'Presently, the Third Ninja War is going on. If I remember accurately, it is during this war that Nagato killed his friend. Right after the end of the Third Great Ninja War, a civil war broke out in the Rain Village to remove Hanzo from power. Led by an individual known as Pain, with Pain's near-godly powers, Hanzo and his forces were overthrown, with Pain being the one to personally kill Hanzo. Pain then went on to kill anyone even remotely connected to Hanzo, from close family members to distant acquaintances, so that none would ever emerge to take revenge.'
'Pain became Ame's new leader, revered as a god by the populace because of his contributions during the civil war. None ever saw Pain directly; his decrees were instead communicated to Ame's citizens by Konan, who came to be revered almost as highly as Pain himself.'
'The knowledge of Amegakure's civil war was also not common throughout the ninja world, and news of Pain's victory was completely unknown to the point that other villages believed Hanzo to still be in charge. In the anime, Ame ninjas traveling abroad were also instructed to perpetuate this belief.'
'As of now, I don't sense any rifts within the Rain Village. So I can assume that the war has yet to reach an end; I will stay in the Rain Village for the time being. Later, when I have accumulated at least genin-level strength, I will consider departing from here. Joining the Akatsuki has to be postponed until I grow into a powerhouse.' Jiang Hai's mind wandered as he strode to a certain residence.
Jiang Hai stared at the two-story building before him; his gaze then locked on the nameplate for a while before he scanned the area using his chakra.
'There are three chakra signatures inside. Two of them are slightly above mine while the third one is quite inferior to mine. It's not a big deal; I can make do.' Jiang Hai marched to the door; his right hand moved and rang the doorbell repeatedly.
A few breaths later, Jiang Hai could hear hurried footsteps approaching, accompanied by a boy's irritated voice. "Stop ringing the goddamn bell! We are not deaf here!"
'It's a kid. He has the second-highest chakra within the house.' This thought had just flown by Jiang Hai's mind as the door opened.
The edges of the door opened slightly and revealed the annoyed face of a chubby teenager.
"Who the hell are you!?" The excess flesh on the boy's cheeks jiggled as he spoke loudly, anger evident in his bead-like eyes as he glared at the scrawny youth in front of him.
The chubby boy was about to curse nine generations of Jiang Hai, but his heart immediately skipped a beat as he felt an invisible force restraining his entire body from moving a muscle.
'Ninjutsu.' This word immediately popped up in his mind. At the very next second, he madly circulated his chakra throughout his body, trying to enhance his strength and break free from the chakra threads.
But he was a step too late, as Jiang Hai had instantly strengthened the chakra threads confining the boy, making them incredibly resilient and even discernible to the naked eye.
The boy's face turned pale from fright and his pupils shrunk to pin sizes as he helplessly watched two dagger-like fingers viciously gearing toward his eyes.
A soft piercing sound was heard as Jiang Hai's fingers, coated in a thin layer of chakra, entered the boy's eye sockets and pierced the brain, killing him instantly.
Jiang Hai pulled out his fingers as blood spurted on his expressionless face. He kicked the boy's corpse inside the house and entered the house before closing the door shut.
"Little Cho, who is it at the door?" Hearing the door shut, a female in her forties who was busy cooking in the kitchen asked loudly.
Jiang Hai stepped over the corpse and silently headed toward the source of the highest chakra in the house: the kitchen.
"This boy! He has no respect for his elders," the middle-aged woman muttered to herself in a displeased voice.
She lowered the intensity of the flames and turned around when a shadow appeared before her from out of nowhere.
"Ahh!"
The moment she screeched in shock, Jiang Hai's eyes lit up and he intently slammed his left hand on her head. Fresh blood started to pour out from the woman's orifices and with a clear thud she fell on the ground.
Jiang Hai stared at the corpse for a second and snickered.
'At the end of the day, they are just typical civilians with conditioned physiques. They lack alertness and experience when faced with such life-threatening scenarios.' Jiang Hai thought as he glanced around.
"Hmm, there is meat." Jiang Hai licked his lips as his gaze fell on the half-cooked meat on the stove.
His stomach growled in hunger; he rubbed his tummy as he mentally spoke. 'Let's kill the target first before having a feast.'
Jiang Hai took a step before he paused; he immediately used his chakra threads to grab the knives and a few other tools in the kitchen.
'The prey is approaching the predator itself. Such selflessness truly warms my heart.' Jiang Hai quickly walked up the wall and waited for his prey.
