Chapter 81: Becoming a 'Ninja'
Hiiro Rinko's training life with his students began here. But although it was called training, for the first month, Rinko spent most of the time explaining various fragmented pieces of knowledge to Yahiko and the others while traveling.
This included the essence and nature of Chakra, methods of physical training, various survival knowledge, the operational logic and characteristics of ninja from each village, and an analysis of the current situation.
As refugees who often went hungry, the physical condition of these three children could hardly be called good. Trying to refine Chakra in this state would not only be inefficient but could also damage their bodies.
Rinko had warned them about this when explaining the nature of Chakra and physical training.
The purpose of this month of travel, besides basic reconnaissance, was mainly to help the three improve their physical fitness and practice their wilderness survival knowledge.
Relying on the experience accumulated from playing three roles at once, Rinko used makeup techniques to disguise himself as a weathered old man in his forties or fifties.
This method of transforming into another person using only jars of powder and cream truly shocked Yahiko and the others.
With this elderly disguise, genuine withered white hair, and the ability to seal his Chakra using the Mind's Eye of Kagura, Rinko and his group traveled unimpeded, smoothly sneaking to a position relatively close to Konoha.
After all, excluding large-scale offensives or accidental injuries, no matter how fiercely ninja fought, they rarely targeted civilians without reason. Who knew if that person might be a potential client in the future? Kill a civilian today, lose an order tomorrow.
As ninja of Konoha, the strongest of the Five Great Villages, the confidence derived from this identity allowed them to have such 'leeway' even in war.
Besides, even if they wanted to loot supplies, there was no reason to rob someone who obviously had nothing, right?
What supplies could an "old man" leading three kids, digging for wild vegetables or fishing with a stick, possibly have?
Although in Rinko's view, this was also a manifestation of arrogance and sloth. But since he was a beneficiary of this attitude, what reason did he have to point fingers?
Yahiko and the others adapted well to this life on the move.
There was plenty to eat in the woods and rivers. Combined with the large amount of dried rations and nutritional supplements Rinko carried, it was enough to maintain the children's nutritional needs. The only problem was the lack of seasoning, making the food quite bland.
But children who had been wandering as refugees for nearly a year wouldn't care about such things. Days with full stomachs were good days.
Their living conditions even improved significantly because Rinko could use Earth Release. Even in heavy rain, creating a raised cave with Earth Release was enough to provide shelter.
However, by now, whether for the convenience of subsequent teaching or to cover for intelligence gathering, they needed a base. After finding a dilapidated house near the river, the four of them repaired it and settled there temporarily.
After a period of recuperation, the children's physical condition had mostly recovered, so they could proceed to the next step of training.
Nagato's Chakra nature was unsurprisingly the undetectable Yang, Yahiko's was Water, and Konan's were Wind and Water.
It is worth mentioning that Konan's physical fitness was even better than Yahiko's. In this light, perhaps she also had a talent for Yang Release.
The days that followed were relatively calm. Rinko taught them the Three Basic Jutsu and "super practical" techniques, occasionally going out to inquire about the user of the Spirit Transformation Technique, and experimenting on Konoha ninja along the way.
But this was a war zone, after all. Living a life completely without waves was impossible.
For example, right now.
A squad of lingering Iwa ninja somehow got 'lost' near the Land of Rivers, looking like they were about to cause some big trouble.
Rinko knew exactly what these Iwa ninja were up to. It was nothing more than sabotage behind enemy lines, framing others, fanning the flames to intensify conflicts, and ruining the reputations of Konoha and Suna.
Soldiers taught by that old potato Ōnoki were just like this.
Actually, Iwa and Ame were quite similar. While not lacking talent, besides Ōnoki himself, there were few top-tier masters who could hold the fort—maybe the two Jinchūriki who weren't on good terms with the village, and Ōnoki's son, and that was about it.
Gari of the Explosion Corps was somewhat famous, but he was a specialized ninja, not a top-tier all-rounder.
For one of the Five Great Villages, while this number wasn't small, it wasn't very flexible. This situation, combined with Ōnoki's personality, directly shaped Iwagakure's current combat style.
Rinko was deeply moved by this act of sabotage behind enemy lines from his 'ally.'
So he unhesitatingly shot out Ether Lines, piercing the spines and necks of these Iwa ninja.
With the brain and spinal cord—the two centers of action—invaded and forcibly connected by the Ether Lines, this squad of Iwa ninja instantly became Rinko's marionettes. The whole process was too fast for Yahiko and the others to understand what had happened.
Moved? Of course he was moved. They traveled thousands of miles to deliver Earth Release manuals to him; he was truly grateful to these international friends. But if he let this bunch of Iwa ninja cause trouble nearby, the base he worked so hard to find would become unusable, right?
So they had to die.
"Hey, Sensei, if you compare yourself to Lord Hanzō, who is stronger?"
But such a crushing victory made it hard for the three children to gauge his true strength level.
After all, they were just seven-year-old kids who used to be pure civilians. It was normal for their vision to be different from ninja children.
"Hmm... a ninja's strength is hard to explain and evaluate in a few sentences...?"
As he explained, Rinko's voice suddenly paused while he was ruthlessly reading the ninjutsu knowledge and intel from the brains of these Iwa ninja without regard for damage.
In their memories, he read news that the Iwa Explosion Corps had also started to act.
This was reasonable. After all, Suna had already started firepower coverage. Leaving aside other areas, now when Ame and Konoha troops in the Land of Rain mentioned "explosions," the first thing they thought of wasn't the Iwa Explosion Corps, but Suna's aerial bombardments.
