Soon, Uchiha Tonan, dressed in a black windbreaker, walked out of the darkness and stepped into the area lit up by a street lamp. He ignored the eyes in the dark and walked straight toward the residence designated for the Suna team.
Swish… An Anbu member used the Body Flicker Technique and blocked his path. “This is the resting area for the Suna participants. Any unrelated personnel is not allowed here.”
Tonan lifted his head and indifferently looked at the Anbu. For some unknown reason, a chill ran down the Anbu member’s spine and the hair all over his body stood up as if he was targeted by someone dangerous. He subconsciously held his breath for a moment.
Tonan slowly smiled and patted his shoulder warmly, “I picked up something valuable that someone from the team dropped, so I specifically came here to return it. Let me go in. I won’t make things difficult for you.”
After speaking, Tonan smiled and walked past the Anbu member, who was already sweating profusely. He stood there motionless, unable to even lift his legs. Even if he wanted, there was no way to stop Tonan like this.
The other Anbu members saw Tonan saying something to their partner with a humble smile, and their partner letting him go. Therefore, they didn’t come forward to inquire about anything. Then to prevent any mishap, they simply watched Tonan. Only after he had walked into the place where the Suna team was resting did the Anbu notice that something was wrong with their partner.
One Anbu member jumped out from the dark and brought his partner back, “What’s wrong? Did you fall into his genjutsu?”
That partner squatted down and panted heavily. Only after a while, he shook his head and said, “It’s not genjutsu, it’s a very strange feeling. It’s similar… very similar to the feeling I got while facing Orochimaru-sama before.”
The Suna team’s residence was a two-story hotel, temporarily converted by Konoha. Tonan seemed to be very familiar with this place. He walked straight towards the second floor.
Step, step, step… Dull footsteps could be heard in the corridor that awakened the Suna team members. The three participants became alert and hid below the window. Tonan went straight to Sakai Hiroto’s room and knocked gently on the door.
Hiroto was much braver than the three genin. He knew in Konoha, no one would attack him late in the night, so he heedlessly opened the door. However, he was startled seeing the late-night guest. He pretended to be calm and asked, “May I ask who you are?”
Tonan smiled and shook the radiation necklace around his neck with one hand and took out a sky-blue gem from the ninja bag with his other hand, saying, “Sure enough, I wasn’t wrong, you dropped this necklace. I was a bit careless when I picked it up and this gem fell off. This looks very valuable. You must’ve been anxious.”
Hiroto had never thought that Tonan would be able to resist his greed and return the necklace. “Damn it… How can his character be so good? Am I going to fail my mission?”
He smiled forcibly and suddenly noticed Tonan was wearing the necklace. This meant he might have already discovered it could help refine chakra. He answered with gratitude, “There it is… here I was searching for it the entire day but it turned out it fell on the road.”
“But I never said I picked it up from the road,” Tonan said with a blank face as if he was a fool who was yet to experience the world. Hiroto was stunned for a moment and said with an awkward smile, “Ha ha… I must’ve dropped it on the road from the ramen restaurant. Thank you very much. This gem is very precious. I spent a lot of money to buy it. To show my gratitude, you can keep the necklace. Just returning the gem is enough.”
Tonan narrowed his eyes slightly and stared at him, “You don’t need to do that.” Tonan was being polite but his hands didn’t move. Hiroto was a bit surprised. He shook his head and replied with a smile, “No, you should be rewarded for this behavior. Please don’t refuse it. Otherwise, I won’t be at ease.”
Tonan said with a reluctant look, “Alright then, I won’t disturb your rest.” Tonan then turned and left Hiroto’s room.
In the corridor, after hearing the conversation, the three Suna genin knew there was no danger and stood up together. Seeing Tonan, who was about the same age as them, coming toward them, they all stared at him with an unpleasant look.
Tonan nodded and smiled at them saying, “Hello,” and walked past. After a few seconds, the three came back to their senses and went to Hiroto’s room.
“Hiroto-sensei, why did that guy come here?”
“He came to return the gem.” Hiroto was sitting in front of a desk, staring at the gem in his hand.
“What gem? Hiroto-sensei, do you like such things?” The three participants gathered around and said with a look of awe, “Let me see, it’s so beautiful.”
“Don’t mess around, be careful not to break it.”
“So beautiful…”
At some point, the gem in Hiroto’s hand had already fallen into the genin’s hands, and the three appreciated it together. Hiroto seemed to be absentminded. He shifted his gaze towards the gem and muttered, “Gem… give me back my gem.”
The genin immediately held it closer and replied, “No, it’s mine.”
“No, it’s mine, I just touched it,” another genin hastily snatched it.
Crack… It was unknown whose hand slipped but the gem fell to the ground and shattered into several pieces. Hiroto roared like a madman, “My gem, it’s worth tens of millions!”
The Anbu members outside heard the sounds coming from inside and couldn’t help frowning. Puff… Blood spattered on the window. “F***, something happened…” The Anbu members rushed in one after another.
At this moment, Tonan had already reached under the streetlamp. After hearing the movement behind him, he turned around and smiled. He shook his head, “Men die for wealth just as birds for food.”
The Anbu member who had blocked Tonan’s path earlier appeared again. He stood in front of him and solemnly said, “Tonan-sama, you can’t leave.”
Tonan raised his brows and leisurely replied, “If you want something, you can ask Hokage-sama to come and look for me. Be a little smarter next time.”
Just as the words fell, Tonan’s disappeared without a trace.
So quick! That Anbu’s pupils shrank. He looked around but couldn’t even see Tonan’s shadow. In the end, he had to toughen himself up and go to the Sarutobi clan district to report the situation to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Tonan considered himself to be a gentleman, who had a standard of conduct. As the saying goes, return good for evil, why repay with kindness? He was not a person who didn’t dare to take action.
He was also clear about his double standards. If it was a worthy and powerful enemy, then he would have retreated with the pretext that if revenge breeds revenge, will there ever be an end?
In any case, the war was about to start. Even if Suna knew what he had done, they would pressurize Konoha at most. And as for Hiruzen, he wouldn’t be able to make a move on him.
He had endured humiliation in silence and maintained his resolve for so long. Finally, he obtained his strength with difficulty. How could he let a lowly ninja ride his head?
