in time the snakes that were about to catch him.

(A/N: Sorry, I couldn't do a satisfactory follow-up after that, so I finished the chapter here.)