Chapter 20: Returning to the Land of Fire
Two days later, Sunagakure.
On the central plaza of the Hidden Sand Village, countless Sand shinobi had gathered. Though their numbers were great, no one whispered among themselves or disturbed the order, because today was the mobilization assembly held by the Fourth Kazekage for Sunagakure's decisive battle against Iwagakure.
Atop the Kazekage Building, the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, slowly stepped forward to the front of the platform. His gaze swept over the mass of shinobi below. After taking a moment to compose himself, he raised his head and spoke in a voice tinged with hoarseness:
"Our hero… Sunagakure's hero… has fallen."
The moment those words left his mouth, the perfectly ordered ranks below exploded into chaos, like a bowl of clear water poured into boiling oil. Murmurs, gasps, and cries rose all at once. Some people even burst into tears on the spot.
Although Pakura's "body" and forehead protector had already been returned to Sunagakure and buried, most of the village still knew nothing about it. And now, with the Fourth Kazekage Rasa confirming it personally, the crowd found it impossible to accept.
After all, Pakura of the Scorch Release had been the goal of countless people in the village, a source of pride and emotional support for many.
Ignoring the uproar below as though he neither heard nor saw it, Rasa continued speaking:
"Pakura of the Scorch Release fought bravely until her dying breath. Even in death, she never gave up."
Even more people began to cry bitterly. For a time, the atmosphere across the entire plaza sank into grief, everyone immersed in the sorrow of losing their hero.
Suddenly, Rasa swung his arm sharply and raised his voice in a thunderous shout:
"But she will not have died in vain!"
"We must inherit her Will of Sand—the will to fight for the village even unto death!"
"We will crush Iwagakure with all our strength!!!"
As Rasa's words fell, the Sand shinobi below immediately felt a surge of hot blood rush to their heads. Many stopped crying. Every eye became filled with hatred for the Stone shinobi.
After two seconds of silence, shouts, curses, and sky-piercing killing intent erupted all at once.
"Kill!"
"Avenge Pakura!"
"Wipe out those Stone bastards! Inherit the Will of Sand!"
"..."
Watching the impassioned emotions of the crowd below, a faint smile appeared on Rasa's otherwise calm face. He nodded, watching as the fighting spirit of the Sand shinobi rose higher and higher. Then, when the atmosphere had reached its peak, he shouted:
"The decisive battle against Iwagakure begins now! The entire army, move out!"
...
Meanwhile, Chizuki—far away in the Land of Fire—naturally had no way of seeing the Fourth Kazekage Rasa's heartfelt, vivid little performance in Sunagakure.
But even if Chizuki had seen it, he would only have sneered.
Yes—following the direction Pakura had pointed out earlier, after two days of travel, Chizuki and Jack had finally returned to the territory of the Land of Fire.
Here, things were far safer than in other countries. At the very least, they no longer had to worry about suddenly running into enemies.
And most importantly—
Chizuki knew the road now.
That's right. Once inside the borders of the Land of Fire, he could follow the routes in his memory back to Konoha. He no longer had to worry about getting lost and accidentally running straight into some enemy encampment.
Tell me that wasn't worth celebrating.
"Ah… the scent of my homeland from memory. Truly refreshing…"
Chizuki took a deep breath, held it for four or five seconds, then exhaled forcefully, letting out a long, contented sigh.
Seeing how exaggerated he was acting, Jack couldn't help laughing. A soft pink blush appeared on her face as she giggled gently.
After such a long stretch of fleeing for his life, Chizuki could finally relax a little.
From the Mist captain at the start, to the high-level battle between Hōzuki Kōgetsu and Pakura, everything that had happened felt almost like a dream. Over the past two days, Chizuki hadn't slept well at all. On one hand, he kept fearing he would die in this conflict-ridden world. On the other, he didn't want to leave it.
The contradiction had been intense.
Of course, the biggest reason he didn't want to leave was because he didn't want to part from the adorable little sister he had summoned… ah, no, Jack the Ripper.
And during these past two days, Chizuki had also claimed the mission rewards from the system: Ember of Mana x1 and the Servant skill [Monstrous Strength].
To Chizuki, those two things were pure salvation in a time of need.
Especially [Monstrous Strength].
This skill originated from Medusa in Fate/stay night.
[Monstrous Strength], Rank B, was a skill that temporarily enhanced Strength—that is, raw physical power. For Chizuki, whose constitution was weak and who wasn't suited for close combat, it was an absolutely indispensable god-tier skill.
At the very least, he would no longer be completely unable to retaliate in close-range combat.
And its growth potential was tremendous. If Chizuki could continue improving his base physical strength, then in the future, once he activated [Monstrous Strength], the effect might not even be inferior to Princess Tsunade's monstrous power.
As for that Ember of Mana, Chizuki had used it the moment he got it.
And as expected of something specifically meant to enhance chakra—the effect was remarkable.
After using it, Chizuki could clearly feel the chakra within his body flowing faster. The amount of chakra he could mobilize had also increased. On top of that, his panel stats had risen directly from E-rank to D-rank.
To put it simply, before this, the amount of chakra in Chizuki's body would let him cast the Great Fireball Technique four or five times at full power.
Now?
Six or seven casts was no problem.
Don't underestimate that little change. After all, A-rank and even S-rank ninjutsu consumed terrifying amounts of chakra.
Now, Chizuki's attributes looked far more luxurious than before.
At the very least, if he ran into that earlier Mist squad again, aside from the jōnin, he could try messing with the others.
――――――――――
Master Data:
Name: Mitarashi Chizuki
Gender: Male
Chakra Nature: Fire, Earth
Strength: E
Endurance: E
Agility: E
Chakra: D
Luck: C
Noble Phantasm: Knight of Owner
Skill: [Monstrous Strength]
Possessions: Magic Crystal x1, [First Aid] x1
Evaluation: You're pretty awesome now. Know Kakashi and Asuma? They're really nothing special. You can totally fight them. I guarantee that in less than three minutes, they'll be kneeling on the ground, taking turns pinching your philtrum because they're afraid you'll die.
――――――――――
Honestly, if this weren't his cheat system for growing stronger—if it had just been some sharp-tongued app on his phone in his previous life—he'd have smashed that phone to pieces ages ago.
Putting aside the system's sarcastic evaluation, though, his overall stats were indeed looking pretty good now.
What suited him best at the moment was returning to Konoha, laying a solid foundation, and developing steadily. Living the daily life, enjoying some sweetness here and there—that was the kind of life he actually wanted.
Once he settled on that plan, the pressure in his heart immediately eased by quite a lot.
His gaze drifted uncontrollably toward Jack beside him. Watching her carefree expression every day, that soft and lovely appearance of hers, the smile on Chizuki's face gradually grew more frequent.
Black Zetsu, Akatsuki, the Ōtsutsuki—none of that had anything to do with him.
As long as they didn't come disturb his life, and as long as they didn't hurt the people around him, that was enough.
As for saving the world and bringing "world peace"—
Once he grew strong enough, all of that would be small matters anyway.