Asami Ri

"I'm... still alive?"

Asami Ri struggled to push himself up from the muddy pool of blood.

It felt as though steel rods were churning through his brain. The agony briefly made him think he had returned to his previous life.

To get his model running, he had spent three days and nights in the server room, only to die when a server exploded.

In his previous life, he had been a workhorse burning through his life for research; in this one, he was expendable material forced to graduate early for war.

Asami Ri wiped the dried clots of blood from his face and looked beside him.

The corpse of a Kirigakure genin still held some warmth, a gruesome gash across his neck.

The hideous wound reminded him of the first time he had seen a ninja.

Six years ago, he had transmigrated into the body of a five-year-old Konoha orphan. After four years of grueling training at the Ninja Academy, he had graduated early at nine because war was on the verge of breaking out.

Fortunately, Konoha had ample resources, and the Will of Fire still counted for something. His graduating class had been given a two-year transition period.

But those two years of war had still instilled in him the ruthless decisiveness of the shinobi world.

"Captain... everyone..."

Asami Ri looked to the other side, his breath catching slightly.

His chunin captain and a Kirigakure chunin lay locked together, the blood around the gaping holes through their chests long since dried.

His other two teammates had also died taking Kirigakure genin with them.

"All wiped out..."

Asami Ri gazed at his captain's corpse, a faint sadness rising in his heart.

His chunin captain had not been a named ninja in the original story, nor had he ever taught Asami Ri any Ninjutsu.

But in nearly two years together, he had passed on plenty of practical knowledge about being a ninja. Those lessons had saved Asami Ri from danger several times.

Asami Ri silently walked over to his captain's body and mourned him for three seconds.

This was war. Grief was a luxury; staying rational was essential to staying alive.

He drew a kunai from his Ninja Tool Pouch. Its tip trembled slightly, but his movements never paused.

Squelch—

The blade sank in.

To prevent the enemy Intelligence Division from extracting Intelligence from their brains, he had to destroy his teammates' brains himself.

"I'm sorry."

He murmured the words, his voice devoid of emotion.

After dealing with his teammates' bodies, he removed their three bloodstained Konoha forehead protectors and tucked them securely against his body. They were proof for Konoha to pay death benefits, and collecting them was the last thing Asami Ri could do for his teammates.

Asami Ri turned toward the Kirigakure chunin's corpse, his movements becoming brisk and efficient.

He cleanly severed the enemy's head, formed hand seals, and sealed it inside the Sealing Scroll he carried.

But just as Asami Ri was about to deal with the Mist genin before him, the crack of breaking branches came from deep within the deathly silent forest.

An oppressive wave of killing intent swept toward him without restraint, brushing his skin like a cold draft.

Asami Ri stiffly turned and instinctively hurled the kunai in his hand.

The newcomer made no attempt to conceal his presence, casually throwing a shuriken to knock the kunai away.

The bushes parted, and a figure slowly emerged.

A man with long, dark green hair appeared, his upper body wrapped in bloodstained bandages and two oddly shaped, spiked swords strapped to his back.

A mocking smile curled at the man's lips. He surveyed the bodies scattered across the ground, his eyes gleaming with sick excitement.

"My name is Raiga Kurosuki. You should feel honored, Konoha brat... This spot has good feng shui. It'll be a fine place for a funeral."

Asami Ri's body tensed as he recalled what he knew about the man: Raiga Kurosuki, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist.

But two years of battlefield experience kept his mind calm.

He slowly backed away, his eyes relentlessly searching Raiga Kurosuki for even the slightest chance of survival.

His right arm is bent unnaturally. Definitely broken. Blood is seeping through his bandages in several places, his breathing is uneven, and his Chakra fluctuations are erratic... He's badly wounded.

Asami Ri immediately realized that Raiga Kurosuki had just survived a brutal battle.

Raiga Kurosuki was indeed in an utterly foul mood.

As one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, renowned throughout the shinobi world, he had never imagined he could end up in such a miserable state.

Not long ago, a middle-aged Konoha genin in a green jumpsuit, constantly babbling about "youth," had unleashed power beyond anything they could imagine.

His kicks had been almost too fast to see, reducing the seven swordsmen to three beaten dogs.

Raiga Kurosuki had barely escaped with his life by using his comrades' corpses as cover and burning through his Chakra in a frantic sprint.

"They have the nerve to call that a 'genin'? Has that hypocritical village of Konoha abandoned even the most basic sense of shame?"

Raiga Kurosuki cursed under his breath, every word aggravating his internal injuries.

The terror of being utterly overpowered by a "genin" desperately needed an outlet, and the boy before him was another Konoha genin.

With his still-functioning left hand, he slowly drew an oddly shaped short sword—Kiba.

