Chapter 94 - The Survivors

The rising sun cast its golden rays onto the earth, illuminating the small mountain village. Within the messy village, various different "parts" and debris were scattered everywhere. At this moment, two figures slowly stood up. 

They looked around somewhat blankly, the hellish scene constantly impacting their senses. The excellent teaching quality of the ninja school enabled them to clearly distinguish which parts belonged to which parts of the human body. But at this moment, to them, this was nothing short of a nightmare!

"Ugh!" Waves of nausea and a vomit-inducing feeling arose from the depths of their hearts. Their stomachs and esophaguses were filled with this feeling, constantly testing their endurance. 

After barely holding on for one or two more breaths, their intense discomfort overcame their rationality. Uchiha Yan and Zhe, who had risen first to check the surroundings, began to retch continuously. And Toshiro had yet to recover from the explosion, which had ended a while ago. He lay silently on the ground, enduring the constant stabbing pain in his brain. His body spasmed occasionally, revealing his poor condition; he could hardly stand without a moment to catch his breath.

"Toshiro! Are you okay?" Being a girl, Yan had a more delicate heart and noticed that Toshiro was still lying on the ground. Terrified, she thought something might have happened to her savior. She hastily brushed aside the debris on him and, after a quick check, sighed in relief, finding no external injuries.

"How is Toshiro's condition?" Zhe asked, feeling ashamed for his earlier performance, which was less composed than Yan's during their capture.

"Nothing serious, seems like he's been mentally impacted! But he should be fine with some rest," Uchiha Yan reassured after a careful examination. She knew Zhe would be very uneasy if something happened to their comrade because of him, as would she.

"Toshiro is fine, that's such a relief!" Zhe exclaimed.

"Hey! Could you two help me up? It's really cold lying on the ground!" Toshiro finally spoke, trying to lighten the tense mood with a small joke, while mentally complaining about the situation. Watching TV, he recalled a certain scene where someone used this move without flinching, yet here he was, nearly losing his life. Surely, Shadow Clone Jutsu being classified as a forbidden technique had its reasons.

With his mind wandering, Toshiro was helped up by Uchiha Yan and Zhe. As soon as he lifted his head and saw the hellish scene around him, he retched just like the others. "Ugh! In this mess you should have let me lie there!"

Transitioning from an ordinary office worker to the current "purgatory" was hard to accept all of a sudden.

"You were the one who asked us to help you up! Now you blame us?" Yan huffed. She had never been treated like this before; if it weren't for Toshiro saving her life and his current weakness being a result of that rescue, she would have given him a piece of her mind.

"What happened here?" A fourth voice suddenly questioned.

"Who is it?" The three of them turned in unison toward the sound. Not far from them, two mountain bandits who had survived lay on the ground. One had woken up and was sitting up, looking dazedly around before noticing his companion and shaking him awake. "Dahe! Dahe! Are you okay?"

"What happened?" Dahe, the other bandit, woke up after a few shakes, loudly asking questions. 

Given the time that had passed since Toshiro administered the drug, plus their slow responses, a considerable amount of time had elapsed. Most of the drug's effects had worn off. Adding the recent chain explosion, it was quite normal for the bandits to be awake.

"Don't yell, there's something wrong!" The bandit scanned the area, then looked towards Toshiro and his group. 

"Who are you?" the bandit asked.

Watching the bandit question them, Toshiro glanced at him briefly, choosing not to respond. Instead, he turned to Yan and Zhe, saying, "Looks like he's an experienced killer." 

The bandit remained unnaturally calm despite the situation, clearly a seasoned killer accustomed to blood. 

He picked up some weapons from the ground, arming himself and his companion with the excess weapons, most of which had been discarded by Toshiro and Zhe. This was also why Toshiro's Shadow Clone had thrown the bandit leader far away before being blown to bits—so the explosion wouldn't ignite their weapon pouches, scattering harmful materials like kunai and shuriken all around. Otherwise, Toshiro, Yan, and Zhe would be riddled with holes by now.

"Yan! Zhe! These two are yours to handle! I'm in no shape to help," Toshiro instructed, barely able to stand, let alone move. Moving might cause him to collapse within two steps.