When Renna saw the monk approaching, her face immediately turned even uglier.
From the moment she'd seen this guy, she'd felt his malicious gaze. Now that the monk wanted to take her to the herb garden alone, his ulterior motives were obvious.
"Fine, then you take her there and move all the medicines from that herb garden."
But to Hannya, it didn't really matter who went to retrieve the herbs. Since the monk volunteered, he might as well let him go.
"Wait, I don't want to go with him."
"Oww, my stomach hurts so much! Sister Renna, help me!"
Just as Renna prepared to resist, Yūki, sitting not far behind her, suddenly clutched his abdomen and cried out miserably, his voice panicked.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Shh, play along. Take me to the herb garden with you."
As Renna hurried over to check on the boy, Yūki whispered in a voice only the two could hear.
"Hey, stop dawdling! Move it!" At that moment, the monk also rushed over. He was planning to have some "fun" with the little girl and couldn't tolerate delays.
"My brother's chronic illness has flared up. If this continues, he'll die. I have to take him to the herb garden for medicine."
"Isn't this whole place full of medicine? Just grab a handful and eat it!"
"These are the wrong medicines. The one he needs is only in the herb garden."
"Tch, what a hassle. Fine, let's all go."
Seeing Renna's determined expression, the monk reluctantly agreed to let Yūki accompany them, but he'd already made up his mind.
This brat dared to block me earlier. Once we're over there, I'll just kill him so he doesn't interfere with my plans again.
Perfect, the plan is working.
But Yūki paid no mind to the monk's thoughts. As Renna helped him walk over, a faint smile even touched his lips.
"Sister Renna, does that 'Secret Medicine: Platinum Pill' that can cure all poisons really exist?"
As the three walked toward the hillside herb garden on the village's other side, Yūki suddenly asked.
"How could it? It's one thing to have antidotes for specific poisons, but a so-called broad-spectrum antidote simply doesn't exist. It completely defies pharmacological common sense."
At this, Renna couldn't help but sigh. She didn't know where these grass ninja had heard such a thing, but it didn't exist—it truly didn't.
If handing over the secret medicine could bring peace to the village, Renna wouldn't hesitate. But unfortunately, she didn't even know if such a thing existed.
"Hmph, you two, stop pretending. If the teacher says it exists, it exists. Find it for me later, and you'll suffer less."
Hearing the two children's conversation, the monk snorted angrily.
In this tense atmosphere, a slightly larger thatched cottage backed against the mountain soon came into view, surrounded densely by various herbs.
Quickly, Renna carefully opened the herb garden's door and entered first, followed by Yūki and the monk.
Ahem! As soon as the door opened, Renna coughed, choked by the dust, but she ignored it and headed straight for the inner room.
Heheh, it's time. Watching Renna's graceful figure retreat into the back room, the monk following behind smirked sinisterly and glanced at Yūki beside him, his eyes filled with naked killing intent.
Once I kill this brat, I'll go in and restrain the little girl by force, and then... hehehe.
"Uncle, how old are you this year?"
But just as the monk prepared to kill the "little blind boy," Yūki found a spot to sit upon entering and spoke to him casually.
"Twenty. Why? Going senile?"
"Given you're still doing missions with your jōnin teacher, the three of you must be genin."
"Hmph, so what?"
"A trash genin like you, still stuck with a 'second' prefix—shouldn't you go home and farm? You have no talent for this at all."
Pfft! You're asking for death, kid!
Frankly, the monk's prolonged failure to promote to chūnin was a sore spot. Having this wound ruthlessly exposed by a brat, his mood was inconceivable.
Kill him—not just kill him, but tear his mouth apart!
Furious, the monk unhesitatingly drew a double-headed spiked iron mace with chains from his wide sleeves and hurled it at Yūki's face at high speed.
The monk's weapon was called "Sasumata." Though not well-known, it was actually a commonly used ninja tool.
At first glance, it looked somewhat ridiculous—just an iron chain with a weight on each end—not very impressive.
But it was simple, portable, easy to conceal, and versatile. It could be swung for power, thrown to injure, or used as a chain to strangle or bind—a very practical ninja tool.
The monk's Sasumata was a special model, with terrifying spikes on the weights. A direct hit would explode the impacted area into bloody mist.
But to Yūki, he couldn't even be bothered to move against the incoming Sasumata—it couldn't hurt him at all.
"Die—!"
But just as the monk shouted "die!" and swung the Sasumata at Yūki's face, his feet inexplicably slipped, and he lunged forward uncontrollably.
A second later, the monk fell inexplicably. His bald head landed right in front of Yūki, and the Sasumata in his hand flew into the air from the sudden mishap.
What the hell? Why did I slip?
Frankly, when the monk performed the classic villain move of "eating dirt," he didn't even understand what had happened.
"Tsk, tsk, giving me such a big gift so soon after meeting—isn't that a bit inappropriate?"
Someone gloated over the monk's head.
"You little bastard—!"
But just as the monk tried to rise angrily to teach this brat another "social lesson," an inexplicable gravitational force pressed down on his bald forehead, pinning him down as he halfway up.
What's going on? Why can't I get up? What's pressing on my head? Is it...?
Realizing he couldn't stand no matter how hard he struggled, the monk broke out in a cold sweat.
Though he didn't know who was behind the attack, it was clear that person was far stronger than him.
"Hey, Renna, what are these herbs for? Why are they sealed in bottles?"
Seeing the monk pinned helplessly before him, Yūki casually picked up a jar with a skull emblem and asked Renna, who was searching for medicine in the back room.
"Hey! Don't eat that! It'll make you vomit your organs out!"
Though the herb garden wasn't large, Yūki's voice in the outer room still reached Renna in the back. She peeked out to remind him.
Oh? Is that so? Looking at the bottle in his hand, a chilling, sinister smile spread across Yūki's face.
Then, he uttered words that made the monk's hair stand on end:
"Baldy, want to lose weight?"
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(˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶) ‹ (TL : More Chapters @patreon.com/c/Gooberilla)