In the hidden bar, at night.
"Wh-what did you say?! That kid, Yoichi has a Sharingan? Those two powerful eyes? You've gotta be kidding me!"
After the meet-up between Yoichi, Yoshiro soon began explaining the things to Ishida, who was completely in a state of shock.
"Who the hell in their right mind to throw away such an exceptional child?! If that child were born into Konoha, perhaps he could be the next Ghost of Uchiha or something bigger than that!" Ishida clenched his hair from sheer disbelief.
"That's what was also on my mind earlier, Ishida... Perhaps something is going on in the Uchiha Clan..." Without any proof of abandonment, Yoshiro just shut his mouth and sat down in silence.
So the one who beat us was an exceptional genius from the Uchiha Clan? Then, how come he's here in these god forsaken lands?!
On Yoshiro's side, Rokuro and Junko couldn't believe what they heard from their superior but the fact that Yoshiro saw the accurate and real eyes was something so surreal and felt like a fantasy.
"I need to report it to Hokage-sama and the higher-ups! Furthermore, keep this news a confidential secret, alright? If someone spilled the tea before it reached the ears of the Hokage, we would be heavily punished for simply learning the fact!"
Ishida glared at them with intensity in his eyes as the intangible energy made the rest swallow their saliva and nod in agreement like pecking chickens.
"What about Yoichi, Ishida?! We need to help him!" Yoshiro stated.
"Ahhh, what a troublesome task! There's nothing else we can do besides hoping for the best... We can't decide on this situation with our lives on the line! We must retreat in full and deliver this urgent report back to Konoha!"
With that being said, Ishida ordered all of them to pack all the valuable materials, information scrolls, and other useful things, beginning to slowly withdraw from the Amegakure.
The precarious situation of Yoichi was so complicated. Curse seal, Sharingan, a timer when would Hanzō realize, the experimentation, trials, and Yoichi's talents were like a domino effect.
Once a small domino falls, major events follow.
I hope you can stay strong, Yoichi...
Soon, Ishida and his group left with an urgent task, a paramount one in terms of high risk.
...
In the abandoned bar.
"Motoyasu-sama, they left! The traces and their belongings weren't there!" An Amegakure Shinobi declared.
"What did you say?! They left?! Find any clues as soon as possible. If you track even one Konoha shinobi, gather the troops and hunt them down!" Motoyasu narrowed his eyes and looked at the scattered items across the bar, flaring his Chakra out of frustration.
After coming back to the Amegakure, Motoyasu along with Hayate and Kouji decided to launch sneak raids against these foreign shinobi encroaching on their lands.
From the two major events surrounding these shinobi, Hanzō and his group couldn't take it anymore and culled all remaining shinobi from the Major Villages.
Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure all suffered numerous casualties in this victorious raid except for Konoha, which was suddenly left at their location as if a cunning rabbit with three burrows.
"Why the long face, Motoyasu?" Going back to the headquarters, Motoyasu soon met Hayate, who was jokingly asking about Motoyasu's frown.
"They are gone, Hayate. The shinobi, the papers, not even a single person remained! Damn it!"
Earlier, Motoyasu was assigned to be a leader for the sneak invasion of the Konoha Hideout while Hayate took Kumo and Iwa as Kouji got the remaining Kiri at the end.
"Did you find anything suspicious?!" At this point, Hayate also frowned with curiosity about the sudden departure of the Konoha rats.
"Everything is suspicious at this point! Fucking rats escaped as if there's a radar on their head like a cockroach or something!" Motoyasu angrily condemned.
"Perhaps there's someone in our league who informed them... That's the only possible thing that could certainly look logical." Hayate commented.
Espionage was a common task of a shinobi, it was nothing new but a good job of trying to seek any confidential information or rumors about the opposing village.
"If I even saw those fucking rats, I'll kill them!" Motoyasu hated backstabbing bastards more than an average Konoha shinobi.
"Calm down and put your anger in the right spot, we still have a reporting thing to do."
Soon, Hayate and Motoyasu went into their respective rooms with interest in the Konoha's successful retreat against their prowler invasion.
...
Konoha Year 17, September.
After 4 months, the time between the trials and the everyday life of Yoichi as well as his party became uninteresting and tiresome like living in a simulation.
