"Master Guy, why are you here?" Shiki asked instinctively. "Actually, why are you so late this time?"
"I was dealing with Neji's matter earlier. But just as I expected, the youthful and energetic Shiki has already risen on his own. How about we have a training session filled with youthful spirit?"
"No."
Shiki rejected outright. If he had to say, tomorrow he would be leaving on a journey to find Lady Tsunade, so he really did need some preparation.
Training with Might Guy would definitely mean staying up all night?
"Hey, come on, Shiki, I was just kidding before. I know you're leaving with Hayate tomorrow to find Lady Tsunade. Aren't you amused by my sense of humor?"
Shiki replied solemnly, "Not at all."
"What a shame. Seems like I still have a long way to go before becoming a man who completely surpasses Kakashi." Might Guy scratched his chin in deep thought.
Seeing Might Guy fall into his self-indulgent mode again, Shiki could only sigh and ask, "Fine then. Master Guy, please just tell me directly what's going on."
"Well actually, it's not really something important."
"Then don't talk about it."
"But there is still something," Might Guy's expression became slightly serious. "Uzumaki Shiki, if during this trip you truly get to meet Lady Tsunade, please ask her to return."
"Eh?" Shiki felt surprised, never expecting Might Guy would say such words to him.
"As for the reason, I can't explain now. However, I hope you'll complete this task properly."
"But why didn't you approach Hayate-sensei directly?"
"Because Hayate is currently occupied with urgent matters."
"You mean together with Yugao, right?"
Might Guy scratched his head, clearly embarrassed. "Yes... they had so much to discuss that I couldn't find a valid reason to interrupt. So I came to you instead."
Nodding understandingly, Shiki's mind wandered elsewhere—If Lady Tsunade returns to Konoha, do you think things might be easier to handle from then on?
The whole village must be thinking the same thing, right?
After all, all the jonins already knew that Orochimaru had returned.
"I accept this mission!"
Shiki's tone carried firm determination, though privately wondering in his heart whether they could successfully locate Tsunade. Continued...
Chapter 168: Departure (Fifth Update)
The morning sunshine over Konoha felt perfect—the summer heat hadn't arrived yet, and the cool breeze brought a refreshing sensation.
Team 9 gathered early at the village gate. Since their team formation, Team 9 rarely experienced moments of peace.
They continuously ran around fulfilling missions—they didn't mind it, because it's perfectly normal for genin to take on lots of missions and grow stronger through experience.
However, today's purpose wasn't about completing any specific reward-giving mission.
Their goal remained twofold: one, to let Lady Tsunade heal Shiki Uzumaki's injuries.
Two, to convince Lady Tsunade to return to Konoha.
Of course, yesterday, from Might Guy himself, Shiki already learned this mission was non-obligatory.
Whether Tsunade-sama would return or not still completely depended on her own will.
As for Team 9, their mission was simply to persuade her as much as possible.
Looking at Yuuma and Makoto beside him, Shiki felt a pang of guilt. To them, helping a teammate was just something they should do. But from Shiki's perspective, they had still sacrificed for his sake. Still, if he were in the same situation, he would definitely do the same.
"But I really don't know how I can make it up to them in the future," Shiki murmured, placing the Seiquan Sword in front of him. The black scabbard faintly gleamed under the light.
If not for Makoto, who knew when this sword of his would've been fixed? He couldn't help sighing slightly at the thought that his swords seemed particularly prone to breaking.
After all, during his final fight with Neji, he had also broken the temporary sword he borrowed. But that sword hadn't held any particular meaning—it was just an ordinary standard-issue blade randomly taken from tower. So damaging it wasn't considered a real loss.
"Hey, big brother, you seem like you're thinking about something?" Yuuma suddenly jumped in front of Shiki, placing both hands behind her back and tilting her head with a smile.
"No."
Shiki shook his head. "No."
Yuuma gave a skeptical pout, clearly not buying it, yet said nothing further. Soon enough, the group stepped through Konoha's main gate.
The outside world appeared much vaster. For some reason, there was a dense forest right before Konoha. Despite Konoha's prosperity, it had never led to a scarcity of trees.
Once entering the forest, the air became noticeably fresher.
Walking along this path worn down by countless footsteps, one felt oddly relaxed.
Hayate-sensei walked ahead as usual, his sickly appearance still evident. Yet combined with his appearance and the sword strapped to his back, it gave off quite the wandering swordsman vibe.
"Sensei Hayate, along this journey, what kind of training will we be doing?" Yuuma curiously asked while walking next to Hayate.
Though Hayate hadn't given away even a hint beforehand, it hardly needed guessing—they certainly would have training along the way.
After all, with so much time available, Hayate absolutely wouldn't allow it to go to waste.
"Didn't expect you to be this eager, Yuuma," Hayate Gekko chuckled slightly while patting Yuuma's head after coughing twice.
"Of course there'll be training—and it'll carry more weight than our earlier training."
More important?
Shiki became interested too. After all, the prior training had focused on chakra control—an essential skill for every ninja.
Certainly, both Yuuma and Makoto eventually mastered the "Tree Climbing" exercise.
But what could possibly be more important than chakra control?
Just as he was pondering—
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