[Kirigakure, an Unnoticed Corner,]
A boy and a girl, two half-grown children, were fighting each other.
There were also two wine cups thrown on the ground, apparently, before making a move, they each had a cup of courage wine.
Both of them were graduates who had appeared in the intel booklet.
The boy was named Chojuro, an S-rank "prodigy," only two years older than Sasuke, and the youngest student among this year's graduates.
The girl was named Ryuna, an ordinary B-rank graduate.
The two had grown up as childhood friends. Ryuna was three years older than Chojuro and usually looked after him in the role of an older sister.
With Kirigakure's twisted sense of humor, the two were naturally arranged into the same group, to enter the graduation ceremony duel.
They didn't want to be like cockfighting roosters in an underground gambling arena, slaughtering each other under the eyes of gamblers.
If it had to be like that, it was better to pick an empty corner and decide who would survive in the end.
This was a battle without suspense.
Even though Chojuro was three years younger than Ryuna, his swordsmanship was exquisite. Without even using ninjutsu, he completely suppressed her.
Chojuro's blade stopped one inch from Ryuna's chest, no matter what, he couldn't stab it down.
"Ryuna, let's escape, let's go wander, become rogue ninjas."
Ryuna stared at the blade and slowly shook her head.
"There's no escape. Other ninja villages mostly turn a blind eye to rogue ninjas. Only Kirigakure is relentless. Once we run, the result will be both of us dying."
As she spoke, she took a step forward, letting the blade tear her clothes and touch her chest.
Chojuro stood dumbfounded in place, tears falling from the corners of his eyes.
A splash of crimson seeped out. Ryuna instead showed a smile. Just like always, she cupped Chojuro's face and wiped away his tears.
"This is fine. Kill me and live better in my place."
Ryuna was about to take another step when a stranger's voice came from behind, "Excuse me, you two little kids, could you pause for a second?"
They turned toward the voice. From a dark corner came a man with a cold expression. He was holding the intel booklet, sizing them up from head to toe.
His gaze was indifferent, not so much looking at people, but more like inspecting two pieces of merchandise.
"Who are you?"
Chojuro raised his sword and pointed it at the man.
The cold-faced man glanced at Chojuro, then suddenly grinned exaggeratedly.
"Chojuro, right? Sorry, my boss, Mr. Gato, bet on this Ryuna girl to win."
The cold-faced man slowly pulled a scythe from behind his back.
"I don't want to kill you, but as a subordinate, it's only right to ease the boss's worries, isn't it? I was still thinking how to take down an S-rank prodigy. But now..."
He raised an eyebrow at Chojuro.
"You want this woman to live? Then stand still. If I kill you, I'm basically saving her. No problem, right?"
Chojuro, silent, slowly lowered his sword.
The man before him wasn't wrong.
This was the only way to save Ryuna.
He threw down his sword and closed his eyes. No matter how Ryuna shouted for him to run, Chojuro didn't move.
He had made up his mind to die.
The cold-faced man swung the scythe and charged in, laughing.
This money was really easy to make.
Zzz~
A faint golden flash of lightning passed by. The cold-faced man hadn't even reacted yet. Out of habit, he swung his scythe.
Halfway through, the blade froze in the air. Then a huge force came, and pain shot through his wrist. Instinctively, he dropped to his knees.
A shadow loomed over him.
Ryosuke looked down at him. "Just now, you said, who's your boss?"
"M-Mr. Gato."
"The one from the Land of Waves?" Ryosuke asked.
The cold-faced man had a gangster's instinct to retort and rebuke in his master's name, maybe ask "Who else but Gato deserves to be called 'sir'?"
But as soon as he met Ryosuke's gaze, the fierce look in his eyes turned clear in an instant, "Yes, sir! That's right, the Gato from the Land of Waves. Are you an old acquaintance of Mr. Gato?"
"Something like that."
Ryosuke thought of the bags of D-goods thrown off the transport ship, helped the cold-faced man up, and patted the dust off his pants, asking gently, "Is Gato in Kirigakure?"
"Yes, sir. Do you need me to lead the way..."
Before he could finish his sentence, the cold-faced man froze in place.
Zzz~
Two discs popped out, one memory, one ninjutsu. Ryosuke skimmed the memory content and concluded four words, deserved to die.
Ryosuke calmly said, "No trouble, I'll go myself."
He gave a gentle push. The cold-faced man fell to the ground like a log, eyes wide open, staring at the sky like a soulless corpse.
Even if Chojuro was a prodigy, his perspective was still limited to Kirigakure. He had never seen such bizarre methods as Ryosuke's.
All he felt was that the man before him seemed like a curtain of night, covering the heavens and suffocating him.
He grabbed Ryuna's hand and cautiously backed away, intending to escape this place.
But just as Chojuro raised a leg, Ryosuke said, "Where are you going? Finding a new place to commit suicide?"
Chojuro stopped mid-step.
'Yeah, what's the point of running?'
The problem wasn't solved. One of them would still die, and the other would live on in regret. They might as well just die.
"Suicide… what's wrong with that."
Chojuro gripped his fists and said with head lowered, "I just want to end the pain."
Ryosuke chuckled softly.
"What are you laughing at?" Chojuro looked up.
He wore black-rimmed glasses, looked more like a nerd than a ninja.
"I'm laughing because, you clearly understand everything, yet you still choose to do the wrong thing."
Ryosuke said, "What you want to end is the pain, not your life."
"Your life is only just beginning. In the future, countless complicated destinies will await you. The moment you choose death, your future will disappear, and your fate will be narrowed down to a single thread, which is the painful life you are now experiencing."
Ryosuke raised a finger and pointed toward Ryuna.
She instinctively tried to back away, but found her body bound by invisible force. She could only watch as Ryosuke's finger touched her shoulder.
A faint warmth spread.
Ryuna felt a tingle in her chest, and when she came back to her senses, the wound had already scabbed and healed.
"Go."
Ryosuke waved his hand. "Go get a good night's sleep. Maybe tomorrow, a miracle will happen, and neither of you will need to die."
Chojuro and Ryuna stared blankly at Ryosuke.
If anyone else had said those words, they'd have thought that person was crazy. But for some reason, coming from this man, the words had an inexplicable magic to them, as if… a miracle really would happen.
Chojuro and Ryuna held hands and ran off, vanishing from sight.
Ryosuke didn't know whether they would give up on suicide or not. That was their life, Ryosuke couldn't interfere too much.
He picked up the discs and, according to the cold-faced man's memory, walked toward the red-light district, planning to have a chat with this merchant from the Land of Waves.
The afterglow of the sunset slowly faded. Ryosuke walked through the streets, his figure gradually swallowed by the thick fog.
Suddenly, he sensed he was being watched and snapped his head around.
Far away, nothing.
Only hazy buildings looming in the mist.
At the same time, Obito pulled the curtain closed, blocking Ryosuke's gaze.
"…He really is sharp."
Pain's Rinnegan eyes stared coldly at Obito. "Since we found him, why not kill him?"
"Don't rush. The actors haven't all arrived yet. Too many sneaky cockroaches are hiding in Kirigakure. We have to wipe them all out in one go if we want to clean house."
Obito stood up. The Sharingan behind the mask's eyehole slowly rotated, "Let's go. First, we cut off their 'escape route.'"
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