Naruto: Choosing from Birth - Part 44

Annai, soaked like a drowned rat, squeezed her eyes shut. Her face was bright red, and her nose twitched as she silently began to sob.

This was too humiliating.

Feeling the unusual sensation against him, Uchiha Cheng quickly set her down gently.

"No way, she actually cried this time?"

"Cheng-nii, you're bullying her again. She's a girl," Mikoto walked over and scolded him.

"You've got me wrong. Her fighting style was so wild, and with that short hair, I thought she was a boy. Besides, let me teach you another lesson: in the ninja world, strength is respected above all else, regardless of gender."

"Hmph! I wasn't crying. The splashing water just got in my eyes. And..." Annai opened her tightly clenched right fist. "I got the bell."

"Fine, I didn't see that coming. Your tears really fooled me this time. Sure enough, no matter what world it is, a girl's tears are still a sharp weapon." Uchiha Cheng helplessly waved a hand. "You look a little miserable all soaked through, but getting the bell does make you look kind of cool."

"Hmph!" Annai turned her head with a cold snort, swiftly evaporated the water off herself with Chakra, then took the two bells to claim credit from their teacher.

"Thank you, Cheng-nii." Mikoto tugged at Cheng's sleeve. Anyone could tell that he had deliberately let her take that bell.

"It's nothing. Better for one person to go hungry than two, right?"

Uchiha Cheng smiled and casually rubbed Mikoto's little head.

Sure enough, only two boxed lunches were handed out afterward. One for Mikoto and one for Annai.

Uchiha Cheng had lost, so he got nothing to eat!

Hatake Sakumo, meanwhile, said they would be taking on a mission and would depart promptly at one in the afternoon.

"Wow, today's food smells especially good."

Anna Tachibana opened her lunchbox and deliberately sat in front of Uchiha Cheng, eating with loud smacking sounds.

"Look at how pleased you are. This is nowhere near as good as Mikoto's cooking."

"Hmph, it's still better than having nothing to eat."

"Cheng-nii, have mine. I can't eat this much." Mikoto separated more than half of her meal and handed it to Cheng.

"My little sister is still the cutest. She actually has some human kindness."

"Hmph, you make it sound like I eat a lot. I can't finish this meat anyway. I need to maintain my figure." Annai also split off half of her food. "And thank you for earlier. I'll work hard not to hold everyone back."

She was not an idiot. Couldn't she tell whether Uchiha Cheng had gone easy on her?

The silver-haired man watched silently from afar as the team became harmonious on their very first day. He smiled faintly, and a puff of smoke rose around him as he vanished from the spot.

At one in the afternoon, Hatake Sakumo returned to Training Ground 17 on time, holding a mission scroll in his hand.

"Given that your strength already surpasses that of many peers, and that you completed the basic training long ago..."

"We'll go straight to doing missions. We'll skip D-rank and C-rank missions and directly take on a B-rank mission."

"In other words, this mission will involve bloodshed. You will either kill or be killed."

"You have five minutes to consider."

"Turn back, leave the ninja world behind, and live the rest of your lives as ordinary people."

"Or complete the mission, face this world's cruelty head-on, and become strong enough to protect others."

Hatake Sakumo spoke calmly, as if he could not care less, like he was deciding what to eat for dinner.

"Cheng-nii..." Mikoto instinctively looked toward Uchiha Cheng, clutching the corner of his clothes as she wanted an answer from him.

Uchiha Cheng smiled faintly and quietly looked at Mikoto, with no intention of speaking.

I can help you with other matters.

But this is the one thing I cannot help you with.

The Uchiha Clan is a renowned clan blessed with a powerful bloodline limit. From the moment they are born, they are destined to be unable to easily escape this cruel world.

Unless the day comes when I rule the ninja world.

By then, even if you want to be an ordinary person, I will surely keep you safe for the rest of your life.

And if you want to become a true ninja, then as long as I, Uchiha Cheng, do not die on the path of growth, I will never let you leave before me.

"Teacher, I won't retreat. I've seen plenty of life and death. If I didn't even have this much resolve, I never would have boasted that I wanted to become a great ninja and revive my family." Mina Tachibana was the first to shout.

"I... I too!" Mikoto clenched her little fists.

"If you choose to become ordinary people, then we, as Konoha ninja, will surely protect you and keep you safe from calamity and disaster."

"Likewise, when we choose to become Konoha ninja, remember this: behind you are countless villagers who need your protection."

