A Man's Romance

When Yuehua Ai stepped out of the cave, the sudden brightness made him squint.

He hadn't put on any rain gear, letting the rain patter against his face and body. Before long, the puddles around his feet had turned red.

He rubbed his hands together to make sure there was no blood left, then wiped the rain from his face and smoothed back his hair. Since being reborn, he hadn't liked getting soaked in the rain. But today, standing beneath the downpour, he felt an uncommon sense of calm.

The rain had washed away the stains that had splattered across him. In truth, Yuehua Ai wasn't nearly as calm after killing as he appeared.

Rain could quiet a person. Standing still beneath it, he felt as though the vast curtain of rain could cleanse his soul. He had liked rainy days in his previous life because the raindrops could carry away the negativity buried in his heart.

Yuehua Ai wasn't nearly as heartless as he seemed. His decisive slaughter of the bandits had come more from anger than anything else.

Fueled by the heat surging through him, he had carried out the killing. But afterward, he was left with nothing but emptiness. One thing Nagato had said while trying to console him earlier had been right: killing people wasn't fun!

This was the first time Yuehua Ai had taken someone's life in either of his two lives. His victims had certainly deserved it, but he couldn't help feeling troubled after doing the deed.

For the sake of his research, back when he was still Lu Beichen, he had dissected countless corpses. He had studied not only humans, but many other animals as well.

In either his past or present life, few people in the world could match Yuehua Ai's meticulous knowledge of the structure of the human body and other living creatures.

To earn some extra money and gather materials along the way, Yuehua Ai had taken plenty of jobs involving autopsies. His experiences in his previous life had given him a wealth of knowledge.

But today was different. His past experience offered little help.

He had grown accustomed to death and could stay calm and composed in the face of all kinds of corpses. But taking someone's life with his own hands today felt entirely different.

At first, Yuehua Ai had wanted to cut every bandit in half. He thought those beasts deserved to suffer before they died, as recompense for the women who had been killed.

But when the moment came, he realized he couldn't do it. He wasn't an executioner or a sadist. His own feelings wouldn't let him torture someone while staring into their pleading, despairing eyes, even if it was punishment for their crimes.

"I'm still too softhearted!" Yuehua Ai said with a trace of helplessness.

"Softhearted?"

Footsteps sounded behind him. Three weary figures emerged from the darkness, and when Yuehua Ai turned, he met Yahiko's Byakugan.

"Did you take care of them?" Though he phrased it as a question, Yuehua Ai knew it was pointless to ask.

"Yeah!" Yahiko nodded. He was holding two samurai swords and tossed one to Yuehua Ai.

Yuehua Ai reached out and caught it by the hilt. It was even longer than the sword Yahiko used, with a blade about a meter long—almost as long as Yuehua Ai was tall.

It was the sword the bandit leader, Tōkichi, had carried. Apparently, he had died at Yahiko's hands.

"You've always wanted a blade, haven't you? I found this one and thought it looked pretty good, so I brought it for you."

When Jiraiya had taught him swordsmanship, Yahiko had noticed the longing in Yuehua Ai's eyes and knew how interested he was in the art. Yuehua Ai had probably already seen the sword they'd taken from the bandits, but that didn't stop Yahiko from giving it to him.

There was still some blood on the blade, but Yuehua Ai didn't mind. He gave it a casual swing, and the edge split the rain, cutting out a crescent of water mist.

The rain washed the remaining blood from the samurai sword, and its long, narrow edge gleamed with a chill light.

"Not bad!"

Yuehua Ai gave the two words a succinct nod of approval. He couldn't be bothered to say more; they were close enough that no one needed to thank anyone.

Yuehua Ai loved weapons like swords and sabers. After all, he had a Chinese soul—how could he not dream of being a wandering swordsman?

He had longed for that in his previous life, but never had the time. In this life, he finally had a chance to experience it, but he had been so busy training in ninjutsu that he hadn't gotten around to it.

Weapons were a man's romance. Who could resist a good one?

Yuehua Ai filled his finger with chakra and flicked the blade. The sword gave a low hum, and the falling droplets turned to white mist against its vibrating edge. The mist curled around the blade as though clouds were concealing it.

