The smell of smoke in the Forest of Death isn't an invitation to dinner. It's an alarm. In this ecosystem, fire means the presence of outsiders who are either too confident or stupid enough to give away their position.
Raido and Takeshi moved differently now. After I "optimized" the boar, their attitude toward me shifted from disdainful to wary. They no longer joked about my weight. Now, they glanced at my right hand as if it were a primed Fuinjutsu trap with the pin pulled.
"Kaien, are you sure about the direction?" Raido whispered, crouching behind the fallen trunk of a giant cedar.
"Distance: 280 meters. Wind is North-West, carrying the scent of burnt wood and... weapon-cleaning grease," I closed my eyes, allowing the System to overclock my sensors.
[ [SENSORY SCANNER: ACTIVATED] ] Heat Signatures Detected: 3. Class: Shinobi (Presumed Genin/Chunin). Status: Stationary. Warning: Perimeter established with tripwires. Type: Signal bells and explosive tags.
"There are three of them," I reported. "Staying tight. Likely a reconnaissance squad from Kusagakure (Hidden Grass). I caught a glint from their protectors a minute ago."
Takeshi frowned, adjusting his massive pouch. "Grass? What are they doing this deep in our territory? The Forest of Death is Konoha's training ground."
"The same thing we are," I replied, checking my modified kunai. "Resources. Or information. Raido-san, what's the protocol?"
Raido hesitated. As a Chunin, he had to make the call. But I saw him waver. His "architecture" was designed for fair, head-on combat, not for stealthy elimination in the jungle.
"We must eliminate them or take them prisoner," he finally forced out. "But there are three of them, and we have... two combat-ready members and you."
"I am more than combat-ready," I pulled a kunai from its magnetic latch. The click was nearly silent. "I suggest optimization. You two charge from the front, creating maximum noise. Akimichis are excellent at drawing attention. I will flank from the rear through the upper canopy."
"You? Alone against three in the rear?" Takeshi snorted, but without his old malice. "You'll get crushed."
"My profile is a third of yours. My steps don't shake the earth. While you 'tank,' I will debug their ranks."
Raido looked into my eyes. He searched for a child's fear but found only dry lines of code and calculation. "Fine. You have three minutes to get in position. As soon as you hear my 'Tank'—act."
Stealth and Calculation
I ascended the tree silently. My muscles, reinforced after absorbing the boar, worked perfectly. My bone density allowed me to land on thin branches without a single creak. The System highlighted the ideal route, marking branches that would support my weight.
[ [HUNTING MODE: ON] ] Target №1: Sensor/Ranged. (Highest priority). Target №2: Combatant. Target №3: Group Leader.
I froze directly above their camp, hidden by dense foliage. Below, around a small fire, sat three shinobi in gray cloaks. One was lazily chewing on rations; the other two were checking scrolls.
"...told you, Kuno," one grumbled. "Akimichis in this forest are like elephants. We'll hear them coming miles away. No need to be paranoid."
"I'm just saying the scent of that boar's blood vanished too quickly," replied the one named Kuno. "It's strange."
'Strange is your presence in my task log,' I thought.
At that moment, the forest shuddered. GRAH-H!
Raido didn't disappoint. His "Meat Tank" burst into the camp from the undergrowth, crushing bushes and raising a cloud of dust. "Konoha Shinobi! Surrender!" Takeshi roared, expanding his fist to the size of a barrel.
The Grass shinobi leapt up, instantly drawing weapons. "Ambush! To arms!" the leader shouted.
All three targets had their attention locked on the two massive threats in front of them. It was a classic case of interface overload. When a truck is charging at you, you don't notice the fly above your head.
I dropped down. Not like a human, but like a falling stone.
My needle-kunai entered the base of Kuno's skull—the one who had been too suspicious. He didn't even have time to scream. The System issued a short:
[ [CRITICAL DAMAGE: TARGET NEUTRALIZED] ]
The second shinobi began to turn, but I was already in his blind spot. Instead of a weapon, I used my right hand.
"[GLUTTONY]," I whispered.
This time, there was no pain. Only cold. Black threads shot from my fingers, piercing the Grass shinobi's flak jacket like paper. He froze, his eyes widening in unspeakable terror. He felt his chakra, his life force, and even his memories being ripped from his body, converted into a stream of data.
"A-a-ah..." was all he could manage before his body began to wither.
[ [SHINOBI DECONSTRUCTION: 40%... 80%...] ] Active Skill Detected: Grass Stealth (Low Rank). Analyzing... Extraction Chance: 5%. RESULT: SUCCESS.
A new block of data pierced my brain. I instantly understood how to distribute chakra across my skin to blend with vegetation. It wasn't magic—it was texture optimization.
The leader of the Grass group, seeing his comrade literally disintegrating in the hands of a "skinny brat," did what everyone does when faced with a system error—he panicked. "Demon!" he screamed, throwing a smoke bomb.
But to my eyes, enhanced by the System, the smoke was just a semi-transparent filter. I saw his thermal outline.
"Raido-san! To your left!" I shouted.
Raido, not missing a beat, delivered a crushing blow to the indicated spot. The Grass leader flew out of the smoke with broken ribs and slammed into a tree. He was alive but completely incapacitated.
Audit Results
Silence returned to the forest as quickly as it had vanished. The smoke cleared. Raido and Takeshi stood in the middle of the camp, breathing hard. They were looking at me. Or rather, at what was left of the second shinobi—a pile of ash and empty clothes.
"Kaien..." Raido's voice trembled. "Did you... did you 'optimize' him too?"
"He was a threat," I calmly wiped my kunai on the fallen man's cloak. "Now, he is a resource. We gained information on stealth and 600 BP."
Takeshi backed away, pressing against a tree. "That's not shinobi-jutsu. You erased him. You erased a human, Kaien! Do you even realize what you've done?!"
I looked at my palm. It was clean. No blood, no dirt. Only a slight tingling from the new power pulsing in my veins.
"I deleted a garbage file that was hindering our mission, Takeshi-san. Isn't that what we're taught at the Academy? Efficient elimination of the enemy?"
"Not like that!" Takeshi yelled. "Not so that there isn't even a corpse left for a funeral!"
"The dead don't care if they have a funeral or not," I turned to the surviving Grass leader. "But this 'file' still has useful data. Raido-san, shall we interrogate him, or should I handle his deconstruction right now?"
Raido swallowed, looking at me with a horror he no longer tried to hide. He realized I wasn't just a "strange Akimichi." I was a predator for whom the very concept of "human" was merely a set of biological variables.
"Leave him," Raido said hoarsely. "We'll tie him up and deliver him to Ibiki's interrogation department. That... that will be better for everyone."
[ [SYSTEM]: ] Quest "First Audit" continues. Gained: 600 BP. New Skill: [Grass Camouflage: Lvl 1]. Current Balance: 650 BP. Comment: Congratulations on your first "kinship" kill. Did you expect pangs of conscience? Sorry, there is no morality module in my code. Only efficiency.
'Neither in mine,' I thought, looking deep into the forest. 'Morality is a luxury for those with enough calories. And I will always be hungry.'