"Damn it!"
Kamakura watched as his final comrade fell in battle. Rage boiled inside him, and he slammed a fist into the ground, sending mud mixed with rain splashing over himself.
"Another idiot trying to challenge Lord Hanzo…"
Decades ago, Hanzo the Salamander had been hailed as a ninja demigod, the closest any ninja had come to the godlike prowess of the First Hokage. With that fame came countless assassination attempts and challenges.
The Rain Village ninjas were used to it.
Kamakura had seen many hotheaded youths, thinking that mastering a few jutsu made them invincible. They'd enter Rain Village with dreams of taking Hanzo's head, only to be killed by Lord Hanzo's right-hand man, Heiji.
Naturally, Kamakura assumed the boy standing before him with a bamboo umbrella was another reckless fool, hoping to make a name for himself by defeating Lord Hanzo.
Naraku didn't deny it. Instead, he stepped closer to Chunin Kamakura, a soft laugh escaping his lips.
"You're only half right," he said. "I don't want Hanzo's head for fame. I want it to honor those he's killed… That old man's lived long enough, hasn't he?"
"Damn you! How dare you insult Lord Hanzo!"
Kamakura ground his teeth. As a Rain ninja, he could never tolerate anyone insulting the pride of their village, the ninja demigod.
Just as Naraku expected Kamakura to throw himself at him, the Chunin quickly threw his kunai and formed hand seals:
"Rain Hidden Technique!"
A thick smoke rose from the pouring rain…
As a Rain Village native, Kamakura knew exactly how to fight and escape in a storm.
This guy… he's trying to flee!
Facing an enemy who had slaughtered the entire Rain outpost, Kamakura knew his own limits.
This kid had effortlessly taken down six Genin and one Chunin, all while keeping his bamboo umbrella raised throughout the fight.
"I must get this intelligence back to the village…"
Kamakura used the rising smoke to obscure Naraku's sight and leapt into a narrow crevice in the rocks, a spot he had preselected.
As an ordinary ninja, when faced with an unstoppable enemy, the priority was always to deliver critical intel to the village leadership. This was the rule of survival.
The rain grew heavier.
Kamakura didn't dare breathe, crouching carefully in the crevice, listening as the sound of rain hitting the umbrella gradually faded.
Had the boy left?
He slowly exhaled, waiting a while longer before cautiously peeking out to survey his surroundings.
Besides the splashes of the torrential rain, no one was in sight.
Chunin Kamakura finally relaxed and stepped out of the crevice—only to realize the rain's intensity seemed to have lessened slightly.
The sound of rain hitting the umbrella returned to his ears…
The boy hadn't left!
Kamakura's eyes widened in shock as he looked skyward.
A dark silhouette hovered in midair, holding a bamboo umbrella, making Kamakura's pupils shrink involuntarily…
The kid… could actually fly?
Naraku floated down, umbrella in hand, leveling his gaze with Kamakura. Tilting his head, he spoke lightly:
"Hey… even if you want to run, shouldn't you at least ask my opinion first?"
"…."
Kamakura's shock rendered him speechless. He stammered, barely audible:
"You… you sensed my position all along…"
"Yes," Naraku nodded. He flicked a card from his hand, sending it toward Kamakura's forehead protector.
The card, thin as paper, cut sharply through the iron headband and embedded itself slowly.
Kamakura trembled, unable to move against an enemy beyond logic.
He could feel a shallow cut forming on his forehead, blood seeping through the headband.
Just as Kamakura thought he was about to die, Naraku stopped, his voice soft:
"All right… go back and tell Hanzo the Salamander. Twelve years ago, he survived a close call. This time… he won't."
Kamakura muttered, stunned:
"…Why… why didn't you kill me… Who… who are you?"
"Hm…"
Naraku paused, raising a finger, his expression serious.
"Maybe… I'm a kind person?"
Over a month ago, when he first arrived in the ninja world, Naraku might indeed have been kind. But life in the Land of Rain had taught him that in this world, the kind did not survive. He had become… different.
Once a person witnesses a broken world, the flower of evil begins to bloom. Hidden malice within human nature can shape a person into someone neither wholly good nor wholly evil.
"…Kind…?"
Kamakura lowered his gaze, looking at the fallen Rain ninjas around him. What kind of kindness was this?!
Naraku landed in the rain, bamboo umbrella in hand, stepping forward. Halfway through, he stopped, turning with a soft laugh:
"Rather than killing all of you, leaving one of you alive to spread fear back to Hanzo… that might be even more effective, don't you think?"
"You…"
Kamakura was still in shock.
Naraku waved a hand dismissively:
"Go. Tell Hanzo the Salamander that the avengers from twelve years ago have returned to collect their due."
With that, the boy with the bamboo umbrella slowly disappeared from Kamakura's view, leaving chaos in his wake.
"Twelve years ago…"
Kamakura sank to his knees in the rain, recalling an old incident in Rain Village.
Twelve years ago, Hanzo had led many trusted Rain ninjas on a mission—details unknown.
But none returned, except Hanzo himself. Afterwards, he issued a pursuit order against the Akatsuki. Yet Rain ninjas never found any trace of them. The matter faded into obscurity.
Now… were the Akatsuki coming back for revenge?
The rain intensified…
Naraku had completed his task when sheets of soaked paper floated down, gathering into the form of a light-blue-haired woman, her hair plastered to her face by the rain.
It was his teacher.
Konan reached for Naraku's bamboo umbrella, drawing him close so the two could share it and stay dry.
"I saw everything just now," she said softly, glancing down at him. Her hand rested on his shoulder.
"Well done, Naraku."
"It's not me—it's thanks to you, Teacher Konan."