It can only be said that even Rinko hadn't initially expected that the improvement in Sealing Jutsu would indirectly drive down the cost of Exploding Tags.
Cheap and high-quality Exploding Tags—Rasa threw a whole box at once!
It would be strange if the Iwa Explosion Corps let go of this opportunity to bomb indiscriminately and then wash their hands clean of it. This squad was here to create a diversion and disrupt the situation.
After quickly sorting out the logic, Rinko continued to explain to the three children the combat logic of ninja, which seemed fast but was actually influenced by many factors.
"Mastered abilities, compatibility with the enemy, environment, weather, psychological factors... under different conditions, the conclusions drawn might differ wildly..."
"For example, Konoha's White Fang is a high-speed assault type ninja. In one-on-one combat, surprise attacks, or facing our Suna Puppet Masters, his advantage is infinitely amplified.
If it were another ninja of roughly the same level but without the ability to close distance quickly, it would be impossible for them to wipe out an entire puppet unit single-handedly in the same environment."
"As for Hanzō, he's probably a representative all-rounder. Even including Kiri ninja, his Water Release is top-tier. His taijutsu foundation is solid, and he uses a kusarigama, a relatively obscure weapon, making him even harder to deal with.
Combined with his large summon and poison, he has almost no weaknesses."
"If I had to say, his only flaw is probably that his methods have been figured out. If he doesn't come up with new tricks, both he and Amegakure will have a hard time in the future."
Rinko had also analyzed for Yahiko and the others that the war between Konoha, Suna, and Iwa essentially had nothing to do with Ame, and that Hanzō declared war on these three villages partly voluntarily and partly coerced by the public opinion and plight of Ame and the Land of Rain.
Although Yahiko was quite agitated at first, he accepted this explanation after calming down.
And the three could also understand the dilemma of Ame and Hanzō.
In disputes between great nations, ninja of weak allied nations often serve as the 'vanguard,' i.e., cannon fodder. But considering Ame's combat power, if Ame sided with any party in this war and declared itself an ally, the allied great nation wouldn't treat them too poorly.
But the location of the Land of Rain meant that even if they favored Fire, Wind, or Earth, it would be hard to get effective protection; instead, they would become a barrier for the other side.
True, as a village specializing in 'assassination,' Ame ninja wouldn't be arranged as vanguard troops in the ninja army, but the lives of the Land of Rain's citizens wouldn't be guaranteed, and it would even break the 'independence' banner Hanzō had held for most of his life.
Since he couldn't be well off no matter what, he might as well make everyone uncomfortable.
"Then Sensei, in a head-on one-on-one fight, would you lose to Lord Hanzō?"
In fact, after receiving the promise that they could return to build the Land of Rain after studying in Suna, Yahiko's obsession wasn't as deep.
For the three of them who had lost all their families, they were each other's only reliance. Yahiko held such intense dreams partly to guide his softer-hearted companions.
Now, they also had Rinko as a teacher.
"Mhm... if it's now, I probably won't lose."
Tilting his head and thinking for a few seconds, Rinko gave this vague answer.
"More importantly... take this opportunity to hold your 'Coming of Age Ceremony.'"
Pulling the Iwa ninja over, Rinko flipped his wrist, and three kunai appeared in his hand.
He squatted down, looking Yahiko and the others in the eye, and said in a steady tone, "This is the last chance. If you don't want to kill, if you don't want to become ninja anymore, stop here."
"Even if you want to quit, it doesn't matter. I'll still take you back to Sunagakure. Despite appearances, I have some influence in the village. Raising you to be healthy and chubby isn't a burden."
In a suffocating silence, Nagato, originally the most timid of the three, took the kunai from Rinko first and slit the throats of two Iwa ninja cleanly.
Feeling the warm blood splashing on his hands, he took a deep, trembling breath and stabbed them twice in the heart as taught by Rinko.
Seeing this, Yahiko and Konan no longer hesitated and stepped forward to finish off the remaining Iwa ninja.
However, after the brief shock and rush of blood, Yahiko and Konan, who had never killed anyone before, collapsed on the ground as if all their strength was drained, panting heavily.
"In this era, killing is a very low-cost act. The biggest test is actually the conflict within one's own heart. After all, people gained wisdom not to take the lives of their own kind, but to create things."
"Wanting to remove oneself from cruel things is also human nature, right? When killing, if your hands aren't stained with blood, you won't know the pain. Without a sense of reality, you can treat it as something unrelated to yourself."
Rinko didn't pull them up. He manipulated his shadow to devour the corpses and the blood-stained earth cleanly, ensuring not a trace of the bloody smell could escape, before walking back to his disciples and looking down at them.
"Welcome to the realm of 'Ninja.' Although throwing yourself into a job that stains your hands with filthy blood is nothing to celebrate, for you, this is a necessary step."
"Well, thinking about it, ninjutsu is really convenient for killers. The Sage of Six Paths, who created ninjutsu, perhaps never imagined it would evolve into this situation."
"What if he did imagine it?"
Possessed by a ghost of a thought, Nagato, who intended to say something else to Rinko, asked this instead. When Rinko looked at him, he realized what he had said and turned his face away uneasily.
"Then the Sage of Six Paths was a bastard."
Rinko's expression remained unchanged as he repeated flatly and certainly, "If he thought of it, he was the biggest bastard dog-thing in the whole world."