I Don't Kill Fellow Villagers

I Don't Kill Ninja from the Same Village

The blue sky was like a vast canvas, dotted with a few clouds, making the sight a delight to behold.

Land of Fire, Konoha, within a courtyard in the Uchiha Clan Grounds.

"Sigh!"

Uchiha Asuka let out a heavy sigh. He knew Uchiha Fugaku would never summon him without reason.

Sure enough, it was because of the student assessment. Someone had reported him.

And his timing had been terrible—he had actually run into the Great Elder here.

The old bastard looked at him as though he had spotted some peerless beauty, his eyes practically glowing green. Then, stealing the Clan Head's thunder, he opened his mouth wide and began berating him without pause.

"Your medical skills may be excellent, but that doesn't justify using such extreme methods to test students.

"The bell-grabbing game can not only train a class's teamwork, but also nurture the bonds between comrades.

"Most importantly, the game's only danger lies in the testing methods of the supervising teacher. What can your methods train? What can they cultivate? Resistance to poison?

"Or are you trying to cultivate the bond of squatting in the toilet together?"

"Our Uchiha Clan can go years without producing a single supervising teacher. Do you know why?

"It's because teachers like you refuse to play by the rules. You take the family's already rock-bottom standards, dig a huge pit beneath them, then kick them a few more times—sending the bottom line straight into the hole."

Seeing that the Great Elder had no intention of stopping, Asuka wiped the spittle from his face and looked up at the old man before him, patiently explaining, "Great Elder, my intentions were actually very clear. I just wanted to test those three students."

Before Asuka could finish, the Great Elder slapped the table, cutting him off as he continued to rant.

"Test how long they can have diarrhea?"

"Heh... heh..."

After letting out a cold laugh, Asuka decisively closed his eyes and chose not to listen to the old man's nonsense.

The old man had a bad heart and no children. If Asuka argued him into an illness... he might lie down here today, end up in the hospital tomorrow, and be lying in Asuka's house the day after.

The sun gradually sank westward, and five pots of tea had already been refilled.

Smelling the aroma of food drifting through the air, the Great Elder tipped back the last cup of tea. Looking at the miserable expression on Asuka's face, he felt utterly delighted.

It had been years—truly years—since he had felt this good.

The last time he had felt this good was when he had first become a ninja and received praise from Lord Madara.

"This Old One has made a promise to the parents of those three students on your behalf. I hope you will teach them properly from now on. Just follow the proper steps and don't get any crooked ideas."

Still lecturing him, the Great Elder rose to his feet, preparing to leave and return home for dinner.

But the moment he stood up, a rush of heat shot up from his thighs to his head.

Buzz! As his mind went blank, the Great Elder felt that his legs were no longer obeying him.

This was bad.

He had sat cross-legged while lecturing for too long. His legs had gone numb.

Seeing the Great Elder let go of his cane and topple straight toward him, Asuka's pupils shrank sharply.

Fuck, I listened to you nag all afternoon, and now you're trying to frame me before you leave? There's no one around right now. If this old man falls in front of me, I won't be able to explain myself.

With that thought, Asuka raised his leg and kicked directly at the Great Elder's face.

Watching that foot grow larger and larger in his vision, the Great Elder was just about to cry out when he felt a heavy blow strike his forehead. A tremendous force sent his entire body flying backward.

Bang! The Great Elder crashed through the guest room door in Fugaku's home and flew into the room.

Tap! Tap! Tap! Fugaku had just stepped out of the kitchen when he heard the commotion from the front courtyard. In a flash, he appeared there.

Looking at the human-shaped hole in his guest room door, Fugaku turned his gaze to Asuka and asked, "What happened?"

"Phew!"

Asuka took a deep breath. Facing the human-shaped hole, he formed the Seal of Reconciliation through the air and said in a low voice, "Great Elder, you let me win."

After saying that, he turned to his Clan Head and continued, "Clan Head, the Great Elder wanted to test my skills just now. We failed to control our strength for a moment.

"I have some matters to attend to. Farewell!"

"You're not staying for dinner?"

"No, thank you for the offer, Clan Head."

Whoosh! The moment Asuka's figure vanished, Uchiha Mikoto, wearing an apron, appeared beside Fugaku. She held a wok in one hand and a spatula in the other. After glancing at the large hole in their door, a worried look appeared on her face as she said, "Great Elder, are you alright?"

"This Old One is fine! Very fine! This Old One is very happy today!"

After saying that, the Great Elder walked out of the room on his cane, his face full of smiles.

Looking at the Great Elder, covered in dust with a large footprint on his face, Uchiha Mikoto hesitated before asking again.

"Are you really alright?"

"I'm fine!"

