Konoha: The thirty-year-old Uchiha lacks motivation.

"Quick, it's over there!"

On the dark streets, several figures moved between rooftops; they were the Grass Ninja who had come to find Kamika and the others.

"Why is one person missing? Who hasn't arrived yet?"

The captain of the Grass Ninja ran in front, glanced at his subordinates following behind, and realized that one person was missing.

"Here it comes~"

Just then, a figure who arrived late jumped into the group. It was the same grass ninja who had been knocked unconscious by Sarutobi Sasuke earlier. But at this moment, he acted as if nothing had happened, bowing and scraping as he greeted everyone.

Be more careful next time.

The Grass Ninja Captain didn't look closely, nor did he suspect anything. This late Grass Ninja was a cautious guy who always stayed at the back when there was any danger; he was used to it.

"There was a large-scale fire-style attack over there just now. If I'm not mistaken, it was that guy, Shinka. You all need to be on your guard and not embarrass Kusagakure!"

After a casual remark of encouragement, the Grass Ninja Captain's expression turned slightly serious.

Five years ago, when Shenhu defected, his strength had already reached the level of an elite captain, equivalent to an elite Jonin now. Even if they outnumbered him, they might not be able to take him down.

Moreover, there is a strange experimental subject; if they are not careful, they could be wiped out.

"yes!"

The Grass Ninja nodded in agreement, and the Grass Ninja disguised as Sarutobi Sasuke naturally chimed in to echo their sentiments.

In front of dark alley

After repeatedly checking and finding no trace of illusion, Shenhuo turned his gaze to the three little ones who were looking at each other in bewilderment. His expression had lost its previous calm and collected demeanor and had become somewhat ferocious.

"You little brats, why can't you just obediently let yourselves be eaten?"

"Huh? Are you even speaking human language? We're not food, why should we listen to you?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was being helped up by Danzo, rolled his eyes at the divine fire and looked at him with an expression of utter disbelief.

"Whoosh~"

The stagnant divine fire hurled out several kunai, aiming straight for Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others' faces. It was thought that this would take the lives of these annoying brats, but the three little ones seemed to have been given a cheat code, easily dodging the deadly kunai by twisting their bodies.

"Huh? Why is it faster?"

Surprisingly, their instinctive dodge actually worked. Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others stared in astonishment at the kunai stuck in the wall behind them.

After confirming that the other party had not held back, they all said that they had unlocked their genetic potential in the face of adversity and successfully stepped into the half-step Shadow level.

The three little ones, feeling much lighter now, had no idea that their ability to escape death twice in a row was entirely thanks to the inconspicuous blanket beneath their feet—equipment that Uchiha Gin had painstakingly acquired.

[Banshee's Veil: Grants the wearer and their allies a spell shield to block the next enemy spell and increases their movement speed by 25%. (Cooldown: 30s)]

"Eat."

The cooked, plump buttocks slipped from his mouth, and Mako, whose stomach was growling with hunger, was on the verge of going berserk. His eyes, flashing red light, were fixed on Hiruzen Sarutobi and the others. A glistening liquid dripped from the corner of his mouth, and his pale hands unconsciously reached out to grab at the ground. His hoarse mutterings sent chills down the spines of the three little ones.

"What exactly is she?"

Having just suffered at the hands of this strange woman, Shimura Danzo couldn't help but ask a question.

"Mako is nothing! She's my wife!"

Shenhuo glared angrily at Danzo, his eyes filled with murderous intent. This woman was clearly his Achilles' heel.

"ha?"

The three little ones' expressions froze simultaneously, then they looked at Shenhuo and the other two with very mocking eyes, their meaning clear to anyone with eyes to see.

Dude, you must be really hungry to marry a cannibal. Aren't you afraid of being treated like a buffet during sex?

"Don't look at us like that!"

What Shenhuo couldn't stand most was this kind of worldly gaze, so he immediately unleashed both hands, intending to take the lives of Sarutobi Hiruzen and the other two.

"Swish swish~"

Just then, dozens of poisoned kunai shot out from the darkness, their target aimed directly at the back where the divine fire was blazing.

