Naruto: I, Uchiha, Just Want to Die

Chapter 34: Then Let Me Be Your Jashin!

Not far away, the arrogant brat's eyes turned red as he angrily threw the firewood in his hands onto the ground with a thud.

With a few strides, he rushed forward and grabbed Uchiha Ci by the collar.

Tears welled up in Hidan's eyes, and he sniffled hard. Though his expression was that of a defeated dog, his eyes burned with furious flames!

Gripping Uchiha Ci's collar, he roared:

"Do you know what you've done!?"

"Didn't we agree to join the Jashin Cult together!?"

"Didn't we agree that we had a bright future ahead of us!?"

"Why? Why did you trample on my dreams, crush my will into the dirt, and make it worthless?"

Hidan's voice gradually broke, a sob creeping into his words:

"Why!? Why!?"

"Tell me, why is it like this?!"

"I thought we were friends!"

The early spring wind brushed against their faces, the faint light reflecting off the thin mist.

Before the campfire, the crackling of burning embers echoed in the quiet.

Hidan lowered his head, looking like someone who had failed his first job interview, and when reflecting on why he failed, realized it was because his hanging partner from a bargain app suddenly turned on him and killed the seller.

For Hidan, who had already grown deeply disappointed in the inaction of the Hot Water Village and longed to join the Jashin Cult to restore the glory of the Land of Hot Water,

this was like being struck by lightning.

Uchiha Ci took a deep breath and lightly patted the hand that was gripping his collar.

Counting this, it was already the second time Hidan had saved him.

And he could understand Hidan's feelings at the moment.

It was similar to when he recently tried to blow up three Cloud ninja, only to be foiled by a random scroll that forcefully pinned him down, leaving him with nothing.

The same feeling of desperation, the same sense of hopelessness, at that time, Uchiha Ci had felt like biting Moroi to death.

Imagine this: you've spent months preparing for a top job, only to arrive at the interview and find out the whole company got arrested in a crackdown.

You return home, heartbroken, only for your mom to hand you a plunger and tell you to clean the toilet.

But when you enter the bathroom, you find it's grown fifty times larger, like a football field, filled with garbage.

The gap between ideal and reality is soul-crushing.

The current state of the Land of Hot Water is exactly like that overflowing football field.

And now, Hidan—this cocky kid with no bloodline limit, no powerful ninjutsu, no money, and no power—he didn't even have a decent plunger.

Uchiha Ci looked directly at Hidan, exhaling heavily, and asked seriously:

"Hidan, do you really want to join the Jashin Cult?"

"Your dream, your will—"

"Is it truly to become the next 'demigod' and restore the Land of Hot Water, or is it really to worship that worthless so-called Jashin?"

Upon hearing this, Hidan reacted as if someone had smacked him over the head, instantly enraged:

"What do you know?!"

"Ci, or should I say, Uchiha Ci, what do you, a ninja from a major village and a big clan, know?!"

"The Land of Hot Water, caught between the great nations, has nothing!"

"No sovereignty, no hope, no power!"

"So, we can only rely on Jashin!"

"Pray for His arrival to purge everything!"

"Only then can we save our hopeless country!"

Uchiha Ci's gaze sharpened as he asked in a low voice:

"So, what you want is simply a future where the Land of Hot Water is saved? A power capable of rescuing it?"

"That, that is the 'Jashin' you truly seek!"

"Am I right?"

Hidan fell silent for a moment, then scoffed, shaking his head:

"Are you going to lecture me like my jonin instructor did?"

His gaze at Uchiha Ci grew cold as he mockingly sneered:

"Uchiha Ci, you talk so well!"

"Only someone like you, from a big village, a big clan, could say such pretty words!"

"A bright future, great power—such tempting ideas!"

"But who will give them to me?"

"If I don't beg like a dog, who will give someone like me—weak, helpless, and with nothing—power?"

Uchiha Ci's eyes flashed sharply. In a swift movement, he pinched the brat's nose with two fingers and flipped him over his shoulder.

Hidan never expected Uchiha Ci to attack suddenly.

With a thud, he was slammed to the ground.

Lying on his back,

from this angle, he gazed up at Uchiha Ci.

Uchiha Ci's Sharingan flashed crimson as his eyes opened and closed.

Bending down, he stepped over Hidan, glaring down at him with those blood-red eyes.

Then, Uchiha Ci's gaze firmed, his tone resolute as he declared:

"I will give it to you!"

"You want power? I can be your power!"

"You want a future? I can carve that future out with my own hands!"

"If you're so desperate, helpless, and powerless, feeling like you can't do anything, achieve anything, then—"

"Stand behind me!"

"You, just stay behind and watch as I take your will and fulfill your dream!"

Uchiha Ci raised his hand and tapped Hidan on the forehead with his fingers, his voice filled with conviction:

"Let me be your Jashin!"

Uchiha Ci's words struck Hidan like a hammer, echoing in his ears like a tolling bell!

Hidan's eyes went blank as though the words had torn open his wounds, exposing his heart.

And then, without realizing it, a tear slipped down his cheek, falling onto the damp earth.

In the Land of Hot Water, no one had ever acknowledged Hidan's will or recognized his dreams as valid in such a firm tone!

Everyone had always told Hidan:

Run away, we can't win, it's none of our business, just become Jashin's dog.

But this man had rejected all of that!

He even had the audacity to claim he'd steal Hidan's dream away from him!

Uchiha Ci—he was an absolute madman, crazily arrogant!

Hidan opened his mouth, swallowing a tear-choked gulp of air, staring dumbfounded at Uchiha Ci.

At the spinning black tomoe in his crimson eyes.

Those tomoe seemed to embody the strongest will in the world!

Under the mesmerizing gaze of those eyes,

Hidan's throat went dry, his scalp tingling.

Every argument he could think of suddenly felt weak and hollow.

In the end, all he could manage was to ask in a broken voice:

"Why?"

"You're just a genin, an Uchiha with only one tomoe Sharingan, a mere pawn in this world-spanning Third Great Ninja War!"

"How dare you say such things?!"

Uchiha Ci frowned, momentarily glancing at his own status panel, which read:

[Employee: Uchiha Ci.]

[Insurance status: Paid.]

He coughed twice, then responded righteously—