His favorite weapon was the Tang sword, but there weren't any in this world. This samurai sword he'd just received was similar in style, and judging by how it had performed, its quality surpassed his expectations. Yuehua Ai was quite pleased with it.

What Yuehua Ai didn't know was that the nameless samurai sword had a history of its own.

Though Tōkichi had fallen into banditry, his family's history could still be traced in the Land of Rivers. The Tōkichi family had been samurai for generations, and both his grandfather and father had once been renowned warriors in the country.

Tōkichi's grandfather had served as the Land of Rivers daimyo's personal bodyguard. During his service, he had commissioned this sword from a master swordsmith in the Land of Craftsmen. It couldn't compare to the famous blades, but it was far superior to standard-issue weapons. Though the sword had seen many battles over the decades, its edge had suffered little damage.

Its excellent quality gave it lasting value, so when Tōkichi's grandfather retired, he passed it down to Tōkichi's father.

Later, when war ravaged the Ninja World and the Land of Rivers was caught in the conflict, Tōkichi's father and grandfather died. The family fell into decline, and the only thing Tōkichi inherited was this weapon with a bit of history behind it.

Now, this samurai sword, which had carried a family's history, was in Yuehua Ai's hands. Everything it had once represented would be erased, and a new chapter would begin.

When he first fought Tōkichi, Yuehua Ai hadn't paid much attention to the samurai sword. By every measure, it was far better than Yahiko's. Perhaps Yahiko had given it to him because he'd recognized its value.

Yuehua Ai stole a glance at Yahiko's sword and noticed several new chips in the edge. Understanding dawned on him. Now he knew how Yahiko had noticed the other sword's worth.

"Being young has its advantages. At least you've got a conscience, Yahiko!" Yuehua Ai felt a little grateful for Yahiko's generosity and thoughtfulness.

"I'll call you Cangyun. The Cangyun Sword, the Cangyun Blade... Yeah, that sounds good!" Looking at the ancient sword wrapped in mist, Yuehua Ai silently gave it a name.

He had already given Yahiko the gratitude in his heart. That left his concern for Konan.

"By the way, Konan, are you all right?"

"I'm fine now..."

Konan shook her head. Her face was still as pale as paper, and she looked far from well.

"Ai, if you'd told us what it looked like in there, we wouldn't have been so shaken!" Yahiko grumbled.

"It's not like Ai did it on purpose. His senses are more detailed than what we can see. He managed to handle it himself, so how could he have known we'd react this way? We're just too weak, that's all!"

Yuehua Ai hadn't even had a chance to respond before Konan defended him.

Her defense made Yuehua Ai awkwardly rub his nose. To be honest, he really had done it on purpose...

Yahiko felt helpless at how Konan stood up for Yuehua Ai. What could he do? Yuehua Ai was the youngest among them.

The teenagers were old enough to start experiencing the first stirrings of love. Seeing Konan's pale face made Yahiko ache for her. Nagato liked Konan too; they all knew it, but they never talked about it. There was no need to.

"Let's get out of here first!"

Nagato really didn't want to stay in this place any longer.

Yahiko and Konan nodded. They felt the same. The sight in the cave had shaken them, and afterward, they had killed all the bandits in their fury. Now they were mentally exhausted to the point of collapse.

Even though they had moved away from the entrance and the nightmare inside, and the bandits they had killed lay far back in the cave, they still felt as though a faint stench of decay and blood kept creeping into their nostrils.

Their minds were still in a daze. Images of the corpses crawling with maggots and the bandits begging as they fell to the ground kept flashing through their heads.

Fear, rage, and regret showed uncontrollably on the young people's faces.

All they wanted was to get away. Everything that had happened here today had brought their minds close to breaking point. Every second they remained was torture!

They had to leave—to get away from this hell!

Four figures raced through the forest. Watching his three companions flee as though their lives depended on it, Yuehua Ai couldn't help regretting what he had done. This was a cruel world, but they were still just children. What they had witnessed had been too much. It might make them mature quickly, but with Jiraiya looking after them, they were unlikely to face much danger.

Perhaps gradual exposure was the best way to help them grow.

As Yuehua Ai wrestled with his regrets, a young man with white hair and a kabuki-style hairstyle appeared on the road leading into the mountains. The path he was walking connected directly to the cave where the bandits had been staying.