Survival was an instinct etched into the DNA of every intelligent being.
Driven by that instinct, even a shut-in who'd never killed a chicken before transmigrating could unleash terrifying drive!
That was how the new Shiba Seika adapted to life in the Shinobi World at an astonishing speed.
Soon, he began planning his own road to survival.
According to the system's predictions, he would most likely die in the Land of Rain, and his death would be closely tied to the Akatsuki Organization.
So, a few months ago, the first thing he thought of was leaving the Akatsuki Organization.
But on the very night he slipped away without a word, the system's estimate for his ending—"killed by the revenge of wandering ninja in the Land of Rain"—shot up to over 70%!
Several new death outcomes appeared as well: killed by Iwagakure Ninja, killed by Konoha ninja, killed by Sunagakure ninja, and many others.
Meanwhile, the entry for dying of old age kept flickering, making him wonder for a while if it was about to disappear altogether.
Ah, what a painful realization. It turned out the organization was everything to him...
He understood then that leaving the Akatsuki Organization would only get him killed faster.
So, early the next morning, he slunk back to the Akatsuki Organization's base.
To outsiders, it seemed that Shiba Seika had begun to "go dark" after that night.
Since he couldn't escape, he could only choose to change.
Rather than torment himself with indecision, he might as well go berserk and take everyone else down with him!
After he successfully used verbal persuasion for the first time to get members of the organization to defy Yahiko's Will and wipe out a gang of wandering ninja who deserved to die, Shiba Seika was delighted to discover that the odds of him being "killed in revenge by wandering ninja in the Land of Rain" had dropped by four percentage points.
Most of that probability had been redistributed to several outcomes in which he died in Konoha years later. His odds of dying of old age had also risen, reaching 0.2%.
A qualitative breakthrough—his chances of survival had doubled!
He had also received his first reward from the system.
His rewards included a slight improvement in physical abilities; a slight increase in his total Chakra; Ninja Tools throwing (Beginner); Three Basic Techniques (Beginner); Taijutsu (Beginner); and Kenjutsu (Beginner). Altogether, he had received more than ten enhancements.
He hadn't suddenly become a powerhouse like Kizaru or Purple Dog, but at least he'd shaken off the impostor label and become a genuine ninja.
Before long, he'd even become a squad leader in the Akatsuki Organization, a ramshackle outfit that had only been founded a few years earlier.
More importantly, this had shown Shiba Seika the way forward!
Based on his own analysis, the main reason the Akatsuki Organization would eventually fall was its current leader, Yahiko.
The first-generation leader of the Akatsuki Organization was a little too kind—so kind that he came across as downright naive.
He also had a strong attachment to his homeland.
At the top of Yahiko's list of dreams was undoubtedly peace in the Shinobi World and mutual understanding between people.
A close second was surely making his homeland, the Land of Rain, a better place.
The original story mentioned several times that he wanted to help the Land of Rain escape its endless cycle of misery.
That naivete, combined with his attachment to his homeland, made Yahiko far too indecisive when dealing with internal problems in the Land of Rain.
When facing ninja from other countries, the Akatsuki Organization could still remain clear-headed, rational, and ruthless.
But whenever they faced enemies within the Land of Rain, Yahiko always tended to assume the best of them.
In Shiba Seika's view, Yahiko's future decision to let his guard down around Hanzo the Salamander was simply an extension of this mindset!
Yahiko truly lived by the principle that people from the Land of Rain didn't betray their own.
Unfortunately, when others betrayed him, they didn't hold back at all.
Once Shiba Seika had figured out the root of the problem, he naturally had to make his own changes.
Over the past few months, his clashes of ideals with their leader, Yahiko, had grown increasingly heated, and the two had argued openly several times.
Yahiko always wanted to give the people of the Land of Rain another chance, hoping to win them over with his ideals.
Shiba Seika, on the other hand, just wanted to wipe out every threat that might kill him in the future.
Yahiko accused him of being too extreme, but Shiba Seika clearly thought he was still too cautious.
Their organization's Second was a madman who believed in "nuclear deterrence" and wanted the world to feel pain. Wouldn't he have to kill at least a few hundred million people just to get things started?
Compared with his future successor, Shiba Seika wasn't even close.
Unfortunately, Yahiko knew nothing about that.
So when the mission report scroll arrived at Yahiko's desk this time, it came as no surprise that he was furious again.
"Damn it! You didn't capture a single prisoner, but somehow you wiped out a whole group of Iwagakure spies on the way back, without leaving a single survivor!
That Seika—does he think he can fool me like I'm an idiot?"
Just then, Konan, who had stayed near the base to handle logistics, happened to come by and asked softly,
"What's wrong, Yahiko? Are you angry about Seika again?"
Konan wasn't yet the melancholy, lilac-like beauty from the original story. She was only fourteen and still looked like a lily on the verge of blooming.
Her gentleness often served as a balm, healing rifts within the Akatsuki Organization.
But this time, even with Konan there, Yahiko could barely keep his temper under control.
"Yeah, it's Seika again! He came up with another excuse to kill all the prisoners who surrendered! That's the fourth time this month!
Why is he always so extreme? Why can't he understand our ideals?
People can understand one another. Even if those people made mistakes, they could still become our allies someday, once they understood our principles! Wasn't that how all of us came together in the first place?"
After a long silence, Konan could only try to comfort him.
"Maybe Seika is just going through a rebellious phase. Remember? He wasn't always like this.
I'm sure that, with time, he'll come to understand our teacher's ideals again."
Yahiko's ideals, and those of the entire Akatsuki Organization, hadn't come from nowhere.
They came from their teacher, who had taught Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato together: Jiraiya.
Unfortunately, Jiraiya had passed his ideals on to the three children without teaching them how to achieve them.
The things Jiraiya had taught them during those years had been rather hollow.
Even he didn't know how to bring about peace, so he could only pin his hopes on the vague, illusory prophecies of the Toads.
Konan tried to persuade him again. "Why not give Seika some more time? We still need his wisdom, don't we?"
The Akatsuki Organization lacked both a practical theory and guiding principles, so they badly needed a clever strategist to help set their course and offer advice.
That was why Shiba Seika could continue serving as a squad leader despite all the arguments he'd had with the organization's leader, Yahiko.
No matter how many "casualties" there were during his missions, at least none of the assignments given to Shiba Seika in the past few months had ever failed.
He had even provided support to other squads on several occasions, offering solutions that were morally reprehensible but effective.
So, despite how furious Yahiko was, he had to admit that Konan was right.
"He... Ah..."
The room fell silent again for quite some time.
Only after a long while did Konan cautiously suggest, "How about letting me go with Shiba Seika on the next mission? I could try talking some sense into him."
Yahiko thought it over, then finally nodded. "I'll leave it to you, Konan."
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