Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 381 A Deal in the Dark

This year's snowfall was unremarkable, just like the silent ninja world today.

The Spring Festival in the Land of Waves is still going on. This year's theme is umbrellas. Umbrellas of different sizes, materials, and colors fill the sky above the entire street, like artificial rainbows.

This year's escort mission was assigned to the original Team 7 as usual, but the lineup of two elite Jonin was still a bit too luxurious, so Tsunade added Team Ebisu, who had been causing trouble for the past six months, to the team. Kakashi, as usual, went to complete other missions. Before this mission was announced, Naruto still hadn't received any reply, all because he had included some information about the Root laboratory in his previous letter.

Remember Aburame Torune? After being turned... no, after being inspired by justice and abandoning darkness for light, the Aburame clan would occasionally find various excuses to meet with Naruto.

Whether it was Shino's bad influence or not, the reason these guys came to him was almost always to test the upper limit of the parasitic insects' ability to absorb chakra, and they did indeed test it. However, when the flying insects wrapped him up like a ball, the little note from Tore secretly slipped into his pocket.

These notes mostly contained maps and names. The maps indicated secret outposts and clandestine transaction locations yet to be uncovered. The names were incredibly varied: some were contact persons, some were people who could be won over, and others were deeply hidden spies. In short, each one needed careful verification before deciding how to proceed.

Naruto attributed this perverse sense of humor to Torune's "distrust." He was indeed too young; even with the Hokage's backing, he couldn't completely convince others. A small test was of course no challenge for him, so he let Torune do as he pleased.

The conflict remained relatively quiet until last month, because Danzo was a very meticulous man and would never leave any evidence against himself. So, at most, they found some internal illicit transfers of benefits, small groups banding together to maliciously exclude a particular person, and false reports to the daimyo.

These issues could be big or small, and weren't exactly conclusive evidence, until the map was delivered to Naruto.

The location, within the Land of Rice Fields, very close to Otogakure, was clearly Orochimaru's doing. Naruto naturally sent the location to Sasuke, asking him to investigate while also dispatching "Hikaru's" intelligence department to assist. They would appear to help if Sasuke encountered trouble he couldn't handle.

As a result, this mission drove Sasuke into an unusually volatile mood. Even from hundreds of miles away, Naruto could feel the overflowing anger, but when asked what was wrong, Sasuke didn't answer, only sharpening his sword even more vigorously.

Naruto didn't understand, but that intelligence was extremely important because Danzo himself had secretly left Konoha and gone to the location mentioned in the intelligence. Orochimaru went there as well, and the two must have made a shady deal.

After Danzo returned from his month-long absence, Naruto knew there was no need to ask anymore, because he sensed something familiar: Hashirama's cells.

Sometimes, having too strong a sense of perception isn't a good thing. Even though that arm was sealed and wrapped up, he could still sense an extremely complex flow of chakra intertwined in chaos, to the point that just one glance could make someone want to vomit.

Naruto felt guilty; he shouldn't have let Sasuke get involved in this mess. The Senju and Uchiha chakra were too easily recognizable. Without even seeing it, he could tell just how disgusting that arm was from its chakra alone. If he, an outsider, found it disgusting, how would Sasuke feel? Rushing up and killing those two blasphemers would be the least of his worries.

Moreover, Sasuke remained remarkably calm this time. Aside from being furious, he didn't immediately attack but instead went back to hone his techniques and wait for the right opportunity.

"Boss, boss, when are we leaving?" Konohamaru, who was so excited he was practically flying, kept asking Naruto.

The vitality of youth has long since vanished from his body; he now finds even overtime tiring, let alone pulling an all-nighter. An hour of this intense jumping and bouncing would probably leave him exhausted and needing to lie down and sleep. Thankfully, he has his Flying Thunder God for transportation; otherwise, he really wouldn't be able to get any work done.

"Anytime is fine, but we agreed to meet in half an hour, so we'll have to wait a while for Sakura."

Ebisu sat calmly to the side, pushing up his glasses as he spoke: "How can you be so unenthusiastic about doing a mission?"

"After all, he's a doctor. The handover of work must be meticulous, otherwise the effectiveness of the treatment cannot be guaranteed. Besides, Sakura wasn't late." Naruto didn't want to argue with Ebisu, but what the guy said was indeed unpleasant to hear.

A factual reply, however, reminded Ebisu of the fear of being dominated by Naruto once again. As the saying goes, "a new emperor brings a new court," and after the Third Hokage's sacrifice, Konohamaru's importance diminished, while Naruto rose to prominence and became a favorite of the Hokage.

It must be admitted that in terms of strength, he is no match for Naruto. The ninjutsu Naruto casually teaches him are things many ninjas would kill for, for which he even went to thank him. However, he has inherited the Third Hokage's dying wish to train Konohamaru to become a great ninja, yet the young master still doesn't realize that Konohamaru is his greatest rival on his path to becoming Hokage, and still calls him "boss" every day!

This time, the Hokage went even further and handed over the entire class that they, as Jonin, were led to the other party. Wasn't this a clear indication that he wanted them to obey?

Ebisu was lost in his dark thoughts when Sakura, looking travel-worn, suddenly appeared. Without any hesitation, she sat down next to Naruto and took a big gulp of tea.

"Seriously, there are just too many people who can't understand human language! I'm almost dry from talking so much."

Naruto immediately knew what was going on and asked, "Is someone causing trouble for the hospital again?"

"Hehe, another bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong. Never mind that spoils the mood." Sakura quickly adjusted her mood and said, "Every year I look forward to this time of year when I can take a vacation. Let's go, I want to check out this year's events in advance."

Naruto verbally agreed and reached his hand to the center of the table. Sakura and the three children placed their hands on the table without hesitation, leaving only Ebisu, the odd one out, dawdling.

"Teacher, what are you waiting for? Didn't you just say it was almost time?" Menghuang's words were full of childlike innocence, completely unaware of the awkwardness of an adult.

"It's alright, there are still ten minutes left." Naruto was tolerant in his attitude. "If you really don't like the Flying Thunder God Technique, you can walk over. Anyway, there are still three days until the agreed arrival time, which is more than enough time for your speed."

So you mean you're not going to use Flying Thunder God Technique and just walk there by yourself?! That wretched brat, how dare he threaten him!