At the border of the Land of Earth.
As expected, Uchiha Oyama and Uchiha Nai took care of the two Root operatives.
Gua saw another side of his mother and father. For the first time, he realized that his parents were shinobi, too.
Yet because of a single thing he had said, they had chosen to flee the village where they had lived for nearly thirty years.
"Gua! Are you all right?"
His mother, Nai, ran toward him, her face full of worry.
Just moments ago, one of the Root operatives had tried to attack Gua to force his parents' hands.
But after the operative struggled past Uchiha Oyama and Uchiha Nai's defenses, a kunai pierced his heart the instant he closed in on Gua.
Gua had done it.
Gua pulled himself out of his wandering thoughts.
His mother, Nai, was already beside him, her eyes brimming with worry as she looked into his perpetually listless black eyes.
She gripped both his shoulders.
"Gua..."
"Mom, I'm fine."
Gua answered his mother calmly.
He still held the blood-dripping kunai. The Root operative whose heart it had pierced lay on his back on the ground, blood flowing from his chest.
Uchiha Nai glanced at the corpse on the ground, then at Gua.
She had never expected Gua to unleash that kind of speed and strength.
This Root operative had clearly been no ordinary opponent. He wasn't a jonin, but his strength was close.
Although evading her and Dashan's attacks had left him with significant openings, and he had been somewhat exhausted by the time he reached Gua, he still wasn't someone a child should have been able to handle.
Yet Gua had killed him just like that.
Nai hadn't even noticed when Gua had taken the kunai into his hand.
Perhaps her