"Big mistake..."
Drov spat those words in a dark tone, waving his hand in the air to shake off the blood clinging to it.
Ignoring the bleeding wound, he launched forward in a thunderous shockwave toward the ninja,but he forgot there were others.
"Fire Style: Great Fireball!"
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a wave of flames enhanced by cutting winds, destroying everything in its path like a plague.
"Damn it!"
Drov cursed, stopping his charge toward the ninja, who had already thrown a kunai at him before retreating out of the fire attack's range.
Boom!
Drov shot upward into the sky at great speed, escaping the attack's range. He stopped and stared down at the humans below with a dark expression.
The three remaining ninja raised their heads, watching the stranger cautiously—the one who had dared invade their territory and kill two of their comrades.
"Damn… he can fly!!? ," one of them cursed aloud.
"Where did he even come from…?"
"Huy ! Stranger, this area belongs to the Sarutobi clan. Who are you, and what are you doing here? "
"Sarutobi clan?"
Drov repeated, raising an eyebrow. He took a deep breath to calm his anger, then formed a stiff smile and fixed his gaze on the older ninja with a scar on his right cheek.
"Tell me, you ... human… who is stronger between these ?... The Uchiha clan or your clan?"
The three were surprised by Drov's question, and even more by his tone, which sounded arrogant, as if he stood above them.
"..."
Instead of answering, the scarred man asked
"Who are you?"
Drov frowned, glancing at the gruesome wound on his arm, which was slowly closing, too slowly to be seen by the naked eye.
"The poison is slowing my healing factor," he muttered darkly, then looked back at the humans below.
He placed his hands behind his back, standing upright.
"I am Drov Zeliotsy, an agent of the great Viltrumite Empire."
He continued
"I am a rational man. I will overlook the injury you caused me..."
Before he could finish, one of the humans interrupted him with a mocking, angry voice
"Oh, thank you for forgiving us. Now go to hell and ask forgiveness from Toshi and Tiba."
Drov saw the man clasp his hands together, his fingers forming several strange signs.
His chest expanded like that of an enraged gorilla.
"Wind Style: Wind Bullet!"
The Sarutobi ninja spat a compressed air projectile that shot like an invisible torpedo toward Drov, who was ready this time and easily dodged it.
From his brief observation, Drov understood that those hand movements acted like a code that activated ninjutsu techniques.
With that understanding, predicting their movements became easier.
He had wanted to gather more information,even offering them mercy,but now he had changed his mind. He realized he was racing against time.
"I have all the time to learn about this planet. What matters now… is dealing with this poison weakening me."
He clenched his fist tightly, then dove downward like a projectile, avoiding scorching flames and cutting winds.
Boom!
He struck the ground with his fist, creating a crater and spiderweb-like cracks spreading from the point of impact.
The three Sarutobi ninja stabilized themselves by sticking to the ground using chakra through the soles of their feet.
"Damn monster…" the scarred ninja growled through clenched teeth, unable to believe what he was seeing. Unfortunately, Drov gave them no time to process their shock.
With a calm, emotionless expression and cold eyes, as if he were looking at emptiness rather than human lives,he tightened his fist and surged forward.
The unfortunate ninja was not as fast as Drov. Though his wide eyes saw the approaching hand of death, his body refused to move.
"Hmm… is that ... my body?"
That was his last thought. He clearly saw his body standing… without a head.
The head fell and rolled across the ground. Before it even stopped, Drov had already moved again.
Maintaining his blank expression, he grabbed another ninja by the face and slammed him into the ground.
Crack!
The ninja's skull shattered like a watermelon in a bloody mess. Drov straightened up and flicked his hand, shaking off blood and sticky matter.
"Damn… where did this taijutsu monster come from?" the last ninja thought in terror. His hand holding the kunai trembled. How could it not? The man before him had effortlessly killed four elite jonin as if they were ordinary people.
More terrifying than that,he had not used any ninjutsu. It was pure taijutsu.
Of course, the Sarutobi ninja did not realize that the man before him was not a ninja… not even human.
Drov began walking slowly toward the trembling ninja, who stepped back before eventually dropping his kunai and falling to his knees, raising his hands.
"Great sir… please spare my life."
Drov said nothing. He walked calmly, maintaining his expression, stepping past the headless corpse.
The brief silence felt like torture to the poor ninja.
"Sir…" the ninja slowly raised his head, arms still raised.
His eyes widened in shock,he saw the executioner who had killed his comrades suddenly bleeding from his nose, eyes, and mouth.
His expression hardened. He abandoned the idea of surrender.
Clenching his teeth, he quickly formed hand signs while keeping his hands raised.
"Fire Style: Hiding in Ash Technique!"
He opened his mouth and expelled a large amount of gray smoke, covering the entire area.
Drov, once again affected by dizziness, failed to react quickly enough. The smoke engulfed him, stealing his vision. Just as he thought that was all
Sparks appeared within the smoke.
Boom!
The smoke exploded into a sea of orange flames, lighting up the dark night and drawing the attention of a ninja squad approaching from a nearby Sarutobi settlement.
The settlement wasn't far, so they had already noticed the battle, even though it had lasted less than ten minutes,and had been entirely one-sided.
"Damn it . This is becoming annoying," Drov said in rising anger, his blood-stained mouth twisting.
He raised the hand he had used to shield his face,the skin was slightly burned.
"Pathetic… not only has my healing factor weakened, but my strength has declined as well. Whatever poison has entered my body… it was designed specifically to kill Viltrumites."
Drov paid no attention to the human ninja's escape. There was something more important than chasing him,he needed to find a way to cure this poison wreaking havoc in his body.
He spat the blood from his mouth onto the ground and muttered while wiping his face:
"My survival so far… if I had to guess, it's because of my superior healing factor…"
"My body is trying to resist and purge the poison, which is why my healing has weakened. That explains the fatigue and weakness I feel…"
Whoosh!!
Whoosh!!
Whoosh!!
…
He raised his head and stared at the newcomers appearing one after another like hungry flies.
The firelight illuminated them. Despite their differences in size, they all wore the same armor, bearing the same emblem,the symbol of the Sarutobi clan.
There were dozens of them.
Drov raised an eyebrow when he noticed the ninja who had fled earlier. The man wore an expression of confidence, as if the presence of his clan had given him strength.
" Insect. Did numbers give you the confidence to face me…"
Drov said with a dry laugh, his cold gaze fixed on the scarred ninja, who stepped back but quickly steadied himself under the sharp looks of his comrades.
" You are at the present of the Sarutobi clan ..."
"You have taken the lives of our clan members. Surrender and accept your punishment quietly…"