Chapter 066: Instant Defeat, Without Suspense

Fanji Jiro sat atop the towering steam-powered multifunctional robot, attempting to learn how to operate it. The delicate fragrance from the young girl beside him drifted over, leaving Jiro somewhat distracted and restless. He dared not entertain any inappropriate thoughts about the refined, red-haired young woman at his side. After all, he was merely an ordinary fisherman from the impoverished Land of Waves, while she was a noble ninja from the same country—how could he ever think of anything untoward?

Though the young woman insisted she wasn’t a ninja and rejected the respectful attitude of others, Jiro was convinced she must be one. He had witnessed her extraordinary abilities firsthand: with a simple wave of her hand, she cleansed the robot’s surface of rust. The red rust danced in her palm, turning black before being transferred back onto the machine. Such supernatural powers could only belong to a ninja lord.

Now, all Jiro wanted was to learn how to operate the robot from the ninja lady as quickly as possible. She said their companions were teaching the villagers how to build these machines, and now they needed to train a group of workers to operate and maintain them. Jiro was already daydreaming of mastering the robot, earning a high wage, and finding a beautiful wife.

“Ninja Art: Mist Concealment Assassination Technique!”

At that moment, Jiro was startled by a loud shout and then felt a tremor beneath him. The robot’s leg emitted a cacophony of clanging sounds. Leaning out of the cockpit to look below, Jiro saw sparks erupting from the robot’s leg, the source of the noise. Within the thick mist, a figure wielding a long blade was relentlessly hacking at the robot’s leg.

“What in the world is going on?” Beside him, the red-haired girl of the Uzumaki clan also leaned out the window to peer below.

“Hm? That movement—is he a ninja?” she remarked. “That hidden jutsu in the mist—is it from the Mist Village? Is that bastard Kado? He actually dared to bring people to attack?”

“Kado!”

Thanks to Kado’s years of oppressive rule, Jiro’s legs grew weak, and he was at a loss. In his mind, Kado was someone who could not be defied. The Uzumaki girl seemed oblivious to Jiro's cowardice, immediately turning and manipulating the control levers.

With a grating sound, the four-legged robot suddenly raised one leg and flicked the Mist ninja away at astonishing speed.

BIA~ah—

A sound reminiscent of a cartoon effect and a scream echoed, and the Mist ninja was sent flying, like a flea swatted away by a playful puppy. Seeing He Lege kicked away, Kado swallowed hard and shouted:

“Everyone, attack together! There aren’t many of these robots! Before it tears us apart, it can’t possibly kill us all!”

He didn’t even believe his own words.

Didn’t anyone notice? As the Mist ninjas led the charge toward the robot, their lackeys followed, shouting to bolster their courage—but Kado himself didn’t rush forward. On the contrary, he stood at the very back with a few trusted underlings, clearly poised to flee at any moment.

The villagers assigned to maintain safety and order at the construction site noticed the commotion. As Kado’s men rushed over, the villager grew weak-kneed, tempted to drop his weapon and run. At that moment, Sasuke appeared out of nowhere and slapped the villager on the head.

“Fire! Shoot them! You’ve got a weapon in your hands—what are you waiting for, to use it as a firewood stick?”

Naruto had already distributed non-lethal self-defense weapons to the villagers, precisely to prevent situations like this. They were ninja, but also human—they got tired too. There was no way to expect Kado or Terumi Mei—or those troublemakers—to always pick fights when Naruto and his friends hadn’t had any rest.

Perhaps from sheer nerves, the villager’s hands trembled as he raised the steam-powered weapon. He squeezed the trigger, and the internal air compressor began to draw in air. But nothing happened; no projectile was fired. The villager released the trigger and raised the barrel, intending to check what was wrong.

Sasuke forcibly kept the villager’s head and hands in place, aiming the gun at the charging Mist ninjas and thugs.

Instantly, the steam-powered weapon roared with a deafening blast. A massive airwave surged toward Kado and his henchmen. The Mist ninja at the front was the unluckiest, taking the full brunt and was sent flying, following He Lege’s fate. The thugs, shielded somewhat by the Mist ninjas, weren’t sent airborne but were still knocked down in utter disarray, rolling away like bowling pins.

With just one shot, nearly all of Kado’s men were taken out, leaving only Kado and a few trusted lackeys standing.

Sasuke observed the outcome, unsurprised in the slightest.

On a previous occasion, he’d seen Naruto test the weapon, a so-called steam-powered compressed air cannon—Naruto called it the Box Cannon. According to Naruto, it was a non-lethal riot-control weapon, used for something called “井茶”—Sasuke interpreted it as similar to the Uchiha clan’s Leaf Police Force.

His own brother tried it once. Uchiha Itachi, a formidable ninja with the Mangekyo Sharingan, one of the clan’s top talents, couldn’t withstand a shot. The blast knocked him head over heels, leaving him sprawled on the ground for ages.

These useless thugs—could they possibly endure such power?

Kado and his minions were routed, staring in terror at the villagers and Sasuke. Kado never imagined these ninja would enable ordinary villagers to wield such power! This meant the ninja themselves possessed forces far greater than the villagers.

“Retreat! Quick, retreat!” Kado hastily ordered, spinning around without waiting for anyone, and fled at full speed. He paid no attention to his underlings, leaving them to roll around on the ground, wailing.

His loyal thugs also scrambled away, vanishing beyond sight.

“This… was my doing?” The villager who fired looked at the heap of thugs on the ground, then down at the weapon in his hands, unable to believe what had just happened.

That was Kado! The black boss who had sealed the entire coastline of the Land of Waves, forbidding even a single plank from entering the sea, the owner of Kado Shipping—Kado himself! He brought so many goons and ninja lords to cause trouble, yet not only were they beaten back, it was him alone who drove them off!

Though, admittedly, he had used the ninja lords’ weapons…

“If not you, then who else?” Sasuke said, patting the villager’s shoulder. “Alright, hurry and call for people to clean up the battlefield and capture those men—we’re busy and don’t have time to let them loiter around.”