Chapter 39: The Bet with Nawaki
A remote corner somewhere in the metropolis of the Land of Fire.
"Nawaki-senpai, how about we make a bet?"
Natsuki suddenly asked.
"What kind of bet?"
Nawaki froze slightly and asked in confusion, "Why are you learning from my sister?"
"If we charge in from the front, the two of us might not be able to beat Yasuda."
Natsuki took out a small glass bottle and asked, "I prepared poison. What did you prepare?"
"I also prepared poison."
Nawaki reacted and said, "I'm the senpai, so I won't fight you over it. I can set up traps."
"I'll poison him, and you set up traps. We'll bet on whose arrangement takes effect."
Natsuki said after hearing this.
"Good!"
Nawaki said with a confident look, "I'll definitely win!"
"That's not certain."
Natsuki smiled and said, "Before Yasuda comes back, let's start now."
After traveling for a day and a night, they arrived at the metropolis of the Land of Fire.
After arriving, Orochimaru gave them an address and then acted like a hands-off shopkeeper.
Natsuki and Nawaki followed the address and found Yasuda's residence.
At this moment, Yasuda happened to be away from home.
The two exchanged a glance, then climbed over the wall and entered the courtyard.
Nawaki looked left and right, then began setting up traps in the living room.
Natsuki had originally planned to poison the water Yasuda drank, but he changed his mind.
He was worried Yasuda might trigger Nawaki's trap before drinking any water.
After thinking for a moment, he switched to another poison.
The previous poison needed to be taken internally. This poison spread through the air and entered the body through breathing.
After the two finished their arrangements, they quickly fled the scene.
"I suddenly remembered something."
While waiting, Nawaki said, "We haven't decided on the wager for our bet."
"What wager do you want?"
Natsuki asked in return.
"Hehe."
Nawaki said without hesitation, "Let me eat ten meals for free."
That was it?
Natsuki could not help smiling and agreed.
In reality, even without this wager, Tsunade and Nawaki often came to his izakaya to freeload meals.
"What about you?"
Nawaki said very generously, "As long as it isn't an especially outrageous wager, I can get it for you."
"A wager is about equivalent exchange."
Natsuki thought for a moment and said, "Then help me find a summoning beast."
"What do you need so many summoning beasts for?"
Nawaki asked curiously.
"Every summoning beast has different abilities. One day, they'll come in handy."
Natsuki explained.
"Is that so?"
Nawaki nodded and said, "All right. If you win, I'll find you a summoning beast."
With his status, finding a summoning beast was an extremely simple matter.
In theory, he could even mobilize the resources of the entire Konoha.
At that moment, Nawaki's ninja dog, Saburo, began wagging its tail hard.
The two immediately stopped chatting, because this was the signal that Yasuda had returned.
They exchanged a glance and nervously waited for the traps they had set to trigger.
Yasuda opened the gate and walked into the courtyard.
He arrived at the entrance and was just about to open the door when his gaze suddenly sharpened.
As a Tokubetsu Jonin of Iwa, and an intelligence agent as well, he was very skilled in assassination and counter-assassination.
Before leaving home, he had scattered some tiny powder on the ground.
If the door had been opened, it would leave faint traces on the floor.
Yasuda glanced at the traces and silently formed hand seals with both hands.
His sensory ability spread out.
Everything inside the living room was grasped by him.
"They've already left? Perhaps they left traps behind."
Yasuda took a step back and opened the door from a distance.
But nothing happened.
Yasuda walked into the living room and carefully examined his surroundings. He soon discovered the problem.
He walked up to the sofa and pulled out three explosive tags from underneath it.
Yasuda then walked toward the window and found one explosive tag beneath the potted plant.
Aside from that, he also found several kunai in the corners on the left and right sides of the living room.
After making one round, all four traps Nawaki had set were dismantled.
"Chunin-level methods."
Yasuda shook his head and said.
He did not continue wasting time. He began packing his things, planning to leave.
Although he did not know who had discovered him, as an intelligence agent, once he was exposed, he had to relocate.
"No!"
Yasuda suddenly felt dizzy and his vision blurred. "Damn it, poison!"
Without another word, he took out a bottle of universal antidote and poured it into his mouth.
The discomfort lessened considerably, but it still remained. This meant he needed to find a specialized medical-nin or physician.
Yasuda gave up packing without hesitation and turned to walk outside.
As soon as he stepped out, he saw an enormous water dragon coming straight toward him.
It was Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!
Yasuda had already expected this.
The instant he saw the water dragon, his body swayed, and he ran to the left at his fastest speed.
The water dragon slammed into Yasuda's living room. In an instant, the house began to shake.
Seeing this, Yasuda could not help letting out a breath of relief.
He immediately locked onto Nawaki.
Where did this kid come from?
The thought flashed through Yasuda's mind, but his hands did not slow down.
Demonic Illusion: Hell Viewing Technique!
Nawaki, who was forming hand seals, instantly froze in place. He only felt as though flames were burning all over his body.
Seeing that his genjutsu had taken effect, the corners of Yasuda's mouth could not help rising.
But in the next second, he felt a chill all over his body.
He subconsciously turned his head and saw a flash of blade light.
A stunned expression appeared on Yasuda's face.
He looked down and saw a blade piercing through his body.
Lion Song was already extremely fast, not to mention it was also stacked with Weight Reduction and Reinforcement Magecraft.
Aside from that, Yasuda had been poisoned, so his reactions were a little slower than usual.
Of course, the most important thing was that Natsuki had used Nawaki as bait to draw Yasuda's attention, allowing him to kill him in one strike.
"His genjutsu really is powerful."
Nawaki released the genjutsu and said with a pale face.
It had taken him three seconds to break free from the genjutsu.
In a one-on-one fight, three seconds would have been enough for him to be killed three times.
"We're still young, so it's normal that we can't compare to him."
Natsuki pulled back and withdrew the Heavy God Sword.
"But in the end, he still died by our hands!"
Nawaki quickly recovered his mood and said with a face full of smiles.
Two students from the Ninja Academy had killed a Tokubetsu Jonin. If word got out, no one would probably believe it.
Natsuki smiled and did not say anything.
As long as he killed two more Chunin, he could unlock the Shadow Assassin of the Fushiguro Megumi Template.
Yasuda's death also brought the progress of the Shippo Template's Fox Demon Art to two-thirds.
"My four traps were all destroyed by Yasuda. Looks like you won this bet."
Nawaki walked into the living room and took a look, then discovered that none of his traps had triggered.
"Even if you lost, you can still eat ten meals for free."
Natsuki said casually.
"That's true, but I can still accept defeat."
Nawaki clenched his fists and said, "After we go back, I'll definitely have Sensei properly teach me how to set up traps."
"I suggest you specialize in explosive tag traps."
Natsuki's heart moved, and he said, "Most traps don't work on powerful shinobi, but explosive tag traps are different."
Explosive tags were, in essence, a Fire Release ninjutsu.
If a shinobi was hit by an explosive tag, even if they did not die, they would be heavily injured.
But explosive tag traps were not common.
The reason was that explosive tags were too expensive.
In the original work, even Shikamaru had to carefully calculate when buying explosive tags and did not dare buy too many.
But Nawaki did not lack money.
More importantly, in the original work, he died in an explosive tag trap.
If he could specialize in explosive tag traps, perhaps he could avoid that ending.
(To be continued.)
