A/N: Hello everyone and welcome back to another chapter of One Year Early! I know. I know I missed the monthly deadline again. We tried our best to get this chapter up by the end of October but ended up missing it by 4 days. I am sorry. Being busier IRL doesn't help. So, I would like to request you all to kindly bear with us. It is unfortunate, but I am afraid that it won't be the last time that we miss our monthly update schedules. We will try our best to keep up with our monthly schedules but it is very possible that we will miss it in the future as well. Please accept our sincere apologies for that.
Now then, we are going through the "trapmaster arc", one of the interesting filler arcs of the Naruto anime. With this chapter, we will be ending this arc and from the next one, we can move on to our next. So, without further ado, lets get on with the chapter.
CHAPTER 22: THE TRAP MASTER FROM KAGERO…..
*The next day*
Naruto and Hinata were weary and concerned. Though the ANBU that met them the day before told them to leave Genno to them, the lovebirds were still uneasy.
Just then, Shikaku knocked on their door.
"Morning sensei."
"Hmm…morning you two. Got some news for you…" The wily Nara stated.
"Yeah?"
"Genno died, got chased by the pursuing ANBU into a cave, fought them, and then blew it up."
"What!?" Naruto and Hinata asked simultaneously.
"Well, my concern is this: the body that was recovered from the rubble was damaged beyond any facial recognition. Another problem is that none of the people that have seen Genno have seen him in years, so it is basically impossible to identify him." The head jonin explained. "That's why we need you two to take a look and identify him."
"W-what?" Hinata got a little nervous, so did Naruto.
"Well, although you two are ninja, this will be a difficult experience: the body is mangled and was badly crushed, so the face is obviously not recognizable, but maybe you two can ID him from some body marks or anything else for that matter. Anyways, that's perhaps the only shot we have for positively identifying Genno and confirming his death."
"I-I see…" Naruto said stuttering. He was feeling sad about this whole thing, the old man was very friendly and kind and he was almost considering him a friend. To think that the guy would be an old enemy with a deep-seated vendetta against Konoha was already very uneasy to digest, but to now identify his mangled corpse…well that was going to be uneasy as hell. The two were ninja though, they knew that they had to do their job. The two young lovers nodded.
"Alright, follow me…"
Shikaku led the two to the hospital and down to the morgue. There were some bodies lying and around one, some doctors and the ANBU that Naruto, Hinata, and their friends had met the last evening were there.
"I am pretty sure that this has to be him, I don't imagine him being able to plant a decoy and escape from that explosion." The ANBU woman mumbled.
"I would not be so sure…" Shikaku added. "This is Genno and I can already think of two or three ways to escape from that predicament. You stated that he set off smoke bombs, then battled in taijutsu with you as he was being cornered, before finally blowing the cave up, right?"
The ANBU nodded.
"Well, so it would be sufficient to say that you didn't actually see him getting crushed under the rubble, correct?" Shikaku asked and the ANBU woman nodded.
Shikaku turned to the doctor. "Show them."
And the doctor removed the cloth covering the dead body.
Hinata struggled to keep herself from screaming. Naruto found it hard not to look away and scream as well. The two had to look away for a bit and even trembled a bit at the sight. None of the adults in the room said anything. The kids had to get used to what they were seeing.
After getting a hold of themselves, they looked as carefully as they could at the body. But unfortunately, they could not really recall any significant traits with which they could conclusively identify the corpse.
"It's alright kids…"
"His skin is crushed so badly…" Hinata said in a low tone, "Nothing is recognizable… the only thing I can say is that this person matches Genno-san in size…" Naruto also nodded to that.
"Hmm…alright, you two can go." Shikaku said with a nod of appreciation.
Before leaving though, Hinata decided to take another look at the body, with her Byakugan. And once she did, she had an expression of confusion on her face.
"Hina-chan?" Naruto asked.
"His chakra network…" The Hyuuga commented. "It was unused…"
"What would that mean?" Naruto asked.
"Well…I am fairly certain that this person has never used chakra in his entire life." Hinata said conclusively.
