Some relied on traps, some specialized in poison, while others preferred to overwhelm their opponents with relentless, brutal attacks that left no room to breathe.
My days were filled with a routine that almost never changed. I kept training, hunting down criminals, buying various Ninjutsu from the black market with the money I earned from bounties, then repeating the same cycle over and over again without ever growing tired of it.
Whenever I acquired a new technique, I studied it patiently. I memorized every hand seal, understood the flow of Chakra it required, and practiced it repeatedly until I could use it consistently.
Sometimes, it took several days before I could finally perform a single technique flawlessly.
Although the process was exhausting, the progress I made made every bit of effort worthwhile.
Little by little, the number of techniques I could use continued to grow, giving me more options in a wide variety of situations.
I also trained my Taijutsu and Kenjutsu by using trees as practice targets, then tested the results of my training against the criminals I hunted.
To me, training only had value if it could truly be applied in a real battle.
The once sturdy tree trunks gradually became covered in sword marks, while the ground around them was filled with footprints from my endless daily training.
Some of the trees had even fallen completely after enduring thousands of sword swings that I had unleashed over the course of several months.
My body was repeatedly covered in small wounds, bruises, and even deep cuts, but they only served as proof that my abilities were constantly improving.
Pain gradually became something ordinary, making me increasingly accustomed to the pressure of real combat.
That routine continued for months. The more battles I went through, the more seasoned my combat experience became.
Without realizing it, every victory and every mistake I made slowly shaped my fighting style into something far more efficient.
My swordsmanship became sharper, my Chakra control grew more stable, and using the Mangekyo Sharingan gradually became much more efficient than before.
I no longer wasted its power carelessly, instead choosing to use it only when it was truly necessary.
I no longer relied solely on raw strength. Instead, I began to understand when to attack, when to defend, and when to make the most effective use of the Mangekyo Sharingan.
Patience in reading the flow of battle gradually became one of my greatest weapons.
Without realizing it, my personality also began to change. I became much calmer when facing opponents, no longer easily provoked by emotions, and capable of making decisions much more quickly in the middle of a fight. Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
The panic that had once surfaced so often gradually disappeared, replaced by the composure born from experience.
One experience after another slowly forged a battle instinct that could never be gained through ordinary training alone.
Sometimes, my body would even move before my mind had time to form a plan, as if all those experiences had become instinct.
Then one day, while resting in a small town after completing a mission, I overheard a rather strange rumor.
The rumor claimed that the female versions of Hashirama and Madara in this world had died.
Hearing that news, I stopped in my tracks and stood there in silence for a few moments, trying to process something that sounded utterly impossible.
Countless possibilities immediately ran through my mind, yet none of them seemed reasonable enough to explain such a rumor.
After all, based on the information I had previously gathered, the female versions of Hashirama and Madara in this world were the wives of the male version of Mito.
If that were true, then they shouldn't have died fighting each other like they did in the Naruto anime.
In the world I knew, the battle between Hashirama and Madara was one of the most significant events in the history of the ninja world.
That battle was not merely a duel between the two strongest shinobi, but a turning point that changed the course of the ninja world for many years afterward.
However, the alternate Naruto world I now lived in had undergone far too many changes.
It wasn't just the identities of its characters that were different, but the relationships between them had also changed drastically from what I remembered.
Their relationships had changed, and so had their identities, so it made no sense for history to still follow the exact same conclusion.
Even the smallest change should have been enough to influence countless other events, especially when those changes involved the most important figures in history.
The history of this world had already diverged far too much to end the same way as the Naruto anime I had watched back when I was still on Earth.
That was why I could no longer use all the knowledge from my original world as an absolute reference for predicting the future.
Because of that, I chose to treat the news as nothing more than an ordinary rumor. The ninja world was full of gossip that wasn't necessarily true, especially when it involved prominent figures whose every move attracted widespread attention.
As long as there was no clear evidence, I had no reason to immediately believe the rumors spreading around.
Believing hearsay too easily would only cloud my judgment and could even lead me to make the wrong decisions when facing real situations.
I had heard more than enough reports that ultimately turned out to be nothing more than exaggerated stories. Because of that, I chose to remain calm and avoid jumping to conclusions. Read the latest chapters at novelping(.)com.
Even so, deep down, I still felt a faint sense of unease. For some reason, my instincts told me that the rumor hadn't appeared out of nowhere.
Something felt off, as if all these events were somehow connected, even though I still couldn't see how.
Still, I chose to suppress that feeling and rely only on facts that could actually be verified. After all, intuition alone couldn't serve as the basis for making important decisions.
Unfortunately, my assumption turned out to be wrong. Not long afterward, another piece of news—far more shocking than the last—began spreading throughout the Land of Fire.
Konohagakure was reportedly attacked by someone whose identity remained unknown.
The news spread at an astonishing speed. Nearly every town, village, and gathering place for ninja was filled with discussions about the incident.
Even merchants and ordinary civilians talked about it with worried expressions, showing just how significant the news was.
Many people began to grow uneasy because Konoha was not a village that could be attacked so easily.
As one of the strongest hidden villages, its defensive capabilities were widely recognized, making reports of an intruder successfully attacking it sound almost impossible.
During the attack, the female version of Tobirama was reportedly seriously injured.
Meanwhile, the male version of Mito vanished without a trace. No one knew whether Mito had been kidnapped, killed, or had managed to escape amid the chaos.
No one could provide a definite answer because all the information circulating was contradictory.
It seemed that everyone had their own version of what had truly happened in Konoha that night.
Some claimed that Mito had escaped before the attacker reached his residence, while others insisted that he had been taken away by the mysterious assailant.
There were even those who claimed to have witnessed a fierce battle near his residence, although not a single testimony could be confirmed as genuine.
Speculation continued to spread, but none of it was supported by truly convincing evidence.
[Note: This is my other novel: As a Blacksmith in the World of Jujutsu Kaisen. As the White Spider-Man in Earth-76 with the Spider-Man System]