The group didn’t look at the yellow-haired rogue ninja fleeing in a disheveled manner. Instead, they focused on the bck shadow lingering on the tree trunk.

  They weren’t sure if, after barely escaping the jaws of the wolf, they had inadvertently walked right into the tiger's den.

  The bck shadow expanded, exploding outwards, bringing with it a gust of cold wind ced with killing intent.

  What technique is this? A wind-style clone?

  Hayami Reina, recalling the water and earth clones from the original series, as well as the explosive shadow clones that seemed to blend fire-style chakra changes, specuted that this was an entirely new wind-style clone technique.

  “Ah—” Before anyone could react to the shadow’s dissipating form, a shrill, marmot-like scream came from deep in the forest. The only difference was that this voice was filled with despair and sorrow, sending chills down their spines just from hearing it.

  “Rustle, rustle.” The sound of something being dragged across the ground.

  Everyone took a few steps back, holding their breath as they stared toward the source of the sound.

  Yahiko swallowed nervously and stepped in front of the group.

  A tall, bck silhouette emerged from the trees. Within a distance of less than ten meters, they finally saw the true form of the bck shadow.

  The figure was dressed in a long, bck robe with wide sleeves, standing at about 6'5". Its back was slightly hunched, and gray-bck hair cascaded down both sides of its face. But what caught their attention wasn’t the height—it was the man’s arms. His arms were incredibly long, his hands hanging down past his knees.

  The unusual body proportions made everyone uneasy.

  “Rustle.” The terrifying figure dragged the yellow-haired rogue ninja’s body, whose eyes had rolled back into his head. Each step caused the body to scrape against the leaves on the ground.

  “Why didn’t you run?” The bck-robed figure’s gaze shifted to the four of them, but it focused more specifically on Hayami Reina.

  “You could have escaped, couldn’t you?” The figure’s voice carried a hint of amusement. But his half-mask obscured the lower half of his face, so it was impossible to tell if he was truly smiling. Still, his slightly snted eyes made it seem like he might be sneering.

  “Rather than run, I’d prefer to take a chance. I didn’t ck the opportunity to kill him,” Hayami Reina said, gncing at the yellow-haired rogue being dragged.

  “But you failed,” the bck-robed figure said, his voice tinged with disappointment. It almost sounded like he had hoped for Reina to run.

  “No success is guaranteed,” Reina met his gray eyes with her own, unfazed.

  “There is," the figure replied, then casually tossed the yellow-haired rogue ninja at Reina's feet. "Now, it’s 100%."

  After being dropped, the yellow-haired rogue’s eyes rolled back into pce, and he immediately regained his senses. Without hesitation, he screamed, “Spare me! Please, let me live! I’ll bow down, I’ll bow to you!” He got down on all fours, repeatedly banging his head against the ground.

  Hayami Reina gnced at the bck-robed figure. Seeing no reaction from him, she picked up a stick from the ground and stabbed it into the yellow-haired rogue ninja’s eye socket, ending him swiftly.

  A foul stench rose from his lower body upon death.

  Reina then turned toward the bck-robed figure. “What must we do to thank you for your assistance?”

  At the sound of her words, Yahiko and the others swallowed nervously. They were all afraid that the bck-robed figure would ask something unreasonable, just as he had with the rogue ninjas.

  “Come with me.” The bck-robed figure raised one of his impossibly long arms and pointed at Reina.

  “Wait! Why take Reina?” Yahiko’s heart skipped a beat, his worst fear had come true—the bck-robed figure and the yellow-haired rogue ninja were cut from the same cloth.

  “She has the talent to become a ninja. She shouldn’t waste time here,” the bck-robed figure said. Despite his intimidating presence, his tone was surprisingly kind toward the four children.

  “A ninja?” Yahiko was stunned. The bck-robed figure wanted to take Reina and train her as a ninja?

  “Uh, could you take us too?” Yahiko’s excitement bubbled up. This was the very opportunity he had been hoping for: to become a ninja. There could be no better chance than this!

  From the way the bck-robed figure easily killed two rogue ninjas and subdued one, it was clear that he was an expert among experts. At least, his power was much more evident than Hanzō, who had never shown his true strength. Yahiko had already made his judgment.

  “No,” the bck-robed figure replied without hesitation, crushing Yahiko’s hopes in an instant.

  “W-why?” Konan was disappointed too; she didn’t want to be separated from Reina.

  “You don’t have the talent,” came the cold, dismissive reply. No talent to become a ninja.

