No longer dwelling on the nightmare and reality, seeing a living person killed innocently right in front of her, Ino subconsciously intervened.
Then, gritting her teeth, she threw a kunai, breaking the fate of a woman who was about to be cut down by a Konoha ninja.
"Enemy attack!"
"There really are other ninjas here!"
Clang!
Ino's kunai was blocked by the opponent's horizontal blade.
The bloodthirsty ninjas slightly regained some clarity, and began surrounding Uchiha Kage and Ino from the direction they appeared, under the warning of their companions.
"Who are you people? Ninjas from Amegakure? Or spies from another country?"
Seeing that the two had fairly clean clothes, and neither wore a ninja forehead protector, the leading Konoha ninja became much more alert.
In such a war-torn area, to be dressed so cleanly, they were either uninvolved or strong enough…
"We are…"
"Quick, dodge."
Just as Ino was about to reveal their identities, Uchiha Kage pulled her away with the Body Flicker Technique, vanishing from the spot.
Immediately after, a barrage of shuriken occupied the spot where Ino had just been standing.
Using conversation to distract, while already having dispatched someone to ambush…
These Konoha ninjas who survived the battlefield were all elites.
"You all!"
If not for Uchiha Kage's timely rescue, she would have been turned into a pincushion by that sneak attack.
Thinking of this, Ino no longer hesitated, gripping the kunai in her ninja tool pouch with growing anger.
These murderers didn't even distinguish between right and wrong. And she actually thought they could be reasoned with.
"In this kind of environment, anyone you don't know can be seen as an enemy. Striking first is their principle and experience."
Uchiha Kage was both explaining their actions and breaking the naivety still held in Ino's heart.
"You're absolutely right, but those will be your last words."
Seeing the two evade their first sneak attack, the Konoha ninjas didn't seem too surprised, and simply launched a second wave of attacks.
This time, they threw kunai attached with explosive tags.
And they kept a close eye on the two, hands already forming seals, prepared to unleash jutsu.
"Kage!"
Looking at the explosive tag burning at her feet, Ino couldn't help but feel her hair stand on end.
She had seen with her own eyes how those ambushed earlier were blown to pieces by explosive tags…
"Don't worry. Close your eyes. It'll be over soon."
Earth Style: Earth Flow Wall!
Uchiha Kage gathered chakra and slammed his palms onto the ground.
Rumble! Rumble!
As the chakra poured in, the ground immediately rose, a tall, wide earth wall surged up beneath them, instantly lifting the girl beside him off the ground.
And also away from the explosion of the explosive tags.
Then, once the girl steadied herself on the wall and began to scan the surroundings again, the Konoha ninjas who had tried to kill them fell one after another to the ground, as if someone had suddenly slit their throats.
"Kage…"
Ino subconsciously reached to her side, and was relieved to find he had returned to her side.
'That is… a bit too amazing, Kage…'
'So many murderous ninjas, and in just a moment…"
"I already interrogated them with genjutsu. These people were retreating remnants from the frontlines. The leader was named Shimura Byakuya. And yes, this really is the Land of Rain during the Second Great Ninja War."
"A-already interrogated?"
Not only had he killed them in such a short time, he even completed an interrogation?
"Mm. Anyway, let's hide from the rain first. Be careful not to catch a cold."
Though it was unclear if getting sick was possible in a scenario like this…
Uchiha Kage led the still-frightened girl into a house.
Inside was a trembling woman, the same one Ino had just saved.
But her husband's corpse still lay on the floor, bleeding.
Still warm.
"Sorry, do you have any dry towels?"
"Y-yes!"
The woman hurried into the inner room and rummaged through a wardrobe, pulling out, or rather tossing, a few clean towels.
Though terrified, she understood clearly that this young man and woman had saved her life.
Uchiha Kage handed a towel to Ino, then began helping gather up the corpse on the floor.
"Thank you…"
Only then did the woman drop her guard, then looked at her husband's lifeless eyes, and began sobbing softly.
