Chapter 126 New Skin

Chapter 126 New Skin

When Haku turned the corner holding a change of clothes, he happened to see Kocho Shinobu punching the air.

Veins appeared on her forehead and her ears were red. She first hit the imaginary enemy in front of her - an airman about the same height as her - with two swinging punches, one left and one right, and then added another punch that was so quick that it hit her fingertips. Hit the opponent in the abdomen.

The last punch was particularly vicious: Kocho Shinobu's clenched uppercut punched fiercely from below. She didn't stop the momentum until she was a head taller than herself. It seemed that she was dreaming of punching the opponent on the chin and knocking him away.

After doing all this, Kocho Shinobu regained her composure, and her shoulders stopped rising.

She smoothed the white coat on her body, adjusted her hairstyle, turned around with a smile that was no different from usual, and made eye contact with Haku's somewhat horrified eyes.

Kocho Shinobu's eyes turned into crescents: "It's Haku. When did you come here? I didn't even hear the sound."

"I just arrived." Haku felt his throat was a little dry, so he emphasized: "It's less than five years ago. I mean Seconds."

"..."

Kocho Shinobu saw through it without saying anything, and focused her eyes on the suit of clothes Haku was holding. There is also a small mirror and scissors on the top of the clothes.

"Is this the only kind of clothing in Orochimaru's base?"

"Well, there's not much difference in general. They were originally adult styles, so I cut them down and re-sewed the sleeves and corners."

"You're great, Haku, you actually know how to cut clothes."

Kocho Shinobu immediately beamed, "In my hometown, apart from tailoring, only girls who want to get married can learn these things. My sister is very good at it, but I am not good at it. I was not very interested in it."

"This..." Haku didn't know what he thought of, and his face turned pink, "As a ninja, you should know a little bit."

"That's it." Kocho Shinobu stared at Haku for a while, until the other party was a little panicked after being watched, and then suddenly said: "I have sent En to deliver a message to the Kirigakure ninja named 'Momochi Zabuza'. In your current situation, it is definitely not realistic to return to Kirigakure Village. If you want to meet, he can only come to you."

From Kocho Shinobu's perspective, the Jounin with the severed hand would definitely not tell the truth completely when he returned.

If he said something like "We retaliated for torturing Zabuza's followers", he would be severely punished.

So in his words, Haku has probably become a Kirigakure traitor who is colluding with Kocho Shinobu.

When Kocho Shinobu let him go, she hadn't thought much about it. She just wanted him to serve as a messenger to make Kirigakure realize that there was a sharp sword hanging above their heads outside the village to restrain their behavior.

But now it seems that what she did in disguise gave Haku, a rare good man, a reason not to go back to being a ninja.

[Good seedlings like this must stay. ]

Kocho Shinobu's eyes flickered, and her brain was spinning rapidly.

She asked En to tell Momochi Zabuza about all the truth, and she still didn't know how the other party would react.

If the ninja named Momochi Zabuza intends to avoid suspicion and draw a clear line with Haku, then Haku can justifiably end his ninja career and stay here.

If the other party plans to use this news to lead the Kirigakure ninja attack to settle the score with her, then Rengoku, Tomioka and her are all here. What will greet Kirigakure is another disastrous defeat, and Haku will also see the true face of the other party and completely Give up on him.

And the last possibility is that Momochi Zabuza really cares about Haku, and would rather risk being accused of "collaborating with the enemy" to meet Haku.

What to do at that time will have to be improvised.

Haku didn't expect that in just a few seconds, so many thoughts would flash through Kocho Shinobu's little head, and he was still immersed in the dual emotions of joy and worry - He wanted to stay here, but he didn't want to betray Zabuza, So he fell into some kind of dilemma.

"Okay, with En's speed, you will receive a reply tonight at the latest, and it won't be too late to get entangled by then."

Kocho Shinobu patted Haku's shoulder comfortingly, "I'll go see Yakushi Kabuto, who has many things to do, let's see how to deal with him. As for Tomioka, I'll leave it to you. I'll meet them outside in a while." After saying that, Kocho Shinobu left, while Haku was calming down at the door.

After a moment, he opened the door and walked in.

Giyu is getting off the hospital bed with the help of a water clone. The Sharingan that was opened before has been closed long ago and turned back to dark blue.

