The dawn that broke over Konohagakure was not the golden, hopeful light of the recruitment posters. It was a bruised purple, the color of a fresh welt, filtered through a thick layer of autumn mist. For Kaito, the morning air felt heavy, saturated with the metallic scent of the sharpening stones used by the shinobi gathering at the main gates.
He stood in the center of his small, sparsely furnished room. On the bed lay his newly issued flak jacket—a standard olive-green vest that felt far too large for his seven-year-old frame. He didn't reach for it immediately. Instead, he stood in the center of the room, his eyes closed, performing the "Morning Calibration."
Hiss... Haaaa...
> [System Status: Pre-Deployment]
> Current Integration: 1.2%
> Core Skill: Total Concentration Breathing (Constant - Rank: F)
> Active Buffs: [The Healer's Trust] - (Recovery Rate +10%)
> Internal Reserves: Oxygen Saturation 98%.
>
The reward from the Academy spar had changed him. The "Constant" rank meant he no longer had to consciously pull the air into the bottom of his lungs; his body did it for him, a rhythmic, mechanical hum that vibrated in his marrow. He felt stronger, yes, but he also felt different. He was starting to lose the soft, rounded edges of childhood. His muscles were becoming lean, dense, and unnervingly quiet.
He pulled on the vest, cinched the straps tight, and stepped out into the waking village.
The Gates of Departure
The village gates were a chaotic symphony of war preparation. Carts filled with medical supplies and explosive tags rattled over the cobblestones. Jonin commanders barked orders to nervous-looking Genin, many of whom were barely older than Kaito.
In the center of the chaos, three figures stood out.
Jiraiya was leaning against a stone pillar, uncharacteristically silent, fiddling with the wire of his shuriken. Tsunade stood beside him, her arms crossed, her eyes scanning the crowd with a fierce intensity. And Orochimaru... he was watching the gate, his pale skin making him look like a ghost in the morning mist.
They were "Team Hiruzen," the darlings of the Academy. But they were also children being sent to a slaughterhouse.
"Kaito!" Jiraiya's voice broke the tension. He waved, a small, forced grin returning to his face. "Hey, look at you! You actually look like a ninja in that vest. Though it's a bit big, isn't it? Makes you look like a turtle."
Kaito walked toward them, his footsteps silent—a byproduct of the Observation Haki training that had become his second nature. "It'll fit better once I grow into it, Jiraiya-san."
"If we grow into them," Orochimaru murmured, his yellow eyes settling on Kaito's throat. "I saw your medical report, Kaito-kun. The doctors are baffled. They say your lung capacity is three times the norm for your age. I find myself wondering... is it the breathing that changed your body, or was your body built for the breathing?"
Kaito met the gaze. The "intent" coming off Orochimaru was no longer just curiosity; it was a cold, academic hunger. "Does it matter? As long as it keeps us alive in the Rain."
Tsunade stepped between them, her presence acting as a buffer. She looked at Kaito and nodded once. "Stay close to your Sensei, Kaito. We're being deployed to the Southern sector. You're going to the West with the 'Uchiha detachment'. It's going to be... different there."
Before Kaito could ask what she meant, a shadow fell over the group.
Kagami Uchiha materialized from the mist. He didn't use a Body Flicker; he simply seemed to cohere from the fog. He looked at Kaito, his expression unreadable.
"Kaito. It's time," Kagami said. He didn't look at the Sannin. He didn't acknowledge the prestige of Hiruzen's students. To Kagami, there was only the mission. "Say your goodbyes. We leave in sixty seconds."
Tsunade reached out, her hand lingering on Kaito's shoulder for a moment. "Don't be a hero, Kaito. Heroes are the ones we bury first."
The Road to the West
The journey toward the Land of Rain was a lesson in the erosion of humanity.
As they moved away from the lush, vibrant forests of the Land of Fire, the world began to lose its color. The vibrant greens turned to sickly olives; the clear streams became sluggish and brown. By the third day, the sky had turned into a permanent, weeping grey.
Kaito moved in perfect sync with Kagami. He didn't use chakra to stick to the trees; he used the raw explosive power of his legs, timed with the rhythmic release of his breath.
"You're not using the standard Shinobi gait," Kagami observed, his voice cutting through the sound of the wind. They were moving at a high-Jonin pace, a test Kaito knew was intentional. "You're leaping. Minimizing contact with the surface. Why?"
"Surfaces can be trapped," Kaito replied, his voice steady despite the speed. "Chakra leaves a trail. If I don't use it, a sensor has to look for a physical presence. If I'm in the air, I'm harder to find."
Kagami's eyebrows flickered—a rare sign of approval. "Logical. But it's taxing on the muscles. Most Genin would have collapsed two hours ago."
"I'm not most Genin, Sensei," Kaito said.
> [System Notification]
> Condition Met: Endurance Training under Stress.
> Physical Integrity: +0.5%
> Relationship Progress: Kagami Uchiha (The Mentor's Observation) - [Level 2].
>
"Tell me, Kaito," Kagami said, his Sharingan suddenly spinning into life, the red glow stark against the grey afternoon. "Why did you choose the Academy? A civilian with your physical gifts could have lived a wealthy life as a merchant's guard or a gladiator in the capital. Why become a tool for a village that doesn't even know your last name?"
