Ashina Castle, outside the hidden passage.
White reed grass covered the mountainside, swaying endlessly in the glow of the rising sun.
"Do it, Wolf!"
Ashina Isshin shouted harshly. From the moment he had gripped his blade, he had already prepared himself to die by it.
Wolf slowly drew the Mortal Blade from behind him, its edge glowing with a crimson light.
Watching the red mark flicker continuously at Isshin's throat, he swung the long blade—
Granting him release, and bringing an era to its final full stop.
Looking down at the corpse beneath him, Wolf's gaze remained calm.
To die by an enemy's blade was the inevitable end for people like them.
"Wolf…"
A faint call came from not far away.
The face Wolf wore—hard and still like carved stone—finally shifted. He hurried toward the source of the voice.
Carefully, he lifted the nearly unconscious Kuro, taking out the Dragon's Tears and the Aromatic Flower he had prepared long ago, gently placing them into the boy's mouth.
"Ugh…"
Kuro looked at the figure before him. His lips moved, trying to speak—but his injuries were too severe. Even keeping his eyes open was difficult. In the end, his consciousness slipped away.
"Live well… little one."
Wolf drew the Mortal Blade once more.
This time, the crimson edge was aimed at his own neck.
Living was a tempting thing.
But he was someone who had already lived two lives.
What remained of his values from his previous life would never allow him to trade a child's life just to cling to his own.
"To live… as a human."
The blade flashed.
The Dragon's Heritage within the Divine Heir, along with Wolf's own body, scattered into drifting cherry blossoms—returning to where they were always meant to go.
---
...
"Naruto! Naruto!"
One shout after another pulled him out of his memories.
Looking at the pineapple-haired boy in front of him, Uzumaki Naruto asked,
"What is it, Shikamaru?"
"..."
Shikamaru tilted his head back and sighed. Slacking off was something he had absolute confidence in—but that depended on who he was compared with.
"School's over. A few of us are going out for a picnic. You in?"
"I'm in."
Naruto nodded firmly.
Though he had long grown used to being alone, wasn't laughter among companions a better feeling?
[Death does not mean the end—it also marks a new beginning…]
That was the first voice he heard after arriving in this world.
But it wasn't the first time he had heard it.
He had heard it once before—when he reincarnated into that world filled with immortals.
In his previous life, he had chosen to give the chance to live to little Kuro.
Aside from his values refusing to allow any other choice, believing that he himself could be reborn into a new world was also an important reason.
He had, of course, been curious about the cause.
He had searched for answers in his previous life—but found almost nothing. One could even say he found absolutely nothing.
But in life, not everything needs to be understood completely.
Just like that world of immortals.
If he hadn't seen it with his own eyes, no matter how hard he thought, no matter how much he racked his brain, he would never have believed that there were people who simply could not be killed.
Kuro's immortality came from the Divine Dragon.
Perhaps the source of his own repeated rebirths was similar.
Things would sort themselves out eventually.
After all—he wasn't losing anything.
To him, life was a journey.
And the meaning of a journey wasn't only found at its destination—the scenery along the way was worth anticipating as well.
"Are you two starving or something? Especially you, Shikamaru!"
At the school gate, Yamanaka Ino, her long blonde hair shining, glared at the two of them walking over at a snail's pace, irritation flaring up immediately.
"...What a drag."
Shikamaru muttered under his breath. He still couldn't figure out how he'd ended up hanging out with someone so troublesome.
Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura, Akimichi Chōji, Inuzuka Kiba…
Naruto swept his gaze across the group, their names surfacing one by one in his mind.
Aside from a few who couldn't come for special reasons, these were among the very few people in the village willing to talk to him—the so-called "Nine-Tails brat."
At the edge of the group, Aburame Shino quietly adjusted his glasses while watching their cheerful chatter.
Calling it a picnic was generous—it was really just playing somewhere else.
Even though children in this world matured quickly, at barely over ten years old, how elaborate could their cooking really be?
Naruto pulled a kunai from his ninja pouch and began cleaning the fish they had just caught from the river.
"Sorry to trouble you again."
Chōji said sheepishly, squatting nearby with a bag of potato chips in his arms.
"It's fine."
Perhaps influenced by his previous life, Naruto's words were always concise.
If two words were enough, he would never use three.
Over the remains of an old campfire from days ago, a new flame was soon lit.
Because of the Nine-Tails, he rarely managed to buy things from village shops. His food sources were limited, and to avoid bland meals, coming to places like this to get some meat had become routine.
"Akamaru—go!"
Not far away, Kiba hurled a tree branch with force, and the small white dog dashed after it.
Under the shade of a tree, Shikamaru lay flat on his back, staring at the clouds dyed yellow by the setting sun, lost in thought.
Beside him, Shino crouched quietly, closely observing an unknown insect slowly climbing up a tree trunk.
Farther away, the two girls picked flowers one by one, comparing their makeshift floral arrangements.
This is nice…
Naruto withdrew his gaze, thinking quietly to himself.
Scenes like this had no place to exist in Ashina.
Kuro probably would've liked an atmosphere like this—they were about the same age, after all.
"Is it done yet?"
Chōji swallowed hard, eyes locked onto the fish roasting over the fire.
"Almost."
Naruto checked the golden-brown skin, poked the inside with a freshly snapped twig, then turned his head and called out to the "corpse" lying nearby.
"Shikamaru—seasoning."
As one of his regular foraging spots, he naturally kept some supplies hidden here.
Shikamaru got up, rummaged through a tree hollow, and pulled out several small containers—salt, chili, sesame…
Small, but fully stocked.
Naruto took the seasonings and sprinkled them over the fish.
A mouthwatering aroma instantly filled the air.
"Food's ready!"
He called out to the two girls who were wandering farther and farther away.
On the picnic cloth, besides the fish Naruto had grilled, there were also a few store-bought snacks—takoyaki, sushi…
They couldn't exactly be called gourmet food.
But with the atmosphere of a picnic and the warmth of companionship, even simple food tasted incredible.
Especially to Naruto.
Compared to Ashina's cuisine…
Well—that was an experience best left undescribed.
Most of the food there could only be classified as "barely edible."
Anything more positive than that would've been dishonest.
Even a single persimmon could be openly placed on a memorial altar and sold at a high price—enough to show just how scarce resources were.
"The graduation exam's coming up in a few days. You guys ready?" Kiba suddenly asked.
"Are you ready?"
Naruto swallowed his food and looked at him.
"I—I guess…" Kiba answered hesitantly.
"No problem."
Naruto tore off another piece of fish and tossed it into his mouth.
Kiba: "???"
"He means—if you're ready, then the rest of us definitely are." Shikamaru translated lazily.
"Hey! Shikamaru! You're dead last too—are you really in a position to say that?"
Kiba snapped back immediately.
Naruto smiled faintly.
The Ninja Academy curriculum was broadly divided into two parts:
Theory and practical training.
Theory had some difficulty, but with the foundation from his time in the immortal world—and studying from an adult's perspective—he might not match Sakura's academic brilliance, but he certainly wasn't at the bottom.
Different paths led to the same destination.
Even with chakra in this world, the core knowledge was largely the same.
As for practical training…
That went without saying.
In his previous life, he had been a shinobi.
He had fought humans—and things that weren't human.
Compared to that, sparring with a group of kids was absurdly easy.