"Then we depart now. Our mission target is to eliminate a stronghold controlled by a ninja."

"A Rogue Ninja subdued the Mountain Bandits there a week ago. They have since become even more bloodthirsty and brutal, leaving virtually no survivors among the travelers they rob. We'll discuss the details on the way."

The mission site was Black Tiger Mountain, far from Konoha. It was said to have gotten its name because a black tiger had appeared there long ago.

The four quickly ran out of the training ground and headed toward the village exit.

As they passed through Konoha's gate, Hatake Sakumo did not even turn his head before flicking out a kunai.

Thud! A Village Exit Pass was nailed fiercely to the side of the gateframe.

The battered wooden gateframe finally could not take it anymore and fell off entirely.

A somewhat older Konoha chunin walked out from the nearby guardhouse and looked at the four people already disappearing into the distance.

He grumbled, "Who started this terrible habit? Don't they know how to take care of public property?"

After checking the Village Exit Pass and picking up the kunai stuck in the gateframe, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Jackpot, jackpot! It's a finely made kunai!"

Near the border of the Land of Fire, at Black Tiger Mountain, it was dusk once again, but there was no longer any brilliant sunset.

Dark clouds pressed down over the city-like sky, and gloomy clouds churned overhead.

Cold winds whistled past in bursts, sweeping fallen leaves into the air like dancing moths and adding a touch of desolation.

Hatake Sakumo led the three up the steep mountain wall and silently infiltrated the stronghold.

"This Black Tiger Stronghold has over two hundred Mountain Bandits and one ninja. Every one of them is a heinous, habitual criminal. The mission requires all of them to be wiped out. If you cannot do it, then remain in this stronghold forever. I will not intervene."

"Now, attack!"

Sakumo's voice carried not the slightest emotional fluctuation. At this moment, he seemed utterly lifeless, like a rotten log completely blended into the surrounding environment.

Uchiha Cheng said nothing. Like a silent night cat, he flashed several times and darted toward a Mountain Bandit standing guard with a spear.

The Mountain Bandit had been numbly staring at the scenery outside the stronghold in the cold wind when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his throat. He reached up to touch it, only to find his hand covered in scarlet blood.

"Enemy... glug glug..."

His face filled with horror. Just as he tried to warn of an enemy attack, blood surged from his mouth, and all strength drained from his body.

Hesitation meant defeat!

Uchiha Cheng did not hesitate in the slightest. Without a word, he rushed toward his next target.

He had long understood the rules of the ninja world and had recognized the cruelty of the Naruto world in his previous life. If he had hesitated in battle or begun doubting life, he would have been nothing but bones two years ago.

Mikoto and Annai stared blankly at Uchiha Cheng as he harvested lives in blood like the Death God.

Their bodies trembled faintly, their small hands loosening and tightening as if they were making the greatest choice of their lives.

"Perhaps you can think of it this way: killing them is only to save more people. Sometimes, at critical moments, you have no choice but to make difficult decisions. For example, abandoning ninety-nine lives so that the other one hundred and one may live."

"Of course, those are really just excuses to comfort yourselves. The path of a ninja was never as simple as you imagined from the start."

Hatake Sakumo reminded them calmly. This was something every ninja had to go through.

They did not need to become cold-blooded machines devoid of emotion, but they needed at least the ability to disregard life.

Whether it was the enemy's life or their own.

"Isn't there a more peaceful way?" Mikoto frowned slightly.

"Perhaps there is, but it will not appear now, at least."

Annai clenched the kunai in both hands and was the first to attack. Although she had spoken with complete confidence before coming here...

When the warm blood of her opponent splattered across her body, goosebumps rose all over her skin, and she still felt an intense sense of discomfort.

Mikoto stared intently at Uchiha Cheng's leaping figure. Remembering her dream of facing wind and rain together with him, she finally gritted her teeth and joined the assassinations.

Inside one of the houses, she deliberately chose a Mountain Bandit with a centipede-like scar across his face. Using a sneak attack and the speed of a full-force strike—

Thump!

Her kunai pierced fiercely through the man's back and into his heart. The hot blood that sprayed out made Mikoto squeeze her eyes shut, her entire body trembling uncontrollably.

"Ah!!!"

A piercing scream sounded from behind Mikoto.

A woman carrying a washbasin stared at Mikoto in panic. Clang! The washbasin slipped from her hands, splashing water everywhere.