Kaito slowed his pace slightly, his mind flashing back to the cold, empty room of his childhood. "Because in the capital, you're a slave to someone else's gold. In Konoha, even a nobody can become a monster. And monsters... monsters don't have to be afraid of the dark."
Kagami remained silent for a long time. The wind howled through the skeletal trees. "Fear is a powerful motivator," Kagami finally said. "But it's a poor anchor. If fear is all you have, you'll eventually become the very thing you're hiding from."
The First Blood of the Rain
They reached the border of Amegakure on the fourth evening.
The rain didn't start as a storm; it started as a fine, needle-like mist that soaked through everything. It tasted of iron and rot.
Kagami signaled for a halt. They were perched on a jagged rock outcropping overlooking a narrow ravine. Below them, the mud was churned up by hundreds of footsteps.
"We're in the 'Grey Zone'," Kagami whispered. "The border between our scouts and the Rain's assassins. Hanzo's men don't fight like the Iwa or the Kumo. They don't want a battle. They want an execution."
Kaito flared his Observation Haki.
The world turned to a monochrome map. He felt the rain hitting the earth, the rustle of the leaves... and then, he felt it.
Intent.
It was cold. It was hidden beneath the sound of the falling water. Three signatures. They were moving through the mud with a terrifying, liquid grace.
"Left, forty degrees. High ground," Kaito whispered, his hand instinctively moving to the handle of his kunai.
Kagami didn't doubt him. He didn't even look. He vanished.
CLANG.
The sound of steel meeting steel echoed through the ravine. Kagami appeared ten meters away, his short-sword clashing with a jagged, serrated blade held by a man wearing a gas mask and a rain-slicked cloak.
"Two more!" Kaito shouted.
He didn't wait for Kagami's order. He dived off the ledge.
In mid-air, he took a massive, rattling breath.
"Total Concentration... Burst!"
His heart hammered once, a sound like a bass drum. The world slowed down. He saw the second Rain ninja rising from the mud, a series of senbon needles held between his fingers.
Kaito didn't use a jutsu. He used gravity.
He landed on the ninja's shoulders, his weight doubled by the force of his momentum. He didn't use his blade. He drove his elbow into the top of the ninja's head.
THUD.
The sound was dull and final. The man's neck collapsed into his chest. Kaito didn't look at the body. He rolled, the mud coating his green vest, and looked for the third.
The third assassin was already upon him. The man moved like water, his body swaying in a way that defied the Observation Haki's initial read. He swung a weighted chain—a kusarigama—aimed at Kaito's throat.
He's fast, Kaito thought, his pulse skyrocketing. Too fast.
He felt the cold bite of the chain as it wrapped around his left arm. The ninja pulled, intent on shredding Kaito's limb.
> [System Alert]
> Combat Stress Detected.
> Emergency Integration: Jujutsu Kaisen - [Divergent Fist] (Initial Spark).
> Warning: Neural feedback will be severe.
>
Kaito didn't fight the chain. He let it pull him in. He closed the distance, his right fist glowing with a faint, distorted shimmer that looked like heat haze.
The Rain ninja's eyes widened behind his mask. He tried to kick Kaito away, but Kaito took the hit to the ribs, the bone groaning but not breaking.
"Divergent... Fist!"
Kaito's punch hit the man's stomach.
The first impact was weak—the punch of a seven-year-old. The ninja began to smirk, ready to counter-attack.
Then, the second impact hit.
The delayed wave of kinetic energy, fueled by the System's foreign logic, exploded a microsecond later. It didn't just hit the man's stomach; it traveled through his organs, rupturing his spleen and shattering his spine.
The assassin was launched backward, his body skipping across the mud like a stone. He didn't get up.
The Human Cost
Silence returned to the ravine, save for the endless, rhythmic drum of the rain.
Kaito stood in the mud, his left arm bleeding where the chain had bitten deep. He was trembling—not from fear, but from the Divergent Fist's recoil. His nervous system felt as if it were being scraped by a hot iron.
Kagami appeared beside him. He looked at the two bodies, then at Kaito's shaking hand.
"You didn't use chakra," Kagami said, his voice low and heavy. "That wasn't a jutsu. It was... something else. Something that shouldn't exist."
Kaito looked at his mentor. He wanted to explain the System, the verses, the "Hollow" nature of his power. But the words wouldn't come. Instead, he just looked at the blood on his knuckles.
"They were going to kill us, Sensei," Kaito said, his voice small.
Kagami reached out and placed a hand on Kaito's head. It was the first time he had shown affection, but his eyes were filled with a deep, haunting sadness.
"Yes, they were," Kagami said. "Welcome to the war, Kaito. You've just taken your first step into the abyss. Make sure you don't forget the way back out."
> [Quest Complete: The Blood of the Rain]
> Reward: 500 System Points.
> Status: 1/10 Kills for 'The Ghost of the Rain' title.
> Note: Your physical body is adapting. You are no longer 'Human' in the eyes of the System. You are an 'Anomaly'.
>
As they began to drag the bodies into the undergrowth to hide their trail, Kaito looked toward the horizon. The Land of Rain was waiting for him, and he knew that by the time he left this place, he wouldn't be a child anymore.