"Idiot."
"You hold your head too high."
On a small mountain of bones sat a lazy figure.
Two ninjas stood before the mountain of corpses, staring motionlessly at the person at the very top.
Could it even be called a person?
The thoughts of the two ninjas came to an abrupt halt. Everything before them suddenly dissipated. Time seemed to slow down.
The mountain of corpses, along with that figure, vanished simultaneously.
Haruki's eyes were filled only with blood. Blood shrouded the entire world.
Suddenly, before him, there was only darkness. Rika held him in her arms.
Then, the two corpses, cut into six pieces, stopped gushing blood. It all happened so fast that Haruki didn't react, the two ninjas approaching him were sliced by Sukuna.
Rika released Haruki and returned to his ring.
Haruki, not a single drop of blood on him, stood rooted to the spot, not daring to look at the bodies on the ground.
Too violent!
Both Rika and Sukuna were proponents of violent aesthetics.
He walked out of the pool of blood without looking sideways. He walked over to Nagato. Nagato was kneeling on the ground, staring motionless at the bodies on the ground.
His Rinnegan were wide open, and he had fallen into a daze again.
"Don't look."
"Nagato."
Haruki covered Nagato's eyes.
Nagato was ice-cold, as if his entire body had lost its warmth. That familiar, icy fear once again coiled around his body like a snake.
Only when Haruki reached out and embraced him did Nagato feel warmth. He felt the warmth of a human body.
"They…"
"Did I kill them?"
Nagato drew warmth from Haruki's embrace. He finally had the strength to ask.
"…"
Haruki paused, slowly understanding why Nagato would ask such a question.
Nagato didn't know about Sukuna's existence. Apart from those two ninjas and Haruki, almost no one knew how those two ninjas were suddenly cut into three pieces. So, Nagato still thought, as before, that it was caused by his eyes.
Haruki comforted him, "It has nothing to do with you."
This truly was a beautiful misunderstanding!
"But…"
Nagato wanted to say something more. His words were cut off by Haruki.
Haruki released the fingers covering his eyes, knelt opposite Nagato, looked into Nagato's eyes, and said earnestly, "Nagato! Believe me, you didn't cause it. I know you wanted to save me, thank you. Don't fear your power."
He gripped Nagato's hand tightly.
[Ding!]
[System has detected Nagato's affection value +1000]
[You have now collected 1000 affection points. Would you like to feed your attendant cursed spirit, Rika?]
No hesitation needed.
[Ding!]
[Your attendant cursed spirit, Rika's rank has increased to 36.002%]
[Your attendant cursed spirit, Rika, sends feedback: Yuta, so sweet.]
Haruki felt a pang in his teeth. Hurried footsteps came from behind them.
"Nagato! Haruki!"
Konan ran towards Haruki and Nagato, not even having time to glance at the gruesome scene on the ground.
She immediately hugged Haruki and Nagato, her body still trembling, tears constantly overflowing from her eyes, flowing like a stream without stopping.
Jiraiya's pupils were almost dyed red by the blood. His pupils constricted as he looked at the mess on the ground. He saw Yahiko's unconscious body not far away and immediately went to check on him.
His hand felt a pulse. Jiraiya breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Yahiko was only unconscious.
Jiraiya carried Yahiko on his back. His gaze retracted from the exceptionally bloody ground and turned to the three children on the other side.
Just that one glance…
Jiraiya froze.
Those eyes!
Those eyes…
Jiraiya closed his eyes, then opened them again. The eyes covered by red hair were exposed before Jiraiya.
It wasn't an illusion. He actually saw those legendary eyes.
Jiraiya was so shocked for a moment that he lost his words. He had once thought it was just a legend.
After an unknown amount of time, Jiraiya managed to compose himself from his shock.
He said to the three children huddled together, "Let's go back first."
Konan sniffled, wiped the tears from her face, and stood up from the ground. Haruki also helped Nagato up.
The three of them followed behind Jiraiya, walking towards the small wooden house.
Back in the small wooden house.
After rubbing away the bruises on Yahiko's chest, Jiraiya looked at Yahiko's pale, sleeping face and tucked him in. He stood up, closed the room door, and returned to the living room.
On the tatami, Haruki, Nagato, and Konan sat in a row.
Seeing Jiraiya's figure, Konan immediately asked, "Jiraiya-sensei, is Yahiko alright?"
Jiraiya shook his head, reassuring Konan, "He's just unconscious, he'll wake up soon."
Konan breathed a sigh of relief, relieved.
Jiraiya sat down in front of Haruki and Nagato, his gaze moving back and forth between the two of them.
"Jiraiya-sensei, don't blame Haruki and Nagato."
Konan was sensitive, she saw something in Jiraiya's solemn expression, and she immediately sat up straight, unable to resist defending Haruki and Nagato.
"They didn't kill on purpose."
Konan shook her head frantically, involuntarily recalling the previous scene, and her eyes reddened again.
"Those ninjas wanted to kill us. They were just protecting us."
Jiraiya looked complexly at Konan, whose eyes were red. He could certainly understand killing in self-defense. He was a ninja. He certainly knew the cruelty of the world.
The key was the method of killing.
Nagato and Haruki were still children, how could children kill so cruelly…
And the bodies on the ground were either minced meat or…
Jiraiya looked at the two children before him with a complicated expression.
"And Haruki didn't kill anyone either."
It was Rika who killed them. But Rika was also protecting them.
Anyway…
Anyway, no one was wrong!
Konan clenched her hands tightly. The ones who were wrong were those three ninjas.
Jiraiya had clearly misunderstood Konan's words. Since Haruki didn't kill anyone, then the killer must be…
After looking at Nagato's eyes for a long time, Jiraiya turned to Haruki beside Nagato and asked, "Did you kill the ninja?"
Nagato wanted to say something, but Haruki held his hand. He knew that Nagato still believed he was the one who killed the ninjas.
Jiraiya knew that resistance was for self-preservation, but torture was different. These were two completely different definitions.
Haruki opened his mouth, not intending to refute anything, and simply nodded in admission.
To be honest, Jiraiya didn't think Haruki had such ability. His gaze deepened, and he glanced at Nagato beside Haruki.
The relationship between these four children was very good, so good that it surpassed kinship. Jiraiya realized that Haruki was taking the blame for Nagato.
Jiraiya's heart felt a little heavy.
Just then, Konan immediately stood in front of Haruki. She didn't know what Jiraiya would do. But Haruki had protected them too many times. She also wanted to protect Haruki.
Konan, with red eyes, kept explaining to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya-sensei, Haruki didn't do that, she just wanted to protect Haruki…"
"Don't…"
"Don't get so close to Yuta!"
"Yuta is mine!"