23 Farming

The night had fallen, and despite the forest being completely shrouded in a veil of shadows, Kohaku was accurately pinpointing the locations of enemies. Moving from target to target, the combination of a fighting-oriented team with the sensory skills of the Tatsumi Clan's desert eagle was just extremely efficient.

*SPLASH*

[You have dealt 115 points of damage]

A taijutsu specialist, who possessed gorilla-like arms and a cimitar that was roughly a meter long, possessed enough vitality to survive a regular giant shuriken's wound. However, after being hit by the giant shuriken, a wave of poisoned shuriken hit him.

[You have dealt 11 points of damage]

[You have dealt 11 points of damage]

[You have dealt 11 points of damage]

[You have killed [Level 19 Tanigakure Genin]. You have earned 696 EXP]

'This is amazing...', Kaito thought as his EXP steadily rose.

It was already the twelfth genin he killed, monopolising the EXP from this zone. Aki stole one kill from him with her wind shuriken that looked like Danzo's attacks, but he did not mind it, although it was a waste of EXP. 

His shuriken dealt more or less damage based on his opponent's defenses. Genin gear could only block so much damage, but this guy seemed to wear an additional layer of defense beneath, which it explained why his shuriken only dealt 11 points of damage. As he fell on the ground, Kaito only took his headband and gauntlets, since they seemed to have been made from sturdy material.

[River Steel Gauntlets - E-rank]

It was only an E-rank weapon, but it might fetch a few dozen thousand Ryô on the market in Sunagakure, especially if he targeted genins from the Sunagakure Genin Corps. There would always be a small trading session after an operation like this one. It might be an opportunity to improve his puppet further. However, the fact that his team spent 1.5 million Ryô into his shuriken launcher upgrade would make it hard to improve it further without spending at least this amount. He had used pristine materials and spent a lot on its development and design after all.

"There are two shinobi, sixteen hundreds meters to the west, trying to cross the river...One of them seems to be unconscious and is carried by the other", Kohaku said in a hurry

"Let's move", Kaito said firmly

Another prey had fallen into their trap.

Kohaku's contributions were very useful. Kaito might not even have gotten half of the EXP he had gathered if it weren't for his ability to see through his puppet and discover movements of enemies in the night. Desert eagles possessed night vision, as it allowed them to prey upon beasts that slept.

As they moved forward in silence, the Tanigakure genin found their presence.

[Lv. 24 Tanigakure Genin - 226 / 380 HP]

'Level 24? This old man is almost a chunin...', Kaito analysed

Over closer inspection, Eiji realized that the man was a kenjutsu specialist like him. Without hesitation, the old Tanigakure Genin drew his short sword and charged towards Kaito. It seemed like years of experience as a shinobi allowed him to quickly discern who was the leader. He even dropped his companion on the ground, knowing that the slightest misevaluation of his enemies would lead to his death. He knew that fighting 6 genins on his own would be hard, but the fact that Kaito's team managed to find and kill so many Tanigakure genins meant that the teams closer to the outpost were overcharged and could not contain all genins that passed through their zones.

In a perfect operation, Kaito's team would not have anything to do and all enemies would be intercepted before they reached zone 324. However, there was no such thing as a perfect, fool-proof plan, which the higher-ups were fully aware of, hence the presence of team 142 and 146 in here. Destroying the bridge left no other option to go up north and entered the zone 325, where another team from the Sunagakure Genin Corps waited for them, or go down south in the delta region. However, considering that it was Kaito's team who held this position, they should have gone up north instead.

*CLANG*

Since the Tanigakure genin charged, Eiji moved forward as well, a bit taken aback but since the beginning of this operation, he never once let his guard down, ready to block any attack directed at Kaito. Eiji had perfected his sword art beyond the realm of a regular mid genin, and he could be considered high-genin level already based on his fighting prowess.

