Orphan of War

Drip, drip. The sky was gloomy, and rain fell incessantly, pattering against the ground and the leaves, creating a soft, rhythmic sound. The desolate scene all around seemed to be recounting the tale of this damned strife.

Beneath a tree in the forest, a ragged boy was curled up. He had long, purple hair reaching past his shoulders and stood roughly a meter tall. His features were delicate, though they were entirely obscured by grime and clothing that made him look like a refugee.

At a glance, he was merely a child of four or five years old.

This boy was Ueno Kei. His background was extremely ordinary; he was neither the descendant of a famous ninja or samurai clan, nor the scion of a noble family from a great nation. He was simply a child born into a common farming family. Ueno Kei's parents were farmers in a country called Yu, located on the border of the Land of Fire.

If there was anything different about him, it was that when Ueno Kei arrived in this world five years ago, he possessed one crucial trait that set him apart from other children: Ueno Kei was not originally from this world. Of course, this wasn't some cliché story about him possessing the body of a local child.

It could be said that he arrived in this world with almost all the memories of his previous life. Why "almost"? Because there were slight fragments missing.

Therefore, it was not inaccurate to say he belonged to this world; he simply possessed twenty years of memories from his past life in addition to those of a normal child. When Ueno Kei first opened his eyes, he saw his parents for this life—a pair of kind-hearted, gentle, and ordinary people. Ueno Kei did not resist, nor did he feel any panic.

Although he knew nothing about this world and understood nothing of the "samurai lords" or "ninja lords" his parents spoke of, he was fortunate that, aside from having to relearn the language, nothing else was different from his previous world.

While the scientific technology was slightly behind, the existence of things like ninjutsu surprised Ueno Kei. He harbored no doubts or confusion about his appearance in this world. He believed that life and death, and the cycle of reincarnation, were perfectly normal things, including the fact that he retained memories of his past life.

Ueno Kei once joked to himself that perhaps Lord Yama had forgotten to have Meng Po give him the soup of oblivion, and he let it go with a self-deprecating laugh.

At first, Ueno Kei did not show anything extraordinary. He kept a normal routine and lived a normal life, only being a bit more sensible than other children. He didn't fuss or cry, was obedient, and always treated the surrounding villagers with a gentle attitude. Occasionally, he would play with other children like a real kid, which brought his parents great comfort.

At that moment, Ueno Kei had thought that he would live the life of a farmer in this world, grow up normally, marry an ordinary farm girl, live a plain and simple life, and then pass away just as plainly, bringing nothing and taking nothing.

He would just treat it as experiencing a different life once more.

But his plans for the future were terminated at that very moment.

When his mother's face twisted in terror as she told him to run, and his father charged at the bandits with a hoe, Ueno Kei felt lost and panicked for the first time. He listened blankly to his mother's roar, mechanically forcing his body to run toward the mountains behind the village.

He dared not look back, nor did he want to.

He spent days and nights wandering through the mountains, drinking stream water when thirsty and foraging for wild fruit when hungry. Fortunately, because this mountain range was surrounded by many villages, the villagers often hunted to supplement their food, making large wild animals extremely rare. This was the only reason Ueno Kei was able to survive while wandering through the range.

Ueno Kei did not know how many days had passed since he ran away. Whether he was still in the mountains behind his village, or even still in his own country, was a question.

He could no longer find the way back, and he dared not return. Although he possessed the mind of an adult, his body was still that of a mere five-year-old child.

The fear and panic inherent in a child still accompanied him. Although he had forced himself to calm down, he did not know what to do about the future or how he should proceed.

Having never left his village, Ueno Kei's knowledge of this world was limited to the superficial concepts of the Five Great Nations, ninjas, and hidden villages.

Leaning against a large tree, Ueno Kei's eyes were unfocused, dull, and numb.

The rain fell in a drizzle, soaking his body. Suddenly, Ueno Kei burst into loud sobs. The sight of his parents' tragic deaths, and the deaths of the kind neighbors, uncles, aunts, and playmates, seemed to flash through his mind one after another.

At this moment, Ueno Kei did not act like someone with an adult mind; he cried his heart out just like a normal child.

He did not know how long he cried, but when a deep sense of exhaustion washed over him, Ueno Kei crossed his arms, curled up beneath the tree, and drifted into a hazy sleep.

He did not know how much time had passed before he was awakened by a swaying sensation. He scanned his surroundings with a bewildered gaze, and suddenly, Ueno Kei shivered violently, for he was being carried on the back of a suspicious person wearing a mask.

Human trafficking! The first thought that flashed through Ueno Kei's mind was exactly that. He quietly closed his eyes again. He knew that as a child, he had no power to resist, so he did not make any rash moves. He continued to pretend to be asleep, secretly considering the possibilities and plans for escape in his heart.

Although Ueno Kei had cried in helpless, childish despair earlier, that was merely a release of the darkness and sorrow within. Now, although he was still immersed in the grief of losing his parents and having his life destroyed, he was not truly a child. How to survive—survival was the only thing Ueno Kei needed to consider right now.

Just as Ueno Kei was intensely contemplating how to escape the clutches of these people, the masked person—whose gender was impossible to tell and who seemed highly suspicious in Ueno Kei's eyes—came to a stop. Ueno Kei wondered suspiciously what was happening.

A kind voice, like a spring breeze, rang in his ears.

"Little one, since you're already awake, stop pretending. This old man is not some suspicious character."

When Ueno Kei heard the voice, his heart sank at first, but he quickly regained his composure and slowly opened his eyes. At this moment, the masked person set him down.

Ueno Kei stood on the ground. Sunlight filtered through the leaves above, shining into his eyes. He squinted and looked up at the speaker. It was an elderly man with a kind face, wearing a red and white robe and a hat with a large "Fire" character inscribed on the front.

Ueno Kei's first thought was, He doesn't look like a human trafficker.

And the second thing, which Ueno Kei did not know at the time, was that at that very moment, his life had changed, and the stalled gears of his fate began to turn once again.