Setsuna held the Single-Bladed Fūma Shuriken, thinking that this guy was stupid beyond belief.
The idiot had his hand around Kagami's neck, tightening his fingers, convinced that holding a hostage would keep Setsuna from acting.
But the idiot hadn't realized that grabbing Kagami also meant he couldn't form hand seals.
Maybe he thought he didn't need ninjutsu to deal with a kid like me? Hah. In the arena, idiots who underestimated their opponents died first!
Even assuming the guy could form one-handed seals, he wasn't a Kage-level ninja. Any ninjutsu he unleashed would be only half as powerful.
As for the threat...
Setsuna admitted that it had rattled him a little.
But only "a little."
Kagami Uchiha was only six now, not yet old enough to awaken his Sharingan.
And from beginning to end, this Fuma ninja had only talked about "taking a pair of Sharingan back"-
He wanted an Uchiha who had awakened his eyes. Would he really be willing to kill a little Uchiha who wasn't even six?
Once Setsuna figured that out, his arm moved.
The remaining blade of the Fūma Shuriken whipped out of his hand, spinning straight toward the Fuma ninja's face.
Its edge tore through the air with a piercing shriek.
The Fuma ninja snorted and easily sidestepped it.
"Is that all-"
His taunt had barely begun before it caught in his throat, a burst of agony exploding through his arm.
Something had pierced his forearm, passing precisely between the radius and ulna.
The hand gripping Kagami's neck instantly lost all strength. His fingers loosened, and Kagami dropped to the ground.
The Fuma ninja whipped his head around.
He saw another Setsuna driving a kunai through his forearm, and only then realized he had been tricked!
The brat had used a Shuriken Shadow Clone!
"Kagami!" Setsuna's real body shouted.
Hearing Setsuna call out, Kagami instantly understood what he meant.
With his right hand, he pulled a kunai from behind his waist and, using every last ounce of strength he had, drove it hard into the Fuma ninja's abdomen.
The blade pierced the rectus abdominis, penetrated the peritoneum, and plunged deep into the abdominal cavity.
At the same time, Setsuna's real body moved too. He charged up behind the Fuma ninja and drove his kunai precisely into the right side of the man's lower back.
The tip angled upward through his liver and emerged from the front of his abdomen, almost meeting the kunai Kagami had driven in.
Two kunai, one from the front and one from behind, pierced the Fuma ninja clean through.
Blood poured from both wounds at once, running down the kunai grips and dripping onto the ground.
The Fuma ninja looked down in disbelief at the two bloody holes in his abdomen, one in front and one behind.
It took his brain a full second to process what had happened.
He, a seasoned ninja who had spent over a decade fighting on battlefields, a scout who had ambushed the Uchiha Supply Convoy in the Neutral Zone-
Had been brought down in the most unexpected place. Today, two children who barely reached his waist were going to kill him.
He hadn't even seen when the black-haired brat had replaced the shuriken with a clone.
But he had no time left to figure it out.
His face twisted as he slammed his hands together, interlocking his fingers into a crooked seal.
Chakra surged wildly inside him, gathering toward his lower abdomen, compressing, then compressing again-he intended to blow himself up!
When Setsuna realized his intention, his eyes widened. It was already too late to call for Kagami to retreat with him.
This Fuma ninja intended to use his remaining chakra to blast apart his own chakra pathways and take both of them down with him.
"This ends here."
An adult man's voice rang out above them all.
A flash of steel swept across the back of the Fuma ninja's neck, and his head suddenly fell forward.
As his body collapsed, the chakra meant for his self-destruction dispersed at the last possible moment.
It was Toshihi!
The joy of narrowly escaping death flashed in Setsuna's and Kagami's eyes.
Toshihi stood beside the corpse, his three-tomoe Sharingan sweeping over the area. Only after confirming there were no other enemies did he sheath his sword.
"Lord Toshihi!" Kagami cried excitedly, a smile truly befitting a six-year-old spreading across his blood- and mud-covered face.
Toshihi bent down and scooped up the exhausted Kagami. The boy's little curls rested limply against his shoulder, and only then did Kagami realize he no longer even had the strength to lift his hand.
"You did very well," Toshihi praised him.
Kagami's eyes brightened briefly. Finally unable to hold out any longer, he rested his head on Toshihi's shoulder.
Setsuna clicked his tongue in irritation and folded his arms, taking everything in with his one-tomoe Sharingan.
He wasn't a six-year-old child like Kagami.
He knew perfectly well that Toshihi had been prepared to abandon Kagami when he retreated earlier.
Saving the main group came first. A child stranded alone among the enemy could only fend for himself-that was what Toshihi himself had said.
There was an eighty percent chance he had come back to rescue them now because Setsuna, the "sole heir of the clan head's line," had turned back.
Toshihi didn't care whether Kagami lived or died, but he did care about a child from the clan head's line dying right under his nose.
Setsuna looked at Kagami resting against Toshihi's shoulder, his heart aching.
Kagami trusted Toshihi, believing this adult had come back specifically to save them both.
Setsuna opened his mouth, then swallowed the words on the tip of his tongue.
The truth was too cruel. For a six-year-old who had just stabbed someone for the first time in his life, learning that the Jonin leading them had originally intended to abandon him would do no good.
Toshihi turned his gaze to Setsuna and looked him over from head to toe. Only after confirming that he still had all his limbs did he speak. "Uchiha Setsuna, you left the group without permission and put yourself in danger. No dinner for you tonight."
Setsuna glared at him for a long moment before finally giving a cold click of his tongue.
Toshihi slid his sword back into its sheath and, after a brief silence, spoke. "Setsuna, I wasn't trying to abandon Kagami."
Toshihi explained in an even tone, "The Fuma had more than one ambush position. If we stayed and fought too long, a second group would cut off our entire retreat route. Then it wouldn't be a matter of losing one or two children-not one of the fifteen children in our team would get out, and neither would the supplies. I had to make sure the remaining children and the supplies reached safety before I could turn back to search for him."
It would have been better if he hadn't explained. His explanation only set Setsuna's anger blazing. Setsuna whipped his head around, his eyes burning with furious accusation.
"By the time you came back to search for him, Kagami would have been tortured beyond recovery. Is that what your 'rescue' would have accomplished?"
The single tomoe in his Sharingan trembled slightly within his scarlet irises.
Toshihi looked down at him and said something Setsuna had never expected. "Protecting the majority of the children takes priority."
Setsuna stared at him in disbelief.
He hadn't expected this man to state such a cruel reality outright.
Toshihi hadn't even lowered his voice. Kagami, cradled in his arms, heard every word perfectly clearly.
Did you ever think about how Kagami would feel hearing that?
Kagami lay against Toshihi's chest, silent for two breaths, then lifted his head, his eyes utterly earnest. "If I could draw the Fuma ninja's attention and help everyone retreat more safely, that wasn't a bad thing."
Setsuna's gaze snapped to him.
The record of Kagami's fate in the game flashed through his mind-Kagami Uchiha, twenty-five, killed in battle while covering his comrades' retreat.
Damn it. This bastard had been like this since he was six. He was born the kind of person who would die for others.
Then why had I even saved him? What a waste of effort!
Setsuna clenched his teeth, turned, and walked away, viciously tossing out a single sentence. "I should never have bothered with you."
Kagami froze for a moment, then struggled to lean out of Toshihi's arms and called after Setsuna.
"Thank you, Setsuna. For being willing to come back and save me."
The six-year-old's voice echoed through the forest, thick with the stench of blood.
Setsuna didn't turn around, but snapped back harshly, "I didn't do it for you. Stop flattering yourself."
Before you continue