Chapter 40: Don't Worry About Me
"Ah… the Manipulating Attack Blades."
But before the iron staff could touch Chiyo's body, Hiiro Rinko's movement stopped.
Several kunai were already pressed against his body.
His shoulders slumped. He let out a long breath and flopped lazily onto the ground. "Right. You're a Puppet Master who's mastered the Technique of Ten Fingers, Old Hag. It's normal for you to have this much leeway."
Chiyo, who can control one puppet with a single finger, could have just severed those Chakra threads and reconnected them. Even if she used two fingers per puppet, her thumbs would still be free.
Her reaction just now was her going easy on me.
"Young people need to be patient. You know full well how many shinobi die because they let their guard down at the 'last moment',"
Putting away the puppet—which had been poked full of invisible holes—Chiyo placed a hand on her hip and looked down at her adopted son with an expression of pure disappointment. "What's wrong with you, brat? Weren't you a bit too hasty at the end?"
Chiyo bit down hard on the words "last moment," sighing and shaking her head.
"Heh. Calm your mind. You understand? Calm."
"...Is your brain broken?"
Hiiro Rinko, still in his pajamas, expressed his sincere doubt. "We clearly just made up an excuse to run out here so we wouldn't have to wash the dishes. How did it turn into this?"
"I was just thinking I'd test my new gadget on you, and then head back once the Oyaji finished the dishes."
"Why was I hasty? I'm cold!"
He emphatically grabbed his pajamas and shook them twice, looking at this adoptive mother of his—a woman who was usually unreliable, but who never disappointed when it mattered.
"Forget my state. You're the one who's scheming something, aren't you?"
"Ah… was it that obvious?"
Chiyo's Parenting Class, officially bankrupt. She awkwardly raised a hand to scratch her cheek.
"Matasaburō brought back news that might be related to your birth parents' deaths. I was a little worried your reaction would be... intense..."
"So you decided to knock me around a bit first. To put me in my place."
Rinko rolled his eyes and stood up. His expression was calm, but his chest was heaving.
It was proof of the Binding Vow he had made with the original body's 'Vibration' when he first arrived.
His heart didn't ache. All that remained was a faint sorrow. It wasn't an urge, just a simple, indelible trace.
"Do I look like the type to get emotional? It's fine. Talk."
"...It was most likely Kumogakure."
She hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell him everything.
"Matasaburō traveled through the Land of Frost, the Land of Waterfalls, the Land of Grass, the Land of Birds, the Land of Bamboo, and others. Based on the timing and sequence of similar incidents, he's certain the perpetrators started from the Land of Lightning."
"The goal was likely to destroy other nations' external intelligence networks and affiliates, to soften them up for infiltration and prepare for a full-scale invasion."
"Your parents... perhaps because they accepted our Sunagakure orders, were identified as affiliates of another Hidden Village."
Rinko nodded silently. Kumogakure... It wasn't unexpected.
As the most expansionist village, this was in character for Kumo. Rinko even recalled that Kumo had a program of kidnapping Kekkei Genkai users for breeding to strengthen the village. (He mused that his new life in Suna might involve the same, but the 'treatment' would be different.) It's hard to say if his family's red hair was the cause of the disaster. The Land of Rivers borders both Wind and Fire. His parents' hiding spot was good, but maybe not good enough to stop an opportunistic ninja from 'taking a look.' If that happened, his parents might have intentionally not used their Uzumaki healing, letting themselves bleed out to protect their clan's secret. ...From that perspective, Chiyo was still being considerate by not mentioning this possibility.
At that moment, Matasaburō also walked into the courtyard. "It is, after all, your blood family's revenge," the tall man said, kneeling and draping a coat over Rinko's shoulders. "So, don't blame Chiyo for not telling you right away, okay?"
"They're already dead. I cremated their bodies with my own hands," the red-haired young man replied softly. "To make the living worry for the sake of a dead person's revenge... that's getting things backward."
"I don't remember much about them before I was four. Based on my memory, you have been with me longer."
His gaze swept past Matasaburō, then Yūsa (who had come out), and finally rested on Chiyo.
"It may have started as a transaction, but you've been helping me since the day we met, haven't you? Why would I blame you for this? Right, Old Hag?"
"You brat… At a time like this, you could at least call me 'Mom'..." Chiyo pursed her lips, her eyes a bit moist as she looked away.
"Heh. Then let's talk about something more practical. With my personality, I'm not about to give up my research life just for 'revenge'."
"Those words aren't very convincing, you know," Yūsa clapped his adopted brother on the shoulder, winking. "Ever since you started school, you've spent every holiday with two cute girls. Be honest, you're pretty into it, aren't you?"
"Hah." Rinko shot his Nii-san a sidelong glance, scoffing. "If they were just ordinary girls, no matter how cute or clingy, do you really think I'd waste my energy on them?"
"Karura and Pakura are talented. Their existence itself has high value, not to mention the investment from their families and the village. Being on good terms with them is a net positive."
"They have far more free time than a full-time shinobi, and they are willing to listen to me."
"At this age, their adaptability and learning capacity are at their peak. I can teach them some of my hypotheses that need verification. (The harmless ones I've tested on myself, of course.)"
"I help them realize their talent, and they give me experimental data. It's a win-win deal. Plus, by learning through them, I can acquire secret techniques without owing favors to other Jōnin."
Ignoring Yūsa's increasingly horrified, "I'm-looking-at-scum" expression, Rinko continued.
"And... on top of all that, there's the fact that they are cute girls. So of course I like them."
"From the day the Old Hag saved me, I decided I would live for myself. Love and hate are unavoidable topics in life, but beyond them, I have a purer pursuit. Don't I?"
"So, don't worry about me. Oyaji. Mom. Nii-san."