"Shin, I'm worried," Kushina said anxiously. She was clever. She and Shin lived in such a secluded place and had still been attacked. It was easy to imagine what had happened to the clan's homeland.
"Worrying won't help."
Shin shook his head slightly. Although he hadn't been well liked by the Uzumaki Clan, he hadn't been deprived of anything he was entitled to. So he didn't want to see the clan wiped out, either.
But there was nothing Shin could do to change anything. He'd known the Uzumaki Clan would face destruction, but who would believe him if he said so?
What's more, Shin had no idea when the Uzumaki Clan would be destroyed. Even if someone really believed him, there was no way to prepare for it.
The enemy had already set their sights on the Uzumaki Clan. When they struck, they did so with overwhelming force. In the original story, the Uzumaki Clan was destroyed so quickly that even Konoha had no time to send aid.
As for going to save the Uzumaki Clan himself? Don't be ridiculous. Shin wasn't going to get arrogant just because he'd secretly killed a Jonin. Going there would only get him killed.
Sitting by the river, Kushina leaned against Shin. Unlike Shin, who was a transmigrator, his body was that of a five-year-old child, but his soul wasn't.
Kushina, on the other hand, was just a five-year-old girl. Children in the Naruto World were generally very mature for their age, but what she'd just been through was still frightening.
Only when she leaned against Shin's chest could Kushina feel a little at ease.
"Shin, promise me you'll never leave me."
Kushina looked up at him, her bright eyes full of hope.
Kushina was terrified. When Shin faced those ninjas earlier, she'd been so afraid something would happen to him.
Fortunately, Shin was all right. Otherwise, she might not have had the courage to go on living. Being all alone was too much to bear.
"All right. I promise, Kushina. I'll never leave you."
Shin looked straight into Kushina's eyes and made his promise earnestly.
Kushina hugged Shin and closed her eyes, nuzzling against him. Sleepiness washed over her, and she soon fell asleep peacefully in his arms.
Watching Kushina sleep quietly, Shin smiled faintly. Then he picked up the Ninja Tool Pouch and checked what was inside.
He'd already searched the Jonin's Ninja Tool Pouch. Aside from ninja tools and two Ninjutsu Scrolls, it held some Military Ration Pills and dry rations.
Next, Shin opened the Ninja Tool Pouches belonging to the two Elite Chunin and looked through their contents.
Kunai, Shuriken, even Senbon, along with Military Ration Pills, dry rations, and a few Explosive Tags.
Explosive Tags were useful, but expensive. Their blast radius was small, but they could still do plenty of damage.
Besides those, Shin found a Ninjutsu Scroll. It contained the Chakra Refinement Technique and the basic Three Basic Techniques.
The Three Basic Techniques were the Substitution Technique, the Transformation Technique, and the Clone Technique. They were all ordinary E-rank ninjutsu, the lowest level.
Of course, low-level didn't mean useless. The Transformation Technique and the Clone Technique were easy to see through.
Clones created with the Clone Technique couldn't attack at all. They were nothing like the Shadow Clone Technique.
The Substitution Technique, on the other hand, was very useful. It let you quickly switch places with an object to evade an attack.
That Elite Chunin had used the Substitution Technique to dodge one of Shin's attacks.
Of course, as one of the lowest-level ninjutsu, it wasn't particularly powerful. It still depended on the person using it.
Although the Substitution Technique let you switch places with another object, it wasn't Space-Time Ninjutsu. It relied on speed.
So the stronger someone was, the less useful the Substitution Technique became. It was easy to see through, after all. It was only an E-rank technique and couldn't possibly reach the level of Uchiha Sasuke's Rinnegan ability, Amenotejikara.
Shin studied the Three Basic Techniques. He was a genius to begin with, and it didn't take him long to master the three simple techniques.
A few hours passed. The sky brightened, and the sun peeked over the horizon, its warm rays seeming to dispel the gloom.
Kushina woke up and rubbed her eyes. Then she looked around in a panic, relaxing only when she saw Shin.
"You're awake. Have something to eat."
Shin took out some dried meat and handed it to Kushina. It was food they'd hurriedly grabbed when they left home.
"I'm not hungry," Kushina said, shaking her head.
It wasn't that Kushina wasn't hungry. She just wasn't in the mood to eat.
"You have to eat. Otherwise, if we run into danger, you won't have the strength to run."
At Shin's urging, Kushina ate a few pieces of dried meat.
"I've already sent Shadow Clones to scout around. The intruders have left," Shin told Kushina.
Shin had sent out ten Shadow Clones to investigate. The intruders had left sometime after four in the morning.
And Shin knew he was safe now.
The system had already given him the reward for the survival mission: a Common Copy Card.
"They've left? What happened to the clan's homeland?" Kushina asked, her face brightening with relief, only to turn worried again as she thought of the clan.
Shin shook his head, recalling what his Shadow Clones had relayed. The place had been a river of blood.
Shin didn't know if there were any survivors. His Shadow Clones hadn't found a single one.
When Kushina saw him shake his head, her heart sank. She knew it couldn't be good.
So be it. As long as Shin was all right, that was enough. There wasn't much else Kushina could do for the other clan members.
After resting for a while, Shin led Kushina out of the forest and toward the clan's homeland. They could smell the pungent stench of blood long before they reached it.
"Kushina, don't be afraid when we get there," Shin said, holding her trembling hand.
Kushina nodded bravely and continued forward.
But when they finally reached the clan's homeland and saw the bodies strewn everywhere, Kushina threw up.
Even though Shin had already seen the scene in his mind through his Shadow Clones, it still made him feel sick.
The Uzumaki Clan had more than two hundred people, and almost all of them were dead. Their blood had pooled together until Shin understood what it really meant for a place to be a river of blood.
And it wasn't only the Uzumaki Clan's blood. The invaders must have suffered casualties too, though Shin couldn't see their bodies. Perhaps they'd taken them away.
"Kushina, are you all right?" Shin asked.
Kushina shook her head. She'd thrown up everything she'd eaten that morning. The sight before her was truly gruesome.
"Shin, our Uzumaki Clan...?"
"The Uzumaki Clan is gone." Shin sighed, and his resolve to grow stronger intensified.
In this world, without strength, this was the fate that awaited you. If the Uzumaki Clan had had a powerhouse like Senju Hashirama or Uchiha Madara, would they have met such an end?
Crack!
A faint sound reached Shin's ears. He looked toward a nearby spot and said coldly, "Who's there?"
"P-please don't kill me!" cried a little girl in terror. Then she let out a scream and fainted.
"She has red hair. Could she be a survivor from our clan?" Shin said, taking Kushina over to her.
A little girl about the same age as Shin and Kushina lay in a pool of blood in front of a burned-down house.
There was a cellar nearby. It seemed she'd survived by hiding in it.
She'd made a noise while crawling out of the cellar, and Shin had heard her. Then the scene around her had frightened her so badly that she'd fainted.
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