Let Them Live

The tremors stopped.

Hayama Shirakumo immediately followed his memory and slashed apart the earthen rock facing the forest.

Dazzling light flooded in at once, dancing with the dust.

But they had no more time to adjust.

Every minute, every second now was a race against the Death God.

Because Iwagakure's ninja had already surrounded them!

Yet Arata did not flee.

Their exposed trail, the vague discomfort he had felt along the way, and now this ambush by more than four hundred Iwagakure ninja—this plot, this method!

It was Shimura Danzō's handiwork, without a doubt.

Within the hastily raised earthen barricade, with the air growing thin, Arata asked only one question. "Does Iwagakure have a habit of using genin as cannon fodder? Unless the enemy's chakra is depleted, the main force won't appear?"

Because that was what he had seen with his Sharingan earlier.

Though the numerous chakra signatures had formed one mass, every single one was weak!

Hayama Shirakumo nodded with great disdain.

But at that time, he had no idea that the boy before him had already formed a certain mad plan.

He was going to kill his way back!!

After all, this whole matter had begun because of him.

If Arata had not come, Danzo would not have dared so easily reveal the whereabouts of their own jonin to Iwagakure.

Besides, since that old bastard wanted him dead so badly.

It would be rather impolite not to do something in return, not to offer a gift in response.

He just wondered whether the mere loss of four hundred genin would hurt Iwagakure enough to make them start pressuring Konoha's upper ranks.

"Hehehe, it really is exactly as the intelligence said. Arata Uchiha is a brainless hothead. Does he really think he can stop four hundred warriors of our village all by himself?"

On the cliffside, a man with a red headscarf sneered viciously.

In this ninja village, any ninja wearing a red headscarf basically symbolized an elite with jonin-level strength!

"The strength of the Will of Stone is something those lunatics will never understand."

The man beside him folded his arms and spoke with certainty.

"Arata!"

Hayama Shirakumo, who had been fleeing toward the forest, also noticed something was wrong. The instant he caught sight of the boy running in the opposite direction from the corner of his eye, he stopped.

That damn brat! Even if someone has to stay behind, that should be my responsibility!

"Tekuno, Kimura Kai, run to the designated location!"

After letting out a low roar, he drew his sword and chased back after him, moving scarcely slower than the boy in his sight.

After all, Hayama Shirakumo was not only an exceptionally responsible captain, but also a powerful ninja with Wind-nature chakra!

"Captain!"

Tekuno slowed in his retreat. After uncertainty flickered across his chubby face, he abruptly stopped, dragging a mark across the ground. He turned around and removed the specialized crossbow from his back.

This was his personal ninja tool, and the arrows it fired were fitted with explosive tags.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

"I'll fight these Iwagakure bastards to the death! Kimura Kai, run!"

His face flushed red as he roared furiously.

Yet the moment Tekuno stopped—or, more precisely, the moment Hayama Shirakumo turned around—Kimura Kai had already taken out a kunai from his ninja pouch, his gaze resolute.

As the team's scouting ninja, failing to notice the abnormality at the first opportunity had already been a dereliction of duty!

Then Captain Shirakumo had risked his life to save him. His life no longer belonged to him alone.

If he fled by himself now, what meaning would there be even if he managed to survive?

Was he supposed to spend the rest of his life living beneath the shadow of abandoning his companions?

He refused!

"Kimura Kai, what are you doing? Get the hell out of here already!"

Noticing the young man's actions, Tekuno instantly cursed aloud.

With Captain Shirakumo gone, as a jonin, Tekuno was naturally the highest-ranking commander, though he could only command one person.

But what the hell was this annoying brat doing?

Why was he not running? Was he planning to die with them?

"Brother Tekuno, ten o'clock."

"Kill them all!"

However, Kimura Kai closed his eyes and spread out his spiritual power. Even his words gradually began to take on the manner of the burly man beside him.

"Heh, good kid."

Seeing this, Tekuno stopped putting on airs and poured all his focus into operating his ninja tool.

At that moment, Arata, charging at the very front, had already come face-to-face with the Iwagakure ninja. He could even see the pity on their faces.

But.

Who exactly should pity whom?

"Spirit Bind: Red Plum Under Snow."

Snowflakes drifted down as frost surged forth.

Enormous icicles materialized out of thin air. Even after piercing through the foremost Iwagakure genin, they continued drilling forward, claiming more than a dozen living lives in an instant.

But that alone could not shake the Will of Stone held by these people.

The Iwagakure ninja behind the fallen swiftly filled the gaps in their formation.

"Bringer-of-Darkness Technique."

Having cleared out a patch of open ground, Arata formed hand seals in an instant. Darkness descended, and the ninja within ten meters suddenly lost their vision. As they followed their rigid training and tried to dispel the genjutsu, sharp Horizontal Blades had already been placed against their pitiful necks.

This was Shisui's Body Flicker Technique!

Blood splattered across the earth.

In a single exchange, dozens of Iwagakure genin had already left their souls in foreign soil.

But.

But!

Not a trace of fear could be seen in these Iwagakure ninja's eyes. There was only fury and fearlessness!

Shuriken swept toward the boy standing amid the flowing blood like a swarm of locusts.

Faced with such a scene, Arata was briefly unsure how to respond.

If this had been Kirigakure, those cold-blooded people who nevertheless valued their own lives would have scattered long ago, waiting for a better chance to strike. They rarely possessed such a fearless spirit of sacrifice.

Then.

He would just keep killing!

His blade lifted slightly. To him, the shuriken swarming through his field of vision like a locust plague were not even as threatening as Itachi Uchiha had been two years ago.

"Vacuum Sword!"

Yet just as Arata prepared to meet the storm of ninja tools, a broad figure stepped in front of him. The raging sword wind scattered those imposing but insubstantial weapons in every direction.

The one who had arrived was Hayama Shirakumo!

"Nosy."

Arata, however, mocked him without the slightest courtesy.

This had been his battle to begin with. He had told them to run, so why had they come back? To be a burden, or to throw their lives away?

Hayama Shirakumo did not get angry at his words.

Being able to sweep aside so many Iwagakure ninja in a single exchange, even if they were only genin, was already enough to explain everything.

This brat truly had the strength.

"I am your captain. Protecting my subordinates is my duty. Besides, death cannot make Iwagakure's ninja afraid."

"Because they preach the utterly inhuman Will of Stone."

"Especially soldiers in a force like this!"

Hayama Shirakumo saw through Arata's thoughts at a glance. The boy wanted to use bloodshed to intimidate these Iwagakure ninja, but that was utterly useless.

"Back then, this village used the lives of over ten thousand people to wear down the Third Raikage to death. He was Kumogakure's strongest ninja."

Fearing that the boy behind him did not understand the history, he added that explanation.

"The threat of death doesn't work?"

A crimson gleam flickered in Arata's eyes.

"Then let them live."

"Let them live as cripples!"