Just by glancing at it, Giyu felt that the other person's body shape was somewhat familiar, and immediately thought: "You are the child lying on the cliff a few nights ago."

The person in front of him called him " child", with a beautiful white face. He stiffened for a moment and said, "You still remember me."

"Of course I do. You and your companions don't look very strong, but you still stay so close to the battlefield. You really don't know yourself."

Out of righteousness and courage Giyu only said a few words with good intentions, but Haku's ears were filled with disgust and contempt: "If I hadn't been concerned about your safety, I would have directly used a large-scale water release to deal with Orochimaru."

"Sorry." Haku lowered his head with drooped eyebrows. It was obviously the first time he was talking to Giyu, but Haku already had mixed feelings towards him.

Why did Giyu seem to be polite, but the words he said made him feel more uncomfortable than when those Kirigakure ninjas insulted him?

Haku still remembered that when he was running with Giyu, he was met by Kyojuro halfway. The latter's encouraging eyes and warm and grateful compliments were like going to another imaginary world - his self-feeling was so Good and think that they were worthy of anything in the world.

However, at this moment, in front of Giyu, he felt like sitting on pins and needles, like thorns piercing his back, like a lump in his throat...

In short, two extremes.

[How did the three of them get together? ]

"Well..." Haku still doesn't understand why Kocho Shinobu calls Uchiha Giyu, Tomioka, so he doesn't know what to call him. He can only take a step closer and show the clothes in his hand, "I'm here to help you to clean it and change clothes."

"You put it there." Giyu glanced at the water body next to him, "I can do it myself."

As Kocho Shinobu said, with such an appearance, even though he knew the other person was a man, Giyu still cared a little.

"Then do you know how to cut hair?"

Haku grabbed the scissors, making a metallic friction sound, and pointed to the left side of the Giyu rice ball head, "Most of the hair here has been burned by the explosive tags, so it is curled up. If it is not repaired, the two sides will be unbalanced and it will look weird."

"I should be able to do this simple hairstyle..."

"After all, the clone cannot act according to your wishes at any time, and the main body must always watch and command."

Haku Interrupted gently: "You can only see with one eye now, and there is always a difference between seeing with two eyes. Besides, you can't just cut the top of the head and the front, but you also have to deal with the back. It looks like someone with a moon-shaped head has new hair... You don't want to appear like that in front of others, right?"

In fact, Giyu didn't care at first.

But when I think about having a good relationship with others, the book also said that the first impression can usually determine a person's basic attitude towards another person...

The next moment, the water body disappeared, and Giyu said solemnly: "Then I have to trouble you."

"Well, please sit on the chair over there."

The haircut started quickly, and there was no conversation between the two of them for the first few minutes- one didn't want to talk, and the other probably didn't want to hear the other.

But this silence is still somewhat disturbing and Haku always had doubts in his heart.

"I want to ask," Haku asked tentatively while trimming the stray hair on Giyu's head: "What were you talking about before Ms. Shinobu left this room?"

What happened that turned the gentle Shinobu in haku mind so angry?

Surprisingly, Giyu seemed to have no intention of hiding anything.

"We didn't talk about anything important." Giyu said casually: "Kocho asked me if I really think that there is no one more beautiful than her."

Haku eyebrows twitched inadvertently, and he had already made up this sentence in his mind. The content of the previous conversation between the two people showed a strange smile on their faces.

[It turns out that Miss Shinobu is no different from ordinary girls in this aspect. It's just... Isn't this age too early? ]

[And who would give the wrong answer to such a question...]

Wait, that's not right!

Haku was suddenly alert. If it was a satisfactory answer, Miss Shinobu would not act like she did just now.

"So how did you answer?" he asked a little worriedly.

"Of course, not." Giyu said confidently.

[no problem? ] Haku was confused, [do Miss Shinobu not like others to praise her appearance, but pay more attention to her intelligence and talent? ]

Giyu hasn't finished speaking yet.

"Because no one who is more beautiful than her is no longer alive."

Giyu naturally said it was his eldest sister Tomioka Tsutako who is also both mother and sister. In his heart, there is no one more beautiful than his sister.

