Winning Hearts Begins with Becoming the Village's Hero

Yue and Ryoma did not seriously fight the two opponents.

They fought as they retreated, deliberately stalling for time and luring them on.

"Because of the Land of Rain's unusual environment, these people have always acted lawlessly and carry a heavier air of violence..." Seeing that they had retreated far enough, Yue dodged the rogue ninja's attack, accelerated, and darted toward the outpost.

Kusagakure's ninja truly had little presence.

"Still trying to run?"

The rogue ninja hounding him said furiously.

He had thought this brat would be easy to kill, but he had not expected Yue to evade him again and again.

It was becoming hard for the rogue ninja to save face.

However, his attempt to catch up with Yue failed as well.

The brat's sudden burst of speed was too astonishing. He had only pursued him for a short distance before the figure ahead vanished.

Yue soon returned to the outpost and reported the attack to those left behind.

The expressions of the squad members changed drastically.

Although patrolling the border seemed rather dangerous, Kusagakure's foreign policy made it, in practice, a fairly relaxed assignment.

Even when danger arose, it was not particularly frequent.

If they encountered trouble they could not handle, they could prioritize retreating and leave it to the village.

"Rogue ninja?"

Hearing that rogue ninja were among the enemies made them realize the severity of the situation even more.

Those ninja who had betrayed their villages were all ruthless people.

But now that it had come to this, they had no reason not to provide support.

One person went to notify patrol partners in the other areas, while the other two followed Yue toward the scene.

However, an unexpected change suddenly occurred.

While they were on the way, Yue launched a surprise attack.

He killed a completely unprepared Kusagakure ninja... The sight immediately terrified the other person.

"You."

Seeing the youth cleave his companion in half at the waist with a single slash, the man's face twitched.

He could not understand why Yue had suddenly struck to kill.

Meeting the man's baffled gaze, Yue remained expressionless. He planted one foot on a branch for leverage and instantly pounced.

Shortly afterward, having cleanly killed both men, Yue held his blade in one hand and looked in a certain direction.

"Judging from the location and route, the fastest ones to arrive should be those two... Captain Takahashi will be a little slower."

As he spoke, he rushed toward a position he had calculated in advance to intercept them.

Sure enough, less than fifteen minutes later—

The other two people from the outpost hurried over, a man and a woman.

The woman was a Medical Ninja.

For a mission such as patrolling the border, having a Medical Ninja on the team was necessary as a safeguard.

But unless they were exceptionally skilled Medical Ninja, ordinary Medical Ninja were still somewhat lacking in strength and ability.

"Yue, why are you here?"

Both of them were startled upon seeing Yue.

Blood stained the youth's body as he lay beneath a tree trunk, a clear gash visible on his arm.

"The enemy... killed Uncle Sakata and the others..." Yue said weakly.

The two immediately approached him, wanting to understand the situation.

When they heard that the enemy had penetrated the area around the outpost, the man and woman exchanged a look. Yue saw the clear urge to retreat in their eyes.

"It seems the situation is very troublesome. It would be best to send someone to contact the people at another outpost... then notify the village," the man said.

"I'll go!"

The woman immediately volunteered.

"No, you're too slow. I'll go instead... time is of the essence now," the man righteously rebutted.

"Aren't you going to treat me first?"

Yue asked.

"..."

The woman lowered her head to look at him, somewhat distracted.

"Forget it."

Suddenly, Yue's feigned weakness vanished.

As the woman froze, a thin red line appeared across her neck.

Yue lowered his long blade, ignoring the blood splattered across his cheek as his gaze shifted.

It settled on the dumbfounded man.

"This is better. Neither you nor she needs to go..."

Yue said coldly.

"..."

And so, in less than half an incense stick's time, Yue used his familiarity with the routes to repeat the same method, killing the other reinforcements one after another.

Now, only Captain Takahashi and the messenger remained.

Then he retraced his route and found Fuma Ryoma, who was wounded and nearly unable to hold on.

According to the plan, Fuma Ryoma only needed to stall for time; he did not need to fight to the death.

Therefore, even though the enemy was much stronger than him, as long as he survived until Yue finished dealing with this side, it would count as a success.

Yue had actually been very worried about him. Seeing that his father's injuries were not too serious, he was relieved.

Without another word, he joined the battle.

This time, he no longer held back. Displaying astonishing strength, he executed every one of those who had followed them deep into the Land of Grass.

His ruthless methods left Fuma Ryoma, who had barely been able to help, unable to hide his excitement.

However, Yue deliberately let one person escape.

"The rest will be much easier. Akatsuki is merely the spark." Yue sat on a corpse, holding a strip of cloth torn from its body as he slowly wiped his blade. "Over in the Land of Rain, this group's organizational interests have suffered another setback. The boss behind them will find it hard to endure, and this debt has been shifted onto Kusagakure. They are not a force of Amegakure, and with so many dead and wounded, no matter how cowardly those old dogs are, they must give the dead an explanation... Otherwise, once word spreads, their prestige in the village will suffer."

"As long as Amegakure and Hanzo of the Salamander are not involved, I believe... they can still throw their weight around a little."

"But if Akatsuki is mentioned, then you..."

Ryoma said.

"They trespassed into our territory first. We acted reasonably. This group is in the wrong, and since Akatsuki is involved, they will not dare make too much of it... Akatsuki is at the height of its power right now. If they truly draw the attention of the Akatsuki Organization, it will be very disadvantageous for them."

"Will these people really come again?"

Ryoma asked once more.

"They definitely will... The internal powers of the Land of Rain are a tangled mix. Most are hired and funded by people behind the scenes, and there are many ambitious schemers. The pie called 'war' alone can support far more people than one would imagine."

"In the end, they are all imitating Hanzo of the Salamander from back then, but they lack his strength, and those under their command are not truly 'their own people'... If they want to win people over, they must put on a show. The Land of Rain does not lack business now. If they let this matter go, some members of that organization will likely switch to other employers. Besides, Kusagakure has always been weak... Merely killing people to vent their anger is something those raised by the Land of Rain's environment are one hundred percent capable of doing."

"Besides, they are not afraid of causing trouble at all."

Fortunately, he had spent quite a long time in the Land of Rain and learned much about its conditions through Akatsuki. Otherwise... he would not have dared to be so certain.

"Akatsuki has been around for some time. Even with their capabilities, it has been so difficult for them to promote a peace plan within the Land of Rain... That shows what kind of people those who bring disaster upon others are."

Yue sheathed his gleaming blade and slowly rose. "No matter the scale, what Kusagakure will face next is a war."

"This matter will definitely make its way back to the village and spark discussion."

"For an ordinary person with neither power nor influence to rise through the ranks, the best method is to rely on 'the people's support.'"

"As long as that 'people's support' is strong enough, even if those old dogs want to pretend to close their eyes, they will have no way to ignore it completely."

Watching Yue calmly speak and analyze everything, Fuma Ryoma suddenly felt something stir within him: he had grown old.

He felt as though Yue himself was shining...

And the person displaying such brilliance, leaving him so astonished, was actually his son.

It was like a dream.