Piles of Bones, Streams of Tears

The rising sun dispelled the thinning morning mist.

The streets, washed clean by the night's rain, felt especially fresh. Maruyama Qifeng stepped outside, stretched lazily, and felt utterly refreshed.

To better watch over the Morgue, he, an orphan, had simply made his home nearby.

Others saw this as extremely reclusive. He had once thought so too, until the system appeared and changed his mind.

What Morgue? It was practically a mountain of gold and silver!

With light steps, a wonderful day began with looting corpses!

From afar, he spotted two people standing at the Morgue entrance. Judging by their clothes, they were likely Anbu Ninja.

Maruyama Qifeng knew very well how formidable this organization lurking in Konoha's shadows was. He also knew that the Anbu answered directly to the Hokage and held considerable authority within Konoha.

They saw Maruyama Qifeng as well and stood where they were, watching him.

"Sir."

Maruyama Qifeng did not dare be careless. He jogged over, kept up his usual honest appearance, and respectfully called out.

The two did not put on any airs. One merely said coldly, as if handling routine business, "This is an Anbu ninja who died in the line of duty last night. You know what to do."

Maruyama Qifeng nodded.

Anbu Ninja were different from ordinary ninja. They hid in Konoha's shadows, had no names while carrying out missions, only codenames, and placed missions above all else.

Normally, the Anbu handled their own dead, while in special circumstances, they chose to destroy the bodies on the spot.

But since the body had been delivered here, it meant that everything connected to the Anbu would be erased here. They would notify the family under the identity of an ordinary ninja.

The two said nothing more. They set down a scroll, then vanished in a flicker.

Holding the scroll, he unlocked the chain and entered the Morgue once more.

The icy chill that greeted him made goosebumps rise across Maruyama Qifeng's skin. To keep the corpses from decaying, special cooling equipment had been installed here.

He found an empty bed, unfurled the scroll, and released the seal.

A headless Anbu ninja's body lay quietly atop it.

"One slash to take the head. Looks like the gap in strength was pretty big." After briefly examining the corpse, Maruyama Qifeng sighed.

Only between ninja with vastly different strength could such a clean death occur.

Maruyama Qifeng did not loot the corpse right away. Instead, he stood silently for a moment before reaching out and gently closing the still-open eyes, which held traces of terror.

He put on leather gloves, changed the corpse into clean clothes, reattached the head to the body, and roughly stitched it back together.

The deceased are to be respected.

Though he coveted the benefits corpses brought him, he would not simply take without giving.

In his view, his responsibility was to prepare the corpse, allowing the deceased to be buried in a relatively natural state. That was what he gave, while the items the corpse provided were his return.

Only then could he accept those things with a clear conscience.

Even in the Naruto World, he was a person first and a ninja second.

Since he was human, he had to live up to the humanity in his heart. Taking endlessly would only lead him farther and farther from the path of being human.

In the end, he simply wanted peace of mind.

It would not take much time anyway, and this was his job to begin with.

After finishing, he bowed to the deceased and silently said, Sorry.

Yellow points of light flickered on the corpse. Without a doubt, the man had been a Jonin in life.

However, compared with the light on Miura Ikkō's corpse, this one was much dimmer.

"I wonder whether he was a weaker Jonin or a Special Jonin."

He raised his hand and placed it over the glowing spot on the corpse's chest.

Yellow Corpse, success rate 30%. Loot corpse? (This attempt 3/3, today 9/9)

He chose yes.

Perhaps because he had carefully handled the body and upheld the belief that the deceased were to be respected, the corpse responded to him. He succeeded on the first try.

Whether that was truly the reason or not, he decided that he would treat every corpse with this same mindset from now on.

Success! Obtained Fire Release: Great Fireball Ninjutsu Card!

A Ninjutsu?

He knew this B-rank Ninjutsu, Great Fireball. It was practical and flashy. Of course, the important part was that it was flashy!

Yellow Corpse, success rate 30%. Loot corpse? (This attempt 2/3, today 8/9)

There was nothing to hesitate over. He continued!

Success! Obtained Konoha Special Jonin Nakano Sora's exclusive forehead protector!

"A forehead protector?"

