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Rain drizzled steadily from the sky into the forest, and dark clouds stretched endlessly toward the horizon. This autumn rain had started without warning and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon.
"So cold."
The leaves, constantly drenched by the falling rain, glowed with an intense shade of green, while the droplets trickling through layer upon layer of canopy sent a particularly sharp chill. This chill was even sharper as the raindrops fell directly onto the slender nape of the young man crouched silently beneath a massive tree in this remote forest untouched by human footsteps...
His skin prickled at the sudden cold, prompting him to quickly brush away the water droplet with his elbow. Like the current weather, he shared the same name—"Haseo Yu."
Whether it was the drizzle, the jungle, or even a human presence, none of them were anything out of the ordinary. Yet somehow, something unusual was definitely going on here...
"What a grotesque mess of a corpse."
Besides the sound of dripping rain, only Haseo's low murmur echoed within the woods.
The fine yet noisy rainfall and his single, quiet voice were merely small accents against the otherwise extraordinary silence... This place had nothing to do with the peaceful ambiance of nature's rain. Not long ago, an unimaginable explosion had erupted here, scattering all nearby animals into the wild.
The louder it had been before, the eerily silent everything seemed now. The two extremes confirmed each other—this was clearly a battlefield where fighting had just ceased. It also explained why, before Haseo's eyes, lay a mutilated and horrifying corpse.
The rain had done much to wash away the bloodstains, but it couldn't erase everything in so little time.
Haseo felt no fear toward dead bodies—not out of bravery, but simply because he had become accustomed to death. The world was at war, and death was commonplace.
If the person had still been alive, Haseo would never have approached someone practically screaming "danger" from every angle. But with the deceased, things were different. A corpse carried no danger, nor could it ever pose a threat.
Around him lay three corpses in total. Judging by their clothing, they belonged to two opposing sides. The earlier battle had been a two-against-one duel, though its details remained unknown. However, the visible outcome made one thing clear—the fight had ended in mutual destruction.
The three bodies lay scattered in three directions, each about ten meters apart.
Haseo casually rummaged through the corpses, hoping to find anything valuable or usable. For someone as solitary as him, survival depended exactly on moments like this. Just now, he had retrieved from them a gourd-shaped vessel and a wide-bladed sword that looked rather cumbersome.
Then, he slung the gourd over his back, gripped the sword with both hands, and slowly began walking toward the third body. The combined weight of the gourd and the broad blade made every step feel heavier than the last.
Haseo didn't have far to go, so he soon arrived beside the third body.
At least in appearance, this one seemed somewhat better off than the previous two. Half his face was smeared in blood, and the other half caked in mud—but at least his form remained human, avoiding descriptions like "meat pulp" or "meat paste."
To Haseo, this corpse was different from the previous two mainly because scavenging from it was easier—it's always simpler to strip loot from a body than to fish it out of a pile of gore.
But just as Haseo started to lean down and extend his arm, the corpse's eyes suddenly snapped open.
Calm as a deep lake, yet resolute and brimming with killing intent—in that instant, those eyes revealed exactly what kind of person their owner had been.
Haseo froze under the weight of that piercing stare, stunned by the raw emotion in those eyes. By the time he regained control, he knew things were about to go terribly wrong… Just as previously noted, such dangerous individuals were exactly who he should have avoided.
An indescribable sense of danger surged over him. At the last possible moment, Haseo barely raised his other hand, swinging his broadsword up horizontally like a shield.
But there was no time for even a flicker of relief. The next instant, an arrow made entirely of rushing water shot straight toward him—at such speed that left absolutely no room for further reaction.
Unfortunately, the "shield" blocking his path proved utterly useless. The Water Dragon Projectile shattered it effortlessly, then smoothly pierced through his body before striking with hammer-like force against the Gourd behind him, shattering that too.
An unbearable piercing pain, the sharp water arrow, and flying shards from his destroyed weapon—all instantly tore into Haseo's flesh-and-blood frame.
A flicker of change passed through the otherwise expressionless eyes of this "dead man." But none of this mattered anymore to Haseo—he collapsed into unconsciousness even before the impact fully registered.
When Haseo slowly regained consciousness, he pried his eyes open, only to find darkness pressing down from above. Tilting his head slightly sideways, more light finally entered his pupils... He found himself lying within a massive tree hollow.
Outside the hollow, a fine drizzle continued falling.
The sharp, throbbing pain in his shoulder and upper body jolted his mind awake, like a relentless alarm refusing to stop. This told him everything that had just happened was no illusion.
Using the dim external light, he examined his injuries. Minor scrapes across his body could be ignored, but his left shoulder had suffered a clean, clear-through penetration.
Fortunately, it had struck only the shoulder. If the attack had shifted just slightly more, it would've pierced his neck instead… Thinking this way, his current injuries weren't all that hard to accept.
Someone had already treated Haseo's wounds, so he wouldn't bleed to death while unconscious.
"I… haven't been out for too long, right?" Haseo asked in a deliberately calm tone.
