After warning his team, Shota then turned his attention to the noble brat who was still bound and gagged in the corner. The boy had been quiet for a while, but now his eyes widened in fear. Shota gave him a cold, serious look and said calmly, "It is time for you to sleep."
The young noble immediately panicked. He thought Shota was about to kill him right there. His face turned pale, and he started struggling against the binding cloth even though it was useless. Muffled sounds came from behind the gag as he tried to beg for his life. Tears formed in his eyes, and his whole body shook with terror.
"Please don't kill me. I will be a good boy...." the noble cried out once the gag was slightly loosened by his desperate movements. His voice was high-pitched and shaky. He kept repeating the words over and over, promising to change his ways and never be arrogant again. It was a complete change from the rude, spoiled boy who had insulted his guards earlier.
Shota watched the scene with a mix of amusement and disbelief. The once proud young master was now begging like a scared child. He promised to listen to his father, to treat servants better, and even to study hard. The words tumbled out quickly between sobs and sniffles. It was almost sad how fast his arrogance disappeared when he thought death was near.
The Anbu tried hard not to laugh behind their helmets. One of them whispered quietly that the boy had finally learned some manners after all.
"Please, I will give you money. My father has a lot. Just don't kill me. I will be humble from now on. I swear," the noble continued, his voice cracking. He looked truly pathetic, tied up and trembling. Shota almost felt sorry for him, but then he remembered how the boy had treated his real guards like dirt. The sudden humility was long overdue.
Shota sighed loudly and spoke in a tired but amused tone. "And finally you have learned humility. Your dad should be paying us for this."
The noble kept begging for a few more seconds until Shota finally acted. With a quick and gentle strike using the side of his hand, he knocked the boy out cold. The young noble's head dropped forward, and his body went limp in the chair. He then shoved him in some hidden corner. He would stay unconscious for a good while, safely out of the way during the coming fight.
Shota kept the noble kid's disguise on. This would help them maintain the act a little longer when the auction people arrived. They waited quietly for the employees to come to their VIP room to collect the payment and deliver the won items.
The tension in the room grew as they heard footsteps approaching in the hallway. Shota's eyes sharpened. This was the moment their plan would spring into action.
Finally, there was a knock on the door. A well-dressed man entered the VIP hall along with what looked like a shinobi mercenary squad of three people acting as guards.
The man carried himself like a professional employee of the auction house. He had a polite smile on his face and held some papers in his hand. The three mercenaries were rough-looking, clearly hired muscle meant to protect the delivery and handle any trouble during payment collection.
"Hello kind sir, here are your purchases," the man said in a smooth, business-like voice.
One of the mercenaries stepped forward and brought out a storage scroll. It had a name tag with the auction hall number clearly written on it. He handed the scroll to one of Shota's team members who was pretending to be a samurai guard.
The Anbu operative released the contents of the scroll carefully. Sealed packages appeared on the table. He checked the items thoroughly to make sure everything they had purchased was there. After a quick inspection, he nodded at Shota, confirming that the jutsu scrolls were correct and complete.
Shota kept his voice calm and polite as he replied. "Ah, thank you. You all were gracious hosts."
The man delivering the items looked a little confused. From what he had been told about the young noble, the boy was supposed to be extremely arrogant and rude.
Even during the actual auction, the real noble brat had acted haughty. But right now, this "young lord" was speaking politely and thanking them nicely. The contrast was strange, and the man could not hide his puzzled expression.
Shota noticed the confusion but did not let it bother him. He continued speaking in the same calm tone. "Allow me to show you how thankful I am by providing you a perfect ending to your spectacular auction."
The man blinked and asked in a confused voice, "What do you mean, young lord?"
Shota stood up slowly from his chair. He looked around the room at the man and the three mercenaries with a small smile hidden behind his disguise. He asked them a simple question. "You know, what is the most beautiful art?"
He paused and looked around, but no one answered him. The delivery man and the mercenaries just stared at him with blank faces, clearly not understanding where this conversation was going.
"Well, the answer is... Explosion!!" Shota declared.
The man's eyes widened in shock. The three mercenary shinobi immediately reached for their weapons, sensing danger. Their hands moved fast toward kunai and swords.
But before they could fully draw their blades or launch an attack, a huge explosion sounded somewhere in the main auction hall. Then another explosion followed right after it, and then another one.
The ceiling started shaking and pieces of it began falling down. The walls rumbled violently as more explosions went off in different parts of the auction house.
Screams could be heard from the main hall where rich guests and shinobi buyers were panicking.
The three mercenaries became distracted for a moment by the sudden explosions. They looked toward the door and the shaking walls, trying to figure out what was happening.
But they quickly regained their composure and turned back toward Shota and his team. They started weaving hand signs rapidly to launch jutsu attacks. However, nothing happened. They felt their chakra disappear completely as if it had been sucked away.
At the same time, strong binding cloth shot out from Shota's sleeves and wrapped tightly around their bodies. The cloth squeezed their arms and legs, stopping all movement. Before the mercenaries could think further or break free, their necks were snapped with precise force. The three men fell to the floor lifeless.
The delivery man stood frozen in terror, his face pale and his mouth open in shock. He had not expected any of this. One moment he was doing his normal job, and the next his guards were dead and the building was exploding around him.
Shota had already sneaked his shadow clones around the auction house earlier using the Anbu camouflage technique. The clones had moved silently through the shadows while everyone was busy with the auction.
They had placed explosive tags in key locations without being noticed. When Shota released one of his shadow clones in the VIP room, the other clones received the signal instantly. That was when the clone triggered all the explosive tags at once.
Otto stood nearby, watching everything unfold with wide eyes. He saw the four men die just like that, so quickly and efficiently. The delivery man was taken down a second later with a single strike.
Otto could not help but feel deep respect and awe for his young captain. He mumbled quietly under his breath, "And that is the reason he is called the best Anbu to have been in the assassination department. The Eraserhead of Suna."
--------Author Notes---------
Thankyou Mason Erickson for supporting me!
I have decided to increase the number of extra chapters on patreon from 15 to 20. Thankyou.
Y'all can now read the next 20 chapters of the fanfic on my pat*reon.
https://pat*reon.com/Charizard6
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