Death? Life?

The battle had been completely one-sided.

Perhaps it could not even be called a battle. It was more fitting to call it the Mist Ninja's one-sided brutality!

A shuriken swept past Katsuki's ear, severing strands of crimson hair and leaving a shallow bloody cut on his pale cheek.

A slight sting came from his cheek. Katsuki's vision blurred, and a large-knuckled fist filled his sight. With a crisp crack, like a cookie being crushed, a tsunami of pain surged into his nervous system, and tears slipped down uncontrollably.

He flew backward like a kite with its string cut, rolled several times through the muddy grass, and clutched his broken nose as he howled in agony.

He finally understood what pain was. Across both his past and present lives, he had never experienced such agony. It felt as though someone were driving an awl into his nerve endings again and again. Blood and tears streamed down his face, which was smeared with mud and grass. He looked as miserable as a homeless dog.

In the direction the siblings had come from, blazing fire shot into the sky. Those cold-blooded Mist Ninja bastards were not only killing people—they were setting the village ablaze. Now they truly had become homeless dogs.

Kushina burst into tears, but she could not break free from the Mist Ninja restraining her. She could only keep calling Katsuki's name while cursing the scum who had hurt her brother.

"Boss, didn't those higher-ups say these children had to be taken alive..." A Mist Ninja walked up beside Scarface, watching Katsuki struggle and writhe like a maggot. He was worried that the little brat might get punched to death by their captain!

If some little brat died, then so be it. But if those higher-ups took their anger out on them, even dying a hundred times would be too light a punishment.

The scar-faced Mist Ninja wiped the blood from his fist, a savage, bloodthirsty grin on his face. "What does it matter? Even if that brat dies, isn't there still one left here?"

"Bastard, scum, trash... Katsuki, are you okay? Katsuki?" Kushina's eyes were red from crying, and her throat had gone hoarse from shouting. Watching her brother howl in pain, she felt as though someone had carved out her heart. She cursed Scarface like a madwoman.

Kushina went back and forth over the same few simple words. She had never even set foot through the doorway of the art of insulting people.

Still, every one of the Mist Ninja could feel the girl's intense hatred. Even the one holding Kushina could not help thinking that if this little girl survived, she would surely kill their boss one day.

Scarface's brows drooped, and the ugly scar on his face twitched slightly. His wolfish, frigid eyes fixed on Kushina. "That brat won't die. Take him back to report in. As for this little girl... kill her on the spot!"

"Wouldn't that... be bad? What if those jonin-sama blame us..."

"I'll take responsibility for everything. I'll do it myself."

Scarface acted the moment he spoke. Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled two shuriken from his Ninja Tool Bag, aimed at Kushina's neck, and threw them directly at her.

Thud! Thud!

Only when the shuriken sank deep into flesh did they make such dull, leather-like sounds.

"Katsuki, Katsuki! What's wrong with you? You idiot, what are you doing?" Kushina cried out at the top of her lungs.

The shuriken had not struck Kushina. Instead, they were embedded in Katsuki's chest. Two blossoms of blood splashed up. Katsuki lay flat on his back, his limbs numb and his hands and feet ice-cold. He could clearly feel his life force draining away bit by bit, his body withering.

Amid his pain, he had heard Scarface say he would kill Kushina. In that instant, the urge to protect her suppressed the overwhelming pain. He burst forth with speed beyond even his own imagination, rushing in front of Kushina and using his body as a shield to block the two shuriken.

What a failed transmigration.

At that moment, Katsuki became strangely calm. Even the pain that had raged like a tsunami and hurricane now felt incredibly distant.

But as long as my sister lives, I guess I haven't failed completely, right?

The self-mocking thought flickered through his mind. Katsuki quietly waited for death to descend... until the sound of thunder came from near and far, echoing in his ears. His hazy consciousness suddenly sharpened. He struggled to open his heavy eyelids and saw a silver light dance in midair, a fountain of blood erupting... and Kushina's tear-streaked little face...

Darkness. Boundless darkness. He could not distinguish up from down, left from right, east from west. There was only this eternal darkness!

"Kushina, has Katsuki not woken up yet?"

"No. His fever only just went down today. I don't know when he'll wake up!"

Such familiar voices. Sound suddenly rang out in the darkness, so very familiar... Then a thread of coolness came from his forehead, so comfortable that he nearly moaned.

The flag of the Land of Fire snapped loudly in the sea breeze, while seagulls circled above the ship.

On the deck at the bow, the red-haired boy sat in a wheelchair, taking deep breaths of fresh air as he squinted at the azure sea. He hated the foul, stuffy air in the cabin. He had been cooped up inside for two whole days, and if he stayed any longer, he would suffocate.

Katsuki had not died.

Though the two shuriken had pierced his chest, they had not touched his heart. Relying on the monstrous vitality of the Uzumaki Clan, he survived. Besides, Katsuki was a man... a boy who had eaten the Human-Human Fruit. After being unconscious for two days and two nights and receiving treatment from Sakumo's medical ninja, he finally woke up.

Through Kushina, he quickly learned what had happened after he lost consciousness. White Fang, that God of Slaughter, had found the siblings, slaughtered every Mist Ninja, then withdrawn with the unconscious Katsuki and Kushina, who had nearly cried herself unconscious.

Sakumo's mission was to protect the future Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, not to fight the Mist Ninja. He took Kushina and Katsuki back to the ship and immediately withdrew from the island where the Land of Whirlpools was located.

Then, according to the intelligence White Fang had gathered, the Uzumaki Clan was already finished. The Mist Ninja, true to their usual habit of exterminating the roots, had even tried to catch up to the Land of Fire's ship. Naturally, the outcome was obvious. Konoha's White Fang had never shown mercy to enemies. Those cold-blooded butchers lost to the even more savage Konoha's White Fang, dying resentfully upon the sea. By now, their corpses had probably been devoured clean by fish and shrimp.

"Uncle Sakumo, how much longer until we reach the Land of Fire?" Katsuki turned to look at White Fang, who had suddenly appeared beside him.

"Soon. We'll make land by noon tomorrow. More importantly, how are your legs?" Sakumo asked with concern.

Katsuki shook his head with a bitter smile. His legs would not recover anytime soon. To save Kushina, he had erupted with overloaded speed in his desperation and had nearly ruined both his legs. The bones in his legs had suffered comminuted fractures, while his tendons and muscles were badly torn in several places.

If he had not been from the Uzumaki Clan, anyone else would have been crippled beyond doubt.

Even for an Uzumaki, if the Human-Human Fruit had not further strengthened his physique and greatly improved his healing ability, he would not have been able to walk for at least a month or two. But right now, he did not even know when he would be able to stand and walk again.