How Can We Govern the Shinobi World with Vermin Like These?

"Damn it, how did the Land of Wind end up like this?!"

A child trudged across the Gobi, yellow sand stretching in every direction. A dusty cloak covered his entire body, and even his face was tightly wrapped in tattered cloth.

The gale howled across the desert like a furious beast, raging unchecked through the open wilderness.

Beneath a night sky so dark it almost swallowed the moonlight, the sand whipping through the air struck his small frame, nearly lifting him off his feet.

Fortunately, the child, Dōmeki Shun, seemed to have expected this. He nimbly grabbed hold of a sea buckthorn shrub, then, whenever the wind eased, darted a few steps forward before repeating the process.

Traveling during the Land of Wind's windy season was especially dangerous for ordinary people, but Dōmeki Shun had his own reasons for having no choice.

Besides, Dōmeki was not the only child risking such a journey. Not far away, an emaciated beggar child dressed in similar rags lay unconscious on the sand, likely to end up as dinner for the sand wolves.

Dōmeki hesitated for a moment, then sighed and pulled a small gourd from his robe. Wincing at the expense, he poured a mouthful of clean water into the poor wretch's mouth before carefully putting it away again.

He dragged the beggar child behind a sand dune, and when he heard signs that the child was waking, Dōmeki left without looking back. That was all he could do; whether the boy survived from here on was up to him!

After several hours of trudging, Dōmeki finally made it to an abandoned earthen fort.

He was close to Sunagakure now and could not afford to be careless. Those cold-blooded killing machines would show him no mercy just because he was young.

After spending a long time buried in the sand, Dōmeki finally felt safe enough to plunge into the ruins.

The child paid no mind to the pungent stench of all the rubbish that hit him in the ruins. Dōmeki pulled the tattered cloth from his head, finally revealing his face.

Dōmeki Shun looked about four or five years old, with short, dark red hair that hung loosely. His slightly malnourished, thin face did nothing to diminish his handsome looks, and his unusually lively eyes were something most of the abandoned, already numb to everything, lacked.

Humming a tune no one could understand, Dōmeki began picking through the ruins, which the villagers of Sunagakure used as a rubbish dump. Naturally, he could not resist cursing again. "How did the Shinobi World end up like this?!"

If the people of the Land of Wind heard him, they would surely complain that it was all because of those fat, brainless fools in the Land of Fire and Konoha, while the people of the Land of Fire would look down on all the paupers around them who coveted their land!

After considerable effort, he dug up a few shriveled slices of bread and some vegetable leaves. Dōmeki nodded in satisfaction, and as he ate in peace, he reflected on how he had ended up like this.

Simply put, an ordinary office worker had been reborn into an ordinary Genin family in Sunagakure. Then his parents were killed on a mission, leaving the three-year-old Dōmeki an orphan.

Short on funds, the village, which believed in training elite shinobi, banished untalented children from ordinary families to fend for themselves. But that was commonplace throughout the Shinobi World.

Fortunately, Dōmeki, who had once dreamed of becoming a Kage at three and trouncing the Ōtsutsuki at five, had secretly learned his parents' pitifully meager legacy: the Chakra Extraction Technique and a few simple Ninjutsu. Only then had he managed to survive in the harsh environment.

"How can anyone govern the Shinobi World with a bunch of vermin like these?!"

In this mad world that taught underage children the art of killing and sent them to slaughter one another on battlefields, Dōmeki Shun despaired of the world!

Suddenly, the sound of beasts howling came from afar, drawing closer.

Dōmeki's body immediately went on alert. By the time the sounds reached his ears, a hazy image had already formed in his mind.

"Sand wolves looking for food. About four—no, five! They're fast!"

Dōmeki weighed his chances of escape. In the end, he could only pull a rusty Kunai from his robe, give it a deft spin, and grip it tightly in his right hand.

"Tap, tap, tap!"

The jumble of footsteps drew closer, while the piercing howls grew quieter.

Dōmeki knew that was what sand wolves did after finding prey, before moving in for the hunt. Thanks to this body's keen senses, he could even hear the beasts panting outside the ruined wall, and their drool dripping onto the sand.

"Bang!"

The wall, already weakened by the erosion of wind and sand, suddenly broke apart. Gleaming fangs, trailing a foul gust, lunged for Dōmeki's throat.

But Dōmeki had long been ready. Taking advantage of his height, he ducked beneath the towering sand wolf, and the battered Kunai, gleaming with a bluish light, pierced its tough hide with surprising ease.

Blood sprayed from beneath the beast, and the delicate features of Dōmeki's face turned savage as they were splattered with blood.

Having landed his blow, the red-haired brat rolled swiftly to the side. Sure enough, in the next instant, several sets of claws tore the sand wolf's corpse to pieces.

While the beasts devoured their companion's corpse, Dōmeki sprang to his feet, clenched the Kunai between his teeth, and rapidly made Hand Seals before pressing both hands to the ground.

