Lightning Release: Swift Thunder

In the secret room, Kou slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze fell on the crow perched on his arm—or, more precisely, on the Byakugan in its eye socket, glowing a milky white.

He was silent for a moment, then raised his hands and formed a seal.

"Release."

Smoke burst out, and the crow vanished into thin air.

The white eye disappeared, and the secret room returned to its usual gloom.

Kou got to his feet and stretched his stiff body.

His gaze passed through the walls of the secret room, as if he could see the village shrouded in mist in the distance.

"Looks like I won't be getting a proper rest tonight..."

He murmured under his breath, his voice tinged with weariness and resignation.

He left the secret room, his footsteps so light he moved like a cat prowling in the night.

Kou stopped outside Karin's bedroom. The door wasn't fully shut, leaving a narrow crack.

Standing by the gap, he used the faint light in the hallway to make out the small figure on the bed.

Karin was curled up beneath the covers, her red hair spread across the pillow. Her breathing was steady and slow.

The corners of her mouth were slightly raised, as if she were having a pleasant dream.

Kou watched her for a while, making sure she was sound asleep before turning to leave.

Outside the cave, the night was deep.

The mist was thicker than it had been during the day, shrouding the entire forest in a hazy gloom.

Clouds veiled the moon. Only a few slivers of silvery light occasionally slipped through the gaps, falling on the damp ground like scattered pieces of silver.

Kou stood at the cave entrance, turned around, and quickly formed hand seals.

The Sealing Jutsu's runes glowed a dim blue on the rock wall, sealing the entrance once more.

He layered a genjutsu over the seal as well, ensuring anyone who came near would be misled into thinking this was nothing but an ordinary rock face.

When he had finished, he lifted his head and gazed into the deep night.

"Are they almost here...?"

"This place is about fifty kilometers from the Mist Village. I guess I'll have to pick up the pace."

The corners of his mouth lifted slightly. A blue arc flashed in his dark eyes.

"Well... I'll just have to get a little serious."

He gathered chakra in his feet. Faint sparks of lightning danced around his calves, crackling softly.

The lightning wasn't dazzling, but it held a heart-stirring power, like a beast lying in wait.

"Lightning Release: Swift Thunder."

The instant the words left his mouth, Kou vanished from the spot.

There was no afterimage, no gust of wind—only a faint hiss, like an electric current streaking through the air.

The sound vanished in an instant, so quickly it was as if nothing had happened.

Only a shallow scorch mark on the ground, left by the lightning, proved that someone had been standing there.

Lightning Release: Swift Thunder.

It was one of the few jutsu Kou had developed entirely on his own, without relying on the brains of true geniuses like Kakashi, Minato, or Shisui.

He raced toward the Mist Village, a hint of nostalgia flickering in his eyes.

During the Third Ninja World War, he had watched from afar through his Sharingan as the Third Raikage rampaged through tens of thousands of Iwagakure Ninja, slaughtering them left and right.

The man, wrapped in lightning, was like an invincible god of war, charging through the ranks and leaving blood and torn flesh in his wake.

But back then, his mind hadn't been filled with any bold, fiery thoughts like, That's what a true man should be. Instead, he had felt nothing but profound fear.

What his Two-Tomoe Sharingan had seen most clearly wasn't the Third Raikage's towering figure, but the shattered faces of the Iwagakure Ninja, and their guts and blood spraying through the air.

Some of those faces were young, others old; some were twisted with rage, others contorted in pain.

They broke apart in the lightning, warped beneath his immense strength, and wore all kinds of expressions in the instant death came for them.

The horrific scene was like hell on earth.

For the first time, Kou felt repulsed by the Sharingan's keen power of observation.

Those eyes were too good—so good that they could see every last detail with perfect clarity.

Back then, he had stared blankly at the scene, not even hearing his companion beside him ask how the battle was going.

He had simply watched the Iwagakure Ninja die horribly in the distance. Whenever he thought about how each of them had been a living person with a life, a family, and dreams of their own, his scalp prickled with dread.

It wasn't out of sympathy.

After all, they were all ninja, and none of them had clean hands. Every one of them had spilled innocent blood, to a greater or lesser extent.

Even the children under ten among those crushed by the Third Raikage... were no exception.

After living in the Ninja World for over a decade, Kou had completely adapted to its rules.

He knew all too well that this wasn't the time to go around showing sympathy.

But... but he still couldn't help imagining himself in the place of those "small fry" being slaughtered without a fight.

Whenever one of those twisted heads was torn apart by lightning or crushed in that huge, dark hand, he would involuntarily replace each face with his own in his mind, then feel a surge of terror.

That fear didn't come from reason. It came from instinct—from the instinct of an ordinary person struggling to survive at the bottom of the food chain.

Kou was perfectly clear about how he saw himself.

He might constantly reassure himself with things like, I'm a transmigrator, so I should be the protagonist of this world.

And, Getting a cheat is only a matter of time. Even if I don't, I can still soar to success with my intelligence advantage.

But deep in his subconscious, he still saw things from an ordinary person's perspective.

Sensitive, insecure, good at hiding who he was, prone to overthinking, and too afraid to act when faced with hardship—those traits were the essence of the orphan he had been in his previous life, and they had never changed.

Kou knew that, at his core, he had no so-called "strong mentality." He was just an ordinary person who wanted to survive, whose greatest dream was to live comfortably.

That was why he had been so terrified by the horrors of that battlefield.

Could I die too? Like those Iwagakure Ninja, forced by some mission from above to face an enemy they had no chance of beating, only to be kicked to death without a second thought?

At that moment, the version of himself who had been so pleased with his growing reputation on the battlefield was brought crashing back to reality.

There had been only one thought in his mind: Run! Run as far away as possible!!