“It’s confirmed. They’re basically all bandits.”
Back in the carriage, Yakoto briefly explained the situation.
After confirming that the people tracking them were all bandits, everyone quickly decided to strike first.
However, since their numbers were small and they were all ordinary people, after discussing it, only Minato Namikaze and Uchiha Yakoto acted together.
Uchiha Yakoto and Minato Namikaze quietly left the team and ambushed the bandits on their inevitable path.
Uchiha Yakoto's position was relatively further back, waiting for the dozen or so people to enter the encirclement.
Once the group of bandits had all passed beneath the tree where Uchiha Yakoto was hidden, Yakoto instantly struck, hitting three people in the back of the neck in quick succession.
Several muffled groans later, the three who were struck fell to the ground.
Hearing the commotion, the bandits immediately became alert.
However, before they could react, Minato Namikaze appeared behind them like a ghost, his kunai swiftly slashing across, and two bandits screamed as they fell to the ground.
Seeing this, the remaining bandits quickly turned and drew their weapons, while Uchiha Yakoto rapidly used Body Flicker to close the distance, heavily striking several people in a row.
Just as Uchiha Yakoto was going on a rampage, one of the bandits drew his weapon and swung it at Uchiha Yakoto.
Uchiha Yakoto dodged the attack by sidestepping, then grabbed the bandit's wrist with a backhand, twisted it forcefully, causing the weapon to fall, and then kicked him away.
The two of them, each performing their duties, quickly dealt with the dozen or so individuals.
These dozen or so people were either knocked out on the ground or had already been dealt with by Minato Namikaze, all of them having lost the ability to resist.
“What should we do? Should we kill them?” Uchiha Yakoto asked indifferently.
Hearing Uchiha Yakoto’s question, Minato Namikaze also fell into thought.
Although Minato Namikaze had already dealt with several people, his innate sunny disposition still made him feel a bit reluctant.
Just as he was about to speak, a bandit who still had some mobility looked at the two of them in terror and kept kowtowing, begging for mercy.
“Ninja-sama, spare my life! I have an elderly mother of eighty and crying children at home. Please, let me go!”
Uchiha Yakoto looked at him expressionlessly, his gaze falling on the bandit’s neck, noticing a bone necklace hanging there.
Yakoto frowned slightly, vaguely feeling that this necklace was somewhat eerie. Uchiha Yakoto stepped forward slightly, reached out, and took off the necklace, examining it carefully.
The bandit, seeing Uchiha Yakoto approach, was so frightened that he repeatedly backed away.
“This… these are human bones, aren’t they?” Uchiha Yakoto looked coldly at the man, holding the necklace in his hand.
“How could that be, Ninja-sama? How could I be wearing a necklace made of human bones?” The man’s voice sounded a bit flustered, and his eyes involuntarily darted around.
Uchiha Yakoto released his grip, and the necklace immediately fell to the ground.
In his previous life, because he didn’t want to deal with other people, Uchiha Yakoto had majored in forensic medicine.
He was almost certain that the necklace was strung together from human finger bones.
Moreover, it was probably strung from the finger bones of several different people, and there were even children’s bones among them.
Although he had worked as a forensic doctor before, seeing such bestial acts still made Uchiha Yakoto feel a bit nauseous.
He slowly advanced, holding his long blade.
“Ninja-sama?! Ninja-sama! I don’t want to—”
Before the word “die” could even be uttered, Uchiha Yakoto’s blade fell, cleanly beheading the bandit and sending him out of this world.
Blood splattered all over Uchiha Yakoto.
He now truly understood that this was no longer his previous life, where laws were obeyed.
The values of his previous life held little meaning here; clinging to those benevolent values would only lead to a quicker death.
“Kill them all,” he said.
When he returned to the merchant convoy, Uchiha Yakoto was covered in blood, and his hands were still trembling uncontrollably.
There was a huge difference between killing and dissecting. His hands, once precise as a machine, truly trembled when cutting down people.
A heart that was indifferent to corpses might not necessarily be immune to fear.
“Ugh,” Uchiha Yakoto could no longer hold it in and leaned against a tree, throwing up.
Seeing Uchiha Yakoto covered in blood and vomiting, Minato Namikaze asked with some concern, “Yakoto, are you alright?”
“I’m fine.” Yakoto waved his hand and turned to continue retching.
The remaining days were uneventful. Yakoto and his group successfully escorted Kimura Kazuki to their destination, completing the entrusted mission.
Upon reaching their destination, Jiraiya had originally planned to gather material, but due to the ravages of war, the bathhouse business was truly sluggish.
There were simply no subjects to gather material from.
So Jiraiya could only have everyone rest for a day, and then quickly led them back to Konoha.
On the way back, Jiraiya also had the younger ones do some bandit-clearing missions.
Almost all of them had seen blood. Except for Shizune, whose initial reaction was somewhat similar to Uchiha Yakoto’s, everyone else’s reactions were relatively good.
Hyuga Kana and Minato Namikaze were only slightly nauseous.
Hyuga Kana’s performance, however, made Uchiha Yakoto look at her with new eyes. He had originally thought that a more introverted girl like Hyuga Kana would find such things difficult to accept.
Yet, Hyuga Kana seemed to feel almost nothing about it.
And after a series of continuous killings, Uchiha Yakoto also became numb to the act of killing.
On the way back to Konoha, a piece of news spread thoroughly throughout the Ninja World: the Hidden Sand Village was forced to agree to peace talks with Konoha.
By the time Uchiha Yakoto and his group returned to Konoha, Konoha had already signed a peace treaty with the Hidden Sand Village.
It could be considered a temporary pause to the years of painful war.
At the main gate of Konoha Village, Shizune stretched.
“We’re finally back. If possible, I really hope such things won’t happen again in the future.”
Walking into the Village, the familiar buildings and people made Uchiha Yakoto feel a sense of relief.
He took a deep breath, casting aside his exhaustion.
“We’re finally back…” he murmured to himself.
Jiraiya gently patted Uchiha Yakoto’s shoulder. “Get some good rest.”
Uchiha Yakoto nodded, said no more, and turned to leave.
After Yakoto dragged his weary body back home, he collapsed onto the bed, too exhausted in body and mind to even open his eyes.
He quickly fell into a deep sleep.
“Thump, thump, thump.”
A series of urgent knocks on the door startled Uchiha Yakoto from his slumber, and he sat up groggily.
Yakoto opened the door to find the Uchiha Clan Chief and greeted him indifferently.
“Clan Chief-sama, is something the matter?”
The Old Clan Leader stood at the door, somewhat awkwardly, looking as if he wanted to speak but hesitated.
Seeing Uchiha Yakoto’s somewhat haggard appearance, the Old Clan Leader suddenly felt a bit hesitant to speak.
“Clan Chief-sama, just say what you have to say,” Uchiha Yakoto suddenly had a bad premonition.
As Uchiha Yakoto spoke, he poured a glass of water for both the Clan Chief and himself.
He had slept groggily for who knows how long, and his throat felt as if it had been burned by fire.
“Then I’ll speak frankly,” the Old Clan Leader took the water.