Chapter 113: Farewell and Departure - Codename 'Shura'!
"Glug, glug, glug."
"Cough, cough, gah!"
Tsukasa choked several times before finally emerging from the water.
Unnoticed, the lake created by the Water Release: Exploding Water Colliding Wave had steadily receded, the surface of this miniature "ocean" dropping to the level of a second-story building.
In the distance, the civilians of the disaster-stricken Land of Hot Water had already begun various rescue operations.
Young men, carrying ladders and rowing small boats, pulled women and children from rooftops.
On the other side, veins bulging on their foreheads, they shouted as they pried open drainage channels. The Hot Water shinobi,
leaping across the water's surface, acted as messengers, continuously assessing the disaster and reporting to their superiors.
A grotesquely bloated nobleman imperiously detained them, forcing them to rescue his own mansion first.
Such devastation and rebirth, hope and wailing, went hand in hand.
Watching this unfold, Tsukasa fell silent,
yet also truly calmed down.
He suppressed his mad urge to use the Zero-Tails' power to seek vengeance for the civilians of the Hot Water capital.
The Zero-Tails wasn't a righteous ally in the fight against evil—
on the contrary, it was itself synonymous with evil and darkness.
Not to mention the damage it would cause to those affected by its dark chakra.
To extract the extreme emotions of the entire city, Tsukasa would need to constantly move around collecting them, effectively spreading the battle's aftermath.
In that moment, he would truly become a "mass murderer."
He would be no different from the hunter-nin and the Third Mizukage who disregarded human life.
Just then,
"Are you okay?"
Mei Terumī crouched above the water, picked up a stick, and poked Tsukasa in the face.
"Ugh!" Tsukasa exhaled, smiled helplessly, and looked up at her.
"This time, we really must say goodbye."
Mei Terumī stood with the highly respected elders of Kirigakure and their bloodline clans,
while Mangetsu Hōzuki represented his own faction and Kirigakure's secret clans.
With the impending battle,
Yagura would undoubtedly take both of them with him, and Mei had always acted for the future of Kirigakure.
Tsukasa was silent for a moment, then rummaged through his pockets, finally pulling out an oil-paper-wrapped object:
the sakura mochi Mei had bought him.
After such a fierce battle, even with the oil-paper wrapping, it was soaked through.
Only one piece remained intact.
"Hey, it's a little soggy, but do you still want it?" Tsukasa asked sheepishly, holding up the unfolded oil-paper and scratching his head.
Mei's gaze fell on the warped, blood-soaked sakura mochi, a complex expression flickering in her emerald eyes.
After this,
Tsukasa would return to Konoha, and she would return to Kirigakure.
They would each pursue their own ninja ways,
and this sakura mochi before them might be their last shared moment on that path.
"Yeah!"
Looking at the foolish boy before her, she suddenly smiled,
like a lotus blossom swaying in the spring breeze.
"I want it!"
She reached out and picked up the blood-soaked sakura mochi, carefully putting it away, her expression solemn as if accepting something precious.
Then she stood up, gave Tsukasa one last look,
wanting to say something more, to promise something, to make some agreement.
But she couldn't.
For this young woman who would sacrifice everything—even her own wedding—to revitalize Kirigakure in the future,
the true meaning of being a shinobi was to endure such emotions, such pain,
to walk the ninja path,
and to pursue her goals relentlessly.
She sighed, and finally looked at Tsukasa with a complicated expression.
"Next time, I definitely won't hold back."
"See you on the battlefield."
Tsukasa was silent for a moment, at a loss for words, and finally could only nod quietly.
"Yeah."
There was no more dialogue to be had.
Meanwhile, Mangetsu Hōzuki glared at him fiercely.
When Tsukasa looked back, the other guy huffed and turned his head away,
leaving Tsukasa wondering what that was all about.
Soon, the Kirigakure group, led by Yagura, quickly departed from the messy battlefield.
At this time,
Aburame Ryoma, who had been standing beside Tsukasa as if invisible, glanced at him and said lightly:
"You should still have business to attend to."
"I'll give you half an hour. I'll wait for you outside the city."
"This concerns your transfer orders, your new mission, and—"
"Your new identity within Root."
