Wandering Ninja

In the autumn and winter of Konoha's forty-sixth year, the air itself seemed thick with the smell of rust and ashes. Within the Land of Fire, the relatively peaceful scenes of the past had long since vanished. As conflicts between the great nations intensified, lapses appeared in border control. Countless bankrupt farmers, scattered defeated soldiers, and scheming ronin took desperate risks, turning into bandits and marauders who ravaged the countryside.

Even more unsettling was the sharp rise in wandering ninja and rogue ninja. These desperate outlaws possessed extraordinary power yet stood beyond the restraints of ninja villages, making them far more destructive than ordinary mountain bandits. Some acted for money, others to vent their frustrations, while still others carried unspeakable motives as they spread across the Land of Fire like a plague.

Columns of black smoke from burned villages often rose along the horizon. Displaced refugees dragged their families along, their faces numb as they fled toward the major cities or Konoha, places they believed to be safe. The roads were filled with weeping and despair.

As a temporary team member, Uchiha Kyohaku's missions had quietly risen in rank as well. What had begun as border patrols gradually became operations to eradicate banditry in designated areas. Everyone understood that this was the final chaos and darkness before the outbreak of war. Konoha had to do everything it could to maintain stability behind its lines.

The briefing for this mission was simple: a bandit group of roughly twenty people had occupied an abandoned mine east of Kikyō Castle, harassing nearby villages and raiding merchant caravans with brutal methods. The mission was rated C-rank, and the expected enemies were ordinary bandits.

The temporary squad was still led by Chunin Furukawa, with Genin Kenta and Kyohaku making up the rest. After several missions, Furukawa and Kenta had long since set aside their initial disdain and doubts toward Kyohaku. In their place was a complicated mix of reliance and faint fear. This silent, pale teenage medical ninja was more clean and decisive in battle than any combat ninja they had ever seen. He could even be called... ruthless.

The three quietly approached the abandoned mine. The air carried a faint stench of blood and rotting garbage. Chunin Furukawa signaled for them to split up and scout.

Kyohaku melted into the shadows like a ghost. His sensory abilities far surpassed those of his teammates, and he quickly noticed an unusual detail—the several hidden sentries around the mine were arranged with considerable skill, not something a disorganized rabble could manage. More importantly, he sensed an extremely faint but deliberately suppressed fluctuation of chakra!

There was a ninja!

He immediately warned Furukawa through a simple birdcall signal.

Furukawa's expression hardened as he swiftly moved closer, with Kenta following nervously behind.

"There's a chakra signature inside. At least one person. Possibly a wandering ninja," Kyohaku said in a concise whisper.

Furukawa's heart sank. The mission intelligence was wrong! A ninja appearing in a C-rank mission sent the danger level soaring. He quickly weighed whether to retreat at once and request reinforcements, or...

Just then, a shrill scream suddenly rang out from inside the mine, followed by furious curses and the clash of weapons!

"Not good! They might be killing captives!" Furukawa's expression changed. His sense of responsibility as a Konoha ninja instantly overwhelmed his concerns about the risk. "Prepare to assault! Kenta, take the left flank! Kyohaku, support from the right! Prioritize treating survivors!"

With the order given, Furukawa charged out first, and Kenta gritted his teeth and followed.

Kyohaku vanished from where he stood. Rather than rushing directly toward the right flank, he silently sank underground with the Mayfly Technique, quickly approaching the depths of the mine from another angle—the center of the chakra fluctuations and screams.

The mine was dimly lit, and the scene within resembled hell. Several people dressed as villagers lay in pools of blood, their fates unknown. The bandits surrounded a man who appeared to be their leader. He was not a burly giant, but a thin man with sinister eyes and a scar across his face. Blood still dripped from the kunai in his hand, and a clear Chunin-level chakra presence radiated from his body.

"Damn it, Konoha's dogs have sharp noses! They found us this fast!" Hearing the commotion at the entrance, Scarface spat and glared viciously at Furukawa and Kenta as they rushed in. "Brothers, kill them!"

The bandits howled as they charged. Furukawa and Kenta were immediately drawn into a fierce battle. There were too many bandits, and they fought without fear of death. Coupled with the narrow terrain, the two were suppressed for a time.

