Dongfang Mao

"Big brother, they're coming!"

In a damp cave carpeted with moss, a burly man wrapped head to toe in bandages hurried inside.

On an uneven stone platform, a boy who looked no older than fourteen, with disheveled hair and blood smeared all over him, jolted awake.

His bloodshot eyes snapped open, their irises a deep crimson. Looking at the burly man kneeling before him, Dongfang Mao swallowed and rasped, "How many?"

"Uh... three..."

"Hmm?"

Dongfang Mao froze.

"What do you mean?"

"The soldiers aren't after us. It's those three little brats with Forehead Protectors. That Special Jōnin isn't with them, either."

As Dongfang Mao listened, his brow furrowed, then relaxed.

"Our hideout's already been wiped out. Those ninjas' mission is basically done. The three brats probably went after us on their own, without permission."

The burly man bristled with indignation. "Those ninjas really look down on us! We've still got over a hundred brothers. Do they think three little punks who haven't even grown their hair out can kill every last one of us?"

"Enough, Yasuke. You should be glad they underestimate us. Otherwise, we might not have gotten away at all."

Dongfang Mao tried to reassure him, then continued, "Those three brats are still green. Take the men and hide in the woods, then fire a few arrows to scare them. They'll probably turn tail and run. Don't engage them head-on. And watch out for that Jōnin sneaking along behind them. If things look bad, have the men scatter and run for their lives. Every man for himself."

"Yes, big brother!"

Yasuke answered and left.

After watching Yasuke go, Dongfang Mao wearily lay back on the stone platform. His injuries weren't light. He'd even been hit by one of those ninjas' techniques earlier—the Great Fireball Technique!

If his body hadn't been different from an ordinary person's, he might really have been done for.

He hadn't been born in this world. Fourteen years ago, he'd been a clear-eyed college student who'd found his first love on campus. With his girlfriend's encouragement, he was about to become a man instead of a boy when, for some inexplicable reason, he'd met with disaster on his way to buy protection.

Then he'd been born in a small village called Red Leaf Village, in the Land of Fire.

Even in a new world, he hadn't escaped his fate of being cursed with bad luck. He'd been an orphan in his previous life, and in this one, his mother had died in childbirth. His father had raised him until he was four, then passed away too.

Fortunately, as he grew up, he discovered that his memory had become exceptionally good. He could recall everything he'd seen and heard in his previous life with perfect clarity.

Even the risqué videos he'd glimpsed in passing, and the tiny mole on the side of some beautiful woman's impossibly deep cleavage, remained vivid in his memory.

His body also seemed unusual. Even though he never ate much—just enough to fill his stomach—his strength grew at an astonishing pace. By the age of four, he already felt stronger than he'd been at twenty in his previous life.

The little guy could beat the grown-up guy to death. That was pretty much how it went.

With this talent, he'd made it through the early stages of life, but his good fortune hadn't lasted. That year, a severe drought struck the small village, and the crops failed completely. He became a refugee, but by a stroke of luck, Dongfang Mao eventually turned to banditry and, thanks to his natural gifts, rose to the top.

Drawing on memories from his previous life, he'd built the stronghold into a thriving operation. He'd even secretly struck a deal with the magistrate of Pine Wind Town at the foot of the mountain. The magistrate supplied money and food, while Dongfang Mao took care of troublesome problems for him. Their partnership had worked out splendidly.

Then, for some unknown reason, that man had suddenly fallen from power. The newly appointed magistrate launched a sweeping purge of the former regime and even placed a commission with Konoha, then led soldiers into the mountains to wipe out the bandits.

Fortunately, Dongfang Mao had good sources of information. He'd made preparations in advance and managed to escape with some of his men.

Even so, they'd been hounded into a frantic retreat, hiding wherever they could. By now, they were probably close to the Land of Fire's border.

"Big brother, we caught those three little brats!"

Just as Dongfang Mao was reminiscing, his eyelids growing heavy, Yasuke's excited shout rang out from the cave entrance.

