Chapter 14: I Want to Hear a Man's Story
"Earth Release: Tearing Earth Turning Palm!"
An Ame ninja quickly formed hand seals, slammed his palms onto the ground, and a wave of chakra rapidly traveled underground towards Uehara Naraka.
This was a ninjutsu capable of altering terrain!
"Hm?"
Before Uehara Naraka could react, he felt the ground beneath his feet sink, lost his footing, and fell into a square pit.
However, the pit created by the Ame ninja using the Tearing Earth Turning Palm technique was somewhat narrow; Uehara Naraka could even reach the rock walls on either side just by stretching out his hands.
Seeing their comrade's ninjutsu succeed, the nearby Ame ninjas seamlessly followed up, simultaneously forming seals and releasing ninjutsu: "Water Release: Water Trumpet!"
Three streams of water erupted from their mouths, quickly merging into a river that surged towards the square pit Uehara Naraka had fallen into!
Uehara Naraka tapped the bottom of the pit with one foot, used the Flight Technique to stand in the air, easily avoiding the water surge below, and then lightly applauded, "Your coordination is excellent. Just a little bit more and I might have been buried by you..."
"..."
His applause was undoubtedly a humiliation to the Ame ninjas!
The leader, Hattori Hirakawa, however, paid no attention, merely focusing on forming his own hand seals, forcing his sealing speed to be faster!
Even faster!
Because the ninjutsu he was currently preparing required quite a few hand seals, possibly even being the technique with the most seals in the ninja world.
He wanted to use the Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique.
After all, his comrades had created such an advantageous environment for Water Release; naturally, he had to use this powerful water ninjutsu!
Hattori Hirakawa felt like cursing Konoha's Second Hokage. Why invent such a complex Water Release ninjutsu that required 44 hand seals?!
Uehara Naraka stood in the air, scanning the people on the ground, his gaze slowly settling on Hattori Hirakawa, who was frantically forming seals, "Hey, needing that many hand seals just to release one ninjutsu, are you even a proper ninja?"
"..."
The Ame ninjas were all baffled.
Hattori Hirakawa ignored Uehara's provocation, just continuing to lower his head and form the seals for the Water Dragon Bullet Technique. Six more seconds, eighteen more seals, and he could complete the technique.
Uehara Naraka frowned, looking at the ninja focused intently on sealing, and threw the chakra puppet ball he had just condensed, "Command... Shockwave!"
So many hand seals, it couldn't be one of those weird forbidden techniques, could it?
For safety's sake, better interrupt him directly!
The small chakra puppet ball landed at the feet of the group of Ame ninjas, suddenly began to spin, and the space around them even started to distort...
The group of Ame ninjas were pulled together by the distorted space, stumbling and colliding with each other, a wave of dizziness washing over each of their minds.
His seals interrupted, Ame Jonin Hattori Hirakawa cursed Konoha's Second Hokage inwardly. When that guy invented ninjutsu, why couldn't he improve the sealing method?
Forty-four hand seals! Even if he could form three seals per second, it would still take around fifteen seconds!
Uehara Naraka stepped onto Hattori Hirakawa's body, snatched the ninja sword from him, stabbed it into the ground beside him, and said softly, "Want to make a bet with me?"
"Pah!"
Hattori Hirakawa opened his mouth to spit out blood!
Uehara Naraka dodged the blood spittle and couldn't help chuckling at him, "This world is already rotten enough. With such a violent temper, can you even survive?"
"..."
Hattori Hirakawa gritted his teeth for a moment, then suddenly said, "You kid, you don't act your age at all!"
Uehara Naraka spread his hands helplessly, "Isn't it because you guys have done too much evil in the Land of Rain, forcing me to mature early!"
"..."
Hattori Hirakawa was stunned for a moment, then said gravely, "Everything we do now is to make Amegakure (Village Hidden in the Rain), to make the Land of Rain, greater! The pain of a few people is just a necessary price to pay!"
"Alright, I'm not interested in your dreams."
Uehara Naraka pointed to the four Ame ninjas beside them, "Let's talk about the matter at hand! Which of you are Chunin?"
The four Ame ninjas glanced at each other.
Based on their gazes, Uehara Naraka instantly identified them. The two ninjas who received the most attention were definitely the Chunin captains.
Two cards suddenly shot out from between Uehara's fingers, striking the chests of the two Chunin captains. Blood flowed from their hearts!
Hattori Hirakawa, pinned under his foot, witnessed this scene. Only helplessness and hatred rose in his heart as he immediately cursed loudly, "Bastard! I'll definitely kill you!"
He had only four ninja squads under his command in total. Three were standard squads with a Chunin captain + Genin members. The other was his own direct subordinate squad of three Chunin.
The ones Uehara Naraka just killed were two of his direct subordinates, teammates who had fought alongside him for over ten years, comrades he could rely on with his life!
"Don't be in such a hurry to die!"
Uehara Naraka pressed down harder on Hattori Hirakawa with his foot, pointed to the two remaining Ame ninjas, and asked, "More comrades will join them in the underworld in the future. We're talking about these remaining two Genin... Hey, want to make a bet with me?"
"What bet?"
Hattori Hirakawa's face was icy cold.
Uehara Naraka looked quite interested and said softly, "Tell me a story now that can make me happy, and I'll let you all go. How about it?"
This bet sounded extremely bizarre.
What did he mean by telling him a story to make him happy? What exactly was his standard for happiness?
Hattori Hirakawa's mind couldn't quite process it for a moment. His thought wasn't even resistance, but rather, what kind of story would this teenage boy like to hear?
Hattori Hirakawa was silent for a while, looking at Uehara with a puzzled expression, "I've indeed experienced many things, but... at least you should tell me what kind of story you like, right?"
"If I told you, the bet would lose its meaning. So pray that the story you tell can make me happy, only then can those two Genin and yourself be saved..."
As Uehara Naraka spoke, he crouched down slightly, his voice gradually becoming chillingly cold, "If your story doesn't satisfy me... then just pray your manner of death is somewhat normal!"
"..."
Hattori Hirakawa's expression was extremely ugly. But he glanced at the two trembling Genin, lowered his head, and said gravely, "Will you really keep your promise? You won't humiliate me?"
"Of course not."
Uehara Naraka nodded, then suddenly said, "Right, you're not a Chunin, are you? If you were a Chunin, we wouldn't need to go through this process; I'd just send you directly to the underworld..."
Hattori Hirakawa couldn't gauge Uehara Naraka's mood and quickly said, "No, I'm a Jonin of the village."
"Oh, then let's put your life on hold for now."
Uehara Naraka was very satisfied that Hattori Hirakawa was a Jonin. He clapped his hands and said, "Well then, next, please tell me, Lord Jonin, a story of manly romance!"
"..."
Hattori Hirakawa nodded numbly, his mind reeling.
Why did they encounter such a lunatic?
(End of Chapter)