It's just that Kocho Shinobu was walking in a hurry and didn't hear him finish the second half of his sentence.

"Kacha——" The clear sound of scissors became a little harsh.

"I'm sorry..." Haku saw a bunch of hair falling on the ground and said apologetically: "Originally I wanted to cut your hair short, but now it seems that I can only cut it into an inch."

Half an hour later, he had a new hairstyle. Giyu walked out of the room with new clothes and new bandages and splints on his left hand and left leg.

He was wearing a white coat with a wide open collar that was only gathered up by a dark purple waistband at the waist. The outside was tied with twist ties that resembled ropes attached to the central pillars of a shrine, as if a python was wrapped around the waist.

(Sasuke's clothes in Shippuden)

Further down, there are loose riding hakama and standard ninja sandals.

All in all, this outfit is quite retro, making Giyu, who has short Shisui-style hair, look like a wandering samurai.

As soon as he arrived in the corridor, Giyu recognized that this was the bottom floor where Orochimaru conducted experiments.

What is different from before is that the doors of these laboratories are covered by thick roots growing from the mountains.

"What's going on?" Giyu looked around and found these roots everywhere, "There were none before."

"Miss Shinobu was afraid that those children would run in here and see horrible things,"

Thinking of yesterday The white faces of the grotesque experimental subjects seen here lost all color, and it took several seconds to finish the next sentence.

"So she used Wood Release to communicate with the plants in the mountain and sealed these rooms."

"Wood Release?" Giyu sounded a little surprised, "Did Kocho master chakra so quickly?"

Because his eyes were uncomfortable, he woke up. He hadn't used the Transparent World since he arrived, so he didn't notice that Kocho Shinobu had mastered chakra.

"Yes." Haku nodded, "After you were unconscious, Miss Shinobu had a dispute with a group of Kirigakure ninjas to protect me, which awakened her Bloodline limit."

With Haku's status in Kirigakure Village, he does not know what Wood Release actually means. He just thinks it's something similar to his Ice Release, so he talks about it more casually.

"Dispute?" Giyu repeated the word strangely, "What happened to those Kirigakure ninjas in the end?"

"I didn't see it." Because he "escaped", Haku lowered his head in shame, "But Miss Shinobu said that she Taught them some lessons."

"That's it." Giyu didn't notice anything wrong. After walking a few steps, he suddenly remembered another person.

"Before Kyojuro and Kocho arrived here, I asked a child named Hozuki Suigetsu to take care of the other people in the base. Nothing happened to him, right?"

Although I didn't expect it, based on Giyu's limited understanding of Hozuki Suigetsu, The child should have been eagerly clinging to his bedside, urging him to teach him sword skills. He shouldn't be like this, with no movement at all.

"Well," a wry smile appeared on Haku's face, "that child was punished for being rude to Miss Shinobu."

"Rude words?" Giyu had a bad premonition.

He remembered that Tanjiro had said that Shinazugawa Sanemi's younger brother, Shinazugawa Genya, had been tortured a lot when he was being treated at Butterfly House after joining the Demon Slayer Corps.

"Miss Shinobu said that you need to rest, but Hozuki Suigetsu said that he was your disciple, so he insisted on breaking into the room. After being stopped by Miss Shinobu, he threatened to cut her into pieces, and..."

Haku stretched out his right index finger and scratched horizontally in front of his neck, "And he did such an action."

Giyu paired it with Hozuki Suigetsu's usual playful smile and grinning expression, and he suddenly felt Something more bad happened.

"So, what is the punishment?"

Haku looked at the deepest part of the base. "Miss Shinobu tied him up with branches and locked him in the refrigerator."

Giyu knew that the refrigerator was probably where Orochimaru stored the Sharingan. He took out all the contents of the refrigerator and it looked like it could indeed hold several people in it.

"Isn't it a bit too much?"

[Although the child's words were a bit harsh, in essence...]

Giyu muttered to himself, turned around and walked towards the innermost room with concern.

Haku's voice caught up with him: "There are a lot of tree roots on the door of that room and on the outside of the refrigerator. It would take a lot of effort for anyone except Miss Shinobu to untie them. Miss Shinobu has told me that patients should not be allowed to go in."

"You must not do it casually..."

