Chapter 20 Rewards
The incident where Chiyo's son and daughter-in-law were killed by members of Sakumo's team caused a lot of trouble among Konoha's senior management.
Since Sunagakure declared war on Konoha more than two years ago, this is Konoha's only major victory on the battlefield.
It can be said that this victory is of considerable scale.
As the son and daughter-in-law of a high-level adviser, and one of the top experts in the sand puppet force, the information and secret techniques recorded in their minds are very important and must be taken seriously by Konoha.
So, when he got the news from the Anbu, the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately notified the four members of Sakumo's team to return to the village immediately.
The most important thing is to get some important secret information and puppet secrets from the harvested corpses of the two puppet masters, and find out ways to target the puppet troops.
This is very important for the current Konoha.
So, after receiving the order from the Hokage, Sakumo took Shiroshi and the rest back to Konoha where they had been away for several months.
"I'll submit the task, the three of you are free to move about first."
"Yes."
At the gate of Konoha Village, the four began to part ways. Sakumo was going to submit a task to the Hokage Building, and the Team of three had nothing to do, so they went to find a place to fill their stomachs first.
They have been rushing at full speed since the morning, so busy that they didn't even eat breakfast, the three of them were already hungry, so of course they wanted to have a hearty meal in the village at this time.
...
"Master Hokage."
Sakumo came in after knocking on the door, and bowed slightly to the third Hokage who was sitting at the desk.
He found that the two consultants, Koharu and Homura, were also here, and nodded slightly to them as a courtesy.
The two consultants went to the Daimyo a few days ago to solicit war supplies, and they returned safely with the supplies yesterday.
However, because the mission completed by the Sakumo team was extraordinary this time, the two of them sat here as bystanders to witness.
"Thank you, Sakumo. You did a good job this time. In this way, the safety of the Land of Fire shouldn't be a big problem. Just leave the rest to the Anbu."
"Yes."
Considering the heavy loss of Sunagakure this time, it is really not wise to continue to send elite troops deep into the land of fire to carry out secret sabotage.
Therefore, the security work in the country of fire will be handed over to Anbu and the Konoha ninjas at the other outposts.
The months-long mission of Sakumo's team ended here.
"Has the body been handed over to the torture department?"
"It has been handed over, and none of the enemies survived."
Although Shiroshi and Rui made the biggest contribution that day, the rest of the sand ninjas who were scattered and fled, as well as the earth ninja suspected of being from the village of Iwagakure, were all chased and eliminated by Sakumo and Ayane, and Tian who also contributed a part of his strength.
So far, the Sand Hidden Team, which caused Konoha a headache, has been wiped out.
The difficulty and importance of this task can be set to S level.
Hiruzen nodded, looked at the advisers and said, "Let the ninjas of the Yamanaka clan investigate carefully, so that we can get the enemy's secrets."
"Let's do this, the weakness of the puppet army must be found out as soon as possible, so that Sunagakure can also know how powerful we are."
Koharu and Homura are also very satisfied with Sakumo's team's performance.
He is indeed Konoha's best jonin, even better than the Sannin.
"This time, your team has done a very good job. For the rewards of the missions in the past few months, let's use one S-level mission and five A-level missions to calculate the rewards."
Hiruzen smiled with relief.
Sakumo has no objection.
One S-level task, five A-level tasks, divided down,
Even for the three of them, each of them could get at least one million Ryo of compensation.
Of course, financial rewards are only secondary.
This time, the Sakumo team made such a great contribution, and funds are only the most basic reward, and there will definitely be more generous rewards later.
It's just that the Hokage himself didn't think of what to reward for a while, so this matter may be delayed for two or three days before the reward will be implemented to everyone in Sakumo's team.
"Hokage-sama, let's distribute my reward directly to the other three people. They need these things more than I do."
Sakumo said.
"You're still the same, Sakumo."
When Hiruzen heard Sakumo's request, he gave him a helpless look.
"After all, I didn't solve those two puppet masters, did I?"
Sakumo laughed.
After the mission, Hiruzen already understood that although Sakumo was not the one who solved the two puppet masters, if he hadn't injured those two first, no one else would have gotten the credit.
But since Sakumo said so, Hiruzen could only let it go.
Because he really had nothing to reward Sakumo with.
Even if Sakumo was asked to read the Scroll of Seals before, he always rejected the other party with a smile.
He is Konoha's White Fang, and his sword skills are all he has.
Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and the like will only affect and delay the speed and power of his sword.
But this doesn't mean that Sakumo doesn't know ninjutsu. On the contrary, his talent in ninjutsu is also outstanding, but he is a pragmatist.
For him, as long as he can kill the enemy with the white teeth sword technique before he can use ninjutsu.