Naruto got the point. "That means he can't be a ninja…"
"Hai…and Genno-san is supposed to be a veteran of the 2nd Great ninja war and a leading shinobi of his village…" Hinata stated. "This person can't possibly be Genno-san." She said shaking her head.
"…I see…." Shikaku stated. "Good job, Hinata. That is a lot of help."
"Thank you, sensei." The lavender eyed girl said humbly.
Turning to the adults in the room, Shikaku continued. "So: we now know that this is not Genno, this is most likely a decoy he had prepared beforehand to be able to fake his death, in case someone in Konoha saw through his cover…"
Then the head jonin became pensive for a few seconds as he contemplated the next plan of action. "Hmm, well I can be positive that the academy is not the only place Genno would want to blow up." The head Nara stated. "His village was razed to the ground and if he indeed wishes to exact vengeance, then he will pay back in kind. So…we need to check all across Konoha. Also, now that he is taking cover behind a faked death, he won't have much time to remain hidden, which means his plan must have been close to fruition, or if not, he will have to strike with whatever he has left or had already prepared, I don't think we have more than a day at most before he sets off his explosions. We have to mobilize all the available manpower, including both of you kids. Though, Hinata, you are not allowed to participate in a fight. Is that clear?"
"Hai, sensei." The two genin acknowledged.
"Good, we will set off within an hour. You two, start now, check this hospital carefully, I am sure this will be a target. Once you are done with this place, head to the power grid. Remember that any possible explosive would be wired like the ones in the academy or worse."
"Understood sensei!" And with that, Naruto and Hinata rushed to carry out their task, while Shikaku and the ANBU woman headed to get the rest of the ninja present in Konoha mobilized.
Carefully going through each floor, Naruto and Hinata looked hard for any signs of tampering and planting of explosives.
"Nowhere in the building, eh?" The blonde commented and his girlfriend shook her head.
"Naru-kun, there was no repair work in the hospital, right?"
"Haven't heard anything like that…"
"In that case, Genno-san might have a difficult time planting explosives inside the hospital since it is always open and always has people…"
"I see, in that case this building should be safe, right? Let's move over to the next one." Naruto suggested.
However, something didn't feel right.
"Excuse me…" Hinata suddenly called a nurse that was passing by. "W-was there any repair work in the hospital within the last fifteen days?" She asked.
The nurse replied immediately. "Oh yes, nothing major but the walls were cracking in the basement, so we had it repaired some ten days ago…it took two days. The workers from outside were really good at their job. They got it done fast, and the old man with them was so kind."
"Shit!" Naruto and Hinata ran for the basement.
"If he rigs the basement…" Naruto said out loud.
"He can weaken the whole structure with minimal amount of explosives…" Hinata completed for him. "A-and there could be flammable chemicals there in the basement, if they are storing those things there."
The two hurried and upon reaching the basement, Hinata didn't take more than a few seconds to spot at least five explosive tags. They employed the same strategy that they had used at the academy. Naruto made four clones.
The carefully cut through the wall using wind blades and then upon Hinata's command, removed all the tags at the same time.
The two lovers sighed. But they didn't have too much time to waste.
"It seems that all the buildings that Genno's group got to work on could be rigged." Naruto theorized. Hinata nodded in agreement.
"I am sending a clone to Jiji, let's find out which of the buildings were repaired. And why the hell were so many buildings repaired at the same time?"
"…Maybe it's because they were all built around the same time, during the Nidaime's era…" Hinata suggested.
"Well…could be…or maybe Genno had snuck in once before and did some damage to the structures discreetly so as to make sure that all of the buildings would be scheduled for maintenance around the same time and the workload would be so much that Konoha would have to hire workers from outside."
Hinata thought about it and it made sense: "This is certainly possible."
By that time, Naruto and Hinata were on the road. They had been given radio ear-pieces to coordinate their efforts with the rest of the ninja on the case, most of whom were only beginning to mobilize.
Sometime later, the clone sent to the Hokage tower dispelled itself.
Naruto raised his eyebrows as the memories of the clone came to him.
