Uchiha Tonan’s gentle, smiling face appeared behind the enemy ninja. And like the warm winter sun, it pulled Uchiha Obito out of his numbing fear. “Don’t be afraid, it’s alright.”
Obito took a deep breath. He felt a little embarrassed and instantly refuted, “I was not afraid, I just slipped.”
Tonan smiled brightly. He knew Obito’s self-esteem was high, so he humored him. He nodded and said, “Was that what happened? You should be careful in the future or else your flaws would be revealed easily.”
He then slowly pulled the charka tanto out and lightly pushed the corpse away. The dead ninja fell to the ground sideways. A look of surprise was frozen on the ghastly face of that corpse as if he couldn’t believe he was killed so easily.
His eyes were wide open, unable to rest in peace. The blood was still flowing out from the wound, dying the surrounding mud red, finally becoming a bloody puddle.
Tonan lowered his head and looked at Obito, who wanted to get up but his body was weak and soft. He smiled and squatted down, extending his right hand, “I forgot to bring a seal scroll. Obito, do you have one?”
Obito nodded and took out his only seal scroll from the ninja bag, handing it over to Tonan. However, Tonan didn’t take it and instead said to Obito with a gentle smile, “Stand up first.”
Obito’s face became red, and he hesitated for a bit before grabbing Tonan’s hand to stand up. Only after that, did Tonan use the scroll to seal the corpse.
Namikaze Minato and the others came over as well, “Tonan, did you complete your mission?”
Tonan shook his head, “There’s one more but I don’t know which direction he fled to.”
Minato frowned and began to analyze, “Just now, didn’t you say this person used earth perception? Coupled with the fact that he uses earth style, he is likely a Rock ninja.”
Tonan pondered for a bit and nodded, “That’s possible.” In fact, Tonan had another guess in his mind. After all, this ninja didn’t seem very intelligent. And he fit the impression Tonan had of that ninja village.
Minato smiled, “In any case, we are free. Why don’t Kakashi and I help you in the pursuit?”
Obito immediately raised his hand high and shook it in front of Minato, “Minato-sensei, what about me?”
“Rin and you should stay here.”
“But…”
Obito lowered his head, secretly hating himself for not having strength, and being the lowest-raking student. Suddenly, a seal scroll appeared in his sight. He raised his head and saw Tonan saying with a gentle face, “This seal scroll is very important. If we lost it during the battle, it’ll be troublesome. Obito, can you take this and stay here to safeguard this scroll.”
Obito was stunned for a moment, and a bright smile appeared on his face as he grabbed the scroll and held it high, “No problem, you can leave such an important mission to me.”
Seeing Tonan coax Obito, Minato smiled and asked him, “We should leave now, Tonan?”
Minato, Tonan, and Hatake Kakashi split and headed in Iwa’s direction. After the three of them left, at the end of a street, a dark-skinned woman with a large build stuck her head out from a corner.
“I came in a step too late. Yuki is dead. However, he was able to deceive the three ninjas.”
The woman dispelled the Transformation Technique and returned to her original appearance, which was that of a man — Kumo’s Quasi-Fourth Raikage – ‘A’.
Just as he dispelled the technique, the eyes of the white pigeons hovering in the air flashed. Tonan, who was running in the forest, halted.
“That attire, is he Kumo’s ‘A’? It seems that fellow deceived us with his life. No wonder I felt his hand signs movement was strange.”
Just when Tonan was preparing to rush back, a strange smile appeared on his face.
“What’s ‘A’ doing?”
In the town, Obito and Nohara Rin were sitting on the side of the street. Obito showed off his Sharingan and looked pleased with himself.
“Sharingan is a powerful dojutsu exclusive to the Uchihas, and only true geniuses can awaken it. Rin, do you think I’m very dashing?”
At this moment, Tonan came in front of them with a smile. The two looked over and asked with a confused look, “Tonan, why did you come back?”
Tonan coughed lightly and said, “I’ve already found the enemy’s trail, but the other side has many ninjas, I cannot take them on alone. So, I wanted to ask you two to help me.”
Rin responded with a worried expression, “Tonan, can we do it? Should we wait for Minato-sensei and Kakashi to come back?”
Obito had not gotten a chance to show off his skill to Rin after awakening the Sharingan.
“If we face enemies, I’ll be able to show my might, and Rin will definitely be impressed…” Thinking of this, Obito was very excited.
The corners of Tonan’s mouth rose slightly and said, “Thank you, then follow me. By the way, that scroll…”
Obito immediately took out the seal scroll without hesitation and handed it over, “Oh, you keep the scroll. I might fight too fiercely and lose it.”
Rin felt that something was shady but since she didn’t have too much contact with Tonan in the past, she discarded the doubts in her mind. The two foolishly followed Tonan out of town and walked towards the rendezvous place of the Cloud ninjas.
‘A’, who had transformed into Tonan, was feeling very proud of himself at this moment.
“Who will dare say I’m brainless now? Usually, I just disdain to scheme. But I just used a small trick and not only am I bringing back Yuki’s body, but I’ve also abducted an Uchiha kid who has triggered the Sharingan. Once I take him back, I’ll give him some medicine and put him together with a bunch of beautiful women, then…”
“This time, I’ll make you all look at me with admiration. Your future Raikage is not stupid at all.”
Thinking of this, ‘A’ subconsciously waved his fist. Rin, who was following behind him, curiously asked, “Tonan, what’s wrong?”
‘A’ hastily restrained his urge to smash a tree and then scratched his head, “I’m just a little nervous thinking about the upcoming battle.”
Obito patted his chest and said, “It’s alright, leave everything to me.”
‘A’ then asked, “By the way, can we run?”
Obito looked at him blankly, “But Rin and I don’t know the way. You’ll have to lead the way in the front.”
‘A’ immediately said, “Alright, alright…. keep up the pace.”
However, just after running a few steps, he heard Rin gasping for breath behind him, “Tonan-kun… I can’t keep up…”
“Alright, alright…”
‘A’ had no choice but to slow down.
