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"Those bastards found some ninja from who knows where; he can use Water Style, and he's incredibly strong. We can't beat him." Yahiko gritted his teeth. He had been beaten into this state by that group yesterday, and his nose was still throbbing, while his chest hurt terribly with every breath.

A ninja?

First, rule out a Jonin.

At this point in time, Konoha and Amegakure were at war, and manpower was scarce. Hanzo the Salamander would never let a Jonin hang out with a bunch of brats.

A Chunin... that was possible, but unlikely. As mentioned before, Amegakure was already short on people; if they weren't even using Chunin, there would be no point in fighting at all.

Most likely, it was a Genin.

"It's fine, I'm here," Chiba said calmly.

Then, Konan suddenly remembered something.

"Right, I need to go see Granny Reina. She has trouble moving, so I'll go help her with some chores." With that, Konan left the alley under the gazes of Yahiko and Chiba.

Left behind, only Chiba and Yahiko remained.

"Chiba, you... you aren't from Amegakure, are you?" Yahiko asked suddenly, for no apparent reason.

Uchiha Chiba nodded. He walked over to the nearby wall and ran his hand along it.

Not being a local was fine, as long as no one discovered the fan crest on his back. One had to remember that the black market sold Sharingan eyes; a pair of the most basic single-tomoe Sharingan cost 100 million gold coins, which was no small sum. An A-rank missing-nin usually only had a bounty of around 15 million. In the original story, someone like Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the Third Hokage and an elite Jonin-level powerhouse, only had a bounty of 35 million gold coins.

"Damn this war..." Yahiko looked up at the sky. Rain fell, and the gloomy clouds seemed to cast a layer of dust over the entire Land of Rain.

"Yeah, damn this war. I really wish there were no wars in this world," Uchiha Chiba nodded. As a transmigrator, he naturally knew how beautiful peace was.

"Chiba, I have a dream. I want to bring peace to the ninja world so that war no longer exists." Yahiko clenched his fist and reached it toward the sky.

"I don't have such grand ideals, but I'm curious. This is the first time we've met, isn't it? Is it really okay to pour your heart out about your ideals to a stranger like me?" Chiba felt a bit puzzled, but more than that, he felt it was only natural. No matter how much he, this butterfly, flapped his wings, Yahiko's dream would never change.

Yahiko was silent for a moment.

Then, he spoke, as if answering or perhaps talking to himself: "I don't know, but I just feel like you're a good person. We share the same values; you aren't the type to be a war-monger."

"Heh, a war-monger... am I?" Uchiha Chiba remained expressionless. He had merged with the original owner's emotions and memories, and coupled with the pursuit by Root, his greatest desire was to kill that old bastard Danzo. If it weren't for that old man, the original owner's parents wouldn't have died, and he wouldn't have been used as cannon fodder on the battlefield at such a young age... However, it was fortunate that he had met Konan.

Yahiko wanted to say something more, but suddenly, a commotion erupted outside the alley.

"Little thing, hand over those buns. You don't want to get beaten, do you? It's going to hurt. If I ruin your face, you'll turn into an ugly monster." An ugly-looking boy held a wooden stick and glared fiercely at Konan.

Konan frowned. "In your dreams! If you have the ability, go earn them yourself. I earned these! You bunch of bastards! Help!"

"Oh? It's wartime, you know. Look at the adults passing by—is there a single one who even glances at you?" The boy clicked his tongue and shrugged.

Passersby consciously cleared a path. They didn't want to get involved in such matters, nor did they have the energy to.

"Grab the buns from her," the boy waved his hand, and the seven or eight young vagrants behind him rushed forward all at once.

The next second, BANG!

Uchiha Chiba kicked two of the vagrants away. Behind him, Yahiko watched Chiba in shock.

"You! Chiba! You're a ninja?!" Yahiko stared at Chiba in astonishment.

"Chiba! Yahiko!" Konan quickly hid behind Chiba.

The few vagrants didn't dare to rush forward for a moment. This was normal; they usually only bullied children their own age, and it was only since they had a ninja "second-in-command" that they dared to rob some adults.

"A bunch of losers. It's up to you, Kawanishi Dainen," the ugly boy clicked his tongue and clapped his hands.

All of this seemed too ridiculous in Uchiha Chiba's eyes—a bunch of children playing war... even though he himself was a child.

The next second, "Water Style: Water Gun!"

A pillar of water shot violently toward Uchiha Chiba.

BANG!!!!

Because he had no chakra reserves, the water gun hit Uchiha Chiba squarely in the chest.

"The force... isn't too great. It should be around Genin level..." Uchiha Chiba rubbed his chest.

"Konan, Yahiko, hide to the side and close your eyes." Uchiha Chiba had obtained the necessary intelligence. Now, it was time to kill. In the current Amegakure, there was an unwritten rule: ninja infighting was a matter of life and death. You could fight whenever you wanted, but it had to be a fight to the death. It was said to be for the sake of cultivating ruthlessness.

Uchiha Chiba, however, despised such a rule.

This was simply the strong slaughtering the weak.

In the original story, such things only appeared in the Land of Water after the end of the Second Shinobi World War, when Kirigakure was known as the "Bloody Mist Village."

"I'll kill you!" Kawanishi Dainen snarled, his hands weaving through seals.

I can't let him finish those seals.

If a genin takes consecutive ninjutsu hits from a chunin, they'll die. After all, Uchiha Chiba currently had no chakra, his sensory abilities had plummeted, and even his strength and defense were compromised to varying degrees.

End this quickly.

Close-quarters combat!

In an instant, Uchiha Chiba made his decision.

"Water Style: Water Gun!"

A jet of water shot out once more with ferocious speed.

But

It was a one-off.

Uchiha Chiba bent his knees and, using the rainwater on the ground, slid violently toward Kawanishi Dainen, the distance between them closing rapidly. Chiba was intentionally forcing him back, sealing off his escape route!

Kawanishi Dainen seemed to realize the problem as well.

He scrambled to move.

Then, sliding near the mouth of the alley, Uchiha Chiba suddenly leaped into the air! Whoosh! Bang! The sound of something cutting through the air rang out.

"What is he trying to do?" Kawanishi Dainen muttered to himself in confusion.

Kawanishi Dainen's brow furrowed, his pupils constricted, and suddenly realizing something, he bolted from his spot.

"This brat! He's just a kid, how does he know how to seal off my position!" A kunai was embedded deep into the ground where Kawanishi Dainen had just been standing.

Then, Kawanishi Dainen looked at Chiba with suspicion.

"Hey! We haven't decided who lives and who dies yet! If you keep this up, the Amegakure patrol will kill you; it would be better to just let me kill you and get it over with," Kawanishi Dainen's raspy voice echoed.

"Who told you that?"

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The next second, BOOM!!!!

The explosive tag detonated instantly.

Kawanishi Dainen's body was blown to pieces.

"Ah!!!!" Some of the street urchins screamed and ran away, some retched violently on the spot, and others fainted dead away.

"Ugh!!!!" Yahiko felt a sourness rise in his throat, and he vomited up his dinner from the night before.

Konan, on the other hand, perhaps having seen such things before, only turned a little pale.

"Those kids will probably run until they're out of sight the next time they see you two," Chiba said, wiping the blood from his face.