Chapter 75: Cruelty
Konoha Village’s entrance.
The village had posted notices in advance, and a large number of corpses and wounded would be sent back from the Land of Grass, so many people gathered at the village entrance to wait.
Senju Rinki stood at the very front with lifeless eyes, his arms hanging down, shoulders slumped, looking utterly powerless.
This Senju Clan Head, son of Hashirama Senju, no longer had his former spirited vigor, only the sorrow of a middle-aged man who lost his son.
The convoy slowly approached.
One by one, the body bags were claimed by families.
Some families were crying, some were numb, and others were confirming the amount of compensation with the ninjas.
The last body bag contained Senju Nawaki.
Senju Rinki couldn’t hear any of the noise, his mind filled with ringing in his ears, dragging his stiff legs as he shuffled forward.
He still couldn’t believe that Nawaki was dead just like that.
Nawaki had a rare talent that appeared once every few decades, and an elite jonin like Orochimaru as his teacher.
The Senju Clan’s trend of revival came to an abrupt end.
In that instant, Senju Rinki even thought of giving up on everything.
If the village high-ranking officials wanted the Senju Clan Compound, then give them half.
If the village high-ranking officials wanted the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, then let them seal it, and the Senju Clan wouldn’t care anymore.
If the village high-ranking officials wanted the Scroll of Seals from the Senju and Vortex, then give it to them.
Seeing Senju Rinki’s body swaying slightly, Kushina Uzumaki said softly:
“Uncle…”
Senju Rinki shook his head, driving away the weak thoughts he had just had.
He couldn’t give up; the Senju Clan’s thousand-year legacy of glory couldn’t be destroyed in his hands.
Death?
His father founded Konoha; could the deaths now compare to those at the end of the Warring States Period?
Nawaki sacrificed at 12 years old, much later than his own two uncles.
The Senju Clan never feared death.
Yoru stood to the side, pinching his nostrils shut.
The body bags contained preservatives, but the stench of corpses was still hard to endure.
What was a foul smell to Yoru was his beloved youngest son to Senju Rinki.
Senju Rinki unzipped the body bag and saw Nawaki’s deathly pale face.
He reached out and gently stroked the Divine Tree’s face; Senju Rinki’s resolute face changed expressions several times, and finally he lowered his head.
The Senju Clan took away Nawaki and the bodies of other Senju ninjas.
This clan had sacrificed too much for Konoha.
Kurozaru’s wife, the woman he had seen at Konoha Hospital last time, picked up Kurozaru.
Kurozaru had removed his mask and now looked like a dispirited, weathered uncle with both arms severed.
His cheeks were sunken, completely unlike an Akimichi ninja.
Yoru returned to Anbu to hand over the mission, then went to Root to submit the personnel supplement numbers, and left Anbu.
Returning to the familiar Tsuruzuki Izakaya, Yoru sighed inwardly that he was finally back.
Unknowingly, Tsuruzuki Izakaya had become Yoru’s most comforting place to stay.
“Qiao Yi, have any suspicious people come to observe you lately?”
“No, I haven’t seen any.”
Yoru had specifically paid attention in Anbu to missions related to Qiao Yi; the mission scrolls were archived, so there wouldn’t be any more Anbu investigations into Qiao Yi’s identity for the time being.
“I have connections up top; I handled such a big issue for you, shouldn’t you thank me?”
“How should I thank you?”
“Yin Release and Yang Release are getting a bit boring. Got any new entertainment?”
Qiao Yi gritted her silver teeth and pressed close: “You’ve been gone so long, did you try some new entertainment with that little fox outside? Coming back to me to relive it?”
“No way, my strength has increased a lot, so I need stronger stimulation.”
Qiao Yi turned her head and gave Yoru a white-eyed glance, then said: “Then try the Hidden Stone Village female ninja secret jutsu…”
“Oh? What secret jutsu?”
“Have you heard of the Earth Style: Mountain Earth Technique?”
“I’ve heard of it. It uses a massive Earth Release hemisphere to crush a large number of enemies into mashed meat. Is this the Earth Release ninjutsu after Yin Release and Yang Release, like Ball Release?”
The two were lying in bed; Qiao Yi slowly disappeared under the covers, using her ‘Ball Release: Earth Style: Mountain Earth Technique’.
After the wild frenzy in the middle of the night, Qiao Yi lay on Yoru’s chest.
She suddenly felt a bit nervous.
“It’s coming soon!”
“What’s coming soon? Didn’t we just…”
Soon, Yoru sensed a cold chakra.
He pulled on his pants and body flickered out the window, standing on the rooftop.
From the direction of the Senju Clan, waves of ominous chakra leaked out, wandering through Konoha’s streets.
In that moment, all insects and birds fell silent.
Mito Uzumaki, was she reaching her limit?
Yoru jumped down from the rooftop and returned to the side room in the backyard.
“During the time I was away, did this cold feeling appear often?”
“Yeah, especially these past two weeks, almost every day.”
“What a turbulent autumn. Forget it, don’t think about those things. The Earth Style: Mountain Earth Technique, there are still some parts I don’t understand. How about we explore it some more.”
Amidst the coldness every night, the New Year arrived.
Yoru welcomed his birthday.
Besides Qiao Yi, there was no one else to celebrate the New Year with.
The New Year in this different world was much more bland than in his previous life.
Several days after the New Year, Yoru carried two jin of braised beef into the Akimichi Clan Compound.
He didn’t know where Kurozaru lived or what his name was, but he figured it would be easy to find out.
Both arms severed—that trait was too obvious.
At a street corner, he saw three aunties; Yoru thought, isn’t this the Akimichi Clan’s intelligence center?
He went up and asked: “Hello, is there a retired ninja in the Akimichi Clan with both arms severed?”
“Are you looking for the retired ninja whose left arm was severed first, or the one whose right arm was severed first?”
Yoru was stunned—not meaning the Akimichi Clan had many one-armed ninjas?
“Left arm first, right arm later, and he just returned to the clan compound.”
The auntie said again: “Then are you looking for the retired ninja whose left severed arm is longer, or the one whose right severed arm is longer?”
Were the Akimichi Clan’s ninjas this miserable?
Thinking about how they were taijutsu-type ninjas, it wasn’t surprising.
Yoru continued: “The right severed arm is longer.”
“Then are you looking for the tall one with the longer right severed arm, or the short one with the longer right severed arm?”
Yoru was speechless: “The tall one, the dark and tall one.”
The auntie finally pointed Yoru in a direction.
Yoru felt a wave of sorrow in his heart.
Just a simple inquiry revealed a corner of war’s cruelty.
Inside the Akimichi Clan Compound, there were indeed many disabled people.
With the clan as backing, even if disabled, the clan would provide minimal living supplies and keep them fed, so disabled ninjas seemed numerous.
If they were civilian ninjas, you wouldn’t see so many disabled retirees—not because civilian ninjas had fewer disabilities, but because disabled civilian ninjas simply didn’t live long.
Survivorship bias.
Arriving outside a small courtyard, Yoru saw someone moving.
The black and skinny guy with both arms severed was sitting in the courtyard, looking bitter-faced.
“Big bro, I came to see you.”
So annoying, they reviewed and deleted over a hundred words of mine again.
