Chapter 527: Parting and Reunion
Sensing those two unfamiliar and massive chakras, Yurika Terumi's breathing quickened, and her face paled in shock.
"Calm down, Yurika!" Chojuro tightly gripped her arm. With a firm and powerful gaze looking straight into the girl's eyes, he said calmly, "Sense carefully again. What about the opponents' direction, possible identities, and other intelligence?"
The sensory ninja took a deep breath and, with Chojuro's help, recovered herself.
She closed her eyes, sensing the chakra of the unfamiliar visitors not far away. Her lips still trembling slightly, she spoke slowly: "The opponents' direction is straight ahead of me, at a distance of about two thousand three hundred meters, and they are approaching diagonally towards our direction of travel! They probably haven't discovered us yet, but it's hard to say in a few more minutes!"
"Right, they seem to be casting a large-scale ninjutsu, probably a sensory ninjutsu... Yes, they are also searching for the Three-Tails!"
Chojuro's pupils shrank slightly.
Besides the Mist Ninja, there's another faction searching for the Three-Tails? Chojuro's heart chilled.
People who barge in here without notifying the Mist Ninja definitely have ill intentions; they are enemies, not friends!
Even if they are Konoha people...
No, if Konoha people suddenly appeared here, it would only mean they harbored ulterior motives and vainly attempted to lay fingers on the Three-Tails. The plastic friendship between Konoha and the Mist Ninja would simply vanish...
"Can you confirm their identities?"
"One of them might be the former missing-nin Kisame Hoshigaki. I did simulation sensing experiments on Kisame Hoshigaki during my sensory training before..." The girl's face was gloomy, and she said heavily, "I haven't sensed the other one before, but there seems to be a hint of a puppet master."
Among Akatsuki, there is only one puppet master with Kage-level strength.
"It's Sasori of the Red Sand and Kisame Hoshigaki..." Chojuro looked into the distance and said coldly, "Akatsuki people are also here!"
"Akatsuki?"
The ninja were startled, their faces all changing color.
The Mist Ninja, who had been plagued by Akatsuki's illustrious ferocity for so many years, had the deepest understanding of it.
"What do we do? Are we going to fight the Akatsuki people?" Uncle Hino asked in a low voice.
Chojuro looked coldly at everyone.
The team he brought was not weak in combat power; it was more than enough to survive under a wild Tailed Beast, but against S-rank missing-nin stronger than Tailed Beasts, there was no chance of winning.
Moreover, there were sensory ninja with weak combat power in the team who needed protection.
"Fighting them is meaningless." Chojuro's expression was indifferent as he said in a deep voice, "And even if we risk our lives, we can't beat these two people."
"Then... retreat." He said without hesitation.
A very un-Blood Mist decision.
Hino frowned and raised an objection: "I also agree with the decision to retreat... but they are too close. I'm afraid we won't get far before being discovered!"
"So we need someone to bring up the rear, or rather, someone to lure Akatsuki in another direction..." Chojuro's voice was extremely cold.
"And this mission, only I can complete."
He slowly unfastened the large sword behind his back and solemnly handed it to Choujuurou.
"If I don't come back... then the twin swords Hiramekarei will be inherited by you. Do you understand, Juurou?!"
Then he raised his head: "Mr. Hino, please take care of them... and my younger brother."
Uncle Hino looked at this still-young man in front of him and nodded heavily.
"Brother!" Choujuurou refused to take the large sword, tears welling in his eyes as he choked out, "Don't go... come with us, we can hide from them!"
"Obey orders, Chunin Choujuurou!" Chojuro snorted coldly and glared at his younger brother, "Don't forget the oath you swore when you became a true ninja!"
Saying that, he forced the sword into his brother's arms, kept a straight, expressionless face, and turned around.
A typical Mist Ninja tough guy is the kind with an image of facing death without changing expression, even knowing he will die.
Just like Chojuro.
Even when about to face opponents he absolutely couldn't defeat, the man still felt no panic—because he was someone with the resolve to die. The worst outcome was merely sacrificing himself on the spot.
"By the way." Before leaving, he turned to look at Yurika and said, "There are some words... please relay them to my teacher, your cousin."