Furthermore, after connecting to Yoshiro, nothing came to rescue or help Yoichi, who merely shrugged his shoulders and did his best at practicing Martial Arts techniques.
In his mind, there was no point in trying to mull over superficial things. After all, he essentially lived his life without the support of anything except Hayate, and honed his mentality along with his friends in addition to his goal of reunion with his mother.
If anything unexpected happens, what Yoichi could do is control what he has in his hands and fix the problems one by one, a stoic belief that he sharpened over time.
[Heavenly Demon Posture: (Great Success) 230/500] (+35)
[Mountain Crushing Fist: (Entry) 77/100] (+29)
[Lightning Spear Thrust: (Entry) 55/100] (+15)
[Phantom Steps: (Small Success) 15/300] (+13)
However, his improvements across all techniques greatly decreased but his realm improved from Copper Skin to Iron Skin with the help of his nearly exhausted Blood Ganoderma Ointment and his mentality to endure excruciating pain across his body.
In Iron Skin, the surface of his skin revealed some imperceptible metallic glow across his body. As for the advantageous benefits, Yoichi was nearly impenetrable under the force of sharp weapons such as swords, kunai, and shuriken.
Of course, the keyword 'nearly' was used because the parameters of his defense weren't defined, and each Chakra usage might deliver a lethal injury or nothing at worst, depending on the opponent's wish.
Furthermore, Yoichi's punch force greatly increased to 80 jins equal to 48 Kilograms of force, a power horrifying enough to smash his concrete walls with little dents and fist craters in the center, just by using his Heavenly Demon Posture.
Unlike his destructive technique, Mountain Crushing Fist, which could produce a whopping 160 jins of force and double his current punch force with a great strain on his frail body, his improvement was still considerable.
6 Silver Tickets and an upcoming gold ticket...
With his work finished, Yoichi soon arrived at the basement room with a perplexed expression on his face. The feeling was unusual as each step towards the stairs made Yoichi feel frown.
"Happy Birthday!"
As the voices of the party and the confetti were thrown into the air, Yoichi was flabbergasted.
"Hahaha! This is the first time I saw him like that!" Haruhiko cried out with joy in his smile.
"Happy Birthday, my friend... Hurry up and blow the candle!" While Genji was putting a birthday hat on him, Yoichi seemed to be lost in thought.
From the treacherous mines, the difficult trials, to the current precarious situations, all of it suddenly came into his mind and he felt a little nostalgic.
"Oooyyyy! Are you there?!" Hikari waved her hands in front of Yoichi's face.
"Maybe he's still processing his thoughts," Towa added, holding the birthday cake with delight.
"What if he's so shocked that he became unconscious while his eyes are open?" Munekatsu crossed his arms and cupped his chin, throwing a ridiculous conjecture.
Goddamn it! I felt embarrassed looking like this... But I need to be honest about myself.
"...Thank you, everyone. I'm glad to be your friend along our journey! Again, thank you so much." With a smile on his face, Yoichi blew out the candlelight.
Honestly, Yoichi couldn't find any explanation for his delightful emotions but he still went on, away from the doubts and caution with his trustworthy friends.
"Who are you?! Give me back my indifferent Yoichi! And why are you looking more handsome than me?!" Haruhiko held Yoichi's shoulders and joked around, bringing loud chuckles to the atmosphere.
Soon, the rest of them ate the food with a joyful feeling, a sensation which the gloomy skies of Amegakure cannot match.
After the celebration, the party went to sleep and felt fulfilled except for Yoichi, who was patiently waiting for the golden ticket with yearning in his eyes.
[Yearly Ticket Supply!]
[Reward: +1 Gold Ticket!]
[Tickets: 1 Prismatic, 3 Gold, 6 Silver]
Now, I shouldn't rashly pull for gold!
____________
(Current Progress)
[Heavenly Demon Posture: (Great Success) 230/500] (+35)
[Mountain Crushing Fist: (Entry) 77/100] (+29)
[Lightning Spear Thrust: (Entry) 55/100] (+15)
[Phantom Steps: (Small Success) 25/300] (+23)
____________
Sorry for the time skip... I mean, the things are too much overdrawn and the dialogues between the characters did not feel great in my opinion.
Let me know your thoughts, guys.
Thanks for reading the chapter and bookmarking the novel. See ya! XDD!