"Shff, shff, shff."
A soft rustling echoed through the alley.
By the light of the lanterns the Ame Ninja carried, Reiji saw seven or eight figures blur into afterimages and vanish into the night.
Looks like these Ame-nin are pretty professional—they're cautious of hidden threats.
At the front of the group was a tall, broad-shouldered Ame Ninja, dressed in a loose raincoat and wearing a special breathing mask.
Thanks to his sharp eyesight, Reiji spotted a blocky black birthmark running from the man's forehead down to his cheekbone, covering a large portion of his face.
Reiji instinctively shrank his neck at the sight of that distinctively ugly face and brushed his right hand across his chest.
The massive wound on his chest and abdomen had finally healed. The skin clung tightly to his ribs, making him look severely undernourished, practically skin and bones. Fortunately, as long as no one sliced him open, there was no way to tell he had no internal organs beneath that skin.
Seeing this, Reiji let out a breath of relief. The grotesque wound was gone.
The secret of his immortality should be safe.
With that thought, he braced himself against the wall and struggled to his feet.
Suddenly, a gleaming blade came out of nowhere, pressing coldly against his neck.
"Don't move!"
Reiji froze, startled, and slowly raised both hands.
"Alright! I won't move. But hey, big guy, hold that sword steady, would you? I'm not great with pain!"
Though he hadn't spoken loudly, his voice drew the leader's attention instantly.
Holding a lantern to shield against the rain, the scarred man strode forward and stopped in front of Reiji. His sharp eyes locked onto Reiji's face, scanning him from head to toe.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
Reiji grinned. "Sir, name's Shuku Kohei. Just an orphan."
He had no intention of revealing his real name to these Amegakure ninja. After all, he couldn't be sure whether there was a scroll on Isamu's corpse that contained his information.
If there was, the chance of ending up imprisoned and dissected again was way too high.
Sure enough, one of the Amegakure ninja searching Isamu's body found a sealing formula marked with a strange symbol under his arm.
The seasoned ninja dipped his thumb in Isamu's blood and smeared it across the seal.
"Boom." A puff of white smoke burst forth, revealing a massive scroll in his hands.
Reiji kept an eye on the ninja's movements while casually answering the ugly man's questions.
"As for why I'm here, it's simple. I was captured by the Jashin cult, but yesterday I saw an opening and escaped. I figured hiding in the powerful Amegakure would be safe, but I didn't expect them to catch up to me."
He pointed toward Isamu's body nearby.
"You killed him?" the scarred man asked again.
Reiji nodded. There was no point in lying—any experienced ninja could easily read the signs of the battle in the alley.
"How'd you do it?"
"Uh..." Reiji hesitated, then said, "Reporting to you, sir—Body Replacement Technique, traps, explosive tags, and a small trick or two."
The scarred man's lips twitched almost imperceptibly. His gaze swept over Reiji and Isamu's corpse, clearly laced with disdain.
He clearly had no respect for Reiji's cheap tricks—and even less for Isamu, who'd been taken down by a kid.
Just then, the ninja who had finished examining the scroll hurried over, covering his mouth with one hand as he leaned in and whispered into the scarred man's ear...
"Kandachi-sama, after identification, we've confirmed the deceased is Isamu, Divine Emissary of the Jashin cult. He had a bounty of twenty million ryo on his head. The scroll on his body can't be opened for now."
At those words, the man called Kandachi gave Isamu's corpse a dismissive glance and asked in a low voice,
"How did he die?"
"His legs were first blown off by explosive tags, then his chest and abdomen were destroyed by another at close range.
As for who killed him, it was most likely the child standing before you. The pit in the ground appears to be the result of Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique, and its depth matches the child's height.
There's also a wooden stake in the pit, likely from a Body Replacement Technique used at the precise moment he was caught in the Earth Release. The timing was spot-on."
Hearing this, Kandachi gave Reiji a look of mild surprise, his eyes flickering thoughtfully.
"Remind me, how much was that dead trash worth?"
"Twenty million ryo," the ninja answered quietly.
At that, Kandachi's lips curled into a slight smirk as a plan took shape.
"Take the kid into custody. Since the body's unrecognizable, dump it in the river and let the fish eat it."
He gave a subtle wink to the ninja beside him.
The subordinate, who had worked with Kandachi for years, caught on immediately. He nodded with a feigned show of seriousness and turned to leave.
...
Though Reiji's hands were tied behind his back, he didn't panic.
He hadn't heard the conversation, but he'd clearly caught the glint in the scarred man's eyes.
This guy was definitely plotting something—nothing good, for sure.
Still, Reiji wasn't concerned. Isamu meant nothing to him. The guy wasn't even as appealing as a decent set of training weights.