Soft footsteps could be heard drawing near. Jiang Hai intently stared at the person closing in, ready to strike any moment. The moment a person came into his vision, his gaze relaxed as a slight smile blossomed on his cold face.
A little girl holding a paper plane blankly stared at the motionless body of her dear mother lying on the cold floor. With a heart-wrenching cry, the little girl impatiently scurried towards her dead mother as pearls of tears trailed down her white and rosy face.
'An excellent distraction,' Jiang Hai regarded as he stood peacefully behind the grieving little girl.
.....
The setting sun slowly dropped below the horizon, giving out the last rays of warm light. The rain, which had stopped for the past two hours, started to shower heavily once again.
"Shhh, what a day," a short, muscular forty-year-old male with a butcher's knife in hand spoke.
"I know. Seeing your ugly face every day is divine punishment in itself," a well-built male spoke as he munched on an apple.
"Hehe, don't take your frustrations out on me. What can I do if you had an off day in business?" The butcher consoled the fruit seller.
The fruit seller was about to apologize for his earlier comment, but the next words he heard coming from the butcher's mouth made his blood boil.
"How about this: I will gift you a thousand Ryo if you let me have a little chat with your hot wife, hahaha."
The fruit seller glared daggers at the butcher. He spoke in a low voice. "Yuudai, don't cross the line or it won't be good for you and your wife."
Yuudai lifted both of his hands like he was surrendering and said, "Yes, yes, please forgive this lowly one for talking ill about your wife. Then can I accompany your mother for a drink? We all know how wild she can get, hahaha."
"You!" The fruit seller's blood boiled until the point of vaporizing. He immediately swung his fist, aiming at Yuudai's wide nose and intending to smash it.
Swoosh!
Yuudai barely sidestepped the incoming blow and without any hesitation ran away. He shouted while running, "Brother, you can't handle a joke! No wonder your first wife left you for that old..."
"Shut up or I will kill you, motherfucker!" The fruit seller roared like a madman thirsting for blood.
Yuudai chuckled as he ran even faster. Within ten minutes, he arrived in front of his house.
"I will have to tell Akira to prepare that bastard's favorite meal; otherwise, he will surely fight to the death with me tomorrow." Yuudai cracked up as he recalled his friend's furious expression.
But his expression abruptly froze as his shocked gaze landed on the crimson blood on the door handle.
An extremely horrible feeling welled up in his heart and his breathing became irregular. After a few short breaths, he forcefully tried to calm himself.
'No, no, no, no, please God don't do this to me!' Yuudai roared in his mind as his emotions got the better of him in the end and he hurriedly dashed headfirst into the house.
The moment he entered the house, his face turned grim. He noticed the huge amounts of blood leading him to the kitchen area. Without a moment's hesitation, he rushed straight in as he desperately called out for his kids.
Six steps, five steps, two steps, and finally he was just a single step away from entering the kitchen.
The instant he took the final step, he twisted his body to the left and barged open the door.
"Huff! Huff!"
Yuudai's frenzied eyes immediately examined the area; he was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Yuudai's hope-filled eyes came in contact with something he shouldn't have and his world immediately collapsed. His mind and body trembled from the inhuman sight.
No amount of words could convey the piercing pain he felt at this moment.
He saw three decapitated heads which were served on three white plates, with their eyes gouged out and tongues cut off.
Taking a closer look, it could be seen their eyeballs were placed in their mouths, while their tongues were nailed to their foreheads.
It was truly artistic!
Yuudai stood there still like a soulless statue. The glimmers of hope within his eyes had already vanished and were replaced with boundless despair.
'How wonderful!' Jiang Hai grinned as he watched the situation play out in his favor. With lightning-quick speed, he maneuvered his chakra threads and a set of knives immediately shot toward Yuudai like speeding arrows.
Yuudai looked like he had not noticed them at all and stood there expressionlessly as he let the knives uncaringly cut into his middle-aged body. He did not even utter a grunt, nor did he so much as blink.
Jiang Hai, who had glued himself to the ceiling like a spider, suddenly swooped down on Yuudai like a celestial eagle.
Jiang Hai landed on Yuudai's shoulder as his demonic hands clutched the poor man's head. With a sick breaking sound, Jiang Hai effortlessly turned Yuudai's head one hundred and eighty degrees.
"Dead already." Jiang Hai coldly smirked as he eyed the lifeless head in his grasp.