V.2 Chapter 23

-The day after the next day-

Sakumo had to go through a long time to get permission from Hiruzen.

At first, Hiruzen was not ready to permit Sakumo to bring Yukan back but, when Sakumo reminded Hiruzen that Yukan was strong enough to beat him a few years ago, Hiruzen made an estimate of Yukan's current strength and permitted Sakumo.

Having Yukan as a person on the side of Konoha would be good for the future.

"Alright boys, we are leaving in 10 minutes, make sure you have everything for the journey," Sakumo said.

He strapped his arm guard, picked up his blade, and hugged Kiyoko one last time before leaving.

10 minutes later, when Sakumo was about to leave with Kakashi and Kozuki, Jiraiya came into the house.

He had a little scratch on his face but the rest of his body was fine.

When Sakumo saw Jiraiya, he was surprised. Sakumo did not expect Jiraiya's investigation to be over so soon.

"You are done?" Sakumo asked with a puzzled expression.

"Of course. Though the bastards were ve-" As Jiraiya was speaking, he was interrupted by Myu standing behind Sakumo.

As she held Kiyoko, she said," Language!!"

"Ah, sorry." Jiraiya rubbed his hand on the back of his head and said.

He then continued," So, I saw the ROOT bas- I mean puppets taking the bag from the postman, giving him some money in exchange and burning letters, specifically the ones we sent. When I attacked them, one escaped with some injuries and one died instantly so I got no more information."

Sakumo took in all the information and then said," So, this was all done by Danzo, eh?"

Jiraiya nodded, making an agreeing expression.

Sakumo lightly sighed once and said," Alright, we'll leave now."

Jiraiya left and he was followed by the rest.

Now, only Kiyoko and Myu remained in the house.

"Hah! Everybody left. I hope Yukan can cope with time." Myu said in a light voice, feeling sad for Yukan.

Aayu was one of Myu's friends though Aayu was a few years older than Myu.

Myu then looked at Kiyoko in her hands and said," My daughter, say, mommy."

"Bashtrds" Kiyoko made a parody of 'bastards' and said in a cute voice.

"No no no, we don't talk like that Kiyoko." Myu started to try and stop Kiyoko from saying the word.

.

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An hour later, Sakumo and the other two were running at a fast speed continuously and had come to a long distance from Konoha.

"We separate here. Be careful kiddos." Sakumo said and broke away from the group, leaving the two behind.

In a few moments, Sakumo went left and disappeared into the dense covering of the forest.

"It'll take us around 3 quarters of the day to reach Minato Nii-San's location. If we run continuously, we will reach there by night." Kakashi said and looked at Kozuki, asking for his opinion.

Being in the same team for a very long time and bonded, Kozuki naturally understood what Kakashi meant.

"The one who reaches later will pay for the movie tickets next time," Kozuki said and increased his speed.

"Hey, that's not fair," Kakashi said and quickly followed him.

.

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Meanwhile, a few hours later, in Takigakure,

Yukan and his squad hid in the trees, looking at a group of people walking in the area.

The area was empty and there were a few abandoned buildings on the side. The road was not at all maintained and there were holes everywhere.

Yukan was continuously watching their movements and conversing with his squad.

According to the information they had acquired, the people in front of them were all infiltrators from different small villages, gathered here to sell information to the major villages.

Other than these people, there were no more infiltrators left in Takigakure.

"Everyone is here, how do we proceed?" Takido asked Yukan (in sign language)

"As per the formation decided, I will make sure no one escapes, the others will attack," Yukan instructed.

The three saw his signs and then coordinated with each other to attack at the right time and kill the most people at once.

Soon after, the people stopped near the trees and started talking to each other.

At this moment, Ozawa, a specialist in large area attacks, did a fire jutsu.

"Katon: Great Flame Flower"

The Great Flame flower was a jutsu used by Itachi and Madara. It was available to the ANBU ninjas to learn and was not a secret but, it was hard to learn.

Although Ozawa's jutsu was not even nearly as strong as Madara's, he was still able to bring down four people in the attack.

The other two, Takido and Kajiwara also engaged in the battle while Yukan silently stood on the tree, looking at the battle.

He watched each infiltrator's movements. As the battle went on, one man made a silent escape when no one was watching.

He escaped through the bushes and shrubs as Yukan followed him from the trees.

The man had not even stopped once to look back when he heard a sound from above him. He looked above him, towards the sky and saw a figure jumping towards him.

"Holy f-" The man was interrupted by Yukan's sword. He cut his throat and the man's body fell like how a mannequin does when its support is removed.

Yukan said nothing all the while and was going to go back when he sensed something again in front of him.

"I am pretty sure no one else made it out other than this one." Yukan doubted in his mind but he went forward.

Suddenly, a tall figure stood up in front of him.

Although Yukan was surprised for a moment, he soon recognized the figure to be Sakumo.

"Sensei? Don't appear like that, I was about to cut your throat." Yukan said in a joking way. "But, why are you here suddenly?" Yukan asked with a lot of questions in his mind but he still maintained a fun smile on his face.

"Um, that.." Sakumo was hesitating to speak.

Yukan observed this and said," Alright, wait a second, lemme finish the fight."

Yukan quickly disappeared from the spot and a few minutes later, he reappeared. Now, his blade was covered in blood and a few droplets of blood were also there on his face. His appearance, coupled with the scar on his face made his appearance scary and the smile made him look like a blood-lusting psychopath.

"Before anything, let me tell you, this smile is just a normal one," Yukan said jokingly and started cleaning the blood on his face using the handkerchief in his pocket.

"Now, please tell me, why are you here?" Yukan said.

"That, um… your mother, Aayu passed away a few days ago," Sakumo said in a very soft and low voice.

Sakumo did nothing and looked down, towards the ground near Yukan.

Sakumo saw the blood-coated handkerchief Yukan was just wiping his hands with, falling on the ground near his feet.

He looked up, towards Yukan.

Yukan had an expressionless face with his eyebrows raised a little, making him look very scary.

In an extremely cold voice, he asked" What?" as he made a questioning expression.

For a minute, Sakumo too was scared, not knowing what Yukan would do.