"Kid, do you still have any strength left?" the masked ninja asked Taiichi. "I'm Captain Shikyō of the ANBU. If you can manage it, explain the situation to me."
"Big brother, shouldn't you help me with my wounds first? I'm dying of pain here." Taiichi looked utterly speechless. Can't you see I'm injured?
If it weren't for his depleted Chakra and the stinging pain in his cakra pathway network, he would have treated himself.
Hearing this, Captain Shikyō glanced at Taiichi, who was covered in injuries. He waved his hand backward, and an ANBU ninja stepped forward, taking out bandages and medicine to dress Taiichi's wounds.
"Wait... don't you guys have a medical ninja?" Taiichi gasped at their rough handling. This was too unprofessional. "Gently! Who bandages like that? You have to clean the wound first, then..."
"We are a pursuit squad; we don't have a medical ninja assigned to us. Just make do for now!" Shikyō explained from the side, surprised that Taiichi also knew medical knowledge.
Helpless, Taiichi could only instruct the ANBU on how to dress the wounds while talking to Shikyō. "My name is Taiichi Matsushita. This is where I usually train. When I arrived today..."
Following Taiichi's simple narration, Shikyō gained a general understanding of what happened. However, this only surprised him more. If things were truly as Taiichi described, then this kid was incredibly formidable.
Shikyō turned to look around. Flames were still crackling, and the surrounding trees and ground were covered in marks from wind blade cuts. In the distance lay the body of the foreign ninja, eyes still open in death. Shikyō seemed to be committing everything in the vicinity to memory.
Once Taiichi had recovered some stamina, the ANBU members took him, the little girl, and the two "spoils of war" back to the village.
As for the scene, ninjas from the Analysis Team would naturally come to handle it. They would reconstruct the entire process based on the traces left behind to verify Taiichi's account, and they would also be responsible for restoring the site.
Before they even reached the Hokage Building, they saw a group of people led by a middle-aged man walking toward them. Shikyō went up to meet them and handed the little girl back.
Only then did Taiichi realize that the person he had saved was Yakumo Kurama, the young daughter of the Kurama Clan Head.
Looks like they were after the Kurama Clan's Kekkei Genkai, Taiichi thought.
Could this be the work of the Cloud Village? They have a serious criminal record for this kind of thing.
Shikyō, who was talking to the Kurama Clan Head, pointed at Taiichi standing nearby, then led the group toward him.
"Matsushita-kun, I am Teruta Kurama. Thank you so much for saving my daughter." Without waiting for Taiichi to reply, he bowed a full 90 degrees.
Beside him, a beautiful woman holding the little girl was also bowing while crying, tears of joy streaming down her face.
"You are too kind. This is my duty as a Konoha ninja. You would have done the same in my place." Taiichi rattled off the polite platitudes smoothly.
"Even so, you saved my daughter. You still have to report your mission today, so I won't disturb you further. I will definitely visit to express my gratitude another day!"
After agreeing on a time for the visit under Shikyō's mediation, Taiichi and the Kurama Clan Head parted ways, and Taiichi continued toward the Hokage Building.
...
Hokage Building.
Shikyō had his team take the two "spoils of war" to the Torture and Interrogation Force while he brought Taiichi to the Hokage's office.
Pushing open the door, they found not only the Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, but also the two advisors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, as well as the Root leader, Danzo Shimura.
Taiichi felt a sense of foreboding seeing this scene. Why was Danzo Shimura here? He was the last person Taiichi wanted to see right now.
The four people in the room were quite surprised to see not just Captain Shikyō, but also a heavily injured brat entering the room.
Danzo recognized Taiichi. Seeing him arrive, he immediately flashed a smile with an unreadable meaning, which scared Taiichi quite a bit. Who knew what kind of scheme Danzo was hatching now?
Shikyō reported the details of the mission to Konoha's top brass, while Taiichi could only listen from the side.
