The Boy Arc: Massacre

The next morning, I slowly opened my eyes and felt a faint warmth coming from my left hand.

Turning my head, I saw Furan fast asleep, tightly clutching my left hand.

The first time I saw her, she had been as fierce as a wild beast, yet her sleeping face now looked as adorable as an angel's.

So defenseless... She had completely let down her guard around me, hadn't she?

After all, my strength was far above hers. If I wanted to capture her, there was no need to go through all the trouble of deceiving her.

Carefully prying her hand away, I got up, splashed my face with cold water to wake myself up, and headed outside the cave.

The sky was still rather dark. It was probably only four or five in the morning.

[Teacher Hill, can you determine where I am now?]

[My apologies, Lord Qingyue. I cannot tell you that, but I can tell you the direction back to Konoha.]

[Then I'll leave it to you.]

At this hour, I should let Furan sleep a little longer. I could use the time to do some basic daily training as well.

It wasn't until sunlight filtered down that I returned to the cave and began preparing breakfast.

At the same time, Furan woke up.

"Good morning, Furan. Breakfast will be ready soon, so go wash up first."

"Got it."

After being subdued by me several times in a row, Furan had become especially obedient. It felt like bringing home a vicious dog that guarded its food and stole yours, only for it to turn into an adorable, clingy puppy after being properly taught a lesson.

After breakfast, I erased every trace that anyone had lived in the cave, then set off with Furan on the road back to Konoha.

Along the way, I confidently gave Furan my spare ninja sword for combat.

She couldn't beat me even barehanded, much less with a sword. Besides, I didn't need to worry about her betraying me.

"When you swing your sword, don't focus all your attention on your hands. Pay more attention to your footwork!"

"Too green. Don't keep exposing openings when you attack!"

"You have too many unnecessary movements. Make your motions cleaner."

"Not enough force. Clear away distracting thoughts. Don't let thinking overwhelm the instinct to swing your sword and limit your strength."

Every night, I taught Furan some swordsmanship.

We might encounter danger on the road, after all. I couldn't count on protecting Furan while fighting at the same time.

Although Furan had little talent for the North God Style and Water God Style, she learned straightforward swordsmanship like the Sword God Style very quickly.

After only a few nights, her movements had improved considerably. Judging from her talent in the Sword God Style alone, she might even surpass me by quite a bit.

We traveled at a relatively steady pace for three days without seeing a single person.

Even after a week had passed, we had gone from one dense forest to another, yet there was still no sign of anyone.

Finally, on the eighth day, we saw people.

Unfortunately, they weren't companions from Konoha, but ninja from Kumogakure. Their dark skin made them highly recognizable.

"Don't make any noise from here on out. They're ninja from Kumogakure, and they're currently at war with Konoha."

Unable to control her volume very well, Furan merely covered her mouth with both hands, obediently nodded, and stopped making any sound.

Come to think of it, Kumogakure had definitely been among those who attacked Uzushio Village. The people of that village relied on plundering the Bloodline Limits of other nations for research, constantly expanding their military strength.

In the later arms race, Kumogakure was the only village capable of going toe-to-toe with Konoha.

I secretly observed the Hidden Cloud squad while moving forward without making a sound.

Since people from Kumogakure were in this area during wartime, either they had a combat camp nearby, or there were companions from Konoha here.

If luck was on our side, I could find Konoha's people, send Furan to the combat camp first, then go end the battle here ahead of schedule.

If luck wasn't on our side, I would see if there was a chance to destroy their combat camp. If not, we could take a detour and escape.

Unfortunately, none of those assumptions held true.

The Kumogakure squad suddenly rushed toward us. It seemed a sensory-type ninja had discovered Furan's chakra.

"We've been exposed. Find somewhere to hide and don't show yourself, understand?"

Furan still only nodded without making a sound. Perhaps she was still following my previous order.

After drawing my ninja sword, I reinforced myself with Dragon Saint Battle Aura in one burst, preparing to use Silent Sword to take out one of them first.

Patiently waiting until the Hidden Cloud leader entered my attack range, I gripped my ninja sword with both hands, kicked off the ground, and charged out.

In a single instant, the leading Hidden Cloud ninja's head fell to the ground, scarlet blood spraying across the faces of the others.

"What..."

"Still looking around? You bandits."

Before the momentum of my charge faded, I twisted around and swung again, smoothly cutting off another person's head. Then I followed through with a kick, sending the remaining man flying into a tree trunk.

I swiftly drew a short blade and threw it, striking the head protected by his forehead protector with perfect precision.

The short blade, coated in Armament Haki and thrown with Battle Aura, easily pierced through the forehead protector, impaling his head and killing him on the spot.

Those three were all at the Chunin level. In the past, they might have taken me a few more seconds, but my strength had now risen by an entire tier.

If I grew for another year, perhaps I would be able to go toe-to-toe with Sakumo.

But in that brief moment, Observation Haki suddenly warned me. I sharply turned around, only to find that Furan, still covering her mouth, had already been carried away by a Hidden Cloud ninja.

"Mmph! Mmph! Mmph!"

