*Flashback*
Inside a dark prison room where light hardly passed through the window, a little kid could be seen crouching down on his knees.
He had snow-white hair, ocean-blue eyes, and a cute face that was guaranteed to turn into a devastatingly handso one once he grew up.
However, that cute face was now filled with an agonizing expression. This little boy, who was less than 130 cm tall, had a bloodied kunai in his right hand.
His hands were shaking. Seeing the blood pooling beside him and the corpse of the man, from whom the blood had originated, he almost couldn't resist the urge to vomit.
He thought he was ready. He thought he was prepared.
But reality hit him hard.
The stench of fresh blood, the corpse of a human, the visceral sensation he felt on his hands when his kunai was plunged into this now-dead man's neck—everything felt straight out of a nightmare.
Still, this was his truth now.
This was his life.
And this was also the first ti he had taken a human life.
The blood, the gore, and the intestines were nothing new. He had enthusiastically killed and gutted wild rabbits, chickens, and boars while camping outside with his family.
But taking the life of a living, breathing human? This was his first.
And honestly, it was utterly revolting.
When his kunai pierced this man's throat, he clearly felt the sensation of the tearing muscle tissues, the collapse of the voice box, and the resistance from the vertebrae before it too broke apart under the forceful thrust of his kunai.
Although he only felt these sensations for a brief mont, they continued to linger in his mind. And that made his stomach twist.
But the boy knew that he had to get used to it.
Because sooner or later, he would have to face bandits, thieves, enemy ninjas, and others who would co after his life.
And if he wanted to survive, he had to take their lives before they could end his.
Thinking this far, he strengthened his resolve.
And chakra, the miraculous energy of this world, answered his resolve and bolstered his spirit, helping him solidify his willpower.
The ntal agony, uncomfortable twisting feeling in his stomach, and his shaking hands remained the sa.
However, his gaze hardened. His ocean-blue eyes turned crimson with three pitch-black tomoe slowly rotating within his pair of glowing irises.
He took a deep breath and then exhaled. He continued this multiple tis before his nerves cooled down a bit.
His hands, which were shaking uncontrollably, seed to calm down a bit.
Although they were still shaking, the intensity decreased by several notches.
Suddenly, a voice rang out from his left side.
"Good. You're calm now."
Hearing this, the boy slowly turned his neck and looked at the man standing beside him.
The man had a handso face, wild silver hair, deep crimson eyes, and three red markings on his face, two under his eyes and one on his chin.
This man was none other than Senju Tobirama.
And today, he had brought his seven-year-old son, Seii, to the Konoha prison to experience taking his first human life.
Of course, since the man he selected for Seii to kill was a heinous criminal, these kill tests didn't matter to him.
These prisoners weren't Konoha's citizens anyway. They could die for all he cared.
If it were the Warring States Era, many Shinobi clans, including the Senju clan, might have just used war captives and commoners from the faraway regions to let their clan prodigies experience their first human kills.
Why would they do such a thing?
Of course, it was to make their clan prodigies and heirs ntally resilient enough, so they wouldn't freeze after taking their first human lives on actual battlefields.
Ninjas were still human.
Many would still find it hard to co to terms with killing a fellow human.
If the young prodigies couldn't adapt to all the blood, gore, and the nauseating stench of the at grinder of a battlefield, and they suddenly die because of their hesitation, wouldn't that be a huge loss for the clan?
So, during the Warring States Period, many ninja clans sacrificed a large number of war captives and common people to help their prodigies and young heirs get used to the bloodshed and killing.
Now, such treatnt was only reserved for the prodigies and clan heirs.
As for the regular clan mbers, at most, they would make them team up with relatively experienced ninjas to carry out a couple of extermination missions.
If they still couldn't adapt after that, they were unfit to beco ninjas. Their only fates would have been that of cannon fodder, dying "gloriously" on the battlefield.
Compared to that, Konoha's way of letting young ninjas experience first blood was still humane under the rule of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
The Genin needed to experience first blood in a relatively safe environnt? Let them take a few C-rank bandit or thief extermination missions first.
After all, a trained Genin normally wouldn't die in the hands of bandits or thieves who were still common people.
As for clan heirs…
Seii just experienced how they planned to make them accustod to blood, gore, and taking the lives of fellow humans.
If Seii were in a clear state of mind now and weren't so shaken after committing his first murder, he would have sarcastically praised his uncle for coming up with such a great and "humane" plan.
And this was just the Senju clan.
Who knows what the other clans were doing?
Never mind.
However, his internal monologue was cut short as Tobirama spoke once again.
"I see you are still struggling to accept the reality."
"But don't worry."
"You will get used to it, eventually."
"We will co back to this place next week. And you will kill another criminal. We will continue this every week until you beco immune to the negative psychological effects of killing humans."
Seii's hands, which had been still for a while, shook again, briefly.
At that mont, Tobirama walked toward him and placed his hand on the head of the seven-year-old Seii.
His voice contained a rare softness as Tobirama continued to speak.
"I know it's tough, but you must hold on, my son."
"This is the path you chose. This is the path we all chose."
"The path to becoming a Shinobi."
"A path filled with blood, murder, chaos, and carnage."
"However, we must keep walking on this path."
"To protect everything we hold dear."
"To do that, we must rip anything and everything that threatens our people and ho to shreds."
"Chakra beasts, bandits, arsonists, the enemy ninjas—we must cut down all of them and send their souls to the Pure Land."
And then, we should use the Impure World Reincarnation technique to let them fight their own kind. My elder brother won't agree to this, though.
Tobirama thought in his mind before he continued to speak to motivate Seii and help him stabilize his ntal state.
Finally, he ended his well-crafted speech with a final dose of motivation.
"Seii, my son."
"From this day onward, you are a real Shinobi."
It was on that day that Seii knew he had beco a true Shinobi.
And now, there was no going back. Not that he intended to, either.
After that day, the seven-year-old Seii kept visiting the Konoha prison once every week with his father and killed a human with his very own hands.
At first, it was still sickening.
However, no matter how sickening sothing was, if you kept doing it without completely losing your mind, you would eventually get used to it.
And that was exactly what happened.
After months of killing, Seii, a soul from Earth who had once condemned the very thought of murdering fellow humans, got used to killing humans himself.
His morals beca more flexible. His emotions beca a little more twisted. Even his sense of humor darkened a bit.
Although he was still a kind boy with a sunny smile who treated most people and allies with kindness and sincerity, he would always turn into a ruthless demon when he faced chakra beasts or other enemies.
Well, it was probably for the good.
After all, if you couldn't ruthlessly eliminate your enemies and hostile targets without burdening your mind, you could never beco a qualified Shinobi in this twisted world.
It was at that mont that Seii finally understood a profound truth.
"Ah!"
"So, all strong ninjas were deranged bastards after all."
Then, he suddenly thought about the original Naruto ani he had watched in his previous life and rembered an iconic character.
The Fourth Hokage of Konoha—Namikaze Minato.
When he thought about how that golden, sunny boy with a gentle personality slaughtered hundreds of Iwagakure ninjas like cutting vegetables without batting an eye, he felt as if he had discovered the true face of this world.
"Never mind. If every ninja is a lunatic, can you even call this group of professional killers lunatics?"
"Of course not."
"When everyone is doing the sa thing, it becos a norm."
"I was worried about nothing."
"It's better to get back to more grinding."
*Flashback Ends*
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