On the outskirts of a remote village in the Land of Rain, a small skirmish had just come to an end.
The wandering samurai and rogue shinobi who had attacked the village were now subdued—forced to the ground, awaiting judgment.
Perched lazily on a tree branch about two meters high, Shiba Kiyokawa flicked a kunai in his hand over and over again, seemingly lost in thought.
Soon, one of his subordinates arrived, dragging a few prisoners behind him.
"Captain Kiyokawa, the enemies have all surrendered. What are your orders?"
"Quiet. I'm thinking."
The subordinate immediately shivered upon hearing that.
From the past few weeks of working together, he'd learned a terrible truth—whenever this guy says he's thinking, someone ends up dying.
Standing cautiously beneath the tree was a man in his twenties, a junior member of the Akatsuki. With a nervous and submissive tone, he tried to dissuade the much younger-looking Shiba Kiyokawa—who appeared no older than fifteen.
"Captain Kiyokawa, please… don't think anymore. We really can't afford to kill anyone else. Leader Yahiko specifically told us not to take lives unnecessarily!"
"Besides," he added after a breath, "based on our preliminary interrogation, these people are all locals of the Land of Rain. They only became ronin out of desperation."
"Leader Yahiko said that these people might one day come to understand our ideals and even join our cause. We should show them some mercy."
At that, Kiyokawa finally stopped playing with the kunai and turned his head, flashing a mocking smile.
"Sure. They might understand us one day, maybe even join us. But that's just a possibility, isn't it?"
"They could also never understand. They could reject everything we stand for. Worse, they might hold a grudge over what happened today and wait for a chance to strike back."
"I'm an orphan. I have no one, so it wouldn't really matter to me."
"But Kenjiro… you have family, don't you?"
"If I remember correctly, you have a little sister. A cute girl, right? Lives in Amagakure Village, just over the hill. She's twelve, has a beauty mark under her right eye, loves imitating Konan by wearing a paper flower in her hair, and has the sweetest little dimples when she smiles…"
Kenjiro's blood ran cold.
You did that on purpose, didn't you?!
He was sure of it. Kiyokawa had deliberately described his sister in such disturbing detail right in front of the captives!
How the hell was he supposed to stay calm now?!
But even so, Yahiko still held great weight in the hearts of the early Akatsuki members.
Despite being thoroughly manipulated, Kenjiro could only grit his teeth and continue defending his point.
"T-They won't… They've already admitted their mistake…"
The captured ronin on the ground quickly joined in, seizing the chance to beg.
"Yes! We know we were wrong! Please give us another chance—we swear never to oppose the Akatsuki again!"
But from his perch above, Kiyokawa simply continued to smile.
"Heh… Kenjiro, they didn't admit they were wrong."
"They just realized… they're about to die."
"Taking them back to Leader Yahiko is a gamble. You're betting that they still have some shred of conscience."
"But didn't the villagers just tell us? These guys have all killed before. Their hands are soaked in blood. Not one of them is innocent."
"So tell me, Kenjiro—can you afford that bet?"
"Would you really risk your sister's safety?"
At that moment, Kenjiro came to a chilling realization—this teenager was a devil who played with people's hearts.
Damn it! Who was the idiot that brought him into the Akatsuki?!
After a long pause, lips twitching in silent frustration, Kenjiro finally gave in.
"…Captain Kiyokawa, what do you suggest we do?"
Forgive me, Leader Yahiko… I didn't mean to disobey your orders.
The situation left me no choice.
Kenjiro silently apologized to himself.
It wasn't even the first time he'd had to do that in recent weeks…
"Don't rush me. I said I'm still thinking."
A while later, Kiyokawa finally came up with an idea and leapt from the tree.
"Didn't the organization receive intel recently about Iwagakure shinobi infiltrating from the north?"
"Yes," Kenjiro replied stiffly.
"Perfect. Then let's bury these guys in the forest to the north."
"Report it like this: we repelled the attackers at the village, but unfortunately captured no prisoners. On our way back, we stumbled across a group of Iwa spies and eliminated them all in the northern woods. That's our official story."
The casual conspiracy in his voice made the captured ronin start thrashing wildly in fear.
In the next instant, without a hint of emotion, Kiyokawa hurled the kunai he had been playing with straight into the forehead of one of the prisoners—killing him instantly.
He didn't even pause mid-sentence.
"Strip them before you bury them. Leader Yahiko can be annoyingly meticulous—especially when I'm in charge of the mission. He might actually dig up the corpses later to verify our report. So make sure the details are convincing."
Kenjiro had a thousand curse words bottled up inside.
You seriously don't know why Yahiko is so particular about your missions?!
At last, Kiyokawa patted Kenjiro on the shoulder.
"I'm counting on you to handle this. After all… it's to protect your adorable little sister."
"…Heh. Captain Kiyokawa, are you joking? Should I be thanking you or something?" Kenjiro growled through clenched teeth.
Kiyokawa pretended not to hear the resentment in his voice and responded innocently, "Shouldn't you?"
"…!!"
In the end, Kenjiro had no words left. He simply turned to carry out the order, muttering silently to himself:
How did it come to this?
Just a few months ago, things weren't like this at all.
Back then, the Akatsuki had still felt like a warm ray of sunlight…
As for the reason?
Kiyokawa could have answered that.
A few months ago, the original Shiba Kiyokawa had still been an ordinary orphan in the Land of Rain. Agile, yes—but otherwise unremarkable. It wasn't until the Akatsuki took him in that he learned to extract chakra and took his first steps on the shinobi path.
But now?
The soul inside Shiba Kiyokawa belonged to a modern-day Naruto fan.
From the very first day he arrived in the shinobi world, he was thrown into a brutal struggle for survival.
And not just your average survival—this was the you're-probably-going-to-die kind of survival.
The moment his mind became conscious after transmigrating, an A.I voice echoed in his head:
[Ding! You have successfully bound to the Fate Observer System.]
[This system passively analyzes available intel to simulate, deduce, and accurately forecast the host's potential future outcomes.]
Then came the predictions…
[Current fate assessment shows the host has]:
– 17.0% chance of death in 153 days – Cause: killed by vengeful rogue ninja in the Land of Rain.
– 33.1% chance of death in 402 days – Cause: collateral damage during Hanzo of the Salamander's purge.
– 35.7% chance of death in 402 days – Cause: caught in the aftermath of Nagato's Rinnegan rampage.
– 7.2% chance of death in 1,153 days – Cause: kidnapped by Konoha's Root division and subjected to inhumane experiments leading to systemic failure.
– 4.8% chance of death in 1,467 days – Cause: sold to Orochimaru and melted down as experimental material.
– 1.6% chance of death in 3,891 days – Cause: crossfire during Orochimaru's defection from Konoha.
– 0.5% chance of death in 6,315 days – Cause: perishes during the Konoha Crush under Orochimaru.
– 0.1% chance of death in 31,330 days – Cause: dies of old age.
At that moment, Kiyokawa's expression looked exactly like the "Shiba Inu Shocked" meme from his past life.
He was completely done.
Luckily, the system then revealed:
[Your actions will dynamically influence and alter these predictions.]
[When significant deviations from fate occur, the system may siphon power from the River of Fate itself as a reward.]
And so, from that moment forward, the reborn Shiba Kiyokawa etched his new ninja way into his heart:
"I would rather let the world down, than be let down by the world."
"Anyone who stands between me and dying of old age… must die."