On the way back, Shin didn’t say another word.
He pushed himself forward the entire journey, never once slowing down.
Abero tried to say something to lighten the mood, but Ito Miyuki silenced him with a single glare.
Although she was still under ten, Miyuki had been taught about the cruelty of the Ninja World from a young age.
The scene at the stronghold had shaken her, but it wasn’t something she couldn’t accept.
Shin was different.
He was a transmigrator, and becoming a true Ninja had never been his ideal.
His first mission outside the Village had exposed him to such an ugly side of human nature that he now saw this world differently.
If he had a choice, he would stay inside the Village forever.
It was impossible, of course.
But after this mission, Shin never wanted to accept another C-rank mission.
Several hours passed in a blur.
By the time they returned to the Village, the sky was beginning to brighten.
“Alright, you three can go back and rest.
There won’t be any missions for the next three days, so take some time to relax.” “Understood, Teacher Nakagawa.” The three said their goodbyes before heading home in different directions.
Nakagawa Ichiryū watched Shin’s back disappear into the distance and slowly frowned.
“This kid is decisive when he kills, but his heart isn’t ruthless enough.
At this rate, he won’t be able to awaken his Sharingan.” He looked toward Blackhead Mountain and let out a quiet sigh before disappearing from the spot.
Far away, in the direction of Blackhead Mountain, a raging fire lit up the night.
Inside the burning camp lay the bodies of men and women.
If Shin saw this scene, what choice would he make?
Back home, Shin collapsed onto a bamboo chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.
His thoughts kept returning to the battle.
After a long while, he finally removed his equipment.
The mission had lasted only a day, yet it felt like an entire lifetime had passed.
He used to hesitate for a long time before killing a chicken.
Now, he had killed dozens of people without even blinking.
“Have I really changed?” Shin stared at the ceiling, his fingers tightening against the bamboo chair.
“Have I become someone I don’t even recognize?” The eyes of those people before their deaths kept replaying in his mind, one scene after another.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t calm himself enough to train.
Before he realized it, Shin fell asleep.
His sleep was restless.
In his dream, countless pairs of eyes stared at him from the darkness.
Wails and cries filled his ears, each one cutting into his chest like a sharp blade.
“Ah!” Shin jolted awake.
His breathing was heavy, and cold sweat covered his forehead.
He checked the time.
Only an hour had passed.
A deep uneasiness settled in his chest.
Then he remembered those countless eyes from his dream.
Shin suddenly pushed open the door and ran outside.
Several hours later, Shin returned to Blackhead Mountain.
The moment he saw the burned-down stronghold, he froze.
He took one slow step after another into the ruins.
Yesterday, more than twenty wooden houses had stood here.
Now, they had all been reduced to blackened rubble.
The corpses scattered across the ground had been burned to ash, leaving behind only a foul stench that clung to the air.
Shin didn’t know why he had come.
Something had been pulling him here, an inexplicable feeling that he couldn’t shake.
He wandered through the ruins without a destination.
Then his foot suddenly stepped on something.
Shin stopped and slowly backed away.
His pupils trembled.
A woman’s hand protruded from beneath the dirt.
The flesh had been burned beyond recognition, but even through the charred skin, Shin could tell it wasn’t the complexion of a mountain bandit.
He dropped to the ground and dug through the dirt with his bare hands.
A half-burned arm emerged.
The clean skin beneath the yellow earth was unmistakable.
Shin stared at it, his hands trembling.
“Why is this happening?” A terrible thought flashed through his mind.
Shin turned and rushed toward the innermost wooden house.
It had been burned down as well.
He shoved aside the charred beams, breaking through the collapsed entrance.
The moment he saw what lay inside, his entire body went rigid.
Bodies.
They had been burned almost beyond recognition.
Their frames were too small to belong to the mountain bandits.
They were the women.
Shin slowly walked forward, his eyes moving from one burned corpse to another.
Then he stopped.
One woman’s body had suffered less damage.
Her clothes were burned away, and her upper body was badly scorched, but her face remained intact.
Shin recognized her.
She was the woman he had saved last night.
When that bald brute had been tormenting her, Shin had kicked open the door and cut off the man’s head.
He had thought he had saved her.
But now, she was lying dead in front of him.