Tsukasa frowned slightly, then nodded.
Seeing this, Aburame Ryoma said nothing more and quickly left with the Root operatives.
With everything that had transpired in the Hot Water capital and what he'd witnessed, he also needed time to organize the intelligence and report to Danzo as soon as possible.
Especially regarding this kid, Uchiha Tsukasa.
His actual combat capabilities and the special abilities revealed in this battle were seriously inconsistent with the intelligence recorded in Root's files.
Damn it, were those Root intelligence gatherers just slacking off?
Before coming here,
the information he'd received stated that Uchiha Tsukasa was just a weak Genin obsessed with entertainment who only dared undertake D-rank missions.
A kid who was lucky enough to catch Orochimaru's eye and be accepted as his apprentice.
But—
as Aburame Ryoma leaped away, he couldn't help but glance down.
Below him, the ravines and crumbling buildings looked like ruins from a battlefield ravaged by a catastrophic storm.
He paused for a moment,
then resolved that upon returning to the village, he would make those Root operatives tasked with gathering intelligence on the Uchiha clan
understand the consequences of incompetence.
"You call this weakness? You call this luck? You call this a slacker?"
Aburame Ryoma felt a sharp pain in his head.
He dreaded Lord Danzo's reaction upon his return.
He'd surely declare, "This must be an Uchiha conspiracy,"
and come down hard on this Uchiha brat.
After saying his goodbyes, Tsukasa still had to manage the affairs of the Hot Water capital—rebuild the underground market, calculate losses, and send the bill to Fugaku.
Overwhelmed by these troubles,
he had no time to properly deal with Seiichiro, simply telling him,
"Get lost! I'm tired of looking at you. Just don't die."
"Also, when you get to Orochimaru, tell Shisui I said hello."
Tsukasa's eye twitched slightly. He wanted to ask how Seiichiro knew he was going to the Land of Rain,
but then felt relieved remembering that Seiichiro managed the underground market.
Seiichiro, after all, was well-connected.
Tsukasa shook his head and
finally begged Seiichiro to help rescue his little follower, Hidan, who was still buried under a street in the entertainment district.
He also asked him not to just give the kid a couple of rice balls, but to assign someone to watch over him and escort him back to Yugakure.
After receiving Seiichiro's dismissive agreement,
Tsukasa breathed a sigh of relief.
He knew Hidan probably had a lot to say
and many questions to ask him—
about immortality, the future, and how he, as a big brother figure, could save the Land of Hot Water.
But Tsukasa's mind was tangled, and he had no desire to play the role of mentor.
He didn't know how to explain to Hidan, "Actually, I was just messing with you, so don't take it too seriously."
He needed to travel to the Land of Rain as soon as possible to determine
the extent of his influence on the Third Shinobi World War,
who might die as a result,
and whether the outcomes would be irreversible.
With these thoughts weighing on him,
as the sun slowly set, painting the sky a dim yellow,
Tsukasa packed his belongings, his expression resolute.
He departed from the city.
Finally,
in front of a hot spring bathhouse not far outside the city,
he encountered Aburame Ryoma standing alone, back turned, gazing at the fading dusk.
The dim sunlight shone through the hazy steam rising from the hot springs, creating a dreamlike atmosphere.
Aburame Ryoma tilted his head, revealing half of his sunglasses, and asked calmly,
"You're here?"
Tsukasa nodded.
"Yeah, I'm here."
Without even turning his head, Aburame Ryoma tossed a token to Tsukasa and said coldly,
"Very good!"
"From today on, you are a Root shinobi—"
"Without a name, without emotions, without a past, and without a future!"
"You are the 'root' that supports the great tree of Konoha Village, buried deep in the earth!"
"Remember your codename—"
"Shura!"
Tsukasa blinked, thinking to himself, Dude, are you practicing poetry? That's quite the speech.
His expression twitched slightly, and then he watched
Aburame Ryoma step onto the stairs of the hot spring bathhouse, tilt his head, turn around, and adjust his stylish sunglasses.
Then, coldly,
"Shura, what are you standing around for? Follow me!"
"Time to complete your first mission—"
"Scrub your superior's back!"
End of Chapter 113
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