"eat"

Seeing that he was about to be caught off guard, Mako, who was standing nearby, stepped in front of the divine fire and swallowed all the kunai flying around.

"Pfft~ Pfft~"

Having been ambushed, Shenhuo had no choice but to abandon his pursuit of Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two, and turned to be on guard. The three little ones had once again escaped death, and while they breathed a sigh of relief, they stared at the darkness not far away, wondering who the newcomers were.

"Rogue ninja, Divine Flame! Surrender now!"

Several fully armed Grass Ninja slowly emerged from the darkness. The middle-aged Grass Ninja captain at the head of the group looked at the slightly disheveled Shinka with a serious expression, a hint of fear hidden in his eyes.

"No wonder they're so enthusiastic, they're from the same hometown!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Shenhuo breathed a slight sigh of relief. He could easily deal with these lowly ninja from the Grass Ninja Village.

"A golden opportunity! Let's slip away!"

Seeing that Shinka's attention was drawn to a group of Grass Ninja who had suddenly appeared, Shimura Danzo's eyes lit up, and he then whispered a suggestion to his companion beside him.

"That's what we think too!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Kagami Uchiha nodded in agreement, and the three of them, taking advantage of the darkness, began to retreat stealthily, not daring to make a sound throughout the entire process.

"Eat."

But Mako, who saw the three little ones as a delicacy, would not let them have their way. In a flash, she blocked the way for Hiruzen Sarutobi and the other two who were trying to escape, still muttering those chilling words.

This action successfully caught the attention of the Grass Ninja captain. Looking at the woman exuding a strange and eerie aura, his brows furrowed deeply, as if recalling something unpleasant.

"It's still like this. I knew it should have been destroyed a long time ago."

"Don't you think Mako's life isn't miserable enough?"

Upon hearing the Grass Ninja Captain's words, Kamuka's expression turned terrifying. His fists clenched tightly together, and his eyes flashed with visible killing intent.

"Heh, it was clearly your cowardice that harmed her, yet now you're putting on this victim act. It's disgusting."

Judging from the words of the Grass Ninja Captain, he seemed to know some inside information. Upon hearing this, Shinka seemed to deflate like a punctured balloon, his expression showing a hint of panic, and the murderous intent that had been burning like flames just now instantly dissipated.

"It's not all your fault! It's all your fault! You're the ones who turned Mako into this grotesque, inhuman creature!"

"There's been new progress in the village regarding that box. Come back with us; perhaps we can cure this woman."

Seeing that Shenhuo's psychological defenses had broken down, the Grass Ninja Captain, who believed in using persuasion rather than violence, began to use words to induce him.

"Really?"

As if grasping at a straw, a look of hope appeared on Shenhuo's face, and he asked in an almost trembling voice,

"We're from the same hometown, why would we lie to you?"

The Grass Ninja Captain was secretly delighted, but he didn't show it on his face. He answered earnestly with a very sincere expression.

"That's really too much."

Shenhuo seemed quite interested, and swayed towards the Grass Ninja. He didn't exude any dangerous aura, which made the Grass Ninja lower their guard.

"Shenhuo, you must trust the organization, we won't..."

Seeing the divine fire staggering towards him, oblivious to the danger, he signaled to the two grass ninja beside him to subdue the rogue ninja, while simultaneously uttering words he himself didn't believe in, spoken with an earnest tone.

Before he could finish speaking, the Grass Ninja Captain saw Shinka with his head down, a disdainful smile playing on his lips, and his heart immediately tightened.

"Come back quickly!"

"what?"

The two grass ninjas turned around in a daze, and the next moment, their consciousness was forever frozen at that moment.

Behind them, Shenhuo, who had somehow drawn a tattered sword from his waist, wore a look of utter disdain as he lightly wiped the blood from the blade with his sleeve. As he watched the two headless corpses fall to the ground, his smile grew increasingly cruel.

"How dare you!?"

