"What?"
Upon hearing Kamizuki Hikari's words, Koyuki was shocked. She quickly stepped forward, positioning herself between Shikamaru and Hikari.
"No! This is too cruel for Shikamaru!"
"Princess." Hikari said with a faint smile, though his eyes remained resolute. "This is something Shikamaru must do."
"How can something so cruel exist in this world? You could do it yourself—why force Shikamaru? He's still just a child!" Koyuki naturally refused to accept Hikari's reasoning.
Hikari explained, "This is the shinobi's fate. In the battle just now, if these three had been weaker than their opponents, do you think the enemy would have spared them simply because they're children?"
"The moment they became shinobi, they ceased being ordinary children. They can no longer grow up like normal kids."
"You're right—I could kill these men myself today. But what about tomorrow? If these three don't overcome this hurdle themselves, they'll be killed by enemies in future battles sooner or later."
Hikari didn't consider himself a cruel person.
But when facing enemies, he never held back.
Because he knew—if you spared a weak enemy today, you would forever live under their threat.
Rooting out danger completely was a necessity.
"Princess Koyuki, thank you for your kindness."
Shikamaru bowed slightly toward Kazahana Koyuki before pulling a kunai from his ninja pouch.
"Hikari-senpai, keep your weapon. These men... I don't need you to kill them for me."
Koyuki wanted to say more, but Asama Sandayū stopped her.
Unlike the young, idealistic Koyuki, who still saw the world through rose-tinted lenses, Sandayū—an older man—understood the harsh truth of reality.
Peeling back the structure of the shinobi world, stripping away the veneer of the relationship between shinobi and nobility, revealed a web of naked interests.
To those in power, the thoughts of those beneath them never mattered.
All they cared about were numbers—population growth, grain yields, whether people starved. Beyond that, they never concerned themselves with what the common folk truly felt.
Some said it was easier to deal with the king of hell than his underlings.
Those who said such things likely only ever interacted with the underlings.
Their status simply didn't reach higher.
Would the mighty king of hell ever care about the opinions of mere underlings?
The reason he seemed approachable was because these insignificant people never touched upon his core interests.
The kunai flashed.
Blood sprayed from the necks of Fuyukuma Mizore and Kakuyoku Fubuki. As the vivid red stained the snow, Shikamaru felt something inside him shift.
"How do you feel now?"
Hikari paid no further attention to Koyuki. Once this mission was over, the two of them would likely never meet again.
Compared to her, Hikari was far more concerned about Shikamaru's transformation.
For shinobi, war was the fastest and most efficient path to growth.
But this path was cruel—no one could ever guarantee they would survive it.
A shinobi's fate was simple: kill or be killed.
Hikari didn't want Shikamaru to die young, so he needed him to grow stronger as quickly as possible.
Shikamaru wiped the blood off his kunai against the two men's armor before returning it to his pouch.
He looked up at the horizon—glaciers, the azure sea, the clear blue sky.
Everything was so beautiful.
"It... wasn't as hard as I thought it would be."
His tone was light, as if killing these two had been effortless.
"Is that so? Then bury them. We'll move ahead first."
Without waiting for a response, Hikari turned and walked away.
Ino and Chōji wanted to say something, but Shikamaru waved them off. "You two go ahead. I killed them, so I'll bury them."
Hearing this, Ino and Chōji could only nod and follow Hikari.
Only when everyone was gone did Shikamaru kneel and begin digging into the snow with his kunai, preparing to bury the two bodies.
"I lied to them just now."
With no one around, Shikamaru allowed himself to speak freely.
"Killing... wasn't as easy as I made it seem."
"In our class, Team 7 was the first to complete a B-rank mission. When Naruto came back, he bragged about it nonstop. At the time, I didn't really understand what he meant."
"But now it's different. The two of you died by my hand, and now I finally understand what it truly means to be a shinobi."
"A shinobi who has never shed blood will always remain a child."
"Today... thank you for helping me grow."
"Thank you."
The wind grew stronger, blowing snowflakes that slowly covered the two corpses.
By the time the bodies were completely buried, Shikamaru sheathed his kunai and turned to follow Hikari's path.
But this time, his steps were firmer, his gaze sharper—now carrying a newfound determination.
"Dotō-sama... the princess has returned. We... failed to stop her."
In a remote mountain pass, Rōga Nadare knelt before Kazahana Dotō, begging for mercy.
Dotō frowned, his face twisting in disappointment as he looked at the groveling man.
"Useless! Absolutely useless! The three of you were equipped with our Snow Country's chakra armor, yet you couldn't even handle a few Konoha shinobi? Pathetic!"
Nadare hurriedly explained, "My lord, it's not that we didn't try! Those kids were just too strong! Especially that fat one—he transformed into a giant dozens of meters tall! A single slap from him could flatten a small mountain! This wasn't our fault!"
But his excuses only made Dotō angrier.
"So you're telling me you didn't even face their chūnin? You lost to a bunch of genin brats?! These armors were supposed to be our trump cards! And you—"
"Now, now, Dotō-sama, no need to get so worked up."
A man draped in a black-and-red cloud-patterned robe turned, his voice dripping with sinister amusement.
"Getting angry over such a worthless man isn't good for your health."
"Then what do you suggest?" Dotō's tone shifted, carrying a hint of deference.
The robed man smirked.
"A man like this has no use left. Why not give me his heart? That way, my body can become a little more... perfect. My last mission was rather troublesome—someone damaged my heart. But this one's heart seems suitable. Hand him over to me."
"This..."
Before Dotō could finish, Nadare collapsed to the ground.
His heart was now clutched in the robed man's hand.
"Thank you, Dotō-sama."
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