Clang!
Sasuke drew the lightning‑wreathed Kusanagi Sword out from the body, his face expressionless.
"How many groups is this now? Do these people have no sense of fear at all?"
Tobi peeled a chestnut, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, lifted his mask just enough, and popped it into his mouth faster than the eye could follow.
Shinji shot him a glare. "Who do you think they're following here, anyway?"
Tobi looked deeply wronged and loudly proclaimed his innocence.
In a flash, he shifted all the blame onto Hidan — who immediately drew his Blood Scythe and started chasing Tobi around, swinging wildly.
Though maybe Hidan was just embarrassed. After all, Lord Hidan never bothered to hide his tracks.
Wherever he went, he walked openly and loudly, like he owned the place.
Shinji was used to it by now; he treated these constant attacks as nothing more than extra practice for Sasuke.
So far, none of their pursuers had been worth paying special attention to.
But speak of the devil…
A sudden gust of wind swept past, and in the blink of an eye, Sasuke was gone — snatched away by the enemy.
Then, a massive man over two meters tall dropped from the sky, slamming his fists down hard where they had been standing.
Shinji and the others leaped backward, scattering in all directions to avoid the blow, but were now separated from one another.
At the same moment, a second figure appeared swiftly on the branches of a nearby tree, holding Sasuke firmly in a chokehold.
"Hahaha! So this is the famous Akagi the Demon? You're way more hyped up than you deserve to be. You can't even keep an eye on a little kid. Ain't that right, little brother?"
"Exactly right, big brother!"
These two were brothers. The older one, Chou, was only about 170cm tall and extremely thin, wielding a short sickle.
The younger one, Chun, stood nearly 250cm tall, built like a mountain of muscle — his clothes looked ready to tear apart from his bulk — and fought completely unarmed.
Among bounty hunters, they were somewhat famous… but only for their terrible reputation.
They took any job that paid the most money. But after finishing a mission, they would often turn around and rob or blackmail their employers, or even kill them and take everything.
At first, they got away with it because it happened rarely. But as they grew bolder and more ruthless, word eventually got out. After that, no one would hire them anymore, and their name became mud.
To survive, they turned to hunting people on wanted lists or targets posted at the Underground Exchange.
As long as the pay was good, they didn't care who their target was — and they would use any means necessary.
Assassination, poisoning, traps, taking hostages… nothing was too low for them. Because they were shameless and brutal, they succeeded often enough that most people feared crossing them.
They were known far and wide as the "Rotten Bug Brothers."
And now, clearly, they had set their sights on Shinji's group.
"Hey, that guy's totally mocking you!"
"Not totally — he definitely is. Oh man… looks like we're gonna have to dig two more graves later~"
Hidan and Tobi kept throwing comments back and forth, deliberately trying to stir things up.
Tamamo Hotaru wisely backed away and stood well clear. She wasn't afraid of these two newcomers — she just didn't want to get splattered with blood once the fighting started.
Shinji rolled his eyes at them, then looked up at the brothers.
"Let him go right now… and cut off one of your own arms. Do that, and I might let you live."
"Now listen here… this kid is right in my hands. I've got this bad habit, see? When someone threatens me, my hand starts shaking… and when it shakes… I might accidentally slice his little neck open."
The older brother, Chou, ran his tongue slowly along the rusted edge of his sickle, then pressed it hard against Sasuke's throat. It was disgusting enough to make anyone worry about infection.
Sasuke's face was dark with rage. He hadn't been able to react at all — it had all happened too fast.
And he couldn't understand why they'd grabbed him first. Did he really look like the weakest one in the group?
Just wait… he was going to burn these two bastards to ashes as soon as he got free.
While Sasuke was plotting his revenge, Chou continued: "If you want this kid alive, you'll play by my rules."
"You think too highly of yourself. Go ahead and do it. Hurry up. You kill him, I kill you both. Sounds fair to me."
Shinji sounded bored, urging him on impatiently.
Chou's expression froze. His eyes turned cold and sharp.
"Trying to provoke me? You really think I won't kill him?"
"Think whatever you want. If you're gonna do it, just do it already."
Chou had never met anyone like this before. It wasn't supposed to go this way!
He had watched them for a long time. This kid always stayed right next to Akagi the Demon, acting just like a disciple or apprentice. They had to be important to each other!
"Brother! I told you before — you should've listened to me and grabbed that woman instead! She looked like his woman or something — way more valuable than this brat!"
"Shut your mouth! Did I ask you to speak?!"
Chou was furious — and stuck. He couldn't back down now, not with everyone watching like it was a show.
Gritting his teeth, he raised his weapon high.
Dammit! You wanna force my hand?! You wanna act tough?! Fine! I'll kill him first then!
Clap!
Shinji simply clapped his hands. In the next instant, he swapped positions with Sasuke and appeared right in front of Chou.
Then — Black Flash!
BOOM!
The entire upper half of the huge tree was blasted into splinters and dust.
But at the very last second, Chou had managed to escape.
He was a user of Swift Release, granting him incredible speed — which was exactly why no one had been able to react earlier.
It was also the reason they always got away safely no matter who they angered.
Chou reappeared next to his brother, looking grim and shaken.
He hadn't even seen how Shinji rescued the boy… or how Shinji suddenly appeared right in his face.
For someone as proud of his speed as he was, that was a massive slap in the face.
At the exact same moment Shinji moved, Hidan had finally lost patience.
He charged straight at the younger brother, Chun, swinging his Blood Scythe in a deadly arc.
Die!
The blade came crashing down — but incredibly, Chun really did seem "dumb"… because he caught the massive weapon bare‑handed!
CLANG!
Chun grinned wickedly. He had actually caught the sharp blade between his palms and stopped the attack dead.
By now, his entire body had turned pitch‑black, looking exactly like when Kakuzu used Earth Release: Earth Spear.
The older brother possessed Swift Release for unmatched speed.
The younger brother wasn't far behind — he had Steel Release.
When activated, his skin became harder than steel, impervious to blades and almost all forms of attack, letting him tank hits that would kill anyone else.
Squelch!
While Hidan stood stunned that his strike had been blocked, the older brother Chou didn't waste a second.
He dashed forward and drove his short sickle straight into Hidan's neck.
"Hahaha! Got one already!"
"Nice work, brother!"
"You too, little brother!"
The two completely ignored Hidan — who was now radiating pure, murderous rage.
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