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Hida Hayato slammed his fist into the chest of a wandering ninja, killing him instantly. He crouched down and started searching the corpse.
After a while, he pulled out a bundle of coins wrapped in oilcloth and casually tucked them away. Then, he found a scroll with the words Water Clone Jutsu written on it. A smile crept onto Hayato's face as he carefully stored the scroll and turned to leave.
"Konan, this is the Water Clone Jutsu! Make sure to practice it well," Hayato said, handing her the scroll he'd taken from the rogue ninja.
"Mm! I will! Thanks, Hayato-nii."Konan nodded seriously and gave Hayato a warm smile.
Seeing that smile warmed Hayato's heart. After spending so much time living together with Konan, he had gradually gotten used to her presence.
More than that, he'd come to feel the comforting warmth she brought with her. That crushing loneliness he thought would follow him for life… was finally starting to fade.Konan had become his family.
Since Konan started learning ninjutsu, Hayato had been teaching her everything he knew about it—especially the basics of chakra control. Konan was a fast learner, and her natural talent was obvious.
Determined not to let her end up as helpless as he once was, Hayato began hunting down jutsu scrolls to teach her. And targeting rogue ninja turned out to be a great strategy.
Unlike ninjas from the major villages, these wanderers didn't have a stable home—they carried everything they owned with them, including money and jutsu scrolls. So naturally, they became Hayato's primary targets.
Hayato himself could also learn ninjutsu, but he realized something—those techniques didn't suit him. Or rather, even if he learned them, they didn't improve his strength nearly as fast as his usual training did.
Thanks to his special body, Hayato had always trained like a madman. His routine was more like a samurai's than a ninja's. He pushed himself to the absolute limit, and the result was a rapid boost in strength.
Ninjutsu might've looked flashy, but when it came to actual progress, nothing beat sheer hard work.
So in the end, Hayato only dabbled in ninjutsu here and there. Most of his time was still spent on his brutal physical training—long-distance runs with weights to increase his speed and strength, striking wooden training dummies to build up his combat experience, and more.
Konan saw all of this, and her heart ached for him. More than once, she was moved to tears watching Hayato train until his hands were bloody. He would simply wipe her tears away with those same bloodstained hands and continue grinding his body to the brink.
Once, Konan tried to copy his training method. But Hayato found out and stopped her immediately. She tried again in secret—and collapsed from exhaustion. It took her a whole week of rest just to get back on her feet. Hayato was furious, and he stayed in a foul mood the entire week. After that, Konan gave up on trying to train like him.
Still, every time she watched him throw himself into his training, it pained her.
She knew Hayato was doing all of this to protect himself—and to protect her. That's why she also trained hard in her own way. Even if she couldn't follow his exact path, she was determined to get stronger.
Boom!
Hayato punched an Iwa-nin to death, but his face looked grim.The Second Great Ninja War had completely broken out.
At first, it was just Konoha fighting against the Land of Rain. But soon after, Iwagakure (the Village Hidden in the Stones) launched their own invasion of the Rain Country.
Of course, their real target wasn't Rain—it was the Fire Country. They were using the Rain Country as a stepping stone to attack Konoha.
Then Sunagakure (the Sand Village) joined in, setting their sights on the Rain Country too.Surrounded by bigger nations, Rain had unfortunately become the perfect battleground.
Now, within Rain's borders, it wasn't just Rain ninja and wandering rogues anymore—ninja from Konoha, Suna, and Iwa were all constantly showing up, turning the whole country into chaos.
Rain, already a tragic place, was now in complete ruin.Civilians were being slaughtered left and right, and orphans were everywhere.For a while, Rain felt like hell on earth.
"....."