Danzo's Provocation: In the End, I Wouldn't Be the Winner Anyway

By the time Arata returned to the village, the slowly setting sun had dyed the western sky a fiery red.

As for Guren's request, he did not make a grand show of gathering his clansmen or the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. Instead, he headed straight for a private residence marked off within the central district.

This was what he intended to bring along on this trip...

"I am a failure. I hardly ever notice whether the sunlight is bright or not, because I have no time.

"My parents could not provide me with support, and my education was not very high. Alone in the city, I searched for a future.

"I found many jobs, but none of them hired me. Perhaps no one liked someone who was bad at speaking, unwilling to socialize, and had not displayed sufficient ability.

"For three whole days, I ate only two loaves of bread. Hunger kept me awake at night. Fortunately, I had paid a month's rent in advance, so I could keep living in that dark basement without having to go outside and endure the abnormally frigid winter wind.

"Finally, I found a job: keeping watch at a hospital, watching over the morgue.

"The hospital was even colder at night than I had imagined. The corridor wall lamps were not lit, and everything was dim. I could only rely on the faint light seeping out from the rooms to see where I stepped.

"It smelled terrible there. From time to time, dead people would be delivered stuffed inside body bags, and we would work together to carry them into the morgue.

"It was not a very good job, but at least it let me afford bread. I could also use my free time at night to study. After all, no one