It turned out that yesterday, a team of ninjas had infiltrated the village by blending in with a merchant caravan. Last night, this team sneaked into the Kurama Clan's compound and abducted the sleeping Yakumo Kurama.
But as luck would have it, they were discovered by patrolling ninjas on their way out, leading to a battle.
Doing the business of kidnapping children in Konoha? Unless you can sneak out smoothly, you become a public enemy instantly.
Knowing the situation was dire, the ninja team immediately arranged for a Special Jonin to break out with the captive while the others stayed behind to block the pursuers.
Even so, after two Chunin died, the last Jonin finally managed to break through.
The rest was history—they ran into Taiichi.
Taiichi now understood the whole story. No wonder he found the entire village under martial law when he woke up this morning.
So that was it. First, there was the attempted kidnapping of Kushina Uzumaki, now Yakumo Kurama, and in the future, Hinata Hyuga.
The little girls of Konoha really go through a lot of hardships, Taiichi lamented inwardly.
Meanwhile, the Konoha F4 (Hokage + Advisors + Danzo) began to express their surprise upon hearing that Taiichi Matsushita had fought the fleeing ninjas. Their eyes kept assessing Taiichi—is this kid really that strong?
The most shocked was Danzo. He knew about Taiichi's situation before and had even wanted to recruit him into Root, only to be stopped by Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Thinking of this, Danzo trembled with cold anger. Such a good seedling, wasted by Hiruzen.
He didn't consider that Taiichi simply didn't want to go to Root. Otherwise, Taiichi wouldn't have gone to complain to the Hokage when Danzo tried to recruit him.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, on the other hand, was all smiles. Look, this is a child raised under my leadership. He addressed Taiichi, "Taiichi, do you have anything to add?"
"No, Lord Hokage!" Taiichi bowed slightly.
Seeing that both had finished their reports, the Hokage and the advisors discussed in low voices for a while, with inevitable bursts of argument.
Finally, the Hokage continued, "Taiichi, you performed very well this time. You faced danger fearlessly, killed the enemy, and in the end, not only protected a child of the village but also killed a Special Jonin and assisted in capturing a Jonin. The village has decided to record this as an A-rank mission for you. What do you think?"
"Thank you, Lord Hokage and Advisors. I will continue to fight to defend the village." Taiichi spouted nice words as if they were free.
Shikyō beside him was also surprised, but upon reflection, it made sense.
Although the Jonin was heavily injured and Taiichi had capitalized on that to capture him, it was still a Jonin—not someone an average ninja could deal with. Furthermore, Taiichi had indeed single-handedly planned and killed a Special Jonin. That credit was 100% his.
"Hiruzen, I still think Taiichi Matsushita should come to my Root. His talent is being wasted outside," Danzo brought up the old topic.
At this, Hiruzen Sarutobi's face instantly darkened. Sending him to you is appropriate? So under my cultivation, it's a waste of talent?
Danzo knew he had messed up as soon as he spoke; he had voiced his inner thoughts aloud.
"We've discussed this issue before. Taiichi will not go to Root. Besides, Taiichi is being taught by both Tsunade and Jiraiya. Do you think your Root has better ninjas than them?" Hiruzen said to Danzo in a deep voice.
Koharu Utatane also chimed in, "Danzo, your Root already has many clan ninjas. Besides, isn't Taiichi Matsushita doing fine right now?"
Just as an argument was about to erupt, they heard a loud noise.
Bang!
The office door shattered. "Taiichi, are you okay?" It was Tsunade.
It turned out Tsunade was passing by downstairs when she heard that Taiichi was heavily injured while stopping infiltrators yesterday. She panicked instantly and, throwing caution to the wind, broke down the door and burst in.
Entering the room, Tsunade saw Taiichi and immediately went to check his condition, completely ignoring everyone else present. Fortunately, Taiichi's wounds were already bandaged; otherwise, Tsunade's hemophobia might have been exposed.
"Tsunade, you have no sense of propriety!"