Chapter 44: Iron Man Armor! Storage System On
When they woke up the next day, they found that Takahashi had already disappeared.
Orochimaru picked up the note left behind. He read it for a long time, then let out a quiet sigh and stared up at the ceiling.
He spoke in a voice so low only he could hear it. "Was everything I did before... really so worthless?"
Seeing Orochimaru's strange mood, Kimimaro asked with concern, "Lord Orochimaru, did he write something bad on that note?"
"Yes," Orochimaru admitted quietly. "I was thoroughly mocked. Perhaps... perhaps we should really abandon this place and start over."
No one could understand the sadness of having his life's work so clearly exposed as flawed. But now wasn't the time to dwell on it. He had to be responsible for his own path. He would complete his final experiment here. If he failed again, he might truly have to consider going to find Takahashi.
"Let's hope so," he whispered to himself.
On the other side, Takahashi was speeding back to Konoha. He didn't like being outside for too long; he couldn't eat or sleep well out there. Even though the people he met posed no real threat to him, they were like annoying flies—too many of them, and very bothersome.
He traveled day and night, pushing his speed, and managed to get back to the gates of Konoha two nights later. The guards at the gate saw it was him and let him through immediately.
Takahashi was known as the one who had healed the Third Hokage. The guards respected him for that. While some people thought it was just a rumor, most believed it. After all, the tragedy caused by Orochimaru's invasion was no joke.
After a quick greeting, Takahashi was back inside the village walls. He slowed to a walk. The leaves on the road had already turned yellow, and the air had a distinct chill. Takahashi hadn't realized how much time had passed. In the blink of an eye, it was already autumn. Time flew by too fast.
When he got to his home, he found Hinata sitting quietly on the steps in front of his door. She had fallen asleep, leaning against the handrail.
The sight made his heart ache. He quickly took off his jacket and draped it over her. The movement woke her up. She looked at him with dazed, sleepy eyes. Seeing the mix of distress and anger on his face, she fully woke up and realized she had fallen asleep waiting at his door.
"Why don't you take better care of yourself?" he scolded gently. "What if you catch a cold sitting out here in this weather? If I come back, I will always come to find you. Didn't I tell you to look after yourself? Don't do this again."
Hinata seemed to know she was wrong, but she also looked a little hurt. Her eyes grew shiny with unshed tears.
"But... I was worried when you didn't come back," she explained softly. "I felt that sitting here made me feel more at peace, even though I knew you weren't home yet."
Takahashi found that his anger couldn't last. Faced with this girl who could be so silly and sincere, his heart just softened with affection. He pulled her into a hug.
The sudden move made Hinata let out a small gasp of surprise. Then, she buried her blushing face in her hands.
Once they were inside, Takahashi quickly heated up a glass of milk for her. He looked at her still-flushed cheeks with some amusement.
"Why is your face so red?"
Hinata hurriedly tried to explain. "It's... it's the cold! It must be from the cold. Yes, it's too cold outside."
Takahashi just smiled and took a sip of his own milk, watching her quietly.
He had been about to ask if she wanted to stay the night, but at that critical moment, his infuriatingly lucky little frog returned.
He swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
"Do you want..." he began instead.
Hinata stared at him with her big, watery eyes, full of expectation. "Do I want what?"
"Do you want me to walk you home now?"
Hinata let out a quiet, disappointed sigh.
He mentally kicked himself. Had he answered his own question too quickly? But it was too late to take it back now. If he changed his mind, wouldn't it seem like he had some sneaky plan? He didn't want to leave that kind of creepy impression on Hinata. The internal struggle he felt in that moment was stronger than any he'd had while fighting Kimimaro. If anyone knew about it, they'd probably laugh themselves sick.
After he saw Hinata safely home, he returned to his own house and took a long, relaxing hot bath. Then, he finally checked to see what his traveling frog had brought back.
The frog hadn't been gone for long this time. When he opened the interface, a message appeared.
"Your Awesome Shiny Little Frog has triggered a bonus critical reward!"
Takahashi was a little puzzled. A crit? Does this system work like a game now? But who was he to complain? A crit probably meant something good.
He clicked to open the reward and his jaw dropped. A sleek, bright red mechanical armor suit appeared in the display.
"Is that... Mark's Iron Man armor?!"
He couldn't help the shout of excitement. Let's be honest, what man could refuse a set of magical armor that could let him fly and go underwater? Every man has a mecha dream he can't resist.
While this armor wasn't as huge as a Gundam or a Jaeger from Pacific Rim, that didn't make it any less powerful. Used correctly, it could be incredibly useful.
Just the ability to fly alone would already put him above most people in the world. If he remembered correctly, in the whole shinobi world, only Gaara and the Tsuchikage Onoki could truly fly.
But just as he was marveling at his new prize, a very painful notification popped up.
"Because the weather has turned cold, your frog needs to hibernate. It will become active again when the weather turns warm, and will be able to bring you even more powerful rewards. Your Awesome Shiny Little Frog will be even more awesome then!"
Seeing this, Takahashi felt a real pang of disappointment. It's not even the middle of autumn yet! Why are you hibernating already?!
But faced with this unhappy news, he could only accept it. It was only for a few months; he could bear it. His current strength wasn't unmatched, but there were very few people who could actually kill him. Unless all the Kage from every major village teamed up against him at once, he would probably always have a chance to escape.
As he was grieving his frog's early hibernation, a new system function suddenly activated.
"Congratulations, Host, for unlocking the Storage Function. Please check it."
It was another new feature he'd never seen before. Since it was new, he figured he should get familiar with it.
"Open storage," he thought.
A new panel appeared in his mind. It was a backpack system! This meant he could carry things with him without anyone knowing. That was an incredibly useful thing for any traveler or shinobi.
The only downside was that there were very few storage slots—only five empty ones. Unlocking more would require spending system points or money.
Putting that aside for now, Takahashi just wanted to try out the Iron Man armor. But when the armor materialized, he immediately ran into a problem. The suit was too big for him to wear properly. As he stared at it, a small instruction manual fell out onto the floor with a soft thud.
(End of this chapter)