A Ninja's Fate

The three moved far faster than the bandits had imagined.

Minato slipped soundlessly through the rubble, releasing three shuriken almost at once. They struck with deadly precision, pinning the throats of the night watchmen in the three watchtowers.

The men did not even manage a groan before they crumpled limply to the ground.

Against ordinary people, ninja were utterly overwhelming!

Mirai and Zhili approached from the other side. Of the two patrolling bandits they encountered, one was pierced through the back by Mirai's kunai, while the other had her throat slit by Zhili's katana. Neither had time to make a sound before falling.

The two made their way to the cages. Zhili did not ask questions and immediately got to work.

Mirai covered her. After clearing out the three guards outside the cages, Zhili flipped down in front of them and raised a hand, signaling the women inside to stay quiet.

At the sight of someone approaching, the women instinctively huddled together.

But when they saw that it was a female ninja, and that she had no weapon in hand but was instead gesturing for silence, a few of them relaxed slightly.

"Don't be afraid. We're Konoha ninja. We're here to save you." Zhili kept her voice low as she began cutting through the chains on the cages with a kunai.

Just then, a furious roar came from nearby. "Who's over there?!"

A tall figure emerged from the large tent in the center of the camp, carrying a katana longer than a man across his shoulder. A scar ran across his face, and his eyes were vicious.

More than a dozen subordinates followed him out. Some wore battered ninja forehead protectors, while others carried samurai swords. They surrounded the area in a disorderly mob.

"Where'd these little brats come from?" The leader glanced at the corpses on the ground, then looked at Zhili beside the cages. "Tch, and one of them's a little girl who hasn't even grown up?"

Mirai stepped out of the shadows and stood before the leader.

He raised a hand and pointed at the Konoha Forehead Protector on his brow. "Konoha—Mirai Uzumaki. I'm here to wipe out scum like you."

"Boss, they're Konoha ninja!" one of the underlings behind him cried in alarm.

The leader spat dismissively. "Konoha? So what? You two little punks still wet behind the ears dare cause trouble on my turf—"

Before he could finish, Mirai moved.

Adamantine Sealing Chains erupted from Mirai's back, six Golden Chains shooting straight toward the bandits behind the leader.

Those Genin and samurai had no chance to react. The six chains seemed to have eyes, wrapping precisely around six targets and instantly sealing and suppressing their chakra, leaving them unable to move.

At almost the exact same moment, Minato flashed out from the shadows at the side.

"Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!" Minato rapidly formed hand seals, unleashing several slashing wind blades!

They pierced the brows, throats, and hearts of the bandits bound by the chains one after another.

All six fell in unison.

The leader's expression finally changed.

He took half a step back and rapidly formed hand seals—

"Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!"

An earth wall rose from the ground before him, blocking the remaining wind blades!

At the same time, he leaned backward, clearly intending to open the distance and unleash a more powerful Ninjutsu.

Watching from the shadows, Jiraiya raised an eyebrow slightly. For a wandering Chunin to use Earth Flow Wall so skillfully, he was indeed a cut above ordinary bandits.

But Mirai gave him no chance to go big.

The instant the earth wall rose, Mirai did not pause. He pushed off the ground,

and his entire body leaped over the wall like a red blur, landing less than three steps away from the leader.

Golden Chains shot from his sleeves again, wrapping directly around the leader's hands, which were only halfway through their seals.

The chakra-suppressing effect of Adamantine Sealing Chains activated instantly. The flow of chakra in his body was forcibly disrupted, and his Ninjutsu collapsed on the spot.

The leader's eyes widened. Before he could utter a second word, Mirai's kunai drove in beneath his jaw, pierced through his throat, and came out the back of his skull.

"People like you don't deserve to live in this world, and you don't deserve another life either!"

The move was clean and decisive, without the slightest hesitation.

The leader fell with his eyes wide open, hitting the ground with a dull thud.

Seeing their boss killed, some of the remaining bandits began retreating in panic, while others gritted their teeth and charged forward.

Mirai casually picked up the leader's katana from the ground. It was a little heavier than he had expected, but it felt decent in his hand.

With a backhand slash, he cut down the nearest samurai. Then he spun on his feet, the katana carving arcs through the air as he dispatched two Genin who charged at him in succession.

Killing people with a sword seemed a little cooler than using a kunai?

Minato joined the cleanup as well. The kunai in his hand moved with such agility in close combat that it seemed alive,

and with Zhili now free to throw shuriken from the cages to finish off enemies, less than two minutes later, the only living people left in the camp were the imprisoned women.

Mirai stopped moving, his katana braced against the ground, the hem of his clothes slightly dirty.

He lowered his head and looked at his hand. Blood stained it, while blood from the blade slid down its edge and dripped onto the gravelly ground.

The air was thick with the smell of rust and gunpowder.

His stomach suddenly churned, but he quickly forced it down.

That was how the ninja world worked. If you did not kill others, they would kill you.

In the original story, Itachi had gone to war at the age of four. There was no time to be sentimental.

But if I win over Mikoto this life, will that filial son Itachi even appear?

Mirai Uzumaki sank into thought.

Meanwhile, Zhili had already unlocked the chains on the cages.

She stripped quite a few outer garments from the bandit corpses and tossed them to the women, enough to let them cover themselves somewhat.

When the first middle-aged woman stepped out and saw the bandit corpses sprawled across the ground, she froze for a moment.

Then she pounced on one of the bodies and began biting and beating it desperately, her nails tearing flesh open as broken sobs escaped her throat.

"Ah—"

Then the second, third, and fourth women rushed out...

Some used their hands, some picked up stones from the ground, and some grabbed weapons dropped by the dead bandits. Like madwomen, they hacked at corpses that would never move again.

Soon, the ground was a mangled mess of blood and flesh.

But no one stopped them.

Zhili stood to one side without moving. Minato put away his kunai and lowered his gaze.

Mirai planted the katana into the ground at his feet, turned his back, and waited for them to vent everything.

Jiraiya emerged from his hiding place. Looking at the scene before him, his usual frivolity was gone, replaced by a heavy expression of sorrow and suffering.

He said nothing. He merely came to stand beside Mirai and patted his shoulder.

A long time passed before the women slowly stopped.

The middle-aged woman who had rushed out first walked up to Mirai. With her head lowered and her voice hoarse, she said, "Thank you... thank you..."

Mirai searched the bandits' tents and found some valuables and dry rations, which he distributed among the women.

They led the survivors out of the valley, then let them each return home.

They were all unfortunate people captured from nearby villages. Perhaps some of them no longer had homes to return to.

But this was all Mirai and the others could do.