Chapter 142: The Sufferings Not Mentioned in the Plot
Kenichi did not make things difficult for the twelve Konoha shinobi outside.
Shinobi who traveled on missions already lived hard lives. They risked their necks for a paycheck, slept in the wild, and still had to deal with every strange, unreasonable disaster the world could throw at them.
It would be a little too cruel for him to personally add himself to that list.
"What a shame." Kenichi sighed as he moved on. "If the lab were nearby, it would have been perfect to restock with some spare supplies."
What a waste. Twelve walking supply packs, gone with the wind.
He could not help thinking again, a little regretfully, "I really hope Teacher develops a sealing scroll that can store living people next time. It honestly hurts to see such high quality consumables running around the world unsupervised."
The thought made him a little melancholy, and it dragged up another idea he had back at the aerial base.
Could he inject cancer cells and Hashirama cells into a person's body, then regulate them so they produced a steady stream of chakra?
If he could do that, Zero Tails could absorb chakra continuously. Zero Tails could then supply energy to the fortress nonstop. And the fortress could finally take off.
Cancer cells were easy to cultivate. All they needed was enough Yang attribute chakra. And if they were cultivated properly, they could even be extracted from the host's body later, letting the person live out the rest of their life in peace.
Meanwhile, the cancer cells and interstitial cells inside that host could contribute to the aerial base around the clock.
What kind of spirit was that, if not devotion?
After a week of hurried travel, Kenichi finally saw the familiar village ahead.
Konoha.
Hokage Rock loomed on the cliff beyond, the First Hokage's face carved into stone. Kenichi scratched his head as he looked at it. He had the strange feeling that the real First Hokage would shatter a lot of people's fantasies.
After all, the so called God of Shinobi being that unreliable was genuinely hard to process.
"The weather isn't great today." Kenichi glanced up.
Konoha was in its rainy season. Dark clouds smothered the village and even the surrounding forests. The sky looked like it was preparing to dump everything it had.
So before he reached the gates, Kenichi adjusted his disguise, fixed his forehead protector, and slipped into the flow of people heading toward the main entrance.
"Name?" The guard looked up at him, eyes sharp with wariness.
Konoha had been under pressure lately. They had made peace with Kumogakure, but Iwagakure was still making outrageous demands. With the village stretched thin, spies slipping in to stir trouble was a real possibility.
Konoha wanted a truce with Iwagakure, but other villages might not want the same outcome.
"Koji Namiki," Kenichi answered calmly. "I went out on a C rank extermination mission."
He had borrowed the face from a lone chunin on the road. A shinobi assigned outside the village was the perfect identity for infiltration.
"Let me see." The guard pulled out a mission ledger and checked. There really was a record of that shinobi leaving the village.
In the shinobi world, anyone leaving had to register. Those who went out without reason and never reported back would be classified as rogue ninjas. Only the truly strong usually earned an A rank or S rank label.
"Understood, Namiki." The guard's tone remained strict. "We need to run a few checks. Please cooperate."
Kenichi nodded.
The guard used detection equipment, examined him closely, and even pinched his cheek to confirm it was real flesh. When nothing came up, the guard's attitude finally warmed.
"All right. You can enter."
Kenichi stepped through the gates, quietly noting something as he passed.
No Hyuga were stationed here.
The Transformation Technique was useful, but a skilled Hyuga watching with the Byakugan could still expose him. Yet there were none at the entrance.
The atmosphere had been tense, almost suffocating, but the Hyuga were absent.
Interesting.
"Konoha looks the same as ever," Kenichi murmured as he walked deeper in.
On the surface, everything was normal. Still, he noticed it. Some civilians wore grief on their faces. Some wore funeral clothes.
Kenichi glanced at the street, then bought a skewer of three colored dango. He took a bite and headed straight to the mission desk to submit the mission report.
He could not skip that step. Refusing to turn in a mission would immediately draw attention.
After he handed it in, he received the payment and pocketed it without hesitation.
Even a small grasshopper was still meat.
Then he looked up at the kunoichi managing the counter and lowered his voice, pretending to be shy.
"Um… I heard a famous doctor named Shinno came to Konoha. Is that true?"
