Chapter 133: Black Market
The next day, while Tsunade and Mikoto began packing their luggage, Ling Yu took the bored Kushina and left Konoha.
About ten kilometers from Konoha, within the Land of Fire, the two of them appeared in a rundown, nearly deserted small village.
The place was sparsely populated. Few people walked the streets, and the surrounding dilapidated wooden houses all had tightly closed doors. The scene made Kushina, standing behind Ling Yu, feel increasingly uneasy.
"Ling Yu, why did you bring us here? This place looks so run-down—it clearly isn't somewhere people can live."
Kushina gave the surroundings a quick scan. Her pretty brows slowly furrowed as she looked at Ling Yu with obvious complaints.
She had thought Ling Yu was scouting a location. In her eyes, not only was this village in terrible condition, but the few people nearby all carried clear malice toward them in their hearts.
Thanks to the Nine-Tails chakra flame's ability to sense good and evil, Kushina instantly judged that these people were definitely not good news. No matter how she looked at it, this was no suitable place to stay.
"Who said we're going to live here? On the surface, this looks like a quiet village, but underground it's a place for exchanging information—one of the branches of the black market. The people who show up here are either missing-nin or bounty hunters."
"And I only brought you here to find one of my subordinates. He has some intelligence I want. Once we're done, we'll leave right away."
Ling Yu glanced back at Kushina, seeing that she had misunderstood his intentions. He spread his hands helplessly and explained.
"Fine… I got the wrong idea."
Kushina pouted unhappily, then fell silent and quietly followed behind Ling Yu as he continued walking forward.
"Alright, we're here."
A short while later, Ling Yu stopped in front of a particularly dilapidated house—much smaller than the others, barely the size of a bathroom.
"This is the black market you were talking about?" Kushina's face was full of doubt.
"What you see is only the surface. Watch closely."
Looking at the tightly shut door, Ling Yu's expression turned serious. His figure instantly vanished from where he stood. When he reappeared, he was already four or five meters in the air.
"Heavenly Foot!"
Concentrating chakra into his leg, Ling Yu raised his right foot high and slammed it down toward the ground.
BOOM!
A deafening crash rang out. Shattered stone flew everywhere. The wooden house collapsed instantly. A several-meter-deep trench appeared in the ground, and at the bottom of the trench was a stone staircase leading downward.
Clearly, this was the real entrance to the black market. The house on the surface was nothing more than a landmark to disguise it.
"Come on. The people below should already be ready to 'welcome' us properly. It would be rude to keep them waiting too long."
Ling Yu waved his hand backward and stepped inside first.
"Oh…"
Kushina followed closely behind him as they descended. Her eyes constantly scanned the surroundings. Having never seen a hidden black market before, her gaze was filled with curiosity.
"Hold it right there! Where did these brats come from? They dare destroy our surface landmark and try to force their way into our underground black market."
"Haha, boss, they're just a couple of kids. They can't possibly be the ones responsible. You know that wooden house had several barrier ninjutsu layered on it—even a Kage-level ninja would have to spend some effort to break through."
"Yeah, boss, they probably wandered in by accident. Look at them—they've got nice looks. Why don't we capture them and sell them to the slave market? Should fetch a good price."
The stone staircase leading underground was quite long. Before Ling Yu and Kushina even reached the black market's lower level, a group of burly, scarred men with vicious expressions rushed up from below. They looked like hired thugs of the black market.
The moment they saw Ling Yu and Kushina, they were briefly stunned. Then their faces twisted into sinister grins as they began to have crooked thoughts about the two.
"Hmph! A bunch of ants that don't know they're about to die."
The thugs' blatant discussion reached Ling Yu's ears clearly. The killing intent in his eyes grew sharper by the second.
Just as he was about to act and eliminate them, Kushina suddenly stepped in front of him. Looking into Ling Yu's eyes, her own eyes shone with excitement as she said:
"Wait! Ling Yu, don't make a move yet. Let this lady handle them."
Having been idle at home for so long, Kushina felt like she was starting to rust. Now that she finally encountered a few reckless fools who dared to have designs on her, the battle-hungry part of her nature was instantly awakened.
"Don't hold back. Every single one of them has at least several lives on their hands. Killing them is just doing the world a favor."
Ling Yu smiled and nodded at her. He stepped back a few paces, giving her enough room while kindly reminding her.
"Just a couple of brats thinking they can kill us? How laughable! Looks like we can't let them live. Everyone, attack together—show them what we're made of!"
The thugs naturally heard Ling Yu and Kushina's exchange. They sneered mockingly at the pair, then, with vicious glints in their eyes, raised their weapons and charged.
"Hmph! Then let me show you what this lady is capable of."
"Crystal Release: Shatter Crystal Descending Dragon Technique!"
Kushina let out a cold snort, her eyes full of disdain. Her hands quickly formed seals. A massive crystal dragon—more than ten meters wide—burst into existence out of thin air, heading straight for the charging thugs.
With the enhancement of the Nine-Tails chakra flame, the surface of the crystal dragon was coated in a layer of fiery red flames. The intense heat instantly evaporated the moisture in the surrounding air, filling the tunnel with a dry, scorching sensation.
"What is this—ahhh!"
The thugs' eyes widened in terror. They had no time to dodge. The crystal dragon smashed into them head-on, sending them flying along the dirt-and-stone staircase all the way down into the depths below. Their screams echoed briefly before falling silent.
By the time Ling Yu and Kushina descended through the shattered staircase into the underground space, the thugs' bodies had already been charred into blackened husks by the flames.
"Damn it! How dare you kill people from our black market! Everyone, attack together—kill them!"
Moments later, more than a dozen sets of footsteps thundered from deeper inside. Another group of thugs—looking exactly like the ones who had just died—saw the culprits Ling Yu and Kushina, raised their weapons without a word, and charged.
"A bunch of ants that just won't quit."
"Wood Release: Piercing Stake Technique!"
Seeing yet another group of reckless fools coming at them, Ling Yu lost patience. He directly activated Wood Release.
In the next instant, several sharp wooden stakes burst from the ground, instantly impaling the charging thugs through their bodies. The stakes continued growing wildly, skewering one enemy after another without pause.
"This is… Wood Release ninjutsu!"
By the time the rest of the black market's people arrived, what they witnessed was a one-sided massacre. Ling Yu alone had slaughtered more than a dozen ninja.
When everything ended, all the thugs lay dead. Their corpses were skewered like grilled meat on sharp wooden stakes, fresh blood pouring down freely. In moments, it formed a small lake of crimson on the ground.
For a brief moment, the entire scene fell deathly silent. Everyone who had been about to join the fight immediately dropped their weapons. Their faces filled with terror as they stared at Ling Yu.
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