Land of Waterfalls Border

Sasuke was stunned for a moment, then nodded; he had roughly guessed what "training" meant.

The three of them set off.

Leaving the capital, they followed the main road heading north. The plains of the Land of Fire were boundless, with rice paddies, wheat fields, and vegetable patches stretching one after another. Farmers were working in the fields; seeing the three of them, they merely glanced up before continuing their labor.

Mikoto walked at a steady pace, observing her surroundings as she went. Occasionally, travelers passed by on the road—some were merchants, some were wanderers, and some were rogue ninjas. Regardless of who they were, Mikoto would take a second look to judge whether they posed a threat; this was an essential habit for any qualified ninja.

After walking for half a day, they arrived at a small town. It was not large, consisting of one main street and two rows of buildings, including a general store, a restaurant, an inn, and a Bounty Exchange.

"Let's eat something before we go," Mikoto said.

She led the two children into a restaurant and found a seat in the corner. There weren't many people inside; a few men who looked like merchants were drinking and chatting, an old man was eating noodles in the corner, and a one-eyed man sat by the counter with a short blade tucked into his waist, looking like a rogue ninja.

The landlady walked over, all smiles: "What would the three of you like to eat?"

"Three bowls of ramen, and a pot of tea," Mikoto said.

"Coming right up."

Soon, the noodles were served.

Sasuke lowered his head to eat, and Karin did the same, while Mikoto observed the people in the restaurant as she ate.

The one-eyed rogue ninja was also sizing them up, his gaze lingering on Mikoto for a few seconds before shifting away.

Mikoto's hand rested on a kunai, ready to strike at any moment, but the rogue ninja did nothing; he finished his meal, stood up, and left. Mikoto glanced outside the shop without changing her expression.

"Mother, is someone following us?" Sasuke asked in a low voice.

Mikoto looked at him, the corners of her mouth curling slightly.

"How did you figure that out?"

"That man kept looking at us," Sasuke said, "and when he left, he looked back twice in the direction we came from, as if he were confirming something."

Mikoto nodded.

"Good observation. But he wasn't following us; he was just curious. A young woman traveling with two children is a rare sight in these parts. He looked twice and left, so there is no malice for now."

Sasuke nodded, looking thoughtful.

After the meal, the three continued their journey. Once they left the town, the farmland on both sides of the road gradually thinned out, replaced by woods and hills. Mikoto slowed her pace, letting Sasuke and Karin walk in front while she stayed behind, her gaze constantly scanning the surroundings.

After walking for about an hour, a scream suddenly rang out from the woods ahead.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, his hand pressing against the kunai at his waist.

"Don't be hasty," Mikoto said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Let's see the situation first."

Following the scream, there were sounds of cursing and fighting.

Mikoto led the two children to approach quietly, hiding behind a large tree to peek outside.

In the clearing ahead, several men in gray clothes were surrounding a fallen merchant. The merchant's cart was overturned, his goods scattered everywhere, and a deep gash on his leg was bleeding profusely as he wailed on the ground. The men were clearly bandits, looking fierce and menacing with blades in their hands.

"Hand over the money, and we'll spare your life," the leader, a bald man with a scar on his face, said in a voice like grinding metal.

"If I... if I hand it over, will you let me go?" the merchant's voice trembled.

"If you're obedient, we'll let you go."

The merchant tremblingly pulled a coin purse from his chest and threw it to the bald man.

The man caught the purse, weighed it, and smiled.

"Not bad, you've got quite a bit of money."

Then, he plunged his blade into the merchant's stomach.

The merchant let out a shrill cry, clutching his stomach as he collapsed to the ground, his eyes wide and blood spilling from his mouth.

"Wh... why... you said... you would let me go..."

"What I said was 'if you're obedient, we'll let you go'," the man sneered. "You were obedient, so we let you go. But I'm not obedient, so I'm not letting you go."

He kicked the merchant to the ground and laughed heartily with his accomplices.

Mikoto turned to look at Sasuke, only to see that his eyes had already transformed into the Sharingan. The three tomoe were rotating slowly, his teeth were gritted, and his fists were clenched so tightly they creaked.

"Do you want to kill them?" Mikoto asked.

"Mother?" Sasuke was stunned for a moment.

"These pieces of trash deserve to die," Mikoto said, her voice very calm. "But killing a person is not the same as killing a chicken. After killing someone, you will have nightmares, you won't be able to sleep, and you will repeatedly relive the moment you took their life. Can you handle that?"

Sasuke fell silent. He looked at the merchant, at the wound on the merchant's stomach, at the pool of blood on the ground, and at the bandits laughing loudly.

He remembered that night, remembered the clansmen lying in pools of blood, remembered the crying children, and remembered the elders who died without ever knowing what had happened.

