The Lord of the Land of Salt considered this. Although his heart was racing with desire, he decided not to indulge in the woman immediately.
He swiftly confined her to the most secluded secret room in his manor, binding her with chains.
He resolved to observe for a few days, deal with any potential troubles, and then slowly savor his "meal."
That way, even if the worst-case scenario occurred, it could still be remedied.
However, just as he had arranged everything, trouble came knocking.
Boom!
The main gate was blown open.
A bald youth with an incredibly arrogant expression charged in first. In just a few punches and kicks, he took down several guards inside the Lord's manor.
Behind him followed a man with a slightly pale complexion but extremely handsome features, cradling a cute white fox in his arms.
Shinji recalled that before entering, Sasuke had asked him, "Are we just going to boldly break in like this? What if it's a misunderstanding?"
Shinji's answer was, "Then it's his bad luck!"
Shinji's subtle influence was gradually leading Sasuke down a lawless path.
This version of Sasuke, when he grows up, will likely be even more arrogant, cool, and utterly defiant, looking down on everyone.
One wonders if Itachi would eventually come and fight him to the death.
"Who are you people?! Do you know where this is?!"
"Guards! Guards! Arrest them quickly!"
The official who had been acting like a bully on the street earlier was now shouting and yelling, as if afraid no one would notice him.
Sasuke, who had long found him irritating, took a running start and kicked him against the wall. Then, he got on top of him and rained down a barrage of punches until the man begged for mercy.
Before long, Sasuke started to feel a bit bored.
These guards were too weak; there wasn't a single decent opponent among them.
But this was normal, after all. The Land of Salt was just a typical weak, small country. It didn't even have its own ninja village, so it naturally couldn't attract any powerful guards.
They couldn't even handle a few weak Cursed Spirits within their own country. In the end, they had to pay others to come and clear out the mere two or three Cursed Spirits they had.
So, when people say that someone possesses the power to easily wipe out a small country, they are not joking.
The disparities between countries in the ninja world had, in some aspects, grown to be as vast as heaven and earth.
"Stop all of you!"
"I am the Lord of the Land of Salt! Why are you bandits invading my residence?"
Hearing the commotion outside grow increasingly chaotic, the Lord of the Land of Salt finally couldn't sit still any longer.
And upon seeing Shinji, his eyes instinctively darted away.
Noticing this, Shinji became even more convinced that something was amiss with this guy.
Just then, the white fox in Shinji's arms suddenly struggled and leaped down. Upon landing, it instantly reverted to its original huge size, over two meters long, startling many people.
Jiana then knocked over all the guards who blocked her way and instantly arrived in front of the Lord of the Land of Salt.
The Lord was so frightened that he plopped down onto the ground and closed his eyes.
However, the cruel scene he imagined did not occur. Jiana merely sniffed him carefully. After confirming that he had the scent of her owner on him, she ran back to Shinji's side.
The intelligent fox knew that it was best not to act on her own initiative without an order.
"What, you smell your master's scent?"
Jiana quickly nodded, then gently tugged at Shinji's pant leg, signaling him to follow her.
Shinji then told Sasuke, "I'll leave this place to you. I'm going to find her."
Seeing the other party follow a white fox deeper inside, the Lord of the Land of Salt immediately grew anxious.
What if they find her? Given these guys' lawless behavior, he probably wouldn't survive.
He hadn't expected retribution to come so swiftly.
Then he remembered what the deformed man had said before leaving, as if grasping at a final straw.
He secretly took out the seemingly ordinary black stone, which subtly glowed with a red light, and forcefully smashed it on the ground.
Crack!
The stone wasn't durable and instantly shattered.
Hearing the sound, Sasuke looked over, unsure what this guy was up to. But out of caution, he went over and punched him to the ground. Then, anyone who was still standing, he chased down and knocked out one by one.
He completely failed to notice that the shattered stone slowly turned into liquid and seeped into the ground.
Meanwhile, although the Lord of the Land of Salt had hidden Tamamo Hotaru very cunningly.
But he couldn't withstand the violent demolition from one man and one ninja beast!
Boom!
Crash...
As they forcibly demolished everything in their path, secret passages and hidden doors were all shattered.
Finally, they found Tamamo Hotaru, who had already woken up, in a secret underground room.
At this moment, Tamamo Hotaru seemed to have just cried. There were still tear stains on her face, her eyes were red, her mouth was taped shut, and she was bound with iron chains in a very humiliating posture.
However, she didn't seem to have been subjected to anything worse.
"Jiana, boo hoo hoo..."
She was still a girl of 16 or 17 after all. After being untied, she immediately hugged the white fox's neck and began to sob softly.
For some reason, Shinji's fists now itched whenever he saw someone crying.
"Alright, stop crying! You're acting like a wimp. How exactly did you get captured and brought here?"
Shinji was quite curious about this.
Although Tamamo Hotaru was so wronged that she wanted to say, "I am a woman, isn't it okay for me to cry?!"
But considering the fact that his punches hurt a lot when they landed on her face, she could only suppress her tears.
"I don't know either. I was just walking along, and then I felt someone grab my foot from under the ground. Then they pulled me down, and after that, I fainted. When I opened my eyes, I was already here."
"So you didn't even see what the other person looked like?"
Tamamo Hotaru nodded, looking utterly wronged.
However, what she received in return was not sympathy, but disdain. That look seemed to say, "Why are you so weak?"
Tamamo Hotaru was truly on the verge of breaking down. She really wanted to get as far away from this scoundrel as possible.
But in reality, this was already the third time he had saved her.
Thinking of this, she lost all her temper.
"Forget it. Let him disdain me. As long as we get to the Land of Vegetables, it'll be fine. Anyway, I won't be spending my whole life with him."
Wait!
Why would I even have such a thought?!
Did I hit my head on the way here?!
Tamamo Hotaru quickly shook that incredible and terrifying thought out of her head.
Forget a lifetime, even a month with him would be too much!
Just then, Shinji suddenly looked up. He faintly heard explosions coming from above, along with... the chirping sound of Chidori!
There was no mistake, because that sound was far too distinctive.
He immediately realized that a formidable enemy must have appeared above. Otherwise, Sasuke wouldn't easily use Chidori just to deal with some small fries.
Perhaps the person who took Tamamo Hotaru had revealed themselves.
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