"Lord Sasuke, Kimimaro… he…"
Sasuke gazed at Haku, lying on the sickbed. Even now, the girl seemed worried about those people. The shinobi of the Mist Village were unworthy of Haku's concern.
Sasuke raised a hand, signaling Haku to say no more.
"This wasn't my order. It's Kimimaro's own will!"
He looked directly at Haku. "Have I ever stopped you from acting according to your own will?"
"No, right?"
"So now, I have no reason to stop Kimimaro from doing whatever he wants."
Hearing this, Haku didn't know what to say.
It was true.
If this was Kimimaro's own decision, then Sasuke indeed couldn't interfere. Although Kimimaro would certainly obey Sasuke's command, Haku had no grounds to ask Sasuke to give that order.
Downstairs.
A large number of Mist shinobi appeared, surrounding Boruto and the others. Dozens materialized at once.
This number unnerved Boruto's group. Facing so many enemies, the three Genin knew their situation would likely turn perilous if fighting broke out.
Yet, at that moment, Kimimaro spoke directly.
"Stay back!"
He turned his head, looking at the advancing Mist shinobi. A brutally bloodthirsty smile spread across Kimimaro's face.
However, the leading Mist shinobi showed no fear. Instead, he stared intently at Kimimaro.
"Who are you people? How dare you intrude here? This area of the Mist Village is restricted!"
"You're Leaf shinobi, aren't you! I'll give you one chance: surrender now, and you won't have to suffer." He directed his gaze towards Kimimaro.
In the next instant, a white bone spike effortlessly pierced through the man's right temple.
With a splatter of blood, the shinobi who had just spoken was killed instantly.
Kimimaro, who had appeared before him at some unknown moment, lightly flicked the bone spike in his hand, shaking off the blood.
He turned to the others. "Keep your voices down. Don't disturb that person!"
The remaining Mist shinobi felt their scalps tingle.
Was the reason this guy attacked simply because their Jonin spoke too loudly?
Who was this person?
And what was that weapon he just used?
The faces of the Mist shinobi turned pale.
"You… you killed one of our Hidden Mist shinobi! Attacking within the Mist Village… Leaf ninja, are you trying to provoke a new war?" one of them stammered, trying to use the threat of war to intimidate Kimimaro.
Kimimaro merely chuckled.
"Who said I was a Leaf shinobi?"
"To be precise, I suppose I count as a Mist shinobi. A rogue one, of course!"
Rogue ninja?
A rogue from the Mist… they didn't recognize this individual at all.
As Kimimaro spoke, he struck again in the next second. This shinobi, too, was silenced with a single, fatal blow to the throat.
Kimimaro spoke softly.
"Didn't I tell you to keep your voices down?"
"Why do you people never listen?"
The other Mist shinobi watched Kimimaro kill without hesitation, seemingly at the slightest provocation. A terrifying chill crept up their spines, as if… the Grim Reaper's scythe was resting against their necks. A suffocating feeling washed over them.
Mitsuki stared at the lifeless Mist shinobi on the ground, his own eyes trembling.
'Such powerful killing intent!'
'Unlike Teacher Sasuke's concealed aura, this man's bloodlust is practically impossible to hide.'
Every strike was a killing blow.
He gave them absolutely no chance to resist. This level of skill… it was likely no less than that of a Kage-level ninja.
Kimimaro raised his hands. Sharp bone spurs grew from his palms.
Seeing the bones emerge directly from his flesh left the three Genin stunned. Although Mitsuki knew that Kimimaro, as a member of the Kaguya clan, possessed the Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai, the problem was… he wasn't entirely sure what the Shikotsumyaku actually entailed.
But now, seeing the bone spurs sprouting from Kimimaro's hands, he began to understand.
"Three seconds!"
Kimimaro suddenly declared.
Boruto and the others didn't grasp what he meant.
Shink!
Kimimaro's figure vanished. The next instant, only a spray of blood marked where he'd been. The ninja closest to Kimimaro had his heart instantly pierced, leaving a bloody hole in his chest.
As the first crimson flower bloomed, a second, and then a third followed in quick succession. Streaks of white light flashed continuously. Kimimaro truly moved like the Reaper, weaving through the crowd, effortlessly reaping each life.
The metallic tang of blood hung heavy in the air.
Three seconds passed in a blink.
Only one Mist shinobi remained, trembling uncontrollably before Kimimaro. He collapsed to his knees with a thud. Staring up at Kimimaro, he looked utterly terrified, as if his soul was about to flee his body.
"You… you… you… what kind of monster are you!"
"Monster? Indeed. The Mist Village treated us like monsters back then, and it seems nothing has changed now, has it?" Kimimaro replied, then struck without mercy, eliminating the final Mist shinobi.
However, such a thick stench of blood couldn't possibly go unnoticed by other shinobi.
ANBU ninja arriving from a distance immediately took in the scene, which resembled a living hell. Corpses littered the ground at Kimimaro's feet. Yet, incredibly, not a single drop of blood stained Kimimaro's clothes.
Every attack had been a clean, instant kill. He had effortlessly annihilated a squad of dozens of shinobi.
The sight left the two ANBU completely stunned. They swallowed hard. "Q-Quick… go back and get reinforcements!"
But the moment one ANBU spoke to his partner, a bloom of blood erupted from the center of his partner's forehead. The man whose skull had been pierced collapsed, lifeless.
The remaining ANBU whipped his head around to look into the distance. Kimimaro stood there, watching him with a calm expression. He slowly raised a finger, pointing it directly at the ANBU.
'Ten-Finger Drilling Bullets!'
Bang!
A bone bullet shot from Kimimaro's index finger, instantly penetrating the ANBU's skull from over a hundred meters away.
Kimimaro's Shikotsumyaku, in its current state, possessed power easily comparable to that of a rifle.
Although the two ANBU were dealt with, Kimimaro knew it wouldn't be long before the second wave of Mist shinobi arrived. And next time, there would be even more of them.
Meanwhile, upstairs, Haku noticed the sounds from outside had ceased.
In less than ten seconds, dozens of Mist shinobi were dead.
This was the power of Kimimaro. Having followed Lord Sasuke constantly, his strength was clearly far greater than Haku's own.
If Kimimaro were allowed to continue rampaging through the Mist Village unchecked like this, the consequences would likely be terrifying. There was no telling how many would die.
"Lord Sasuke!"
Haku looked at Sasuke, wanting to plead for him to intervene, but saw that Sasuke was currently treating her wounds.
"Don't talk. We'll speak after your injuries are healed."
Sasuke didn't want Kimimaro to stop just yet. He should at least let Kimimaro cause a significant disturbance first. Consider it payback for what they did to Haku.
Betraying their own Mizukage… their deaths were hardly worth caring about.
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