"Have you seen a child with red hair around here? His name is Nagato…", Uchiha Kage tried asking.
But the woman shook her head.
"You haven't?"
She probably wasn't lying.
If the mission isn't related to Nagato, then it must be…
"L-let's leave this place, Kage…", Wiping rainwater from herself, looking at the sobbing woman and the man now covered with a white cloth, Ino couldn't quite express what she was feeling… maybe guilt, since it was her fellow villagers who did this.
And also unease from being in a place where many people had died.
This "dream" was too real.
She had never been on a mission outside the village before, this was her first time experiencing the cruelty of shinobi and the loss of life.
And finally, she had a real feeling for what war meant.
Could it be that her father also…
No, impossible. Her father would never kill innocent civilians, rob villages like a bandit.
"Alright."
Knowing the girl was probably uncomfortable facing such an extreme scene for the first time, Uchiha Kage didn't linger. After borrowing an umbrella, he led her back into the heavy rain.
———
"Kage, this war… why did they become like this?"
After they had gotten far away from the blood-soaked, tear-stained village, Ino finally seemed to regain her senses, showing a bit of her usual spirit.
"Maybe it's because the nature of this world is the law of the jungle."
Though it shocked the girl a bit, it also served as a solid lesson for her.
When facing an even more chaotic ninja world in the future, she would be better able to adapt.
At the very least—
Uchiha Kage looked ahead at the still-continuing rain, pondering what this scenario's mission actually was, and why there was a glitch, while answering the girl's question.
"The law of the jungle… the ninja world really is boring."
Sighing, the girl who had left the village visibly relaxed.
But at the same time, she now had more worries.
"One day, my father will also… as long as the war doesn't end…"
"Maybe."
Uchiha Kage remembered that in the original story, Ino's father was… sacrificed.
"Kage, this is where you're supposed to comfort me and say it won't happen… right?"
Ino couldn't help but laugh through tears, complaining with a glare at someone who wasn't good with words.
"But still, as expected of you, Kage. No matter when, you never get swayed by others, always calm and dependable."
Before Uchiha Kage could reply, the girl again held onto his arm and leaned her whole body against him.
"I also have… my bad times."
Times when he was led around by the nose.
Though that was all in the past now.
But whenever he thought of it, Uchiha Kage couldn't help but add another layer to his hatred toward Tobirama Senju.
He could've been a good person, but because of Tobirama…
But being a bad guy wasn't so bad either, he could guiltlessly gather all the girls he liked into a harem, kill all the scum he disliked, and selfishly see the world as something he owned.
"I don't believe that… But, Kage, you just said this was the Second War era, what's going on?"
Once she calmed down, Ino began to notice things weren't right.
Because those Konoha ninjas from before, she didn't recognize any of them.
Also, whether dream or reality, suddenly jumping from Konoha to the Land of Rain, no matter how you look at it, it doesn't make sense.
"Literally. In this dream, we've traveled back to the Land of Rain during the Second Ninja World War."
The rain gradually stopped.
But the sky was still a dull gray. Uchiha Kage put down the umbrella and looked ahead.
There was a muddy path, winding toward a village in the distance.
Another village.
"That's imp—"
'Wait, Kage seems oddly familiar with this?'
'And since earlier, he's been…'
Ino grew curious, if this really is a dream, then is this boy, who gave her such a reliable sense of security, merely a figment of her imagination, or the real Uchiha Kage?
If it was really him, then those weird thoughts she had earlier… good thing she only kept them in her head.
Otherwise, Kage would surely think she's some kind of weirdo, right?
To think of him undressing her, and then outdoors… doing this and that.
Phew…
Thinking of this, Ino even let out a small breath of relief.
'Ouch!'
But to confirm if this was real, Ino secretly pinched her thigh through the pain.
'So painful! This can't be a dream'!
"Looks like there's someone lying up ahead… is it a corpse?"
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