Mizukage's Pokémon Ninja Scroll

Chapter 17 Weapons and Tools

Since arriving on the island at noon, Momochi Zabuza has been wandering around, observing the terrain of the entire island.

Although it is just a tiny island, it can serve as an assessment site for more than 100 ninja academy students. Its actual area is more than 2 million square meters, and it is rich in forests and rocks.

Even with Zabuza Momochi's strength, annihilating all the students scattered across the island would be quite difficult.

So even though Yagura had given him a map of the island beforehand, Zabuza still checked several unclearly marked areas on the spot as soon as he arrived on the island.

To avoid being attacked by all the students, Zabuza did not choose to make his move during the day, but simply dealt with two unlucky guys he encountered on the way.

Given Zabuza's strength and reputation at the Ninja Academy, the two ordinary students were prepared to hand over their tokens to save their lives the moment they saw him.

This is also permitted by the Ninja Academy, since the purpose of the assessment is to eliminate the weak.

When faced with an opponent you cannot defeat, you hand over your token and then eliminate two people weaker than yourself. This is the normal procedure for taking an exam.

However, for Zabuza Momochi, everyone in this assessment was his prey.

Zabuza, who has already begun his operation, has no eyes but the enemy.

"Pfft!" "The eleventh!"

With a soft click and a splash of blood, Zabuza slowly pulled his kunai from the back of a girl's neck.

"The twenty-third"

Zabuza's gaze swept over the two corpses at his feet without lingering for a moment.

He simply walked silently toward the other's ninja tool bag, replenished his supplies briefly, and then turned back to continue his hunt.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Two shuriken suddenly shot out from the dense forest. Zabuza alertly dodged to the side, and at the same time extended his fingers, precisely inserting them into the holes in the middle of the flying shuriken.

With a sudden flick of his arm, the shuriken shot back at an even faster speed, striking its target in the dense forest.

"thirty"

After completing this series of actions, Zabuza Momochi subconsciously began to count.

"Fifty-six", "fifty-seven", "fifty-eight..."

As dawn broke, Zabuza's expression shifted from initial bloodlust to calmness, then to confusion, until finally his eyes became deathly still.

Although his expression returned to calm, the murderous aura around him grew even stronger, and the mottled bloodstains extended from his collar all the way to his trouser legs.

Before he knew it, Zabuza had arrived at the meeting point at the island's port.

Even though the sun had fully risen, the fog on the island grew even thicker.

A dozen or so students were gathered here in twos and threes. They were obviously students who had already obtained the two tokens and were waiting for the ship to pick them up.

Several corpses, still bleeding, lay scattered on the ground.

I don't know if he died here after his token was stolen, or if he was just a fool who overestimated his strength and tried to steal the token at the finish line but was killed instead.

Seeing Zabuza Momochi slowly emerging from the thick fog, a student in Zabuza's class walked up to greet him with a hint of schadenfreude.

"Hey, Zabuza Momochi, with your strength, why are you so late?"

"Don't go over there!" One of his companions seemed to notice that Zabuza's condition was not right.

However, before he could finish speaking...

"puff!"

Hot blood spurted from the boy's neck. The student's wide eyes were filled with shock and resentment, even though he had passed the test.

He futilely reached for the kunai stuck in his throat with both hands, and then slowly collapsed.

"Zabuza! You!"

Originally, only Zabuza's companions wanted to angrily rebuke him, while everyone else stood by and watched coldly.

Everyone assumed that Zabuza had come to the end to steal the token because he hadn't obtained it for some reason.

However, Zabuza Momochi completely ignored the man's words, stood still, and began to rapidly form hand seals.

"What is he doing?"

"Hey! That dead guy had two tokens on him!"

"No! Stop him!"

The students who are able to come here at this time are all of above-average level in this cohort.

Some of the quick-thinking individuals realized something was wrong and rushed towards Zabuza.

"cut!"

Upon seeing senbon needles, kunai, and shuriken, all sorts of attacks came rushing towards them.

Zabuza had no choice but to interrupt the Water Dragon Bullet Technique he was forming hand seals for, and took out two kunai, one in each hand, before charging into the crowd and wreaking havoc.

"Are you out of your mind?!"

"Stop talking nonsense, kill him!"

However, no matter how angry these people are, they are being ruthlessly harvested one by one as time goes by.

At this moment, the murderous aura emanating from Zabuza Momochi was so intense that it was almost tangible, almost real.

When the last surviving student looked at the boy who was even shorter than himself.

Perhaps fear distorted his vision, for he seemed to see the malevolent energy behind the boy coalesce into a terrifying, several-meter-tall demon's head.

At this moment, Zabuza Momochi was surrounded by a heavy stench of blood, and purplish-red demon heads twisted and swirled behind him, gradually enveloping him.

The head, like a hungry beast, exuded a suffocating aura of terror.

Finally, the student's eyes were empty, the dagger slipped from his hand, and he slumped helplessly to the ground, welcoming his own death and the birth of the demon.

The midday sun finally dispelled the thick fog on the island, and a large ship arrived at the island right on time.

However, as the boat slowly approached the shore, everyone on board witnessed a scene completely different from previous years.

A boy covered in blood and without eyebrows sat alone at the harbor, his arms tightly wrapped around his knees.

At this moment, more than twenty corpses lay scattered around him, all of them students from the Ninja Academy, some male and some female.

Blood, kunai, and shuriken were scattered all over the ground, and even the seawater near the port was stained a shocking red.

The boy sat amidst the chaos and death, his eyes vacant, as if isolated from the world.

He stared blankly at the approaching ship, his face expressionless, as if he had lost all reaction to his surroundings.

"Quick, go down and see what happened!"

A man dressed as a Chunin was eagerly trying to rush ashore.

However, a green-haired figure beat him to it and blocked his way.

Yagura Karatachi, a figure who should have remained behind the scenes, is now on the ship.

His appearance was unclear—whether it was to ensure the plan went smoothly, to protect Zabuza Momochi after he completed his mission, or perhaps both.

"Everyone! Stay on the ship!"

As soon as Yagura finished speaking, several figures swiftly emerged from the cabin and blocked the bow of the ship.

Meanwhile, four Chunin also emerged from the island.

The proctor, who had seemed to be completely absent all day, also joined the interception team.

Then, Yagura Karatachi jumped ashore alone.

With a complex expression, he slowly walked toward Momochi Zabuza, who was curled up and sitting there.

"Kid, you are just a weapon and a tool to carry out orders. All the killing and sins will be borne by me, the one who issued the orders."

Yagura leaned down, gently ruffled Zabuza's hair, and continued speaking.

"So now, your mission is complete. Congratulations on graduating, kid!"

"Weapons and tools, huh?"

The boy, whose gaze had been blank from beginning to end, seemed to have a faint glimmer of light in his eyes at this moment.

(End of this chapter)