The Great Elder dusted himself off with one hand. He glanced at Mikoto's pregnant belly, then turned to look in the direction Uchiha Asuka had disappeared, a thoughtful expression appearing on his face.

Tap! After pondering for a moment, he lightly poked the stone floor with his cane and said slowly, "Ever since Tsunade developed hemophobia, that kid has become the strongest among the Medical Ninja ranks, and the best at Medical Ninjutsu among the combat ninja ranks.

"The perfect bodyguard candidate.

"Recently, the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, has been selecting suitable people to complete his Hokage Guard. I think he's just right for it. The Uchiha Clan has been suppressed with the stick for so long—it's time to give them a carrot."

PS: I changed this part. I wrote a bug earlier—aside from Konoha's higher-ups, no one knew Kushina was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Damn, I just flipped through the manga again. Only the Third Hokage and his wife, several elders, Black Zetsu, and Obito knew Kushina was a Jinchuriki. Even the Legendary Sannin didn't know.

Naturally, Asuka had no idea that Uchiha Fugaku's household was once again discussing him. He had already left the clan grounds and arrived at the Valley of the End outside Konoha.

That was right—the place where Uchiha Madara and Hashirama Senju had fought their final battle.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Listening to the enormous roar of the distant waterfall, Asuka stroked his chin with one hand and looked toward the rushing water, thinking to himself, This really is a great place to practice water-walking.

Even if someone lost their footing and fell from the waterfall, breaking a few bones or something wouldn't be a problem.

Your teacher is a doctor, after all.

Between the waterfall crash-course method and the steady stream method, Asuka ultimately chose the waterfall as the place for his students to improve their strength.

They could squeeze out the remaining time to train in other things. This wasn't Naruto's era, when there was plenty of time to play at water-walking in a stream.

"Hey, whose kids are you? Where are your adults?"

Asuka had wanted to ask that question for quite a while.

When he first arrived at the waterfall, these three little brats had already been standing there. Yet after he had stood here for so long, not a single adult had shown up.

Are they really that careless? Letting three children come to a waterfall by themselves?

"Cough~"

One of the children placed a fist to his mouth and coughed lightly. Then, imitating the arrogant manner of his elders, he said in a childish voice, "We're from the Uchiha Clan. We came here to see Madara—"

Bang! Asuka kicked the speaking child straight off the cliff, sending him flying toward the pool below.

When the other two children saw their companion get kicked off the cliff the instant he revealed their identity, their faces instantly filled with terror. Tears burst from their eyes like fountains as they wailed, "Waaah, Mom, there's a bad guy!"

"I want to go home!"

Clang! A kunai suddenly embedded itself in the spot where the child who had just been kicked off the cliff had been standing. Seeing the kunai radiating a dark glint through the gaps between their fingers, the two sobbing children forcibly held back their tears.

Is this guy going to eat children?

Before they could even search for an escape route, they felt as though someone had slapped their backsides, and their feet could no longer touch the ground.

After glancing at the children flying toward the bottom of the cliff, Asuka turned to face the woods behind him and frowned.

"Come out!"

The moment his words fell, two masked ninjas appeared before him in an instant.

Fox mask. Tiger mask. Black bodysuits. White suspenders. The moment Asuka saw what they were wearing, he understood where they came from.

They were either Anbu or Root.

But since they had made a move just now, they were most likely Root.

"Hey, hey."

Asuka rubbed his forehead with one hand. After calculating the time in his head, he asked in confusion, "Shouldn't you have come up and said, 'Danzo-sama wants to see you'? Why did you attack right away?"

The two Root ninjas exchanged a glance, then drew the short swords at their waists and rushed toward Asuka from the front and rear.

Clang! A black kunai caught one of the short swords.

The smile gradually vanished from Asuka's face as he said, one word at a time, "Twenty seconds!"

With that, he sharply raised the kunai, knocking aside the opponent's short sword before instantly slashing to his left.

Clang! Blocking the other short sword again, Asuka raised his right leg and kicked directly at the man's chest.

Then his figure flashed, opening up distance between himself and the two of them.

"Fire Release."

Asuka took a fierce breath, puffing out his chest and cheeks. His eyes instantly turned scarlet, and the breath he exhaled made the surrounding air seem faintly ablaze.

"Great Fire Annihilation!"

Flames burst from his mouth, igniting the surrounding air. A vast sea of fire instantly appeared before the two "Root" ninja.

The pupils of the two Root ninja abruptly shrank. Staring at the ocean-like inferno before them, they swallowed hard as their hands formed seals at varying speeds.

Water Release: Water Formation Pillar! At the very instant the flames arrived, water molecules in the air began to surge wildly, swiftly forming two massive pillars of water that enveloped the two Root ninja.

