When the vagrant ninja said his group only looted but not killed people, Uchiha Tonan chuckled lightly and his expression became indifferent instantly. “Are you sure you want to still keep pretending in front of me?”
Without giving him a chance to reply, Tonan flicked his finger and an air bullet pierced through the scar-faced ninja’s forehead. The ninja barely gasped before he fell head-first on the table in front of Tonan.
The woman and the little girl on the opposite side began screaming in fear. The middle-aged man too was distressed, and said to Tonan with an ugly face, “Ninja-sama, if our family offended you in some way, please do forgive us.”
Tonan leaned forward slightly and looked straight at the middle-aged man, “When you gave me your business card earlier, what were you doing in your pocket?”
“I was looking for the card.”
“It took you this long to search for a card?”
“I was also scratching an itch in passing.”
“You said you are in the herb business but could it be that you don’t know most of the herbs cannot be harvested in this season? What are you trying to sell?”
“Off-season herbs bring larger profits.”
“Wow… I really don’t know what to do with you,” Tonan chuckled as he shook his head and pinched the little girl’s cheek. He then pulled a little and flicked his finger again. Ding… A small hole appeared on the girl’s face, revealing a metal inner body.
The carriage suddenly became silent. The couple on the opposite side was tense, ready to attack any time but they appeared afraid of something. Tonan pointed at the little girl and said with a surprised look, “You are so good at lying. Isn’t this thing an inflatable puppet that you imported from the Land of Wind?”
Puchi… Immediately after he spoke, he saw a sword tip that pierced through the woman’s heart from behind the seat. The person who attacked her was the train driver, who was someone that Tonan knew.
Coincidentally, this was the same downtrodden man that Tonan had persuaded in the Temple of Fire earlier—Sekiya Ichikaze. After Ichikaze made a move, the middle-aged man moved his hands towards Tonan as if a bird that was startled at the mere twang of a bow string. His left hand’s five fingers moved at once. And then, the little girl’s mouth cracked open and countless kunai shot out from her mouth, attacking Tonan’s face.
With his expression unchanged, Tonan caught the first kunai with his fingers and then blocked the subsequent ones. Ding, ding, ding… Finally, with a flick of his wrist, a kunai pierced the girl’s head and pinned her to the seat.
“Die!” At this moment, the middle-aged man’s right fist was less than an inch away from Tonan’s face. Tonan raised his arms slightly and spread his fingers. Crack! The man’s fist was blocked by Tonan’s palm. He then raised his eyebrows slightly and muttered to himself, “This is… senjutsu…”
He closed his fingers and gradually increased his strength, and with cracking sounds, the man’s right fist was crushed into meat pulp. “Uh… ah!” There was a saying that the nerves of the fingers are linked to the heart. It must be true because this otherwise dauntless and unyielding man lost his resistance to the intense pain.
Tonan narrowed his eyes slightly and activated his three-tomoe Sharingan. He used the Hell Viewing Technique on the man. Soon after, the man’s eyes widened and his breathing stopped as he fell to the ground.
Tonan took out a tissue from his ninja bag and wiped the blood from his palm, as he taunted, “Playing with a puppet and morse code in front of me.” Through the Hell Viewing Technique, Tonan had already obtained the information he needed.
This man was a chunin from the Fire Capital, who did espionage missions such as gathering intelligence. Tonan got up and took out a note from the man’s pocket. Nothing was written on it.
Tonan felt the note and found the place that was slightly unlevelled as if it was attached. Then he tore it in half from that portion. This note was made with two pieces of paper glued together, and one side had a special rune drawn on it.
When one would write something on this note with their finger, it would appear on the scroll in another place. But there was a certain distance limitation, probably about a few hundred miles. It was now evident that this man had come with the sole purpose of spying on Tonan.
The vagrant ninjas were just victims used by the behind-the-scenes manipulators to test his strength. Tonan put the note in his bag without any misgivings. Things such as rune array belonged to a section of rare knowledge. He was keen to study this when he had the time.
Ichikaze walked over to Tonan’s side and respectfully said, “Tonan-sama, I didn’t expect to see you here.” Tonan scanned the other passengers with his Byakugan and determined there was no one else with chakra flowing within their bodies.
He patted Ichikaze’s shoulder and complimented, “You are very good. I never thought that once a broken man would become a train driver now. You are doing well.” Ichikaze appeared flattered, and he asked, “Do you need me to help you deal with this?”
Tonan nodded and returned to his seat, “I’ll trouble you. If there’s a cup of hot tea, it would be even better.”
“There is, there is,” Ichikaze swiftly carried the corpses out of the carriage and threw them away. Then he brought a pot of tea for Tonan from only god knows where. Afterward, he respectfully bid farewell and went to the driver’s cabin to control the train.
A seemingly sinister train high-jacking operation ended in such an anticlimactic manner. The passengers in the carriage were ordinary people. After seeing the Tonan’s ruthlessness, they didn’t even dare to breathe heavily.
As for Tonan, he was happy and relaxed. While looking at the scenery outside the window, he sipped on his tea and picked up the drawing board to begin a fresh drawing.
“It’s like a dragon’s pool and a tiger’s den here… but it doesn’t scare me.”
