Jokichi had previously conducted simulated calculations of the situations he would encounter in his future training, so he had long anticipated the problem of needing to obtain an open and aboveboard avenue for training.
Therefore, he also had a solution in mind early on.
He put away the training scroll given by Itachi, stood up, and opened the main door.
The dazzling sunlight shone in, making him narrow his eyes.
After a while, feeling that his eyes had adapted, he fully opened them and then went outside.
Passing through the courtyard, he left the main gate, followed the path into the bustling commercial street, and followed the flow of people all the way east.
As he walked, the houses and the flow of people on the street gradually became sparse.
After about half an hour, Jokichi arrived at a small river in a forest.
He first scanned left and right, and seeing no one nearby, he took out the Book of Omniscience to confirm once again.
Seeing that there was truly no one nearby, he put away the Book of Omniscience, took out a whistle, and blew it.
The whistle sound was very loud, startling a large flock of birds.
Among them, a sparrow with very agile eyes was mixed in, flying towards a certain place in Konoha, into a remote little wooden house.
Inside the little wooden house, there was only a bed, a wardrobe, and a table.
There was a large mirror on the wardrobe, with an Anbu cloak and mask hanging to the side, and further away hung longswords and other ninja tools.
The sparrow perched on the windowsill and chirped twice.
The bathroom door opened, and a scruffy, listless middle-aged man walked out from inside.
Seeing the sparrow on the window, his lifeless eyes lit up with a trace of radiance.
He returned to the bathroom, shaved off the stubble on his face, then changed into a set of clean clothes and went out to leave.
His destination was precisely the small forest where Jokichi was.
This place was not far from that small forest, and it was remotely located with no one around.
As this person moved forward, he scanned his surroundings to confirm that no one was following him.
Before long, he saw Jokichi and respectfully bowed down.
"Master."
Jokichi closed the Book of Omniscience, glanced back at him, and said crossly, "Didn't I say you are not allowed to call me Master?"
The man was stunned for a moment, then immediately corrected himself, "Yes, Lord Jokichi."
"Drop the Lord as well."
"Yes."
"Act more normal too, just like seeing an ordinary person."
"Underst... Mhm."
Swallowing the words that came to his mouth, the man's humble expression became indifferent, and he just nodded gently.
Jokichi nodded in satisfaction and said, "Act out a play with me."
"What play?"
Jokichi leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Tomorrow afternoon, some time after the Ninja Academy is dismissed, you will pass by the Ninth Training Ground, happen to see me training, and then do this, this, and this, and that will be it."
"Got it."
"Then that will be it. Hurry up and leave, it won't be good if you are discovered."
"Mhm!"
The man left, looking somewhat lonely beneath the blowing wind.
Looking at his gradually fading back, Jokichi sighed with emotion.
This person's name was Ryohei, a name only given to him two years ago.
He was once a squad captain of the Anbu, belonging to Root.
At that time, he only had a codename, no name.
Two years ago, Itachi joined forces with Obito to destroy Root.
Danzo died, and most of the members died.
Only the members who were out on missions escaped the disaster.
But Root members were mostly killing machines whose own emotions had been obliterated. They obeyed Danzo's orders and acted with Danzo as their spiritual core.
After Danzo's death, these survivors were like they had lost their souls, at a loss, and some even chose to follow Danzo in death.
Because of their state, the Third Hokage gave them a long leave of absence, hoping they could find a new goal in life.
Ryohei was one of the surviving members.
At the same time, he was also one of the four members who had previously been hit by Jokichi's Kotoamatsukami, that Jonin squad captain.
After Danzo died, he was also extremely lost like the other survivors, but due to the orders of Kotoamatsukami, he did not entirely lose his direction.
It was just that since Jokichi never sought him out to do anything, he also gradually became muddle-headed.
Now, Jokichi found him and asked him to help do things, allowing him to find a goal once again.
The open and aboveboard avenue for training that Jokichi would obtain was to be taught by Ryohei.
However, Ryohei was once a person of Root and had his emotions obliterated.
Although after two years of rest, some changes might have occurred emotionally.
But there was almost no possibility for their backgrounds to intersect.
Having Ryohei teach him also required some reasonable arrangements, otherwise some people with paranoia would overthink it.
Although it wouldn't matter if they overthought it, saving some trouble was also a good thing.
...
The next day, Jokichi went to school normally.
Meanwhile, Ryohei pushed open his door and wandered aimlessly around Konoha.
Adults opened their doors to do business, and children played and roughhoused.
There were pedestrians passing by to run errands, gathering in twos and threes to chat happily after bumping into acquaintances.
There were also commoner merchants or high-ranking officials and nobles who rushed over from other places to issue missions.
Walking on the main street, feeling the liveliness around him, not the slightest ripple could be stirred up in his heart, his pair of eyes as indifferent as water.
He passed by the movie theater and saw couples entering and exiting in twos and threes.
He passed by the Hokage Building, and seeing the guarding ninjas, a trace of reminiscence surfaced deep in his eyes.
He passed by many training grounds, and seeing ninjas training, he would stop to watch for a while, and then leave silently.
Unknowingly, the sun set in the west.
Ryohei circled the village once and returned to the front of the Hokage Building.
At this time, a bell rang.
Following that, the noisy sounds of countless children seemed to drift over.
Whether cheering, chasing, or yelling... all the sounds were permeated with innocence and naivety.
Before long, a large group of students swarmed out of the school gates.
They bade farewell to their friends, and then left accompanied by adults or alone.
The gaze of every single person was incomparably pure.
Looking at the gazes of these children, ripples surfaced in Ryohei's eyes, as if a certain chord deep in his heart had been touched.
Hokage Building.
Hiruzen stood in front of the window.
Seeing this scene, infinite emotion also rose in his heart.
The people of Root were basically composed of two types.
One was war orphans adopted from the outside, and the other was people in the village with nowhere to go.
There was also a portion of people who were abducted by Danzo using various means.
These people gathered together and formed Root.
Ryohei belonged to the first type; he was a war orphan Danzo brought back from the outside at the end of the Second Shinobi World War.
He accepted Konoha's relief and was able to survive in the troubled times, therefore he was deeply grateful to Konoha.
Then, under Danzo's coaxing, he voluntarily underwent training to obliterate his humanity and became a member of Root.
He underwent training with the ultimate goal of protecting Konoha.
But in reality, what this group of people with nowhere to go truly wanted to protect was only Danzo.
Because Danzo was the benefactor who gave them a place to stay.
Now that Danzo was dead, they also lost their life goals.
A portion followed Danzo in death, and a portion lived like walking corpses.
Ryohei was one of those living like walking corpses.
At this time, seeing the students coming out of the Ninja Academy, he must have recalled the responsibility to protect Konoha that Danzo entrusted to them!
Hiruzen also hoped these people could pull themselves together again.
As elites of Root, their power was extremely formidable and could make many contributions to the village.
However, things went contrary to his wishes.
After the students had basically all left, Ryohei's eyes once again lost focus, and he wandered aimlessly like a walking corpse.