The White Fang dagger in his hand is his strongest 'ninjutsu'!
After reporting the task, Sakumo left.
"Seeing the continuous emergence of outstanding juniors in the village, I really feel much older."
Koharu suddenly said with emotion.
"We're only in our 40s, and it's not yet the time to be sad." Homura said disapprovingly.
"That is to say, I can still work in this position for about ten years."
Hiruzen also intervened in the conversation between the two of them.
"Hiruzen, have you decided who will be the next Hokage?"
Koharu asked intentionally or unintentionally.
Hiruzen fell silent for a while, he really hasn't decided on this matter yet.
The so-called Hokage is to be selected from the most famous, powerful, and characterful ninja among the many jonin.
At present, Sakumo is the Jonin who is closest to the position of Hokage. His reputation is higher than that of the Sannin, his strength is also stronger than the Sannin, and his character is even more unquestionable.
He is cold-blooded and ruthless to his enemies, and caring for his colleagues, but he is not very good at expressing his feelings,but no matter who it is, he can treat everyone equally.
It can be said that he is a qualified candidate for Hokage.
Most importantly, Sakumo's strength is still improving by leaps and bounds, and he is far from reaching the peak age of a ninja.
Even so, he is now a great jonin in the village.
Ten years later, he will be even more terrifying, and for the enemy, he will also be a nightmare that will never go away.
"He's not fit to be Hokage."
Sarutobi said so.
Koharu and Homura looked at Hiruzen in surprise.
"It's good that you know this in your heart. After all, there is a Uchiha ninja in his team now. Not only has she reached the level of a Jonin at a young age, but she is also a Uchiha radical. We must be careful at all times."
Hearing Homura and Koharu talking about the Uchiha clan again, Hiruzen took another puff of his pipe and melancholy let it out.
"Okay, I'm not ready to talk about this matter, you go back first."
He doesn't want to argue with the two of them about this kind of matter. Compared with this, he has to finish today's work.
And how to further reward the Sakumo's team is also a relatively important issue.
The annihilation of the Sunagakure troops this time is of great significance. As long as the Yamanaka clan's secret techniques are used, not only can all kinds of confidential information in the enemy's mind be obtained, but also many of the sand's secret techniques, including the information of the puppet troops, can be obtained.
Even without these, just stabilizing the internal situation in the Fire Nation deserves a lot of praise for Sakumo's team.
But thinking of the two girls in Sakumo's team, one from the Uchiha and the other from the Hyuga...Hiruzen feels a bit difficult to deal with this.
The girl from the Hyuga clan came from the branch family, but he had some ambiguous thoughts. The key point was that Rui, who was valued by most of the elders of the Uchiha clan in power, certainly had no shortage of various resources.
If she really wanted to be rewarded, he could only open the Scroll of Seals once and let her choose a ninjutsu to learn from it.
But to open the Scroll to the ninjas of the Uchiha clan, Hiruzen can imagine that Homura and Koharu will definitely come to him with two long faces to preach to him.
Afterwards, Hiruzen picked up Shiroshi's personal information book again, well, this one is easy to pass, high-level ninjutsu, more advanced medical-related books, etc., can be used as rewards this time.
…
"There will be no missions for a while, you can move freely, but it's best not to relax too much, and maintain a state of combat readiness."
"yes!"
After the three of them had lunch, Sakumo found them and gave them some instructions, and then went back.
Naturally, Shiroshi returned to the mansion in the land of the Uchiha clan together with Rui.
Because he hadn't returned to the village for several months, Shiroshi walked on the road and felt that the place had changed a lot, and yet it seemed that nothing had changed.
"How do you plan to spend the next days, Rui?"
The rest time will not be too short, but it will not be too long. It is estimated that in about half a month, the next difficult task will be ushered in.
"Practice."
Rui answered concisely.
"It's really your style. I've got some new ideas in my mind for a while, and after these months of missions, I think I can make some practical props to assist in the battle."
"Like what?"
Rui seemed very interested in this.
"Although the smoke bomb is good, it is easy to be restrained by the ninjutsu of the wind style type, and the duration is not very long, so it can only be used as a surprise attack... But how about adding some poisonous gas to the smoke bomb? Using the wind style to blow away the smoke, the enemy has already absorbed a lot of poisonous gas, and their strength will be greatly reduced."
Shiroshi expressed his thoughts and thought it was feasible.
"Ninjas are generally more or less resistant to poison, especially sand ninjas. If the toxicity is not strong enough, it will not have much effect on ninjas."
"No matter how good the anti-toxicity is, there is a limit. However, if we want to fight with poisonous gas, you need to prepare the antidote in advance, so that your own people can take it in advance to avoid accidental injury."
"It is suitable for small-scale combat, the effect on large-scale combat may be counterproductive."
