Turning Point One

After resting in Konoha Village for a week, I once again headed to the battlefield on Konoha's border with Hidden Sand.

By now, the situation was quite clear. Without the Kazekage to hold the line, Hidden Sand had been beaten back again and again, yet they still chose to keep fighting.

It seemed they were making sacrifices. After losing the war, Hidden Sand would have to face an enormous sum in reparations. The warriors still on the front lines were all pawns meant to be sacrificed.

Such sacrifices would make Konoha pity them from the bottom of our hearts. That was the habitual mindset of the strong.

Politicians like the indecisive Third Hokage, who favored peace in foreign affairs, were especially susceptible to this tactic.

Once their number of combatants had been reduced to a certain point, Hidden Sand would instead gain an advantage at the negotiating table.

It was probably a scheme devised by old people like Chiyo. This style of sacrificing their own warriors, those who had shed blood and given their lives, really suited this rotten ninja world.

"It looks like the situation has been decided, Lord Orochimaru."

"So it is Qingyue. I heard about the situation on the eastern front as well. I never expected someone your age to be able to contend with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. That truly makes me curious."

Great, Orochimaru had his eye on me...

"There is nothing left to do on this battlefield. You should be able to see Hidden Sand's calculations as well, but unfortunately, my indecisive teacher falls for this sort of thing."

"That is not necessarily a bad thing. At the very least, after going through this, Hidden Sand surely will not dare do anything to Konoha again."

Now that Rasa was dead, Hidden Sand's losses were even more severe than in the original history. When Orochimaru defected, he probably would not seek out Hidden Sand for the Konoha Crush Plan either.

No, Minato would not die in my script, so the Konoha Crush Plan definitely could not happen.

Besides, whether Orochimaru would defect was still another matter. That depended on whether the Third Hokage wanted to drive his disciple out.

After briefly speaking with Orochimaru, I headed to the battlefield to clash with Hidden Sand's forces.

After all, I had only just mastered Armament Haki. I needed to quickly commit that feeling to memory. I could not rest blindly right now; I had to strike while the iron was hot and become familiar with it.

On the battlefield, I did not wipe out Hidden Sand completely. I merely kept forcing them back, attacking only the ninja who charged at me of their own accord and killing them.

[With this, Hidden Sand's front should be over as well. Hidden Mist will not cause trouble again, right, Teacher Hill?]

There was still no reply. Ever since I woke up in that hospital bed, Hill had not spoken for a long time.

I had found it strange back then. Given Hill's personality, she should have contacted me in the consciousness space as soon as I woke up.

Yet so many days had passed. Even when I tried contacting her myself, I received no response from Hill.

It was truly strange. Hill had been by my side ever since I was born. As long as I contacted her, she would always respond.

But now, I could no longer hear her voice.

It made me feel...

"A little lonely."

Hill had helped me step out the front door and enter school. She had slowly untangled the knots left by my previous life, not to mention that everything I had in this world was given to me by her.

Hill was not merely a teacher I respected. She was an important benefactor, and even more so, my pillar in this world.

"Nothing happened to Hill, right? Like me, she was reincarnated after death. Come to think of it, why was she reincarnated as a system? And why was I reincarnated into this world and given so many benefits?"

It made no sense. Why did so many good things fall into my lap?

Because I had been constantly excited and striving before, I had never thought about these things, and I had subconsciously been afraid to think about them.

It was what they called running away from reality.

But now that Hill had suddenly disappeared, I truly had no way not to think about it.

What exactly was Hill's existence? And why did I exist? What did whoever gave me so much power want me to do in this world?

Why did changing history grant me the Power of Fate?

Before Qingyue could think it through, a strange-shaped magic circle suddenly appeared beneath his feet during a moment when no one was around!

The magic circle emitted a faint blue glow, and Qingyue's consciousness immediately grew hazy.

The next instant, Qingyue vanished from this battlefield.

[All personnel are ready. Interference with [Player] will now begin.]

[Confirmed. Both [Players] have been in this world for a sufficient amount of time and meet the conditions for interference.]

[Conditions met. The two [Players] may now come into contact. Execution beginning.]

[Execution order received. Locating [Player] Qingyue's position now--]

[Location confirmed. Beginning transfer.]

Time rewound to the past. At this moment, someone was suffering misfortune--

What... had I lived my life for?

I had finally become a Genin, only to be assigned teammates who got along with me the worst. The two of them were even friends.

Even the Jonin in charge disliked me. I handled every mission alone while they cultivated at the side.

"Hey, trash, come carry this!"

"Yes..."

I did the dirtiest, most exhausting work in the team every day, yet received not even a little guidance from the Jonin in charge.

"Stone Village ninja? Attack!"

During one mission, we unexpectedly encountered Cloud Village ninja. They were far stronger than us, and the Jonin in charge was quickly defeated.

Then... when they discussed retreating, they trapped my legs with ninjutsu. I was left behind to cover their retreat.

After being captured by Cloud Village ninja as a prisoner, I was continuously humiliated. I had already told them everything I knew, but they still laughed as they stripped off my clothes, repeatedly doused me with cold water, and violated my body with all kinds of terrifying instruments.

Before I knew it, I had gone numb. The sensations in my body gradually became unclear. Even when a red-hot iron rod struck my body, I no longer felt intense pain.

As I suffered such humiliation, I did not even have a chance to die.

On some unknown night of torture, I was bound by all four limbs to a wooden post and finally succumbed to sleepiness.

In the dream, everything around me was blank.

It was strange. I had never felt so lucid in a dream. Was I dreaming, or was I already dead?

"You are not dead yet, Kanasi."

Who was that? I looked toward the source of the voice, and what entered my vision was... a tall, pure-white figure?

Its muscle definition was rather balanced, and its body proportions were perfect, but I could not even make out its facial features. It was nothing but pure white.

"Who are you? Am I dead? Have you come to take me to heaven?"

"What an interesting thought. This is the first time someone has mistaken me for something that escorts the dead to heaven."

For some reason, this... person's voice felt so familiar.

"Isn't that it?"

"No. More accurately, I suppose I count as a god—the kind Man-God who loves all humankind equally! Clap clap clap!"

The person began applauding on his own and danced in an absurdly exaggerated manner. Could human limbs really bend like that?

Under normal circumstances, if a completely white person danced so ridiculously in front of me, I definitely would have laughed. But after what I had gone through, I truly could not laugh.

"I feel sorry for you. You seem quite sad right now, after all, you went through something like that."

"You know what happened to me?"

"More or less. My hobby is observing different people. Seeing how tragic your circumstances were, I could not help sympathizing with you."

"Heh, even a god can sympathize... You say you love everyone equally. That definitely does not include me, does it?"

My parents were killed by people from the same village, and then their children turned around and bullied me. In the end, I became a discarded pawn and a prisoner of Cloud Village.

I must have been someone abandoned by the world, right?

"That is why I have appeared here now. So, how about it? Would you like to try trusting me and follow my advice?"

"Advice? Go ahead. I cannot escape anyway. When I wake up, there will only be endless pain again. It does not matter."

For some reason, this person's words... made me want to believe him.

"Since you are already in this state, there is no harm in trying to trust me, right? Ahem. Tomorrow, when someone comes to execute you again, provoke him with your words. That way, you will get an opportunity to kill him and escape."