"Naruto: Ice God"Chapter 164: Returning to the Village—Minato and Kakashi
Compared to when Feng Bai left, Konoha's scenery hadn't changed much.
The most noticeable difference was the addition of a new face on the Hokage Rock.
Feng Bai lingered on the street for a while, still unsure how to greet his old man when he saw him. Just then, a soft voice called out behind him:
"Big Brother Feng Bai?"
"Hm?"
Responding instinctively, Feng Bai turned around and saw a beautiful woman holding a child by the hand.
"Itachi, huh."
Seeing that familiar little face, Feng Bai couldn't help but walk up and pinch his cheek before realizing the identity of the woman beside him.
At this time, the only person who would be walking with Itachi on the street was Uchiha Mikoto.
Fugaku really was lucky—just with that face, he'd managed to marry such a lovely wife.
If Sasuke grew up handsome, it was all thanks to Mikoto's genes.
"Big brother?"
Hearing her son call Feng Bai "big brother," Mikoto was somewhat surprised and covered her mouth with her hand.
Such a cute little one was actually a boy?
Half-willingly letting Feng Bai knead his little face, Itachi only remembered to introduce the two after the hand stopped moving.
"Mom, this is Big Brother Feng Bai..."
"Nice to meet you, I'm Shimura Feng Bai." Feng Bai looked up at Uchiha Mikoto, smiling as he extended his hand.
"I'm Uchiha Mikoto. Itachi has been in your care."
"Not at all, Mikoto-nee."
Feng Bai's response instantly demoted Itachi by a generation.
Puffing out his cheeks imperceptibly, Itachi was clearly somewhat displeased with his sudden demotion.
Fugaku: Who's been corrupting my son like this?
The two chatted briefly, and from their conversation Feng Bai learned the purpose of her outing.
She was planning to go to the hospital for some tests.
Hospital? Tests?
Really? Could it be...
Feng Bai's gaze unconsciously drifted toward Mikoto's abdomen.
If it was true, then Kushina-nee...
Was it coming—the Nine-Tails Incident?
After saying goodbye to Mikoto and Itachi, Feng Bai no longer had the mind to think about how to fool Danzō, and instead began contemplating the Uchiha who had ambushed him last time.
Those guys would very likely come here to cause trouble. He needed to warn Sakumo and Minato to make complete preparations.
No, he should definitely call Kakuzu and Pakura back so everyone could resist together.
"Feng Bai?"
Another familiar voice. The moment he looked up, Feng Bai saw a flash of yellow.
Speak of the devil—standing before him was none other than Namikaze Minato.
"Minato-nii." With his mind entirely focused on Minato, Feng Bai completely ignored the figure behind him.
"What, only see Captain Minato?" Kakashi's tone wasn't particularly good.
Only when Kakashi spoke did Feng Bai notice the white figure behind him, and immediately looked apologetic: "Sorry, Kakashi, I didn't notice you just now."
"Is that all?" Kakashi pressed relentlessly, walking up to Feng Bai with a cold expression.
"Uh, is there something else?" Feng Bai's eyes darted away as he desperately tried to think of how he might have offended Kakashi before.
Feeling a light tap on his head, Feng Bai heard Kakashi's complaint: "Leaving the village for over half a year without a word—do you even consider us teammates?"
That's not really my fault—you should blame Tsunade; she only gave me one day!
Though he wanted to say this, Feng Bai wisely kept his mouth shut.
"Really, even that idiot Obito at least said goodbye before leaving." Seeing Feng Bai not responding, Kakashi brought up Obito for comparison.
"Sorry, it was an emergency situation." Feng Bai put on a pained expression, looking pitiful.
Seeing Feng Bai make that face, all of Kakashi's pent-up complaints instantly evaporated.
He wasn't naturally sentimental—he just hadn't seen Feng Bai for so long that he didn't know how to start the conversation.
"Welcome back." Extending his hand, Kakashi spoke while internally criticizing himself—this kind of thing really didn't suit his character.
"I'm back!" Feng Bai instantly dropped his act, grinning as he grasped Kakashi's hand.
"I knew I didn't hit you hard enough—take another punch!"
"Come on, Kaka-bro, quit it!"
...
"So where are you two headed?" After some playful banter, Feng Bai finally remembered to ask what Kakashi and the others were doing.
Glancing at Minato, Kakashi confirmed from his nod that this was something he could discuss, then explained the situation to Feng Bai: "We're going to Beizhong Town to investigate something."
"Oh, Beizhong Town—pfft!" Muttering this somewhat familiar place name, it took Feng Bai a moment to react, and in his panic he nearly choked on his own saliva.
"What's wrong? Have you been to that place?" Kakashi, perceptive as he was, immediately caught Feng Bai's micro-expression.
"Well, I passed through there while training. I heard some noble died there recently."
"Yes, that's exactly what we're investigating." Minato nodded.
Hearing this, Feng Bai felt even more guilty. Why had his old man been doing this sort of thing for so long without anyone noticing, but the first time he did it, so many people came to watch?
Hiruzen: Good disciple, that's because your dad has me as such a good friend!
"Did you investigate anything?" Feng Bai regretted asking this question the moment it left his mouth.
Why ask about this for no reason? Wasn't this just asking for trouble?
Fortunately, the two who had dealt with Feng Bai for years weren't surprised—after all, he was someone with strong curiosity and erratic thinking: "Nothing. It should just be mountain bandits from the area."
Here, Aburame Ryōma's professionalism deserved praise.
After taking over the mess, under the Root ninja's operations, all the loose ends were smoothed over. Even a master like Minato couldn't detect any clues.
However, even more impressive was Minato's speed. Setting out almost simultaneously with the Root ninja, he investigated the entire affair at extreme speed and returned to the village faster than Feng Bai. The Yellow Flash truly lived up to his name.
Truly worthy of being the fastest man in the shinobi world—he did everything quickly!
Thank goodness Minato and the others hadn't discovered any clues.
Having gotten the answer he wanted from them, Feng Bai lost interest in continuing the conversation. All he wanted now was to know if there was any movement in Kushina's belly.
But asking this kind of question directly would obviously be too rude.
He could only find other ways to probe indirectly.
"Ah, right, Feng Bai, you don't have anything urgent to do, right?" Just as Feng Bai was preparing to say goodbye to Minato and the others, Minato himself suddenly called out to stop Feng Bai.
"I need to go report to the Fourth Hokage next. Could you help me deliver this local specialty to Kushina?"
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