“Why?” His voice cracked.
“Why couldn’t you spare a group of helpless women?” His fists tightened until his nails dug into his palms.
“They were already suffering.
Why couldn’t you just leave them alone?” Shin threw his head back and roared.
His murderous aura erupted.
His Sharingan and Byakugan activated on their own, scarlet and silver light flashing across his eyes.
An invisible pressure swept through the ruins and rolled outward.
This time, Shin was truly furious.
He knew what the Ninja World was like.
The strong preyed on the weak.
Ninja fought and killed one another for missions, territory, resources, and power.
That was their business.
But these women had been defenseless.
They had already suffered enough.
Why couldn’t they be left alive?
What was the point of killing them?
“Konoha Village!” Shin’s voice echoed across the mountain.
“And the entire Ninja World!” His eyes burned with fury.
“You’re all rotten to the core!” His breathing grew heavier.
The grief in his chest might not have reached the depths of Uchiha Madara’s despair, but the rage burning inside him was no less fierce.
At that moment, Shin finally understood.
In this era, strength was the only thing that could protect what he cared about.
Only overwhelming strength could let him decide what happened to the people around him.
Shin slowly straightened.
He walked out of the ruined stronghold and stood before the scarred earth.
Then he raised his hand.
“Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!” BOOM!
A massive fireball erupted from his mouth and crashed into the ruins.
Flames spread across the ground, swallowing the remains of the stronghold and turning everything before him into a blazing sea.
He wasn’t trying to erase the evidence.
He wasn’t trying to burn the corpses.
He was burning away the last part of himself that still believed compassion alone could survive in this world.
Shin stood before the raging flames, his eyes cold and resolute.
“I am Uchiha Shin.” He looked into the distance.
“Remember my name.” —- Deep beneath Konoha, in the lightless tunnels of Root headquarters, the air was cold and still.
A figure wrapped in a pitch-black cloak dropped to one knee before a bare stone dais.
He raised a pale hand, unclasped his white porcelain demon mask, and revealed an expressionless face.
Shadows gathered around the man seated before him.
Danzō Shimura rested both hands on a carved wooden cane.
Thick cotton bandages covered half his face, leaving only one eye exposed beneath the dim candlelight.
That eye remained cold and unmoving.
“The Blackhead Mountain operation is complete, Danzō-sama,” the Root operative reported.
His voice was as flat as steel.
“Nakagawa’s squad eliminated the bandits.” “And the treasury?” Danzō’s voice came out as a low rasp, barely disturbing the silence of the cavern.
“Secured without incident.
The money and gold bars were transferred directly to the division’s hidden vault.
The entire sum is enough to fund our next phase of research, and no records were left behind.” Danzō gave a slight nod.
“The civilian captives?” “Cleaned up.” The operative answered without hesitation.
His black eyes held no emotion.
“Standard cleanup protocol was activated the moment Team 7 left the area.
We burned the entire compound with high-grade Fire Release.
The captives, the corpses, the buildings, everything was reduced to ash.
No witnesses survived who could connect the stolen gold to Konoha or Root.” “Good.” Danzō turned his back to the operative.
His cane struck the stone floor.
Tok.
Tok.
Tok.
“In wartime, the soil must nourish the roots before the leaves can flourish.” He continued walking through the empty black hall.
“A handful of nameless civilians in exchange for the survival of this village is a price I will pay every time.” His footsteps stopped.
The exposed eye beneath his bandages narrowed.
“What about the Uchiha child?” The Root operative lowered his head.
“He killed without hesitation.
His efficiency was impressive.
However, before leaving, he showed unnecessary concern for the women.” A pause.
“He believes the village’s Anbu are taking them home.” Danzō’s lips curled faintly.
“Let the boy believe it.” His cane struck the floor again.
Tok.
“Naïveté belongs to children.” Danzō’s visible eye grew colder.
“Sooner or later, the cruelty of this world will tear those childish illusions apart.
When that happens, he will understand.” His fingers tightened around the cane.
“Mercy is a fatal weakness.” The darkness seemed to swallow his figure as he continued down the corridor.
“Only absolute strength has the right to decide who survives.” —- 📚 Want to read the next 30 chapters RIGHT NOW?