"So, the power grid was indeed repaired, some minor repairs at the Yahiku-Q restaurant and although no repairs, there was some schedule checks and maintenance at the grain storage facilities, some work with the electricity supply at the library and some work at the outposts, outside the village." Naruto stated.
"We are closer to the library; the power grid is well over three kilometres away." Hinata commented.
Naruto nodded. "Sensei was there coordinating, my clone told him of our thoughts and he agreed, teams are being dispatched to the power grid, the outposts, and the grain storage. We only need to check the library…the ANBU are going on the hunt for old man Genno…"
Having discussed it over, Naruto and Hinata left for the library. There also they focused on the spots where repairs had been done and, sure enough, they found some elaborately placed and very well-hidden explosive tags and just like before, they were able to skilfully remove them.
Sometime later, all the ninja involved in the explosive tag recovery mission had gathered at the Hokage office. Shikaku had advised them to use the tactic utilized by Naruto and Hinata to remove the tags.
So far, all the explosive tags had been removed without any mishap.
Hiruzen glanced at the tags before him carefully. The two other elders, his former teammates Mitakodo Homura and Utakane Koharu were also there. The old Hokage looked at the recovered tags carefully and handed some to his advisors who also checked them carefully.
"Homura, Koharu…you see it too, don't you?"
The two nodded before turning to the assembled ninja. "These explosive tags are at least 30-40 years old. They work well, but improvements have been made in the seals used on explosive tags. We are certain that Genno placed them at least 30 years ago or so…" Homura commented.
The ninja all looked at each other. If he had placed the explosives all the way back 30 years ago, then what was he doing here now and why did he not cause the explosions when he placed them originally or even simply detonate them upon entering Konoha when he entered with the construction crews?
"Troublesome…." Shikaku started speaking. "I think that Kagero Village's plan was to rig Konoha with explosives, cause a few to go off and then create a situation in which they are holding our civilian population hostage…which would allow for a negotiated end to the conflict between the two villages on their terms, Genno would definitely be able to concoct a plan like that."
"Then why did they not go through with their plan?" Koharu questioned.
"Probably because they were wiped out before they could act on it. It seems that the reason Genno was not among the dead in Kagero is because he was in Konoha, laying Kagero's trap."
All the ninjas were shocked at the sheer audacity. Infiltrating one of the five great ninja villages, right when it is at war with you? That was literally pushing audacity to its limits. Shikaku smiled. "I like this guy." He mumbled.
"It seems that Genno had to leave before he could complete his preparations and hence the explosions never happened, probably the tags were never armed or the trigger was yet to be set."
"Hmm…" Hiruzen mumbled. Shikaku continued.
"After 30 years, Genno comes back to finish what he started. I think, instead of setting up explosives he was just checking the ones he had set earlier and maybe setting the trigger." The head Nara postulated. "Which would mean we don't have much time…"
"The ANBU are still looking for him as we speak. Would he know that we would see through his fake death scheme?" Hiruzen questioned.
"I think he would. But probably he might have estimated that we would take longer to see through it." Shikaku speculated.
"I see…we have you to thank for seeing through his trick, Hinata-chan." The old Hokage said with a smile.
"M-my pleasure, Hokage-sama." The Hyuuga girl bowed in return.
"I wonder if Genno might have set some new explosives, these tags are old, it is possible that despite all the checks, they could malfunction and if he wants to make sure that the job is done, then he would probably set up new explosive tags as well."
"Oh…shit." Naruto said out loud.
"Yes Naruto, precisely my thoughts." Shikaku agreed. "The question is where…We don't have the time to scour every inch of the village."
Naruto and Hinata tried to think hard and remember their time with Genno to see if they could recall any clue.
They had to think hard and scratch their brains for quite a few minutes.
"Ne Hina-chan…do you recall how he was glancing at the Hokage Rock…" Naruto asked in a whisper.
Hinata thought back as well. "I think so, he was looking at the monument quite a few times, I remember asking him if there were some repair works scheduled there too. He denied it and said that he found the monument interesting and marvellous, as the symbol of Konoha itself."
