Chapter 22

(A/N: Author here, I just want to say this arc has been stretched longer than expected and I'm getting tired of it so I'll fasten the pace a little bit)

"Uhm...yo?" 

Asahi greeted casually with a calm voice which worked as Kanna and the other's remained tensed by his presence.

The newly arrived four red-haired people stood between Asahi and the children, their defenses raised, taking a fighting stance ready to fight Asahi if needed while Kushina and the children with her were confused.

"Who are you?" Kanna questioned with a low-volume voice that Asahi could barely hear.

"I'm Asahi—" His words were cut short when all of a sudden a puff of smoke appeared and the previously tengu statue was replaced with Udon.

"Udon-san!"

"Leader!"

The two sides exclaimed as Asahi moved forward with lightning speed, crouching beside his team leader's injury-ridden body.

Udon's body is covered in cuts as blood dyed his body red, fortunately, none was able to cut deep into his bones as he reacted quickly and cast his special substitution jutsu.

"Stay still, I'll cover your wounds!" Asahi stated with a grim expression, worried for his senior.

"No...let's escape..." Udon shook his head and expressed with great difficulty as he held Asahi's hand, passing onto a map of the secret tunnel he created.

"But!—" 

Asahi was adamant about treating Udon first but stopped his mouth noticing the firm eyes on Udon's face as he lowered his head and complied.

With Udon incapacitated, finding the hidden tunnel befalls Asahi, who's a little inexperienced in Earth-style jutsu.

Fortunately, the hidden tunnel is not far from their location, and with the help of the map, Asahi and the group quickly find it by digging using jutsu.

Walking into the tunnel, the group soon arrived at the place where Osamu and Reiki had been hiding from the start as the two are also surprised at their leader's state.

"Leader!" -Reiki

"What happened?" -Osamu

"The mission is successful but Udon-san is injured fighting Suna ninjas." Asahi briefly explains before gently putting Udon to the ground.

Obviously, on their way, Asahi and the group had converged and explained each other's circumstances as Asahi got the gist of what had happened while the members of the Uzumaki clan learned about the Sunshine Village and the mission of Udon and Asahi.

"Wait a minute, I'll think of a way to save you!" Asahi reassured however without Udon's data, he's unable to use the same method as he did with the octopus to help his leader as he fell into a predicament.

As Asahi was panicking inside, he felt a hand holding his arm as he looked down and it was Udon.

"I...I'm proud of you" Udon muffled as a blue holographic screen materialized in front of him.

'JACKPOT!' The black-haired boy happily thought as he subconsciously clicked the screen.

Afterwards, Asahi didn't waste any second and was about to enter his virtual world but Udon was not done talking.

"Don't bother treating me." -Udon

"What?....Why?!" -Asahi

"I have to die for the mission to be a success." -Udon

"...What do you mean?" -Udon

"No one must know that we shelter Uzumaki members in our village or else what happened to the Uzushiogakure will also befall our village. This mission is issued by the Konoha and they knew that I'm in charge of the job, so if I return to the village, it means that the mission is a success."

Udon explained, revealing the real objective of their mission to Asahi who was trying to piece all of the information together as Udon continued;

As it turns out, Udon knew that taking this mission meant his death even if he succeeded or not.

Konoha isn't someone to be messed with and most of the village would rather remain obedient and hand over the Uzumaki clan's treasure but Yokogakure is daring.

They don't plan to give the treasure that will greatly benefit the village's growth and hasten the improvement of the village by a few decades. 

 Therefore, they planned to send Udon to retrieve it and die, making it seem that the mission failed then the children will bring the treasure to the village, which was their real mission.

"Asahi...be careful....Keiki is....ambitious" Udon conveyed while his eyes were lost in a trance, silently staring at the rocky ceiling.

"You're just like him when he was your age, just stronger haha..." 

"But I hope you don't go down the same path..."

"Everything he did is for the village, but he's far too ambitious."

"Keiki is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals, even if it means killing innocent people."

"But remember boy...it's always the people that make the village, not the other way around."

Asahi sat still as he silently listened to what Udon was saying with his head down, not daring to interrupt the dying man as tears dripped from his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I've always wanted to teach you my knowledge about Earth jutsu but I can't do that anymore." 

"But I'm sure you'll be strong no matter what." Udon asserts with a light smile as if he's stating a fact.

"But...how...?" Asahi asked as his voice cracked because of crying.

Even with the assistance of the virtual world and his AI's rigorous research, even with the path that had been laid down in front of him, Asahi always felt that something was missing.

"You don't possess the gene of Uzumaki or their talent in fuinjutsu but you are special on your own." 

"You have your own strength, develop it to the extreme and you'll be the strongest."

"Do you understand...?"

"YES!" Asahi nodded as he cried out, 

His answer made Udon smile as his eyes slowly lost their luster and closed.

With a smile on his face, the strongest ninja from the Sunshine Village, Mamushiki Udon, had met his demise in the Land of Whirlpool along with thousands of villagers from the Uzushiogakure who died under the cruel fate of the shinobi world.

Asahi, Osamu, Reiki, and the Uzumaki members all wept at the loss of a great ninja as they cried their hearts out.