(Part 1)

As for why Ye Wuji only practiced these three basic ninjutsu without touching any others, the truth was that none of them were offensive. Ye Wuji had actually wanted to start practicing offensive techniques early on; he understood the principles that the best defense is a good offense and that prolonged defense inevitably leads to defeat, thanks to the knowledge from his past life. Moreover, he had long been coveting the destructive power of ninjutsu.

Unfortunately, because Minato hadn't brought any chakra testing paper, he had no idea what nature Ye Wuji's chakra possessed or which ninjutsu would be suitable for him. Consequently, Minato hadn't taught him any other techniques.

In the world of Hokage, it seemed one couldn't just use ninjutsu indiscriminately. By "indiscriminately," it meant that if you didn't possess Fire-style chakra, you simply couldn't manifest Fire Release. Ye Wuji didn't dare press Minato too deeply on the specific consequences, so he didn't know exactly what would happen, but from what he had seen in the anime, it seemed you just failed to produce the technique with no other side effects. It was like trying to drive south to get north—a complete waste of effort.

Ye Wuji had been walking along this road for four days, yet he hadn't seen a single soul. "Is this world so sparsely populated? How can there be such a road without a single person on it?" Ye Wuji looked around; aside from the road, there were only mountains or trees. "Could I have taken the wrong direction? Is the road on the other side the correct one?" He agonized over this for a long time, but if he turned back now, wouldn't these four days have been a total waste?

Ye Wuji looked back at the road behind him, then at the road ahead, and ultimately decided to keep moving forward. Turning back now would be a loss.

As noon approached, Ye Wuji looked at his empty pockets. The dry rations he had gathered a few days ago were gone again. It seemed he would have to head into the nearby woods to find food. Ye Wuji was getting a bit tired of eating grilled food all the time, but with no other options, he had to be self-reliant.

"Not bad luck today," Ye Wuji thought happily as he looked at the wild rabbit roasting over the fire. Because he had suffered so miserably at the hands of a rabbit earlier, he had made almost every rabbit he encountered over the past few days his meal. This time, he had learned his lesson from the previous chase and simply shot it dead with a Kunai.

Watching the rabbit in the fire slowly turn a golden brown, Ye Wuji knew it was almost ready. "If nothing else, if I went back to Earth and opened a barbecue joint, business would probably be great and I'd make money fast." As he thought this, he took out the seasonings he carried and slowly sprinkled them over the rabbit.

Just as he extinguished the fire and prepared to eat the roasted rabbit, a "woof-woof" sound came from behind him. Ye Wuji hurriedly turned around and quickly grabbed a wooden Kunai from the side. As for the real Kunai Minato had given him, he kept it hidden close to his body. He had made this decision the moment he started on this road; a child carrying such a high-quality weapon was too suspicious. After all, he was still too young. He might be able to handle one or two ordinary people, but if there were many, he would be in trouble. Even if he could run away, once he caught the attention of someone with ulterior motives, it would be a disaster. From what Ye Wuji knew, many people in the world of Hokage liked to kidnap children, with Orochimaru being the worst offender, and even Madara was no exception.

Ye Wuji took a defensive stance and finally saw what was in front of him: a gray, mangy dog. It was so thin that its bones were visible, and it was covered in blood, limping slowly toward Ye Wuji, leaving a trail of blood behind it.

Seeing it was just a dog, Ye Wuji chuckled to himself. He had been too nervous; such a dog couldn't possibly be a threat. He put down the Kunai and prepared to eat his lunch.

Just as Ye Wuji picked up the rabbit and was about to eat, he felt as if someone were watching him. He glanced to the side and saw the dog looking at him with a pitiful expression. When Ye Wuji looked closer, he realized the dog's eyes were fixed on the golden-brown roasted rabbit in his hand, and it was drooling. "Damn dog," Ye Wuji cursed inwardly.

Ye Wuji prepared to ignore the dog's gaze. Damn, I haven't even eaten yet, he thought. Even if he couldn't finish it, he had planned to save the leftovers for the road.

Ye Wuji brought the rabbit to his mouth, about to take a bite, while the dog beside him just kept watching with those eyes, not making a sound.

