The forest fell into a suffocating tension.
"Don't panic!"
The Kumogakure Anbu captain—a bald, burly man wielding twin electrified cleavers—roared at the top of his lungs.
"He's only one person, and he still has to protect that brat!
We've got ten jōnin and twenty elite chūnin here!
Even if we wear him down, we can grind him to death!"
The Sunagakure puppeteer beside him let out a sinister chuckle.
"That's right. Even the Hokage himself would struggle against a lineup like this.
Attack together—no need for honor! This is for our villages!"
They fed off one another's bravado, greed gradually smothering their fear.
After all, killing the boy before them meant fifty million ryō—and instant fame.
"Kill him!"
Dozens of shinobi charged like rabid dogs.
Multicolored ninjutsu flared. Shuriken filled the air, sealing every escape route.
Tobirama stood calmly atop the water and yawned.
"So loud."
"I was planning to play with you a bit longer," he said lazily, "but my foolish disciple seems to be frightened."
He glanced back at Konan, who was trembling as she clutched the hem of his coat.
"Very well then…"
"Let's clear the field."
With a flick of his wrist, Tobirama sent more than a dozen specially made Flying Thunder God kunai scattering across the battlefield.
"Watch out for the kunai!" the Kumogakure captain shouted.
Too late.
"Flying Thunder God: Second Step!"
"Susanoo: Skeletal Arm!"
Golden light and crimson chakra erupted simultaneously.
A red flash sliced through the air.
The three Kumogakure chūnin at the front froze mid–hand seal.
Thin lines of blood appeared across their throats.
A heartbeat later, their heads flew upward in perfect unison.
Boom!
On the opposite side, a massive crimson skeletal arm materialized and smashed downward like a god swatting insects.
The Sunagakure puppeteer who had been shouting moments earlier—along with his prized puppet—was crushed into shattered fragments.
Speed and power, fused flawlessly.
Fast.
Too fast.
These so-called elite shinobi couldn't even touch the edge of Tobirama's cloak.
All they saw was golden light refracting wildly across the battlefield.
Each pause brought a spray of blood.
Each swing of the blade claimed a life.
"Ahhh!"
"What kind of speed is this?!"
"I can't see him—I can't see him at all!"
Three seconds.
That was all it took.
Aside from one Kumogakure jōnin whom Tobirama had deliberately left alive, everyone else lay dead.
Bodies floated across the water's surface, staining the stream a dark crimson.
Tobirama stood before the lone survivor, shaking the blood from his blade.
The jōnin had collapsed to the ground. His weapon lay forgotten, his body trembling uncontrollably, his pants soaked.
"D-Don't kill me…"
"I'm from Kumogakure…"
"Quiet."
Tobirama cut him off.
He turned and pulled the dazed Konan gently forward.
"Konan, look at him."
He pointed at the jōnin who had completely lost his composure.
"This is your graduation assessment."
"To become a ninja."
"Pick up your kunai."
"Kill him."
Konan's eyes widened in horror.
"I… I kill him?"
"He's a jōnin…"
"Relax."
Tobirama smiled—a smile as cold as a demon's.
He turned to the jōnin, his Three-Tomoe Sharingan spinning as killing intent pressed down like a physical weight.
"Listen carefully, shinobi of Kumogakure."
"I'll give you a chance to live."
"No ninjutsu. Taijutsu only."
"If you defeat my disciple, I let you go."
"If you lose—or if you dare try to kill her…"
He gestured toward the mangled remains nearby.
"That will be your end."
Hope ignited in the jōnin's eyes.
No ninjutsu? Fighting a little girl?
It was a miracle—a path to survival handed to him by the heavens.
"I agree! I agree to everything!"
He scrambled to his feet, snatched up a kunai, and his gaze hardened.
To live, he would kill anyone—even his own mother.
Tobirama stepped back, arms crossed, yielding the battlefield.
"Listen carefully, Konan."
"From the moment you chose to become a ninja, your life stopped belonging to you alone."
"You either kill—or you are killed."
"If you don't want to die, then grip your blade."
Konan bit her lip until she tasted blood.
She stared at the burly man before her, terror gripping her heart.
She was afraid.
Truly afraid.
But she was even more afraid of losing her master… and of returning to the days of hunger and abuse.
"Ah!"
She screamed to steel herself, gripping her kunai as she charged forward.
No technique.
No finesse.
A street brawl.
"Foolish!"
The jōnin sneered. Even without chakra, his taijutsu—honed through countless battles—was overwhelming.
He sidestepped her thrust and drove a kick into her stomach.
Bang!
Konan was sent flying, slamming hard into a tree.
"Cough… cough…"
She curled up in pain, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.
The gap was enormous.
Even without chakra enhancement, this was far beyond what a girl who had refined chakra for only a single day could handle.
"Is that all you've got?"
Tobirama watched coldly, making no move to intervene.