The Grass Ninja Captain's heart was bleeding. Where did this kid learn acting skills? He actually fooled his sharp eyes and careless actions, resulting in the loss of two loyal subordinates.

"Hahaha, you're so old, how can you still be so naive? Since I was able to cut ties and leave, it's because I'm completely disappointed in you all. Whether what you're saying is true or false, I won't believe your nonsense anymore."

Kamohana twirled his sword beautifully, the deadly blade pointing at the furious Grass Ninja Captain. From the very beginning, he had never believed a single word the middle-aged man before him uttered. In Kamohana's eyes, they were only fit to be Shinko's food.

"I hope you won't let Mako get an upset stomach."

After saying that, Shenhuo's body transformed into a sharp bolt of lightning and charged towards the Grass Ninja team.

"He's alone, everyone don't panic, charge!"

The Grass Ninja captain, his eyes blazing with fury, abandoned his pretense and waved his hand, causing the Grass Ninja around him to draw their weapons.

"Bang!"

"Bang!!"

"Boom!!!"

Wielding his sharp blade, Shenhuo moved like a dragon, dodging one hidden weapon attack after another with incredible agility. The sword in his hand gleamed with a chilling light, like a scythe of death reaping lives. With each swing, a grass ninja fell.

"hateful!"

As his subordinates fell one after another, the Grass Ninja Captain's eyes turned bloodshot with rage. His hands formed hand seals at lightning speed, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound from his palms.

Wind Release: Gale Palm

With his hands imbued with a force of wind compressed to the point of being visible to the naked eye, the Grass Ninja Captain instantly closed in on the bloodthirsty Shinka and unleashed a Heart-Piercing Palm strike at the opponent's wide-open back.

"Die!"

At this moment, the Grass Ninja Captain no longer cared about the village's order to capture him alive; he only wanted to kill this despicable rogue ninja and avenge his subordinate.

"Who are you."

His deadly sword strike was "barely" blocked by a burly grass ninja. Kamuka couldn't help but feel a little confused. He felt that the generic grass ninja he had knocked away and then fell to the ground looked familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

However, the sound of wind breaking behind him interrupted his thoughts. He caught a glimpse of the aggressive Grass Ninja Captain out of the corner of his eye, laughed loudly, and used the Grass Concealment Technique, Breaking Palm, with one hand to deal with him.

"Bang!"

The moment the attacks clashed, a deafening roar erupted, and the piercing noise caused the civilians, who were already huddled in their homes trembling with fear, to pull their blankets over their heads even tighter upon hearing the commotion, silently praying that the Konoha ninjas would be strong enough to vanquish the man-eating demon.

"There it is!"

At the same time, two figures who were wandering around the town heard the piercing sound, their eyes lit up, and they leaped and ran towards the scene of the incident.

"Ugh... Ah!!!"

The aftershocks of their palm strike kicked up a cloud of dust. After a while, when the smoke cleared, the Grass Ninja Captain, who had been thrown several meters away, was lying on the ground groaning in pain.

His arm was bent at an odd angle, and the five fingers of his hand, which had just unleashed the Gale Palm, had been severed by the immense force, with blood flowing uncontrollably from the wound.

On the other side, although Shenhuo wasn't lying on the ground with his mouth open and eyes closed, he wasn't feeling well either. Although Gale Palm was just a very basic ninjutsu, the grass ninja captain in front of him had been immersed in wind release for many years and had already mastered the nature transformation of wind-style chakra.

This powerful wind palm strike, showcasing the full extent of wind-attribute cutting ability, completely destroyed the meridians in one of Shenhuo's arms. The crippled arm hung limply at his side, the surface skin and flesh completely gone, leaving only dark red muscles trembling slightly in the air.

"Heh, looks like I've won."

Despite the excruciating pain, Shinka laughed heartily. The Grass Ninja Captain before him, with both arms crippled, had gone from prey to lamb to the slaughter.

As for the grass ninja who followed him, they were all instantly killed by his swordsmanship and lay on the ground, their fates unknown.

"Mako, dinner's ready!"