He was instantly wide awake. Then he saw Yasuke lead several men inside and throw three children, bound hand and foot, down in front of him.

"Excellent! Excellent!"

Dongfang Mao was delighted.

"How did you catch them?"

"Heh, big brother, those three brats were pretty impressive when they were with that Special Jōnin, killing our men left and right. But once they came after us on their own, a few arrows from the shadows were enough to panic them. We drove them into Tiger Trap Cave and caught them all in one go."

Yasuke chuckled smugly.

Dongfang Mao nodded, then turned his gaze to the three bedraggled little Konoha ninjas and examined them closely.

There were two boys and a girl. The boys looked a little older, perhaps around ten, while the girl seemed to be only six. Her hair, which should have been smooth and glossy, now hung in a tangled mess.

Her small, adorable face was smeared with dust and mud, and her distinctive crimson eyes were full of fear and helplessness.

From the looks of it, being captured hadn't been a pleasant experience.

Dongfang Mao felt that the little girl looked somewhat familiar, so he asked without thinking, "What's your name?"

At the sound of his voice, the girl lifted her head to look at Dongfang Mao—and froze.

He didn't look much older than they were, yet his features were exceptionally handsome, his face finely chiseled and his skin as pale as porcelain. His brows were dark as ink, and his nose was straight and elegant, making him look like someone from a painting.

He looked rather bedraggled himself, covered in bloodstains he hadn't cleaned off, his long black hair hanging loose and disheveled.

Yet his dark eyes were so pure, without a trace of impurity, and a wild, sharp glint flickered in them from time to time.

He looked like a bewitching flower blooming in a scarlet pool, with a sinister aura all around him!

For a moment, she forgot her predicament, her mind going hazy.

But she quickly came to her senses. This man was the leader of these vicious bandits. Mustering a brave front, she snapped, "You evil bandits, just you wait! Our teacher will catch up soon. When he does, none of you will get away!"

"Yasuke, teach them how to talk."

Dongfang Mao had been chased all the way here and was already seething. He had no interest in trading insults with a little girl, so he left it to Yasuke, who was a professional.

"Heh, leave it to me, big brother!"

At that, Yasuke grinned viciously and drew a bone-cleaver from his waist, its blade still spotted with dark red stains.

With Yasuke's appearance, coupled with the cave's dim light, he looked to the three little ones like a demon crawling straight out of hell.

They were only children, after all. None of them had ever seen anything like this. They immediately burst into tears, sobbing and wailing.

The little girl's face had also gone deathly pale with fright.

She'd always been headstrong. When she heard that a genius in her Ninja Academy year, named Kakashi, had passed the Genin exam at the age of six and started taking missions, she'd refused to be outdone. She'd asked her father to arrange an early exam for her, too, and passed. Then she'd joined this ninja team. After spending a few months handling petty, insignificant commissions, she'd finally gotten the chance to leave the village on a dangerous mission.

At first, the mission had gone smoothly. Under the Special Jōnin's supervision, she and the soldiers of the Land of Fire had successfully wiped out the bandits occupying Mount Yoshino. They'd been ready to return to the village and turn in their report.

But she'd thought some bandits had escaped, meaning the mission wasn't complete.

So, while their Jōnin instructor was resting and resupplying in a nearby town, she'd secretly persuaded her two teammates to follow the trail left by Dongfang Mao and the others as they fled. She hadn't expected things to turn out like this.

"Heh heh, cry while you can, brats! Soon you won't have the strength to cry. You got over a hundred of my brothers killed. I'll give each of you a cut for their sake!"

As Yasuke approached with a sinister laugh, the three children trembled more and more violently.

At last, one of them—a round-faced boy with a mop of spiky hair—couldn't take it anymore. He burst into tears and cried, "Waaah, don't hurt me! My name's Ueno Daiki!"

Ueno Daiki's crying infected the other two children. Fear finally shattered what remained of their defenses.

"My name's Nara Kazuma!"

"I... I'm Yuhi Kurenai!"