Of course, Haku also understood that it would not be easy to untie the wooden bars with Giyu's strength, and he did not expect his reminder to have any effect.

But he didn't expect that Giyu would stop as if he had some scruples.

I have no choice but to do what I promised honestly.

"Where is Kocho now?" Giyu asked.

"She's busy and will meet you later."

"Let's wait until she arrives."

Anyway, the refrigerator only has a refrigeration function.

In this way, Giyu and Haku set off together and arrived outside the base.

Different from the previous environment of dense trees and rugged rocks, Orochimaru's base has now shed its "shell" and is completely exposed to the air. The surrounding stones have been removed, and the trees have been cut down to their roots. The surroundings were unobstructed.

Not far away, there were many older boys, girls and adults wielding axes to chop down trees; children who had not yet reached puberty were pushing small wooden carts filled with gravel, transporting stones and branches to the edge; The smaller ones gathered around a wide tree stump, some were playing games, and some were peeling potatoes.

But what they have in common is that each group of people has a Kyojuro beside them to work or play with them.

"Miss Shinobu said that in order to prevent ninjas from hiding nearby, it was necessary to clear away everything that blocked the view. She originally wanted to remove the tree herself..." Haku saw Giyu's confusion and explained: "But Kyojuro felt that it was necessary for everyone to contribute for their own safety, so he organized everyone to take part in activities. Although the process was a bit cumbersome, only in this way would those who had been locked up before not have random thoughts. And After putting in physical labor, everyone will not feel that they are being given away, and they will be able to accept others' kindness with greater peace of mind."

Giyu nodded. This is indeed what Kyojuro would say.

His doppelganger hangs out with the kids, one for safety in case someone gets hurt on the job. Furthermore, once someone cannot control the bloodline limit, these clones can stop them through Adamantine Sealing Chains.

Another reason is that it also serves to adjust the atmosphere. Kyojuro can also use his clones to notice which people are in a low mood, and then he can persuade them.

Hearing the voices of more than a dozen Kyojuro mingling among the team of forty or fifty people, Giyu rarely relaxed even though it was a bit noisy.

At this time, a clone of Kyojuro passed by Giyu carrying a tree trunk more than ten meters long, and enthusiastically pointed out the direction: "You finally woke up! The main body is waiting for you on the hillside over there, hurry up! He can't wait to see you!"

Giyu nodded at him, and the former immediately ran away full of energy, while Haku was still dumbly estimating the weight of the tree trunk.

He had never seen Kyojuro do anything, but since he was Miss Shinobu and Uchiha Giyu was a friend, he knew he was not an ordinary person.

But Haku didn't expect that the other party, just a clone, could easily carry such a heavy thing!

[Where did they come from...]

Huge doubts wrapped around Haku's heart like a spider web.

"Let's go." Giyu walked through the crowd and walked up the hillside.

But just as he was passing a huge boulder at the foot of the mountain, Giyu suddenly heard a violent collision - the object that made the sound sounded very hard, but did not have the crisp sound of metal.

In addition, it was mixed with violent gasps and whispered curses.

"It should be Haisuru and Kimimaro."

Haku and Giyu climbed a few steps higher and immediately saw clearly the scene behind the boulder.

Three teenagers with no eyebrows and skin as pale as bones surrounded another white-haired boy in the middle. Each of them was panting and ready.

The eldest among the three looks only a little younger than Itachi, and the youngest is about the same as Sasuke. Each of them is holding two bone spurs as long as forearms, and the skin is torn and the wounds are bleeding- but it is white haired boy who is besieged in the middle. The boy was unscathed, his clothes were only scratched, and his breath was the most stable.

The next moment, the bleeding wounds of the three people disappeared without a trace as if they were closed by an invisible zipper.

This familiar sense of sight immediately reminded Giyu of the Kaguya Kamochi he met in Yugakure Village and his instructions.

"Kimimaro..." Giyu called softly, "Is this the child?"

All the ninjas present heard his soft call immediately.

The oldest of the black-haired boys, Kaguya Haisuru, glanced over fiercely, and when he saw Haku, he immediately turned into a surprise.

"You are the ninja who made popsicles yesterday, right!" He waved happily to Haku, "You also come to join us, just the three of us, it seems that we are no match for Kimimaro!"

