Good Child

"They can't solve the problem of your soul being corrupted, but I can."

"Be my slave. Forget your past, and I'll take good care of you."

Naoki felt the soft arms around his neck, the breath close against his face, and the alluring features before him. Yet his heart was ice-cold.

He stared into Aikawa Yumi's eyes. They still held a languid smile, as if she had everything under control.

"What exactly are you? What do you want me to do?" Naoki's voice was hoarse.

Naoki was subdued...

Aikawa Yumi's smile widened. She leaned close to Naoki again, her red lips kissing his forehead, the pale softness of her chest almost pressed against his face.

Naoki didn't dodge. He let the kiss land on his forehead.

The warmth was there and gone in an instant. Aikawa Yumi stepped back half a pace, smiling as she watched him, as if admiring prey she had finally caught.

"Now that's a good boy."

Naoki lowered his eyes. His Two-Tomoe Sharingan turned slowly in the darkness, then finally faded away.

After a struggle within himself, he chose to endure it...

This world wasn't the one he had lived in before. Here, there were ninja who could fly through the air, a Rinnegan that could control attraction and repulsion, Byakugan that could see nearly ten thousand meters, and powerful warriors who could cleave the moon in two. There were even Otsutsuki who could decide life and death for everyone through their own will, not to mention an Evil God who could make people almost immortal...

So he had no choice but to believe what Aikawa Yumi had told him—he didn't dare not believe her. After all, he wasn't willing to gamble Sakurai Hideko's life. He had a weakness...

"From now on, you don't need to call yourself Uchiha Naoki anymore. Everyone on the continent knows the Uchiha Clan's reputation. That name draws too much attention."

"Since you're my slave, you'll be called Anu from now on."

"What do you think?"

Aikawa Yumi wrapped her arm around Naoki and looked at him with a beaming smile.

"Fine."

Aikawa Yumi smiled even more brightly. She reached out and pinched Naoki's cheek, as if playing with a new toy.

"That's a good boy, Anu."

Naoki lowered his eyes and didn't respond.

After that, the two of them left the little wooden cabin by the sea...

Kannazuki Town wasn't large. Barely a hundred households were scattered along the coast.

Aikawa Yumi led Naoki to the eastern end of town, stopping outside a tavern.

"This is my home, big sister's own tavern. Pretty nice, right?"

With a playful laugh, Aikawa Yumi took out a key and opened the wooden door.

As the door swung open, a complicated smell washed over them—a mix of alcohol, the sea, and something else neither of them could identify.

Naoki followed Aikawa Yumi inside. His Two-Tomoe Sharingan silently activated in the darkness, quickly scanning the surroundings.

The tavern wasn't very large. It could probably hold twenty or thirty people.

The bar faced the entrance, with wooden shelves full of bottles behind it. Seven or eight square tables were scattered haphazardly around the room, with the chairs turned upside down on top of them.

Some empty barrels were piled in a corner, and several faded ukiyo-e prints hung on the walls.

"How is it?" Aikawa Yumi turned around and spread her arms. Her red skirt swayed slightly in the dim light. "It can't compare to the bustle of a big place like Konoha, but this is the only tavern in Kannazuki Town. The only one!"

Naoki didn't answer. He simply studied the surroundings.

The tavern had clearly been around for years, but the layers of dust on the tables made it obvious that it hadn't been open for who knew how long...

The noise outside broke the brief silence in the tavern.

Naoki stopped wiping down the table and looked toward the entrance.

Aikawa Yumi had just come out of the back room in a plain, practical outfit. At the sound, her smile faltered for a moment before she resumed her usual languid expression.

"Well, well. We have customers?" She straightened her collar and headed for the door. "I've been closed for so long. I can't believe anyone still remembers my little place..."

Before she could finish speaking, the wooden door was kicked open.

Five or six men filed inside. Their leader was a bald brute with a face full of coarse features and a vicious scar running from his left eye to the corner of his mouth. It looked especially menacing in the dim yellow light.

He wore an open-fronted coarse cloth jacket, exposing a chest covered in tattoos.

"Miss Yumi!" the bald brute shouted as he entered. "Finally stopped hiding?"

Aikawa Yumi stood still, her smile unchanged, but Naoki noticed her fingers tighten slightly.

"Hasegawa Kenichi, you blockhead. Didn't I teach you enough of a lesson last time?"

"Teach me a lesson?" Hasegawa Kenichi grinned, showing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "You got lucky last time. This time, I brought plenty of men. Let's see where you can run!"

"In my opinion, you'd better come with me quietly. That way, the guys won't have to get rough with you, and you won't be in such a sorry state in front of the boss..."

Naoki stood in the shadows, calmly observing the uninvited guests.

They were all ordinary people. Not one of them had the slightest trace of chakra.

Aikawa Yumi glanced back at him, a playful smile curling her lips. "Anu, we have customers. Aren't you going to hurry up and greet them?"

He lowered his eyes and didn't move.

Only then did Hasegawa Kenichi notice that someone else was in the tavern. He looked Naoki up and down.

"Well, well, you've got yourself a pretty boy?" He sneered, not paying Naoki any attention as he reached to grab Aikawa Yumi's arm. "Come with us!"

Seeing Naoki stay still, Aikawa Yumi had no choice but to act herself. She raised her leg to kick Hasegawa Kenichi in the groin, but he clamped his legs around hers.

"Hahaha!"

Hasegawa Kenichi laughed. "Miss Yumi, using the same move twice makes it pretty stale."

"You'd better come with me quietly."

As he spoke, Hasegawa Kenichi reached out to grab her.

Aikawa Yumi spun around and kicked him in the chest with her only free leg.

The kick sent Hasegawa Kenichi stumbling back several steps. His men hurried over to catch him, while Aikawa Yumi, now free, darted away from them like a nimble cat and came to stand beside Naoki.

"Anu, kill them!"

Naoki didn't move.

Hasegawa Kenichi and his men laughed even more recklessly. A thin man who looked like a monkey pointed at Aikawa Yumi and yelped, "This woman's scared witless. She's telling her lover to kill people? That pretty boy? He's got a nice face, too. Why not take him along? Someone might like him..."

"Don't be so disrespectful to Miss Yumi!"

Hasegawa Kenichi pointed at his underling and gave him a brief scolding.

Then he burst into laughter again, his voice echoing through the cramped tavern.

Naoki's gaze swept over them. Five, no, six of them. They were all ordinary people, with no trace of chakra. They carried the boorish air and stench of alcohol that came from years of hanging around like hoodlums. Even the strongest of them, Hasegawa Kenichi, was nothing more than a hulking man with plenty of brawling experience.