  Hayami Reina was stunned. No talent? Aside from Yahiko, who had only reached the level of a Jōnin at the young age of 18, the other two were certified Kage-level warriors.

  Konan’s Paper Jutsu and God’s Paper Technique were practically limitless, using a variety of attack methods, immune to physical attacks. When Reina watched Konan disguise 600 billion explosive tags as the ocean, he was left in awe for an entire year.

  Nagato was even more terrifying. He was a literal ceiling for Kage-level power. His abilities as Pain were so strange and versatile that after fighting many Leaf ninja, he used most of his chakra to ftten Konoha with Shinra Tensei. Even so, Pain’s Deva Path, with most of its chakra exhausted, still managed to beat Naruto down in combat.

  If not for Naruto’s sudden power boost and transformation into the Nine-Tails form, which tricked Pain into using a massive Earth-shattering attack, Naruto wouldn’t have stood a chance.

  And Nagato had once been ambushed by Hanzō, who crippled him by preventing him from mastering his Rinnegan. That’s why he created the Six Paths of Pain, which split his strength into six parts. That was a huge weakness.

  And the bck-robed figure called them “without talent”?

  Reina was speechless. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

  Nagato fell silent. He had no doubt about this; he could tell that Hayami Reina was far more battle-hardened than they were. He was just a useless coward. It was no surprise that the bck-robed figure thought little of him.

  “I understand. I’ll go with you, but I want to say goodbye to them first.” Reina raised her head, locking eyes with the bck-robed figure.

  The bck-robed figure didn’t care. He nodded indifferently and stepped aside, giving them some space.

  To him, once Reina left with him, she would no longer be part of their world. A final farewell was all that remained—there was no harm in that.

  “Yahiko, you’re the strongest and bravest among us. Keep my hunting knife. I hope you can take care of Nagato and Konan.” With those words, Reina hugged Yahiko tightly.

  “Nagato, honestly, I’ve always felt that you have extraordinary potential. You need to believe in yourself more. Maybe, in the future, you’ll be the one protecting the other two.” Reina patted Nagato on the shoulder.

  “Konan,” Reina paused for a moment, then whispered in her ear, “Don’t live just for others. And by the way, I’m really a guy.”

  With those parting words, their expressions slowly turned somber, but they quickly forced smiles. They didn’t want the farewell to be too sad.

  “And one more thing,” Reina turned to leave, clenching his teeth and adding, “Don’t trust anyone, especially those in high pces or those who hide in the shadows.”

  That was the biggest warning he could give. He didn’t trust that the secretive Zetsu wasn’t keeping an eye on Nagato. Fortunately, in this era, Obito was still just a two or three-year-old child. Unless Zetsu could predict the future, he wouldn’t be suspicious of him.

  “I understand,” Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato nodded, although they didn’t fully understand Reina’s words. Still, they remembered them.

  “I’ll be back. Don’t die on me.”

  That was the st thing Hayami Reina said before walking away.

  As Reina’s silhouette disappeared into the rain, the three of them stood silently. It was impossible to tell whether the water on their faces was from the rain or their tears.

  Note 1: Huge timeline bug – According to the "Book of Battle" (陣之書), Yahiko lived to 15. However, based on the fact that Obito died in 46, at the Kamui Bridge, Yahiko's death could only have occurred in 46 at the earliest. Now, well, everyone knows Konan lived to 35, which means she must've been born in 28. This means that Konan and Nagato must be at least 3 years older than Yahiko. Picture this: a five-year-old child trying to survive while leading two eight-year-olds. The image is too absurd for me to even look at.

  Based on this, I did a lot of research, only to find that this segment of the timeline is full of contradictions. Everyone has a different theory, and they all bring their own "official" evidence. It's honestly a bit of a mess.

  So, I had to make some adjustments according to my own findings. If it differs from what you understand, my apologies. (If we follow the "Book of Battle" timeline, either Yahiko’s age jumps around, or Obito tricked Nagato when he was only 10, which would require me to change even more. So, I chose to simplify it and set Yahiko’s death at 18, which would be the year before Naruto was born.)

  Note 2: Kakashi was born in Konoha 34 (there's also conflicting info about this; I cross-checked the manga and official materials, but the results still don't match up). Obito is about the same age as Kakashi.

  The Second Great Ninja War ended in 37 (though some sources say 40, or even ter, but I’m not sure how they arrived at those dates). So, let’s not get too hung up on the timeline. Let’s just assume this world is different from the original one. I’ll try not to bring it up again.

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