The mission desk was often staffed by women. The kunoichi smiled and answered easily, "Yes. He's been doing academic exchanges at the hospital lately."
Kenichi's eyes brightened.
So Shinno was already well known here. That would make things convenient.
The only issue was whether Shinno knew what was happening at the aerial base. If he did, it could get messy.
Kenichi exchanged a few more harmless words, then left the mission hall and headed toward Konoha Hospital.
He walked for a while, then stopped.
On the right side of the street, on the second floor, a window stood open. A woman was arranging flowerpots along the sill.
When she noticed him looking, she smiled politely.
Kenichi smiled back, then kept walking, never turning his head again.
That place had once been his home.
Now it was someone else's home.
He had known this day would come the moment he defected, but seeing it with his own eyes still left a faint discomfort lodged in his chest.
Then another thought surfaced.
"I wonder how my junior sister is doing."
His and his teacher's defection had been abrupt. Kenichi still did not understand how Jiraiya had managed to sneak into the lab and stumble onto the experiment. Because of that, he did not know what happened afterward, or what became of his junior sister.
Teacher should have already placed a curse mark on her and erased her memories of that period.
Even so, Kenichi still remembered her.
He remembered Teacher, and he remembered the future version of Mitarashi Anko.
With that in mind, Kenichi changed direction and took another road. He still knew where Anko's family lived.
But when he reached the house, she was not there.
"That traitor's daughter?" A woman snapped the moment Kenichi asked. She spat on the ground in anger. "We threw her away somewhere else a long time ago. Disgusting. A proper Konoha shinobi following a rogue ninja teacher? Shameful. Ugh!"
Kenichi stayed silent for a moment.
Then he pretended he had no idea what she meant, chatted a little longer, and left.
From what he gathered, after he and Teacher defected, Anko had been abandoned by her parents and sent somewhere else, placed under supervision and investigation by Konoha.
Even if Anko had lost her memories, Orochimaru had still defected. An investigation was inevitable. Only after Konoha finished questioning her and found no issues would she be allowed to live normally again.
Kenichi's mood sank.
He had assumed Anko would not be made to suffer.
He had been wrong.
Even her parents did not know where she was now. All they knew was that Konoha shinobi had taken her away for questioning. Her exact location was unknown.
"ANBU? Or Root?" Kenichi hesitated for the first time in a long while.
It should not be Root.
But if it was Root, that might actually be better.
Root had a partnership with Teacher. Out of respect, they probably would not mistreat Anko. Probably.
Still, it was hard to say. The Third Hokage also had a partnership with Teacher, yet Anko was still being investigated.
To Konoha's higher ups, Anko was just a child with only chunin level strength. She was not valued. So treating her like this did not surprise them.
"It looks like I have other things to do today." Kenichi exhaled slowly.
If Anko were living normally in Konoha, he would not have interfered.
But she was not.
He and Teacher had defected, yes, but Anko was innocent. She had been completely unaware. Why should she be treated like a criminal?
And judging from the way her parents spoke, other shinobi in the village probably would not treat her well either. Kenichi could only imagine the pressure she was under.
It reminded him of Naruto.
Naruto Uzumaki, the future Nine Tails jinchuriki.
Despite being the son of a hero, his childhood was anything but happy. Ostracized. Insulted. Called a demon fox.
That was the hardest stain for the Third Hokage to ever wash away.
Kenichi believed the Third Hokage had done his best for the village. Whatever his style, Konoha maintained its top position and secured benefits.
But when it came to Naruto, Kenichi felt the Third Hokage owed him.
"Even if you wanted to protect the jinchuriki secret," Kenichi muttered, "you still let people call Naruto a demon fox. Is that really keeping a secret?"
If Naruto grew up into someone like Pain, floating above Konoha and delivering pain to everyone below, Kenichi would not be surprised.
What was strange was that Naruto did not turn evil.
Kenichi did not know whether that was the strength of Naruto's heart, or the influence of reincarnation. He could not be sure.
He did a quick calculation.
Naruto should be around one and a half to two years old right now.
Should he go take a look on the way?
In the shinobi world, children matured early. Kakashi became a jonin at twelve.
Naruto's childhood was the Third Hokage's biggest stain. Whether it was truly hidden or not was another matter entirely.
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