"Get up."
"If you can't endure this much pain, you don't deserve to be my disciple."
Stubborn resolve flashed through Konan's eyes.
She struggled to her feet and wiped the blood from her mouth.
I can't lose.
If I lose… I die.
"Again!"
This time, she didn't charge blindly.
She remembered the jutsu her master had taught her yesterday.
As the jōnin threw a punch—
Bang!
White smoke erupted.
His fist struck a log.
Substitution Jutsu!
"What—?!" The jōnin froze.
In the next instant, Konan appeared behind him, an Explosive Tag in hand.
"Die!"
She slammed it onto his back and leapt away.
Boom!
The explosion rang out.
She did it!
Joy flickered across her face—only to freeze as the smoke cleared.
The jōnin was still alive.
His clothes were shredded, his back torn and bleeding—but chakra had protected his vitals.
"You little brat!!"
Howling in pain, the jōnin snapped.
He no longer cared about any promises. He only wanted her dead.
Using Body Flicker, he appeared before Konan in an instant, kunai thrusting straight toward her throat.
"Die!"
It's over.
Konan closed her eyes in despair.
Then—
Snap.
A blur passed.
The jōnin's arm was shattered, his body kicked away like trash.
Tobirama stood before Konan, catching her as she fell.
"M-Master…"
Tears welled in her eyes as she struggled to breathe.
"Don't cry."
He patted her back, then walked toward the jōnin writhing on the ground.
"I gave you a chance," Tobirama said calmly.
"You wasted it."
He stepped on the man's chest, forcing blood from his mouth.
"You lost."
"Honor your promise."
A kunai clattered at Konan's feet.
"Konan."
"Come here."
"Kill him."
Her hands trembled as she looked at the blood-soaked figure twitching on the ground.
Kill…
Does she really have to kill someone?
Sensing her hesitation, the jōnin's expression shifted instantly.
"Don't… don't kill me…"
"Little girl… I was forced into this…"
"I have a daughter at home—she's your age…"
"If I die, she'll be fatherless…"
He wept bitterly.
Konan froze.
She remembered losing her own parents.
Would that girl suffer the same fate?
Her grip loosened. Her gaze wavered.
"Master… he—"
In that instant, malice flashed in the jōnin's eyes.
From beneath his body, a poisoned needle shot straight toward Konan's face.
"Die, you idiot!"
"Regret it now!"
Konan couldn't react.
The needle stopped a finger's breadth from her eye.
Caught between two slender fingers.
Tobirama sighed.
"Too naïve."
He turned, the Three Tomoe in his eyes merging into one.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan."
The jōnin's body stiffened, eyes glazing over.
"Tell her what you were thinking."
His voice was flat, merciless.
The jōnin spoke like a puppet.
"This stupid girl… so easy to fool…"
"Even if that Uchiha is strong… if I kill her, he'll suffer forever…"
"Even if I die… I'll drag someone with me…"
Konan's face drained of all color.
Every trace of sympathy shattered instantly.
This was a ninja.
This was the price of mercy.
If not for her master, that needle would have killed her—and disgraced him.
"Did you hear that?" Tobirama said coldly, dropping the needle.
"This is the battlefield."
"Your mercy is the knife you hand to your enemy."
"Do you want to return to the past?"
"Do you want me to hold your corpse one day and drown in regret?"
"No!"
Konan screamed.
She looked up, her eyes burning—innocence gone, replaced by blazing resolve.
She remembered the warm bed.
The meals her master prepared.
That warmth—she would protect it at all costs.
Anyone who tried to destroy it…
Must die.
"I don't want to die!"
"And I won't ever let Master down!"
She roared, grabbed the kunai, and charged.
No hesitation.
No trembling.
She straddled the jōnin, raised the blade high—
"Die!!"
Thud.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Blood splashed across her face, hot and vivid.
Only when the body went completely still did she stop.
Panting, drenched in blood, she clutched the kunai like a feral wolf cub fresh from its first hunt.
Tobirama approached, took out a handkerchief, and gently wiped her face.
The tenderness contrasted sharply with the coldness from moments earlier.
"Well done."
"Welcome to the ninja world, Konan."
"Your graduation assessment is complete."
"Congratulations—you are now a ninja."
Konan looked up at him.
Tears mixed with blood streamed down her face, yet her gaze was firmer than ever.
"Master…"
"In the future… all the dirty work—leave it to me."
"I'll become the sharpest blade in your hand."
"Anyone who tries to destroy our life…"
"I'll kill them."
Tobirama smiled and pulled her into his arms.
"Alright."
"Then whether I get to slack off in the future will depend on you."
The sun sank in the west.
Their shadows stretched long across the forest floor.
The corpses would soon rot away.
But the innocent wandering girl named Konan had died here.
In her place—
Stood the Angel who would one day make the entire ninja world tremble.