Flames of war raged, and the border of the Land of Rain had by now turned into a living purgatory.
In the 37th year of Konoha, due to uneven development among the major powers, the militaristic factions within each nation raised their heads, and the Second Shinobi World War broke out. Meanwhile, the clash between the two major nations that had ignited the war first-the Land of Wind and the Land of Fire-had entered a state of white-heat early on.
Sandwiched between the two major powers, the Land of Rain inevitably became a battlefield for the great nations. Even though Hanzō used his absolute and overwhelming strength to block the experts from both sides, the ninja of Amegakure still could not withstand the offensives of the two major powers.
As his consciousness gradually returned to his body, Xue Ge tried to open his eyes.
He was currently being held in the arms of an Amegakure ninja, fleeing in a panic through a reed marsh.
All around them, hundreds of ninja wearing various forehead protectors were engaged in intense combat, a flurry of flashy ninjutsu flying across the sky.
Xue Ge, who had just recovered his consciousness, was still somewhat dazed. Where was this? What was the situation right now? Who was this person holding him?
Didn't he just fall to his death?
"Great... you're still alive... you're still alive."
Just as Xue Ge was still trying to make sense of things, the rain ninja holding him said this as if letting out a sigh of relief, though his running pace did not slow down for even a second, as though someone were chasing after him.
The violent jolting made Xue Ge feel a bit nauseous... Nauseous?
Xue Ge only now reacted: how did he end up being held in someone's arms?
--Hm?
He inspected his body. How had he, a man in his twenties, turned into a... very young child whose age was hard to tell?
No, was this a transmigration?
Xue Ge finally reacted belatedly. Along with his realization of his predicament, a wave of pain also rapidly stabbed into his mind, causing him to instinctively cover his eyes.
His hand was smeared with a sticky sensation. When he lowered his hand, a palm full of blood was quite glaring.
His eye... his left eye... was gone?
In his previous life he had also been a one-eyed man, so deleting this field of vision was problematic; he actually hadn't noticed it at first.
"What is going on..." he muttered instinctively.
"Sandagakure and Konoha are at war, your village was destroyed," the ninja holding him said. "I couldn't find where your parents were, but with injuries like yours, I reckon they aren't doing much better. Don't worry, I'll take you to a safe place."
Xue Ge looked up at the ninja. The ninja noticed his gaze, lowered his head to comfort Xue Ge, and smiled.
"Don't worry, we'll heal you. Your eye..."
"Screech--"
Before the ninja could finish speaking, Xue Ge widened his eyes.
He seemed to see a bright streak slice across the ninja's neck, and the ninja's head then soared into the sky.
The ninja's body flew forward out of balance due to momentum, and Xue Ge was thrown out, heavily slamming into the ground.
The impact knocked the wind right out of him. After a long while, he came to his senses and looked in terror at the headless corpse lying in the distance.
...What just happened? Dead? Was he dead?
A living person had just been suddenly decapitated right in front of him?
A bone-deep, excruciating pain came from his numb mind, and he instinctively clutched his shoulder--the stump upon it.
What?
Xue Ge lowered his head. One of his arms and one of his legs had been severed at some point, and even the stumps were still fresh, spurting blood outward.
Eh?
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique!" "Wind Release: Beast Wave Palm!" "Water Release: Water Fang Blade!"
A mixed bag of ninjutsu closed in on Xue Ge. Xue Ge was stunned for a moment, and paying no heed to the pain, he threw himself headfirst onto the ground.
The ninjutsu swept past Xue Ge, smashing toward the hostile ninja.
No one cared about a child like Xue Ge who had accidentally been dragged into the battlefield; perhaps the next moment he would be burned to ashes by some Fire Release.
Xue Ge collapsed by the riverbank. Not far away, past the flowing water, lay a vast lake. On the surface of the lake, four people were fighting fiercely, while other ninja seemed to deliberately avoid this battlefield.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"
Jiraiya and Orochimaru stood side by side, both performing hand seals simultaneously. The condensed wind orb and the giant dragon formed by roaring flames merged into one, rushing fiercely straight ahead.
"Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique!"
Hanzō gripped a kusarigama in his hand, charging at the two as if walking on flat ground across the lake surface. Facing the menacing ninjutsu, he formed several seals with one hand, and violent waves rose from the lake surface to crash against the giant dragon.
Seeing this, Orochimaru and Jiraiya immediately retreated, while another figure had already slipped around behind Hanzō.
"Haah!"
Tsunade delivered a heavy punch imbued with her enhanced strength directly toward Hanzō, aiming straight for his forehead. Hanzō, however, crossed his arms, and a chain separated the two.
"Bang!" Accompanied by a muffled sound, Hanzō was forced back repeatedly by the heavy blow, barely managing to steady himself on the lake surface once more.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade stood together once again.
"Hoo--hoo--" Hanzō's heavy breathing transmitted slowly from behind his mask, sounding exceptionally grating amidst the dense sound of the pouring rain.
"--Ha..."
Hanzō slowly straightened his body, gently flicking the kusarigama in his hand.
"In the end, I still failed to stop you two ninja villages... you batch of bastards."
He raised his head to look at Jiraiya and the other two in the distance, and sighed.
Konoha, even just the younger generation, already possessed people who could join hands to contend with him. With such a foundation among the major ninja villages, how could Amegakure possibly protect its own country?
--Only he alone remained.
"I will save this country!--" Hanzō gripped his kusarigama tightly. "The war in the Land of Rain should end!"
"--How interesting! The Third Hokage's disciples--you guys are interesting!"
Hanzō's gaze turned fierce. He wielded the kusarigama in his hand, and the next moment, a gigantic Ibuse rushed out from the lake water.
"You think you can defeat me with just that... Chiyo couldn't do anything to me either, you're not good enough. Since Konoha also wants to take a bite out of Amegakure, then have the Third Hokage come himself!"
The heavy rain stagnated, and a suffocating sensation radiated outward from Hanzō, carrying uniform ripples across the entire surface of the lake.
They gradually converged into wild waves, rushing to wash over the three of them.
"Get ready--I'm coming!"
"Help... help me..."
The violent battlefield not only failed to attract Xue Ge, but instead made him desperately drag himself away from that battlefield. In a place where all the ninja were deliberately avoiding, stay on the fringes? He wasn't that clueless.
He called out for help with difficulty, his voice swiftly drowned out by the various explosions, the sound of the wind, and the rain. Blood was draining rapidly, and Xue Ge knew he couldn't last much longer.
Just what kind of place was this? Who were these people fighting each other?... The person just now said, ninja?
The patterns on those shiny forehead protectors were all different, which meant they were roughly divided into three factions? Then which side did I belong to...
"Ugh..." Dizziness.
Xue Ge knew his face must be completely pale right now, and the rate of blood loss was much faster than he had imagined.
He didn't know where he was, didn't know what the situation was, and didn't even know who he was, but one thing was abundantly clear: he had to call for help!
Otherwise he was going to die!
"What to do, what to do..."
He was calm, always had been. Especially at a time like this, Xue Ge knew all the more clearly that he must absolutely not panic.
He struggled to prop himself up before collapsing back to the ground, looking all around. Everywhere were corpses, severed limbs, and internal organs. The smell of blood had thoroughly soaked the reed marsh, and even breathing was nauseating.
Was there anything on the corpses to stop the bleeding or bandage the wounds? At least, at least...
"Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!"
The firelight illuminated Xue Ge's cheeks. He turned his head to look, and flames filling the sky lunged menacingly toward him. He could practically feel the scorching heat of the flames.
It didn't even give him time for a flash flood of memories; within half a breath, the flames had already rushed right before Xue Ge.
"Quick... run..."
Someone's voice seemed to reach his ears, but Xue Ge could no longer hear it.
Am I... going to die again?