Four Years

"I'm going to kill you!"

The white-haired, purple-eyed boy raised a Kunai and charged at Dōmeki, who stood there at his leisure. Before the boy could get close, a single punch knocked him down.

Dōmeki looked down at the strangely familiar kid. He hadn't expected to run into someone he knew after casually picking up a little fellow who had fainted from hunger.

Dōmeki picked up the kid, who looked exactly like a smaller version of Hozuki Mangetsu. Remembering his exceptionally gifted opponent, he said with some emotion, "You look just like Mangetsu!"

"How dare you mention that name!"

Hozuki Suigetsu kicked his short little legs and roared at Dōmeki through gritted teeth, but all he could do was bite the boy's arm in resentment.

"Ah!" Suigetsu let out a scream. His teeth felt as though they had struck solid iron, and they were nearly knocked out.

"Mangetsu and I were opponents who admired each other. Why can't I mention him?"

Dōmeki mischievously shook the kid up and down until he was dizzy, then asked curiously, "How do you know what I look like, kid? And how did you get out of Kirigakure?"

"Bastard!" Hozuki Suigetsu gagged twice before glaring at Dōmeki. "I'm not telling you that it was that stupid woman Mei Terumi who told me! But I got lucky. I ran into you while drifting at sea!!!"

"Idiot, this kid's an idiot!"

Dōmeki was speechless. No wonder Mangetsu had been so worried before he died that he had even asked an enemy to look after the kid.

"Now's my chance!"

Hozuki Suigetsu looked at the distracted Dōmeki, a glimmer of secret delight flashing in his eyes.

The kid's body suddenly turned into a formless stream of water, slipping from Dōmeki's hand and falling to the ground. It wrapped around the fallen Kunai and thrust it at the boy's abdomen again. It was the secret technique of Suigetsu's clan—the Hydrification Technique!

Crackle!

An iron chain carrying an electric current wrapped around the stream of water. The water immediately turned solid again, leaving Hozuki Suigetsu sprawled on the ground, his limbs stiff and white smoke coming from his mouth.

Dōmeki crouched in front of Hozuki Suigetsu and pressed the index and middle fingers of his right hand against his forehead.

"Foolish Suigetsu, if you want to kill me, then hate me and curse me! Then cling to your wretched life, running and running, living only to survive. And one day, when you have the same power as me, come before me."

And so, on the road back, a curious sight appeared.

A young red-haired boy was followed at a moderate distance by a white-haired child. Every so often, the child would sneak up on the boy with a blade, only for the boy to pin him effortlessly to the ground. Yet he stubbornly refused to give up.

Scenes like this played out several times almost every day.

"Kid, that's not how you use a Kunai!"

Dōmeki took a sip of tea as he spoke to the kid wolfing down his food across the table.

Hozuki Suigetsu snorted resentfully, but secretly pricked up his ears.

And so Hozuki Suigetsu practiced assassinating Dōmeki as he traveled with him, and they soon reached their destination.

Otogakure.

"You made quite a haul, Shun-kun!"

Orochimaru gave Hozuki Suigetsu, who was caught up in a heated quarrel with Karin, a speechless look, then glanced at his disciple, who stood obediently before him.

He had thought it was already a pleasant surprise that Shun-kun had brought back a child who could absorb Natural Energy on his own. Who would have thought he would bring back a child from the Hozuki Clan as well? Did this disciple of his have some peculiar fondness for picking people up?

Seemingly sensing Orochimaru's gaze, Dōmeki scratched his head sheepishly. "It was nothing, just something I did along the way!"

Orochimaru chuckled twice, then continued.

"But what surprised me even more was hearing that you lost a bet to Tsunade, Shun-kun?"

Knowing full well how shockingly, inexplicably bad his former companion's luck was, Orochimaru looked Dōmeki up and down with great interest, as though he had discovered some marvelous creature and couldn't wait to drag him onto a laboratory table and dissect him.

"Who's been gossiping?!" Dōmeki was somewhat exasperated, but remembering that neither Haku nor Kimimaro, who had traveled with him, was the talkative type, it could only have been-

He suddenly pulled Xiaobai, who had been secretly eating a little cake, out of his sleeve and glared fiercely at him. "Speak! Was it you, little fellow, who spread the word about the imperial army-ptui, about what happened?!"

"No, I didn't!" Xiaobai showed no awareness of being his personal summon and instead loudly retorted in a babyish voice, "I only told our neighbor Garaga, the three Lady Divine Princesses, Manda, and a teeny tiny number of friends!"

"My lifelong reputation!!!" Dōmeki clutched his head in anguish.

Meanwhile, as though they were naturally incompatible, Karin Uzumaki and Hozuki Suigetsu had fallen into a quarrel the moment they met.

"White-haired brat, who are you? Why are you following Big Brother Shun around?" Karin asked Suigetsu with a hint of jealousy.

Hozuki Suigetsu snorted disdainfully. "One day, I'm going to kill that man with my own hands!"

"Bastard! How dare you-"

Karin's red hair instantly flew up around her head as she lunged at Suigetsu, and the two little ones were immediately tangled in a fight.

"Bang!"

Dōmeki brought a fist down on each of their heads. "Quiet down. From now on, you're teammates, so get along!"

The two lively little ones, together with the even-tempered Jūgo, were the future members of Team Taka.

After that, Dōmeki's life, like the Shinobi World, was uneventful, and four peaceful years passed in the blink of an eye.

The Land of Wind, Sunagakure!

In a secret room in the Kazekage's building, a clandestine meeting was being held concerning the fate of all Sunagakure.

The Fourth Kazekage sat upright at the head of the room, listening to his subordinates report on the state of the village, but his eyes were fixed on a letter on the table. A trace of ruthlessness flashed across his impassive face.

Following their defeat in the Third Shinobi World War, the deeply dissatisfied Daimyo of the Land of Wind had reduced Sunagakure's funding year after year. Later, he had even entrusted most of the commissions within his country to their ally, Konoha.

Lack of funds had brought Sunagakure's construction and development to a halt, even setting them back. Sunagakure, already the weakest of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, had grown weaker still.

With no other choice, the village had reduced the number of ninja it trained and devoted as many of the freed-up resources as possible to training elite ninja. To that end, it had even driven out many of the orphaned children of Genin killed in battle, leaving them to fend for themselves.

But the consequences of that policy were gradually becoming apparent. Without large-scale ninja training, fewer and fewer geniuses had emerged among the younger generation in recent years. If things continued this way, whether Sunagakure could retain its place among the Five Great Shinobi Villages would be in question.

It was an utter disgrace that a Kazekage had to pan for gold dust in the desert to fund the village's operations.

"Konoha! Konoha!"

Rasa chewed over the name of their ally, but that ally was like a chain wrapped tightly around Sunagakure's neck, gradually tightening. Unless-

A ruthless glint flashed in the Fourth Kazekage's eyes, and he gave an order in a low voice. "Baki, go to Otogakure yourself and tell Orochimaru that I agree to this plan!"