Shikaku heard that conversation and immediately realized what would be at play. But before announcing and having the entire shinobi force of Konoha descend upon the scene he stopped for a moment.
'What if that's precisely what he wants? Blowing up the monument would cause a massive landslide, devouring Konoha if the explosions are strong enough to make the whole mountain collapse. But still, that would not guarantee that all the ninja would die. What if at the end, he wants as many ninja as possible to descend upon the scene and then blow it up. He would have to be close by to do that and that would kill him for certain, but then again, he doesn't have anyone left in this world, maybe he's decided to go and drag Konoha down with him. Troublesome…really troublesome… sending large numbers of ninja there, that would be playing straight into his hands. On the other hand, sending a bunch of genin…maybe he will hesitate, if not for moral reasons, then at least for the reason that large numbers of Konoha shinobi are not descending upon the scene and that he would not be able take out a large chunk of our force for certain…Alright…'
"Naruto, Hinata, go to the Hokage monument, Rock Lee-kun, please accompany my students. Check around carefully."
"YOSH!" The energetic youth with a strange bowl haircut, making a lot of ninja mentally wince about the appearance of a second Gai in Konoha, declared.
The believer of the flames of youth was also one of those involved in the operation to remove explosive tags from around the village. He was in the village due to have been down with fever, while his team was dispatched out on an away mission. Lee was desperate to go and had made it a point to work out like crazy to punish himself for not being able to go on a mission with his team. Well, he was now getting the chance to make up for it by being involved in a mission that was vital for Konoha's safety.
As the three teens got out of the Hokage tower.
"YOSH! Naruto-kun! Hinata-san! I have heard quite a bit about you!" Lee said/borderline shouted enthusiastically.
"Well, I guess most of it would be Neji trashing us…" Naruto deadpanned.
"I can't disagree, but even from Neji's words, I can understand how hard you two are working! I can tell that your flames of youth burn bright!"
"Flames…of…youth…?" Naruto and Hinata were confused by this expression. And hearing their confused question, Lee made an expression as if the sky had fallen onto the earth.
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE FLAMES OF YOUTH! IT IS THE VERY ESSENCE OF WHAT MAKES YOU A NINJA! THE FLAMES THAT PROPEL YOU FORWARD AND MAKE YOU OVERCOME ALL ODDS, NO MATTER THE COST! THE HARDER YOU STRUGGLE THE BRIGHTER THEY BURN! THEY ARE THE FLAMES OF PASSION! THE FLAMES OF HARDWORK! THE FLAMES OF GRIT AND DETERMINATION! THE FLAMES THAT GAI-SENSEI LIT IN ME! I AM SURE THAT YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHT AS WELL SINCE YOU TWO ARE SUCH HARDWORKERS!" Lee declared in excitement.
Naruto and Hinata subtly rubbed their ears and they remembered that this was the student that had passed with them and that had a really big issue of talking VERY loudly. However, from what Hinata knew of Lee, the boy rivalled Neji in taijutsu and that too without ever being from some clan specializing in taijutsu or having any dojutsu that assists with it, like the Byakugan.
'He is definitely an interesting character…' The young lovers thought to themselves.
Soon enough the three reached the Hokage monument. "YOSH! If I can't locate the explosive tags in 30 minutes, I will do 100 laps around the village on my hands!" Lee declared.
Naruto and Hinata looked at him as if Lee had grown a second head. 100 laps around Konoha, on his hands! Was he…insane?
(Little did they know at that time, but soon after this day, they would be taking up this training regimen themselves. Oh how ironic fate can be.)
"Hina-chan!" Naruto turned to his girlfriend.
"Already on it, Naruto! Byakugan!"
Hinata scanned around carefully.
"There are some suspicious tags inside the Sandaime's face." She cautioned.
"Is…that…so…" Naruto readied himself, so did Lee…
To be precise, the heads inside the Hokage monument were actually being used as emergency shelters. They were designed to have enough room for the entirety of Konoha's population, the likeness of Hiruzen was one of those shelters, the place had everything, such as independent supply of electricity, water, and a well-designed ventilation system… to name a few.