"Seems like?" Twelve years old Tetsuru added, "We have never beat him."

Gansuru's focus was completely different: "Make me another popsicle, I'm a little thirsty."

"Sorry, I have to take him to the mountain."

Haku is not interested in fighting at all, and he avoids the fighting madmen of the Kaguya clan. "I'm afraid I don't have time to be with you."

"Huh? Is this the guy who was injured yesterday?"

Haisuru His attention came to Giyu and jumped directly in front of him and Haku.

His two brothers followed suit and surrounded Giyu, looking at him with half curiosity and half contempt.

After all, in the eyes of the Kaguya clan who can recover from injuries, all those who need to be healed are scum, and it is normal to have some contempt.

Giyu faced the malicious looks of the three people and felt that this scene was somewhat familiar.

Only Kimimaro remained in the "battlefield" below, but he looked at Giyu with a hint of vigilance that no one else had.

"Hey, little blind man, let's see if you can walk and stand. Just go up by yourself and leave him here for us."

Giyu didn't respond. He looked at Kaguya Haisuru calmly, as if he didn't know who he was speaking to.

"Hey," Kaguya Haisuru became impatient and poked Giyu on the shoulder with the bone blade in his hand, "Little blind man, can't you hear me?"

Giyu finally understood.

"Does the little blind man refer to me?" He pointed to his nose, and then blinked, "But I can see it."

"Yes, he can see it." The youngest Gansuru corrected: " It should be a one-eyed dragon."

"It's okay for a little cripple, you see, he still has a steel plate tied to his leg."

The three of them looked at each other and started arguing over what nickname to give Giyu.

Haku was sweating coldly, fearing that Giyu would stretch out a bloody sword from his fingertips and cut these three people into ashes.

However, when he looked around, Giyu's face was calm, with no intention of getting angry at all, as if he had been used to it for a long time.

"Let's go." Seeing that the three brothers couldn't come up with a solution after discussing it for a long time, Giyu said to Haku.

Haku nodded hurriedly, and just as he was about to set off, he was blocked by Kaguya Haisuru again.

"Let him climb up by himself, and you come with us."

There was a threat in his tone. This must be the way of getting along with peers within the Kaguya clan.

"Miss Shinobu arranged for me to take him up."

Haku had no choice but to use Shinobu name. Although they didn't know what happened yesterday, these three people were obviously afraid of Kocho Shinobu.

Sure enough, as soon as these words came out, both Tetsuru and Gansuru took a step back.

Just as Haisuru wanted to move in synchrony, he stopped abruptly and stiffly scratched his neck: "So what? She's not here now! Even if she is here, I will never..."

"Is this really the case?"

Kocho Shinobu appeared silently.

No one except Giyu saw how she acted.

She put her feet on the ground and put her chin over Kaguya Haisuru's shoulder, "Even if I'm here, you will never... what?"

Kaguya Haisuru mechanically turned his head like a puppet, and found that Kocho Shinobu was smiling, and his heart went cold.

His throat felt like it was being strangled by a rope to the size of a pinhead, and he couldn't utter a word.

"You guys like to give others nicknames."

Kocho Shinobu held a steaming kettle in her right hand and three tea cups in a cloth bag in her left hand. It seemed that it was prepared for the reunion of the three of them.

While talking to Haisuru, she took out a tea cup and handed it to Haku's hand, indicating that he could add some ice to it. Haku didn't understand why, so he did it anyway.

"I guess if you win at home, you will give the losers all kinds of unpleasant nicknames to insult them, right?"

The three Kaguya brothers nodded subconsciously.

Kocho Shinobu poured hot tea into a tea cup with ice, then took the cup and slowly shook it, letting the ice cubes slowly melt, while looking at Kaguya Haisuru.

"I don't know what kind of nicknames you were given by your tribe when you lost, and how humiliating you felt."

Haisuru's brows twitched, obviously thinking of something bad.

"But at least I know that starting from tomorrow, you will have a new nickname."

After saying that, Kocho Shinobu poured the cooling hot tea directly on his trouser legs.

Not hot, but confusing.

Kaguya Haisuru saw that the gray trousers were visibly soaked to dark gray, but he was still confused: "What are you doing?"

