Shiratori took a deep breath.
Maintaining his innocent image, he looked at Yahiko with wide eyes.
Yahiko nodded. "Since we're friends now, we can't keep this from you anymore."
His eyes were firm, full of righteous resolve. As if he and the other two hadn't just been testing Shiratori monts before.
"..."
Fine.
So young, yet already so scheming.
They even knew to be on guard against others.
Just not cautious enough.
They didn't realize there were actors in the world.
Looking at the leftover stead buns, Yahiko said, "We can keep these buns in the box and eat them again tomorrow."
Shiratori packed all the white buns into the box.
The wooden box was taller than a child's head and provided so wind protection. Inside it was a makeshift big bed created with clothes Yahiko and the others had found or stolen, with a thick layer of dry, fluffy straw spread underneath.
He slept that night on the crude bed Yahiko and the others had assembled.
The next morning, just as he expected, he woke up with a sore back, feeling like he had been run over by a truck.
After waking up, he ate the cold and hard leftover buns for breakfast.
He felt like there was no hope left in life. Right now, the most important thing to him was improving his quality of life.
Otherwise, if this went on, he'd beco permanently stunted due to malnutrition.
After eating, Yahiko went out to gather so firewood and rekindled the fire. His movents were clearly experienced, certainly more than Shiratori's.
Soon, flas rose from the dry wood and leaves. In this kind of weather, without fire, the four of them would freeze in the cave.
In the quiet, as Shiratori was warming himself by the fire, he suddenly heard voices. The sound was definitely not made by children. He imdiately stood up and looked toward the cave entrance.
At so point, a light rain had begun to fall again, accompanied by thick mist.
Two figures erged through the fog, gradually becoming clear in their sight.
Shiratori could hear Yahiko and the others' breathing quicken from nervousness.
Two tall figures walked into the cave.
They had completely erged from the mist, revealing their vests, forehead protectors, and the weapons in their hands.
They were ninjas!
Yahiko and the others' hearts nearly sank.
The two ninjas' eyes landed on Shiratori and the others.
He saw the forehead protectors, they had the sa symbol as the two ninjas he encountered before. His heart clenched imdiately, and his palms began to sweat.
He didn't know what kind of people these two ninjas were. Nor did he know if Rika could handle them.
Even though her level was sowhere between genin and jonin, he could clearly feel that her combat ability was stronger than most within that range.
Maybe it had sothing to do with Rika being a curse born out of love.
Love was the strongest curse!
He could only hope that she could save his life again this ti.
"Just a bunch of kids."
The ninja on the left made a slightly disappointed remark, then said to his companion, "It probably wasn't them."
"Just kids. They don't have that kind of power."
The ninja recalled the grueso scene he saw in that other cave, his face still slightly pale. But precisely because of the brutality and horror of that scene, he didn't suspect the children before him.
Even a battle-hardened ninja couldn't stomach what he saw, how could a group of children possibly be responsible?
No matter how you looked at it, it just didn't make sense.
"Hmph!"
The ninja on the right let out a cold snort, clearly disagreeing with his companion.
"Children who survive war... can they still be ordinary children?"
His gaze was filled with killing intent, locking tightly onto Shiratori and the others.
[Emotional energy detected: Killing Intent 1000 points]
[Insufficient threshold for cursed spirit activation]
[Energy stored for future use]
A notification appeared in Shiratori's mind, but he didn't have ti to question the system, his full attention was fixed on the two ninjas in front of him.
He stared unblinkingly at them.
"Don't forget, there are also ninjas on the battlefield the sa age as them."
The ninja on the right spoke to his companion.
"..."
The ninja on the left fell silent.
The one on the right began approaching the children, never lowering the kunai in his hand.
Shiratori frowned and stepped forward, shielding Yahiko and the others. As the ninja drew closer, his heartbeat grew faster and faster. From their conversation, he could almost be sure that these two ninjas had co because of what happened in that cave.
That incident had nothing to do with Yahiko and the others. As an adult... He glanced down at his short leg, well, ntally an adult, he couldn't just hide behind three kids.
[Affection values detected]
[Konan: 2000 points]
[Yahiko: 2000 points]
[Nagato: 2000 points]
[Total accumulated: 6000 points]
As expected, true feelings were revealed in tis of hardship!
He shouted in his heart, Let the affection co even harder!
[Feed cursed spirit Rika?]
[Yes/No]
He confird without hesitation.
[Energy transferred to Rika]
[Developnt progress: 19%]
[Rika manifestation strength increased]
[Rika's feedback: Yuta~ you're amazing~ I want more~]
Still gives the creeps every ti I hear that!
He really felt it might be best to skip the Rika feedback segnt altogether.
Thanks to the system's notification, the intense crisis he'd felt facing the two ninjas had now mostly faded.
"Do you know who killed the ninjas in the cave not far from here?"
The ninja in front of Shiratori asked condescendingly.
It was !
Shiratori arrogantly replied in his heart. But on the surface, he looked innocent and frightened as he gazed at the ninja in front of him.
"I…"
"You?" The ninja narrowed his eyes.
"I… I… we… don't… know… anything…" Shiratori stuttered through the sentence.
"..."
"..."
Yahiko looked at Shiratori's trembling yet determined figure standing in front of them, and slowly clenched his fists. He ran out from behind him and shouted loudly at the ninja, "We don't know anything! We've always lived in this cave!"
"Is that so?"
The ninja's expression was unreadable.
Shiratori gradually noticed sothing from the ninja's expression.
This ninja knew very well that there was no way a bunch of kids could have killed two fully trained ninjas. Yet he kept pressing and intimidating them anyway.
He wasn't seeking the truth. He was just enjoying the feeling of exerting power over the weak. Watching them tremble and cower in fear gave him a twisted satisfaction.
This ninja's conscience and emotions had already been warped by war.
And maybe he wasn't the only one.
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