๐ผ๐ช๐ฉ๐๐ค๐ง ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐: ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ14 ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐'๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ช๐ฏ14 ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ . ๐ซ๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ช๐ฏ16 ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
Keeping at a fast but comfortable pace, he managed to avoid worsening the condition of his ribs any further. After half an hour of searching, he finally found what he was looking for.
"How clichรฉโฆ" He grumbled as he stared at a cave with two suspicious individuals standing guard outside of it.
Thankfully, he hadn't yet suffered the backlash from the Military Ration Pills, so he was able to fight, even despite his injuries.
Flicking two shuriken toward the cave entrance, a matching number of bodies slumped to the ground. Hikaru then appeared from behind a tree and waltzed right into the cave. There were ten more bandits inside, all of which were quickly disposed of. It wasn't a large cave; there were few things inside it, only the essentials like beds, a few tables and chairs, some barrels of food, andโฆ chests. "Bingo!" The Uchiha happily called out as soon as he spotted the chests.
He then wondered if bingo existed in this strange new world of his. Shogi and various gambling games existed, but did bingo exist in Asia? He wasn't sure, so he promptly dismissed the pointless pondering.
Opening up the first chest, he was rewarded with ninja tools of various makes and designs.
"Boringโฆ" He concluded, after rifling through it for a short time, finding no ancient artifact or legendary weapon inside.
Moving onto the second chest, he was more pleased by his discovery. It was filled two-thirds of the way with Ryo of different denominations. Picking out only the highest value Ryo, he soon packed his bag half full of the currency. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ, ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ, ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ตโฆ
Sighing at the losses he had to suffer, Hikaru then opened the next chest, the final one. Or at least, he tried to open it. ๐๐ฎ๐ฎ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ถ๐ฑ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ด ๐ท๐ถ๐ญ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ต๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช?
Empowering his fist with chakra, he thrust it through the chest's lock, completely destroying it. Then, after swinging the chest open, Hikaru frowned in concentration. Within the center of the chest lay something resembling a handheld vacuum cleaner. He had seen this before, but he had difficulty locating the memory.
Picking up the item, he then inspected the wooden item. It had a grip and trigger near the back and a large box about half the size of a human head beneath and behind the said trigger. Opening up the box, he found what must have been a hundred kunai all tightly packed together inside.
Understanding flooded his mind. ๐๐ต'๐ด ๐ข ๐ฌ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ช ๐ญ๐ข๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ! ๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ด ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฌ๐บ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ข๐ถ๐ญ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ข. ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต, ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฌ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐บ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ช ๐๐ข๐ณ?
Running his hands across the wood, he considered how useful such an item would be. It would almost certainly be very costly, rapidly using up kunai. However, the cost could be mitigated somewhat by collecting the kunai after they were fired and stealing from enemy shinobi.
He thought back to the scene of a weapon like this easily tearing apart Konoha shinobi that were at least chunin if their flak jackets were any indicator. Yes, while being utterly ineffectual by itself against anyone more skilled than the most mediocre of shinobi, it would undoubtedly be a great boon to his limited arsenal.
๐'๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต. Placing the weapon in his bag, Hikaru rummaged through the rest of the chest. Most of it was just documents of one kind or another, which after an initial glance, he deemed to be unimportant. There were some documents of relevance, though, such as ones that detailed a contract between the now wiped out bandit group and some person Hikaru didn't know. Knowing Konoha would want to see these documents, he stuffed them in his bag and stood back up. Performing one final sweep of the cave, he still could not find any trace of prisoners or the men of the village who had attacked the bandits.
"Wellโฆ At least they'll have closure." He mumbled as he left the hideout and began his journey back to the village.
Arriving at the village, his return was welcomed with both relief and sadness. For it meant that he hadn't fallen victim to what remained of the bandits, but it also meant that not one of those who went out to fight the bandits had survived.