Regarding Rui's point of view, Shiroshi nodded in agreement.
In large-scale battles, the production quantity of the antidote is a problem, and the poison gas is used together with the smoke bombs. Even if the antidote is used to survive the poison gas, the sight will be blocked by the smoke for a short time.
However, Shiroshi didn't intend to promote this tactic at first, and it would be fine to implement it within Sakumo's team.
After such a long time, Shiroshi has long understood that their team is mainly used to carry out some dangerous and important confidential tasks, and it is very necessary to develop unique tactics suitable for Sakumo's team.
Back at the long-lost mansion, when approaching, he suddenly saw a man and a woman standing at the door of the mansion, waving to his side.
No, to be precise, they were waving at Rui, looking very happy and excited.
"Do you know them?"
Shiroshi had never seen this man and woman in the Uchiha clan for the past two or three years, so he turned to look at Rui.
"My parents."
Rui replied calmly.
"!?"
Shiroshi was a little less calm.
It was the first time he saw Rui's parents,He'd already heard Rui speak of them before, but this would be the first time he'd met them in person.
But speaking of it, since Shiroshi temporarily lived in Rui's house, he has never seen her parents come home.
Even during New Year, they just send some photos and letters to each other. Rui's annual birthday and New Year gifts are also very simple, a passbook.
There is a 1 at the beginning of the passbook, followed by many zeros.
This is the birthday and New Year gift that Rui receives every year, plain and boring.
"Long time no see, little Rui, do you miss your parents?"
The woman was wearing gorgeous and noble clothes, her hair was neatly coiled up, and there were many ornaments on it.
It looks a bit too showy and ostentatious, but it doesn't give people a tacky temperament.
How should he put it, it seems that she was born with such a temperament.
As soon as she came up, she hugged Rui into her arms and rubbed against her face vigorously, causing Rui's small face to wrinkle. Shiroshi was deeply afraid that Rui would spit out a fireball at this moment and reduce her mother to ashes.
"It's so noisy, I've said this many times, don't put your spit on my face."
Rui's face was tense, as if she was serious about teaching her mother a lesson.
"Don't say that, Rui, your mom hasn't seen you for a long time, just like when I was a child, let your mother love you..."
boom!
Shiroshi supported his forehead from behind.
Knew it was going to happen.
A wall of the nearby mansion was smashed through by a fireball, emitting black smoke.
The woman's face was covered with cold sweat at the moment, her neck was turning mechanically, as if it was rusted, and the smile on her face became extremely forced and stiff.
"Really, little Rui is not as well-behaved as she was when she was a child, obviously before she..."
"Do you want to be thrown out by me? Or be burned? You can also consider being flooded."
Rui frowned, as if she had reached the limit of her patience.
The woman in gorgeous clothes sighed, and had no choice but to give up the idea of continuing to hold Rui in her arms and ravage her.
Such a cute daughter can't do this or that. If she knew that she would rather have given birth to a boy before and let him come out to play.
This daughter is not good at all.
"Honey, how about we have another one? Little Rui has grown up and doesn't need mom and dad anymore."
"Obviously it's your fault, you know that Rui has grown up."
The man who had been watching the harmonious scene of mother and daughter scratched his head in distress.
My daughter has a very strong personality since she was a child, and she is the only one who dosen't respects me at home. As a father, he has long been used to this kind of thing.
"Ah, you are the kid Shriroshi that Rui often mentions in her letters, right?"
The gorgeous woman finally noticed Shiroshi.
"Ah, yes, yes, please advise."
He was finally noticed, Shiroshi quickly came up and politely bowed.
"Don't be nervous, it's rare that little Rui can find a good playmate. When she was young, little Rui often chased a large group of boys to fight."
Hearing what the gorgeous woman said, Shiroshi had already conceived such a picture in his mind.
If it is Rui, maybe it is really possible.
"By the way, when are you two planning to get married? Then you must have a boy, because I suddenly feel that boys are more fun than girls."
The gorgeous woman asked with a smile.
"..."
The jump of the topic was a bit big, which caused Shiroshi's brain to freeze up and become a mess.
A vein appeared on Rui's forehead, and she began to seal.
boom!
...
Rui's mother is called Miyoko Uchiha, she is 27 years old, she is in her prime, she likes luxury goods, and she wears beautiful and luxurious clothes, like a princess.
And Rui's father is called Uchiha Sosuke, thirty-six years old, a mature-looking uncle, dressed in decent formal clothes, looks much more serious than his wife Miyoko, and looks more responsible.
But thinking that Rui is twelve years old this year, and her mother, Miyoko, is only twenty-seven years old. In other words, when Miyoko was pregnant with Rui... she was only fifteen years old, a minor.
