Perpetual Motion Chicken

The sun gradually rose, and morning light filtered through the gaps in the sand piled at the cave entrance.

After Jugo spat out several mouthfuls of water, his consciousness gradually cleared as well.

He propped himself up and sat on the ground, shaking his still-dazed head.

The cave was dimly lit, but he could still see clearly.

The boy who had subdued him last night was sitting on the ground.

A red-haired woman sat behind him, draped in a piece of coarse burlap that only covered her down to the tops of her thighs. Her calves were covered in old scars.

Jugo did not give that much thought.

He looked around, and memories of last night came flooding back in fragments: he had lost control and gone berserk again, but this time, no one had died.

Someone had stopped him during his rampage, beaten him back to normal, and had not killed him.

His gaze abruptly locked onto Lin Chongshu, and his voice suddenly turned excited. "It was you! You can subdue me!"

Over the years, he had encountered many people.

Most ran as soon as they saw him. Those who could not run were killed by him. A small number of ninjas had been able to injure him, but in the end, they were either beaten to death by him or fled.

Never had anyone been able to suppress his rampage without killing him.

Lin Chongshu extended a hand toward Jugo, palm up, striking the same pose as Whitebeard. "Mm. No matter how many times you go berserk in the future, I'll subdue you."

He remembered that in the original story, Kimimaro seemed to have said something similar to Jugo, becoming Jugo's only friend. Later, Jugo had been willing to help Sasuke because he considered Sasuke equivalent to Kimimaro.

Jugo froze. His eyes instantly reddened. He even forgot to stand up, instead dropping to his knees and shuffling forward a few steps, his voice trembling.

"Are you willing to be my friend? Will you let me stay by your side?"

"Of course. Not only can I subdue you, I can understand you too." Lin Chongshu took Jugo's hand.

Tears immediately streamed down Jugo's face. A long-suppressed sob escaped his throat, and he collapsed onto the ground, his shoulders shaking.

He cried horribly, snot and tears running all over his face, yet his hand still clutched Lin Chongshu's fingers tightly, refusing to let go.

Jugo looked big, but he was actually still young.

In a chaotic age like this, people like him were the loneliest. Perhaps just one sentence from someone else could become the faith that kept them alive.

Just like Haku, who had been willing to devote his life to Zabuza simply because Zabuza had said, "I need you."

Wait... Haku? A thought suddenly flashed through Lin Chongshu's mind.

Haku, the original number-one figure of Southern Liang, even ranking near the top of the must-eat list for many Naruto transmigrators with strange eating fetishes.

Lin Chongshu's orientation was normal, and he had no particular thoughts about Haku. Still, he really craved subordinates like that—capable as soon as they were won over and absolutely loyal.

He already had Jugo and Karin's mother. If he could gather a few more powerful, utterly loyal followers at this point, then later he could imitate Orochimaru and become a local tyrant in a place like the Land of Birds, which had no hidden ninja village. Wouldn't that be wonderful?

Lin Chongshu led the two of them outside.

Outside the cave entrance, five genin had been buried in sand mounds formed from compacted grit, with only their heads exposed.

One of them had already stopped breathing. When Lin Chongshu had treated his injuries yesterday, he had been too inexperienced with the Mystical Palm Technique and failed to control the amount of chakra he output. He had meant to stop the bleeding, but ended up healing the man to death.

The remaining four were still alive, but they no longer even had the strength to curse him.

After a night of intermittent system notifications, the genin's emotions had shifted from their initial relief at surviving, to anger at being imprisoned, then pain, and finally the despair they felt now.

Although the system had stopped chiming, Lin Chongshu felt that there should still be a few basic points left to squeeze out of them.

He opened the panel and took a look.

[Name: Lin Chongshu]

[Age: 23]

[Strength: 13.6]

[Mental: 9.5]

[Agility: 13.1]

[Constitution: 25.2]

[Speed: 13.4]

[Chakra (Water, Fire, Wind, Earth): 26]

[Shukaku's Power: Sand Manipulation (Proficiency 31)]

[Bloodline Limit: Magnet Release: Gold Dust (Proficiency 17)]

[Water Clone Technique/Water Dragon Bullet Technique/Mystical Palm Technique/Chakra Scalpel (Proficiency 5/Proficiency 12/Proficiency 8/Proficiency 9)]

[Sage Body: Uzumaki Lineage (13%)]

[Natural Energy Sage Body (21%)]

Other than his Mental stat, all his attributes were around 13. His Mental stat was on the low side, likely a side effect of the Natural Energy Sage Body passively absorbing natural energy.

His Constitution and Chakra were on the high side, probably due to the passive boost brought by the Six Paths Sage Body.

Lin Chongshu gave them some water.

The four genin merely raised their eyes to glance at him. They no longer had the strength to curse him or beg for mercy. Right now, they were even thinking that it would have been better if they had simply been beaten to death last night.

As he fed them water, Lin Chongshu watched the reactions of the two people behind him.

Jugo showed no reaction, merely standing to one side and watching with a calm expression.

He recognized these people. They had all thrown shuriken at him last night and used Wind Release. They had wanted to kill him, feared him, and all thought he was a monster.

Only Lin Chongshu did not see him that way. As long as he could stay by Lin Chongshu's side, nothing Lin Chongshu did mattered to him.

For someone like him, it was too difficult to meet someone in this world who understood him—so difficult that he was willing to trade everything for it.

But Karin's mother seemed somewhat softhearted at the moment. She spoke up. "You... why did you save them yesterday?"

Lin Chongshu answered without hesitation. "I didn't entirely lie to you yesterday. I'm from the Land of Wind, I have a grudge against the Land of Grass, and I hate people from the Land of Grass too. I don't want them to die easily."

Karin's mother said nothing.

Although Karin's mother was older than Jugo, she was actually more vulnerable than he was and more compassionate at heart. Perhaps that was a trait that came with being a mother.

Still, Lin Chongshu did not dislike it. He did not want everyone around him to be a bad person like him.

Good people like Karin's mother might be a little overly compassionate at times, but you would never need to doubt that she would save you when you were in danger.

She was different from women like Shan Tianzhu's wife. That sort of woman might act obediently around you, but she could only handle favorable situations. In a crisis, she would absolutely be the first to abandon you, or even stab you in the back.

After giving them water, Lin Chongshu told Jugo to take whatever he wanted to eat.

He had stripped all seven ninja tool pouches from them. Aside from ninja tools, food and several changes of clothes had been tossed carelessly beside the cave.

These genin had not brought much with them. After all, they were not rogue ninjas and did not need to carry all their possessions on their backs. Still, the food was enough for the three of them to eat here for a week.

He wrapped an arm around Karin's mother's waist and prepared to return to the cave.

Karin's mother was startled. "Aren't you tired?"

"Why is your mind always full of nonsense? I'm going to remove the scars on your body, that's all."

"...I wasn't overthinking."

"By the way, I still don't know your name."

"..."