Only with the resolve to be killed can one have the qualification to wield the sword (New book seeking monthly votes, seeking recommendation votes)

Fsssh!

The words leaving Yun Chuan's mouth hadn't even reached their ears before they were drowned out by a sharp, piercing sound tearing through the air.

In the Scarred Sand Ninja's gradually contracting pupils, a cold gleam like a sword blade split the rain curtain, leaving a trail as it shot straight toward him, the sound cutting through the wind and rain like the long cry of a horn.

"Damn it!"

Startled, the Scarred Sand Ninja reacted almost on pure ninja instinct, his fingers tugging at the chakra threads connecting to his puppet.

Clack! Clack, clack!!

The puppet's hollow abdomen snapped open instantly, unleashing a continuous high-frequency barrage of kunai and shuriken in a wide, indiscriminate attack.

Driven by fear, he fired off all his stored projectiles at once.

"How many senbon do you have, and how many times can you dodge... or block?" At the sight, the Scarred Sand Ninja's mind stirred, but he took half a step back, no longer sure if he was questioning his opponent or himself.

At this moment, even if he didn't want to admit it, retreat had already crept into his thoughts.

That brat was downright eerie.

He wasn't closing in by dodging with speed—he was knocking down his projectiles head-on with senbon.

It was like... he was using him to hone his senbon-throwing technique...

He wasn't one of those stubborn, down-and-out samurai with some warrior's creed to fight to the death. When faced with the abnormal, he just needed to pull out safely and report back to the higher-ups later.

"Besides, the teacher should have noticed something's wrong and is heading this way by now..."

But just as this thought formed in the Scarred Sand Ninja's mind—

Buzz! Buzz, buzz!!

From Konan and Yahiko's perspective, they could only see Yun Chuan leaping into midair, his form nearly dissolving into a blurry afterimage under the moonlight.

If his movements before had been high-speed, now they had surpassed that level entirely. With their current dynamic vision, Yahiko and Konan could barely track his senbon-throwing motions.

All they saw was starlight blooming like fireworks between the two figures several times.

Sharpness against sharpness, metal clashing against metal.

Fewer in number and smaller in size, the senbon nonetheless triggered a chain reaction in an instant.

One senbon knocked down a kunai before snapping in two, yet it pierced through two other kunai in a bizarre trajectory, deflecting them off their original course toward Yun Chuan.

Sparks rained down like a storm, splattering from midair onto the ground, a dense, unbroken chorus of sharp metallic screeches that stirred up wide ripples in the puddles.

Broken kunai and senbon stuck into the earth, their polished blades reflecting the Sand Ninja's terror.

"How is that possible?!"

The Scarred Sand Ninja's first instinct was that he was up against someone from the Uchiha Clan, and he subconsciously looked at Yun Chuan's eyes to confirm his guess.

But he didn't see the expected crimson—nor even the original deep blue.

Only a cold, sharp gleam reflecting the soft moonlight, slipping into the corner of his vision from below his side.

In that moment, he instantly realized what was happening.

But he only had time to react, not to act.

Under the effect of "Presence Concealment," this was a blade more silent than a ghost.

With his reaction speed, he could no longer dodge it.

One strike, and it would cleave his head from his shoulders.

"This time, I've caught you." A hoarse voice sounded from behind the Scarred Sand Ninja.

Instantly, the fear of death flooded his brain, snapping the thread called reason.

A mad gleam spread across the Scarred Ninja's face, his eyes left with nothing but bestial savagery, and his body, now stripped of thought, lunged toward Yun Chuan on instinct.

In a flash, Yun Chuan sensed his intent. The downward slash aimed at his head shifted from a vertical cut to a horizontal one, then into a grand diagonal slash from shoulder to groin.

Seven Nights Assassination Art · Flash Sheath · Labyrinth Shamon!

Clack, clack! Crack!!

A dazzling burst of sparks bloomed, beautiful as iron flowers and silver trees.

But what fell as stardust wasn't sparks—it was thick blood and pale, grisly bone fragments.

Yun Chuan's short sword, its blade chipped and battered, lodged itself in the Scarred Sand Ninja's chest, blood streaming down his body.

"Ah!!"

Bearing this unimaginable agony, the Scarred Sand Ninja let out a wail, his eyes nearly bursting with bloodshot veins, his face twisted into a crumpled mess.

But he had already realized that the thing before him wasn't a "ninja" bound by common sense—it was a specter beyond the concept of an ordinary ninja!

If he still clung to the delusion of escaping unscathed, the next cut would surely split his skull!

So, even as the pain threatened to drown his mind, he tried to grab Yun Chuan's blade with his left hand while driving his right elbow toward Yun Chuan's throat, as if trading injury for injury to snatch a sliver of survival.

At the same time, his fingers twitched in an almost imperceptible motion, and the chakra within him poured out in that instant.

Clack, clack! Clatter!