Yua, who was caring for her daughter, could only sigh. She had known that it would be the case that none survived. She had known this, and yetโฆ She still couldn't help but hope otherwise. If there were even the slightest chance, she would irrationally grab onto it, regardless of what her mind said.
Mihiro, who had been patrolling the village, slammed his fist against the wall of a destroyed home, unable to bear the guilt. He had wanted to join in on the expedition. He had wanted to protect his home with everyone else, to be a man. But he was told to stay, told that he was too young. He could have gone anyway if he genuinely wanted to, but he didn't. Why should he have survived when those much braver had been cut down like pigs? Why he, who was a coward?
After telling a crowd what he had discovered (minus his ill-gotten gains), Hikaru again entered the makeshift hospital. It had taken him another half an hour to return since he was in no hurry and did not need to waste time searching for the village as he did with the cave.
Entering, he straightaway heard two voices engaged in a small argument.
"I'm fine. I can still help."
"Young lady, you are not fine. You've run yourself ragged. Just rest some more, that is the best thing you can do, right now." An elderly voice advised.
"No, I need to-" The weary girl abruptly stopped mid-sentence when she saw who had just entered.
"Hey, Anzu. You look terrible."
Any words she planned on saying died in her throat as she automatically let loose a snarky remark. "Hmph, is that any way to speak to a lady? You don't look so hot yourself, ya know?"
"Ha, I think I happen to look quite charming with a scrunched-up nose and swollen face!" Grinning, he gave her a wink.
Anzu shook her head, "Who could you charming with that lookโฆ." While her initial response could be considered lively, this second one was devoid of almost any energy, as if she were merely reading lines from a script.
Looking between the two people in front of him, Hikaru waited a second before speaking further. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Weakly waving a hand, the orange-haired girl turned and began walking away. Stopping just before she entered the room given to her to sleep in, she voiced her feelings. "I-I think I'm going to quit being a shinobi. It's not for me. I can't handle it. I'm not like you and Ren." Without waiting for a reply, she quickly stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.
Standing rooted in place, Hikaru shook his head helplessly before nodding toward the elder and leaving the building. ๐๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ, ๐ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. Still, it was a minor annoyance since she had been a good fit with their team and would be replaced by someone else, someone who probably wouldn't synergize as well.
Having cleared the enemy hideout, the Uchiha found himself with nothing to do. He had already told the villagers of the cave and its contents, which included food supplies, so there was no need for him to hunt for food.
Since he had the time and nothing else to do, he simply meditated and trained his chakra control a little. He wasn't sure just how badly he would crash as a result of the Military Ration Pill or if he had already done so during his sleep, but that wouldn't stop him from training what he could, especially since physical exercise was off the table.
After finishing his meditation, which usually cleared his mind for a good while afterward, a thought struck Hikaru.
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ตโฆ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ถ๐ต๐ฐ? ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ข, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ด ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ถ๐บ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง, ๐บ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช-๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ช๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐น ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐งโฆ
Then another strange fact hit him.
๐๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ด, ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ช ๐ข๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ.
After considering other possibilities, Hikaru groaned involuntarily. This secret method seemed to even surpass the benefits of becoming a jinchลซriki or attaining Six Paths powers, to an extent. Yet, it was even harder to achieve since he knew next to nothing about it. Then, he recalled the weapon he had liberated from the bandit hideout.
๐๐ฎ๐ฎ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ, ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ต๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ, ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ ๐ณ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฉ๐ข'๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐ ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ๐ฃ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต.
"Ugh, what an annoying conundrum. I need power to attain power that I need in order to be powerful enough to attain said power." Sitting up, he rose from where he was seated in the middle of the small lake near the village. "One step at a time. It may seem agonizingly slow and ineffective, but I'll steadily grow my power for a time, before making my moves."