The three genin on the case got to the place.
"In the ventilation systems!" Hinata stated.
"Got it Shadow-" Just before Naruto could cast his jutsu, the room was suddenly filled with smoke and then the blonde received a kick and was pushed back by a few feet.
"What the hell!" Naruto yelled. "Who's there!?" He demanded.
"Well…well…it seems that the young ones of this village are quite remarkable indeed." A voice stated somewhere within the smoke.
"Genno! Oldman Genno!" Naruto yelled. "What the hell are you doing, old man!? Do you know how many people will die if you blow this place!?" The blonde yelled.
"Ha. Good one Naruto. And I must congratulate you and your girlfriend for being able to get this far and finding out my real plan. However, this is as far as you go…" Genno said in an intimidating tone.
"SHUT UP! Multi shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto made quite a number of clones, who all immediately went through hand-seals. However, a number were knocked out before they could finish their techniques. The remaining managed to do so, dispelling the smoke to some extent but not entirely.
"At your back!" Hinata suddenly shouted. Naruto dodged a kick just at the nick of time and once again made some shadow clones, who launched another blast of wind-this time revealing Genno.
"There you are old man! Now stop this game already!" Naruto demanded.
"Game…hahahaha…you think this is a game? Do you even know how it feels to see your home razed to the ground and everyone you know run through with a blade or turned into a mangled corpse? You don't, right? Fine, you will know today." Genno threatened.
"Not as long as my flames of youth burn bright! Tree leaf drop!" Lee launched himself into the air, flipped and made a drop kick on Genno's head. The veteran ninja dodge d in time though.
"It seems that I have to take them off. This is not a spar or match; this is a real fight!" Lee exclaimed to himself. "Forgive me Gai-sensei! I will do 200 laps around the village." Saying that, Lee suddenly loosened the orange leg warmers.
THUDD! Some heavy stuff dropped on the floor. Out from under the leg warmers.
Weights?
"Naruto-kun! Hinata-san! Please, take care of the explosives. I will hold him for you!" Lee declared as he took the battle stance of the Goken.
"I have heard of the hard fist. It will be interesting to face it finally." Genno mused as he took a stance of his own.
And the Lee just blurred forward towards the old ninja. Genno to his credit, blocked the punch Lee tried to land on him.
Naruto and Hinata looked at those to two for a moment or two with awe before coming back to their senses. "Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" The clones all came into existence and they all got to their job.
Just as they got to their spots and had cut through the wall and were ready to take off the tags on Hinata's command.
"Don't think that you are the only one who can abuse a clone technique, Naruto." Genno said with a smirk as he took a kick from Lee, blocked it and stepped back a bit to get himself some room. "Explosive Clone Jutsu!"
"SHIT!" Naruto cursed as his clones were attacked by Genno's clones and were all wiped out by the suicide bomber clones.
"Dammit! Hina-chan, I have to help Lee…Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto launched a massive blast of wind at Genno just as the latter took some hits from Lee and landed a few feet back. The blast of wind hit him, but he raised an earthen wall just in time to defend himself.
However, the wall was shattered with Lee suddenly powering through it, with a strange green glow surrounding him.
"I still have a few tricks up my sleeve, young man." Genno said defiantly and dropped a smoke bomb.
Within the smoke, Genno had the advantage. Even though Lee was now considerably faster due to opening three inner gates, he had no enhanced vision to see through the smoke. Genno took advantage of that and landed hits on Lee using sneak attacks, while still being somewhat able to block the hits Lee was landing on him. Though it was soon clear that the old veteran from Kagero was fighting a losing battle. It was only a matter of time before Lee would get the upper hand.
And now Naruto had joined the fray. The blonde timed himself perfectly, he made a wind blade and dashed at Genno, every time the latter got pushed back or went on the backfoot due to Lee's attacks.
Hinata also assisted, now having memorized each of the positions of the explosive tags, now she was just assisting with Genno's positions behind the smoke wall he had put before himself.
