Naruto: I Kill, I Loot, I Ascend

Chapter 215: The Shortcomings of Nagato’s Trio

"What's that?"

Yahiko, his face bruised and swollen, looked toward the village entrance. Nagato and Konan turned their attention there as well.

Arin spoke calmly.

"One of the basic applications of chakra. You can sense the presence of people with chakra—and they're not very good at hiding their chakra fluctuations."

With both chakra and Nen characteristics, the three of them had effectively become a special type among ninja—sensory types.

The three instantly realized something.

"Enemies!!"

Yahiko's expression changed as he shouted loudly.

"Everyone, hide immediately!"

The children nearby quickly heard the order and ran toward the back of the village.

However, several children who had shown some ninja talent stayed behind.

"I said everyone!!" Yahiko roared at them.

Normally, the people they dealt with were just ordinary adults. These kids could handle those situations.

But this time they were sensing chakra fluctuations. Even the weakest of these intruders would at least be a ninja.

They might even be ninja from the Hidden Rain Village.

This wasn't something a few barely trained kids could fight against.

Although the remaining children looked unwilling, they still obeyed Yahiko's order and ran off with the others.

Soon only Arin and the three of them remained.

It was obvious that Yahiko held considerable authority here.

"Just so you know in advance," Arin said, "I won't be helping you."

The enemies were only a few rogue ninja. One of them probably wasn't even worth a hundred experience points.

Besides, he was a clone that wanted to slack off.

He had even less interest in fighting them.

"We'll handle it," Yahiko nodded.

He had no intention of asking Arin to intervene anyway.

The three exchanged glances, each grabbing a wooden stick before quickly approaching the village entrance.

Soon they saw more than a dozen rogue ninja armed with swords and blades.

"Just three brats?" a nearly two-meter-tall muscular man sneered when he saw them.

"So it really is just a bunch of kids here."

Other settlements usually had adults or even ninja guarding them.

With their strength, those places were impossible to rob.

But they had heard that this settlement was run entirely by children.

That was why they came here to loot.

Bullying the weak was practically a tradition among rogue ninja.

"It must have been them who leaked the information," Yahiko said through gritted teeth, quickly figuring it out.

They had once taken in a group of adults.

But those adults tried to seize control of the settlement and throw their weight around.

In the end, Yahiko had expelled them all.

Those people were the only outsiders who knew about this place.

Yahiko swung his wooden stick and rushed toward the large man.

"Kid! You've got guts!!"

The man couldn't see Yahiko's true strength and raised his blade to slash down.

"Don't blame me if you die!"

The wooden stick collided with the blade.

The result was obvious.

The stick was cut cleanly in half.

Yahiko twisted his body to dodge the follow-up attack and raised his fist.

"Ten!"

The man muttered instinctively.

"Why does it suddenly feel cold…"

Chakra wrapped around Yahiko's fist as he punched the man straight in the stomach.

Bang!

A dull thud echoed as the man's eyes bulged out and his body flew backward.

"Something's wrong!" someone shouted.

Things weren't going the way they expected.

Meanwhile, Nagato and Konan had already knocked down two men with chakra-wrapped punches.

"These three brats… something's not right!!" someone screamed in panic.

The trio charged straight into the group.

To them, it was like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

Although the rogue ninja were adults, they were completely outmatched and quickly knocked to the ground.

However, the three still lacked combat experience.

One rogue ninja spotted an opportunity and slashed at Yahiko from behind.

"Watch out, Yahiko!!" Konan shouted.

Clang!

The blade struck Yahiko's back—but instead of cutting flesh, it produced a metallic sound.

Yahiko turned around to look at the thin man who attacked him.

The man stared in horror.

Ripples spread across the surface of Yahiko's back.

"Monster…"

"Whoa, that almost broke through!" Yahiko jumped forward and kicked the man to the ground.

Three children versus more than a dozen rogue ninja.

Complete victory.

Arin walked over, looking slightly disappointed.

"Teacher, what's wrong?" Nagato asked, confused.

"The way you fight is far too weak," Arin said regretfully.

"Even ninja academy students wouldn't get successfully ambushed by these rogue ninja."

He noticed that the three simply charged forward blindly.

They hadn't really thought about how to fight properly.

Even academy students received basic combat training.

Of course… there were always a few exceptions.

"Looks like I'll have to properly train you."

Arin cracked his knuckles and smiled in a way that made his intentions unclear.

The three children shivered.

They suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Konoha – Root Headquarters

"How is the progress on persuading Orochimaru?" Danzo suddenly asked Arin.

The two had walked outside Root's laboratory.

Through the glass window, they could see Hiruko conducting experiments.

He was injecting something into a ninja.

Judging from the hatred on the man's face, he clearly wasn't a Konoha ninja.

Soon the man began screaming.

Fortunately, the glass barrier had excellent soundproofing.

His body began visibly turning into wood.

Hiruko shook his head in disappointment.

The experiment clearly hadn't gone well.

So…

Had the Hashirama cell experiments already begun?

Arin glanced strangely at Danzo.

"I've been in Root this whole time. How could I possibly have time to persuade Orochimaru-sensei?"

Orochimaru was still staying in the hospital.

After being surrounded by Iwa ninja, he had suffered serious injuries and hadn't fully recovered yet.

Danzo had him acting as a guard.

Wherever Danzo went, he followed.

How could he possibly visit Orochimaru—let alone persuade him?

Danzo paused.

So… it was actually his own fault.

He looked at Hiruko collecting experimental samples and said regretfully,

"This experiment is preparation for the next war. If we can replicate the First Hokage's power, we will no longer fear war."

Konoha had suffered heavy losses in this war.

Even worse than the First Great Ninja War.

Nearly half of the village's combat strength had been lost.

Although five top-tier fighters had emerged—

Sakumo Hatake, the Three Sannin, and Hyuga Arin—

Wars were ultimately fought by mid- and lower-rank ninja.

If those elites had to face an entire village alone without support, they would simply be worn down to death.

"Danzo-sama, that topic change was way too forced," Arin rolled his eyes.

"One second you're asking me about recruiting Orochimaru."

"The next second you're explaining the meaning of this experiment."

"Did you just run out of things to say?"

Then maybe don't say anything!!

Danzo glared at Arin angrily.

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