Besides, inside his seven-year-old body lived an adult soul. And the biggest difference between adults and kids? Adults have been beaten down by life—they know when to bow their heads.
More importantly, he looked like a harmless kid. No real value, just another mouth to feed.
Still, this guy had just robbed him of a twenty-million-ryo bounty. That debt was going on the ledger. Once he mastered the Eight Inner Gates, this would be the first guy he'd kick to death.
Committing the scarred man's face to memory, Reiji put on a pitiful, harmless expression and obediently followed the Ame Ninja out of the alley.
...
Inside the damp, shadowy prison cell, Reiji slept soundly through the night.
Now, with pale daylight filtering through the fist-sized window, morning had fully arrived.
Whistling, Reiji sat cross-legged against the cell wall, carving doodles with a kunai.
It was the day after his escape from the Jashin cult, and his mood was great.
Although he had just gained his freedom and then immediately got tossed in a cell by the Ame Ninja, he believed these kind-hearted folks would let him out soon. (#^.^#)
That's what Reiji wrote—and what he truly thought.
The cell wasn't bad. A small window let in light, and the ninja who'd locked him up hadn't even properly searched his ninja pack—they'd left the kunai inside.
All things considered, it was clear Amegakure didn't see him as a threat. Even after killing Isamu, they hadn't taken him seriously.
That kind of attitude was... interesting.
But Reiji could guess why.
Amegakure's previous and current leaders? The last one was Hanzō of the Salamander, the so-called Demi-God of the Ninja World—absurdly powerful. And the next? Nagato. The guy had singlehandedly leveled all of Konoha's real estate. Literally.
With leaders like that, who'd waste time on a seven-year-old brat?
They were only keeping him locked up to sidestep the bounty claim.
Once the reward came through, they'd release him like nothing happened.
As for Isamu's twenty million ryo bounty? Reiji didn't care. Once he was strong enough, the scarred guy who stole his kill would be the first to die.
...
Turns out Reiji was spot on.
After choking down a prison meal with a bizarre taste, the scar-faced man's lackey showed up.
Expressionless, he unlocked the cell door.
"Kid, follow me."
"Oh, right, don't take anything you shouldn't."
With that, he led the confused Reiji out of the cell.
They turned left and right, up and down.
Just as Reiji was getting dizzy from all the twists and turns in this strange building, they finally arrived at their destination.
"Dong, dong, dong." The iron door engraved with the emblem of Amegakure was knocked on.
"Come in!" A young but calm voice rang out from inside.
The henchman pushed open the door and led the confused Reiji into the room.
In front of them stood a huge, eye-catching desk. On the desk was a large pile of neatly arranged documents.
Behind the desk sat a tall, fierce young man wearing a special mask with a tube extending from each side to the back. On his forehead was the forehead protector of Amegakure.
What was striking was the young man's eyes, which made him look very dignified.
Next to the man stood the ugly man from last night, his face full of reluctance, his eyes hidden behind his mask, glaring at Reiji with a threatening look.
Behind them, a huge map hung on the wall, covered with various arrows.
With just one glance, Reiji subconsciously lowered his head.
Although he was a military novice, he knew that one couldn't just look at a battle command map.
Seeing Reiji quickly lower his head as if he hadn't seen anything, the man sitting behind the table showed a hint of appreciation in the depths of his dark eyes.
"Sit."
A loud, powerful voice rang out.
Reiji lowered his head, quickly pulled out a chair from in front of the table, and sat down with his head bowed.
Seeing this, the man nodded and picked up a scroll.
"Shuku Kohei?"
"Yes, it's me." Reiji nodded.
"Then I'll call you Kohei-kun!"
After saying that, the man cleared his throat twice and continued speaking.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Hanzō of the Salamander, the leader of Amegakure.
I already know about you from Kandachi.
You were a child imprisoned by the Jashin cult, but you took advantage of a sacrifice ceremony to escape and came to my village.
Later, you were caught by Isamu, a messenger of the Jashin cult, but you fought him and killed him.
By the way, do you know that the person you killed was Isamu, a messenger of the Jashin cult?"
Hearing this, Reiji nodded.
It was pointless to lie to someone of this caliber, and besides, it was clearly unreasonable for a child who had been imprisoned for so long to not know the leader of the Jashin cult.
Reiji firmly believed that one lie required ten more lies to cover it up.
A true liar would either gloss over the truth so that no one would notice, or hide a lie among countless truths so that no one could tell the difference.
Seeing Reiji nod, Hanzō of the Salamander's expression visibly softened.
He hated liars, or rather, he hated anyone in a position of power who lied.
"Can you tell me how you escaped and how you killed Isamu?"
Reiji sighed silently and thought to himself, "Can I not say anything?" It was a ridiculous question.
However, he had the soul of an adult inside him, so he didn't show any impatience on his face and pretended to be honest as he began to speak.