"Lightning Release: Earth Flow!!!"

Faint blue sparks flashed from the red-haired brat's hands and traveled along the blood remaining on the ground, reaching the three feasting sand wolves almost instantly.

"Crackle!"

The stench of scorched fur filled the air amid cries of pain. Their bodies temporarily stiffened by the Lightning Release, the sand wolves could only watch as the little prey, covered in blood, charged toward them.

Now, the roles of hunter and prey were reversed.

"Puchi!" The sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out several times in succession.

Drip! Drip!

Blood dripped steadily from the Kunai's edge onto the ground. Having used up a great deal of strength, Dōmeki panted heavily, propping himself against the fallen giant wolf's corpse.

Showing no joy at his victory, the red-haired brat fixed a sharp gaze on the damaged wall, his muscles and nerves stretched to their limit.

Tap, tap, tap!

Footsteps sounded again, unhurried and leisurely, as though their owner were out for a stroll. At the same moment, the wind outside stopped, and the cold, dim moonlight shone through the gaps.

"Boom!"

With a tremendous crash, the walls of the earthen fort were blown away. Dōmeki leaped outside amid the falling rubble.

When the red-haired brat looked up, he saw a terrifying sight.

A giant silver wolf over two meters tall was licking its left paw, its silver fur glowing with a halo in the moonlight. Its blood-red eyes swept casually over its dead fellows without the slightest ripple of emotion; instead, a humanlike sneer appeared on its face.

Dōmeki frowned deeply and glanced at the collapsed wall, where huge claw marks could faintly be seen.

"Something's wrong!"

Alarm bells rang loudly in the red-haired brat's mind. This was definitely not the intelligence and strength an ordinary beast could display.

The words "shinobi beast" surfaced in Dōmeki's mind.

Shinobi beasts were creatures in the Shinobi World that had mastered the power of Chakra, elevating their lives and gaining intelligence far beyond ordinary animals. Some had even mastered Ninjutsu.

Shinobi beasts varied in strength. The powerful ones could sit and discuss the Way with the Sage of Six Paths, while even the weak ones could assist shinobi in battle.

But regardless of its strength or whether it had mastered Ninjutsu, this beast was a troublesome enemy for the frail Dōmeki.

"Bad luck! Bad luck!"

Seeing the cunning and cruelty of a predator toying with its prey flash in the silver wolf's bloody eyes, Dōmeki inwardly lamented his luck. He grumbled that the people of Sunagakure really were a bunch of vermin, letting a beast with the potential to become a summoning beast slip through their fingers. They deserved to be trounced by the other four great shinobi villages!

Tap, tap, tap!

The giant silver wolf strode toward its prey. After casually shredding the broken walls blocking its path with one swipe, it used its blood-red gaze to intimidate the little red-haired brat.

"Hehehe!"

Dōmeki could not help letting out a laugh that sounded as if he were breaking down, a wild, unrestrained grin spreading across his twisted face.

But his body moved a step ahead of his mind. Like an antelope being chased, he sprinted straight at the giant wolf, kicking up sand as he raced across the ground.

The giant wolf froze for a moment at the sight of its prey courting death, then an even crueler light shone in its eyes. Bluish light coiled around the five sharp claws on its left foreleg.

It's Wind Release, a Ninjutsu like Vacuum Sword!

The thought flashed through the red-haired brat's mind, and his hands were already forming seals at great speed.

Just as Dōmeki charged beneath the giant wolf's claws, a low wall two meters high abruptly rose between them.

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

But in the next instant, the seemingly sturdy earthen wall was torn apart as easily as tofu, countless fragments of earth turning to dust and drifting through the air.

"Wind Release: Gale Palm!"

Amid the billowing dust, the red-haired brat's unrestrained voice rang out. A violent gale swept countless particles of dust toward the giant wolf's head.

The giant wolf could not help closing its eyes, but a moment later, a sharp pain shot through its right eye. The Kunai was buried in it.

The sudden injury only roused the silver wolf's ferocity further. Its great claws tore apart nearly everything around it, and the dust it stirred up also dispersed completely.

Yet before the giant wolf, there was no one in sight, only a shattered stone pillar.

Suddenly, the giant wolf heard the shrill cries of a flock of birds, and the moment he looked up-

A mass of blue lightning burst to life in the raised right hand of the leaping red-haired brat, and then...

Puchi!

Reflected in the giant wolf's single blood-red eye, the red-haired brat's right hand plunged into its head.

With a boom, the silver wolf's enormous body toppled to the ground.

Utterly exhausted, Dōmeki wiped the beads of sweat from his pale face. His half-charred right hand trembled faintly.

Half-slumped on the ground, the red-haired brat still forced himself to keep his body up, aiming the Kunai he had pulled out with his left hand at an empty patch of sand.