Chapter 68
"Ah, you both seem to be misunderstanding something." Suddenly, both men felt sharp pains on both their cheeks as blood suddenly flowed down. "I could always just kill you both and take the kid. But here I am, offering a much more peaceful solution." Both men froze as their minds tried to process what just happened.
I already knew how things would have played out, and might have played out. With Chiriku standing before me to 'protect' me, meant he and his former comrade would have a long battle until he finally killed or drove off his friend, mostly due to my presence, with Kazuma assuming I would intervene and join forces with Chiriku at some point. The other, was both of them somehow coming to an agreement, if it turned out that Chiriku's character had also undergone slight changes like some of the characters, to team up to attack me for some who knows what reason. Like I said earlier, with Chiriku standing in front of me to 'protect' me, it was more than likely the former.
Either way, I decided to skip all of those theatrics and show a bit of force. I walked to the side and spoke to both men, "Truth is, what we are, we became; Either by choice or circumstance. Right or wrong does not really matter in such our world; It is about the strength of our fist and whether or not I can kill you. However, I believe what matters is having a bottom line so that there can at least be a difference between us and a fucking mindless chakra beast! That is why I stand before you peacefully when I could clearly wring your sorry necks without either of you knowing, and why I do not just take the life of an 'innocent' twelve-year-old victim of circumstance and extract what I want." I looked at the two, who at some point seem to be pondering a little and added, "Tools for others, we may be. But I believe us to be soldiers, not monsters."
I spoke for so long and so seriously. A lot had happened during the year and plus that I had moved to this world that it had caused me to change; Not just the apparent physical change, but mentally and emotionally as well. I never would have guessed myself to be able to take human life a year and plus ago; Granted, I came from Africa and we cut our own chickens' and goats' heads to cook, but never would I have thought of taking a human life. I was only a salary man after all, not some cool spy or soldier.
Even if I had changed since coming to this world, I needed to hold unto that tiny sliver of what I felt to be my 'humanity' or 'sanity'. I was not one of those protagonists that considered the world they moved into as a manga or anime and played around with life before they lost something close to them, no. I had always thought of them as real as myself, especially when I first took that bandit���s life.
Either way, I aimed to never cross my bottom line. As cringe as it may have seemed or sounded, that was my Ninja Way. That was the creed I decided to live by since the moment I understood and made peace with death. Not like I untended to die, but still; He who lived by the sword and all that.
The two men finally snapped out of it, but Kazuma grit his teeth and charged towards the Fire Monastery. I could tell what his plan was, although quite foolish. He had witnessed my speed first hand and yet he still dared. Not that I blamed him; He felt he had a bit of chance. Why? Simple. As he was standing there, seemingly in thought, he was laying down a barrier seal. If I had not been proficient in seals and barriers myself, and sped after him, I would probably have been caught in the trap.
After looking at the hidden markings and seals, I had to admit, he was very proficient in using the gen1 seals. Oh, I was calling the seals the Uzumaki used and the current seals on the market, Gen1 seals and the users, Gen1 Seal masters. What I learned from Uzumaki Ken, in its simplicity and power, would be Gen2 seals and barriers and we would be Gen2 seal masters.
Anyway, the gen1 barrier would have kept me long enough for him to grab the kid and make his escape. In a battle between masters, a single second could spell life and death. Same way that small opening would have probably allowed him to escape if it were someone else.
"Kazuma, NO!" His friend tried to warn him, but I had already arrived in front of him as he stared wide eyed in disbelief. I made a quick seal and a huge black shadowy mouth opened up extremely quickly and swallowed him whole as darkness completely took over Kazuma.
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Kazuma had no idea how long he had been out, but he could hear strange noises. He stood up abruptly, surprising the group of people that had surrounded him a little. They walked back to him asking if he was alright. They were dressed in strange clothing he had never seen before. What was even more bizarre was the several high structures that seemed to reach the skies and the strange metallic looking chakra beasts that made weird noises and moved around.
What worried him even more was that there were people inside the chakra beasts. Had they been eaten by the strange beast? It did not seem that way too since he had clearly seen some of the humans getting in and out of the strange beasts willingly as it carried them along.
Even as the people worried if he was alright, he did not to panic. He was an experienced ninja that had been through a lot. He knew clearly, he had been trapped in a genjutsu; but why such an obvious and elaborate genjutsu? He shook his head and made his seal, "Kai!" He yelled, yet nothing happened.
The people around stared at him strangely. "KAI!" He yelled out again. Still, nothing happened. He could not feel his chakra, but since he knew it was a genjutsu, he knew for certain it was there.
"KAI! KAI! KAI! KAAAAAAIIII!" Now he was beginning to worry. The people around were already staring at him as if he was some crazy person. They were the crazy ones. The creator and caster of this genjutsu was even crazier for creating something so unreal and elaborate if he thought no one would notice it was genjutsu.
Some of the people standing around began to pull out some weird rectangular-like metal and pointed it at him. He immediately raised his alert to the limit. In case it was some sort of attack, then he needed to strike first. Going through quick hand signs, he yelled, "Wind Release: Great Breakthrough." He was expecting great winds to blow them all back, but all he did was spit at everyone present. People jumped back in disgust after being spit on and began to look at him with pity. He was most probably and escaped mental patient, was all everyone present thought.
Their thoughts were the least of his worries. Regardless, he needed to be on guard since he could not get out nor use his ninjutsu, and what more, some weirdly dressed men in blue attires were beginning to approach him. From the looks of it, they seemed to want to restrain him. He narrowed his eyes and Hmphed before charging at them and with quick movements, and completely killed them without restraint with his bare hands. There were screams everywhere as people began to run from him with more of the blue dressed people approaching and pulling out some strange rectangular metals and pointing them at him.