The Border of the Land of Waterfalls

Sasuke froze for a moment, then nodded. He had a rough idea of what "training" meant.

The three of them set off.

After leaving the capital, they headed north along the main road. The plains of the Land of Fire stretched as far as the eye could see, with rice paddies, wheat fields, and vegetable gardens running one after another. Farmers worked in the fields. When they saw the three travelers, they merely looked up before returning to their work.

Mikoto walked at an even pace, observing her surroundings as they went. Now and then, people passed them on the road: merchants, travelers, and rogue ninja. No matter who they were, Mikoto always watched them a little more closely, judging whether they posed a threat. It was something every competent ninja needed to do.

After walking for most of the morning, they arrived at a small town. It wasn't large; there was a main street lined with two rows of houses, a general store, a restaurant, an inn, and a Bounty Exchange.

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

She led the two children into a restaurant and found them a table 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 another corner, and a one-eyed man sat by the counter with a short sword at his waist. He looked like a rogue ninja.

The proprietress came over with a beaming smile. "What can I get for the three of you?"

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

"Coming right up."

Before long, their noodles arrived.

Sasuke lowered his head and ate, as did Karin. Mikoto ate while watching the people in the restaurant.

The one-eyed rogue ninja was watching them too. His gaze lingered on Mikoto for a few seconds before moving away.

Mikoto rested a hand on her kunai, ready to act at any moment, but the rogue ninja did nothing. He finished his meal and stood to leave. Without changing expression, Mikoto glanced outside.

"Mother, is someone following us?" Sasuke asked quietly.

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

"What makes you think that?"

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

Mikoto nodded.

"Good observation. But he wasn't following us. He was just curious. It's unusual to see a young woman traveling with two children in a place like this. He took a couple of looks and left. He doesn't seem hostile for now."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully.

After finishing their meal, the three of them continued on their way. Once they left town, the fields alongside the main road gradually gave way to woods and hills. Mikoto slowed down, letting Sasuke and Karin walk ahead while she followed behind, constantly scanning their surroundings.

About an hour later, a sudden scream rang out from the woods ahead.

Sasuke stopped, his hand moving to the kunai at his waist.

"Don't rush in." Mikoto put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's see what's happening first."

After the scream came several shouts and the sounds of a fight.

Mikoto led the two children closer in silence. They hid behind a large tree and peered out.

In the clearing ahead, several men dressed in gray surrounded a merchant lying on the ground. His cart had overturned, and its cargo was scattered everywhere. A gash in his leg was pouring blood as he wailed on the ground. The men were obviously bandits: they looked vicious and carried knives.

"Hand over your money, and I'll let you live," said their leader, a bald, burly man with a scar across his face. His voice sounded like a cracked gong.

"I... If I hand it over, will you let me go?" the merchant asked, trembling.

"Do as you're told, and we'll let you go."

Trembling, the merchant pulled a purse from inside his clothes and threw it to the bald man.

The man caught the purse, weighed it in his hand, and grinned.

"Not bad. You've got a fair bit of money."

Then he plunged his knife into the merchant's stomach.

The merchant screamed and clutched his stomach as he collapsed, eyes wide. Blood kept pouring from his mouth.

"Why... why... You said... you'd let me go..."

"I said, 'Do as you're told, and we'll let you go,'" the man sneered. "You did as you were told, so we let you go. But I didn't do as I was told, so I'm not letting you go."

He kicked the merchant onto his back. He and his accomplices burst into laughter.

Mikoto turned to look at Sasuke. His eyes had already become the Sharingan, the Three Tomoe slowly turning. His jaw was clenched, and his fists were balled so tightly they creaked.

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

"Mother?" Sasuke froze for a moment.

"These scum deserve to die," Mikoto said calmly. "But killing a person isn't like killing a chicken. Afterward, you'll have nightmares. You won't be able to sleep, and you'll keep remembering the moment you killed them. Can you handle that?"

Sasuke fell silent. He looked at the merchant, the wound in his stomach, the pool of blood on the ground, and the bandits laughing uproariously.

He remembered that night: his clan members lying in pools of blood, the children screaming, the old people who had died without ever knowing what had happened.