Those people had been killed just like this, though Itachi usually killed with a single strike, sparing his victims from having to die slowly in agony like this merchant.

"I can," Sasuke said.

Mikoto looked into his eyes and remained silent for a few seconds.

"Karin, you stay here," Mikoto said. "Sasuke, come with me."

The two of them stepped out from behind the trees, and the bandits, hearing the commotion, turned their heads to look.

"Yo, there's a woman and a kid too." The bald brute licked his lips. "She's quite the looker; our luck is good today."

"Boss, what about the two little ones..."

"Slaughter them." The brute waved a hand. "Keep the woman, dispose of the kids."

Two bandits walked over, blades in hand, smiles hanging on their lips as if they were playing a game.

Sasuke watched them, his heart racing, his palms sweating.

It wasn't that he hadn't killed before; under the torment of the vengeful spirits, he had "killed" many times—the memories of those spirits before their deaths had let him experience the sensation of killing and being killed countless times.

But those were illusions, not real.

Now, it was real.

"What are you hesitating for?" Mikoto's voice sounded in his ear. "Go."

Sasuke took a deep breath and charged out.

His speed was astonishing; before the two bandits could react, Sasuke was already in front of them, pulling a kunai from his waist and carving an arc through the air.

One bandit's throat was slit, blood gushing out and splashing across Sasuke's face.

It was warm.

And metallic.

This was the first time he had smelled human blood from such close proximity. He had smelled it before—that night in the clan compound, the scent of blood was everywhere. But back then he had been too terrified to even think about identifying the smell.

Now he smelled it—it was pungent, choking, enough to make one want to vomit.

"You little brat!" The other bandit reacted, raising his blade to hack at Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged to the side, thrusting his kunai backhanded into the bandit's chest. As it pierced through, he heard the sound of ribs snapping, and when he pulled the kunai out, fresh blood sprayed out with it, splashing onto his hands—warm.

The two bandits collapsed to the ground, twitched twice, and then went still.

Sasuke stood between them, covered in blood, gasping for air. His hands were shaking—not from fear, but from... a feeling he couldn't quite name.

"So... so fast..." The bald brute's expression shifted. "You... are you a ninja?"

Sasuke didn't speak, merely staring at him.

The brute turned and ran. Sasuke gave chase, his speed far superior to the brute's; he caught up in three strides and drove his kunai into the brute's lower back.

"Ah—!" The brute let out a miserable shriek and tumbled to the ground.

He struggled to crawl forward, crying out, "Spare me... spare me... I won't ever do it again..."

Sasuke looked at him, remembering the merchant—the merchant had also begged for mercy and handed over his money, yet he had still been stabbed to death.

This world was just like this—if you spare others, they will not spare you.

Sasuke raised his kunai and drove it into the back of the brute's head. The brute's body convulsed once and then went still. Seeing their leader dead, the remaining bandits turned and fled.

Sasuke wanted to pursue, but Mikoto stopped him.

"That's enough," Mikoto said. "Leave the rest to Karin."

"Karin?" Sasuke turned back to look behind the trees.

Karin walked out from behind the trees, her emerald eyes devoid of fear, filled only with calm. She walked up to a bandit whose leg had been pierced by a kunai thrown by Mikoto; unable to run, he was lying on the ground wailing.

Karin crouched down and looked at him.

"What... what are you trying to do?" The bandit's voice trembled.

Karin reached out and pressed her hand against the bandit's chest.

"Water Release: Water Spike Technique."

Several water spikes erupted through the bandit's body. The man let out a final scream, his body twitched twice, and then he went still.

Karin stood up and shook the blood from her hands, her expression blank. The remaining bandits were also finished off by her ninjutsu.

Mikoto looked at the two children, her heart filled with a complex mix of emotions.

Not yet ten years old, killing for the first time, yet there was no fear or hesitation on their faces.

Had the world gone mad, or had they?

"Let's go," Mikoto said. "The scent of blood will attract wild beasts; they will help us clean up these corpses."

"That merchant..." Sasuke looked toward the merchant on the ground.

The merchant wasn't dead yet, but the wound on his stomach was too deep, the bleeding unstoppable. His face was already as pale as paper. He was looking at Sasuke, his mouth murmuring something, though it was unintelligible.

Sasuke walked over and crouched down.

"Save... save me..." The merchant's voice was so weak it was barely audible.

Sasuke looked at him, silent for a few seconds, then stood up and walked away. It wasn't that he didn't want to save him; it was that he couldn't.

He wasn't a medical ninja, he didn't know the Mystical Palm Technique, and he couldn't stop the bleeding. Even if he could, the merchant's injuries were too severe to be saved. Rather than letting him wait in agony for death, it was better to...

Sasuke paused, hesitated, but did not look back.

Mikoto sighed, walked over, and ended the merchant's suffering with a single strike.

"Let's go," she said.