After sometime, Naruto began slashing at Genno, more violently than ever.
"Dammit! Turn off the freaking tags old man!"
Naruto slashed and slashed and made Genno, jump up the wall he was cornered into and that brought him close to a window.
Genno was momentarily shocked as Naruto's eyes went blood red and his canines sharpened, before the changes vanished in a blink of the eye.
Lee came up and (accidentally taking advantage of Genno's distracted shock) gave him a roundhouse kick, sending him flying.
"Alright! That gives us time to take off the tags!"
"No! We should take out the trigger tag!" Hinata shouted.
"What!?"
"These tags are all connected with a trigger seal, its located at the top of the monument. The tag is about to be triggered, he set off a slow burning wire that leads to the tag and triggers it: if the trigger is ignited, all the explosives will be set off!" Hinata explained.
One of Naruto's clones grabbed the lavender eyed girl, since she was not allowed to dash using chakra yet. Lee, still amped up by the gates, got on top of the monument in no time. Naruto and Hinata followed soon after, and the Hyuuga girl led the group to the trigger mechanism.
Naruto cut it off with his wind blade. "Now…we just have to find…" The blonde was stopped in his tracks with the sound of something diving down the sky.
It was a huge bird with Genno riding on top of it.
"Summoning jutsu!?" The group collectively exclaimed.
"Damn, I still don't know how to use quick beheading dance! Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu! Everyone, all at once! Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
All the clones together launched a massive blast of wind towards Genno and his rapidly descending bird, whose beak was aflame.
Lee had closed his inner gates, but now was not the time to relax. Not minding the exhaustion and fatigue. "First gate! Second gate! Third gate! Open!" He opened the maximum number of gates he could open and jumped up into the air with as much force as he could.
Some Naruto clones together, launched Naruto into the air as well, who had already made the wind blade. The two energetic genin took to the sky to meet Genno mid-air and stop him from reactivating the trigger. They met and Naruto's jutsu slashed the bird, making it dispel, while Lee got behind Genno and sent him crashing onto the Hokage monument with a roundhouse kick on the back.
It took a bit before the boys could get back to the spot where they had crashed Genno into, having landed a bit downhill.
When the group got to Genno, they saw that he was just lying flat, breathing heavily. Intrigued, Hinata checked him. "His heart, it is…it's just stopping on its own now." She stated.
"What…Oi old man! Stop playing games!" Naruto yelled.
Genno chuckled with some effort. "You are a really interesting lad, Naruto…just like my late kid…*cough*"
"What…but you…."
"I lied…when I was talking about my…grandson…I was actually…talking about…my son…I always played treasure hunts with him…and this last treasure hunt was really fun…"
"Last…treasure hunt…?" Naruto and Hinata couldn't help question.
"Hahaha…was it not all just a huge treasure hunt? Tracking all those explosive tags down? Tracing my path in the village? Figuring out whether I was dead or not? And finally getting here? This is all just a big treasure hunt…ha ha…and I really had a lot of fun playing with you and seeing you…all of you in action…the young ninja of Konoha are really something else…I really enjoyed my time with you, Naruto…*cough*…Hinata… when I meet my son on the other side, I will tell him all about you…hahaha…this…*cough*…was…a…fun…game…*cough* *cough*"
After a final coughing fit, Genno stopped…and went limp.
"…Old…man…Genno?" Naruto asked blinking.
Hinata put her hand on his shoulders. "His heart has stopped, Naru-kun." She said, face down.
"W-what? Hime?"
"I am sorry, Naru-kun…"
"What did he…meant…by…a game…?" Lee questioned, glancing at the body of their deceased adversary.
"I think I can answer that…" A voice stated, making all the kids turn back.
"S-sensei!?" Naruto and Hinata exclaimed.
"You never stopped to check whether the explosive tags you removed were actually armed or not, did you?" Shikaku questioned.
Naruto, Hinata, and Lee all blinked.
"It's alright, none of you know much about fuinjutsu anyways, so you might not have realized it. The seals on the explosive tags were altered. Well, except for the ones at the academy that is…they were all disarmed."