Of course, Haseo wasn't the only one inside this tree hollow. The other person—the one who had "died"—was also here. Right now, that man was sitting in the far corner of the hollow, facing outward toward the entrance… His armor was brown with dried blood, and numerous wounds covered his body, both highly noticeable.
He was the one who had injured Haseo earlier, and now also the one who had saved him.
"Mm, only a few hours have passed."
Even though he spoke, the man still seemed practically dead. His voice was low and hoarse; his breathing almost undetectable, as if the faint sound of rain outside could easily drown it out.
"That's good…" said Haseo.
Although the aura emanating from this person radiated nothing but danger, the good news was—he was capable of conversation. Still... Haseo had no idea how to talk to someone in his state.
All of this was completely unexpected for Haseo, yet he could understand the other's actions. At the moment when a fight had just ended, when one was on the verge of death and dazedly losing consciousness, anyone would instinctively attack whoever approached without caution. If there really was someone to blame, it would be Haseo himself for not being careful enough.
"Anyway, thank you for treating my injuries," he said, holding his shoulder and struggling to sit up. Even such a simple movement caused pain from his wound, making sweat bead across his forehead.
He expressed his gratitude because the other person didn't have to help at all.
But the other man didn't respond. After a brief pause, Haseo couldn't help but ask again, "Don't you need to take care of your own injuries?"
The wounds covering the other person's body looked much worse than Haseo's, and the fact that he was alive at all felt like a miracle.
This time, the other finally spoke again—his words were short and conclusive: "No need."
As he spoke, he shifted his shoulder slightly, revealing the cavity beneath his ribs… It wasn't just skin and flesh that had been destroyed; his internal organs were severely damaged, entirely nonfunctional.
Yes, it was undoubtedly miraculous that this person was still alive—but miracles couldn't last forever. He knew his death was inevitable, so treatment was unnecessary.
"If you hadn't startled me, I think I'd already be dead," he added.
Then, with difficulty, he shook his head. He saw no point in saying anything more about himself.
"As for you, why are you—a kid your age—here of all places?"
After all, they were deep inside the uninhabited Dense Forest. Even if humans occasionally appeared here, they certainly shouldn't be someone like Haseo.
"To survive… Let me introduce myself, my name is Haseo Yu, and I'm a homeless child," Haseo replied.
In times like these, it wasn't unusual for a homeless child to appear anywhere—or vanish just as easily. It was all just part of surviving.
After saying that, Haseo turned his gaze to the other person again, who quickly understood the meaning behind his look...
"Me? Is it my turn already?"
There was no need for him to introduce himself. In fact, given his importance and the fact that this was enemy territory, he simply couldn't reveal his identity. However, in the end, he still forced the corner of his mouth into a slight smile while turning his gaze toward the depths of the rain-soaked night:
"My name is Tobirama Senju...
I am a ninja."
"You recognize me?" Tobirama asked while closely watching Haseo Yu's expression. The latter showed shock and surprise upon hearing the introduction, yet within that emotion lingered a hint of "so it really is you" realization.
"Ah... Anyone who's been paying attention to the great war would naturally know the name of the Second Hokage from the Land of Fire. For ordinary people like us, you're one of the main culprits behind our constant struggles and wandering lives." Immediately, Haseo controlled his expression, though memories buried deep in his mind were surging forth continuously. He couldn't show his feelings too obviously... In fact, he had already prepared a seemingly reasonable explanation for that brief emotional slip.
As he spoke, he extended his hand to point at the center of his forehead, indicating there was a ninja symbol at that position. Although ninjas were an extremely mysterious profession, for ordinary people, recognizing the symbol on a Forehead Protector wasn't impossible... This mark belonged to a ninja village known as the Hidden Leaf Village.
Now, with the speaker having revealed himself as the Second Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village in the Land of Fire, it was perfectly understandable for Haseo, a common citizen, to accurately identify his identity...
Although for Haseo, if it hadn't been for the blood and mud smearing half his face, he would've recognized him sooner. But showing such a realization must never happen.
"What an important figure..." Haseo sighed as if reluctantly admitting it. In his mind, comparing with his own memories, the details of what had just happened became increasingly clear—the dying man before him was indeed the Second Hokage. And those two individuals whose bodies lay dead nearby must have been Kinkaku and Ginkaku from Cloud (Kumo).
"War, huh?" Under normal circumstances, such an almost accusatory remark from Haseo should prompt the other party to respond with something like, "War isn't solely one side's doing; nobody really wants to start a war." But for Tobirama at this moment, there was absolutely no need to say any of that... Even though Konoha had actually been the ones being attacked, and their war was more like a desperate defense, did these distinctions really matter to a homeless child?
In fact, even Tobirama himself considered himself exactly the "culprit" Haseo described.
"How old are you?" Tobirama asked Haseo. Whether it was due to a final burst of energy before death wasn't clear, but at this moment, he seemed to have regained somewhat more strength.
"Thirteen? Probably about right, I don't remember clearly... Any problem with that?" Instinctively, Haseo replied according to the question.
"It's not bad or anything, it's just that you talk and act older than kids your age."
From how clearly he spoke to how calm he stayed and how logically he acted, Haseo really didn't seem like a kid his age at all.
(End of this chapter)
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