7 Hey, Hey! [Revised]

The mission notification appeared out of the blue as Dango was about to help the poor man. When he read the mission's objective, he was shocked.

There was only one thought in Dango's empty head.

'What did I even do?'

That thought quickly disappeared as Dango contemplated more about it. The man was already on death's doorstep, there was no way a child of his capabilities could save him.

Seeing how he accidentally and indirectly killed the man, he said a small prayer for him.

Now that Dango was alone in the woods, he didn't know what his next move would be.

In front of Dango were two, no three paths.

The first path was to continue the journey on foot. Thankfully, the carriage was traveling on a dirt road through the forest. He could try following it and see where he would end up as he couldn't guarantee that it was a one-way trip to Konoha.

The second path was the opposite; to return to Amegakure. As previously mentioned, the carriage had been following a dirt road. Dango was confident that if he were to retrace his steps, he would eventually make his way to the village hidden in the rain. Though this path was going against his original goal, perhaps he could try to stay alive for two more years to manifest his innate cursed technique.

The third path was to simply survive in the wild. It was a very risky and dangerous path for a three-year-old child. If it weren't for the [Orphan] skill, Dango wouldn't have thought of such a plan. Though, it was bad to rely on a skill that he didn't know much about.

Before Dango could make his decision, a voice called out from above him.

"Hey, kid!"

'Ah. The third path is gone.'

Dango cluelessly looked up to see who it was that greeted him. However, his eyes widened as he recognized the figure who called out to him as well as those with him. In total, there were three figures that were on tree branches overlooking the area.

'Hey, hey! Why are they here?! All three of them too!'

The small squad consisted of two males and one female.

The shinobi who called out to Dango was a male with waist-length, spiky white hair that was tied into a ponytail. There were also red lines under his eyes that extended halfway through his face.

On the right was a kunoichi who bore straight blonde hair that parts at her forehead as well as shoulder-length bangs.

On the left was a pale-skinned shinobi with purple markings around his eyes. He had an appearance that resembled that of a snake.

Dango screamed inwardly, 'Jiraiya! Tsunade! Orochimaru!'

"You startled him, Orochimaru. Tsunade and I will talk with him." Jiraiya joked.

Jiraiya lept from the tree and landed on the ground in front of Dango. Orochimaru and Tsunade remained high up as they made sure they watched out for any surprise attacks.

"What's your name, kid?" Jiraiya politely asked, trying not to scare Dango away.

"...Dango"

Jiraiya was momentarily surprised by the weird, goofy name, "Dango? That's a... nice name. Dango, do you know what happened here?"

"I dunno. I went to go pee-pee. Then big boom!" he answered while mimicking the loud noise he heard with his arms, "I went back, and uh, saw the table gone."

Jiraiya slowly lowered his caution towards Dango as he realized that he was just a normal kid who didn't know much about the world.

"Where's your mom and dad?"

"I don't know. Daddy had to go on a mission but hasn't come back yet. Mommy also went out on a walk but never came back."

"Your dad was a ninja?"

"Yeah, but he said he wasn't good at it. Do you know where my dad is? He promised to teach me how to become a ninja like him!"

"No, sorry."

"Oh... it's fine."

"Is that man your uncle?" Jiraiya asked as he pointed to the carriage driver's corpse.

"No," Dango shook his head, "I was hungry and went to look for mommy when the man told me he knew where she was. So I followed him."

'Sorry, dude.'

Jiraiya furrowed his brows at the answer, 'He was probably being kidnapped.'

Putting on a smile, Jiraiya gave Dango a lollipop, "Thanks, Dango. Have this lollipop, it'll taste really good. Stay here while I go talk to my friends."

"Candy! Thank you, mister!"

Jiraiya returned to his friends and told them what he learned about the situation. In the end, they came to the conclusion that the carriage was attacked by a ninja using explosives. It was probably a coincidence that the same ninja basically saved Dango from being kidnapped. Of course, this was still speculation.

"Should we take the kid with us?" Jiraiya suggested to the other two future Sannin.

However, Orochimaru disagreed, "That will only delay the mission. We should end his misery, instead."

"Orochimaru!" Tsunade scowled.

"Calm down. Let's just take hi-" Jiraiya was about to continue before a childish voice was heard below him.

"Um... mister. Can you help me find mommy? I also wanna go home. I'm hungry still."

Hearing the request, Jiraiya instantly made his decision. He looked at his two comrades and decided to bring the kid back and, if possible, find his mother. Besides, from what he could tell, the carriage was leaving Amegakure which was probably where Dango's home was, as well as where they needed to go for their mission.

Jiraiya patted his head, "I'll take you home and get you something to eat while we wait for your mom to come back."

"Okay!"

'I'll ask him if I can go with him after he takes me home. It'll be much safer around those three than being on my own. They can also teach me ninjutsu too!