Sizzle!

As the flames crashed into the water pillars, a huge cloud of steam rose up, completely shrouding the platform.

Feeling the scorching heat radiating from the steam around them, the two Root ninja removed the masks that were nearly melting off their faces and warily scanned their surroundings.

The thick steam blurred the area around them. There was no telling where that Uchiha's next attack would come from.

Pah! Asuka spat onto the ground. Looking at the billowing steam before him, he casually picked up a stone from the ground and plunged straight inside.

Less than a second later, two crisp sounds rang out from within the steam.

Bang! Bang! "Nice heads!"

Seeing the stones in his hands crack while the two Root ninja merely swayed without falling, Asuka could not help but praise them inwardly. Then, he gathered chakra in his hands and slashed directly across the muscles in their arms and legs.

Chakra Scalpel!

As a doctor, he knew exactly where to cut to swiftly rob an enemy of their ability to move without endangering their lives.

This took effect very quickly.

Looking at the two people sprawled on the ground, Asuka dislocated their jaws before turning and jumping into the pool below to fish out the three children.

It had only been a little over ten seconds. The three kids should not have drowned, right? When Asuka found them, he saw all three rolling their eyes, while the jets of water that occasionally spurted from their mouths proved that they had truly swallowed a great deal of water.

After briefly treating the three children, he walked straight over to the two Root ninja, crouched down, and carefully examined them.

Honestly, ever since graduating from the Ninja Academy, he had encountered no fewer than ten groups of Root ninja.

Some attacked after two sentences, some attacked after three, some took him to an empty grove to attack him, and some used excuses to lower his guard before attacking. In any case, it always ended in a fight.

But... this was the first time he had seen someone attack the moment they showed up.

Lowering his head to look at the female ninja lying on the ground, Asuka reached directly into her mouth, pulled out her tongue for a look, then shook his head and said, "It really is the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.

Your professional standards are truly slipping. You attacked the moment you showed up."

"Forget it!"

Stuffing her tongue back into her mouth, Asuka wiped his fingers on her clothes and continued, "Don't look at me like you're ready to die. I'm not here to pry for information."

At those words, bewilderment appeared on the two Root ninja's faces. But then they seemed to think of something, and their eyes instantly dimmed.

If he was not after information, then he was going to kill them outright.

"Relax!"

As though he knew what they were thinking, Asuka picked his nose and said casually, "My hands are not stained with the blood of ninja from the same village. Although you attacked me, in my eyes, we're all from the same village. We can't just waste our village's strength for nothing, can we?

The weapons in our hands should be aimed at outsiders."

The two Root ninja became even more confused.

Had they encountered some kind of great saint?? Uchiha had good people like this??

After helping the two sprawled ninja up, Asuka used medical ninjutsu to reconnect one of each of their arms. Then he had the two women sit facing each other, separated by an arm's length.

"Ah!"

Asuka sighed and sat down beside them. Revealing his Sharingan, he called the three Uchiha children who were pretending to sleep over and said to them, "I am Uchiha Asuka.

Today, I'll teach you a lesson you can't learn anywhere else."

"Then..."

One of the children sniffled, looking rather aggrieved.

"Why did you kick me?"

Hearing that, Asuka looked at the child as though he were an idiot and replied righteously, "I just didn't want to be distracted while fighting."

Bonk! Seeing that the child was about to say something else, he flicked the child on the head. Then he looked at the two Root ninja and said, "In your eyes, I saw a strong desire to live. And it just so happens that I am someone who will not raise a butcher's blade against fellow villagers."

Hearing that, the female ninja stared at Asuka with vigilance and frowned.

"What are you trying to do? No matter what information you want, we won't say anything."

"I'm not asking about that!"

As he spoke, Asuka poked the three children beside him, signaling for them not to lose focus. Then he took out paper and a pen from his clothes and continued.

"After all, you attacked me. I'm still somewhat unhappy about it.

Now, you two will drink while playing Rock Paper Scissors. Whoever wins gets to slap the other person.

A hundred rounds in total.

Once you're done, and I'm satisfied, we'll all go our separate ways.

However, if one of you wins but the winner's slap isn't loud enough, then I'll slap the loser instead."

"It's that simple?"

The two stared at Uchiha Asuka in disbelief. They couldn't believe he was letting them off so easily.

More importantly, they only had to slap each other a hundred times without being questioned, and then they would be fine? "That's right!"

Uchiha Asuka nodded, then took several bottles of alcohol from a sealing scroll. Raising his right hand into the air, he said solemnly, "I swear upon the honor of the Uchiha clan that I'm telling the truth.

All right, begin!"

Hearing this, hope for survival instantly flared in the hearts of the two Root ninja. They had never expected him to let them go so easily.

