Chapter 54: Sharingan

Kaida was shocked to see that they were the same bandits he had encountered during his previous mission. Now he was angry with himself; if he had killed them then and there, none of this would have happened.

"We are going to silently kill these bandits so they won't alarm the others and harm the hostages," Yukihiro instructed.

'Kill… We are going to kill them? Can't we capture them and bring them back to the village for punishment?' Kaida thought, still holding on to the mentality and innocence from his previous life, where he lived in a peaceful world.

While this was going through his mind, and Yukihiro was making plans to save the captives, Kaida saw something. He looked toward the entrance of the cave and saw a bandit dragging a half-naked girl out of the cave. Her clothes were torn in many places.

"Throw her in the hole," the bandit said as he tossed her body aside and went back inside. Kaida was stunned by what he saw. His anger and hatred grew to an astronomical level because that girl looked like Ayame.

The anger wasn't just toward the bandit; it was toward himself. If he had killed those monsters before, she wouldn't have had to go through that. And then something inside him broke, like a thin film of glass, shattering his last remnants of innocence. His aversion to killing was almost gone, replaced by pure rage.

His anger grew to such an extent that he started feeling pain in his eyes. Drops of blood began to fall from them.

His already red eyes became even more crimson, and a single tomoe emerged in his pupils. Suddenly, the whole world became clearer to him. He could see every little detail now.

*Sharingan.*

With the help of his newly awakened Sharingan, Kaida noticed that the girl was still alive. Kaida was about to rush toward the cave when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Kaida, you will put everyone's life in danger if you let your anger get the best of you. There are still hostages inside," Yukihiro cautioned.

Kaida understood what Yukihiro was saying. He took a deep breath and said, "Sensei, I will save everyone. Not a single person will die. Can I go now?"

Yukihiro looked into Kaida's eyes for a moment. He could see the boy's anger and the newly awakened Sharingan. He wanted Kaida to stay out of the fight, but he knew that stopping him now would be a huge loss for his growth.

So, he decided to let Kaida go and only help if necessary. After all, Yukihiro was an elite Jonin, capable of handling a hundred bandits on his own, but the captives were still a concern. He decided to trust his student and nodded.

Without wasting any time, Kaida ran in the opposite direction and created 20 shadow clones. Each one used Earth Release: Earth Military Movement Technique and went underground, slowly making their way toward the cave.

Inside the cave, there were three rooms. In the first, they stored the items they had stolen. In the second, they kept the five women they had captured. In the last room, 12 bandits were eating and laughing.

Since only two bandits were in the second room, two of Kaida's clones emerged from the earth from their blind spots and covered the bandits' mouths while the other two clones emerged and sliced their throats.

The bandits died without anyone knowing how. One of Kaida's clones dispersed, relaying to him that the hostages were safe. Along with the memory, Kaida felt the weight of having killed two people so easily. It was shockingly simple to end a life, but he pushed those thoughts aside, letting his anger guide him once again.

Meanwhile, outside the cave, Kaida saw two bandits fighting over who would be the first to "enjoy" the girl's body. It became increasingly difficult for Kaida to control himself. He used Wind Instantaneous Movement Jutsu and appeared right behind one of the bandits, delivering a punch to his head.

Kaida had been doing physical exercises while carrying a weight of 330 kg for quite some time, but he had never had the chance to test his strength, so even he didn't know how powerful he had become.

When he punched with full force, the bandit's head exploded, sending brain matter and blood flying in every direction. Some of it even splattered onto Kaida. The other bandit, who had just witnessed his friend's head burst open, was about to shout and attack Kaida when Kaida appeared right in front of him, gripping his neck. With a twist of his hand, he snapped the bandit's neck, letting the lifeless body fall to the ground.

Kaida then ran toward the girl, took off his jacket, and placed it over Ayame's upper body. Feeling Ayame stir and open her eyes, she saw Kaida's face and a look of relief washed over her.

"Thank you," she whispered before closing her eyes again.

Not knowing how to describe his feelings, Kaida simply sat there, holding Ayame in his lap. Then, his clone emerged from the cave with the remaining five hostages. One of them, an older woman, ran toward Kaida.

"Ayame, are you alright? Ayame," the woman cried out.

"She's just unconscious. Please take her with you. My clone will escort you to a safe location," Kaida said, passing Ayame to one of his clones. Five of them then escorted the hostages to Yukihiro's location.

Hearing the commotion outside, a bandit came to check the situation. He was the same one who had thrown Ayame out. Kaida could have easily killed him without giving him a chance to alert his comrades, but he was too angry to grant him such an easy death.

The bandit saw that all of the captives were running away with some ninja. Since he couldn't see the faces of the ninjas, he couldn't guess that they were clones.

"Come out, you bastards! Some twerp here is trying to be a hero!" the bandit shouted.

By now, Kaida had dispersed all of his remaining clones, except those escorting the captives and two others who had transformed into chakra weapons—not swords, but tiger-claw-like weapons, which Kaida now wore on both hands. He had studied many things in the library, including weaponry.

(*Author's Note: Something like Wolverine's adamantium claws.*)

Hearing the bandit's shouts, the remaining bandits emerged from the cave, each carrying some type of weapon, from swords to axes. Yukihiro observed this and prepared to assist Kaida if necessary.

Although Ryota wanted to help his friend, Yukihiro had assigned him the task of guarding the hostages along with Kaida's clones.

On Kaida's side, one of the bandits, a grunt, decided to handle the kid alone. "Hey, kid, you shouldn't have come here. We were already in a bad mood because of a bitch who kept resisting, and now you've freed the remaining ones.

We weren't even able to enjoy her before she went nuts and committed suicide. Just you wait—after I deal with you, we'll find the rest of them and f**k them crazy."

Unaware that each word was sealing his fate, the grunt finished speaking, licked his dagger, and ran toward Kaida.

***

Next chapter: Blood-bath