Late Night

  Hayami Reina opened his eyes, wide awake—not from any typical wakefulness, but from excitement.

  In his dream, he had successfully tested the abilities of his cheat-like power. He used the method of killing and then sleeping to infinitely evolve, growing stronger with each cycle. He had become the “ultimate individual” that Orochimaru spoke of—the one who could wield all ninja techniques, with no weaknesses, and was immortal, an unkilble existence.

  Just as he was about to defeat Kaguya Otsutsuki and cim victory, the exhiration of being invincible jolted him awake.

  Even though it was only a dream, Reina couldn’t shake his excitement. He wasn’t pnning on going back to sleep; instead, he wanted to test the new abilities he had gained.

  Night vision? No.

  Superhuman hearing? No.

  Divine strength? No.

  Never tired? No!

  Nothing at all!

  Reina was filled with frustration. Could it be that his guess was wrong, or perhaps the ability was unreted to his physical form? That didn’t make sense—based on his reasoning, the power that evolved should be what he needed most. Strength and stamina were definitely weaknesses of his.

  He left his sleeping quarters and drew out his hunting knife, swinging it around, rolling, jumping, and trying every movement he could think of, but there was no change.

  In the end, breathless and utterly exhausted, Reina was ready to return to his bed and sleep again. But as he stepped into the cave’s interior, suddenly—click—the lights flickered on.

  Yahiko's eyes widened in terror as he stared at Reina, holding the hunting knife and panting like a wild animal, standing next to Konan.

  "Calm down! Don't act rashly! Control your killing intent! Aren't we comrades?" Yahiko shouted, waking up Nagato and Konan.

  "What? What's happening?" Konan rubbed her eyes, looking at Reina and still unsure of the situation.

  "What’s going on?" Nagato began, but upon seeing Reina standing next to Konan with a knife, his words caught in his throat. He quickly rolled out of bed, flipping onto the floor. "No, Reina! Konan hasn’t done anything wrong! Aren’t we good friends?"

  "…" Reina’s thoughts paused. Yes, aren’t we comrades? Aren’t we friends? Could you give me just a bit more trust?

  "Reina… are you going to kill me? Why…?" Konan’s eyes began to tear up as she realized what Reina was about to do, unable to believe it.

  They had only known each other for a little over a week, but as the only other female in their group, Konan had already come to trust Reina completely.

  "I had a good dream and got excited, so I couldn’t sleep and decided to stretch a bit," Reina said, twitching his mouth in an awkward attempt at an expnation.

  "Even so, don’t use Konan to work out!" Yahiko yelled, devastated.

  "...NMD, at least let me finish expining, and that comment you made was very ambiguous!" Reina grumbled, veins popping on his forehead, but his tone was oddly calm.

  Seeing that the others were still confused, unable to make sense of the situation, Reina tossed the knife aside and decided to settle things with his fists.

  In the end, Yahiko and Nagato couldn’t keep up with Reina, who was growing more exhirated as the fight went on. Both of them ended up battered and lying on the ground.

  "Are you both clear-headed now?" Reina stood with a cold expression.

  "Clear-headed," Yahiko and Nagato muttered, covering their bruised faces.

  "Let me expin again. I woke up, couldn’t sleep, so I worked out a bit, and when I got tired, I came back," Reina reiterated, still maintaining his innocence.

  "Okay, okay, when I woke up and saw you holding a knife, panting like you couldn’t control yourself, I got freaked out," Yahiko replied, resigned. "It’s all your fault, Reina. After that weird smile you had when you killed that sve trader earlier, it’s left a psychological scar."

  "What do you mean 'couldn't control myself'? I was just tired! Besides, Konan was sleeping right next to me, so what’s so strange about me standing there?" Reina said, walking over to pick up the knife and return it to its sheath.

  Konan gave an awkward smile. Since Reina had arrived, she often pulled him into bed to sleep together.

  "By the way, ever since that thing happened during the day, you guys have been doubting my mental state, huh? I need to clear this up: I don’t have any mental issues or psychological problems," Reina decided to bring up the issue directly.

  "Uh, it’s not that I don’t trust you, Reina, but... why did you smile when you were killing?" Nagato asked, confused.

  "I won’t smile anymore," Reina said with a hint of sadness. After all the trouble, it seemed like he’d lost his ability to smile altogether—he’d have to live with a cold face from now on.

  "...That’s not what I meant! It’s just... your smile is so nice. Why don’t you smile more often instead of smiling only when you’re killing?" Nagato said, his voice growing quieter. He suddenly felt like if Reina never smiled again, he’d feel guilty about it for the rest of his life.

  "Like this?" Reina grinned, but it wasn’t the eerie smile after a kill—it was a perfect, prepared-for-killing smile.

  The beautiful smile, so breathtaking that it took their breath away, made both Yahiko and Nagato shudder in fear.

  "What’s wrong with you two? It’s a cute smile, isn’t it?" Konan innocently poked Reina’s cheek with a smile.

  No! You don’t understand! This is just the first smile, meant to make people lower their guard. The second smile, after the kill, is the real psychological terror! It’s her true nature!

  Seeing Yahiko and Nagato’s reaction, Reina finally gave in. "Fine, I get what you’re thinking. I won’t smile like that anymore. I’ll smile more normally, okay?" He said, curling his lips into a faint, gentle smile.

  "Oh! You can still do it!" Yahiko gave a thumbs-up.

  "Yeah... if you could smile like that all the time, that would be great," Nagato said in a small voice, feeling his face grow hot.

  And so, with Yahiko and Nagato’s efforts, Reina finally adjusted his smile. Heh, they thought too much—this wasn’t a big deal.

  The Next Day

  "Haah~" x4. The group yawned in unison. Yawning was contagious, especially when no one had slept much the night before.

  The group, with slight bags under their eyes, donned raincoats and walked to the market.

  "Hey, kids, why do you all have dark circles under your eyes? You can’t skip your rest! I’m telling you, that’s why I—" A half-bald thug, Keiji, greeted them as he approached.

  "Hello, Keiji! Weren’t you supposed to be off-duty from market surveilnce?" Nagato, who knew Keiji’s quirks, interrupted quickly, hoping to avoid Keiji’s usual long-winded speech.

  "Well, I was just coming to say hi. I’ll be leaving soon. The Steel Ball Head guy was supposed to meet you, but since the market’s manpower has been reassigned to town surveilnce, they’ll need to redistribute, so he won’t be here until the afternoon."

  "Does he need us for something?" Reina asked, confused. After all, Jūbē wasn’t someone who usually came to the market.

  "If I knew, I’d tell you. But I’m not a mind reader. He probably has something in mind. Anyway, I’m off!" Keiji waved as he turned away.

  "So what’s he really here for?" The group exchanged puzzled looks.

  Afternoon

  Jūbē rushed over, seeing the group with nothing to do. He stepped forward and asked, "Hey, do you want to train?"

  "I want to become a ninja!" Yahiko shouted eagerly.

  "In a world where ninjas rule everything, what’s the point of training?" Nagato asked, confused.

  "I want to give it a try," Konan said seriously. She didn’t want to miss the chance to grow stronger and help everyone.

  Jūbē turned his gaze to Reina. In truth, he was offering this training mainly for Reina. He felt that Reina had great potential, and with his pain tolerance and fighting ability, he had a distinct advantage over others—he wouldn’t freeze up due to pain.

  "Do you know any ninjas?" After a brief silence, Reina asked, even though he wasn’t sure what to expect. After all, Jūbē was a local legend—the "Stone Lion"—so maybe he really did know some ninjas.