Chapter 71: A Real Man Never Looks Back at an Explosion

Boom!!!

Baimu ignited the explosive tags on the watchtower. Scorching waves of fire licked at his back. The flying stones rained down with stinging pain, but not a single one made him turn to glance at the explosion behind.

"Hey, kid, your butt's on fire," Afei reminded him.

"Shh, don’t talk," Baimu brushed back his hair, gritting his teeth against the searing pain, and walked the path of a true man to the end.

[Mission: Tower Demolition Complete]

[This mission was executed perfectly. The Stellar Performance Award goes to—]

Baimu’s lips curved in anticipation.

[Afei!]

[Reward: One Hero Skill Draw, 500 experience points, 500 gold coins]

"You’ve got to be kidding me!" Baimu seethed with frustration, but he could not dispute it—this success was indeed thanks to Afei.

[Skill drawing...]

[Demon Jester—Shaco]

[No one treats death as a joke, except Shaco—the first bloodthirsty comedian on the continent of Valoran. He delights in tormenting the innocent with his tricks, laughing uproariously only after his victims perish. His vicious dagger is coated with a terrifying toxin, inflicting agony, torment, and ultimately death. To perfect his deranged symphony of murder, he scatters madman’s puppets across the battlefield, toying with his enemies like a lunatic.]

"I knew it... another lunatic. Still, his skills are pretty good, as long as it’s not some prank box or a poisoned dagger..." Baimu suddenly clapped a hand over his mouth, wary that the system was always eavesdropping.

[Skill drawing in progress...]

[Deceive]

[Enter a brief state of invisibility. Duration depends on the amount of chakra infused, up to a maximum of one minute. The next attack deals bonus damage.]

"Ohhh! Jackpot! Invisibility! System, I love you! Mwah mwah mwah!" Fresh from defeating Gekkou Hayate, Baimu was exhilarated—what could be more thrilling than turning invisible?

"A minute is just enough for you to pull some stunt in the women’s bathhouse," the system remarked disdainfully.

"You’ve got a filthy mind. Just because I can turn invisible, you think I’d go to the women’s bathhouse? No wonder you’ll always just be a system, with that kind of ambition!" Baimu spat.

"Heh," the system snorted coldly.

"By the way, system, I think I’ve found a bug. Why don’t I get experience for defeating those three? Do I really have to finish them off for it to count? Are you trying to turn me into a murderer?" Baimu pointed at the three.

"Otherwise, what’s to stop you from farming them for experience?" the system replied.

"Still, I shouldn’t only get experience for killing them. That would make me a villain in the eyes of the audience," Baimu protested.

"Eh? You make a fair point! Let’s compromise: you’ll gain experience for defeating opponents, but the amount will decrease with each victory over the same person, and you can’t keep gaining it from them within a short period," the system considered.

"Deal," Baimu agreed cheerfully—he was just about to level up.

[Defeated Maruhoshi Kosuke: 100 experience]

[Defeated Gekkou Hayate: 50 experience]

[Defeated Uzuki Yugao: 30 experience]

[Leveled up to LV3. Gained 1 EX skill point, +200 life energy, +200 chakra...]

"Another skill point... There’s Counterstorm, Charged Strike, and now Invisibility. Which to upgrade..." Baimu pondered for a while and decided to enhance Counterstorm first—thicker skin every day makes for a more colorful life.

[EX Counterstorm: Evade all physical attacks for five seconds and reduce ninjutsu damage by 50%. At the end, unleash a powerful retaliatory strike.]

"Not bad, not bad—the effect is impressive," Baimu was quite pleased with the results. "Speaking of which, all of the Jester’s skills are great, especially the ultimate—it's a souped-up version of Shadow Clone..."

"Next time I’ll use the Demon Jester persona. If I can gain his approval, maybe I can unlock the Shadow Clone as well."

He cackled.

...

With Afei tying up the three newly captured prisoners, they hurried after their teammates. After some time, they finally regrouped at the agreed meeting point.

"Damn! All you do is run! Didn’t you notice the watchtower didn’t explode? Didn’t you see the captain wasn’t right behind you?" Baimu scolded the group of idiots without restraint.

"But Captain, you’re fine, aren’t you?" they grinned, cradling their loot.

"Is this a girl from the Leaf? Her skin’s so soft and fair... What on earth do they feed them?" Xiangji marveled, pinching Uzuki Yugao’s cheek in envy.

Uzuki Yugao’s heart was already dead; she had no idea what fate awaited her.

At that moment, Kakuzu’s and Kurotsuchi’s squads, having seen the explosion at the watchtower, arrived at the rendezvous as well.

"How did you capture so many prisoners?" Kurotsuchi was amazed. On closer inspection, she realized there were over ten Hyuga ninja among them—albeit from the branch family.

What was even stranger was that, though they looked a bit disheveled, none of them seemed seriously injured. How had they been captured alive and unharmed?

"Hahaha, I heard the ransom for Leaf ninja is sky-high, so I figured we’d just bring them all along," Baimu laughed heartily.

"That’s not what I meant. I’m asking, how did you manage to capture them all, without a single casualty?" Kurotsuchi gestured at the team, each clutching their spoils with spotless clothes and not a scratch on them.

"Hahaha... That fat guy over there got a stomachache and let out such a foul fart that everyone in the watchtower was knocked out cold. I just strolled in and picked them up," Baimu said, pointing at Akimichi **, roaring with laughter.

"For real...?" Kurotsuchi, honest as ever, was almost convinced.

"Where are the other watchtowers? I want to take them down now," Kakuzu eyed the boxes of explosive tags and the Hyuga prisoners—each worth a fortune—and his eyes blazed with greed.

"Easy, old man. There’s no way we can take down all the towers at once. Let’s head back, rest up, and make sure the prisoners are secured. If we keep knocking them out, they might end up brain-damaged and worthless," Baimu placated him.

They had no proper way to restrain so many captives—best would be various chakra sealing techniques, but their crude bindings were easily escaped by any ninja trained in rope-release techniques. So, they resorted to the next best method: knocking them out.

"Yes, we should go back and report the situation," Kurotsuchi nodded. The ninja code demanded absolute obedience to mission orders—they should not act on their own initiative.

"Move, move, move! Let’s hurry and get back to Kusagakure before dinner for drinks! If you can’t carry something, share it with your brothers—hauling it around won’t make it grow legs! There could be Leaf pursuers on our tail—if they catch up, we’ll lose everything!" Baimu shouted, driving the group onward toward the capital of the Land of Grass.

At last, just before dusk, carrying their spoils and prisoners, they returned to the inn where they were staying.