What a clan full of lunatics.

It was just slapping faces. After exchanging a glance, the female ninja said, "I'll count to three, then we throw together."

"Okay!"

The moment she finished counting to three, the female ninja threw scissors while the male ninja threw paper.

Slap! A crisp slap rang out. Looking at the large handprint on the male ninja's face, Uchiha Asuka shook his head with a sigh.

"What a shame."

As he spoke, he handed over the bottle of alcohol and comforted him, "Have a drink. The more you drink, the less numb your face will feel."

"Huh?"

Smelling the aroma of alcohol, the male ninja gave Uchiha Asuka a surprised look and blurted out, "You're actually pretty nice!"

Mm! Mm! Uchiha Asuka nodded repeatedly. Then, he summoned three wasabi honey fried chicken Family Buckets and handed them to the three children. They ate fried chicken while watching the two slap each other.

No matter who lost, Uchiha Asuka handed them a bottle of alcohol and consoled them with words.

One of the children picked up a drumstick. Looking at the two Root ninja slapping each other, his eyes were filled with confusion.

Were these two... sick in the head? Slap! Slap! Slap! Listening to the crisp slaps, the child poked his companion and asked in a low voice, "What are they doing?"

"I don't know."

His companion shook his head, equally baffled.

Still, the drumsticks were really delicious.

Slap! An even crisper slap rang out. The male ninja clutched his cheek and looked at his companion in disbelief, his eyes full of confusion.

What the hell... why did you suddenly hit harder?

"My hand slipped!"

The female ninja smiled awkwardly. She truly hadn't controlled her strength properly just now. Or rather, after drinking, her control over her body had noticeably declined.

"Huff!"

The man took a deep breath and didn't dwell on it. Then he turned to Uchiha Asuka and asked, "How many rounds are left?"

"Seventy-eight. We've got a long way to go!"

"Fine!"

With that, he swung his arm around and joined the game again.

As time passed.

Slap! The female ninja's head snapped slightly to the left. Stroking her numb cheek, she stared at her companion in disbelief, her eyes likewise filled with questions.

The strength you used just now was clearly approved by that Uchiha. Why did you suddenly hit harder?

"Cough, cough... My body's getting a little out of control."

"Heh~"

The female ninja's mouth twitched. Suppressing the anger in her heart, she snatched the bottle from Uchiha Asuka's hand, took a huge gulp, and gritted out, "Again!"

Slap. Slap. As their hands slipped more and more often, the two, who had initially tried to restrain their strength, became increasingly careless. Often, a single slap would send the other rolling across the ground several times.

Later on, Uchiha Asuka looked down at the teeth the two had spat onto the ground. He waved over the three children behind him, pointed at the pair still slapping each other in the distance, and asked.

"Do you understand now?"

"No!"

The three of them shook their heads. They genuinely hadn't understood.

But they had noticed one thing—the harder the two men fought, the more vicious they became.

Seeing the bewildered looks in the three children's eyes, Uchiha Asuka stood up and dusted the loose dirt off his backside. He led the three children farther away and explained in a low voice.

"They're good shinobi loyal to Konoha and loyal to Danzo. Trying to gather intelligence from them is practically impossible.

But practically impossible doesn't mean absolutely impossible. Sometimes, the cracks in one's heart are fatal.

These people won't reveal information about their superiors, but they can reveal information about Root's enemies.

Besides, I'm paying them for information on their enemies.

If outsiders from another village wanted to buy information on our villagers, selling it would be considered treason.

The mental pressure of betraying your village is enormous, okay?

But who are we? We're Uchiha. We're a great clan of Konoha. We're the Konoha Military Police Force.

If they sell intelligence to us, the psychological pressure is much lower.

When we look into Root's intelligence, it doesn't even count as reconnaissance. It's called an inspection."

As admiration gradually appeared in the three children's bewildered eyes, Uchiha Asuka planted his hands on his hips, looking smug as hell.

He couldn't share this secret with those people in the clan. Otherwise, they'd be scared to death.

Gathering intelligence on "Root"? What the hell was the difference between that and gathering intelligence on the Anbu?

Next, he would use the intelligence in his hands to actively break into the hearts of Danzo's subordinates.

Danzo could be this arrogant because fifty percent of his confidence came from the shinobi under him, thirty percent from the Third Hokage, and twenty percent from his own strength.

Once he had all of their personnel information in the future and had broken into every one of their hearts, he'd know exactly what kind of underwear any member of Root wore that day.

P.S.: A massive six-thousand-word chapter.

Mostly because ending the chapter there felt a little lacking.

Emmm, I don't know whether I'll get contract news on Monday. If it doesn't come, I'm screwed. After all, this book wasn't submitted internally.