Looking at Uchiha Sosuke's honest face, Shiroshi didn't feel that Sosuke was honest at all.
Because the husband and wife do not have that much talent to be a ninja, they still only have the strength of a Chunin... According to Rui's standards, they are still a Chunin at the age of 20 or 30, so maybe they really don't have the talent to be a ninja .
Over the years, the husband and wife have been working hard outside their careers. With the help of some connections accumulated by the Uchiha clan, in the words of the two of them, business matters are barely okay.
In the past few years, it is not that the husband and wife have not come back to Konoha to have a look, but due to the busy business outside, they just met Rui at the entrance of Konoha, and then left in a hurry.
This is also the reason why Shiroshi did not see the husband and wife at Rui's house.
When Rui and her parents got together, Shiroshi didn't know about the meetings, and even if he went to join in the fun, it would only increase his embarrassment and anger Rui.
Shiroshi returned to the underground laboratory. Because he had to go out to perform tasks, many experimental equipment had been moved away in advance, but some of the less important ones remained.
A lot of dust has accumulated in the basement and instruments, Shiroshi needs to clean it up.
When the cleaning was finished, footsteps were heard from the stairs leading to the top, and Rui came down the steps.
"Why, did you end the communication between relatives so soon? Don't be so eager to come here in such a hurry."
"It's okay to remember the old days."
"It also seems that your parents will stay in the village for a long time this time. Is it because of the war outside?"
Shiroshi asked.
"They don't do business around the Nation of Fire, but in the far west of the mainland, so the war here will not have any impact on their business."
"They don't use their real names, right?"
"Well, they are all aliases. They know some ninjutsu, but this information has not been collected by Konoha, and some elders in the clan are behind the operation, so that the two of them can do business outside with peace of mind. They have been outside these years, and Hired a lot of reputable bounty hunters, both samurai and ninja, to keep them safe."
No matter what, it is a wealthy clan that has been passed down for hundreds of years, and Uchiha's background and connections are not trivial.
For example, the ninja equipment of the Uchiha clan was never purchased in the Land of iron or the village, but purchased by the psychic beast ninja cat family.
In many cases, the ninja cats will also act as the eyeliner of the Uchiha ninjas to collect information.
This is the Uchiha clans intelligence network.
And there are probably many other allies like the Ninja Cat Clan, and it is extremely difficult for even Konoha to obtain this part of the information.
In the same way, the same is true for the Hyuga clan. Only the highest power-holders of the clan know how many connections there are in the dark.
A real wealthy clan does not only have power and inheritance, but also connections .
Afterwards, Rui used psychic techniques to channel some ninja cats. These ninja cats carried some scrolls on them, and many large-scale research equipment were sealed in the scrolls. They only needed to be unsealed and reconnected.
Shiroshi, Rui, and these ninja cats started working together, placing the research equipment in the original position, and connecting the lines in the original way.
It was already two hours later that Rui let these ninja cats go back. Before leaving, these ninja cats showed some humane resentment in their eyes, until Rui said that she would prepare good cat food for them next time. They went back in a better mood.
At this time, Shiroshi looked at the huge research room, and really wanted to find an assistant to come over.
But he couldn't think about this kind of thing for the time being, many secrets here can't be made public, and can only be kept secretly.
Fortunately, this is the Uchiha clan, even the Anbu have no right to search here.
After all, the power of the Uchiha Police Force cannot be underestimated.
There are quite a few Jonin and special jonin in it. As long as people in the clan become a ninja, their strength after adulthood is basically chunin and above. This is a very scary ratio.
Especially after the awakening of the Sharingan, the strength of Uchiha ninjas will rise in a straight line, and it cannot be taken lightly.
Shiroshi has already found the next research target.
Incorporate a highly toxic smoke bomb, and a matching antidote.
Of course, the research on natural energy must continue. Although the time in Konoha will not be too long this time, this precious time should not be wasted at will.
Just when Rui was about to go out and leave Shiroshi alone, Shiroshi suddenly said, "By the way, Rui, can I ask you something more?"
"Tell me, do you need to replace new equipment?"
"Ah, no need for this, these are enough for a long time."
"What is it?"
"Human experimentation."
Shiroshi said these two words simply.
Rui's pupils shrank slightly, and then she took a serious look at Shiroshi, who looked at her calmly.
"Do you know what that means?"
"Human experimentation is not entirely evil."
As far as Shiroshi knew, many forbidden techniques were developed based on human experiments.
Among them, the most famous is Konoha's predecessor, Hokage Senju Tobirama.
It can be said that the characteristic ninjutsu learned by many ninjas in Konoha today originated from this second Hokage.
Rui nodded thoughtfully and said, "I will deliver what you want tomorrow."
(Chapter End)