The dark specter that was the Uchiha Massacre loomed over him. Unlike the Third Shinobi War, this was something much more concerning to him. ๐ ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆโฆ ๐๐ข๐บ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ด๐ถ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ. ๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆโฆ
Although he naturally gravitated toward abandoning the village, he felt deep heartache at the prospect. Why? Was it because he felt Konoha was his home? Maybe the indoctrination had worked on him. No, that wasn't it. Was it that he enjoyed being in the place where the Naruto story centered? No again. Ohโฆ It was because of what letting the Uchiha Massacre implied.
๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ธ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆโฆ ๐๐ฐ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ด๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ง๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ช๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ. ๐๐ข๐ฎ๐ฏ ๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฉ๐ข ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ? ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ถ๐ช'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ, ๐๐ต๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ช'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ช๐ง ๐ธ๐ข๐ณ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐๐ถ๐จ๐ข๐ฌ๐ถ'๐ด ๐ง๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ฏโฆ
"I still have plenty of time to decide. Those worries can wait for now."
Rising to his feet, Hikaru left the small lake near the village that he had been sitting atop and, after a quick last check of the village, went to sleep. Crashing hard from the accumulated injuries, stress, and Military Ration Pills, he slept for 12 hours straight. After waking, he ate like a pig yet still felt thoroughly devoid of any energy.
Not long after Hikaru ate, a Konoha shinobi that he had never seen before arrived at the village. He was there to inform them of their order to return to Konoha to be treated for their injuries, give their reports, and recuperate. When asked what had become of Ren, both genin were relieved to discover that he had been treated in time and was recovering as they spoke. After thanking the shinobi, the remaining members of Team 5 began preparations to leave.
The entire remaining population of the village saw the two genin off with words of gratitude and promises that they would return the favor if called upon.
Right as Hikaru walked past the village boundary, a woman called out to him. Halting his movements, he turned to face Yua as she rushed toward him.
Out of breath from her sudden run, it took the woman several seconds before she collected herself. "I just had to thank you one last time. I realize that it's just a mission to you, just a duty you must fulfill. But that doesn't matter. It still means everything to me."
Opening his mouth to reply, he promptly shut it as Yua put a finger to his lips. "I meant what I said yesterday. That your name suits you. Your existence is like a radiant light in my life. I just hope that you can shine your radiance on others, on more people that need your help."
Yua smiled warmly for a moment, yet her face turned lovely to stern in an instant. "But that doesn't mean you should be a fool and risk your life more than is reasonable, more than can be expected of you."
Her hand moved from his lips to his cheek as she caressed his face and smiled softly, with a tinge of sadness. "Please. Don't be foolish. Don't be like my husband. If you want to continue being a shinobi, then fine, but please, don't die because of it."
"Live for yourself first and foremost, but please don't forget to live for others, too. I hope you will one day understand my words and become the best you that you can be." The caressing hand then gently pat his head, ruffling his hair. Saying these last words, she then took a step backward and beckoned her daughter over, who ran over to and threw her arms around Hikaru, thanking him for saving her life with tears streaming down her face.
More than once, Hikaru attempted to speak, yet with every at attempt, he was met with failure. He couldn't probably process everything that had just happened. All of the loving words, of gratitude, and of encouragement. All of the touching, of motherly intent, and of childish appreciation. It was not something he was equipped to handle. A maniac intending to murder him was one thing, but such pure, naked love from strangers was another thing entirely. He could easily kill the former, but what did he do with the latter?
In the end, rather than stand there all day, he opted to just leave without another word. First, he offered a slight smile and a nod to Yua so as not to be too rude. Then he gently pushed at the girl's shoulders until she got off him and started his journey back home.
Needless to say, Anzu was just as, if not more, shocked by the level of affection and couldn't help but lightly tease him about it on the way back. Although she had still not recovered entirely, her mood had gotten significantly better upon hearing of Ren's survival.
Just like that, Team 5's very first mission had all but been concluded. It was not an easy one by any means, and it left each of its members forever changed. As for whether they were changed for the better or for, the worse, well, that remained to be seen.