Killing these Kusanagi ninja who came to hunt him down would mean his location had been exposed. Shinka knew he couldn't linger here, so he turned and shouted at Shinji, who was staring at the three little ones in the alley.

"eat"

Mako, who was stimulating the ingredients to achieve the best taste, turned around obediently after hearing the call of the divine fire. Looking at the fresh ingredients on the ground, a look of excitement appeared on her expressionless face.

Save the best parts for last!

Glancing at the ready-to-fight Hiruzen Sarutobi squad, Mako flashed to the side of the fallen Grass Ninja captain. Looking at his somewhat familiar face, she slightly parted her lips...

"Don't come any closer!"

The Grass Ninja captain, already incapacitated, stared in horror at the woman reeking of a foul stench, and couldn't help but scream.

"Eat."

However, for Mako, the fear associated with the ingredients was the best seasoning. Without any hesitation, she slowly exhaled a black mist with an eerie aura. Upon seeing this, the Grass Ninja Captain frantically writhed backward, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

"Please, please let me go! I won't tell anyone about what you've been doing!"

Even as death loomed, the Grass Ninja Captain was still making a last-ditch effort.

"Let you go? Who ever thought of letting Mako go back then?"

Shenhuo, with one arm hanging limply, walked over, his indifference chilling.

"Let's eat."

The pervasive black mist possessed its own consciousness, instantly enveloping the Grass Ninja Captain. The curious Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two companions craned their necks, eager to see how the man-eating demons actually fed.

"ah!!!"

All that was heard was a pitiful scream, and the burly Grass Ninja captain vanished from the spot. The black mist seemed to have some unsatisfaction, and after devouring one person, it turned its attention to the group of Grass Ninjas lying on the ground, their lives hanging in the balance.

"Little glutton, eat up, it's all yours."

Having long been accustomed to seeing Mako eat, Shinka gently stroked the woman's hair with his good hand and spoke in a very doting tone.

"Eat."

Mako narrowed her eyes slightly, revealing an expression of enjoyment, though it was unclear whether it was from the pleasure of eating or from the gentle caresses of the divine fire.

"Holy crap! Let's get going!"

Upon seeing such a bizarre way of eating, Hiruzen Sarutobi couldn't help but curse. Even the powerful middle-aged grass ninja was no match for that man. If the three of them stayed, they would only become cannibals' after-dinner snacks.

"Get out of here when the wind gets strong!"

The three exchanged a knowing glance and simultaneously ran into the dark alley behind them. The alleys in this town were interconnected, and if they could hide inside, there might still be a glimmer of hope.

Where do you want to go, little ones?

However, after running only a few steps, Shenhuo's nonchalant voice rang in their ears. The ghostly figure of the other party had somehow appeared in their path, watching the three little ones with a leisurely air.

"Who exactly are you?"

Seeing that his last escape route had been cut off, Hiruzen Sarutobi began to stall for time, hoping that his father would discover the commotion in time and come to his aid.

"My name is Kamika. By today's standards, I should be a ninja from Kusagakure, but I defected."

Glancing at Mako, who was still eating, and knowing that there was still some time left, Shinho, feeling bored, decided to pass the time by answering questions for the little devils who were about to be served.

"If you're so strong, why did you defect?"

Unexpectedly, the other party did not take them down immediately, but instead chatted with them with great interest. With a glimmer of hope in their hearts, Hiruzen Sarutobi and his two companions continued to ask questions.

"You brats have good taste. I used to be one of the strongest in the Land of Grass."

Looking at the three innocent faces of the children in front of him, Shenhuo couldn't help but recall the night five years ago when the night watchman's child tore at his clothes and begged desperately. A complex expression flashed across his face.

"They betrayed us; desertion is too lenient. They should all be killed!"

Recalling the unbearable memories, Shenhuo's face suddenly turned ferocious, and his savage aura made the three children almost unable to breathe. However, in order to buy time, Uchiha Kagami mustered his courage and continued to ask.

"Who are they, and what heinous acts have they committed?"

"Kusa no Mikoto, a bunch of pathetic worms whose minds are full of thoughts of ruling the world, it is they who turned Mako into this state."