"W-what?" The genin were all confused.
"Yes, they were never going to explode, despite the outward appearance of a perfectly armed explosive."
Just then two ANBU brought the explosives planted inside the Sandaime's likeness on the Hokage monument mount. The head Nara looked at the tags very carefully.
"Seems like the seals on these were altered as well. Though they were not disarmed, they were all powered down significantly. Had they exploded, all that would have happened would have been a few troublesome scars on the Sandaime's face here…would have been more trouble trying to get the necessary plaster work done to fix it than actually leaving it." Shikaku said lazily.
"…There never was any danger!?" Naruto exclaimed.
Shikaku shook his head. "There was…I'm sure. Genno's plan was to raze Konoha to the ground, bury it under the rubble from this mountain-there's no doubt about it…but…" The jonin of team-6 glanced at the mortal remains of the trap master from Kagero.
"I can only speculate…it seems that meeting you two, it made him change his mind. He might have grown affectionate of you kids and hence decided not to go with his plan of destroying Konoha. Maybe you reminded him of someone close…with your mannerisms…I don't know when and why exactly he decided to not go with his plan of destroying Konoha, but that's what he did and that effectively turned this entire mission of finding explosive tags…basically…sort of…massive game of…treasure hunt…troublesome…really troublesome." Shikaku explained, rubbing his forehead.
The three genin looked at the head jonin with their eyes widened.
"In other words: Naruto, Hinata. You two managed to get through the heart of a tired, veteran strategist who only had his last mission left from his destroyed home, made him start caring for you-ninja from his enemy village, and made him decide to just play with you a little bit before his ailing health finally got to him…and hence, congratulations."
Naruto and Hinata really didn't fully understand. They just blinked, glanced at each other and then at the deceased Genno.
"Alright kids, good job today. Head home and take rest, we can file the report tomorrow morning." Saying that, Shikaku vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"Old Man Genno was…just…playing…treasure hunt…?" Naruto mumbled as he saw a bunch of ANBU carefully drape Genno's body in a white cloth and place him in a body bag, before taking off.
"YOSH! NARUTO-KUN! FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, YOU MADE THIS YOUTHFUL OLD MAN CHANGE HIS MIND AND STOP HIMSELF FROM DOING A VERY UNYOUTHFUL THING! CONGRATULATIONS! YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH INDEED BURN VERY BRIGHTLY! I REALLY LOOK FORWARD TO TESTING MYSELF AGAINST YOU! BOTH OF YOU!" Lee declared energetically, before bidding farewell for the day. Grabbing his weights, putting them back in place, and promptly running off on his hands.
Naruto and Hinata didn't say anything, just descended down the stairs from the Hokage mountain, holding hands, as they made their way home.
"Old Man Genno was really kind, wasn't he, Hina-chan?" Naruto asked quietly.
"Hai…he was a kind person."
"I wonder if any other enemy of our village would be as kind to just change their mind just by talking with us…" Naruto mumbled as he and Hinata glanced at the setting sun and quietly kept walking towards the Nara compound, towards their little home.
GBAboy313 11/4/24: its my personal policy to remain apolitical in most of my personal opinions when shared in works, but I just want to say (as an American) that whatever happens this week, that I hope that we make it through and have the chance to make 2025 a better year than this one. I implore any who see this to simply agree with the platitude rather than share political opinions. Fics should be something we can all come together on, not be forums for things that rip us all apart. Its why I endeavour to keep my political opinions private.
A/N: And that's another chapter done! I hope you all had a great read! And once again, thank you all for your continuous love, support and encouragement. And with this chapter and this little bit of action, we are past the 'trapmaster' arc. From the next chapter onwards, we will be entering our next arc. There also, there won't be much action since the action part is reserved for the arc after that one. So, please bear with us a bit with these filler ones, since our favourite heroine's leg is not fully healed yet. So, lets let her recover a bit as well. That'd be all from us today. See ya all in the next chapter. RaNK001 and GBAboy313 out.
Cheers and Peace!