Ashina Castle, outside the hidden passage.
Endless white plumes of silvergrass swayed in the nascent glow of dawn.
"Do it, Sekiro!" Isshin Ashina roared. From the moment his hand had closed around the hilt of his blade, he had been prepared to die by one.
Wolf slowly drew the Mortal Blade, its surface pulsing with a crimson light, from the sheath on his back. His gaze fixed on the red mark blinking on Isshin's neck. With a clean swing of the long sword, he performed the kaishaku, bringing an end to an era.
Gazing at the body beneath him, Wolf's expression remained impassive. For men like them, a death delivered by an enemy's sword was the only fitting end.
"Wolf…"
A faint cry drifted from nearby. Wolf's face, usually as stoic and unyielding as carved stone, finally betrayed a subtle shift. He rushed towards the source of the sound.
Gently, he lifted Kuro, who was now teetering on the brink of unconsciousness. He retrieved the Dragon's Tears and Cherry Blossom he had long kept ready, carefully placing them into the boy's mouth.
"Ugh…"
Kuro gazed at the man before him, lips parting slightly as if to speak. But his wounds were too grievous; he could barely keep his eyes open, let alone form words. With a final, sighing breath, his will ebbed away.
"Little one… live on…"
Wolf drew the Mortal Blade once more. This time, however, its crimson edge was pointed towards his own neck.
Life. It was an intensely alluring prospect.
But he was, ultimately, a soul who had walked through two lives. The lingering moral code from his very first life would not permit him to cling to existence at the cost of a child's.
"Live on… as a human…"
The long sword flashed. The Dragon Heritage within the Divine Heir, along with Wolf's own form, dissolved into a shower of ethereal cherry blossoms, returning to the place from whence they came.
"Naruto! Naruto!" Shouts, each more insistent than the last, yanked him from his reverie.
Looking at the pineapple-haired boy before him, Uzumaki Naruto asked, "What's up, Shikamaru?"
"..." Shikamaru sighed, casting a helpless look skyward. He was usually confident in his slacking abilities, but that depended on the company. "School's out. A few of us are going for a picnic. You in?"
"Yeah." Uzumaki Naruto nodded decisively. Though he'd grown used to solitude, wasn't the warmth of companionship and shared laughter a far better thing?
[Death is not the end; it also signifies a new beginning…]
It was the first voice he'd heard since arriving in this world, though not the first time he'd encountered it. He'd heard it once before, when he was first reborn into that world teeming with the undying.
In his previous life, he had chosen to cede the chance of survival to young Kuro. Beyond the fact that the principles instilled in his very first life forbade such a selfish act, his faith in his own ability to reincarnate into a new world also played a crucial part.
He was, naturally, intensely curious about the reasons behind his reincarnations. He had sought answers in his last life, but his efforts had yielded little, next to nothing, in fact.
Still, in the grand scheme of things, there were many things in life one didn't need to fully comprehend.
Just like the world of the undying in his previous life.
If he hadn't witnessed it with his own eyes, he could have wracked his brains indefinitely and never believed that people who simply could not be killed, no matter how many times one tried, truly existed.
Kuro's immortality had stemmed from the Divine Dragon. Perhaps the source of his own perpetual rebirths was something similar.
Things would work themselves out when the time came. In any case, he wasn't losing out, was he?
He viewed life as a journey. Its true meaning lay not only in the destination, but also in the sights and experiences savored along the way.
"Have you two eaten, or are you just slow? Especially you, Shikamaru!"
At the school gate, the long, blonde-haired Ino watched the duo amble over, a flicker of exasperation igniting within her.
"...What a drag." Shikamaru mumbled, still unable to fathom how he'd ended up as regular playmates with such a troublesome woman.
Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Akimichi Choji, Inuzuka Kiba… Uzumaki Naruto's gaze swept over them, their names surfacing in his mind. Barring those absent for their own reasons, they were likely among the very few in the village who dared to associate with him, the 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox.'
In a quieter corner of their gathering, Shino observed his laughing, chattering friends, silently adjusting his dark glasses.
