Majtani stared blankly at the white-haired boy in front of him.
He couldn't understand why his invincible trump card had failed to produce the expression—and the reaction—that should have appeared on this boy's face.
"Where did it go wrong?"
Was it because this brat had run out of some remote mountain and didn't even know what the "Phantom Troupe" meant?
Majtani fixed his gaze on Kisho, then raised a hand and pointed at the red heart on his chest.
"I've already killed nineteen people!"
Kisho let out a "Wow," and nodded. What a coincidence—he was about the same.
Majtani narrowed his eyes slightly and continued, "But stopping at the awkward number nineteen is really irritating!"
Kisho tilted his head.
"Mr. Majtani, so you have Obsessive-compulsive disorder too."
Majtani choked.
Tonpa on the balcony: "..."
Majtani forced himself to act as if he hadn't been affected by Kisho at all and stubbornly went on,
"Being able to meet the twentieth person really makes me happy, hahaha!"
His pale eye and the other one, blood-red from modification, locked onto Kisho like a hunter staring down prey.
"Then let's have a match where we stake our lives! Only when blood and entrails flow across my palms can I feel satisfied! Hahaha~ hahaha!"
He suddenly burst into manic laughter, his words mixing with the cackle in a way that made one's scalp prickle.
"Fine. Just like you said— a fight to the death where one side completely dies."
Kisho rubbed his nose and agreed decisively.
"Sure. Let's do it."
Majtani choked again. This time, he couldn't even laugh.
What was wrong with this kid?!
He had already said all that! Why? Why? Why wasn't he afraid at all?
Or had he already been scared senseless, just pretending to hold on because he didn't want to slink away in humiliation?
Then he would add more fuel to the fire!
"Even if you cry and beg for mercy in pain during the fight, don't expect me to stop attacking!"
The smile on Majtani's face grew increasingly twisted.
"Because your pain will only make me more excited—more excited!! Hahahahaha!!"
Tonpa didn't even dare look at him anymore and trembled as he withdrew his gaze.
In his heart, Kisho was no different from a dead man.
However…
Kisho only let out a faint sigh.
"Uncle, you talk too much. Are we fighting or not?"
Majtani: "..."
It seemed this white-haired brat was just a fool who wouldn't shed tears until he saw his own coffin.
In that case—
Majtani bent down and took a deep breath.
With that movement, every muscle on his body bulged, making his already massive frame swell to a terrifying degree.
He leaped high into the air, then hurled a vicious punch straight at Kisho!
With a loud "Bang!"
The solid ground was smashed into a fist-sized crater. Fragments of rock flew everywhere, and cracks spread across the surrounding floor in large jagged patterns.
"So strong! He shattered the floor with his bare hands!! And made such a huge pit!"
Tonpa shouted in shock.
Amos opened his eyes, stretched his neck to glance at the so-called "huge pit" in the center of the arena, and his mouth twitched violently.
He then looked up at Tonpa.
He remembered that although the four of them were on the same team, whenever Kisho made a move, Mr. Tonpa would either conveniently pass out or somehow not be present for various strange reasons.
Well then, it wasn't that surprising he would marvel at a "huge pit."
In the arena, Majtani stared at Kisho, who had leapt aside to dodge, and smiled faintly.
"Time to strike while the iron's hot and use my final move!"
He slowly turned around, revealing the massive spider tattoo on his back—twelve legs in total.
Tonpa gasped.
"…! The Troupe! A twelve-legged spider tattoo. What he said was true!"
Kisho: "..."
Amos: "..."
C·L gently closed his book, bent one long leg, propped his chin on his hand, and looked toward the central stone platform.
"What are those expressions? You don't even know this and you dare come take the Hunter Exam?!"
Tonpa turned back toward C·L, who looked calm, and Amos, who looked speechless. The disdain on his face shifted after a few seconds into the pride of "only I know this."
He shouted, "Anyone taking the Hunter Exam should have heard of them! That's the Phantom Troupe! The Phantom Troupe! The most notorious band of thieves in history!"
C·L smiled.
"Seems like I've heard someone mention it."
Amos: "..."
Tonpa shot C·L a contemptuous look.
Finally, something you don't know!
He smugly began "educating" the two "illiterates."
"Every Troupe member has a twelve-legged spider tattoo on their body. That's the symbol of the Phantom Troupe!"
C·L nodded.
"I see."
Amos: "..."
Help.
One fool wasn't enough to tease—now another one had delivered himself to be toyed with.
On the central stone platform—
Majtani looked at Kisho, satisfied. Now this brat should finally be afraid!
With steel embedded in his right hand, he could throw punches powerful enough to shatter rock. And with the Troupe's mark—so far, no one who saw those two things had dared continue fighting him.
Kisho slowly stood up and shouted toward Majtani,
"Awesome!!"
Majtani: "…?"
The reaction seemed right—yet not quite right?
"Mr. Majtani, your tattoo is really impressive! It looks so real! Where did you get it done?!"
Kisho exclaimed in admiration, then frowned.
"But Mr. Majtani, your tattoo isn't correct. The real symbol should have a number in the middle!"
Majtani: "…?"
"Come on, I'll show you mine!"
As he spoke, Kisho pulled off his sleeveless shirt.
On the boy's back was also a twelve-legged spider—this one with the number "8" in the center.
"I think mine looks more authentic than yours. What do you think, Mr. Majtani?"
Kisho smiled and winked at the nearly petrified Majtani.
Majtani stared at the seemingly harmless boy in disbelief, his voice trembling.
"…You—?!"
"Don't think too much, Mr. Majtani. The stationery shop at the school gate sells tons of these tattoo stickers."
Kisho hopped aside to avoid Majtani's unconscious hand reaching toward him.
"Don't touch it! It'll fade if you do!"
He stood still, put his shirt back on, and said—
"Sticking a spider tattoo on yourself and pretending to be a Troupe member—that's middle school fashion, right?"
He grinned as if meeting a fellow enthusiast.
"Didn't expect that even at your age, Uncle, you'd still enjoy playing this!"
Amos: "..."
So "enjoying teasing fools" really was a Troupe tradition.
Tonpa: "..."
C·L watched Kisho, who was having the time of his life in the middle of the arena, smiled faintly, shook his head, and reopened his book.
"Mr. Majtani."
Kisho walked up to the petrified giant and lightly patted his shoulder.
"It's perfectly normal to have a few childish hobbies. Nothing embarrassing about it."
Kisho smiled.
"Just next time, remember—be absolutely sure to tattoo a number in the middle of the spider, okay~"
Majtani: "..."
His eyes suddenly widened.
Because the boy before him, while speaking casually, lightly swung a punch at the ground.
"Boom—!"
One corner of the central stone platform exploded apart. Dust billowed as a massive slab of rock dropped straight into the bottomless abyss.
Kisho looked at Majtani—whose face had already been ashen and was now turning darker by the second—and smiled slightly, revealing small tiger teeth.
"So… can our 'fight to the death' begin now?"
...
Check out my new interesting story "Naruto: Starting by Possessing Kimimaro." A transmigrator appears in Kimimaro's body, inheriting a powerful bloodline limit.