Those people had been killed like this too, though Itachi usually killed with a single strike, sparing his victims the merchant's fate of slowly dying in agony.

"I can," Sasuke said.

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

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

The two of them stepped out from behind the tree. The bandits heard them and turned around.

"Well, look at that. A woman and a child," the bald man said, licking his lips. "And a pretty one, too. We're in luck today."

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

"Kill them." The man waved a hand. "Keep the woman. Get rid of the kids."

Two bandits came toward them with knives in hand and smiles on their faces, as if they were playing a game.

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

He had killed people before. As the vengeful spirits tormented him, he had "killed" many times. The memories of those spirits' final moments had made him experience killing and being killed countless times.

But those had all been illusions. They weren't real.

This was real.

"What are you waiting for?" Mikoto's voice sounded beside him. "Go."

Sasuke took a deep breath and charged.

He moved astonishingly fast. Before the two bandits could react, he was already in front of them, drawing his kunai from his waist in a sweeping arc.

One bandit's throat was slit, and blood sprayed out, splattering across Sasuke's face.

It was warm.

It smelled of blood.

This was the first time he had smelled human blood from so close. He had smelled it before—that night, the entire clan compound had reeked of blood. But he had been too terrified then to think about what the smell was.

Now he could smell it. It was rank and choking, enough to make him want to vomit.

"Little brat!" The other bandit reacted and swung his knife at Sasuke.

Sasuke dodged to the side and drove his kunai into the bandit's chest with a backhand thrust. As it went in, he heard ribs crack. When he pulled the kunai out, blood sprayed after it, warm against his hand.

The two bandits fell to the ground. They twitched twice, then went still.

Sasuke stood between them, covered in blood and panting heavily. His hands were shaking—not from fear, but from... a feeling he couldn't put into words.

"S-so fast..." The bald man's expression changed. "Y-you're a ninja?"

Sasuke said nothing. He only stared at him.

The man turned and ran. Sasuke chased after him. He was much faster, catching up in three strides and driving his kunai into the bald man's lower back.

"Ah!" The man screamed and fell to the ground.

He struggled to crawl forward, crying, "Spare me... spare me... I'll never do it again..."

Sasuke looked at him and thought of the merchant. The merchant had begged for his life and handed over his money, too, but he had still been stabbed.

That was the way of the world. You could spare someone, but they wouldn't spare you.

Sasuke raised his kunai and stabbed the man in the back of the head. The bald man's body twitched, then went still. The remaining bandits saw their leader was dead and turned to run.

Sasuke started after them, but Mikoto stopped him.

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

"Karin?" Sasuke turned to look behind the tree.

Karin emerged from behind it. There was no fear in her green eyes, only calm. She went over to one of the bandits, who had been hit in the leg with one of Mikoto's kunai and couldn't run. He was lying on the ground, wailing.

Karin crouched down and looked at him.

"What... what are you going to do?" the bandit asked, his voice trembling.

Karin reached out and placed her hand on the bandit's chest.

"Water Release: Water Spike Technique."

Several water spikes pierced through the bandit's body. He screamed, his body twitching twice before going still.

Karin stood up and shook the blood from her hand, her expression blank. She dealt with the remaining bandits using her ninjutsu as well.

Mikoto looked at the two children, her heart a jumble of emotions.

They weren't even ten years old, yet this was their first time killing someone, and they showed no fear or hesitation.

Had the world gone mad, or had they?

"Let's go," Mikoto said. "The smell of blood will attract wild animals. They'll take care of the bodies for us."

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

The merchant was still alive, but the wound in his stomach was too deep, and the bleeding wouldn't stop. His face had gone as pale as paper. He was looking at Sasuke, murmuring something that was too faint to make out.

Sasuke went over and crouched down.

"Help... me..." The merchant's voice was so faint it was almost inaudible.

Sasuke looked at him in silence for a few seconds. Then he stood and walked away. It wasn't that he didn't want to help; he just couldn't.

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

Sasuke stopped and hesitated, but in the end, he didn't 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 three of them traveled in fits and starts. Mikoto deliberately picked out wicked bandits and ninja, letting Sasuke gradually grow accustomed to the life of a real ninja.