[Sunagakure Swordsmanship Art - 12th form: Iron Draw]

Using the momentum from his opponent's charge against himself, Eiji drew his sword and managed to hit the old Tanigakure genin's left arm, hitting a non-vital spot from the start. The old Tanigakure did not expect a 14-year-old genin to be so strong and take his charge head on, and panicked slightly despite his experience. Still, he managed to mitigate the damage by rotating his body and dispersing the kinetic energy.

"Not bad", he said, but Eiji was not alone.

Tomoko was already useless because his puppet had already been destroyed in the first encounter with Tanigakure enemies. Because the genin was so fast, Harumi was not of much help either as she could not cast a genjutsu on such an opponent. Even if she did, the difference in levels would make it hard for it to last more than a second, if it suceeded it all.

Kaito could not easily intervene either, because his shuriken puppet would hit Eiji at the same time it hit the old Tanigakure genin, so Kaito decided to target the Tanigakure genin who was unconscious. It was a woman, probably in her early thirties. When he looked at her level, Kaito felt shivers.

[Lv. 38 Tanigakure Chunin - HP: 35 / 680]

The woman was a montrous existence that would be enough to kill them all. However, her body was completely covered with first-aid bandages, stained in her blood. She was probably left for dead on the battlefield, which the old man realized. He most likely risked his life to save her and even manage to reach this point.

However, Kaito was not so forgiving as to leave an opportunity for such an enemy to survive.

[Katonjutsu : Fire Blast]

[You have dealt 160 points of damage]

[You have successfully killed [Level 38 Tanigakure Chunin]. You have earned 1 800 EXP]

"NOOO!", the Tanigakure old man shouted as he realized Kaito's evil assassination. Kicking Eiji with a powerful kick that blasted him onto a tree, the chunin moved forward and charged. However, Eiji's agility was higher than his, and he managed to stab in the thigh before he could reach Kaito. Unwilling, the old Tanigakure genin threw his sword towards Kaito, as a last attempt at killing him. The blade was filled with every bit of chakra he had left, and it was most likely his most powerful trump card.

Kaito felt threatened and took out the [Yellow-Steel Sword] he had purchased as a last resort if his puppet were to be destroyed. He was ready to parry the attack.

As if she had seen through the old man, Aki managed to cast the D-rank [Futonjutsu: Air wall] in front of Kaito, deflecting the sword and protecting him.

*SPLASH*

"Huh?", Tomoko whispered in shock

He failed to hit Kaito as Eiji plunged his sword through his thigh, and instead hit Tomoko after his attack was deflected. Ironically, it also had not been deflected onto a tree, but through Tomoko's heart. Kaito immediately rushed towards the puppetless puppeteer and realized...

[Tomoko - Lv. 8 Sunagakure Genin [HP: 0 / 80]]

Tomoko had died on the spot. He had too few HP to survive such a strike. Harumi rushed over, and her eyes became dead. Kaito shook his head, causing everyone to gap. Kohaku knelt in despair.

"How? Everything was going so well...", the leader of team 146 muttered

Then he looked at Aki with resentment. If it were not for her, Tomoko would have never died. Aki was about to aplogize, but Kaito grasped her hand, as if to tell her that she had done nothing wrong. In his eyes, Tomoko had died because of his own weakness. This mission was way above his capability anyway.

However, Eiji shouted in frustration: "Damn it, the old man escaped in the river!"

Using Tomoko's death as a distraction, he managed to jump into the river and used a water-based ninjutsu to use the current to multiply his speed like a fish. 

Kaito nodded and ordered: "Let's chase him, we can't leave him alive"

Kohaku showed no response, as if a part of him had left him. Kaito knew the boy, he had attended the same class as him, and even participated in joint training. He knew that Kohaku valued friendship and bonds above everything else. His dream was to become Kazekage, but despite his ambition, he only chose D-rank mission with his team for the sake of survival. If he was a heartless leader, he could have taken more dangerous missions, and his skills would have allowed him to survive. However, he never did, which was a show of his character.

Losing his teammate was a huge blow to his face.

This was not a normal world. 

This was not a normal life.

It was the curse that came along being a shinobi. It was a dangerous profession.