Chapter 8: Blee
With a flick, the Servant's detailed profile appeared before his eyes—a long list of information. Chizuki blinked, staring blankly as he read through it line by line.
Before long, he had skimmed through most of it.
Just then, a slender hand waved in front of his face.
"Master, what's wrong? Why did you suddenly space out?"
Jack crouched in front of Chizuki, her eyes as clear as autumn water, looking at him innocently as she spoke.
Hearing her voice, Chizuki snapped back to his senses. The moment he looked up, he saw Jack right in front of him.
During the fight earlier, he hadn't paid much attention to her appearance. But now, seeing the delicate girl before him up close, he suddenly felt dizzy. His nose even felt a little warm.
"Master? Are you hurt?"
Jack pursed her lips slightly, her brows knitting together with concern.
Her voice was soft and gentle, like a breeze brushing over water. It even seemed to carry a faint fragrance in the air, making Chizuki feel as if his heart were melting.
"Uh… no, I'm fine. I'm really fine."
Chizuki swallowed. Before transmigrating, he had never experienced anything like this—he nearly bit his tongue while answering.
Startled back to reality, he coughed dryly a couple of times. His face flushed red as he gritted his teeth and began chanting inwardly:
Three years minimum, death penalty maximum… three years minimum, death penalty maximum…
Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! What the hell am I even thinking?!
After a brief internal struggle, Chizuki finally steadied his emotions. Seeing the awkward silence settling in, he quickly changed the subject.
"Um… Jack, do you understand this world?"
"Hmm… when I arrived here, some knowledge about this world was implanted into me, so I have a general idea. This isn't Earth anymore, right? And my magical energy has been converted into chakra. It feels a bit unfamiliar, but once I get used to it, I should be able to use it proficiently."
Jack lightly bit her finger as she thought for a moment, answering in a soft voice.
"Then… when you recover magic—ah, I mean, chakra—do you still need to eat hearts?"
Chizuki asked the question he cared about the most. Back when he watched the anime, he had always wondered—such a cute girl, yet she had to eat hearts to recover her magic…
Just imagining that scene made his tongue feel bitter.
…Though part of him was also a little curious about the taste.
Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!
"Oh, that… I was helped before~ I don't need to do that anymore. The 'friends' inside my body have already gone to the land of the dead to rest. Only I remained… and now I've become a real human."
"That's good. That's really good."
Hearing this, Chizuki let out a long breath of relief, his worries finally easing. He scratched his head awkwardly, then seemed to remember something.
"Oh, right—Jack. Since you're now a real human… from now on, don't call me 'Master' anymore. I don't want us to have a master-servant relationship. If… if you're willing… then from now on… we can be like siblings."
Chizuki's face turned red as he forced the words out. At that moment, he felt like he had returned to middle school, confessing to his first crush.
Jack froze for a moment.
Then, her delicate face flushed slightly pink. Biting her lower lip gently, her beautiful emerald-green eyes looked at Chizuki with a soft, moving gaze.
A bright smile bloomed on her face.
"Mm… Onii-chan~"
Oh my god.
"Pff—!"
In that instant, it felt as if all the blood in Chizuki's body surged wildly. His nose heated up, and two streams of blood flowed down.
His vision went black—
And he fainted.
After an unknown amount of time, Chizuki slowly regained consciousness.
Having been in a constant state of tension before, coupled with the injuries on his body, Jack's arrival had finally allowed him to relax. As a result, this bout of unconsciousness turned into the best rest he had had in days.
By the time he woke up, the sky was already bright. The sun hung high overhead—it was just past noon.
"Big brother, you're awake. How are you feeling?"
Jack, who had been watching over him the whole time, smiled gently and asked.
"Ah… I'm okay. Cough… where are we?"
Still groggy, Chizuki shook his head. His throat felt dry as he coughed lightly and spoke.
"Hmm… I don't know exactly where we are. But it's safe here. There are no traces of people passing by, and you can hear insects and birds. That means nothing has disturbed them, so this place should be safe."
Jack blinked her big eyes, speaking as if proudly showing off—like a cute little kitten seeking praise.
"I see… that's good."
Chizuki nodded inwardly.
We need to stay away from the Mist-nin battle lines. With just Jack and me, if we run into too many of them, escaping would be difficult. Besides, Jack is an Assassin—not a Servant suited for direct combat—and she doesn't have anti-army or anti-fortress Noble Phantasms. So the priority is to leave the battlefield.
Glancing at the smiling Jack, another thought surfaced in his mind.
With her appearance, if I claimed she was an orphan from the Hatake clan, people would probably believe it. White hair, powerful blade techniques, Lightning attribute… and after a war, every clan has its share of orphans. Even the Hyūga clan has had Byakugan heirs lost outside.
But… I'm technically a deserter.
Even though only I—and my now-dead captain and teammates—know what really happened… my squad left the battlefield without authorization, and everyone except me died… how am I supposed to explain that?
Thinking of this, Chizuki scratched his head irritably.
The original owner of this body really knew how to cause trouble. Running off to join the war at such a young age… fine. But then you couldn't handle it and tried to desert, getting yourself killed—and indirectly causing your teammates' deaths too.
Strength… in the end, strength is what matters most.
As the top student of his class at the Ninja Academy, Mitarashi Chizuki's abilities were actually quite solid.
He had already mastered the Three Basic Techniques, along with fundamental shurikenjutsu. While he wasn't as monstrous as the Uchiha clan, hitting his target with precision was no problem.
Beyond that, Chizuki had learned quite a few ninjutsu.
He could use basic Fire Release techniques, and had even learned the relatively difficult Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique through his clan.
However, the Mitarashi clan was far from a prestigious family in Konoha.
They had no powerful bloodline abilities—nothing comparable to the Sharingan of the Uchiha or the Byakugan of the Hyūga.
They couldn't match the secret techniques of the Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi clans either. Nor could they compare to clans like Aburame or Inuzuka—let alone the Sarutobi or Shimura families.
The Mitarashi clan was merely a small family.
But compared to ordinary civilians, they were still far stronger.
At the very least, Chizuki had access to a considerable number of advanced ninjutsu.