"Guess, if I shout here, 'Someone is so old and pees in his pants.',"Kocho Shinobu pointed to the crowd at work below, "How many people will turn around to look at you?"

Kaguya Haisuru was stunned for a moment, and then anger emerged on his face: "You are talking nonsense. They will testify for me."

Kocho Shinobu raised the corners of her lips and looked at Tetsuru and Gansuru who took a step back again with kind eyes: "He said you would testify for him."

"Of course I will testify!" Tetsuru patted his chest and covered his head. Gansuru stopped what he wanted to say, "He just peed his pants!"

Haisuru couldn't believe it, glared angrily, and then immediately jumped away and left the place.

But Kocho Shinobu stretched out her hand as quickly as a lizard preying on prey, grabbed his wrist and pulled him hard, actually pulling him down.

At the same time, a tree tendril stretched out from the soil and tied his ankles.

[Oops.] Kaguya Haisuru was really panicked, and he did not dare to continue to resist.

"How's it going?" Kocho Shinobu came closer and asked, "Do you want me to shout? Let's recall what it feels like to be humiliated in public?"

"What do you want?!" Kaguya Haisuru gritted his teeth.

The Kaguya clan is not very smart, but he also understands that if Kocho Shinobu shouts out, he will be so ashamed to stay here anymore.

Kocho Shinobu's smile faded: "Apologize."

She was not making a fuss this time.

It is important for these children to realize what behaviors are harmful to others. The best way is to make them feel the same way.

"I'm sorry." Kaguya Haisuru bowed to her aggrievedly.

"You didn't say the little blind man to me, so why are you apologizing to me?" Kocho reluctantly raised her eyebrows, "Do you want to get away with it?"

"No need..."

Giyu raised his hand. He felt that he had nothing to lose, they were just a group of children, why should he take it so seriously?

But Kocho Shinobu glared at him, and Giyu had no choice but to shut his mouth and accept the reluctant bows of Kaguya Haisuru and his two brothers.

"It's not just him, there are many disabled adults and children here."

Kocho Shinobu warned: "I don't want anyone here to be called a strange title, just like you people of the Kaguya clan don't want to be called strange names. It's the same reason why Kirigakure Ninjas are called fools and idiots. If you don't want to happen to yourself, don't force it on others. Do you understand?"

"I understand." The three people nodded dejectedly. As for how much they listened, Only God knows.

Giyu finally understood the purpose of Kocho Shinobu's excuse.

This is not to defend him, but to protect others who may be in the same situation.

"Go, I'll find you later."

Kocho Shinobu greeted Kimimaro below, and then said: "I will take him up, you can do whatever you want, don't be too restrained."

" Got it." Soon, everyone left here, leaving only Kocho Shinobu and Giyu.

"It looks pretty good, but the collar is a little exposed, but you are still a little brat, and no one will care." Kocho Shinobu looked at Giyu, and the unpleasant mood not long ago seemed to have been completely forgotten.

"However, such an energetic hairstyle should be paired with brighter eyes."

"You want me to..." Giyu pointed to his eyes with uncertainty.

Kocho Shinobu nodded.

"The exercises in normal can be done anytime and anywhere. Moon Breathing does not have to wait until night. Didn't I say before that I want you to become familiar with the feeling of amplified emotions? Now Rengoku and I are both here. Even if you really lose control, there will be no problem. Is there a better time than now?"

"I understand." After Giyu switched the breathing method to moon breathing, The Sharingan switched over as if it was automatically awakened, but the color was darker and redder than the last time.

"It looks much cuter now."

Kocho Shinobu said her true thoughts in a semi-ridiculing tone, and she couldn't help but help Giyu and walked to the hillside step by step.

It didn't take long for them to see Kyojuro holding a map and looking into the distance, as if comparing it to something.

Hearing the movement behind him, Kyojuro turned around suddenly, his two fiery red eyes dazzling more than the morning sun.

"Giyu! Well done! I've heard what happened before from Miss Shinobu and others! It's all thanks to your efforts that these children can bathe in the sunshine so quickly!"

He paused and looked at The crowd around the base and heard laughter from time to time, "Now that Miss Shinobu has been resurrected, we are almost the same. It's time to discuss ways to keep this laughter going!"