The sunglasses resting on Shiki's face reflected the blinding golden brilliance, making him look like a deity descended from the heavens. He smoothly spread his arms wide, then brought them down in a sharp, sweeping motion. In that very instant, a colossal golden downpour rained down from the sky! And every single drop of this luminous storm carried the devastating piercing power of a large-caliber bullet.
"What the hell is this?!"
"Is it a ninja?! A ninja from Konoha!"
The sheer terror of impending doom instantly sobered the bandits up. Caught under the merciless bombardment of golden rays, all they could do was swing their pathetic weapons in a desperate, futile attempt to delay the inevitable. But how could ordinary steel ever hope to stop light? The luminous bullets shattered against their blades in showers of sparks, reducing swords and axes to dust before ruthlessly piercing straight through the bandits' bodies!
Blood sprayed in every direction as the night air filled with bloodcurdling screams. It was an absolute slaughter. Under the relentless hail of terrifying strikes, not only were the men torn to shreds, but the very earth was churned up, and the surrounding tents were blasted into splinters! The only ones left untouched by this deadly tempest were the children, who had huddled together in a corner in absolute terror.
The dazzling shower of light, intermingled with blooming sprays of crimson blood, was forever burned into their wide, terrified eyes, weaving together into a mesmerizing yet infinitely macabre tapestry. They clung tightly to one another, burying their faces in the filthy dirt, not daring to even glance at the nightmare unfolding around them. A primal fear had taken hold of them; it felt as though if they so much as breathed too loudly, this punishing wrath would descend upon them as well.
"Damn it all..." wheezed one of the bandits. His body had been punctured in four or five places, but fighting through the agonizing pain, he used the very last of his strength to lunge toward the children. "If I'm going down, I'm taking you little rats with me!"
With a frantic roar, he hurled his longsword directly at the defenseless captives.
"Excuse me..." a lazy voice drawled.
A golden flash struck down from the heavens. Shiki materialized instantly, his head tilted slightly to the side as he casually pinned the flying blade to the dirt beneath his boot. Leveling his index finger at the dumbfounded bandit, he inquired with utmost politeness,
"Would you mind dying quietly and not causing any more trouble?"
The bandit's pupils dilated in sheer horror. A laser beam erupted from the tip of Shiki's finger, instantly stretching into a blinding streak of light that punched straight through the bandit's stomach. Then came another. And another. Dozens of luminous beams skewered the man's body in various places, though Shiki deliberately avoided his vital organs, leaving him to writhe on the ground in excruciating agony.
"Shiki..." Minato and Kushina stood frozen in their combat stances. They had been just about to launch their own attack, only to realize that Shiki had beaten them to the punch. And that the entire gang had already been practically wiped out...
"To be honest, this is the first time I've ever seen Shiki look so serious," Kushina murmured, staring in utter disbelief at the boy, who was still radiating a faint golden glow.
In their minds, Shiki had always been an incorrigible slacker and a lazybones. Even after becoming a shinobi and embarking on a mission, he had behaved as though he couldn't care less about anything. Who would have ever thought that this sleep-loving boy was capable of slaughtering dozens of armed thugs in the blink of an eye?
"It's because of the children," Minato replied quietly, gripping his kunai so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Much like Shiki, he harbored a profound, visceral disgust for slavers.
Observing them from his hiding spot, Jiraiya thoughtfully stroked his chin.
"The kid has finally bared his fangs. Light Release, is it..."
In the midst of the blood-soaked camp, the captive children timidly raised their heads. The very first thing they saw was the white back of a coat emblazoned with the large kanji for "Justice." The person wearing it stood squarely in front of them like a living shield, blocking out the horrors of the gruesome massacre. He stood there like an impenetrable barrier: on one side, absolute hell raged, while on the other, there was only peace and safety.
"You're safe now, little ones," Shiki said softly. He slipped off his coat and gently draped it over the children, fully shielding them from the grisly sight. "As for what comes next... that's not something children should be watching."
He began to stroll leisurely across the battlefield, methodically crushing the skulls of any bandits who were still breathing beneath his boots, one by one. He didn't stop until only three remained alive.
"Excuse me," Shiki said, fastidiously wiping a few stray droplets of blood from the cheek of one of the survivors. "Could you be so kind as to tell me where you've been selling these abducted children?"
Breathing heavily, the bandit merely bared his teeth in a deranged, defiant grin.
"Heh... heh-heh..."
"I see you're not in a talking mood. What a pity."
Shiki hoisted the man up by his collar and effortlessly hurled him high into the air. He raised a hand. A brilliant golden beam sliced through the night sky.
Boom!
A deafening explosion rocked the air, and a roaring ball of fire instantly reduced the bandit's body to a charred, smoking husk. Shiki crouched down in front of the two remaining captives.
"And what about you, gentlemen?"
Despite the absolute carnage he had just orchestrated, Shiki's clothes remained impeccably clean, without so much as a single speck of blood on them. But in the eyes of the surviving bandits, this tidy, polite young man looked like a true demon. Like the devil incarnate!
"Shiki..." Minato called out in concern, taking a step closer.
One of the bandits' nerves completely gave out under the crushing psychological pressure, and he finally broke.
"I'll talk! I'll tell you everything!"
"Don't you dare!" the other bandit roared, trying to thrash about. But in the very next second, Shiki's heavy boot slammed his face into the mud, pinning him firmly to the ground.
"Be so kind as to keep quiet for a moment," Shiki requested politely. He brushed an invisible speck of dust from his sleeve and formed his fingers into the shape of a gun, aiming it squarely at the bandit who had yielded. "As for you, my good sir, I'm going to have to ask you to tell me everything you know. Down to the very last detail."