"It was like this. About half a year ago, I was captured by the Jashin cult and imprisoned in a cell with other children. We spent every day in that cell, day after day.
Those cultists brought us food every day and taught us how to refine chakra. They also took us to brainwashing sessions from time to time."
"Oh? Brainwashing? How did they brainwash you?" Hanzō of the Salamander was a little curious.
"Well, they didn't let us sleep and constantly indoctrinated us with the teachings of Jashin, telling us how wonderful Jashin was."
"Then how did you avoid being brainwashed?" Hanzō of the Salamander asked again.
Hearing this, Reiji shook his head and said, "I couldn't avoid it. I'm still a believer of Jashin, but compared to Jashin, I just want to live freely."
After saying that, Reiji pretended to look embarrassed.
"Well, they give us military ration pills every day, and that stuff isn't fit for human consumption. It's like eating dirt.
The water's terrible too. A lot of kids my age can't even pee properly.
The toilet conditions are awful. The paper is rough, full of splinters—it scrapes me raw every time.
Oh, and there's no bathing allowed. Everyone's clothes are crawling with lice. We get bitten all night and can't sleep.
What really gets me is that the guards make us do chores—cleaning and stuff. It's absurd! What kind of respectable person cleans?
And then there's the overcrowding. No privacy at all. If one kid gets a bad stomach, we all have to smell it."
Seeing Reiji go on and on, even the composed Hanzō of the Salamander couldn't help but shift in his seat. With a strange look, he raised a hand to cut Reiji off.
"Kohei-kun, get to the point."
"Uh, I mean, I can worship Jashin if I have to, but if I'm starving and still have to work? That's a dealbreaker."
At that, all three men in the room fell silent, clearly at a loss for words.
It was obvious now—this kid had laziness etched into his bones.
Reiji raised his head slightly. Catching their dumbfounded expressions from the corner of his eye, he secretly let out a breath of relief.
He'd rambled on about all that, and while most of it was true, he hadn't actually been locked up with the other kids. And only he and Haruto had been allowed to learn chakra refinement.
The real reason he said all this was to distract from his immortality, masking it with a different kind of "special ability" to draw Hanzō's attention.
Honestly, his talent for laziness wasn't entirely made up.
Modern people couldn't really be called lazy, right? Laziness was what pushed technology forward.
...
There was a long pause.
"Ahem." Hanzō of the Salamander cleared his throat, suppressing the urge to comment.
"Kohei-kun, do you know Isamu had a twenty million ryo bounty on his head?"
Reiji nodded again.
"I overheard the guards mention it. That's why I slipped into your village from the side road. I figured, if there were more people around, the Divine Emissary-sama might behave a little better."
Hanzō nodded approvingly. He thought this child, though a bit lazy, was clearly sharp.
Sure, kids during the Warring States Period matured quickly—some went to war at seven or eight—but very few had half this boy's cleverness, let alone his scheming nature.
With that thought, Hanzō didn't hesitate. He closed the scroll on the table and slowly stood up.
"Kohei-kun, since you know about Isamu's bounty, I'll give you two options."
Hearing that, Reiji knew the real talk was starting. He immediately sat up straight.
"First, I've already sent someone to collect the bounty for Isamu. You took him down, so the bounty is yours—but the cost of repairing the alley will be deducted from it."
The moment he finished speaking, Reiji felt a sharp, blade-like stare sweep over him.
No need to guess. It was definitely Kandachi—the guy Reiji was absolutely going to kick to death one day.
At the same time, Reiji understood what the ninja in the dungeon meant when he said, "Don't take what you shouldn't."
"The second option," Hanzō's voice came again.
"You join the village and become my disciple."
Before Hanzō could finish, Kandachi interrupted loudly, completely ignoring protocol.
"Hanzō-sama, even if he killed Isamu, that doesn't qualify him to become your disciple!"
What he really meant was: Hanzō-sama, if you're picking a disciple, shouldn't it be someone strong, loyal, and hardworking—like me?
As soon as Kandachi finished, Hanzō raised his right hand sharply, signaling silence. His eyes locked onto Reiji with firm resolve.
"Become my disciple, and you won't have to worry about the Jashin cult anymore. As for the bounty—"
Reiji quickly shook his head, cutting him off.
Being interrupted twice clearly irritated Hanzō, and he was just about to lose his temper—until Reiji's next words stopped him cold.
"Hanzō-sama, what bounty? Me? A bounty? If I can join the warm family of Amegakure, I'd gladly pay out of my own pocket!"
At that, Hanzō nodded in satisfaction.
At the same time, Reiji breathed a silent sigh of relief.
Good thing he didn't take that seriously. I'm fine doing anything else, but paying out of pocket? Sorry. I'd rather become a Missing-nin.