[Land of Water]
In the cold weather with goose feather snow falling, after Kimimaro bought a thick piece of clothing, he didn't wear it himself.
Instead, he carefully held the clothing in his arms and ran in a direction.
Rengoku, having found the target, so he wasn't in a hurry anymore.
He also wanted to know, without Orochimaru, where had Kimimaro been recently.
And judging from earlier, he seemed to be deliberately luring people to rob him, then kill and loot the corpses.
Kimimaro quickly arrived at a run-down courtyard.
The Land of Water was very chaotic; these kinds of broken houses were everywhere.
Half of the courtyard wall here had collapsed, and half the house inside had also collapsed.
Only one room had a roof, and a bonfire was burning outside the house.
A child even thinner than Kimimaro was in front of the fire, putting meat, dried vegetables, and rice into a pot to cook.
Although the climate was very harsh, this child was still wearing very little.
But his expression was gentle, without a trace of resentment because of the poor external conditions.
"Haku!"
Kimimaro, seeing Haku was safe, also let out a breath of relief in his heart.
He pinched the clothing in his hands, looking a bit excited.
Haku also stood up, "Come quickly and eat."
Kimimaro quickly ran to Haku's side, "Why weren't you waiting for me inside the house?"
Haku shook his head, "Closer to the fire is warmer. What are you holding?"
Kimimaro immediately shook out what was in his hands; warmth spread over Haku's body, and he was wrapped in a thick piece of clothing.
"Bought this for you," Kimimaro's eyes sparkled.
Haku lowered his head to look at the thick cotton coat on him, then looked at Kimimaro who was only wearing a single layer.
He reached out to hold the coat up, then draped it over Kimimaro.
"You wear it, I'm not afraid of cold."
Kimimaro pushed the coat back onto Haku, "Listen to me, you're much thinner than me."
"But…", Haku hadn't finished his words when suddenly his expression turned fearful and he looked in a direction.
The two Kirigakure ninja from earlier in the alley had already followed the footprints to this place.
Haku's fear was well-founded. In the Land of Water, possessing a Kekkei Genkai was original sin, if discovered by Kirigakure, they would be killed.
Kimimaro immediately pulled Haku behind him, facing the two Kirigakure ninja alone.
"Why is it just a brat?", The Kirigakure ninja named Etsuki said with surprise.
Beside him, Toshi said in a low voice, "Don't be careless, those kinds of wounds aren't from ordinary people."
Etsuki nodded, then drew his weapon and pointed at Kimimaro, "Why did you kill those people?"
Kimimaro wasn't good with words. He raised his hand, and a bone blade appeared in his hand, warily watching the two.
Etsuki and Toshi's pupils shrank, "A remnant of the Kaguya clan!"
They exchanged a glance, then each chose a target, Etsuki charged at Haku, while Toshi went for Kimimaro.
"Haku, run!"
Kimimaro immediately stepped up to intercept, trying to block both of them.
But Etsuki was quite strong. With a step, his figure leapt right over Kimimaro.
Kimimaro jumped up but was blocked by Toshi.
The two clashed, and the bone sword in Kimimaro's hand flew out immediately.
But at the moment Etsuki landed, the ground suddenly exploded with large ice spikes attacking Etsuki.
Etsuki dodged twice with side steps, and Haku was already exhausted.
"Turns out it's Ice Release Kekkei Genkai!"
Etsuki's expression turned excited and had already put away the knife in his hand. He saw that the opponent had clearly not gone through ninja training.
The two ice spike attacks were only instinctual.
He could be captured alive.
Kimimaro looked anxious, a second bone blade appeared in his hand as he attacked Toshi.
His fighting style was completely reckless.
Toshi's brow furrowed. With a turn of his body, he directly stabbed into Kimimaro's heart.
Just then, behind Haku suddenly appeared two claws formed of tailed beast cloak.
One hand protected Haku, the other grabbed Kimimaro and swiftly dragged him over.
Toshi and Etsuki were both swept away. When they looked over, a pair of blood-red eyes had already put them into a genjutsu.
What they saw in Rengoku was the appearance of Yagura.
Yagura made two hand signs, signaling them to retreat.
Toshi and Etsuki didn't dare ask much, and just happened to be knocked away.
The two directly fled.
The tailed beast cloak on Rengoku's body faded away, revealing his true appearance.
He didn't use transformation jutsu to turn into Yagura but used genjutsu to hypnotize, because Kimimaro and Haku needed to recognize him.
Truly, searching far and wide only to find it without effort.
Didn't expect Kimimaro had actually met and joined up with Haku.
Even after being saved, Kimimaro still shielded Haku behind him, "Thank you."
Rengoku only pointed at the pot of meat soup, "If you don't take it off the fire now, it's going to burn."
Haku first looked at Rengoku, then went to remove the pot from the fire.
The meat soup had already turned into a mushy meat porridge, but it still smelled fragrant.
"Who are you? What do you want?"
Just now, the two Kirigakure ninja were scared off in one move.
Kimimaro also understood the person before him couldn't be resisted, though his expression was still very guarded.
Rengoku chuckled lightly. If he had come a little earlier and copied Orochimaru, he probably could've tricked Kimimaro into joining.
But now, it seemed that phase had passed.
"I'm Uchiha Rengoku, an elder of the Uchiha clan. Would you like to come and join me?"
"Uchiha Rengoku? Join…", Kimimaro had no reaction to that surname. After all, he had been locked up and lacked common knowledge.
Rengoku nodded, "Yes. Become my companion and you'll have food, drink, and shelter."
Kimimaro's expression was somewhat confused, but after seeing Haku, he shook his head, "I want to stay with Haku."
Rengoku smiled, "Then you both come. I need companions like you."
Haku looked at Rengoku, "You need us? But we have Kekkei Genkai, abilities that nobody likes."
Rengoku replied sincerely, "That's because the environment here is bad. In our place, Kekkei Genkai is a power everyone longs for."
A look of surprise appeared in Haku's eyes. He had never known anyone would actually like Kekkei Genkai abilities.
Seeing that Kimimaro was still hesitating, Rengoku simply lured further, "You can't keep living like this. In the Land of Water, you'll be caught and killed."
"Better to come with me and leave here."
"Where I'm from, you can eat well, stay warm, and meet many others with Kekkei Genkai."
"We're all companions, no need to worry about being killed."
Longing appeared in Haku's eyes.
Rengoku revealed his Mangekyo Sharingan, "I also have Kekkei Genkai, so, come be my companion."
Kimimaro looked into Haku's eyes. The two nodded, "Okay!"
Rengoku's heart relaxed, "Eat first."
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y