After bidding farewell to the other mercenaries and Jūbē, the four of them began their journey back to the cave.

  Along the way, Hayami Reina couldn't stop pondering the thin trails of gray smoke that had appeared after killing the human trafficker and their potential connection to whatever "cheat" powers she might possess.

  Speaking of her "cheat," the first thing that came to mind was her ability to recover her physical strength and maintain health with just a small amount of food. She had thought about this early on, but hadn’t paid much attention to it since everything about her past was a mystery. The only oddity was that the hunger she felt before fainting had completely disappeared upon waking.

  Another unusual power was the ability she had gained during her fight with Jūbē—the ability to transform pain into pleasure. At the time, she hadn’t had time to think much about it due to the continuous battles, but now, in hindsight, this wasn’t the first time such a sensation had appeared. She had felt something simir when cleaning her wound with saltwater before.

  The only common thread between these abilities was that they had both emerged after she had passed out. And at the time, two bodies—Bck Dog Bero and an unnamed man—had been nearby. Maybe it was because she had absorbed the gray smoke from those bodies while unconscious that her body “evolved” these abilities.

  The high energy conversion rate, evolved from extreme hunger and a ck of food, allowed her to feel satiated with minimal food.

  And the ability to transform pain into pleasure was clearly linked to her injuries.

  But the problem was the imbance in the number of powers. After all, there was still a dog’s corpse in the hall on the first floor. While she hadn’t seen gray smoke condense, based on her experience with the trafficker’s experiments, any creature she killed should have released gray smoke. So, the gray smoke from that dog’s corpse should have entered her body while she was escaping.

  That meant there must be one more ability she hadn’t discovered yet. Or perhaps her theory of absorbing the gray smoke and falling into sleep to evolve didn’t add up.

  Could it be that her transformation of pain into pleasure was actually two distinct powers—one to nullify pain and the other to convert it into pleasure? But that contradicted the evolution logic she had assumed—evolution should have granted her the power most needed for her current state, and these two abilities clearly overpped.

  There weren’t enough examples to make a more concrete assumption. She would have to wait until tonight. If her guess was right, the seven people she had killed today should provide her with seven new abilities—each one corresponding to what she needed most. Identifying the seven most crucial powers should be easy, after all, if something is not cking, there’s no need for it.

  As Reina pondered, the group walked back to the cave in an eerie silence.

  Konan, noticing Reina’s deep concentration, kindly stayed silent. Yahiko and Nagato, on the other hand, looked at her with a heavy expression, wondering what kind of life experience could make such a seemingly gentle and kind child smile with such joy while killing others.

  Inside the cave:

  “Finally back. What a relief. I’m exhausted today,” Yahiko sighed, leaning against the wall and stretching out his limbs.

  “Yeah, a lot happened today,” Nagato nodded in agreement, his experience today far surpassing that of an entire month.

  Konan gave a small, apologetic smile. “I’m sorry. I’ve caused everyone so much trouble.” Though she didn’t speak it aloud, deep down, she felt guilty for putting everyone through the effort of rescuing her.

  “It’s all for the best,” Reina replied, her face returning to its usual neutral expression.

  “Yeah! I didn’t expect Uncle Jūbē to actually share his food with us!” Yahiko said excitedly. After all, who would want to be a thief everyone hated if they could live peacefully?

  “But to maintain order in the market… Can we really do it?” Nagato asked, his usual ck of confidence returning.

  “There won’t be any problem. Normally, force isn’t required. Just keep an eye on the ones with sticky fingers, and they won’t get a chance to steal,” Reina had already learned the key points of maintaining order from Jūbē. “Besides, the situation is getting worse.”

  The group fell silent as they understood what Reina meant.

  As the war escated, resources would become even scarcer, and fewer people would be coming to the market. Although their location had been rgely untouched in the early stages of the war due to its geography, once the conflict reached its peak, major nations would inevitably target this area.

  Would ninja refrain from killing civilians during wartime? That was just talk. Ninja were also facing resource shortages, which meant they would raid vilges. And ninja battles themselves were destructive enough—just look at the abandoned towns in the Land of Rain, ruined by ninja conflicts.

  And sometimes, when passing through vilges, ninja would even raise their weapons against civilians to prevent their movements from being discovered.

  The peaceful life they had just begun to rebuild would likely be crushed by war before long.

  “Is the Land of Rain going to lose?” Konan’s voice was low, filled with sorrow. She hated war—she just wanted to live a peaceful life, growing up with Yahiko, Nagato, and Reina. But that was nothing but a fantasy. Once the Land of Rain lost, their lives as civilians would be unimaginable. She envied the people living in rger countries, especially those in major ninja vilges, who could choose their own paths to happiness.

  No one answered her question. Konan didn’t need an answer—everyone knew what the fate of the Land of Rain would be.

  Yahiko changed the subject and walked outside the cave, watching the raindrops fall. “I have a dream.”

  “A dream?” The others looked at Yahiko with confusion. Reina, having read the original story, had some idea of what he might say.

  “I want to conquer the world!” Yahiko shouted into the rain, raising his arms to the sky. “Once I conquer the world, we’ll never have to go hungry again, and no one will bully us. We can eat as much as we want, whatever we want!”

  The more Yahiko spoke, the more excited he became, imagining how wonderful life would be after conquering the world. “We’ll never have to worry about not waking up after we sleep. We won’t be afraid of being killed. We can live happily and peacefully, all the way to old age!”

  “That… you could get all that without conquering the world, right?” Reina felt a little sad. These weren’t unreasonable desires.

  “Eh? You don’t need to conquer the world? Don’t lie to me,” Yahiko said skeptically. He didn’t believe such a life could be achieved without becoming the king of the world.

  “Really? How would we live then?” Konan and Nagato turned to Reina.

  “...” Reina was stumped. Well, it was true that these things could be done without conquering the world, but… how?

  After everything they’d been through, would they ever encounter the Sannin again? And without becoming a ninja, how could they achieve this?

  Seeing Reina’s silence, Yahiko sighed, disappointed. “I guess I still need to conquer the world, huh?”

  “Then how do you pn to conquer the world?” Reina shot back.

  “...” Yahiko was caught off guard. He didn’t know how to conquer the world, but he quickly turned the topic back to the others. “By the way, do any of you have dreams? I still don’t know.”

  “Become the strongest, and then live,” Reina answered without hesitation. She had already confirmed this was her dream.

  “You don’t need to be the strongest to survive, right?” Yahiko was puzzled. If only the strongest could survive, then there would only be one person left in the world, wouldn’t there?

  “Really? How would we survive then?” Konan and Nagato looked at Yahiko.

  “Uh…” Yahiko was stumped again. That’s right, without being the strongest, you’d still get killed. Oh! “Reina!” Yahiko suddenly shouted excitedly.

  “Huh?” Reina was puzzled, not sure why he was shouting.

  “You become the strongest and then conquer the world with me! The strongest can definitely conquer the world, right?” Yahiko was fired up. He figured out how to conquer the world.

  “...So in the end, it’s still up to me to figure out how to conquer the world?” Reina sighed in resignation.

  “Become the strongest, then conquer the world... That way, everyone can live happily,” Yahiko said with determination.

  Reina’s dream of becoming the strongest had now become Yahiko’s dream too. And Nagato, lost in thought, realized that Reina’s and Yahiko’s dreams were now his own.

  Konan smiled softly. “My dream is to live with all of you, to help you achieve your dreams.”

  At that moment, their dreams intertwined. No one could break the bond that held them together through their shared aspirations.