Behind Yun Chuan, the puppets that had been motionless extended pitch-black chains like serpents from the hollows of their robes.

Along the chains, saw-toothed blades clattered as they twisted in grotesque angles no human body could achieve, spinning toward Yun Chuan like a wheel of razors tearing through the air.

If those chain-blades caught him, they would shred him to pieces without a doubt.

The Scarred Sand Ninja himself would share the same fate.

But faced with this desperate, blood-soaked struggle of a cornered beast, Yun Chuan's reply was a smile.

"Dodged?" Yun Chuan's face bore a faint smile as pale and cold as his skin. He lowered his gaze and said softly, "That's fine too."

At least, you won't die so easily.

Boom!!

Yun Chuan gripped the hilt of his blade with both hands, kicked his foot high into the man's chin, and yanked the short sword free from the bone it was lodged in.

Seven Nights Assassination Art · Flash Step · Six Hares!

The terrifying chain-blades, like brambles, were evaded by Yun Chuan with uncanny movements. He sidestepped, blade in hand, and swept past the Scarred Sand Ninja.

The motions were utterly inhuman—a dance merging lethality and grace, blooming with a suffocating, eerie beauty.

This was the "Seven Nights Assassination Art," capable of acceleration from a standstill and executing movements at extreme speeds that ordinary people could never achieve.

Shiiing!

At that moment, the wind howled louder than the night breeze.

Crimson blood slid down, soaking his face.

A red line crept across his cheek, splitting inch by inch, stopping at the cheekbone.

The torn flesh merged with the ugly scar on his face. A familiar pain spread inch by inch, finally awakening the agony long discarded in the depths of his memory.

"Impossible..."

The Scarred Sand Ninja's lips parted slightly, and from his throat came a hoarse voice full of bewilderment, death, and despair: "You're... that brat I killed..."

A year ago, the war faction of the Land of Rain, led by Hanzo of the Salamander, had risen, attempting to drive Konoha and Sand Ninja out of the Land of Rain through war, bringing true peace to the land.

At that time, having just become a Chunin, he received his first A-rank mission.

The mission required him, under the command and leadership of the Jonin in charge, to assassinate the "Elders" secretly supporting Hanzo of the Salamander and other war faction members in the Land of Rain.

"Elders" were typically several individuals—high-ranking ministers who assisted the Lord, commanded samurai, and governed state affairs, acting as "stewards." They operated under a council system to help the Lord manage politics, economy, and military matters.

To ensure the Land of Rain continued to obediently serve as a buffer zone and battlefield between the great nations—thereby reducing and avoiding the impact and harm of war on their own countries—Sand and Konoha tacitly allied with the Land of Rain's peace faction to carry out assassinations against the war faction.

In that operation, he was just tagging along for the bounty and merit, but under his teacher's orders, he also eliminated all the family members of one of the "Elders."

If he remembered correctly, that "Elder"'s surname was...

—"Muyama."

"Looks like you remember."

From behind came Yun Chuan's voice, tinged with a hint of regret. He sighed, "If you'd remembered to finish the job back then, maybe 'I' wouldn't exist."

When Yun Chuan first arrived in this world, opening his eyes, he saw a kunai and a face twisted in a sneer.

From the initial pain and resentment, to despair, emptiness, and stillness.

Until, in the liminal state between death and life, he connected with the source, understood the essence of "death," and struggled back from hell to the world of the living.

"That said, maybe I should thank you?" Yun Chuan said in a tone that blurred between mockery and jest.

Thud!

As he spoke, Yun Chuan gently released his grip. The Scarred Sand Ninja, dazed and terrified, instinctively clutched his chest and collapsed to the ground.

"Cough! Sp-spare me... It wasn't my idea..."

Blood still poured from his mouth, but driven by the will to survive, he squirmed and crawled like a worm.

If a kind-hearted person saw this tragic scene, they would surely feel pity, then silently watch him die.

After all, he was only following orders, not truly...

"Ah!!"

Yun Chuan stomped on his bloody back, making him shriek like a dying animal.

Then, Yun Chuan nudged him with the tip of his foot, flipping the Sand Ninja, who had been face-down, onto his back to look up at him.

"..." The Scarred Sand Ninja's fading gaze met Yun Chuan's eyes.

They were deep blue pupils, reflecting the blood-red rain and mist, but utterly devoid of any pity.

Gradually, the figure in the Scarred Sand Ninja's eyes overlapped with the small silhouette in his memory.

That boy back then, after cutting his face and falling into a pool of blood, had looked at him just like this—calmly, intently, as if trying to etch that face into his mind forever...

"When we first met, your face was already this ugly. Now that you're about to die, don't show me such an ugly expression anymore, alright?"

Yun Chuan looked down at him and said with a soft laugh, "In these final moments, keep looking at my face. Remember it well."

"If your soul's death can shine, maybe it'll lure some 'things' like I did?"

With that, he raised the shortsword that was nearly broken.

