Chapter 70

Senju was dragging both of his unconscious companions by the scruff of his neck, and he was holding on by sheer willpower and chakra burn. The Uchiha had a bandaged arm with a severed sleeve and bandages across his chest that showed through his torn clothes, and his teammate was being dragged by a girl who looked only slightly cleaner than the others. All in all, they didn't look much different from what my clone had seen before the dispel, so no additional medical attention was needed.

- Your teams have qualified for the finals, which will be held in a month," said the Suna jonin, "as soon as your participants have recovered, please leave the village.

- Ara, what about the draw for the final battles? - I couldn't resist the question with a perplexed look on my face.

Not to mention the fact that we still haven't learned not only the identity of those who passed to the finals, but also just the number of teams.

- The draw will take place just before the start of the third stage," the shinobi replied indifferently and stepped away from our group.

Simply put, they're trying to get us out as quickly as possible.

- I guess we'll rest until tomorrow, and then we'll get ready for the return trip," Sakumo sighed, looking around at the genin lying there, trying to catch their breath.

- I can't say I'm unhappy with that fact," I shook my head, picking up the two genin by the scruff of the neck and throwing them on my back, "being a watcher was very boring.

***

The next day, the genin more or less recovered with my help, and the Konoha delegation hurried out of the inhospitable village. Unlike the way to Suna, the return trip was not a surprise, nor was it filled with unexpected sandstorms with a dash of biju chakra.

Considering that the most intact were those targeted by the attack (as recent enemies), the Kazekage probably decided not to pull a raccoon's tail. I don't know if he's in jinchuriki at the moment or stone cold.

The only interesting things to note were my friend's unobtrusive approaches to the only woman in the small group of mentors, as well as my small help in extracting information about the target from a familiar genin.

Unfortunately, not a bad clanless kunoichi in recent years was directly pursued by an evil fate - not only bad luck with assignments and genin, but in not so long ago attack on Konoha woman lost at once and the house, and her husband and young son, who were literally a hundred meters from the breach and were literally swept away by the explosion. Even the bodies were not found.

When I learned this, I even had a lot of respect for Okuno - many people who had been through something like that had cut their throats open or lost their minds and died in the first battle. It seemed that responsibility for her mentees was her last link to reality, so after some thought, I gave Kay the go-ahead to use my help - it was obvious that his friend had a huge crush on the tall and stately mentor.

She'd owe her genin for three Iyaku Fuin (healing seal), and Minami really needs a shoulder to lean on. Shibatori isn't the worst possible option. Of course, I also liked her (among the rather stunted inhabitants of the fire country there are only a few people who reach one meter ninety, and even more so women), but this is not a one-night stand, but something more serious, and my existing connections are enough for me. I'm afraid that if Saya hears about another lover, my manhood will be at great risk.

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