The moon hid behind thick clouds, smothering the forest in pitch darkness.Perfect.
Naruto looked up briefly and almost laughed. "Even the sky's on my side tonight," he murmured. A night like this meant one thing—the bandits would never see him coming.
He split from Sasuke and Sakura, moving silently through the camp. His chakra flared briefly—then vanished, snuffed out like a candle.
Rikudō Shingon—Ten'gan mode.
Golden light flickered faintly in his pupils. The divine voice came again, resonant and sly.
"What a tender mercy, Host. The heavens hide their eyes while you stain your hands. How poetic."
He didn't answer. His body flickered once, and he slipped through the wooden walls like a phantom.
Inside, a man and a woman slept soundly. The blade moved faster than breath. Two flashes—then silence. The couple's eyes opened in terror for half a second before dimming forever. No screams. Just the sound of blood dripping into the sheets.
Naruto didn't pause to think. Bandits. In this world, that word meant hands already red with blood. Mercy was a luxury he couldn't afford.
He flickered again. One house, two, three, six... by the time he stopped, twenty-three more lives had vanished.
But at the sixth house—he hesitated.
In the corner of the room sat a crib. Inside it, a tiny boy no older than two, sleeping soundly. His breathing was light, his fingers curled around a tattered cloth doll.
Naruto's hand trembled slightly.
He raised his kunai once. Stopped.
Reason whispered, He'll grow up like them.Emotion whispered, He's just a baby.
Naruto's jaw clenched. His breath came heavier.
"What's wrong, Host? Hands shaking? I thought you wanted strength."The system's voice was mocking, yet somehow sad.
"I need power," Naruto muttered. "If I hesitate now, all these years were for nothing."
He thought of her. The girl with shy smiles who never left his side. The one who always said, 'You can still be kind, even in this world.'
If I want to protect her... then someone has to bear the darkness.
The kunai dropped.
A splash of blood painted his cheek. The baby didn't even have time to cry. Naruto stood still, eyes shut tight, until he heard the faint echo in his head—
"Soul accepted. Spirit Reserves increased."
His grip loosened.
"I'm not a saint who saves the world," he whispered. "Not a prophet who knows good from evil. Not a god who looks down from above."
"I'm just... me. A human being who makes selfish choices and tries to live with them."
He turned, stepping away from the cradle.
"For my dream, for my promise, for her—" his voice hardened—"—I'll become whatever this cursed world needs me to be."
And so the boy bathed in sunlight became a shadow drenched in blood.Beneath the sun, a Shura was born.