A Terrible Era

Uchiha Yi saw nothing wrong with Kushina Uzumaki acting like this. After all, she was only seven years old.

Was she supposed to be as stiff as Hyuga Rinka? Where was the fun in that?

Children should be allowed to act like children. Kushina wasn't a brat. If anything, she was remarkably considerate. She was simply more candid with her family and the people who mattered to her, speaking her mind freely.

In truth, Yi wasn't happy with their surroundings either. Even life in the village had bothered him when he first arrived.

This world had no convenient online shopping or food delivery, no phones or computers, no mobile or PC games. There weren't thousands of beauties dancing for him on video apps, much less gorgeous women posting free content online. A world like this was incomplete.

If he hadn't been transported to a world where power was essential, Yi would have found a way to build internet companies.

Those apps for watching beautiful women absolutely had to exist.

Yi had an adult's mind and still couldn't get used to such primitive conditions. How could anyone expect Kushina to?

Kushina pressed her lips together and stopped complaining to him. She knew that if she kept it up, Tsunade might send her back to the Ninja Academy. Then she could forget about ever leaving Konoha on a mission again.

Rinka watched silently, then took out two soldier pills and popped them into her mouth. She looked over the nearby trees, picked a sturdy one, and scrambled up it in no time.

"So what exactly is our mission this time?" Yi asked Tsunade.

"Mainly to give you a taste of blood." Tsunade finally took out the mission scroll and tossed it to him.

Yi opened the scroll, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "A spy base has been discovered in the Land of Fire, and you're sending our squad to deal with it? Isn't that the Anbu's job?

"This is our first assignment outside Konoha. We haven't even seen blood yet.

"Even if this is meant to be a mission where we get our hands dirty, shouldn't we be fighting rogue ninja or going after bandits?"

His words immediately caught Kushina's and Rinka's attention. Rinka hadn't expected Tsunade to give them a mission like this either.

But the harder the mission, the greater the challenge, and the more Rinka looked forward to it.

Her strength had improved quickly of late, but not quickly enough to satisfy her. She needed a powerful opponent to push her further.

As for fighting Yi, Rinka wasn't that foolish.

She had a feeling Yi was hiding a great deal. Whenever he fought her, he never used his full strength.

"What kind of first blooding is this?" Despite his protest, Yi handed the scroll back to Tsunade, excitement stirring inside him.

He, too, wanted to face a strong opponent. In the Battle Space, he could fight without restraint. A real fight was different. He had to treat every opponent with caution.

Otherwise, he might meet the same fate as Nawaki and lose because of a careless mistake.

"Hmph. You should be pleased!" Seeing his reaction, Tsunade knew Yi was actually quite satisfied with the mission.

No matter how good-natured an Uchiha was, he was still an Uchiha.

He still had a hunger for battle.

"Once we've eaten, we'll rest. We'll take turns keeping watch tonight. I'll take the first half; you three take the second," Tsunade continued.

If they had been outside the Land of Fire, or if Hatake Sakumo and the others hadn't been following them, Tsunade wouldn't have trusted three children to keep watch.

Even if, on paper, the three seemed to have everything going for them.

Unfortunately, Kushina hadn't awakened the Mind's Eye of the Kagura like Grandma Mito. If she had, her sensory abilities would have improved dramatically.

"Fine by me." Yi didn't object.

"Yi, I think someone's following us," Kushina whispered into his ear when their turn to keep watch came in the second half of the night.

"Oh?" Yi looked at her curiously. As far as he remembered, Kushina hadn't awakened the Mind's Eye of the Kagura.

Since when had her senses become so sharp?

"Hehe. Before we left Konoha, Grandma Mito gave me a few things to keep me safe. I found out I can sense whether the people around me mean well or ill!" Kushina boasted proudly.

Kushina was very happy today. She had discovered that Yi liked her—more than even Tsunade did.

And it wasn't just Yi. Even Rinka felt warmly toward her, which meant Rinka had come to see her as a friend.

That delighted Kushina. Not long after they left Konoha, a group of people had begun following them. Some bore them ill will, while others meant them well.

Kushina couldn't understand it. What was going on?

Yi's eyelid twitched. Mito Uzumaki gave Kushina Nine-Tails Chakra, didn't she?

From the look of it, Mito had probably purified the Nine-Tails Chakra first. Kushina's body wasn't yet capable of withstanding that Chakra otherwise.

Even if she could withstand it, she wouldn't be able to use it properly.

Rinka's heart tightened. She activated her Byakugan, swept her gaze around them, and gave Yi a nearly imperceptible nod.

"It's probably the village's Anbu. This spy base may not be the real objective of our mission. We might be the bait they're using to draw out the spies," Yi said after a moment's thought.

Rinka frowned slightly. She clearly agreed with his guess, but it left a bad taste in her mouth.

No one liked being used as bait.

"It's not that surprising, really. If our squad stays together, enemy forces are bound to take notice. The bounties on our heads won't be any lower than Tsunade's and the others'," Yi said with a wave of his hand. "We just need to do our part.

"Trust our teammates. Trust Tsunade. Trust the village."

Rinka and Kushina both fell silent.

What else could they say? Any further objection would sound like they didn't trust Tsunade or the village.

Not far away, Tsunade lay with her eyes closed, a faint smile on her lips. These kids weren't fools.