With his emotions running high, Shenhuo had no more reservations. Over the years, he had been hiding in the mass grave, and apart from Zhenzi, he had no one to talk to. So, these three kids who were somewhat agreeable to him became his confidants.

"Mako? You mean that beautiful, man-eating older sister?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi heard an unfamiliar female name, and after making a connection, he pointed to the woman who was eating earnestly, hesitated for a moment, and then changed his words to something more pleasant.

"Hehe, you little brat, you'll definitely grow up to be a pervert. That's right, she's Mako, my beloved wife."

Shinka was quite pleased with Hiruzen Sarutobi's flattery, but looked at the mischievous brat before him with a hint of regret.

You're great, but you're going to die tonight.

"Then why did she become like this?"

Once again marveling at the divine fire's excellent quality of not being picky about food, the three little ones asked in unison, a question that had always lingered in their minds.

"Phew~ This is a long story, I won't go into it."

The story of himself and Mako was far too long, and Kamika didn't want to make this painful memory public, so he decided to end the conversation.

"what!"

When the three children saw that Shenhuo didn't want to talk about it anymore, it meant that their death was imminent. In a panic, they frantically started rummaging through their pockets, but Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura only had ninja tools in their pockets, which were not tempting at all.

Fortunately, there was Uchiha Kagami. He took out a bunch of delicious snacks and drinks from his backpack and pushed them in front of Shinka without reservation.

Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura almost bowed down in reverence, their eyes filled with respect for their fathers as they looked at Kagami Uchiha.

In times of crisis, you still have to rely on your godfather!

"Please, we love to hear it!"

"Oh? Since you're so sincere, I'll make an exception and tell you."

"He who takes a man's gift is bound to be obligated to him," and looking at the snacks and drinks in front of him, Shenhuo decided to tell these three gossipy kids his great love story with Zhenzi.

"The story begins twenty years ago. Back then, Mako and I were orphans wandering the Land of Grass. We were fortunate enough to be taken in by a ninja clan, and we thought our suffering was finally over. But instead, we stepped into another bottomless darkness."

Sipping a bottle of children's sweet drink, Shenhuo's thoughts drifted back to that era of war and chaos.

In a slightly dilapidated house, a richly dressed elderly man looked at the two young people who depended on each other for survival and asked softly,

"Children, what are your names?"

The frail young man, Shenhuo, shielded the equally slender girl behind him, not being fooled by the kind-looking old man in front of him, but instead showing a strong sense of vigilance.

"Don't be afraid, I'm a good person."

Seeing that Shenhuo remained silent, a hint of impatience flashed in the old man's narrowed eyes, but he still continued to speak in a very kind tone.

Even so, the boy remained unmoved, but soon, a piercing sound broke the stalemate between the two.

"Gurgle~ gurgle~"

"I'm sorry, Lord God, I'm just too hungry."

The girl, protected behind him, clutched the tattered hem of Shenhuo's clothes tightly with her small hands. Her voice was so low that it was barely audible, and her dirty little face was flushed with embarrassment.

"Oh, you were hungry! Come and eat!"

Seeing this, the old man smiled slightly, stepped aside, and revealed the food on the table behind him. Even though it was just some simple food, it was undoubtedly a rare delicacy for the child who had been hungry for several days.

"Gulp~"

Shen Huo swallowed hard. He remained extremely wary of the suspicious old man before him.

During his wanderings, he had heard many rumors about perverts abducting young boys and girls. What if this old man was lusting after Mako's beauty, or perhaps he was after him?

"My Lord! It's food!"

Mako, who was already starving, had drool dripping from the corners of her mouth and her eyes were shining as she looked at the food on the table.

Seeing Mako's state, Shinka felt a pang of pain in his heart. He then looked at the smiling old man, and after a moment, he finally hardened his heart, pulled down his ripped pants, stuck his dirty buttocks out towards the old man, covered his head, gritted his teeth, and muttered,

"Come at me if you have a problem, don't hurt Mako!" (End of Chapter)