"Cough, cough!" Under the moonlight, as the youth lifted his blade, the Scarred Sand Ninja seemed to fall into a strange tranquility. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but could only cough up blood, letting out a hoarse, rasping hiss.

Blood flowed with the rain in streams to his feet, carving winding gullies into the ground. The red mist of rain and the two men staring at each other formed a brutal, grotesque tableau.

Finally, the tableau froze in the instant the shortsword pierced his heart.

"I'll wait for them to come and seek revenge on me."

Gazing at the face still twisted with malice, Yun Chuan only said quietly, "Only those with the resolve to be killed have the right to wield the blade, isn't that right?"

Schlick!

The skull, pierced through, tumbled into a pool of blood, the moon's halo reflected in its eyes. The words echoed through the rain-soaked mist, lingering long after.

Talk was talk, games were games—Tsukimiri Yun Chuan wouldn't make the same mistake he had.

Pat.

No one knew how long had passed.

Amid the howling wind and rain, and the sound of wild dogs tearing at a corpse, a footstep rang out somewhat abruptly.

Then came the pained whimper of a wild dog, followed by a crisp crack of bone. After that, the rain-soaked night fell back into dead silence.

It wasn't until a woman's voice broke through that the stillness was shattered.

"Tomeme..."

Two figures, one tall and one short, stood in the rain wearing raincoats. The most conspicuous feature was the dark red short hair beneath one of the coats.

Beside him stood a woman with long brown hair, her face etched with concern.

"Hah... I know."

The red-haired man's tone carried a chill, the veins at his temples throbbing. He tossed aside the now-silent wild dog and let out a deep breath. "I hate this place more and more. Even the stray dogs dare to bare their teeth at me..."

At his feet, a corpse lay in a pool of blood, its face ravaged beyond recognition by the wild dogs.

The body was covered in wounds deep enough to show bone. The pierced heart was clearly visible, the wound still gushing vivid blood.

The blood flowed like thick magma, the viscous red slowly spreading and crawling outward, as if a bucket of red paint had been splashed, staining the surrounding ground under the rain's soak.

A battle had taken place here. As for who survived, it was obvious—it wasn't her husband's student...

"What a cruel bastard."

The brown-haired woman took a deep breath, her anger nearly solidifying into substance. Her low voice was filled with fury. "Even the rain here is soaked with the smell of blood."

It felt as though the blood had turned to mist and risen into the sky.

Becoming dark red clouds, raining down crimson drops.

Just breathing the air here, one could almost smell the metallic tang of a blade slicing through skin.

Just looking at this scene, one could almost hear his dying screams and the cold, sharp swing of that bastard's blade.

Like a traveler walking through a jungle, stumbling upon the carcass of prey torn apart by a beast, seeing the gnawed remains before him.

Even if the predator had long since eaten its fill and left, the traveler would still be shaken by the lingering brutality in the air.

"The brain was destroyed. A very cautious bastard."

The red-haired man called "Tomeme" crouched down, carefully examining the residual traces on the corpse. Unconsciously, his brow furrowed deeper. "...And there are only wounds made by a bladed weapon."

"A bladed weapon?" The brown-haired woman's eyes flickered, her expression turning grave. "Could it be the White Fang of the Leaf?"

But the relations between the four great nations were already tense. Though they were only probing each other within the Land of Rain for now, without yet invading each other's borders, both Sunagakure and Konoha had already deployed troops along the frontier.

She and her husband hadn't been home to see Scorpion in months. The White Fang should have been stationed at the border like them. Why would he suddenly appear in the heart of the Land of Rain?

"No, Saori. It can't be Hatake Sakumo."

Tomeme shook his head, speaking low. "As disgusting as that bastard's Thousand Years of Death is, with his pride as a former samurai clan member, he would never choose to torture a chunin to death... and he wouldn't need to."

As he spoke, his form vanished from beside the corpse and reappeared in an area littered with broken ninja tools. He then looked up at the two bodies in the alley.

"A man exceptionally skilled in assassination arts, shurikenjutsu, and kenjutsu." Though most of the traces at the scene had been washed away by the rain, he could still roughly judge the enemy's abilities.

It looked more like one of those rough-and-tumble ninja from Amegakure. They specialized in all sorts of messy assassination techniques and moves, and sometimes unexpected jutsu and talents emerged from them.

Just as he shunshined into the alley and was about to examine the bodies—

Fsssh!

A barely perceptible sound caught Tomeme's attention. His pupils shrank instantly.

The next moment.

BOOM!!

The explosion of several Exploding Tags tore through the silent rainy night. Flesh and blood scattered like rain under the blast, splattering everywhere!

Meanwhile, in a street corner alley several kilometers away.

Feeling the faint tremor beneath his feet, Yun Chuan stopped and looked toward the rising plume of smoke in the distance, a smile on his face. "Hope you like my welcome gift."

"And I hope you don't end up dead at the White Fang's hands before you find me."