Chapter 174: Education

The distinctive blast of explosive tags carried far across the open wilderness. Any shinobi hearing such a sound would recognize it as a sign of combat nearby.

So, the Kirigakure missing-nin simply charged straight over, completely unguarded.

Logically, caution should be paramount for a shinobi. However, reckless shinobi were far from uncommon. From a probabilistic standpoint, an elite shinobi was statistically likely to encounter enemies weaker than themselves most of the time. And for a Shikotsumyaku user, assuming she had mastered her abilities, were there truly many enemies in the shinobi world she couldn't defeat?

The answer was yes, but certainly not many.

Take Kimimaro, for instance. Even at a young age, he was capable enough to assist Orochimaru in dealing with the Fourth Kazekage. While Habara considered the Fourth Kazekage relatively weak, he wasn't exactly a pushover for others.

Of course, Kimimaro was a unique prodigy; the strength of the Kaguya clan couldn't be judged solely by him. But undeniably, their unique taijutsu possessed devastating lethality. If Kimimaro could effortlessly wipe out a division's worth of Naruto Uzumaki clones, another Kaguya Kekkei Genkai user should have no problem eliminating a regiment's worth.

That a Konoha Chunin couldn't defeat a Kirigakure Jonin… one could only chalk it up to fate and circumstance.

When the Kaguya clan member, drawn back by the deliberate commotion Habara had created, appeared within his line of sight, Habara couldn't help but narrow his eyes slightly. He hadn't expected a ninja capable of such cruelty to be female.

But clearly, something about her was grating. A single glance told him she looked like some kind of heavy metal rocker.

"Habara-senpai, let me handle her."

Upon seeing the enemy, Uchiha Shisui immediately spoke up. With his dōjutsu prowess, no matter how strong the opponent, controlling her with genjutsu would be almost certain. Considering the enemy's arrogant, almost frenzied style, it was hard to imagine she could defend against Shisui's illusions.

However, Habara held up a hand, stopping him.

"Even for an enemy, there are things one should and shouldn't do, things that are acceptable and unacceptable. Perhaps no one ever taught her these principles. Punishing without teaching is wrong, after all. And I've always been one to win people over with virtue," Habara said, his voice laced with irony.

How could he let Shisui instantly dispatch the enemy? If he did that, what was the point of Habara even being here?

"Shisui, help collect our comrade's remains. This will probably take me some time."

With that, Habara began walking towards the opponent, step by step.

His deliberately unhurried posture immediately drew a scornful smirk from the enemy. Taking your sweet time? Trying to look composed?

The Kaguya ninja took a couple of steps forward herself, her stroll quickly turning into a brisk walk, then into an all-out sprint. In an instant, she was upon Habara, arm extended, fingertips stabbing towards his eyes.

Habara's expression was glacial. His left hand lashed out like lightning, intercepting her attack despite striking second, and clamped down firmly on her attacking arm.

Habara's knuckles felt like searing iron. With just a light squeeze, accompanied by a sickening crack, the enemy's wrist bent backward at an unnatural angle.

Agony twisted the Kaguya ninja's face, but instead of retreating, she pressed forward. Not only did she not halt her momentum, but she surged towards Habara even faster. Simultaneously, ribs erupted from her chest cavity, sharp enough to instantly impale an ordinary ninja.

But Habara remained unfazed. His right hand formed a tiger claw, snapping upward to strike her jaw. Another crisp crack of breaking bone echoed. As Habara followed through, black blades extending from his elbow sliced cleanly through the protruding bone ribs, severing them effortlessly.

Without releasing his grip on her wrist, he then slammed a powerful kick into her side. The immense force not only dislocated her shoulder but also spun her lower body more than ninety degrees relative to her torso.

In a single exchange, the enemy suffered a complex fracture of the right wrist, multiple severed ribs on her right side, and likely spinal trauma resulting in paralysis from the waist down. By the time Habara released her, she collapsed to the ground like a heap of discarded rags. Proof that arrogance often leads to ruin.

If Kakashi had been present to witness Habara's movements, he might have finally conceded, perhaps with a sigh, that Habara finally understood what taijutsu truly entailed: speed, precision, ruthlessness, fluid motion, maintaining balance, stable center of gravity, and conserving momentum. Simple principles, really—why hadn't Habara grasped them before?

"You can still stand up, can't you?" Habara stated. "Anyone else would be finished, but I know a ninja like you isn't done yet." Daigo had, naturally, already provided him with the relevant intelligence on this opponent.

Shikotsumyaku. Bone blades as weapons, supposedly as hard as steel and as sharp as famous swords. Though, from the looks of it, actual steel still proved superior.

Any normal person folded into three sections like that would be dead. For a Shikotsumyaku user, however, bones could regenerate rapidly. In the blink of an eye, the heap of rags on the ground began to reform, pulling itself back into a standing position.

What happened next was startling. This individual, so vicious when facing the weak, upon realizing she had struck solid iron—encountered a truly ruthless opponent—didn't react with berserk fury. Instead, her first instinct was to turn tail and flee frantically!

The unexpected turn of events momentarily stunned Habara. What was this? Weren't you supposed to be the hard case?

All bark and no bite. Nothing more.

Habara recovered quickly. Seeing the enemy for the coward she truly was, he felt no further need to continue the 'lesson'. Such a person wasn't ignorant of her actions; she knew exactly what she was doing.

As she put some distance between them, several fine, silvery threads shot out towards her, instantly binding her limbs.

"I thought you didn't understand reason and wanted to teach you," Habara murmured, his voice dangerously soft as the bound figure struggled. "But it turns out… you understand perfectly well."

"Spar—"

The Kaguya ninja managed to twist her head back, but before she could utter the word Habara found so distasteful, a surging tide of Iron Sand instantly engulfed her.

Habara slowly clenched his fist. The mass of Iron Sand tightened, then began to twist and contort like a giant piece of taffy being wrung out. It was like stuffing someone into a stone mill. She never got the chance to finish her plea.

"This just goes to show," Habara mused aloud to the silent woods, observing the gruesome result, "knowing what's right and actually doing what's right are two entirely different things… A negative example."

Bullying the weak was certainly a negative example. Torturous killing was an even worse one, violating the principle of efficient, clean kills in shinobi combat. But…

Habara hadn't gone back on his word. He said he would crush the enemy's bones, and crush them he did.