If Yoichi could hear Sabito's ramblings, he would certainly scoff at him. Compared to the tragedy in the mine, what Yoichi experienced was much worse than they expected.
He was bombarded with vivid memories and negative emotions deep down in his very soul which meant that every grief, anger, and pain of nearby deceased children was inflicted on him in just a second.
Therefore, Yoichi was in a deep quagmire of complex problems.
Use all of his tickets and find a way to remove the curse? Bad luck or a thorough investigation of him and he'll be thrown into the laboratory as a guinea pig alongside his precious eyes.
Endure the curse and get along with its brutality? Unknown was a terrifying domain Yoichi didn't want to venture forth into and wouldn't risk himself keeping an unpredictable time bomb.
The complications of two ways made Yoichi feel like a poor child with cancer. There's no help or money to save himself from this clusterfuck of events.
Noticing a dim light ahead, Genji sped up along with Yoichi on his back as the two followed him. Luckily, the tremors didn't shut down their hopes of leaving the mine.
"Just run into the cafeteria with all of you've got..."
Yoichi glanced at a distance and instructed them. The remains of the deceased and the aftermath of the attack were obvious yet they remained unfazed and rushed ahead.
"Get in!"
Looking at the familiar Shinobi, the group went into the cafeteria with relief on their faces. However, the children inside were small compared to the jam-packed population at breakfast time.
The 1000 children earlier were vastly reduced to roughly 250 children, a huge contrast that painted the place in a somber atmosphere.
"Finally, we are safe now." Sabito sighed.
Hikari nodded in acknowledgement.
"Yeah..." Genji agreed.
Severely exhausted, all of them sat down and went silent at that moment.
The severity of earlier circumstances left them scarred and still was fresh in their minds. The impact of the gruesome scene made them feel blessed, thanking the heavens for such good luck amidst the children.
"Oh, don't be so sure about that."
Their thankful expressions were shattered by Yoichi's reply, glaring at him with serious countenances.
"W-why?" Sabito unconsciously swallowed his saliva in trepidation.
"Yeah, kid. Why do you think so?" a cold voice rang behind them as the children glanced at the newcomer with benevolence and admiration.
"Hayate-sama!"
Yes, the one who went towards them was Hayate. At first, he was on the side of Mitsuru due to Yukiko's story which felt like some delusion from inactivity. However, he was quite surprised at Yoichi's perceptiveness earlier, putting back his assistant's story in his head once more.
"Hayate-sama!" Yoichi stood up and bowed slightly as his expression stayed indifferent yet his heart was not the same as his face.
He thought it was now his chance to ride in a bigshot's coattails.
Yes, he couldn't release Sharingan in front of the greedy eyes of Amegakure.
But there was still a general understanding and knowledge about the Naruto World.
"Kid... Stop daydreaming, tell me. Why do you think it's not the end?" Hayate snapped him back from his thoughts.
"Sorry, sir..." Due to his friends' weird gaze on him, he felt somewhat embarrassed and continued, "Throughout history, Major Villages had records of harassing their neighboring small countries and the Land of Rain was situated in the middle of the three lands namely the Land of Wind, Stone, and Fire."
"How do you know about this?" Hayate's eyebrows furrowed, unable to believe that a kid who grew up in a mine as a slave has some understanding about the world.
"I learned it from the other children around the block, gossiping about their past whereabouts..." Pressured by a veteran shinobi, Yoichi found an excuse and looked at Hayate's face with uncertainty.
"Go on, continue." Hayate crossed his arms.
"With that being said, some of these lands have an aggressive approach but there are others that remained passive. Due to my lack of knowledge, I am gonna have to throw baseless assumptions and guess their intentions based on my understanding."
Hearing this, Hayate thoughtfully nodded and let Yoichi proceed with his words.
"I think that Suna and Konoha couldn't do such a thing, which meant that Iwa was the one responsible for this!" Yoichi exclaimed, confident in his hypothesis.
"Oh? Why didn't you include the other two as primary suspects?" Hayate's curiosity was piqued. All the Iwa-nin's bodies were properly disposed of without any proof yet the kid was certain about Iwa's wrongdoings.
"To put it simply, Suna was a wasteland of sands while Konoha was in the land of abundance." Yoichi saw the crowd's eyes filled with question marks as he continued, "I'm sure that there's an agreement between Suna and Ame for the acquisition of water which Suna needed to survive their harsh land. Water or metal, which weighs deeply?"
"As for Konoha, their hands were tied up. Their land was plentiful with resources and with their loss of both the God of Shinobi and his brother, they will prioritize stability over anything else." Yoichi summarized his assumption.
"What can you know about human nature? What if this sneak attack was the alliance between them?"
Although Hayate knew the truth, he wanted to humiliate him and make Yoichi lose his composure. However, the kid was still unconcerned.
"Pardon my words, Hayate-sama but do you think they will work together against a small country like us? No, they won't! These Major Villages have their own arrogance and will only work in their village's best interest. Only Iwa's boldness would dare to attack us like that. That's all I've got, sir." As he finished with a resounding conclusion, the crowd felt envious of Yoichi's mindfulness, receiving attention from a famous Jōnin.
"Well done, kid. Now rest up, I have good expectations from you." Without a doubt, Hayate was pleased and glad, thinking that there was still some talent in the land of never-ending rain.
"Thank you for your grace, Hayate-sama." Yoichi bowed, also pleased with his performance as he sat down and felt his friends' stare.
"Hahaha, as expected of you! Don't forget us, okay?" Genji slapped Yoichi's shoulder lightly, delighted.
"Hm! Good job, Yoichi-kun!" Hikari was fascinated by his courage and boldness in expressing his thoughts.
"Is this a dream? Are you really Yoichi?" On the other hand, Sabito pinched Yoichi's cheeks and felt exasperated.
Tortured by his friends' gestures, Yoichi flashed a smile of helplessness as their group was happy compared to the other areas in the cafeteria.
In the patrol room.
"Isamu, pay attention to that kid."
"Oh, that Yoichi brat? Having a soft heart for the talent sir? That's very unlikely of you!" Isamu teased Hayate.
"Hah, if you think that way, so be it." Unaffected by his words, Hayate felt nostalgic as if seeing himself in that kid.
Having talent and effort yet being denied by the higher-ups was something he experienced in the past.
Hayate couldn't bear to bury such talent.
"Oh right, there's a message from Hanzo-sama. Please read it." Isamu carefully gave the scroll to him.
After unfurling, Hayate read the contents as his eyes widened until relaxing, finishing reading the scroll.
"Sir, what happened?"
"No, nothing... Just back on your respective positions." Afterwards, Isamu left with questions in his mind.
Alone in the room, Hayate mumbled, " Hundred Poison Jar Plan... What the hell is he doing?!"
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Another shitty chapter, it's a foundation for the upcoming arc so please bear with me hehehe...
Thank you for reading and see ya! XDD!
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