"I did not die from the village's persecution or in mutual slaughter, but to protect the village, protect my companions, and protect my younger brother..."
"I am very proud of this. Thank your cousin for me, thank her for changing the village."
"Please ask Sensei to take good care of Juurou for me."
The young captain said solemnly.
Yurika stared blankly at him, suddenly rushed forward, and kissed the astonished man on the lips.
"You won't die." The girl clenched her fists tightly and choked out, "Your Water Release is so powerful. Even if you can't win, you can slip away from the bottom of the sea. You only need to delay for five minutes, and we'll be far away from here!"
The man's ice-like expression finally melted at this last moment.
"I'll borrow your auspicious words..."
The corner of Chojuro's mouth curved into a faint arc.
Actually, he knew very well the power of Kisame's Water Release and Samehada. Facing Kisame, he had absolutely no possibility of resisting or escaping! Even delaying for five minutes would be very strenuous.
But Chojuro ultimately said nothing.
Then he disappeared in front of everyone with a Body Flicker.
Konoha Village, a sunny morning.
After guiding the three children of Team Haruno Sakura one by one, the sun was already high overhead, and the time reached noon.
Bidding farewell to the students, Haruno Sakura rubbed her empty stomach, feeling it was almost time for lunch.
"Let's go find Sasuke, he should be off work too."
The girl stretched and walked out of the training ground, saying leisurely.
Sasuke had been working in the Interrogation Department recently, where the commuting times were extremely regular, just like urban white-collar workers in her past life. Unlike ordinary ninja, who had free time to arrange as they pleased after completing missions.
After Haruno Sakura finished speaking, she glanced back at Naruto and found him following behind, looking at her thoughtfully.
"What's wrong?" She was slightly stunned and asked directly.
"Nothing."
Naruto blinked and smiled: "I just thought, when you were pointing out Konohamaru and the others' training just now, Sakura, you looked so much like Kakashi-sensei!"
"Hah... is that so?"
"Hn." The boy nodded, feeling a bit emotional, "Haven't seen you for a year, Sakura, your changes are so big."
"But, apart from you becoming a sensei, thinking about it carefully, it seems there are no changes either." He scratched his head and smiled as he glanced at Haruno Sakura.
Like external changes, her facial features and appearance had opened up a bit more, her height had shot up quite a bit, and her figure... was probably slightly less flat.
The changes were not obvious.
Internal changes: speed and strength further improved, chakra capacity even more massive, mastering more and stronger jutsu; in terms of personality and willpower, she had also progressed.
Though the changes were big, they wouldn't be visually apparent.
It was also because Naruto said this that Haruno Sakura reviewed her growth over the past year and realized she had walked another long way.
"Sakura is still Sakura."
Naruto chuckled. Whether it was knocking him on the forehead when he did something wrong or caring for him as a companion, these things about Haruno Sakura had never changed.
For Naruto, this was already enough.
"Naruto's changes are really big!" Haruno Sakura smiled, sizing up the demon fox boy.
Besides the obvious increase in height, the most important thing was that his aura had shed its childishness and become mature.
Jiraiya taking Naruto traveling wasn't just to look at the scenery with him.
Having seen more, his horizons were no longer limited to one country and one village, and Naruto's childishness had lessened a lot.
"Looking more and more like a mature man." She smiled.
—Except for being particularly obsessed with sexy ninjutsu.
Chatting along the way, they soon arrived downstairs at the Anbu building.
"Why are you here?" The black-haired boy happened to walk out and was a bit surprised to see Haruno Sakura appearing at the door.
"Have something to see you for... guess who I brought over?"
Haruno Sakura said mysteriously.
"Hm?" Sasuke was slightly stunned, immediately looking behind Haruno Sakura, where an orange figure suddenly darted out.
"Long time no see, Sasuke!"
The orange-haired boy had a bright smile on his face, shouted loudly, and jumped in front of Sasuke.
"It's Naruto..."
Sasuke maintained an indifferent expression on his face, kept a straight face, and said coolly: "Long time no see... you've finally returned."
The black-haired boy tried hard to restrain his excited emotions, acting as if the wind was light and the clouds were calm.
But the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
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