At this moment, the two shinobi from Kumogakure had no idea that Kumamoto Kuro—who had been standing silently in thought—suddenly twitched his nose twice.
Sniff…
The black bear's sharp sense of smell had once again detected enemies nearby.
Kuro carefully analyzed the scent carried on the wind.
"Hm… sweat… strong body odor… Kumogakure ninjas."
After more than a month of surviving as a black bear, he had accumulated plenty of experience identifying different shinobi by smell.
Strictly speaking, a wild animal shouldn't care about villages or nationalities.
But Kuro was currently living inside the Land of Fire, and he had just awakened the Sharingan belonging to the Uchiha Clan.
So naturally—
He subconsciously considered himself aligned with Konohagakure.
A bear of Konoha.
From that perspective, eliminating a few enemy Kumogakure scouts was perfectly reasonable.
But the most important reason was something else entirely.
He needed to keep devouring ninjas so he could transform back into human form as soon as possible.
"In that case… don't blame me."
Thinking this, Kuro suddenly turned his massive body and locked his crimson Sharingan onto the rock where the Kumogakure ninja were hiding.
"ROAR!"
Meanwhile, the two Kumogakure scouts were still secretly observing the clearing.
The moment the bear roared—
Every hair on their bodies stood on end.
"Damn!"
"Oh no! The Uchiha bear spotted us!"
In the next instant—
A pair of scarlet Sharingan appeared right beside the two completely unprepared shinobi.
Konoha Village — Earlier
At the entrance of a small general store in Konohagakure, a young girl was speaking with two ninjas who were slightly shorter than her.
Her outfit was striking—mainly red and white.
A white coat patterned with cloth textures hung loosely over her shoulders, while a long red sleeve extended down her right arm.
Beneath the low-cut outer garment was a layer of black mesh clothing.
It was clear that this kunoichi liked the bandage-style ninja fashion popular among young shinobi.
Even beneath her short skirt, bandages were wrapped neatly around her thighs.
This girl was Kurenai Yuhi.
At this point in time, she had already become a Chūnin.
She was the daughter of Shinku Yuhi, a respected Konoha shinobi skilled in genjutsu.
Naturally, Kurenai had inherited exceptional talent for illusion techniques.
If Kumamoto Kuro were present here, he would immediately recognize her.
After all, she had passed through the forest where he lived multiple times.
Her scent had left a deep impression on the bear's memory.
"Yes, I'm certain there's a black bear hiding in that forest. I saw it myself!"
Kurenai said seriously to the two ninjas in front of her.
"Ah… I thought so…"
The short-haired girl among them replied with concern.
This girl was none other than Rin Nohara.
Rin was twelve years old and had already become a Chūnin despite coming from an ordinary family.
She was a medical ninja belonging to Minato Namikaze's team.
Rin wore a black outfit with a white apron tied around her waist.
Across her cheeks were the distinctive purple triangular markings she often drew with ink.
Despite her simple clothing, her gentle temperament gave her an innocent and refreshing appearance.
"Uncle, here's the money."
Rin handed several coins to the shopkeeper and carefully slipped a purple drawing pen she had just bought into her pocket.
"Hey, Rin… you don't seriously plan to hunt that black bear, do you?"
The last member of the group finally spoke.
A boy with messy hair and windproof goggles.
This person needed little introduction.
It was Obito Uchiha.
He was twelve years old and had only become a Chūnin last winter.
Despite being somewhat clumsy and loud, Obito possessed a warm heart.
He was the type of person who would stop to help an elderly woman cross the street.
Today, he had willingly—perhaps even eagerly—tagged along with Rin when she left the village.
A few days earlier, Rin had heard villagers discussing a dangerous black bear appearing in a forest not far from Konoha.
If it were an ordinary bear, it wouldn't be much of a problem.
But according to rumors, this bear's behavior had recently become strange and unpredictable.
Rin worried the bear might have gone mad from starvation.
If that happened, nearby villages could easily become targets.
For that reason, she had been thinking about hunting the bear during her free time.
Today she happened to meet Kurenai, who had personally seen the bear.
Naturally, Rin took the opportunity to gather information.
"Alright, Sister Kurenai. Thank you for telling me."
After saying goodbye, Rin and Obito left the store.
As they walked down the street, Obito enthusiastically began describing how he had heroically helped an elderly woman cross the road earlier that day.
Rin listened quietly.
A few minutes later, she suddenly stopped walking.
She looked up at Obito with a serious expression.
"Obito… I've made up my mind!"
Obito froze.
Judging by Rin's expression, she seemed ready to say something very important.
This exact scene had appeared countless times in Obito's dreams.
But experiencing it in reality was completely different.
His heart began pounding.
Swallowing nervously, Obito said with deep emotion:
"Okay, Rin… actually I like you t—"
"Obito, let's go defeat the black bear!"
"…Huh?!"
Rin's sudden declaration nearly caused Obito to bite his tongue.
The confession he had been about to make was instantly swallowed.
So it wasn't a confession after all…
Obito's mood dropped immediately.
Noticing his hesitation, Rin didn't want to pressure him.
"If you're scared, I can go alone."
Those words struck Obito like a punch to the stomach.
His face immediately turned red.
"What?! Afraid of a black bear?! I'm already a Chūnin!"
Seeing his reaction, Rin smiled brightly.
"Great! Kakashi is busy preparing for his Jōnin promotion, so the two of us should do something meaningful too!"
When Obito heard the words Kakashi and Jōnin, his expression dimmed slightly.
For some reason, being a Chūnin suddenly didn't feel like something worth bragging about.
Still—
Being able to spend time with Rin was already the best reward.
So Obito quickly agreed.
The two of them immediately reported to the village before heading toward the forest where the black bear lived.
Back in the Forest
If one compared the strength of a shinobi to that of a black bear…
The outcome usually wouldn't be worth discussing.
Unless the ninja was careless or ambushed, victory against a wild animal was almost guaranteed.
That was why even a medical ninja like Rin felt confident she could deal with the bear alone.
However—
That assumption depended on one condition.
The black bear had to remain a normal animal driven by instinct.
It must not possess human intelligence.
And it definitely must not possess the Sharingan.
Because if a group of ordinary shinobi were ambushed by a creature that possessed the strength of a bear, the intelligence of a human, and the eyes of an Uchiha—
Then the result would probably look like the two Kumogakure ninjas lying in front of Kuro now.
Two corpses.
"Phew… all done."
Kuro dragged the two bodies together and let out a satisfied breath.
That's right.
The battle had ended extremely quickly.
Kuro's attack had been completely unexpected.
Combined with the terror the two shinobi already felt toward the bizarre Uchiha bear, every movement they made had been perfectly predicted by his Sharingan.
As a result—
Both were easily killed with a single devastating paw strike.
Their deaths were quick and painless.
Now that the problem of "food resisting back" had been resolved—
It was time for the next stage.
The devouring.
Although he was still hungry, the desire to become human had begun to outweigh even the pain of starvation.
Standing beside one of the corpses, Kuro immediately summoned the system interface.
[Specific behavior detected. Current feeding behavior can be converted into Devouring Mode.]
[Possible consequences of devouring the current target:]
Evolution into human form — 99.1% probability (New player bonus, probability automatically adjusted) Obtain a love letter intended for Samui — 0.89% probability
III. Other random effects — 0.01% probability
[Should we choose to devour it?]