The Sorrowful Ninja World! Loss Is the Norm!

It had to be said that Minato Namikaze truly lived up to his nickname, Little Sun. It was as if his body genuinely contained the power of Yang Release.

His chakra gave off a warm feeling, completely unlike the cold, gloomy chakra of the Uchiha Clan.

With Hiruko's current strength, leaving Konoha would not have been difficult.

It was simply that he could not bear to part with Konoha's resources. More importantly, Tsunade, whom he longed for day and night, was here, along with Konoha's future great beauties. How could he bear to leave?

Unlike the conservative Third Hokage, if the Fourth Hokage were Minato Namikaze, perhaps he would be more willing to loosen his grip on many matters.

Minato Namikaze was exceptionally young, energetic, and full of vigor. He would surely support reforms.

Even though he had already become one of the ninja world's vested interests, Hiruko still could not bear to see the poor commoners oppressed and exploited by daimyo and ninja alike.

After Hiruko devoured his alternate self from another world in the ninja world at the age of five, he came to this world.

Back then, he and his parents made their living by farming in the village, with few opportunities to encounter or learn ninjutsu.

Yet when he learned that his name was Hiruko, he became certain that he would one day become a ninja, even if his talent was not particularly good.

However, that night completely shattered his original understanding of the ninja world, showing him a cruel world utterly different from the somewhat cheerful Naruto of his previous life.

Hiruko still remembered that night clearly. Violent winds howled through heaven and earth, while thick, heavy clouds hung over his head like an enormous black curtain.

Raindrops the size of beans struck Hiruko's face mercilessly like sharp blades, bringing bursts of stinging pain.

He curled up on the muddy ground, his body trembling uncontrollably as he watched in terror and helplessness while his parents were surrounded by a group of ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village.

His father's arm had already been brutally severed by the enemy. Blood sprayed out like a fountain, staining the earth beneath his feet red.

His mother knelt on the ground, her face streaked with tears as she begged desperately, "Stop! Please, I beg you!"

His parents stood stubbornly in front of the ninja.

"No!"

But Hiruko's roar was mercilessly swallowed by the deafening thunder.

A cold smile curled across the Hidden Cloud ninja's lips. With a casual swing of the kunai gleaming in his hand, his mother's throat was instantly slit, blood gushing out in streams.

Seeing this, his father charged at the enemy with an enraged roar, only to have a sharp long blade mercilessly pierce his chest. He crashed heavily to the ground.

"No—!" Hiruko's pupils instantly dilated. It felt as though an invisible hand had viciously torn apart his heart, and the agonizing pain nearly suffocated him.

He wanted to rush forward and fight the enemy to the death, but his legs felt as though they had been filled with lead, too heavy to move even an inch. A ninja's killing intent was an utterly crushing force against ordinary people.

The Hidden Cloud ninja turned around, his gaze icy as frost as it locked firmly onto Hiruko. A cruel smile appeared at the corner of his lips. "Brat, you're next."

Just as the gleaming kunai was about to plunge down, several black figures descended from the sky like ghosts!

"Leaf Whirlwind!" A green figure streaked past like lightning, kicking up a fierce gust. With a single kick, he sent the Hidden Cloud ninja and his kunai flying, smashing heavily into the ground.

Immediately afterward, dense shuriken came whistling in like a sudden downpour. Their piercing sounds through the air forced back the other enemies who had been ready to make a move.

The Hidden Cloud ninja flew into a rage from humiliation and charged forward like wolves with furious roars. The two sides instantly fell into a fierce clash.

Kunai collided, scattering dazzling sparks, while all kinds of ninjutsu surged through the air, releasing sharp, shrieking whistles.

The Konoha ninja moved as nimbly as swallows and coordinated flawlessly. Their attacks and defenses were measured and disciplined, and they soon suppressed their opponents until they retreated step by step.

"Retreat!" Seeing that the situation had turned unfavorable, the Hidden Cloud ninja did not dare prolong the fight. They swiftly withdrew like a receding tide, vanishing into the curtain of rain in the blink of an eye.

The rain continued to fall in a steady drizzle, as though even the heavens were weeping for this tragedy.

Hiruko knelt beside his parents' bodies. Tears flowed down his face like a breached flood, mixing with the rainwater. His body shook in the rain, his heart filled with endless grief.

Most of the Konoha ninja had gone after the enemy. Only one ninja remained silently behind him, not stepping forward to disturb him, merely keeping him company in silence.

"Why... why..." Hiruko clenched his fists, his nails digging deeply into his palms. Blood trickled through his fingers, but he could not feel the pain at all. There was only endless grief and fury in his heart.

He was too weak, so weak that he could not protect anything!

"Come back to Konoha with us," the ninja said softly.

"Mm!" Hiruko nodded heavily. He knew that he was merely weak right now, incapable of changing anything.

Only by becoming strong enough would he gain the ability to change all this. So this was how he had entered Konoha... Hiruko looked listlessly at the ruined scene before him.

After hastily burying his parents, he followed that Konoha ninja back to the village.

His ancestors had been true-blue Konoha people. It was only because they lacked ninja talent that they had later gone out to farm.

Who would have thought that enemy ninja would invade a place so close to Konoha?

Yet it was precisely this disaster that gave him the chance to remain in Konoha.

From then on, he embarked on the arduous path of pursuing strength, training diligently day after day, year after year.

After officially unlocking the panel at the age of eighteen, his strength advanced by leaps and bounds, like a rocket soaring into the sky.

Due to the limitations of his talent, Hiruko had never managed to break through into the Kage rank.

However, with his strength, if he truly wanted to leave, even a Kage-rank ninja would not be able to stop him.

Hiruko gently shook his head, pulling his thoughts free from those memories of the past.

After all, the past was already past. No amount of dwelling on it could change the established facts.

Though he had spent only a few short years with these parents, Hiruko remembered every warm little detail with perfect clarity.

His parents would always secretly save the delicious food for him, while he would deliberately drop a chicken drumstick on the ground and pretend it was an accident, allowing them to eat it with peace of mind.

Because they had lived so close to Konoha back then, he had naively believed that their happy life would continue forever.

But reality cruelly told him that without sufficient strength, all beauty was nothing more than a reflection in the mirror, fleeting and gone in an instant.

"Hiruko, what do you think?" Noticing that Hiruko had drifted off, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked seriously at this common-born genius.

Although Hiruko had yet to break through to the Kage rank due to his limited talent, that was precisely why Hiruzen Sarutobi felt more at ease with him.

By comparison, Orochimaru had now become someone even his own teacher could no longer see through.

He was somewhat worried about whether Hiruko, standing before him, would be willing to support Minato Namikaze.

After all, far too many ninja had owed Hiruko favors during the Third Shinobi World War. That was an extremely weighty political resource, and Hiruko had always been very close to Orochimaru.