Over the next few days, the trio traveled in fits and starts. Mikoto deliberately selected certain bandits and rogue ninja who had committed atrocities, allowing Sasuke to constantly adapt to the life of a real ninja.

Along the way, they encountered several groups: some were rogue ninja, ragged and fierce-eyed, clearly no good; others were scouts sent by various villages, dressed in civilian clothes but moving with the ingrained habits of shinobi; and some were figures very familiar to Mikoto—Konoha ninja.

They all shared the same destination: the Land of Waterfalls.

"Mother, these people..." Sasuke asked in a low voice.

"They are likely all here for the Seven-Tails," Mikoto said. "It seems the Master's intelligence has already spread, and every major ninja village has sent people to investigate."

"Then what should we do?"

"No rush," Mikoto said. "Let them scout the path first. We will take our time; once they have worn each other down, we shall assess the situation."

Sasuke nodded.

Mikoto's strategy was simple: observe first, then act.

They settled into a small town on the border of the Land of Waterfalls. The town was not large, but being on the border, it saw a constant flow of people. The inn was packed with guests—some merchants, some travelers, but mostly ninja.

Every day, Mikoto took Sasuke and Karin around the town, observing the movements of those ninja.

"Mother, why not just go in directly?" Sasuke asked.

"Because going in now would be acting as cannon fodder." Mikoto glanced at the hurried ninja on the street. "Look at them—there are those from the Sarutobi clan, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and others sent by different villages. They are all crammed into this small town now, and no one is willing to make the first move."

"Why?"

"Because whoever strikes first becomes the target of everyone else." Regarding human nature and politics, Uchiha Fugaku had never explained these things to Sasuke because he was too young, but the current Sasuke desperately needed such knowledge to enrich his wisdom.

Therefore, Mikoto did not brush Sasuke off; instead, she carefully explained: "Although Takigakure is small, it is still a village with defensive fortifications and stationed ninja. If one person charges in, it is likely suicide. If a group charges in, they will keep each other in check, and no one will dare to act first."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. He found these concepts difficult to grasp at his current stage and knew he needed more experience. "Then when do we act?"

"Wait," Mikoto said. "Wait for them to lose their patience and strike, wait for Takigakure to be sufficiently exhausted, and then we will find our chance to enter."

"But... what if the Seven-Tails' jinchuriki is captured by someone else?"

"That won't happen," Mikoto shook her head. "A jinchuriki is not so easily captured. She possesses the power of a Tailed Beast within her; even as a child, she holds immense strength. Whoever tries to seize her will have to pay a price."

Sasuke fell silent. He looked at those ninja, a strange feeling welling up in his heart. These people were all here to snatch the Seven-Tailed beast; like the Master, they all wanted to exploit the power of the Tailed Beasts.

But they were different from the Master—the Master had saved him and his mother, giving them a place to belong. If these people knew he was a survivor of the Uchiha, they would likely capture him without hesitation to trade for a bounty.

"Sasuke-kun, what are you thinking about?" Karin walked over, holding two rice balls.

"Nothing." Sasuke took the rice ball. "Karin, do you think... we will succeed?"

"We will," Karin said. "I believe in the Master, and I believe in Aunt Mikoto."

Sasuke took a bite of the rice ball and said nothing. He hoped they would succeed, but he also knew that in this world, nothing was certain.

On the evening of the fifth day, the atmosphere in the town suddenly grew tense. Mikoto stood by the inn window, watching the street outside. There were far fewer people now; those ninja had all vanished.

"It's starting," Mikoto said.

"Tonight?" Sasuke walked over.

"It should be." Mikoto lowered the curtain. "Something may happen tonight. You two are not to go out; stay in the room."

"Mother, what about you?"

"I am going out to check the situation." Mikoto put on her coat and concealed her kunai and shuriken. "If things go wrong, I will return immediately. Remember, no matter what noises you hear, do not open the door."

Sasuke nodded.

Mikoto opened the door and stepped out. The inn corridor was deathly quiet, with only a few oil lamps flickering on the walls. She quietly slipped out of the inn, moving forward along the street.

The street was empty, not a soul in sight, but Mikoto knew those ninja were nearby.

She could sense their chakra—some in front, some behind, some on the rooftops, and some in the shadows.

Everyone was staring in the same direction: Takigakure.

Mikoto found a concealed spot and hid herself. She waited for an hour, two hours, three hours...

There was no movement. The ninja were also waiting, watching for someone else to make the first move; no one wanted to be the first bird to be shot.

"A bunch of cowards," Mikoto sneered inwardly. Just as she was preparing to return, a deafening roar erupted in the distance.

"BOOM—!" Flames soared into the sky from the direction of Takigakure.

At the same time, on the other side, two people who had once had a brief encounter met again.

"Teacher Tsunade, it has been a long time..."