It was called a picnic, but it was more an excuse to hang out somewhere different. Children in this world matured with surprising speed, yet at barely ten years of age, how many culinary masterpieces could they truly produce?
Naruto retrieved a kunai from the ninja tool pouch at his hip, beginning to clean the river fish he'd just caught.
"Sorry to trouble you again," Akimichi Choji said sheepishly, squatting beside him with a bag of chips.
"It's fine." A consequence of his past life, Naruto's speech was invariably concise. If two words sufficed, he wouldn't waste breath on three.
Upon the charred remnants of a campfire from days past, a new blaze was kindled.
Thanks to the 'Nine-Tailed Demon Fox' stigma, he was rarely able to purchase anything from the village shops. His food sources were therefore limited. To combat the persistent blandness of his meals, foraging for more substantial fare in places like this had become a regular habit.
"Akamaru, go!" Nearby, Kiba hurled a stick with all his might, and the small, white puppy Akamaru bounded after it with a yap.
Under the dappled shade of a tree, Shikamaru was sprawled out listlessly, watching the clouds already stained amber by the afternoon sun, his thoughts wandering. Shino, meanwhile, was crouched nearby, minutely examining a tiny, unidentified insect making its slow ascent up a tree trunk.
Further off, two girls were picking spring blossoms, one after another, comparing their impromptu flower arrangements.
[This is nice…]
Naruto looked away, a private thought surfacing: such tranquility would have found no purchase in the soil of Ashina.
Young Kuro would probably enjoy an atmosphere like this, he mused. They were, after all, around the same age.
"Is it done yet?" Choji gulped, his hopeful gaze glued to the fish sizzling over the flames.
"Almost." Naruto inspected the golden-brown skin, prodded the flesh with a freshly snapped twig, then turned his head and called out to the salted fish lounging nearby, "Shikamaru, seasonings!"
Since this was one ofhis established foraging spots, he naturally kept a small stash of spices here.
Shikamaru roused himself, rummaged inside a nearby tree hollow, and produced a few small jars and packets: salt, chili powder, sesame seeds…
A small setup, perhaps, but it had everything they needed.
Taking the seasonings from Shikamaru, Naruto sprinkled them over the fish. A mouthwatering aroma instantly wafted through the air.
"Time to eat!" Naruto yelled to the two girls, who were gradually straying further away.
On the picnic blanket, alongside the freshly grilled fish, lay an assortment of snacks the others had brought: takoyaki, sushi…
The spread was hardly gourmet fare, but the simple joy of the picnic, the easy camaraderie, made the modest meal taste exquisite.
This was especially true for Naruto. The food in Ashina, on the other hand… words failed to describe just how unpalatable it had been. Most of it could only be generously classified as 'barely edible.' Any higher praise would have been dishonest. Even a single persimmon could be brazenly displayed on the Memorial Mob's shelves at an outrageous price – a stark indicator of just how desperate the scarcity of resources had become.
"Graduation exams are in a few days. You guys ready?" Inuzuka Kiba blurted out suddenly.
"Are you ready?" Naruto countered, swallowing a mouthful of fish.
"W-Well, I guess so…" Kiba stammered.
"No problem here," Naruto stated, tearing off another piece of fish and popping it into his mouth.
Kiba: "???"
"He means, if you're actually prepared, then the rest of us are definitely fine," Shikamaru translated dryly.
"Hey, hey, hey! Shikamaru, you're a dead-last yourself! What gives you the right to say that?" Kiba bristled, instantly annoyed.
Naruto merely smiled. The Ninja Academy's curriculum was primarily split into two areas: theoretical knowledge and practical combat training.
The theoretical studies posed some challenge, but with the educational grounding from the world of the undying, coupled with his adult perspective on learning, he might not rival a prodigy like Sakura, but he was far from the bottom of the class. All roads lead to Rome, in a way. Even with this 'chakra' business in this world, the fundamental principles of many things remained familiar.
As for combat training, that was even less of a concern. In his past life, he was a shinobi. He'd battled men and monsters alike. Facing a group of children in combat? It would be almost too easy.