Childhood Arc: War

[Today, I encountered a four-year-old child on the battlefield. It was truly cruel. The four-year-old held a ninja sword almost taller than himself, pointing it at me with trembling hands. His face was full of fear and his eyes wandered, yet he still stood before me.

Should I strike? He was the enemy. This was a battlefield. Anyone holding a weapon and standing on the opposing side was an enemy. If I did not kill him now, he might kill me someday. That was war between ninja.

Before I knew it, my hands had begun to tremble too. Facing a four-year-old child, I simply could not bring myself to strike. In the end, I sheathed my ninja sword and turned to leave.

Just then, a sharp pain suddenly shot through my thigh. It hurt terribly, as though something had pierced straight through it. I felt intense pain. Ah, that child had thrown a kunai. Of course... this was war...

I still could not kill him. I merely knocked him unconscious and placed him in a hidden corner. Who would have thought that this decision would lead to the deaths of many of my comrades? In just a few years, he became an outstanding ninja who killed enemies on the battlefield. Only then did I learn that he was a ninja of the Uchiha clan.

In the end, I stood against him and killed him at the cost of severe injuries. A few years later, the Senju and Uchiha unexpectedly made peace, jointly founding a ninja village. Ordinary ninja like us, without powerful bloodlines, also chose to join them one after another, finally welcoming a brief period of peace.

But who would have thought that after the First Hokage passed away, war would rise again...]

Those were events recorded in an old ninja grandfather's reflections. To be honest, my feelings were complicated after reading them.

I knew that the Third Shinobi World War would soon arrive, and I would certainly go to the battlefield as well.

If I encountered children younger than me, should I strike them down?

There were many geniuses in this world. Maybe I would spare someone today, only for him to kill my companions or family two years later...

A light snow fell outside today. It was nearly noon, yet I could still lie in bed and read. How long had it been since I had enjoyed a day like this?

Since coming to this world, Hill had arranged training for me almost every day, with only a handful of days off.

These past few days seemed to be intended to give me excessive recovery time. She had deliberately exempted me from all training before the New Year. It was quite comfortable. At last, I did not need to rise before dawn and return after dark to endure inhuman torture.

Staying home was a little boring, and I really wanted to find someone to play with. But since it was New Year's Eve, it really was not appropriate to go out. I had already read more than half of the old grandfather's ninja reflections, gaining an understanding of the wars of the Warring States Period.

To be honest, this world was far too absurd—and very abnormal.

The ninja who fought each other during the Warring States Period, the peaceful nations untouched by conflict, and most outrageous of all, the reasons ninja fought each other.

If it was because of resources, why not go after the great nations? If it was because of territory, then how were they any different from animals?

The wars between nations now could at least be explained. For example, Sand Village had poor lands, while Cloud Village was ambitious and likewise lacked resources.

But what were the wars between clans during the Warring States Period for? Why was it necessary to send children barely four or five years old onto the battlefield?

I truly could not figure that out. Then, in a sudden flash of inspiration, I understood.

It was unreasonable to try to understand a ninja's way of thinking with modern logic. After all, they were a special group of people who believed that the world could achieve peace if everyone dreamed together...

[Teacher Hill, what do you think?]

After the previous incident, I learned that Hill, like me, had been reincarnated into her present existence. Moreover, she was one of my few readers, and now she was also my benefactor and teacher.

[I agree with Lord Qingyue's view. This world is absurd.]

Ultimately, war was more about cycles of hatred and the struggle for resources. There were only so many resources to go around; where some places had abundance, others would have scarcity.

Hatred was the same. Today, you killed my friend. Tomorrow, I killed your family. The day after that, you came to kill me in revenge... Even through the generations of descendants, hatred would continue without end.

The reason conflicts did not break out between major powers in modern life was only because the price was too severe. Even so, it could not be considered peace.

The great powers still openly and secretly competed against one another; it simply was not reflected on the battlefield.

Not to mention that wars outside the great powers had never ceased. Even now, their skies were filled with the sound of missiles flying overhead.

[I always feel that the people in this world are extremists who only know how to say pretty things. Madara, Nagato... they all claim to cherish peace, yet in the end, they only know how to suppress others with force. One believed in some so-called dream, while the other sought to make everyone understand pain. No one ever considered that war happened because people were unhappy.]

The closer the Third Shinobi World War drew, the more images of battlefield smoke and living people turning into corpses kept appearing in my mind.

Were human lives really such cheap things?

Destroy, then create, then destroy again. Perhaps peace could truly exist only in dreams.

After the New Year, my parents became busy again. The atmosphere in the village also grew increasingly tense. It seemed that with war approaching, small clashes had already begun.

When I returned to school, everyone's faces were still filled with smiles.

Rin sat beside my seat, smiling and waving at me. Obito... had not arrived yet. Kakashi had not graduated early as he did in the original story and still sat behind me.

What I wanted to protect was nothing more than this. So first, I had to save Sakumo Hatake.

After school, I brought Kakashi to our usual training ground. This had become routine. Ever since I had easily defeated him, he had been training with me.

As his friend, I naturally taught him everything I knew. Recently, I had begun teaching him the full range of knowledge regarding Battle Aura.

"You should have felt it recently, right? The chakra usage method I have mastered—Battle Aura?"

After training for so long, taking so many beatings, and repeatedly experiencing what it felt like to be attacked by my Battle Aura, a genius like him must have sensed something to some extent.

"Yeah. It feels strange, like chakra has turned into armor. But it is very weak. At the moment, it can probably only defend against small stones."

"Of course it is. How long have you been training? Battle Aura is a technique that requires long-term cultivation. I spent so much time before finally achieving a little success."

If Kakashi learned it easily, I would be too depressed to bear it. Might Guy's use of Battle Aura had already caught up with mine.

Still, that was fine. Might Guy was less suited to swordsmanship than I was, and he could be said to understand absolutely nothing about Observation Haki and Armament Haki.

Perhaps I was the only one who could learn Haki.

Why had I not brought Obito and Rin along?

Rin was a rear-support type, after all, so Battle Aura was not particularly necessary for her. Rather than spend time cultivating Battle Aura, she would be better off practicing something else.

As for Obito, I did not know why, but he simply could not grasp the knack. Perhaps Battle Aura was not a skill that everyone could master.

Just as Sage Mode had a chakra-volume threshold, perhaps Battle Aura was determined by one's innate talent.