"Good morning, Yūto."
Yūto looked at Shisui Uchiha before him, questions stirring in his mind.
Ever since arriving in this world, he had never had anything to do with Shisui. They shared only a surname and lived in completely different worlds.
Why had he run into Shisui Uchiha the moment he stepped outside today? And why had Shisui greeted him so warmly, as though he had been waiting specifically for him?
Could it be...
Yūto suddenly remembered what Fugaku had said while patting his shoulder in the meeting room yesterday.
As a member of the Dove Faction, Uchiha Fugaku must have been furious to hear his declaration of a coup yesterday, yet he had praised Yūto with a broad smile. That alone was deeply suspicious!
After all, there was a phrase for this: laughing out of sheer anger. Uchiha Fugaku's anger must have reached its peak yesterday, which was why he had smiled while praising him!
And Shisui Uchiha, standing before him now, must have been sent by Fugaku.
As for his purpose, Yūto figured it probably wasn't to guide him, but to assassinate him!
Based on the scattered bits of Naruto's plot he knew from his previous life, Uchiha Fugaku was an extremely cold-blooded man. For the sake of the village, he would even tolerate his own child slaughtering the entire clan.
In that case, sending Shisui Uchiha to assassinate him made perfect sense!
Someone actually wanted to assassinate him. This was just...
Fantastic!
At the thought of returning to his original world after death with a hundred million, Yūto was ecstatic. A smile immediately appeared on his lips, and even his tone as he greeted Shisui grew considerably warmer.
"Hey, Shisui. Did you need something from me?"
Seeing the smile appear on Yūto's face, much of the tension in Shisui's heart faded.
He wasn't an Uchiha who was good at dealing with people. Only after he saw Yūto come out of his house and greeted him did he realize just how rude he had been.
He had come to visit someone's home empty-handed, without bringing a gift.
If Yūto had been an Uchiha from the Hawk Faction, he probably would have snorted and ignored him outright.
Yūto really was just as Lord Fugaku had said: a fine young man who had inherited the Will of Fire. He hadn't minded Shisui's rudeness in the slightest.
Not only that, he had even greeted him so warmly!
Suppressing his excitement, Shisui said to Yūto:
"Yūto, Lord Fugaku has assigned us to the same team. We're responsible for patrolling the northwest side of the village."
The northwest side of the village!
Hearing the area he would be patrolling, Yūto's heart jolted.
There was a dense forest northwest of the village. A training ground had once stood there, but it had since been abandoned.
There were no buildings there, only ruins!
As a result, hardly anyone ever went there deliberately. The village's Northwest Forest was the perfect place for an assassination!
That settles it. Shisui is here to assassinate me!
As expected of Shisui Uchiha, who served in the ANBU. He actually found such a perfect assassination spot. I, Yūto Uchiha, acknowledge you!
At that thought, Yūto immediately nodded excitedly. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go."
Yūto's answer moved Shisui deeply. There was no doubt about it: Yūto was an inheritor of the Will of Fire who cared about the village!
The village's Northwest Forest was poorly defended, making it the perfect place for spies to infiltrate.
Despite the dangers, Yūto didn't mind in the slightest. Instead, to protect the village as soon as possible, he was even urging Shisui to hurry out on patrol.
This bastard. I can barely keep my tears from spilling!
As the two walked on, their surroundings grew quieter and darker. The dense forest blocked out the sunlight entirely, leaving it as dim as night.
At some point, Yūto had stopped seeing any villagers passing by.
He and Shisui were already deep inside the Northwest Forest.
The deeper they ventured into the forest, the more pronounced the smile on Yūto's lips became.
Come on, Shisui Uchiha. Hurry up and kill me. I'm just a weak little scrub. I'm very easy to kill!
Just as Yūto was shouting inwardly, Shisui suddenly stopped behind him, and the scrape of metal rang out.
Shisui has drawn his weapon!
Yūto stopped, waiting for Shisui to attack him. He couldn't simply wait to die; he needed to do everything he could to counter Shisui's attack.
Whoosh!
The sound of a kunai being thrown came from behind Yūto. To the right!
He spun around and slashed at the flying kunai with the weapon in his hand.
Clang!
Yūto's ninja blade knocked the kunai away. Before he could celebrate, the deflected kunai made a wet thunk, seemingly striking someone in the bushes.
While Yūto stood stunned, Shisui's shout suddenly rang in his ears:
"Yūto, fall back!"
At the shout, Yūto's body reacted instinctively, darting aside.
A blade of wind sliced through the afterimage Yūto had left behind, and a ninja dressed as a civilian from the Land of Fire leaped out of the bushes.
The man clutched his chest, his face twisted in pain, a kunai lodged in his chest.
This fellow was clearly a spy!
Seeing the situation, Yūto understood. Shisui probably hadn't been trying to attack him just now. He had actually been trying to attack the spy hiding in the bushes.
It was all because he had been too hasty. The moment he heard Shisui's warning, he had dodged. Judging by the wind blade's trajectory, if he hadn't moved, it definitely would have severed his neck.
Yūto gritted his teeth. It was all this spy's fault. Couldn't he anticipate Yūto's movements? Couldn't he aim a little better? With skills like these, he actually had the nerve to work as a spy?
Hatred rose within him. Ninja blade in hand, he charged forward and shouted viciously:
"You damned spy! Can't you aim a little better?!"
Seeing Yūto charge at him, the spy scrambled to respond. With Shisui to keep an eye on as well, he couldn't bring even half his strength to bear.
Even Yūto, who was nominally a Genin, could trade blows with him on equal footing.
Still, a gap in strength was a gap in strength. Before long, Yūto gradually fell into a disadvantage.
The longer Yūto fought, the more excited he became. A bloodthirsty smile curled his lips. "Come on, come on! That's it! Attack me with everything you've got, you damned spy!"
Shisui was shocked. He couldn't imagine why Yūto hated spies from other villages so much. No wonder he had knocked aside the kunai Shisui had thrown. He had wanted to kill the spy snooping on Konoha with his own hands!
Yūto is someone who truly loves the village!
To kill the spy himself, he had even blocked Shisui's attack.
But now it looks like Yūto is losing!
I absolutely cannot stand by and watch someone who loves the village as much as Yūto die at a spy's hands!
Shisui immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to attack the enemy, ready to rescue Yūto from his disadvantage.
When Yūto noticed that Shisui was about to join the fight, panic surged within him.
Damn it! Don't come steal my enemy! I was so close to being defeated by him!
As long as he defeats me, I'll have a chance to return to my original world!
To get himself killed by the enemy before Shisui arrived, Yūto ignored the wounds his opponent inflicted on him and attacked for all he was worth.
Come on, come on! Mr. Spy, don't you want to escape? Then hurry up and kill me!
Yūto fought with increasing frenzy, swinging the ninja blade in his hand so fast it left afterimages!
Frightened by Yūto's desperate assault, the spy carelessly let Yūto's ninja blade slash his neck. Blood gushed out, and he died on the spot.
Yūto stared dumbfounded at the fallen spy.
It seemed he had missed out on the insurance payout again.
Before you continue