Along the way, they also encountered several groups of people. Some were rogue ninja, ragged and fierce-eyed, clearly no good. Some were spies sent by other villages, dressed in ordinary clothes but moving with the habits of ninja. And some were familiar faces to Mikoto: Konoha Ninja.

They were all headed for the same destination—the Land of Waterfalls.

"Mother, those people..." Sasuke asked quietly.

"They're probably after the Seven-Tails," Mikoto said. "It looks like our lord's information has spread. All the major ninja villages have sent people to investigate."

"What should we do?"

"No need to rush," Mikoto said. "Let them scout ahead. We'll take our time. Once they've fought each other down, we can assess the situation."

Sasuke nodded.

Mikoto's strategy was simple: watch first, act later.

They settled in a small town on the border of the Land of Waterfalls. It wasn't large, but being on the border meant plenty of people passed through. The inn was full of guests, some merchants and travelers, but mostly ninja.

Every day, Mikoto took Sasuke and Karin around the town, watching the ninja and tracking their movements.

"Mother, why don't we just go in?" Sasuke asked.

"Because if we go in now, we'll be cannon fodder." Mikoto glanced at the ninja hurrying along the street. "Look at them. Some are from the Sarutobi Clan, some are from the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans, and others were sent by different villages. They're all crowded into this little town, and none of them wants to make the first move."

"Why?"

"Because whoever attacks first will become everyone's target." Sasuke was still too young for Uchiha Fugaku to have explained matters of human nature and politics to him. But Sasuke needed that knowledge now to broaden his understanding.

So Mikoto didn't brush him off. Instead, she explained carefully. "Takigakure may be small, but it's still a village. It has defenses and ninja stationed there. If one person charges in, they'll most likely die. If a group charges in, they'll hold each other back, and no one will dare make the first move."

Sasuke nodded thoughtfully. He found it difficult to understand these things right now; he needed more life experience. "Then when do we make our move?"

"We wait," Mikoto said. "We wait for them to make the first move, and for Takigakure to be worn down. Then we'll look for a chance to get in."

"But... what if someone else captures the Jinchuriki of the Seven-Tails?"

"They won't." Mikoto shook her head. "Jinchuriki aren't that easy to capture. She has a Tailed Beast inside her. Even if she's just a child, she has immense power. Whoever wants to capture her will have to pay a price."

Sasuke fell silent. As he watched the ninja, a strange feeling welled up in him. They had all come to seize the Seven-Tails, and like their lord, they all wanted to use a Tailed Beast.

But they weren't like their lord. Their lord had saved him and his mother and given them a place to call home. These people, if they learned he was a surviving Uchiha, would probably capture him without hesitation and turn him in for money.

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

"Nothing." Sasuke took one of them. "Karin, do you think... we can succeed?"

"We will," Karin said. "I believe in our lord, and I believe in Aunt Mikoto."

Sasuke took a bite of his rice ball without saying anything. He hoped they would succeed, too, but he also knew that nothing in this world was certain.

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

"They're about to make their move," Mikoto said.

"Tonight?" Sasuke came over.

"Probably." Mikoto drew the curtain. "Something might happen tonight. You two stay in the room and don't go out."

"Mother, what about you?"

"I'm going out to check on things." Mikoto put on her coat and secured her kunai and shuriken. "If anything goes wrong, I'll come straight back. Remember, no matter what you hear, don't open the door."

Sasuke nodded.

Mikoto opened the door and went out. The inn's hallway was quiet, with only a few oil lamps flickering on the walls. She slipped out of the inn without being seen and headed down the street.

The street was empty. There wasn't a soul in sight, but Mikoto knew the ninja were nearby.

She could sense their chakra: some were ahead, some behind, some on rooftops, and others hidden in the shadows.

They were all watching the same place—Takigakure.

Mikoto found a concealed spot and hid. She waited one hour, two hours, three hours...

Nothing happened. The ninja were waiting too, each waiting for someone else to make the first move. None of them was willing to stick their neck out.

"What a bunch of cowards," Mikoto thought with a cold laugh. Just as she was about to head back, a loud crash suddenly rang out in the distance.

"Boom!" Flames soared into the sky in the direction of Takigakure.

At the same time, elsewhere, two people who had once crossed paths briefly met again.

"Teacher Tsunade, it's been a long time..."