His broken right arm prevented him from wielding both swords as usual. The single lightning blade traced a blue-violet arc through the air.

"I may only have one sword, but killing a freshly graduated brat like you will still be easy."

Raiga Kurosuki laughed viciously, his eyes gleaming with the pleasure of tormenting his prey.

He would dismember this Konoha brat piece by piece, as slowly as possible, to soothe the deep-seated terror the word "genin" had left in him.

His killing intent bore down like a physical weight, instantly cutting off every escape route. Asami Ri could feel Raiga Kurosuki's gaze passing over each of his vital points.

Asami Ri bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The salty tang of blood burst through his senses, forcing his body's trembling under control.

He knew perfectly well that against an experienced elite Jonin, any hesitation was suicide.

Even with his right arm crippled and his Chakra depleted, the man's speed was far beyond anything Asami Ri could escape.

I have to risk it! Asami Ri's gaze hardened, every stray thought swept aside by his fierce desire to survive.

The ground beneath his feet erupted in a ring of mud. Lowering his center of gravity, he shot forward over the grass like a black blur.

At the same time, he hurled three kunai with his right hand, cutting off Raiga Kurosuki's avenues of evasion.

"Oh?"

Raiga Kurosuki's pupils contracted slightly, surprise flashing in his eyes.

He had not expected this Konoha genin to launch a counterattack while pinned beneath his killing intent.

"Nothing but cheap tricks."

With a casual sweep, he deflected all three kunai.

Asami Ri seized the opening to close the distance, his hands beginning to form seals.

"Clone Technique!"

But before his Chakra had finished circulating, a searing pain in his chest interrupted his movements.

Raiga Kurosuki's right foot had already slammed into his chest, the mockery on his face growing more pronounced.

Gritting his teeth, Asami Ri reached into his Ninja Tool Pouch with his left hand and flung out three explosive tags. They arced through the air toward Raiga Kurosuki's body.

With a hiss, the fuses began to burn.

"Explosive tags?" A flicker of disdain crossed Raiga Kurosuki's eyes. "You think those will work on me?"

He darted aside, easily avoiding two of the explosive tags.

As the third drew near, he casually swung his lightning blade, precisely slicing the tag in half and extinguishing it.

Boom! Boom!

The other two explosive tags detonated in the clearing, throwing up dirt and broken stones.

Using the smoke and dust as cover, Asami Ri widened the distance again.

But Raiga Kurosuki passed through the smoke like a phantom, appearing before him in an instant.

"Not bad speed. Too bad... you ran into me."

Raiga Kurosuki grinned viciously and casually raised his left hand.

Wreathed in faint sparks, the lightning blade traced a precise arc through the air toward Asami Ri's right arm.

Clang—!

The kunai collided squarely with the lightning blade, spraying blinding sparks. Tremendous force surged through Asami Ri's arm, splitting the skin between his thumb and forefinger and snapping the kunai in his hand.

"Ngh!"

Asami Ri grunted, lost his balance in midair, and was hurled backward.

He rolled several times across the muddy ground, only stopping when his back struck the Kirigakure genin's corpse. His chest heaved with a sickening surge.

Whether it's strength or experience, the gap between me and Raiga Kurosuki is too great...

Raiga Kurosuki did not press his advantage. Instead, he approached slowly, carrying his sword in one hand.

The tip scraped along the ground with a faint, steady rasp.

"Too weak, brat." Raiga Kurosuki's eyes brimmed with delight as he watched the genin struggle in pain. "That's the look... I need more despair to hold a grand funeral. Don't worry. I'll slice your skin open bit by bit and let you watch your blood drain away."

He would toy with Asami Ri like a cat with a mouse. He would use this torturous killing to soothe his deep-seated fear of "genin."

Asami Ri panted heavily, his vision blurring.

He sat slumped on the ground, his exhausted right hand inadvertently resting on the corpse of the Kirigakure genin he had killed earlier. As his fingertips touched the body, an inexplicable trace of warmth gathered around them.

He stared fixedly at Raiga Kurosuki, who was slowly approaching from a distance. Despair rose in his heart, and he failed to notice anything unusual about his fingers.

Looking back over both his previous life and his life since transmigrating, he had never known what it meant to have things easy.

At the Ninja Academy, he had squeezed out every scrap of his potential to survive. On the battlefield, he had struggled through the mire just to stay alive.

He had thought that with enough effort and composure, he could control his own destiny. Yet in the face of true power, all those years of grueling training seemed so pitifully inadequate.

After living two lives, was he really going to end up dying beneath someone else's blade in this forgotten patch of forest?

His heartbeat grew deafening. Footsteps struck the ground with a slap, slap, each step bringing death closer.

Just as despair was about to swallow Asami Ri's consciousness, a cold, mechanical voice rang out deep within his mind.

[Ding!]