Though he was already satisfied with succeeding once at a thirty percent chance, he was still somewhat disappointed to get a forehead protector.

The third time.

Failed!

Overall, it was not bad.

Last time, he had gotten underwear and earrings. This time, he got a forehead protector. If he had not first drawn a decent Ninjutsu, he might have started cursing.

But...

"I keep feeling these items have special purposes."

He had been too excited yesterday and had only looked at the cards.

With a thought, he took out the somewhat worn forehead protector, placed it in his palm, and examined it carefully.

Soon, as his vision gradually blurred and shifted, brief scenes like a slideshow appeared before his eyes from the perspective of that Anbu ninja.

"Jonin Oishi, the Land of Fire's defenses aren't very tight. Should we..."

"Wait a little longer. Now isn't the time. Though I hate to admit it, Konoha's overall strength truly cannot be underestimated."

"Then what do we..."

"Someone's here!"

Immediately afterward, a flash of silver light passed by. The scene before Maruyama Qifeng shattered like a mirror, withering into powder and scattering away.

Sure enough, it was not that simple. These items had their own uses as well.

His eyes slowly opened, his expression somewhat shaken.

"They were Iwa-nin."

He put away the forehead protector.

Though it had only been a short scene with a few simple pieces of information, he, who knew the story, understood that this meant only one thing.

The Third Great Ninja War!

As the defeated nation in the Second Great Ninja War, the Land of Earth and Iwagakure had not suffered any real damage to their foundation.

And the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Both Scales, who had always coveted the fertile lands of the Land of Fire, was a leader with both formidable strength and ruthless methods.

The Third Great Ninja War might have begun with the disappearance of Sunagakure's Third Kazekage, but at its root, Iwagakure had long revealed its restless ambitions, giving Sunagakure enough courage to start the war.

He quietly took a breath. "The Third Great Ninja War is coming soon."

Learning this was not entirely bad for him.

The pressure in his heart would grow, and he would feel a greater sense of urgency.

But correspondingly, once the war began, he would gain more corpses. The prerequisite was that he needed enough strength to keep himself alive on the battlefield.

War hung over his heart like a dark cloud.

He hesitantly took out the earring, hoping that the information it offered would not be so heavy.

Another slideshow unfolded before Maruyama Qifeng's eyes.

"Big Sister, are you going on another mission?" The speaker was a delicate little girl, like a doll. Her plain clothes could not conceal the liveliness in her eyes.

Yet her smile carried a trace of dejection.

A hand gently rested on her head and rubbed it. A warm voice sounded. "Mm. Kana has to study obediently, all right?"

"But..." The girl rubbed the corner of her clothes between her fingers.

"Big Sister remembers. Kana's birthday is in a few days, isn't it? Big Sister will come back in time."

"Mm-hmm!" The girl nodded eagerly, revealing a hint of mischief. "There has to be a present."

"All right." The voice was filled with affection.

As she watched the female ninja's departing back, the girl could no longer maintain her smile. It was gradually replaced by worry.

"Big Sister, you have to come back. Kana will be good and wait for you to return."

She clasped her small hands, as though praying, as though comforting herself.

The slideshow faded away.

Maruyama Qifeng held the earring.

Within it rested the bond between a younger sister and her older sister.

It was not as heavy as war, but it still carried immense weight.

The birthday gift an older sister meant to give her younger sister was not merely an earring. It was also the promise she had made as an older sister.

What the younger sister truly wanted was not a gift, but her older sister returning safely and whole.

But that was no longer possible.

In the Naruto World, there were far too many stories of younger sisters seeing off older sisters, younger brothers seeing off older brothers, and sons seeing off fathers.

Konoha appeared peaceful, but it had actually been built bit by bit through the lives, blood, and tears of ordinary ninja like these.

Piles of bones, streams of tears.

Maruyama Qifeng felt a sense of responsibility—the responsibility to fulfill the final wishes of these corpses and these deceased.

Just as he had said, it was for peace of mind.

Finally, he took out the underwear that had also belonged to the female ninja, held it in his hands and kneaded it for a long time, inspecting it inside and out for quite a while.

All right, it really was just an ordinary piece of underwear.

As for why he had looked at it for so long...

Well, it was quite impressive in size.