All that remained was Furan's cry for help. At the instant I threw my short blade and killed the last man, she had been abducted...

Heh. They had used their own ninja's lives as bait, sacrificing Chunin to hold me back while a Jonin kidnapped the precious bloodline of the Uzumaki Clan.

Kumogakure... Come to think of it, the Third Shinobi World War had also started because they incited Hidden Sand to join forces and attack us.

Were they really so impatient to throw this world into chaos?

Furan had lived a tragic life of constant instability. Since that day, I had become her only support.

If she still had to live in fear even by my side, there would be no place for her in this world anymore.

This time, I was truly angry.

--

Following the trail left by the Hidden Cloud ninja, Qingyue ran forward like a madman, veins bulging on the hand tightly gripping his ninja sword.

Crack—

A faint cracking sound came from the sword's hilt, but Qingyue paid it no attention at all, only charging ahead.

In a concealed location within the dense forest stood a hidden combat camp belonging to Kumogakure.

After entering the camp, the Jonin who had kidnapped Furan roughly threw her onto the ground, his eyes filled with a revolting, nauseating gleam.

"Finally found her. That Uzumaki Clan brat has been running for so long."

"You've earned a great merit this time. Lord Raikage personally named the Uzumaki Clan bloodline. The reward will definitely be huge!"

"Hahaha, but why isn't this little girl screaming? Last time we caught her, she was like a wild animal, clawing at everyone she saw. This time, she hasn't made a sound."

"Yeah, and she seems a lot cleaner now. Looking closely, this little girl is pretty tender. Why don't we have some fun with her before handing her over to Lord Raikage?"

"Wouldn't that be a bad idea? She'll probably be given to someone else to bear children."

"How would anyone know we've had her first? Our bloodlines aren't bad either. It would be the same if we got her pregnant."

"That makes sense. Shall we do it together? Let's see who can make this little girl cry out first!"

After the two Hidden Cloud ninja finished discussing it, they both wore sickening expressions that made one's stomach churn as they rubbed their hands and walked toward Furan.

Even then, Furan kept both hands tightly over her mouth, but she could no longer hide the tears glimmering at the corners of her eyes.

At the same time, Qingyue had finished determining the number of people in the camp. He gripped his ninja sword with both hands, and his emerald-green eyes were utterly devoid of emotion.

It was as though everyone in the camp was already nothing more than a corpse.

"Discussing something like that when she's just a child... Well, they're from Kumogakure. Nothing they do would be surprising."

After those quiet words, Qingyue transformed without hesitation into the Fenrir form of the Mythical Zoan Wolf-Wolf Fruit.

A white tail faintly tinged with azure grew from his tailbone. As the muscles across his back tore and broadened, the muscles throughout his body swelled.

His golden-brown hair gradually lengthened and turned snow-white. Wolf ears grew atop his head, and finally his limbs became wolf claws while his eyes became wolf eyes.

Fixing his gaze on the camp, a sonic boom erupted. Before anyone could even blink, blood burst forth inside the camp.

There wasn't a single scream. There was only the sound of ninja swords cutting through heads and blood spraying out.

The camp held two Jonin, four Chunin, and three Genin. In only a few seconds, the white figure flashed through them again and again, the Light Blade coated in Armament Haki severing every enemy's head as easily as cutting through thin branches.

--

After being captured, I wanted to shout and resist, but I had promised Qingyue that I absolutely could not make a sound. Otherwise...

He would abandon me.

They brought me into a tent? What are they going to do to me? Why hasn't Qingyue come to save me yet...?

Has he abandoned me? Qingyue, where are you...?

These people seem to be discussing something. Bearing children? Does that mean having babies? Are they going to do something with me that will make me have children?

Am I going to be captured...?

Just as I was about to give up, an extremely loud sound suddenly rang out. My ears couldn't hear properly anymore.

Then, I only saw a white shadow flash past, and everyone in front of me fell down.

Did someone come to save me...? Such a fast blade. So cool... I want to be like that.

The pale figure was like a righteous incarnation sent by heaven to punish evil and reward good, using an incredibly fast sword technique to deal with every bad person who wanted to hurt me.

Just like the stories Mom used to tell.

Is that... Qingyue?

--

I really had been blinded by anger... Whatever. As long as every enemy was dead, my information wouldn't be exposed.

After killing all the Hidden Cloud ninja and confirming there were no survivors, I finally released my Mythical Zoan transformation.

When I turned around, Furan's black eyes seemed to be shining as she stared at me without blinking. Had she cried because she was scared?

It was all my fault. I had still been too careless and let her go through something like this again.

"Furan, I'm here to save you. I'm sorry you had to go through that. Are you okay?"

For a long time, Furan didn't answer. She only kept covering her mouth, tears continuously sliding from the corners of her eyes, her face seemingly red from crying.

"Furan, you can make noise now. Are you okay?"

Still receiving no reply, Furan suddenly leaped up and wrapped her arms around my neck, burying her face in my shoulder and crying loudly.

For a moment, I didn't know what to do. It took me quite a while to react, after which I gently patted her back with my left hand and stroked her head as softly as I could with my right.

"It's okay now, it's okay. I'm here."