"What?!"
Yahiko and Konan both froze when they heard Yuya's words.
Then Yahiko suddenly burst out laughing.
"Hah! That's right, I'm a ninja too—and not just any ninja, I'm a jōnin!"
Konan couldn't help but laugh as well, smiling warmly at Yuya.
"Honestly, if we really could become ninja, it might not be such a bad thing. At least we'd be able to protect ourselves."
Yuya looked at the two of them with a dark expression on his face.
Yahiko grinned, stood up, and patted Yuya on the shoulder with a completely serious look.
"Yeah, with your talent, you'll definitely become a jōnin like me someday!"
Yuya: "..."
...
...
The sky gradually darkened.
A squad of Sunagakure shinobi moved swiftly through the drizzling evening rain.
The ninja leading the group glanced up at the sky.
"We won't move tonight. There's too much risk of being ambushed by Rain shinobi. Let's find somewhere to settle down first."
"Yes."
Several ninja answered in unison.
This Sunagakure unit consisted of around ten people—likely a medium detachment formed from three standard squads.
They spread out and searched the area.
"Captain, there's a limestone cave up ahead. We could use it to rest."
"Let's take a look."
Although they could create a temporary shelter with Earth Release, there was no reason to waste chakra if a natural cave was available.
...
In the distance, inside the cave, Konan and Yahiko had lit a fire. Yuya sat nearby, lost in thought.
"Finding dry firewood here is really hard," Yahiko said, scratching his head with a grin.
"These logs were stored in the back and dried for ages."
In the Land of Rain's damp environment, firewood was naturally hard to come by.
Yuya stared at the flames, distracted—thinking about Nagato, the Rinnegan, and Uchiha Madara.
Hearing Yahiko's words, he snapped back to attention and frowned slightly.
"Lighting a fire at night usually isn't a good idea."
Living in a town was one thing, but in a cave out in the wilderness, a fire was far from safe.
Yahiko wasn't a ninja, but he was sharp. He immediately realized the problem.
"You're right. Then let's hurry up, eat, and put it out."
"Mm."
Konan nodded and stood up.
"I'll go get some water."
She walked toward the cave entrance—but just as she reached it, her gaze froze.
Her body went rigid.
"What's wrong, Konan?"
Yahiko looked confused and stood up, heading toward the entrance.
Then his expression froze as well. Cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
Seeing this, Yuya—who had remained seated the whole time—shook his head lightly, sighed, and stood up, slowly walking over.
Outside the cave stood a group of shinobi.
None of them rushed in, even after spotting Konan and Yahiko at the entrance.
"Captain, looks like two wandering orphans… no, three."
One of the ninja examined them, then noticed another similarly aged figure behind Konan.
Yahiko's heart trembled.
Just as he'd said before—never provoke ninja. If you did, you were finished.
Thoughts raced through his mind. Gritting his teeth, Yahiko stepped out of the cave and walked toward the Sunagakure shinobi.
"Yahiko!"
Konan cried out and followed him.
Yuya, meanwhile, calmly assessed the unit.
Most of them were genin, with a few chūnin among them. There didn't appear to be any jōnin present.
Yahiko took a deep breath and spoke to the Sunagakure ninja.
"If you want supplies, you can have everything. We'll give you the cave too. We'll leave right away."
He never even considered asking them to leave—his voice was low, humble, almost pleading.
The ninja didn't respond. They exchanged glances instead.
"Captain, there shouldn't be any ambush inside. What should we do? Let these kids go?"
"No."
The captain's eyes turned cold.
"We can't risk exposing our position. Better to kill the wrong people than let anyone go."
"Yes!"
The responding ninja's expression hardened, as did the others'.
Not all shinobi were cold-blooded—but when carrying out missions, they were forced to become so.
Hearing those words, Yahiko's face went pale with regret.
I shouldn't have lit that fire…
He'd only done it to show off their stockpiled supplies to Yuya—
and it had led these ninja straight to them.
Beside him, Konan's face also drained of color. Rain soaked her blue hair into a tangled mess, but she didn't notice.
Only fear—and faint despair—showed on her face.
In front of ninja, there was no chance to resist.
No chance to escape.
As despair welled up, she glanced at Yuya beside her, overwhelming guilt flooding her heart.
If she hadn't dragged Yuya into this, he'd still be in town—
not trapped here, facing death with them.
Ahead, one of the ninja suddenly stepped forward, hands flying through seals.
"Fire Release: Flame Bullet!"
Boom!!
A blazing torrent of fire erupted and surged toward the three of them.
Even weakened by the rain-soaked environment of the Land of Rain, a Fire Release jutsu was still far beyond what ordinary children like Yahiko and Konan could withstand.
They couldn't block it.
They couldn't even dodge it.
"It's over… we're dead!"
Despair filled Yahiko's face.
Konan, overwhelmed, wanted to apologize to Yuya one last time—for dragging him into this.
But at that moment—
Yuya, who had been standing behind them, stepped forward.
He passed between the two of them and stood directly in front of the incoming Fire Release.
His expression was utterly calm.
Then Yuya did something very simple.
He clenched his fist—
And threw a punch.
The punch struck empty air.
Yet in that instant—
The world seemed to flip upside down.
BOOOOM!!!
A terrifying shockwave exploded outward.
The ground in front of Yuya shattered instantly, cracking apart and tearing forward in a violent chain of destruction.
The sheer force was overwhelming.
As for the Fire Release jutsu—
It was annihilated in a single blow, snuffed out like a tiny flame slapped away by a hand.
Even the falling rain froze in midair—
Then violently dispersed.
Everything ahead of Yuya—
Looked as though it was about to be flattened completely by that single punch.
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