Scarface sneered and did not join the siege. Instead, his gaze swept over the fallen villagers, as though he intended to silence them forever. Yet the moment he raised his kunai—

The ground beneath his feet suddenly softened into something like quicksand! A pale hand shot out and seized his ankle with flawless precision. An immense force dragged him toward the earth!

"Earth Release? Damn it!" Scarface reacted quickly. With his extensive combat experience, he immediately concentrated chakra beneath his feet to steady himself while viciously stabbing downward with his kunai!

Pfft!

The kunai struck the arm, but it made a dull sound like it had stabbed tough leather! It did not even pierce all the way through!

Scarface's pupils contracted sharply, and terror surged through him. What kind of defense is this?!

In that brief instant of distraction, Kyohaku's figure fully emerged from the shadows behind him like a phantom. The fingers of his other hand were held together like a blade, wrapped in highly condensed chakra as they stabbed straight for the vital point in Scarface's back! Silent and lightning-fast!

The deadly sense of danger made Scarface's hair stand on end. He let out a strange cry and desperately twisted his body to avoid the vital strike, flinging several shuriken backward at the same time.

Slash!

Kyohaku's fingers missed the heart, but they effortlessly sliced open the muscles on Scarface's back like a hot knife through butter, spraying blood everywhere. Kyohaku casually dodged the shuriken with only a slight shift of his body.

"Bastard!" Scarface lunged forward through the pain, rapidly turned around, and formed hand seals with both hands. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" A massive fireball roared toward Kyohaku, instantly illuminating the dark mine.

Facing the surging fireball, Kyohaku's nearly three-tomoe Sharingan slowly spun, yet he neither dodged nor retreated! He merely raised his right hand, palm forward.

Hum!

A rotating shield of highly condensed chakra instantly appeared before him. The fireball crashed against it like a wave striking a reef, exploding with a boom and scattering sparks everywhere, yet it failed to shake the shield in the slightest!

"What?!" Scarface stared in shock. His full-powered attack had been blocked so easily? What kind of monster is this guy?!

In the instant he froze in disbelief, Kyohaku moved. His body seemed to blend into the scattering sparks, and when he appeared again, he was already right in front of Scarface!

So fast!

Scarface saw only a pair of incomparably cold eyes gleaming with an eerie red light, and a pale palm rapidly expanding before him.

Kyohaku's palm pressed precisely against Scarface's forehead.

"Demonic Illusion: Shackling Stakes Technique!"

This was not a complex visual illusion, but a powerful genjutsu blasted directly into the opponent's mind through direct chakra contact!

Scarface's body abruptly stiffened. His eyes instantly lost focus, as though he had seen the most horrifying sight in the world. He stood frozen in place, unable to move.

Kyohaku did not pause for even a moment. The kunai in his other hand had already traced a cold arc.

Slash—!

Blood sprayed.

The terror on Scarface's face froze there forever as his body crumpled to the ground.

Less than ten seconds had passed from Kyohaku's appearance to the end of the battle. An experienced wandering ninja at the Chunin level had not even forced him to use a second ninjutsu.

On the other side, Furukawa and Kenta had just dealt with the surrounding bandits. Panting heavily, they turned back just in time to see Scarface collapse, and Kyohaku standing with his kunai sheathed, his expression as calm as ever, his breathing not even disturbed.

For a time, the only sounds inside the mine were the crackling of torches and the two men's heavy breaths. They looked at the pale youth, then at the corpse of the wandering ninja on the ground, and felt a chill shoot from their spines to the tops of their heads.

Clean. Decisive. Efficient. Ruthless.

That was how Uchiha Kyohaku fought.

Kyohaku did not look at them. Instead, he walked over to the injured villagers and crouched down. Green medical chakra once again glowed from his hands as he began emergency treatment, as though the brief slaughter from moments ago had never happened.

Furukawa and Kenta exchanged a glance, each seeing the same shock and lingering fear in the other's eyes. Their temporary teammate was far more frightening than they had imagined. And the world outside was becoming more dangerous and more insane, just like this mine.