"Sigh." Ye Wuji took a long breath and couldn't bring himself to bite down. "Damn, this makes me feel like I've committed some heinous crime. Fine, I'll just go catch another one. You can have this one." Ye Wuji muttered to himself, then handed the roasted rabbit to the dog.

"Since I'm doing a good deed, I might as well finish it." Seeing that one of the dog's legs was still bleeding, Ye Wuji tore a strip of cloth from his own clothes to bandage it. His clothes were already tattered, so a little more damage didn't matter.

As he held the dog, he realized it wasn't actually gray; it was just covered in dust, which made it look gray. Ye Wuji didn't have time to clean it off; bandaging the wound was the priority.

Only when he lifted the dog's hind leg did he notice the wound was already starting to fester, with pus on the surface. Looking at the wound, Ye Wuji examined the dog more closely. It was indeed an ordinary dog, with nothing special about it—unless you counted its intelligence; it seemed very human-like.

However, Ye Wuji recognized the wound as being caused by a shuriken. This dog didn't look like a ninja hound, yet it had been wounded by a shuriken. Most importantly, the dog hadn't died. If it had been wounded by a ninja, a competent one wouldn't miss, unless the ninja had intended to wound the leg from the start. But what would be the point of that? What use was there in wounding an ordinary dog?

But there was no point in overthinking it; he had to treat the wound first. Ye Wuji didn't think the dog could have escaped a ninja's pursuit; it was likely an accidental injury, perhaps a stray hit.

Ye Wuji took out the Kunai Minato had given him, carefully cleaned the festering area on the dog's leg, used chakra to treat the area around the wound, and then wrapped it tightly with the cloth strips.

The dog was quite remarkable; it didn't even whimper while Ye Wuji was treating the wound. When he had used his chakra to examine it earlier, he found no traces of chakra, which meant it wasn't a ninja hound.

"Not bad. If I have such a smart dog for company, the road ahead might not be so difficult." Ye Wuji thought as he cleaned the dust off the dog. He hadn't wanted to save the creature at first, but now he was already considering taking it along.

Once the dust was cleaned off, Ye Wuji discovered the dog was actually a brownish-yellow color and looked very cute, especially those watery eyes that seemed full of curiosity about the world.

Fortunately, the dog didn't have a huge appetite. It left about half of the roasted rabbit for Ye Wuji and stopped eating. Ye Wuji held the rabbit the dog had bitten into, wanting to throw it away but feeling it was a waste. He simply started eating from the side the dog hadn't touched. "When did I end up sharing food with a dog?" Ye Wuji thought. But with his hunger, he ignored it. This wasn't Earth; in this world, sharing food with animals was common. Kiba seemed to do it, too. Poor Kiba, eating the same food as a dog since he was a kid. Thinking of this, Ye Wuji felt much better.

However, Ye Wuji didn't pay much attention to the fact that after the dog was full, it slowly headed toward the woods. It wasn't until Ye Wuji finished eating that he realized the dog was gone.

When he started eating, he had intended to only eat the side the dog hadn't touched, but he realized he was truly starving. Having eaten nothing but dry rations and fruit for days, he hadn't had much meat, and before he knew it, he had finished the whole rabbit.

After he finished, he realized what he had done and panicked for a moment. Dogs carried many viruses, and if he caught some disease, he would be done for. But the panic only lasted a second; he remembered this world was different. Even if rabies existed, his chakra could likely neutralize it. Besides, he had never heard of anyone in the Hokage world getting sick; it was mostly injuries. While diseases certainly existed, something like rabies probably didn't.

In the world of ninjas, many people used dogs as summoning animals because they were cheap, easy to raise, and practical. A dog's nose was very sensitive, and most tracking relied on them. Their senses—or rather, their perception—were also quite sharp, capable of sensing powerful enemies, and they possessed a certain level of combat ability. They were the first choice for ordinary ninjas. The vast majority of ninjas with summoning animals used common creatures like dogs or snakes, which were easy to capture and train.

Of course, rare summoning animals were not so easily obtained. Summoning dogs like Kakashi's were one-of-a-kind, and the dogs used by Kiba were part of his clan's secret techniques, unknown to the average person. As for the summoning animals of the Sannin level, those were even harder to come by. That was a topic for when Ye Wuji had his own summoning animal.

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